"Master Li, I have a suggestion below, but I want to talk to Lord Li. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info" Ma Huaxing, deputy head of the Taiwan Colonization Regiment, said to Li Xiao.

"But it doesn't hurt to talk about it."

"Lord Li, now that our army is in Taichung, due to the arrival of 550,000 new displaced people, up to now, all the land that has been opened up is 2.33 million mu, and if the tax is collected at eight buckets of rice per mu, then 1.86 million stone of grain can be collected per season, and a total of more than 3.72 million stone of rice can be collected in two seasons a year, plus the annual potato output of 4.66 million stone, even if you do not count the grain produced in Shandong, Jeju and other places, it is enough to support the supply of all the soldiers and civilians of our army. Therefore, I believe that under the current situation of sufficient surplus grain production, the rest of the land can be turned into cotton fields, tobacco fields, sugarcane fields, and other cash crops, but it can increase more economic income for our army. ”

After Ma Huaxing said this, he looked at Li Xiao expectantly, but he didn't expect that Li Xiao was silent.

In fact, Li Xiao also thinks that what Ma Huaxing said is very reasonable, but now he is no longer satisfied with the status quo, but more, he has to focus on the overall situation.

If, in the future, the number of the Tiger Army will be further expanded, the territory will continue to increase, and the number of people and displaced people under his rule will continue to increase, then although the current total grain output can supply the current Tiger Army several times the size, when the territory and the people really increase significantly, Li Xiao absolutely does not want the problem of insufficient food supply to occur.

Thinking about the current Ming Dynasty, how many hungry people rebelled because they couldn't eat, and how many soldiers and soldiers mutinied and defected to the enemy because of lack of food and salary, in the face of these bloody realities, the importance of this food is really self-evident.

At any time, grain production is the most important matter, so the thinking of satisfying the status quo is unacceptable.

Deputy Commander Ma's words are reasonable, but Ben Bo thinks that it is better to take precautions and prepare in advance. After all, in the future, the number of soldiers and civilians of our army will only increase, and the amount of food required will also continue to rise, so it is very necessary to ensure an adequate supply of food. Even if there is too much food now, it can be stored temporarily, whether it is to deal with famine or relief for the poor in the future, or even to support and sell it to other Ming troops. ”

After Li Xiao said this, everyone also nodded, and Li Dingguo, the commander of the Pingnan Battalion, agreed: "Lord Li is right! People take food as the sky, where is there a reason to think that there is too much food. Li is not afraid to say to everyone, I think the reason why Li became a rogue in the first place was not because he had no food to eat and couldn't survive, but had to join the rogue in order to survive! To put it more bluntly, even if this grain is really to the point that our soldiers and civilians can't eat it, it can still be sold. Now that there is such a shortage of food in our Ming country, as long as our army is willing to sell it, I believe that rice merchants from all over the country will come to our army to buy it. ”

Ma Huaxing saw everyone talking like this, and his face was stunned for a while, but at this time, Li Xiao smiled and said to him: "Deputy Head Ma, in Benbo's opinion, everything cannot be generalized, and your opinion is also quite meritorious. Therefore, this official believes that the best way to compromise between the two is to focus on grain production and supplement it with cash crop production. ”

Li Xiao paused and continued: "This official has made a preliminary plan, from now on, of the 2.6 million mu of developable land in Taipei, 2 million mu will be used as ordinary cultivated land, and the other 600,000 mu of land with poor soil quality will all be converted into cotton fields to produce various types of cloth. The 320 acres of developable land in Taichung can be redeveloped to 2.6 million mu of cultivated land because 2.33 million mu of land has been developed, and the remaining 600,000 mu of low-quality land will all be changed to mulberry fields for silkworm weaving. Of the 5.2 million acres of reclaimable wasteland in Tainan, 4 million acres of which will be developed into paddy fields, and the other 1.2 million acres of wasteland, due to Tainan's abundant water sources and fertile soil, will be developed into sugarcane fields for sugar extraction and sugar production. As for the tobacco field, because of its characteristics of large production year by year and small year by year, it is enough to wait for the development of paddy fields in various places before crop rotation output. ”

From history to today, white sugar has always been the same as tea, is a very much demanded and tight product, whether it is sold to Japan or Europe, the profit is extremely high, and the hot and humid land in southern Taiwan is the most suitable for growing sugarcane and developing the sugar industry. For example, in real history, Chen Yonghua, who was respected by Zheng Chenggong as the "Wolong of the World", once taught people to grow a large amount of sugarcane on wasteland with slightly poor soil quality, which was used to extract sugar, and then sold it abroad to make a profit.

Under Chen Yonghua's auspices, Taiwan has developed a total of about 10,000 acres of sugarcane fields. Due to Taiwan's hot and humid climate and abundant sunlight, the environment is particularly suitable for the growth of sugarcane, and the newly planted sugarcane fields can produce an average of about 16 quintals of sugarcane per mu every year. After sucrose is pressed and purified and decolorized, the sugar yield is about 10:1, that is, 1.6 quintals of white sugar can be produced per mu of sugarcane field, which is 16,000 quintals in total. According to the book "Trade History of the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties", once the sugar was shipped to Japan, the export price of a load of sugar was more than 6 taels of silver, and if it was transported to Luzon for resale in Europe, it could be more, up to 7 taels to 8 taels. Therefore, the nearly 10,000 acres of sugarcane fields can be exchanged for more than 100,000 taels of silver for Zheng's Taiwan every year.

"Lord Li, there are precedents for the cotton field and the mulberry field, but how does Lord Li plan to operate this kind of sugarcane sugar?" Ding You, the head of the colonization group on the side, asked.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this sugarcane field, because of the particularity of its products, and in order to expand the planting area as soon as possible, this official intends to let each sugarcane farmer get twenty acres of land, and the grain tax is also converted into it, and the sugarcane to be purchased can be priced at 1 yuan and 5 cents of silver per load of sugarcane, so that each sugarcane farmer can produce 320 quintals of sugarcane a year, and a total of 48 taels of silver can be obtained, and the profit after the cost can be at least 35 taels of silver, so that the life of this family can be more prosperous."

Li Xiao smiled and continued: "Moreover, according to the official's understanding, the bagasse after squeezing the juice can also be used as fertilizer to fertilize the field, so as to improve the soil quality and make the yield of sugarcane land further increase." In a few years' time, the yield of this sugarcane field will only be higher, and the sugarcane farmers will be more profitable. ”

Hearing Li Xiao say this, Ding You's face was suddenly full of hope, and he answered: "If this 1.2 million mu of sugarcane fields is developed, it can produce 1.92 million quintals of sugar every year, and if the sales price is 6 taels of silver, it will be 1,152 taels of silver." After removing costs and losses, a net profit of more than 8 million taels can be obtained a year, which is really a considerable profit. ”

After Ding You finished speaking, the audience burst into laughter, and everyone was deeply moved by this tempting prospect.

After talking about sugarcane, the next thing Li Xiao wants to plan and develop is another major profit, tea production.

Since the 38th year of Wanli, the Dutch East India Company sold the first batch of Chinese tea from Fujian back to Europe, and the Netherlands took the Netherlands as an example, such as the British, Portuguese, Spaniards, etc., and began to export a large amount of tea from China through sea trade.

These teas are comparable to another Chinese product that can make significant profits in addition to silk.

In 1687, a year before the British "Glorious Revolution", the English East India Company stipulated that every merchant ship from Bombay to Xiamen should carry 150 quintals of tea (note: 112 pounds, 50.8 kilograms) on its return voyage, which is 1,500 quintals, or about 76 tons, based on five ships per year.

According to historical records, 1 pound of Chinese tea can be sold for as much as 10 pounds in England, about 30 taels of silver. This figure is converted to 3,360 taels of silver per quintal of tea, which is equivalent to 39 taels of silver per catty of Chinese tea. That is to say, in the year 1687, every British merchant ship returned to the voyage, carrying tea worth 504,000 taels of silver, which is 2.52 million taels of silver for a total price of 840,000 pounds based on five ships per year.

Of course, the export price from China will not be so high, according to the "Guangzhou Chronicle", taking Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty as an example, the export price of a load of tea is about 20~30 taels of silver, and the average price is about 25 taels of silver, while the cost of procurement, freight, taxes and other costs is only less than 10 taels per load, and the rest is net profit. In other words, the Europeans sold these teas to their homeland, and it was 134 times more profitable to change hands!

This is simply a huge profit from drug trafficking!

Even after the mid-18th century, when India and Southeast Asia began to produce tea in large quantities, the price of tea fell sharply, and the profit associated with this was never less than 10 times. There is a saying that as long as the capitalist has 300% of the profit, he can sell the rope that hangs himself, not to mention the 10~134 times the profit, which is why batch after batch of European businessmen are willing to rush to the East one after another. After all, in the words of Mencius, that is, where the benefits lie, there is no way to go up.

After the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch, defeated by the British, had to loosen their grip on sea power, and the British East India Company was able to expand further into the Far East to make it easier to import goods from China. From the twenty-fourth year of Yongli, that is, the ninth year of Kangxi, the British East India Company signed a treaty of commerce with the Zheng family of Taiwan, and set up a merchant house in Dayuangang, and began to purchase various products from Taiwan, one of which is tea.

Since then, the amount of tea purchased by Britain from China and Taiwan has continued to rise, and in 1770~1774, Britain imported an average of 42,000 quintals (about 2,100 tons) of tea from China every year, and in 1800~1804, the average annual increase increased to 220,000 quintals (11,000 tons), and by 1860, Britain's tea imports from China reached an astonishing 440,000 quintals (22,000 tons).

For comparison, in the mid-18th century, a British first-class capital battleship cost only 100,000 pounds, while the current 17th-century battleship costs just over 60,000 pounds. In other words, in the 17th century, the money that the British used to buy tea every year could be used to build 14 battleships!

It's just that due to the strength of the early Qing Dynasty, Britain did not dare to act rashly. Because at this time, Britain, the empire on which the sun never sets, has just established its dominance in the world, and the British Empire, which dominates the world, has to grit its teeth and let these yellow-skinned monkeys, who they look down on, have been exploited for more than a hundred years.

That is to say, in the past hundred years, the British used guns to oppress and exploit the colonies, while the Chinese only used high-end goods such as tea, porcelain, and silk to transfer the wealth plundered by the British from the colonies by bloody and barbaric means, which is really a more sophisticated way of exploitation. You know, in more than a hundred years, that's hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

It was not until Britain was no match in the world, and because the American Revolutionary War had devastated Britain that it was running out of silver, that the British decided to take the risk and start selling opium to China in order to change this trade deficit.

As you know, the Qing government banned opium, and Britain declared war on the Qing court, and the First Opium War began. However, the Qing Dynasty, which was already decaying and decaying, was no match for the British at all, both in terms of its will to fight and its ability to fight. After the defeat of the First Opium War, China was pressed to the ground by the great powers and ravaged and bitten in turn, beginning that century-old modern history full of humiliation, blood and tears, full of bullet marks and wounds.

In modern Taiwan, it is already a major tea-producing province with an annual tea output of nearly 20,000 tons, especially the most precious and famous frozen oolong tea. Although tea has been Taiwan's main export item until modern times, tea was really widely cultivated in Taiwan only after Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, and it began to be cultivated on a large scale under the leadership of Chen Yonghua.

After introducing the profits of tea to the participating officials and fully arousing everyone's appetite, Li Xiaofu said: "Everyone, this official wants to tell you that this tea tree, it has a characteristic, that is, from sowing to harvesting, depending on the variety, it takes 3~5 years, that is, during this time, tea farmers do not have any income. ”

When Li Xiao said this, he paused deliberately, and when he saw the faces of the officials around him, he suddenly showed a look of concern.

Li Xiao continued to talk eloquently: "Therefore, this brings a problem, if the immigrants are allowed to run the business in the form of family contracting, just like the development and cultivation of rice fields, these immigrants will not be able to wait so long, after all, in the past 3 to 5 years, the immigrants have to eat to support their families, and the government cannot provide for tea farmers for free for so long." Therefore, the official believes that this work can only be carried out by the way of factory operation, that is, the only feasible strategy is to recruit hired workers and build and operate tea plantations led by the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. ”

"Master Li, according to your intentions, what kind of reclamation and management are these tea gardens in?" Zhao Wencai asked from the side.

Benbo once learned from the tea farmers that it is best to open up the tea garden in a gently sloping hilly area, and it is better to let the sun shine. In this way, the official arranged for the officials of the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry to go to suitable areas in various places to survey, try not to occupy wasteland that can be reclaimed as fertile land, and see if at least 200,000 acres of tea plantations have been opened up. ”

Li Xiao's later generations have read the information and know that if the standard of making steamed green tea is used, by the time the tea leaves are ready for picking, one mu of tea field can produce 300 catties of dry tea. Of course, this is the planting level of later generations, and in the current Taiwan, one acre of tea plantation can roughly produce two quintals of tea, 200,000 acres of tea garden, when it can produce 600,000 quintals of tea, with an average export price of 25 taels of silver per quintal, but it is an income of 15 million taels!

Listening to Li Xiao's analysis here, everyone at the meeting was very happy, everyone was excited, and they were more and more full of expectations for the future.

Seeing that everyone was happy, Li Xiao was also very happy, and he continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to making this land of Taiwan a huge granary and cash crop base for our army, Benbo also wants to build it into an economic base as important as Shandong. Workshops such as raw silk mills, weaving mills, spinning mills, sugar mills, cigarette factories, cement factories, quarries, and brick factories are to be established all over Taiwan. In addition, it is particularly important to find an iron ore production area in Taiwan, and then, like the Iron Dragon City in Shanxian County, Shandong, make iron and steel, vigorously produce weapons, armor and all kinds of iron tools, so that Taiwan's local iron products can be self-sufficient, and even can be exported in large quantities. ”

Li Xiao's words, everyone agreed.

If Li Xiao's plan can be successfully implemented, it will be equivalent to Li Xiao building an economic center in the north and south. In the environment of frequent wars and chaos in the north, Taiwan, which basically has a peaceful environment, will even have a bigger and better development future than Shandong.

Next, Li Xiao formulated a large-scale road repair plan. That is, to build a cement road from Taipei, to Changhua, to Kaohsiung, through the north and south of Taiwan. And under the current situation that the official road of the Ming Dynasty is basically only one zhang wide, Li Xiao decided that the cement road he wants to build must be at least three zhang wide, so that the transportation of commercial goods and personnel in the north and south is more convenient and fast.

Finally, Li Xiao's other major plan fully demonstrates his great ambition

"Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to the above, this official has also decided to build Kaohsiung City on a large scale at the expense of manpower and money. Taking the existing former Chichicheng as the inner city, and expanding the outer city with a circumference of 24 miles, it will become the real commercial and political center of our army in Taiwan, so that businessmen from all over the world can freely buy and sell goods and trade goods here. This official wants to make this Kaohsiung City the most magnificent, majestic, and tolerant first city in the entire Southeast Asia, so as to attract merchants from all over the world and welcome guests from all over the world. It is also necessary to let the businessmen and officials from all over the world take a good look at what is the real Chinese prestige and what is the real heavenly magnanimity! ”

Li Xiao's words were loud, and his eyes were full of scorching brilliance.