Only a winter that snows is a qualified winter. When the snowflakes fall gracefully in the distant sky, when the snowflakes turn the world into a white one, presented to people, all happiness regardless of age and status.

Even for the emperor, as early as a few years ago, someone once claimed in the newspaper that the emperor had lost his prestige, and actually built a snowman and had a snowball fight with the prince, prince, and princess like a child, of course, many people thought it was a rumor.

But when Fang Yizhi returned to Zhongdu, came to the palace, and looked at the lumpy snow trails on His Majesty's body, he immediately understood that those were not rumors, His Majesty would really be like a child, jumping around in the snow with his concubines and children.

However, after just one glance, Fang Yizhi turned his gaze elsewhere, the snow scene in the palace was very beautiful, and people couldn't help but sink into it.

Noticing that Fang Yizhi was admiring the snow, Zhu Mingzhong also smiled and admired the snow shadows in the palace, even if he had been in this era for ten years, he would still be happy because of a heavy snowfall, and even pull the children to play in the snow together.

This doesn't seem like what an emperor should do, but who says it's impossible for an emperor to relax?

"I heard that a yarn mill has now been built in the Northeast, using a steam engine?"

His Majesty's question made Fang Yizhi quickly answer.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the yarn factory is still the old yarn factory founded by the official department, and the minister has sold it to a private person at a price, and he will transform it into a steam engine, so that even if it is a cold winter, it can be produced normally."

Fang Yizhi, who knew that His Majesty had always been very concerned about new technologies, answered very directly, and was not worried at all that His Majesty would hold him accountable for selling official property to private individuals. Although he was not worried, he was inevitably still a little apprehensive in his heart, and he still explained respectfully.

"Your Majesty, the reason why the yarn factory is sold to private individuals is because they are more suitable for running factories than officials, and they are better at management.

"Fang Qing's family doesn't have to be nervous, sell the factory to private individuals, the imperial court doesn't do the same, I also bought a few factories from the imperial court, that is, the arsenal, in my opinion, it can also be sold to private individuals, of course, the imperial court also has to keep one or two, the reason why they sell it to them is to let them compete with each other, only in this way can the quality of the weapons they produce be guaranteed, if it is completely mastered by the imperial court, sooner or later there will be a situation where the quality of the old weapons is not good, and the situation of being greedy for the presiding officials will be exhausted, and the market will be marketed. Market competition must be introduced,"

In fact, the weapons manufacturing industry of the Ming Dynasty is open, in addition to the government-run arsenals, there are also a large number of firecracker workshops and small factories among the people, perhaps the price of the firearms they make is relatively expensive, but its quality is good, and the workmanship is exquisite, by no means the arsenal can be compared with those mass-produced firearms. Of course, the people here are limited to the Han people, and it is still illegal to sell firecrackers to the natives around the country, but despite this, there are still firecrackers flowing into the hands of the natives, especially the natives in the southwest. It even flowed into the hands of the Manchus. I really answered that sentence - an arms dealer who does not sell weapons to an enemy country is not a good arms dealer!

Businessmen are heavily profitable, and all this is unavoidable.

"In recent years, the construction of Northeast China has achieved great results. I am very happy with this. ”

Seeing that Fang Yizhi was a little nervous, Zhu Mingzhong directly expressed his attitude. As always, support.

"Your Majesty Xie's praise. The ministers and others must make persistent efforts to turn the northeast into a province identical to that of the interior as soon as possible. ”

His Majesty's words made Fang Yizhi shake his hands gratefully.

"To repay Your Majesty's kindness!"

"Well, I'm here waiting for the good news from the Qing family."

Zhu Mingzhong smiled.

Fang Yizhi then said.

"Your Majesty, the steam engine can be said to be ingenious, and it can even be called a treasure of this world. When he passes through the world in the future, he will definitely benefit the people of the world, as far as the minister knows, if it is combined with the yarn machine to form a steam spinning machine. The output of this yarn factory can be increased at least several times, and when the time comes, the people of the world will be able to have enough food and clothing. It's all a blessing to Your Majesty. ”

Fang Yizhi was not completely complimentary, so why not take this opportunity to curry favor with the emperor, not to mention that the usefulness of the steam engine was indeed far more useful than he imagined. However, when his words fell, he heard Zhu Daxian muttering in a low voice over there.

"I'm afraid that by then, there will be so many machines and not so much cotton."

Although this voice was very soft, it still reached Zhu Mingzhong's ears, and his brows furrowed, and he turned back to Zhu Daxian and asked.

"What? Is there a shortage of cotton in the market right now? ”

Faced with His Majesty's inquiry, Zhu Daxian followed, landed half behind His Majesty, and then replied.

"Back to Your Majesty, cotton has been in short supply in the market in the past two years, and even the price of cotton yarn and cotton cloth has risen."

"Oh? Is there such a thing? ”

Zhu Mingzhong asked with some puzzlement.

"It's been two years, it stands to reason that the people are profit-seeking, if the price of cotton is high, the people are naturally willing to plant?"

As he spoke, Zhu Mingzhong turned back to Fang Yizhi for proof.

"Do the people in the Northeast grow cotton?"

"Back to Your Majesty, the Northeast is not a cotton planting area, the people only grow small pieces of cotton, often for their own use, and the Northeast yarn mills are not prosperous, so there is no shortage of cotton for the time being. However, when the minister took the North Zhili this time, he did hear about it, and there was such a situation. In fact, in Yichen's view, this is mainly due to the fact that the Central Plains has been war-torn for a long time, and the cotton-producing areas have not yet resumed planting. And new hydraulic yarn machines are in the ascendant all over the south. For a time, the speed of cotton production could not keep up with the speed of spinning. That's why there will be a shortage of cotton, yarn, cloth and the like. ”

"Mi Zhi is surprised, and it has nothing to do with the fact that the cotton-producing areas have not yet resumed planting, and in the past two years, there have not only been cotton shortages, yarn shortages, cloth shortages, and even meat shortages in the market."

Although he reads the newspaper every day, Zhu Mingzhong really heard these words for the first time.

"Meat shortage? What kind of absurdity is this? ”

"Your Majesty, do you know what the price of meat is in the market now?"

Zhu Daxian asked and replied to himself.

"Since His Majesty expelled the Tartars and the world was peaceful, the price of goods in Zhongdu can be called "very cheap", in terms of meat. Pork is worth no more than 156 wen per catty, beef is worth 7-8 wen per catty, mutton is worth 156 salmon and shrimp per catty, and each catty is worth 10-15 wen, if it is salted fish meat is only seven or eight wen. ”

Unlike in another time and space, where beef is the "nobility of meat", the price of beef in this era is only half of that of pork, which is also the reason why the army eats more beef and salted fish, mainly because it is cheap.

"But in the past two years, prices have risen sharply, and pork is worth more than 40 yuan per catty; mutton, worth more than 40 yuan per catty; Beef, worth more than 20 wen per catty; Donkey meat is worth more than 20 yuan per catty. The same is probably true everywhere in Jiangnan. ”

"So much?"

It has risen more than twice in two years, and such an increase really scared Zhu Mingzhong.

"Why, I didn't see it in the newspapers?"

"Because few people pay attention to this, they are more concerned about whether they can buy it than the price of meat!"

At this time, both Zhu Mingzhong and Fang Yizhi were stunned. Unlike the mainland, it is not a big problem to fill your stomach in the Northeast, as long as you spend a little effort to open a little barren land, you will have corncakes to eat. Corn, a high-yielding crop that is both hardy and drought-tolerant, has been an essential food on the table of early settlers. As for wanting to eat meat, it is also very easy to solve, there are countless birds and beasts in the grassland and woodlands of the Northeast region, wild deer, wild sheep, pheasants are flocks, wild geese, wild ducks and other wild things fly up to cover the sky and the sun, as long as you are willing to go out hunting, there are countless wild things to eat. Even if you don't have time to go out hunting and buy at the market, the price is very cheap, and it can even be said that it is ridiculously cheap. Naturally, there can't be a problem that you can't buy.

"Why can't I buy it when the price is high?"

Fang Yizhi asked in surprise.

"The price is high because the supply of meat in the market is insufficient, and the supply is insufficient because the people eat more."

How much do people eat?

Zhu Mingzhong's eyes widened in surprise, how much do the people have to eat before they can eat and be supplied?

"Your Majesty, now the people in the countryside of Daming have more than ten acres of land per capita, relying only on the land can be worry-free, they raise pigs and sheep in addition to their own food, often sold to the towns, but still can not meet the appetite of the people in the towns, as far as the minister knows, in the first year of Xingqian, ordinary families in the south of the Yangtze River can eat meat every three days, and now even in the northern countryside, they will eat meat every two days, if they meet a family that likes to eat meat, eating a meal of meat every day can be said to be a common thing, the people eat more, The people can not raise pigs and sheep supply, naturally there is a meat shortage, as far as the minister knows, the people in the countryside have raised pigs and sheep, if the family raises a few pigs, the output must exceed the output of the land grain, and even the countryside has to feed the pigs with grain, now the grain is cheap and the meat is expensive, the people are naturally happy to do so, so, in the opinion of the minister, the meat shortage is a temporary situation, but the cotton shortage ......"

Zhu Daxian's words made Zhu Mingzhong a little dumbfounded, but in just six years, the people of the world have become so rich? Come to think of it, after all, there are fewer people and more people now, so it is naturally a "prosperous age".

Looking at His Majesty, Zhu Daxian shook his head and said.

"This kind of cotton picking can be said to be extremely hard, rather than so hard, it is better to raise a few more pigs and sheep, so, even if the price of cotton is high now, the people are not willing to plant cotton, it is really because the people see that it is unprofitable to plant cotton, so this cotton shortage seems to the ministers, not only will it not be solved for a while and a half, but it may even become more and more intense, after all, now the people are not short of that money to buy new clothes."

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