In early September, Li Zhi began to buy grain from the gentry in the Shandong market. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

At this time, all kinds of news that were not conducive to grain prices were constantly released by the "Shandong Daily". After Li Zhi's repeated suppression, the price of grain in the market has become very cheap, basically one or two or eight dollars and one stone. Li Zhi had earned more than 7 million taels of silver by buying grain low and throwing it high, and at this time, he took out 4.5 million taels of it and bought 2.5 million stone of grain in the Shandong market.

More than 2 million stones of grain from other provinces turned around and returned to Li Zhi's hands.

The gentry in Shandong had previously bought more than 2 million stone of grain at a price of more than 5 taels and 1 stone, and at this time they sold all of them to Li Zhi at the price of 128 yuan and 1 stone, and the price difference between one in and one out was as high as 327 yuan per stone, and Li Zhi earned 8 or 9 million taels of silver, and the loss was not unbearable.

Li Zhi bought back the more than 2 million stone of grain, first of all, to provide sufficient heat for the farmers who planted in the autumn and harvested in the summer.

Winter wheat is generally sown in the ninth lunar month and matures in May of the following year. The time for sowing and harvesting wheat is the busy farming period, which adds up to about a month. During this month, the labor intensity of farmers is very high, and they cannot get enough calories by eating only one and a half catties of sweet potatoes. During this time, Li Zhi provided a well-fed meal for each "male" and "strong female", that is, an adult man and a woman. In addition to one and a half catties of sweet potatoes, each adult male and female also has a catty of rice or rice flour.

The peasants of this era had a high labor intensity, and there was no meat in their food, and the consumption of grain was far greater than that of ordinary people who ate meat every day in later generations. If it is a period of heavy physical labor, it is normal to eat one and a half catties of rice a day. The food provided by Li Zhi to them is also equivalent to one and a half catties of rice.

This month's food supply needs to consume about 800,000 stone of grain from Li Zhi.

Li Zhi told Cui He that he wanted to let the people eat a few more meals, not let the peasants eat enough food all year round. Li Zhi's funds and resources are also limited, to be honest, even if Li Zhi smashes the pot and sells iron, he will not be able to make more than 10 million people in Shandong eat ten percent of the whole year. Li Zhi asked the people to eat a few more meals, so that the people could be fed when the farm was busy, and not let the farmers delay the farming time because they had no food.

Since the eighth day of the ninth lunar month, all the strong men who need to work in the fields have been led from the relief station to produce one pound of rice or rice per day.

The farmers were worried that they would not be able to hold up one and a half pounds of sweet potatoes when they were busy with farming, but when they learned the news that Jin Guogong had given another grain, they were moved to tears one by one.

There is enough food to eat during the autumn planting and summer harvest, and the agricultural time is not delayed, and this year's harvest is guaranteed. When the winter wheat matures in May of the following year, the lives of the people of Shandong will be back on track.

In the Ming Dynasty, Taoism was the state religion, and Li Zhi, the prince of Jinguo, was very kind and virtuous, and he was regarded as a god by the people. In many places in Shandong, there are people who are the ancestral hall of Li Zhili, the prince of Jinguo.

Although the peasants had no money, most of these ancestral halls were renovated from abandoned small temples, which were very simple, often only enshrined in a tablet, or asked a craftsman to pinch a small clay statue of the Duke of Jinguo. But the people are sincerely grateful to Li Zhi, and incense is constantly burning in the humble ancestral halls everywhere.

Li Zhi bought 2.5 million stone of grain, 800,000 stone for the peasants during the busy farming period, and 1.5 million stone for the peasants to eat when they were preparing to build water conservancy and reclaim new fields in Shandong Province.

The problem exposed by the current drought in Shandong is the inadequacy of water conservancy facilities.

Water conservancy facilities have a great impact on food production and can help local communities survive disasters and famines - not that they can turn disaster years into good years, but that water conservancy facilities can expand the planting area, increase local food production, and keep grain stocks at a high level. With enough food stocks, even if there is a disaster in a few years, the people will not be displaced.

For example, the people in a place should eat 1,000 stone of grain every year, and if there are enough water conservancy facilities and enough irrigation fields, they can produce 1,200 stone of grain every year. Even if one of the six years is a disaster year, the people will be able to survive the disaster year by relying on the 1,000 stone of grain stored in the previous five years.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the actual situation in various localities was that the population was still growing by inertia, but the water conservancy facilities did not keep up, and the grain output not only did not increase, but declined slightly. The income from the fields of the Chongzhen Dynasty was declining every year, although there were reasons why the gentry hid their fields and did not pay taxes, and another reason was the dilapidated water conservancy facilities.

In such a situation, it is usually okay, and you can survive when you are hungry, but when you encounter a disaster year, it is a chaotic situation. In the year of the disaster, the people had no food to eat, so they all became thieves and robbers, fighting each other for their limited food.

This year's Shandong almost staged this tragedy.

Shandong is now regarded by Li Zhi as a bag, and Li Zhi certainly can't let such a thing happen in Shandong again. Li Zhi planned to build water conservancy in Shandong, use the dragon tail car and dam to irrigate the dry land, develop new fields, and expand grain output.

The 150 stone of grain that Li Zhi bought was for the farmers to eat. When the land is cleared, the physical exertion is high, and the heat supply must keep up.

However, it is not enough to build water conservancy facilities with labor alone, and there must be personnel who are proficient in water conservancy to take command. Based on this purpose, Li Zhi transferred Zheng Hui from Taiwan and asked him to take the "water conservancy workers" from Hsinchu to develop water conservancy facilities in Shandong.

On September 12, Li Zhi greeted Zheng Hui on the dock in Jiaozhou.

Zheng Hui wore the red military attache robe of the second grade and came to Shandong on the 5,000-material ironclad ship Yangwei. When he saw Li Zhi who greeted him on the dock, he was very excited, and quickly ran ashore from the board of the boat and knelt down in front of Li Zhi, and said loudly: "Shocked Grandpa Guo to greet him personally, the lower official is flattered!" ”

Li Zhi helped Zheng Hui up and said with a smile: "Zheng Hui, you have worked hard, you have done a good job in developing water conservancy in Taiwan, and now Shandong needs to develop, and you also need your people to show their skills." ”

Zheng Hui stood up and arched his hand and said: "Grandpa Guo, rest assured, this water conservancy development in Shandong will definitely not be missed." ”

Zheng Hui pointed to a thin black man beside him and said: "This is Jing Yishan, Chongzhen has followed me to engage in water conservancy in Hsinchu since 12 years, his brain is the most flexible, and he is also very principled. There is no water conservancy project he has handled, which is not strong and durable, and benefits one party. ”

Li Zhi looked at the man, saw that he was wearing a military attache uniform, and knew that this must be a cadre under Zheng Hui, and said with a smile: "Jing Yishan, I want you to contribute this time." ”

Jing Yishan seemed to be a little arrogant, but he didn't kneel down for Li Zhi. He made a long gesture towards Li Zhi, then stood up straight and said, "Grandpa Guo, don't worry, this time I brought five hundred 'water conservancy workers', and most of the water conservancy workers in Hsinchu were brought by me. We have been busy in Shandong for a year, and we will definitely raise Shandong's water conservancy facilities to a higher level. ”

Li Zhi looked at the confident Jing Yishan, looked at the hundreds of water conservancy workers who came down from the boat one after another, and nodded.