Here in Danhe City, in the north of Nanyang Province, Li Maolin, the magistrate of Danhe City, rode a horse to a plantation.

The plantation is so large that you can't see the edge when you look at it, and it's all tall and dense sugar cane forests, which will soon be harvested again.

Li Maolin also estimated how much sugarcane could be produced in Danhe County, which he administered, and Luzon was more suitable for growing sugarcane and rice than Ryukyu, and all plantation owners generally chose to open it in half.

Half of the land is planted with sugar cane and half with rice.

Sugar cane can be sold for money, rice can be used to feed one's own slaves, and the surplus can be sold.

Thanks to the unique geographical conditions here, whether it is rice or sugarcane, it can be ripened more than a year, the yield is very large, the quality is also very good, the use of more and more convenient shipping, a large number of sales to all parts of Daming.

"In the past, it was said that the place outside the Ming Dynasty was a barbarian land, and the miasma was rampant, and after I really came to Nanyang, I realized that this place was simply heaven."

Riding on horseback, walking on a small cement road that was built at the plantation owner's own expense, it was not wide or thick, mainly to facilitate the transportation of sugar cane and rice.

In this part of the South Seas, the precipitation is very heavy, and if you don't build a cement road, the road will be very muddy, which is not conducive to traffic.

Li Maolin, who is already in his fifties, sighed while watching.

Before he came to Nanyang, he, like most of the Ming people, felt that the Ming Dynasty was the best, and the world outside the Ming Dynasty was a barbarian land, full of miasma, and it was not a place for people to live at all.

When he really came to Nanyang as an official and stayed here for a long time, he knew that Nanyang was much better than Daming in all aspects.

The land here is fertile, the rainfall is abundant, the light and heat are abundant, and the cultivation of rice and sugarcane is very suitable, and it can be three crops in one year and seven crops in two years, and the yield is extremely high.

It's very warm all year round, and even the winter is almost like summer, so you don't have to worry about the cold.

In a place like this, it's like paradise.

When he was in the Ming Dynasty, he saw too much, too much hunger and poverty, and many poor families worked hard all year round, and they couldn't even eat a full meal.

If there is a year of famine, the one who can sell his sons and daughters to live, and sometimes he can't even sell his sons and daughters, and the bark of the tree is eaten up, and the children are eaten.

This is definitely not fake, but something that really exists in Daming.

But here in Nanyang, everyone is well fed, and even the slaves of the plantation owners are able to eat three meals a day, white rice, and fried sea fish, which is very different.

He thought about it carefully.

Why are the Ming people hardworking but always unable to eat enough and wear warm clothes?

Now it seems that the main reason is the geographical conditions, the geographical conditions of the South Seas are too good, three crops a year, seven crops in two years, this output is too large.

Even if a small area is used to grow rice, the grain here in Nanyang is still not exhausted, and a large amount of grain is transported to all parts of the Ming Dynasty to be sold.

"It's better to read 10,000 books than to travel 10,000 miles, only by going out and taking a walk and seeing more can you really gain insight."

Li Maolin couldn't help but sigh.

Seeing the richness and fertility of Nanyang, he often wrote back to his hometown, so that the parents and villagers in his hometown would immigrate to Nanyang.

There are a large number of people who have emigrated to Nanyang from his hometown in Danhe City, which he governs, and the person he is going to visit this time is a good friend of his.

"Lao Qin, Lao Qin~"

When he arrived at his friend's plantation just now, Li Maolin couldn't help but roar, and he could see from a distance that there were more than a dozen slaves tearing sugarcane leaves in this plantation.

"Haha, Lao Li~"

Soon, someone heard Li Maolin's voice and walked out of the sugarcane forest, this person's name is Qin Yan, who is also in his fifties and is a showman.

used to be classmates with Li Maolin, and the two of them took the imperial examination for a lifetime, although Li Maolin was admitted to the lifter, but he has never been able to pass the Jinshi examination, and there is no official work.

At the end of last year, the imperial court needed a large number of officials, and he just caught up with this wave of welfare, so he also came to Nanyang to be the county magistrate of this Danhe City.

Because Qin Yan received Li Maolin's letter, his family also moved to Nanyang.

Because the imperial court encouraged immigration to the Nanyang region, it also gave preferential policies, a person can reward dozens of acres of fields, this Qin Yan family moved over, and the fields rewarded alone have thousands of acres, so it is also to establish a plantation, the family is too busy, and they have bought more than a dozen slaves one after another.

"How?"

"This harvest should be good, right?"

Walking in his plantation with Qin Yan, Li Maolin also asked with a smile.

"Very good~"

Qin Yan also nodded with a smile and said bluntly, Li Maolin didn't lie to him, Nanyang is indeed very good.

He was originally a poor talent, his family was very poor, and it was a problem for the family to even eat on the side of Daming, but after coming to Nanyang, he turned over all of a sudden.

Not only did he have thousands of acres of vast land, but he also made a fortune quickly by planting sugar cane, not only built a big mansion here, but also bought more than a dozen slaves.

The eldest son helped take care of the plantation here, the second went to learn sailing, the third went to prospecting and mining with people, the fourth went to business, and even the grandchildren were all liberated from the land, some studied and took the imperial examination, some did business, and some went to sea to become seafarers.

In the past, the whole family was basically trapped on the land, facing the loess and facing the sky, working hard and tiring all year round, and in the end they couldn't even eat a few full meals.

"After this stubble of sugarcane is harvested, I am going to buy dozens of slaves, buy a few more cows, and plant the rest of the land, and then open up more wasteland, ready to plant some rubber, I heard that the plantations under the command of the Tianjin Ocean Trading Company are planting this thing on a large scale."

"It is said that this thing takes seven or eight years to mature, but it will be very profitable in the future, and I don't know if it's true or not, but the plantations under the command of Liu Gongzi have always been the most profitable, they never grow sugarcane, nor rice, they all grow some strange things."

Qin Yan was smiling and talking to Li Maolin about his plan for the plantation.

The whole family has migrated, and there is too much land rewarded, and a lot of land is still wasteland, which needs to be cultivated by itself, and this person is not enough, so he can only buy more slaves and cattle to solve the problem.

"It will definitely not be wrong to follow Liu Gongzi."

Li Maolin smiled and nodded, then looked at the slaves working in the sugarcane forest and said, "How much silver did you spend on these dozen slaves?" ”

"It cost me nearly five hundred taels of silver to buy it."

"Twelve young male slaves are the most expensive, spending almost forty taels of silver each, and there are five adult female slaves, and a few small slaves, basically all of them are given away for nothing."

Qin Yan thought for a while and said, "This slave is too expensive, I heard that the price is still rising." ”

"Well, it's a price increase, and here in the slave market in the city, as long as there are slaves transported over, they will buy all the money immediately."

"Recently, the United Western Trading Company has conquered the island of Ceylon, and they have brought a group of slaves over, and they have been bought in less than an hour."

"The war in Java has basically ended on the side of the imperial court, and then there will be a shortage of slaves, and the price of this slave will definitely rise, if you want to buy it, hurry up and buy more as soon as possible, and buy some small slaves."

"Anyway, it's just to eat something, here in Nanyang, there is a lot of food, and there is a teenager who will start doing things."

Li Maolin thought about it and nodded and said.

There are a lot of plantations in Nanyang, and the Ming Dynasty, who just relied on immigrants, couldn't keep busy at all, so the demand for slaves was very large.

The price of slaves also rose again and again, that is, some time ago, the war in the South Seas obtained a large number of slaves, which alleviated the demand of the plantation owners.

But as soon as the war stopped, the source of slaves became a big problem, and the price of slaves began to rise again.

"I want to too, but I don't have any money, you can see it, this money is used to build houses, build roads, buy tools, buy slaves, only wait for this wave of sugar cane to be harvested."

Qin Yan smiled and said helplessly.

"You can take out a loan, just pay it back after harvesting the sugarcane, otherwise the price will rise more than the interest at that time."

Li Maolin is a county magistrate, and he has more people in contact with him, so he naturally knows more.

"I've also thought about taking out a loan, but the bank loan needs a mortgage, and I only have this plantation in my hands, and if I can't pay it back then, this plantation will be gone."

"It's okay to slow down, if it goes up too much, I just don't buy it."

Qin Yan thought about it and shook his head slightly, his thinking was still a little old, he always felt that it was not a good thing to take out loans and borrow money, think about the usury in his hometown, this interest is rolling, with a tael of silver, and in the end, he may not be able to pay it off even if he has dozens of taels.

Therefore, his principle has always been that if he can not indebted, he will not owe debt, even if the interest rate of the bank is low, he will not think of taking out a loan, unless it is a last resort.

"You came to me, there must be something, right?"

After thinking about it, Qin Yan said to Li Maolin again.

"Yes, it's definitely a great thing for you."

"The triennial imperial examination is about to start, and the imperial court has also made an order, and our Nanyang Province is also going to hold a township examination, and a lot of places have been given."

"You are a showman, you are one of the few scholars here, I think you have a great chance this time, so I want to come and invite you to participate in this township exam."