Li Xiao looked down at everyone, and the expression on his face became more and more serious. He raised his head and looked far away.

"Although this king was born in a reckless manner, he does not read much, and his articles and allusions, and the theories of saints are far inferior. However, this king has always understood one truth. That is, the water can carry the boat, but also can overturn the boat, since ancient times the Ming monarchs and virtuous ministers ruled the world, it is not people-oriented. If the people are safe, the world will be solid, and if the people are sufficient, the world will be rich. The foundation of this stable world lies in the fact that the people have a way to live and a livelihood, so that they will not be forced by life and war to rebel and live! ”

Li Xiao sneered: "This king really doesn't know when this country has been, regardless of whether the people live or die, but blindly only cares about the interests of the so-called gentry and wealthy families. This king doesn't know when, not the thousands of ordinary people under the sky, but this gentry who have no worries about food and clothing, live a rich life, has become the foundation of the country! ”

When Li Xiao said this, there was silence below.

Not only did the scholars bow their heads and be speechless, but even Zuo Maodi, the governor of the Heavenly Patrol, nodded secretly on the side, sighing in his heart.

Seeing that everyone was speechless, Li Xiao sneered and continued: "Now, this king will talk to you again about this king's land policy in detail. As you know, the king divided the land south of the Yangtze River into basic land and surplus land, and decided that if the landlord and gentry had more than 200 acres of land as surplus land, if they could not afford the tax, they could be redeemed by the government at a slightly higher price than the market price. In fact, this policy is also a policy strategy that has been painstakingly deliberated for a long time and has been combined with the current reality. It is by no means an impulsive measure taken for granted by the king on a whim. ”

Seeing that everyone was listening carefully, Li Xiao continued: "Everyone actually knows that although the land in the south of the Yangtze River is rich and the products are abundant, after all, there are many people and little land, and the land is annexed, and even the local people are difficult to make a living from farming, let alone the displaced people. But in this Jiangnan, there is one biggest benefit. That is to say, the entire Jiangnan region can be regarded as the best cultivated land in China. This king has learned that two or three acres of land to meet the living needs of a yeoman farmer, no matter how barren it is, is enough. Then, the more than 200 acres of surplus land designated by this king has really taken into account the interests of the vast majority of the people, and will only make a very small number of large landowners and big gentry feel the pressure, and the rest of the yeoman farmers and small and medium-sized landlords are basically not affected in any way. ”

In this way, the king can expect that if this policy is carried out, the biggest rebels will only be these small number of big landlords and gentry. Only such a small number of people are opposed, and this king does not care at all. The entire Jiangnan situation will never be as alarmist as you say. “

"What's more, this king is not a Tartar or a rogue, only robbing and grabbing, for these big landlords and gentry, this king also fully considered their actual situation, take the policy of land redemption, and carry out land mergers and acquisitions at preferential prices, and will never let their interests suffer major losses. Such a thing can be described as the best of both worlds, how can those big landlords and gentry have any dissatisfaction? “

When Li Xiao said this, there was another whisper below, and a group of scholars were talking in a low voice from ear to ear.

Li Xiao could see that by now, the expressions and words of these scholars had obviously begun to lean towards themselves.

"Then if the Tang King gets this large piece of surplus land from the hands of the landlord and rich gentry through this market price preferential purchase, what will he do next?" Huang Zongxi, who hadn't spoken for a long time, replied sullenly at this time.

As if he had already guessed that he would ask such a question, Li Xiao smiled faintly and said, "Everyone, do you really think that this king bought this large piece of land from the landlord and rich gentry, but it was selfish? Definitely. It was the king's intention to distribute the purchased land to the landless and the outcasts from house to house. And these fields, divided into upper, middle and lower three types of soil, except for the upper field is still for rice field operations, the rest of the middle and lower fields are all transformed into mulberry fields and cotton fields. ”

"Oh, why did King Tang change all of them to mulberry fields and cotton fields?" Ying Tian Governor Zuo Maodi, who had not spoken, became interested and hurriedly interjected.

Li Xiao smiled and said: "The reason is very simple, because this king intends to build the entire Jiangnan into a weaving center in China and even the world." Let the silk and cotton cloth of my land be sold to the whole world. It is necessary to use the advantages of quantity and quality to defeat the textile industry of many Taixi countries and monopolize the fabric market in the world. Let the whole world only use the exquisite silk and gorgeous fabrics produced in China! ”

Hearing such a grand plan and arrangement as Li Xiao, the scholars below were all surprised.

Unexpectedly, this Tang King Li Xiao had such grand ambitions.

It's just that such a grand plan will be implemented so smoothly?

What's more, if a large number of farmland in the entire Jiangnan area is converted into mulberry fields and cotton fields, then the food supply in the Jiangnan area will be even more difficult.

As if he saw everyone's thoughts, Li Xiao smiled and said, "Everyone, are you worried that after the land in the south of the Yangtze River has been changed to mulberry fields and cotton fields on a large scale, there will be a shortage of food supply?" ”

Li Xiao asked, and all the scholars raised their heads in unison and looked at Li Xiao sitting on the chair.

Li Xiao looked around at everyone and continued: "It is indeed human nature for everyone to have this thought. After all, people's livelihood is important, and eating comes first. There is really nothing more important in this world than food. It's just that what this king thinks is that you are indeed too worried. Because the land in the south of the Yangtze River is so valuable, and it is the largest workshop operation base in China, if all the land here is used to grow grain, instead of planting mulberry fields and cotton fields, the transportation of raw materials can be maximized. It's a shame. ”

"What, then, can this king do to solve this food crisis? Quite simply, because the king had a large amount of overseas land, which could be used to produce food on a large scale, ensuring a worry-free food supply. Like present-day Taiwan, Luzon, the Philippine Islands, the island of New Guinea, and the vast and vast Australia, many places under it have been developed into rich farmland by Chinese immigrants and local aborigines. These lands not only produce thousands of rice, but also produce a huge amount of potatoes and sweet potatoes. It is no exaggeration to say that the grain output of the land overseas is by no means inferior to that of the whole land of China. Therefore, this king has sufficient food supply for this land south of the Yangtze River, and will never let the people of Jiangnan have a crisis in their lives because of the lack of food supply. ”

Li Xiao's words made the scholars below breathe a sigh of relief, and their faces were obviously relaxed.

Li Xiao struck while the iron was hot and said: "Therefore, if this king can successfully collect the lands of the big landlords and gentry, and change most of them into mulberry fields and cotton fields, not only can a large number of landless people and displaced people from other places be resettled, but also because the supply of raw materials is sufficient, so as to continue to greatly increase the number and scale of workshops, so as to use these silk workshops and weaving workshops to absorb more labor and settle more people and displaced people." ”

"King Tang, can these displaced and unemployed people finally settle down?" Among the scholars, someone asked in a whisper.

Li Xiao shook his head: "The number of displaced people is too much, and this king predicts that if this policy can be implemented in the end, only half of the displaced and unemployed people can be settled, and the rest of the people still have to find another way to resettle." “

"How does Tang Wanggui plan to settle the other half of the displaced people and people who have more than 3 million people?" Huang Zongxi then asked.

Li Xiao looked directly into his inquiring eyes and immediately replied: "It's very simple, it is to immigrate all these displaced people overseas. ”

Hearing Li Xiao's words, everyone was talking about it for a while.

In fact, everyone knows that Li Xiao has been actively carrying out the policy of overseas immigration since he acquired overseas land.

From the ninth year of Chongzhen to the present, Li Xiao has never stopped immigrating overseas.

His immigrants come from a variety of sources,

Up to now, the number of immigrants has reached nearly 15 million, which is very impressive.

These immigrants from all over China, from Sakhalin in the far north to Australia in the south, are abundantly distributed. The descendants of the Han family took root and settled in these foreign overseas places, drew branches and grew leaves, and multiplied. The ancient and continuous Chinese civilization has been brought into a wild land where no civilization has ever existed. Li Xiao's large-scale immigration policy allowed the descendants of the dragon to successfully catch up with this era of exploration that carved up the global land in a way that no one expected.

Such an approach can be said to be in the present and beneficial in the future.

Now, after the resettlement of the existing 3 million local unemployed people and a small number of displaced people, there are still more than 3 million displaced people waiting to be resettled. That's a lot of one-fifth of the previous immigrants, and it's a spectacular number.

For these displaced people, Li Xiao already has a full plan and idea for their future destination.

That is, these people, like the previous immigrants, are also family units, among which the elderly and infirm are arranged to go to Australia or New Guinea, while the others all emigrate to North Manchurian and Eastern Siberia.

Li Xiao has fully considered such an arrangement.

Because, up to now, the entire South Seas, such as Taiwan, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Australia, have settled in various places, and the East Siberia seized in the previous two years, and the vast area north of the Heilongjiang River and east of the Aso River (Ussuri River) that has recently been conquered, are all vast and uninhabited.

Of course, such a vast and sparsely populated place cannot just be occupied by troops, but must be developed by arranging for immigrants to achieve effective occupation of these lands, so that we can achieve truly effective long-term peace and stability on these lands.

For example, in order to protect the special interests of its Manchu people, and to always leave a self-reserved land for themselves to return home, the Qing Dynasty implemented a strict policy of ethnic discrimination against the people in the customs to prohibit them from leaving the customs and entering the northeast. Such policies and practices are very stupid and short-sighted.

To a considerable extent, this policy of strict prohibition greatly hindered the in-depth development of the northeastern region, resulting in a lack of population and emptiness of the frontiers, thus providing an opportunity for a large number of Koreans to cross the border to reclaim land and for a long invasion by Russia in the future.

Of course, Li Xiao can't make the stupid mistake of the Qing Dynasty again, so now he is determined to carry out a large number of resettlement and reclamation of these areas to ensure that these northern Xinjiang lands can be reasonably used and fully developed.

Compared with going to the warm or hot Southeast Asia and Australia, it is quite daunting to go to East Siberia and Waiman, which are dozens of degrees below zero at every turn.

It's just that in the face of the practical considerations of protecting the land and spreading civilization, Li Xiao decided to implement his own strategy with an iron fist.

After all, no matter how hard it is, that is, the initial stage is sad, when these immigrants become familiar with the local environment and start to settle down, everything will gradually become easier and adaptable.

You must know that in order to develop the land along the Arctic Ocean, Tsarist Russia forced prisoners and laborers to set off by boat from the Yenisei River and the Irtysh River, and traveled all the way north to their destination.

These prisoners and laborers who were forced to settle in the area had to work hard before winter arrived, clearing the land, building houses, and picking wild fruits to survive. Although the number of deaths of immigrants was extremely high under the cruel and brutal oppression of Tsarist Russia, in the end, they finally succeeded in surviving at the mouth of the Arctic Ocean of those large rivers, and began to form natural villages one after another, and gradually formed small towns in some places where conditions permitted.

It is precisely because of such cruel but effective methods of Tsarist Russia that the Siberian region of Russia now has a population of more than 40 million, and more than 80 percent of the ethnic Russians have settled in Siberia for a long time.

The whole of Siberia has become an important industrial and logistical support base for modern Russia. Its grain production is even more impressive, and in addition to ensuring its own needs, it also exports a large amount to neighboring countries every year, which can be called the granary of the entire Russia.

Therefore, for this wave of immigration, Li Xiao also intends to adopt a tough policy, using iron-fisted means to force all of the more than 3.5 million displaced people in the south of the Yangtze River to immigrate to East Siberia and Waimanchuria, except for the families mainly old and weak.

Of course, although Li Xiao is tough, he is much gentler than Tsarist Russia, which is cruel and barbaric and does not care whether immigrants live or die. Throughout the process of implementing the specific resettlement, Li Xiao carefully considered every specific link, and would implement sufficient material and living guarantees for these migrants to maximize their survival chances.

Li Xiao set himself the goal of at least 80 percent of the immigrants to successfully take root in Eastern Siberia and Outer Manchuria, and eventually successfully settle down and become permanent residents of the local areas, so as to complete the long-term development and occupation of these bitter cold lands in the north.

After listening to Li Xiao's plan, there was a sudden silence below.

At this moment, a voice sounded suddenly.

What Tang Wang said was very true, and Huang was ashamed. The students are willing to answer the call and lead their families to move north to Eastern Siberia and take root there. ”