"What does Aiqing mean by this?" Zhu Hou looked at Liao Fan and asked with a smile.

In fact, there is no need for Liao Fan to say this, Zhu Houzhao also knows it.

What is the basis for the development of business and industry?

The answer is simple, and that is agriculture. Only by achieving food self-sufficiency can we do it, can Daming do it?

The answer is yes.

Although cultivation in this era was unscientific and the yield per mu was low, the Ming Dynasty did not have as many people as in later generations, and the cultivated land was enough to feed the people of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that this was before. In recent years, with the prosperity of coastal smuggling trade, silk is hard currency, and the main grain producing area of Daming is Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

And what are they doing? They are playing with changing rice to mulberry. To put it bluntly, rice is no longer planted, mulberry trees are planted instead, and they are used to raise silkworms and weave cloth.

In such a situation, there is naturally less land to grow food.

Coupled with the increase in disasters in the north, food prices have naturally skyrocketed. This situation has become more and more serious as time goes on. In the late Wanli period, the imperial court could not collect taxes, the bureaucracy was corrupt, and the land annexation was serious, and the change from rice to mulberry was even more serious.

Natural disasters have further intensified, and grain production is declining not only in the northwest, but also in the entire north of the Yangtze River, or even in the absence of a harvest. The consequence is that there is not enough food to eat again, and the Ming Dynasty is naturally full of smoke.

What's the solution? Changing mulberry fields to rice fields?

This is a reversal of history, and Zhu Houzhao will not do this.

You must know that mulberry fields raise silkworms and weave silk, which can be exported to earn a lot of foreign exchange, this is a high-profit project, how can it be abandoned for farming?

If there is no food, then look for food from other places, first of all, to promote high-yield crops. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn are not available for the time being, but they can be found, and it is not impossible to get them, after all, those colonists carry these things.

In addition to this, there is a plant called rye in the vast lands of Russia. Although it is not delicious, it is hardy and can be grown in Russia, let alone the Ming Dynasty? Even during the Xiaoice period, rye can be cultivated, especially in the vast black soil of the northeast.

With rye, the northeast can become the main grain producing area of the Ming Dynasty, and the land north of the Yangtze River can also be planted in a large area.

The second is south, Daming is cold, but the south is still very warm. In Cochin, in the southeastern peninsula, rice is harvested three times a year. Cochin can be incorporated into Daming and become a new main grain producing area in Daming.

With these two stable main grain producing areas, the price of grain in Daming can be stabilized, but this has to be done step by step.

Yang Yiqing in eastern Liaodong is in Tunken, and now there is no rye, and he is ready to plant soybeans, and Zhu Houzhao has given great support.

When he got the rye seeds, Daming could directly plant rye on the black soil and graft them without difficulty.

As for the south, Zhu Houzhao hasn't thought about it yet, it's too far, and the matter in the north will be resolved. Although there have been many disasters in the past two years, the scope is not large, and the other two main grain-producing areas in Daming are still stable for the time being.

These two main grain producing areas, one is Huguang and the other is Shuzhong, so grain is not a problem that needs to be solved urgently at present. Of course, this is a national game of chess.

From the perspective of Guyuan alone, there is little land, low yield, and so many people are pouring in at once, and it is indeed a bit stretched to supply Yinchuan, Baotou, Fengzhou and other cities that are about to be built.

However, Zhu Houzhao is not worried, because there are people who sell them if there is a profit. Once the price of grain in the northwest rises, there will naturally be merchants selling grain here.

Even if the merchant did not sell, the imperial court could organize people to buy and sell.

Not to mention anything else, his own strange Zhai can fully undertake this transaction. Although you can't make a big profit, you can also make a small profit.

As for whether the people in the northwest can afford to eat, Zhu Houzhao is even less worried, his investment of five million taels of silver will be smashed, and with the participation of Jin merchants and gentry, the northwest will soon usher in a period of great prosperity, whether it is working or doing business, the income will increase.

Zhu Houzhao's idea is very good, but Liao Fan doesn't know.

He was already worried now, and after listening to Zhu Houzhao's words, he hurriedly said: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, the price of grain in Guyuan has risen three times a day, and if you don't think of a way, the people will not be able to afford to eat food." Once there is a disturbance, I am afraid it will affect the imagination of His Royal Highness the Prince! ”

That's a polite point, but the meaning is very simple, if you don't have food to eat, your idea is a castle in the air!

Zhu Hou looked at Liao Fan and said with a smile: "The palace will find a way in the next few days, don't worry, the price of grain will recover soon." ”

Although Liao Fan is still very worried, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has said so, do you still want to refute it?

This is not the way to be a courtier. Liao Fan hurriedly bowed down and said, "The minister knows." ”

After Liao Fan left, Zhu Houzhao sat on a chair and drank tea.

Glancing at Tang Bohu behind him, Zhu Houzhao asked with a smile, "Are people coming?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, people are coming, waiting outside." Tang Bohu hurriedly bowed and said.

Since leaving the capital, Tang Bohu has become the closest official to Zhu Houzhao. Some things that Liu Jin, a eunuch, did inconveniently, all came forward with Tang Bohu.

In the past, this errand belonged to Wang Shouren, but now that Wang Shouren has his own errand, he has no time to do it anymore.

"Then call in!" Zhu Houzhao put down the teacup in his hand and ordered with a smile.

It didn't take long for two people to walk in from outside. Both men are different.

The one on the right is a fat man, with a big face and squinted eyes, with charity on his face as long as he smiles, with a big belly, looking like a big-bellied Maitreya Buddha.

Zhu Houzhao smiled when he saw this person, as for the person on the left, he was very thin.

He is not tall, his appearance is very ordinary, and the whole person looks inconspicuous, and he can't make a splash when thrown into the crowd.

"Sun Liang, the chief treasurer of the three sides of Qiwei Zhai, see His Royal Highness the Prince." The big fat man knelt directly on the ground and saluted Zhu Houzhao, panting and looking very stupid.

But Zhu Houzhao doesn't really think so, you must know that although Qiwei Zhai is his own business, this is also an officialdom, and he can be the chief shopkeeper of the three sides, this Sun Liang is definitely not an ordinary person.

"Chen Huanyi Bureau, Liupin Deacon, Qian He, see His Royal Highness the Prince." Qian He also knelt down behind the big fat man.

The level of the yamen of the Huanyi Bureau is not high, and he can be a deacon of the six grades, which is an amazing existence. This is also the head of the Trilateral Huanyi Bureau.

These two people are the trilateral leaders of the two major forces that Zhu Houzhao has developed in recent years, Qiwei Zhai and Huanyi Bureau, and this time Zhu Houzhao is going to use them.

Glancing at the two of them, Zhu Houzhao nodded, and then said, "Get up!" ”

When both of them stood up, Zhu Houzhao said: "This time I came to you, I have something to do with you, and you all know the temper of this palace, do it well." ”