Xu Guangqi has actually been paying attention to the situation in the northwest, after several years of investigation and research, he has already had a detailed plan for the development of the northwest, in the past, he wanted to use the knife of the righteous army to solve the problem of the clan, the northwest could not develop, so he has not mentioned it to Zhu Cijiong, now the rebels and the clan have been solved, the emperor also asked, he was trying to tell the plate, but he didn't expect the emperor to suddenly look embarrassed and stop talking!

He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?" “

Zhu Cijiong sighed: "Thinking that the northwest will be abandoned for ten years, I feel uncomfortable, such a large territory can not only not create benefits, but also consume a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain, it is a pity, if the northwest can develop, the development speed of the Ming Dynasty can at least double." “

Xu Guangqi suddenly said when he heard this: "The emperor forgives the sin, it is Weichen who did not make it clear, what Weichen means is that it will take ten years before the northwest can sow crops normally, as for now, although it cannot be sown as in normal times, but it is still possible to plant some crops if you think of a way, but the yield may be a little lower, and there is no need to waste ten years." “

Zhu Cijiong asked anxiously when he heard this: "Oh, what can be planted, and how much lower will the yield be?" “

Xu Guangqi did not answer immediately, but looked at his student Chen Zilong proudly, and said with satisfaction: "These are all what Zilong is doing, let him tell the emperor in detail." “

Chen Zilong was stunned when he heard this, he thought that he was purely here to observe, but he didn't expect to speak, of course, the prefect has not been in vain in recent years, he quickly reacted, this is the opportunity for the teacher to show himself, he hurriedly said respectfully: "Your Majesty, this is the case, before Weichen went to Liaodong to take office, the teacher confessed, and asked Weichen to study which crops are drought resistant in Liaodong, and how to grow crops in arid areas." After Weichen arrived in Liaodong, after a detailed understanding, he found that the drought in some areas in the western part of the inland of Liaodong was also relatively serious, almost similar to that in the northwest, so he organized people to conduct experiments there. The results are: wheat, sorghum, potatoes, soybeans, rape and other crops are relatively drought tolerant, and generally in the seedling stage more water requirements are relatively high, as long as the seedling period is passed, generally about ten days of irrigation can ensure the harvest, but this harvest is about one percent lower than other places. “

It is only one percent, that is, ten percent, this is not a problem at all, you must know that there are three or four hundred million acres of land in the northwest, and now most of it is deserted, if all of it is used, how much can it produce! Zhu Cijiong asked excitedly: "How did you solve the problem of irrigation, now there are only a few rains a year in many places in the northwest, and it is not possible to rely on the weather for food." “

Chen Zilong hurriedly explained: "The main thing is to divert the water of the Liao River for irrigation, so Weichen organized people to dig a lot of channels to introduce the water of the Liao River into areas where there is no water source, and then build water trucks and dig irrigation canals. “

In fact, the drought in the northwest during this period has really eased, and the flow of the Yellow River and its tributaries is relatively sufficient, which Zhu Cijiong noticed when he drove his own expedition, and there are also records of Li Zicheng's flooding of Kaifeng in the history books, and the diversion of the Yellow River water can flood the entire Kaifeng City, and irrigation of farmland is naturally not a problem.

Since digging ditches to divert water can solve the problem, it is not a bad problem, Zhu Cijiong drew a circle around the arid areas such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan, and asked with hope: "How many diversion canals will be dug in this area, and how many manpower will be needed?" “

He also doesn't have a backache when he stands and talks, his stroke is two or three million square kilometers of land, and such a large place can't be seen how terrifying it is on the map, and when it comes to the actual area, it can scare people to death!

Unexpectedly, Chen Zilong was not only not scared to death, but said confidently: "Weichen has calculated that there are about more than 300 million mu of cultivated land in the arid areas of Northwest China, and according to the calculation of one labor per 100 mu, it will take about three or four million laborers. However, if you want to divert water for a long distance, you need to make the riverbed of the diversion canal solid, otherwise the water seepage is too strong, and the water may not be too far, so that a labor force of 100 acres is not enough. “

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he waved his hand excitedly and said: "Don't be stocky, pour cement directly, basically there is not much water seepage after the cement is dry, but now I am afraid that there is not so much labor in the northwest, Chuyang, how many guards are there in the northwest now?" “

After the great migration of the northwest, in addition to the large and small cities, other places except for Tunwei are the population controlled by the clan and the local heroes, the peasant rebel army has been in trouble for almost ten years, and the sect and the local heroes have basically been killed by them, that is to say, now in the northwest in addition to the urban population, there are only the families of the tunwei and the thieves, so Zhu Cijiong has this question.

When Sun Yuanhua heard this, he hurriedly replied: "Back to the emperor, there were more than 1.3 million households in the northwest, and according to the average of five people per household, there were about 6 million people, and in recent years, the emperor has probably requisitioned more than 500,000 regular soldiers to form a legion, and now there are about 1 million young and strong laborers, about 2 million available laborers, and the remaining 2 million are old, weak, sick and disabled. “

In other words, it is enough to use Tunwei and his family, Zhu Cijiong said excitedly: "Okay, you cooperate with Zilong to plan and move all the ordinary people to the area along the river, and in other places, Tunwei will dig canals and plant crops." “

At this time, Yang Sichang, who had not spoken, suddenly spoke, and he said a little worriedly: "Your Majesty, please forgive Weichen for talking too much, more than half of the northwest is the land of the sect, why can they agree with the emperor to do this?" “

This guy is really upright enough, no wonder he offended so many people during the Chongzhen Dynasty, of course, he didn't mean that he was afraid that people would not agree, but to remind Zhu Cijiong that he was cheapening those moths in the sect for nothing!

Naturally, he didn't have to worry about this problem, Zhu Cijiong and Xu Guangqi glanced at each other faintly, and then pretended to sigh: "Alas, these thieves, I don't know how much enmity they have with the royal family, the royal family in the northwest has almost been killed by them, where are there any clans, now all these lands are back to me, two or three hundred million acres, all abandoned there, you Aiqing, think about it, how much pressure I have!" “

He is a typical example of getting cheap and selling well, and he has an extra two or three hundred million mu of land in his name for nothing, and he complains about this kind of good thing, except for him, the emperor, where can anyone else think of it!

Sun Yuanhua was typically blinded by his acting skills, and asked stupidly: "Your Majesty, how to calculate the output of this guard, they also have to support their families, they can't let them work in vain, right?" “

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he said generously: "Let them let go of planting, they can plant as many as they can, and the rent will be exempted, and I will share half of what they grow." “

This is a little taken for granted by him, even if people let go of planting, they can't plant much land, a prime-age laborer can work hard to take care of twenty acres of land is the limit, and the old, weak, sick and disabled are counted as prime-aged laborers, and there is still more than half of the land that can't be planted!

Chen Zilong is an expert in this area, and he couldn't help but remind him cautiously when he heard this: "Your Majesty, Weichen is courageous, a middle-aged laborer can take care of up to twenty acres of land a year, and no matter how much, they can't grow it if they are tired." “

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he couldn't help but blush, didn't Nima say that more than 80% of the land had to be wasted!