In the autumn of the thirteenth year of Hongwu, the Central Plains ushered in an unprecedented bumper harvest.

This year, the weather was beautiful, the wind and rain in Qi were smooth, and the bumper harvest of grain greatly relieved the pressure on the Qi court.

When the tax came up, the first thing Yang Hao did was to pay the long-overdue pensions to the families of the fallen soldiers in the year.

Being in arrears for so long has made Yang Hao extremely guilty, but the consumption of the war is too great, and before the tax, the treasury is clean and even the rats are rarely willing to patronize.

This year's bumper harvest was not accidental, thanks to the accumulation of more than ten years of Qi State.

In the past ten years of attempts and explorations, the agriculture of Qi has been extremely perfect, and various agricultural tools have been developed.

With the popularization of iron tools among the people, the efficiency of agriculture has been greatly enhanced.

According to rough statistics, in the thirteenth year of Hongwu alone, the area of newly added cultivated land in Qi has almost reached more than one-fifth of the total area before the twelfth year of Hongwu.

A lot of arable land, means a lot of people.

Yang Hao is very satisfied with this.

Due to the long time to come, he is ready to pause the pace of expansion and turn most of his energy to people's livelihood.

This was a major decision, and for this reason, Yang Hao convened a great court meeting at the end of October of the thirteenth year of Hongwu, focusing on the next policies to be implemented.

Agriculture and industry were the top priorities, and Yang Hao appropriately encouraged the activities of the small merchant class.

And for the first time, he put forward the guiding ideology that scholars, peasants, workers, and workers are the foundation of the country.

The four people are in order, and the country and the people are safe.

At the court meeting, Wei, who was already full of gray hair, was in an excellent mental state.

Wei Dao: "My lord, the minister thinks that in the next few years, the Ministry of Industry must focus on roads and steelmaking.

Roads are the blood of the country, and now the laying progress of the railroad track is limited by the output of steel, which greatly affects the major event of China's north-south communication.

After years of research, the Ministry of Industry has explored a set of methods to increase steel production, and believes that this method will be used to increase the number of steelmaking plants and find high-quality ore veins in the country.

”

Yang Hao raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and his face was full of surprise.

There are more than two railways, which is a great test for the productivity of Qi country.

In his estimate, it is already a miracle that he can build the railway from Tonglingzhou to Chang'an in a few years.

And now that someone told him to fix at least two, his first reaction was that it was.

But the person who said this became a serious secretary of the Ministry of Works, which made him a little excited.

hurriedly asked, "Is what Wei Aiqing said true?" ”

Wei confidently said: "The minister does not dare to lie, recently Chang'an Ironworks has carried out many experiments on the new process, and the results can be improved several times compared with the original steelmaking technology.

The two railroad tracks didn't think it was a problem.

”

Yang Hao was overjoyed when he heard this.

"Yes, yes! All those who participate in the improvement of the process are all promoted by one level, and those who do not have official positions are promoted by three times. ”

Wei Dao: "The king is wise! ”

"Let's take note of this matter for the time being, Wei Shangshu, you arrange it, on the first day of the first month of next month, this king will go to the steel mill to inspect, if it is really as Aiqing said, this matter should be a key project, and the court will ask people to give people and money to money.

It is imperative that this be implemented within a year.

”

At this time, the head of the household department said: "The king, the minister is opposed. ”

Yang Hao frowned and said, "Why opposition?" ”

"The king, although steel is important, but the people take food as the sky, the minister thinks that the court still focuses on farming, if the people can't eat enough, even if there is steel, what can the king think."

And Yin also stood up to express his support for Tobe Shangshu's opinion.

Yang Hao frowned, what Hubu Shangshu said was good, there was nothing to eat, everything else was nonsense.

I almost forgot about this just now, and I was just immersed in the joy of increasing steel production.

But they ignore how much material and manpower will be invested in the new steel plant.

Although this year is a bumper harvest, but the country of Qi is still not rich, if the imperial court comes up with too much money to discover the steel industry, then in the event of a natural disaster or war, they will have no money to use.

Yang Hao, who calmed down, said in a deep voice: "The head of the household is reasonable, so let's discuss the matter of building a new steel plant later." ”

Wei nodded, didn't raise any objections, and sat back in his place after bowing to Yang Hao.

The meeting lasted for a day, and was discussed by many officials with their own opinions.

Finally, a draft called the Five-Year Plan was formulated, which included a series of development plans for the next five years or so, regarding the agriculture, industry, commerce, and military of Qi State.

However, Yang Hao felt a little regretful, if Qi could be richer, he could rest assured that he could boldly throw off his arms and carry out industrial reforms.

And the increase in steel production has undoubtedly reduced a lot of resistance for him.

Whether in modern times or in ancient times, the output of steel is a reflection of a country's strength.

Steel is a good thing, in addition to making weapons rails or other tools, the most important thing for Yang Hao is the steam engine.

If you want to realize the steam engine, steel is a must, and if the steam engine appears, it will also change the way of providing kinetic energy, which will once again lead to the increase of steel production.

And now Yang Hao can only succumb to reality, and the idea of the steam engine can only stay in the imagination at present.

Even if you have enough suitable steel and understand the principles of the steam engine, it is still a long way to go to put theory into practice.

By the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Yang Hao was nearly thirty-six or seventeen years old, and in terms of the average life expectancy of this era, he had lived long enough.

He didn't know if the world would give him enough time to reappear in the world what he knew before he was buried in the earth.

Now it seems that this idea is a bit extravagant.

Yang Hao's long sigh woke up Pu Jia on the side.

"King, why are you restless at such a late hour?"

Yang Hao touched Pu Jia's hair and said, "You sleep, I'm just thinking about the problem again." ”

Pu Jia moved into Yang Hao's arms and said softly: "The people think that the king must eat the best food in the world every day and wear the most gorgeous clothes.

But they didn't know that the king's food was not even as good as that of the rich and noble, and his clothes were patched on weekdays, and he worked for the country day and night.

The king worked so hard, and Pu Jia's heart ached.

”

Yang Hao said: "To be a monarch, you must have the consciousness of being a monarch, sitting in this position, you are no longer yourself, I am the country!" ”