According to Xu Muhe's estimates, even if we take into account the issuance of loans, grain as bank reserves, the expansion of the new army and factories, the new recruitment of a large number of displaced people, and even the education system of Qi Province, which is about to begin to be rebuilt, the surplus grain this year will not be less than 30 million catties.

This is still based on the fact that there is still a part of the grain stock in the private sector.

If you count next year, then it will be richer in terms of food.

Now it has been decided, the Li family will ship 1 million stones, a contract of 1500000 catties of grain next year!

This figure alone is equivalent to twice the income of Qi Province this year.

The Governor's Office believes that even if there is a series of disasters in the next three years and the entire province does not harvest a single grain, there will not be much problem in terms of grain.

Of course, it is impossible to harvest no grains, and even with a huge amount of grain in its hands, the Governor's Office still attaches great importance to agricultural production.

Xu Muhe issued several orders in succession, requiring the subordinate counties in the territory to repair agricultural tools and feed their livestock in preparation for the interplanting of beans and wheat sorghum starting next year.

In addition, the Metropolitan Government has introduced various policies to encourage land reclamation.

As the old saying goes, if you have food in your hands, you don't panic in your heart.

There is also a saying, sharpening a knife is not a mistake for a woodcutter.

Xu Shiyang believed that when there was a large amount of surplus grain, Qi Province should inherit the effective experience of mobilizing a large number of laborers to build the Yellow River defense line, build water conservancy within the control area, and transform the soil.

In the past, the salinization of land in Qi Province was very serious, except for a few cultivated land that was taken care of all year round, even if many other wastelands were reclaimed, there would be not enough water sources for irrigation and no channels for flood discharge, and the income would definitely be very limited.

In the absence of a large-scale chemical industry, salinization can only be managed by hydraulic systems – irrigation systems to keep mineralized groundwater below a critical point of 2.5 to 3 metres, and drainage systems to drain the salt from the land.

On the other hand, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, TG, which was poor and white, relied on the hands of working people to build a relatively developed water conservancy system, and made brilliant achievements in reversing land salinization.

Xu Shiyang didn't have that kind of appeal, but he felt that it was not impossible to use the large surplus grain to encourage the workers to build a simple version of the water conservancy system in this Qi province.

Since ancient times, the construction of water conservancy has been the foundation and proof of the strength of the dynasty, and Xu Muhe, who wants to sit on that chair, naturally understands this.

After Xu Shiyang proposed a plan to build water conservancy, the governor of Qi Province gritted his teeth and said:

"There is a Zhengguo Canal, Guanzhong is fertile soil, there is no fierce year, Qin is rich and strong, and annexes all countries!"

"This sincerity is a temporary fee, and Yongning is also!"

As a result, Qi Province began large-scale water conservancy construction.

In order to show the importance he attaches to water conservancy work, Xu Muhe personally served as a water control officer, and asked Xu Mujiang, who was in seclusion, to re-emerge from the mountain and take charge of the front-line work of water control.

After all, Xu Mujiang is the descendant of the Xu family, and he has also been the head of the Xu family, and when he does not control military power and financial power, he came out to do something within his ability, and Xu Shiyang did not object.

And so it was settled.

According to the plan, Qi Province will mobilize at least 20 million workers (meaning the workload of one laborer in a day) every year to build water conservancy, and this will continue to be done permanently.

In order to ensure that so much labor is not wasted, the military will send out troops to suppress lawlessness by managing water conservancy sites with the authorities.

All labor and animal power required for water conservancy shall be compensated according to the standard grain.

To this end, the Governor's Office established a workload standard whereby each worker would receive a ration of food if he completed the workload on time.

If the workload is exceeded, the replenishment will also increase.

Under the influence of Xu Shiyang, the ration standard of supply given by the Governor's Office to migrant workers was close to that of another plane, the food subsidy given to the former migrant workers during the Huaihai Campaign.

In addition, according to the different labor forces, large livestock such as cattle, horses, mules, donkeys, and camels will also be given subsidies for grain, forage, and beans.

Coupled with salt and Indian cloth, Xu hopes that the laborers involved in water conservancy work will see this heavy labor as a major source of income, not a chore, let alone an old-fashioned labor that requires human lives.

This large-scale mobilization of manpower, in addition to raising the level of agriculture in Qi Province in a few years, can also instill a minimum of discipline and the concept of cooperation in the large number of strong laborers involved in water conservancy work.

Should there be a need, they would be an excellent source of troops.

Of course, with such mobilization, the water conservancy project alone would have removed about 100,000 laborers from agricultural production.

Combined with the continuous expansion of the army, factories and mines at all levels, and the increasingly sophisticated institutions of local government, it is not surprising that the number of people who will be separated from agricultural production will exceed 180,000 next year, and it is not impossible to reach 200,000.

Under such circumstances, how to rapidly expand human resources has become the biggest bottleneck in the development of Qi Province.

Still according to the statistics of the Governor's Office, after repelling the all-out attack of the Tartars, Qi Province carried out another round of household and people work, and most of the original Wubao owners who were unwilling to release the serfs succumbed to the strong military deterrence of the Governor's Office, and the registered population of Qi Province had an explosive growth.

Then, after the New Army completed its expansion, it took brigades as units to take turns to eliminate bandits in the territory, firstly as training and secondly, to release the population who had been forced to be removed from the bandits.

Now, a few months later, the anti-bandit operation has achieved phased results, and the large-scale bandit villages in Qi Province have been conquered, with a population of about 100,000.

These people are also scattered throughout Qi Province, both to avoid them in tandem and to increase the local labor force.

In addition, since the Tartar province was no longer a threat, it gradually became a new destination for Jiangbei displaced people.

The Governor's Mansion also did not refuse to come, so much so that even the displaced people in the Yanyun region who had just been destroyed by the Tartars came to Qi Province after a lot of hardships.

The current statistics show that Qi Province can now take care of about 300 displaced people every day, and it can reach more than 100,000 people in a year, and the speed of arrival of displaced people is gradually accelerating.

Finally, with the addition of newborn children under the policy of encouraging births, the total registered population of Qi Province is 1.35 million.

If 200,000 people were to leave agricultural production, the proportion would reach 14.8 percent, which is already more than the general mobilization efficiency of the great powers during World War II.

This is definitely a very heavy burden in an era dominated by agriculture.

Therefore, both the governor Xu Muhe and the commander of the new army, Xu Shiyang, racked their brains about how to increase the population.

It is necessary to find ways to attract more displaced people, and it is also necessary to encourage childbirth policies that provide financial subsidies to pregnant women, infants and young children.

It's just that these are far from quenching thirst, and Xu Shiyang still hopes to get a large number of people from other places at one time.

So, where can you get the population?

"Qi Province has it."

Zhao Lin, who had a big belly, sat on the bed, eating a boiled egg, and muttered:

"I'm afraid it has to have a population of 100,000, right?"