The news that dogs can hear is certainly not a secret.

In fact, since Wang Ningan had just entered the political hall, he ordered to investigate and find out, and he wanted to promote commercial agriculture and provide more products, and the first thing he faced was the food problem.

If there is not enough food, there is no point in producing more vegetables and livestock products.

What's more, no matter how you breed pigs and sheep, you need feed, five catties of grain into one catty of meat, almost an iron law, without sufficient food, everything is empty talk.

After really taking the helm of the Great Song Dynasty, Wang Ningan deeply realized that many things are really not as simple as imagined.

If anyone thinks that if you make a steam engine or a textile machine, you can start industrialization and sweep the world, then you can only say that you are too naïve.

What is industrialization, in short, is a process in which capital and technology continue to increase and exclude labor, and to put it bluntly, it is to replace manpower with machines, and through advanced technology and effective management, constantly increase production and improve efficiency.

The problem is that machines can replace people, but machines will also age and depreciate, so people continue to invest more and more to feed the industrial system, to put it bluntly, this is a gold-swallowing monster.

It is only when it is raised to a certain extent that industry can make up for agriculture.

Before that, the industrial behemoth will not hesitate to absorb all kinds of materials, urban and rural differences, rural poverty, all kinds of problems, endlessly.

However, when the productive forces are still very low, the peasants do not have much surplus, and they simply cannot stand up to the Dafa of absorbing stars.

The peasants of the Great Song Dynasty are very capable, but one Ding Zhuang can only feed three people at most.

A family of five, two men, a year, can be sold food, only enough for one or two people to eat, this is still a good year.

If you catch up with natural disasters, such as this time, since Qingli, the temperature has been dropping, but the winter of the seventh year of Jiayou is a warm winter.

There is little precipitation, the weather is dry, and if nothing else, there will definitely be a locust plague.

According to their estimates, Yongxing Military Road, Qinfeng Road, Hebei Dongxi Road, and Gyeonggi, almost the entire north, will see a decline in grain production.

At least 20 percent, and even in some areas, it will break through 50 percent.

If there is a large-scale locust plague, it is not impossible that the harvest will be lost.

There are 40 million people living in these areas, and no matter how conservative the estimates are, at least 10 million people will be affected by the disaster, and three to four million people will lack food and need relief.

As a result, it was delivered, and even Sima Guang was dumbfounded.

He was worried, "Master, even if you let the disaster victims drink porridge, three or four million people, you will still get 5 million pieces of food. But in fact, the number needed is far more than this, even if there are 10 million stones, it is not much! ”

Wang Ningan knew what he meant, "Are you worried that the local government will be greedy for ink and throttle, and there will be people hoarding Juqi?" ”

"That's not all, because we've been too aggressive in developing cities lately. At present, the urban population of the entire north has exceeded 30 percent of the total population, and in some places it has reached more than 40 percent. Cities are densely populated and have super purchasing power. If there is a shortage of food, the cities will continue to raise prices and frantically absorb grain from the countryside. At that time, the rural people were presented with a hungry stomach on the one hand, but some people took away the grain and gave it to the city. The people's grievances are boiling, and if someone provokes them, it will be out of control. ”

Wang Ningan took a deep breath, "So we not only have to relieve the victims, but also stabilize the price of food in the city, and crack down on speculation anytime and anywhere, only in this way can we protect the overall situation." ”

"Hmm!"

Sima Guang's face was ugly, "Master, there is one more thing, I want to remind you, the bond market and the stock market have been established, and someone has come up with a new way to play last year. In the past, merchants would agree with each other to deliver certain goods at a certain price at a certain time in the future. This was originally a credit commitment between merchants, but later it was discovered that there would be a gap between the delivery time and the price of the commodity and the present, which may be high or low, and it is profitable. ”

"That's why futures appeared!"

Wang Ning'an's head is big, these modern things, don't really think how good they are, if you get the ancient times, you can go smoothly and unfavorably.

In fact, what is too far ahead of its time tends to be counterproductive.

From the point of view of political economy, the superstructure ahead of the times will have a bad effect on the economic base, and this is the case now!

Think about it with your toes, and you can know it.

Futures are out, the weather is dry, and it is a large-scale drought, and there will definitely be people who predict the shortage of food, and then speculate on the price of food.

Food prices are soaring, and no matter what the imperial court thinks, there will be people hoarding Juqi, which will add fuel to the fire.

What can I do?

Pinch futures?

Is there a ban ordered?

Perhaps this is the easiest way to do it.

But such a good invention was killed in advance?

Can you do it?

At this moment, Wang Ningan suddenly figured out that there were too many criticisms of Confucianism in later generations, of course, Wang Ningan was not used to Confucianism, and even more disregarded science. But I have to admit that their relatively conservative choices, their attitude of fear of new things, the pursuit of stability, and the pursuit of the same cannot be said to be reasonable, at least understandable.

After all, controlling a huge sea ship cannot tolerate the slightest mistake, otherwise the consequences will be too serious.

Even if Wang Ning'an, as a traverser, is a little powerless in the face of this situation.

"Junshi, what are your ways to deal with it now?"

"There are three main aspects, one of which is to raise as much grain as possible, especially to transfer grain from the south to fill the local standing position in case of emergency. It's just that in recent years, more and more cotton and mulberry trees have been planted in the south of the Yangtze River, and many fish and rice towns have been unable to produce grain, and they have to be transferred from outside. Therefore, Jiangnan can't get much food, so it can only rely on Jinghu and Bashu. In addition, Lingnan and Jiaozhi have been squeezed almost over the years, I estimate that a maximum of 3 million stones can be raised, and it is impossible to raise more, considering the consumption on the road, it will not exceed 1.5 million stones. ”

"The second aspect is to organize the people to fight the disaster, dig deep wells, send people to monitor, once there are signs of locust plague, take advantage of the locusts have not yet taken off, immediately cull them, and try to maintain the yield."

"As for the third aspect, it is to limit the cities from raising food prices, to set minimum and maximum prices, and if necessary, to shut down the futures market."

……

Sima Guang kept talking and talked a lot.

Wang Ningan knows the skills of his apprentices, not to mention that these are not only Sima Guang's opinions alone, but also so many professional bureaucrats and their collective wisdom.

Obviously, ordinary means have been thought of, and Wang Ningan will not be more clever than them.

"Tell me, how big is the gap?"

Sima Guang had a relaxed expression on his face.

He likes to do things under Wang Ning'an, the master always has ideas that others can't think of, in fact, with their intelligence, they can do seven or eight points, the difference is just a little, but this can be fatal!

And Wang Ningan is the stroke of genius!

"We have calculated, we have made every effort to raise it, and we have used all kinds of means, and we can squeeze out 3.5 million to 4 million stones, if we are careful, we can actually survive."

Wang Ning Anxin said this, after all, the ups and downs, the Great Song Dynasty has gone through more than a hundred years, and the problems they have faced will not be much easier than this time, if these people are so good, the Great Song Dynasty would have died long ago.

Sima Guang raised the problem because Wang Ning'an's tossing made the urbanization of the Great Song Dynasty increase even more, various advanced financial instruments appeared, and the issuance of currency increased, which made the capital in the hands of some people skyrocket.

Don't think that's a good thing.

Capital represents purchasing power and is also a power to influence society.

For the sake of profit, those who control capital can bring progress or destruction, and they must not be careless.

Wang Ningan pondered for a while, and then said: "Judging from the current situation, if we want to maintain the prosperity and stability of the Great Song Dynasty, and develop steadily, we must get an additional 500 to 6 million grains, and with these grains as the foundation, we can easily survive the famine year!" ”

Sima Guang nodded vigorously, "What Master said is so right, only Master can do this thing, and the disciple believes in Master." ”

"Alas, I don't know if you are my master, or if I am your master? How can there be any reason to push difficult things to the master? Do you still know how to respect the old and love the young? ”

Sima Guang smiled, "Master, it seems that you are not as old as your disciple, and you are more than ten years older than the emperor...... Therefore, respecting the old and loving the young should be the Master's hard work! ”

Wang Ningan was so angry that his face was red and his neck was thick, and these rabbit cubs were getting bolder and bolder.

"Get out of here, I'm too lazy to see you!"

Sima Guang hurriedly got up and walked outside, and when he arrived at the door, Wang Ning'an's voice came slowly, "I will find a way to deal with the food, only a little more...... You give me a good look below, whoever dares to make a fortune will cut off his head, don't be polite. ”

"Yes!"

Sima Guang replied, dragging a long voice, unable to hide his joy.

Master is Master, and there is a way!

Sima Guangxing hurriedly went down to arrange it, and Wang Ningan was also planning where to get food.

……

While their master and apprentice were talking, in a courtyard in Xijing, two old men in navy blue robes looked at the sky and showed a smile of relief.

They were none other than the wise elders under the throne of Hoshan, as well as Musavi.

"According to our people's observations and astronomical calculations, there will be a drought in the Great Song Dynasty this year, and it is a very serious drought that will affect tens of millions of people." Mousavi bowed and said.

Elder Wisdom smiled slightly, "There is nothing unusual about this, as long as the winter is spent here, it will be clear that when the winter is no longer cold, disaster will brew in the summer!" The gods are fair, and it is a mistake to give the Central Plains the best conditions and unparalleled prosperity. God is going to take back his grace and bring calamity! ”

These two people have been secretly observing the Great Song Dynasty, they initially thought that if the emperor died, there would be chaos, who knew that everything was calm and calm.

The emperor's son succeeded to the throne smoothly, and the important ministers of the court were still diligent and diligent, assisting the new monarch without any panic. The empire quickly recovered from its grief and continued to move forward at a brisk pace...... They're going to despair!

What kind of monster is this?

An emperor who has been in office for 42 years has died, and he is unharmed, oh my God, is there anything more ridiculous?