"The Great Song Dynasty also has 150,000 Dragon Guards and 100,000 Combined Defense Forces. The Huangtou Hui and the Qingtang Tubo had been incorporated into the Great Song Dynasty, and it was inevitable that the Western Xia would march west alone in advance. The Jurchens made a lot of trouble, and Beiliao wanted to fight the Jurchens. Dali is fighting in the house, and Jiaozhi is playing real wax. On the border of the Great Song Dynasty, there will be no war for at least ten years. It is not impossible to send an expedition of 400,000 troops, but once this battle exceeds half a year, the Great Song Dynasty will have no food and grass to support. Of the 400,000 troops, 800,000 are likely to be buried elsewhere. Holy Lord, you have to think about it! Sima Guang knew that Zhao Ji was not joking, and he was also moved by the tenfold grain and grass supplement.

If 40 million stone of grain can be shipped back from India every year, then half of the Song Dynasty's ten-year plan to rule the world is equivalent to being realized. Not only Sima Guang was moved, but others were also moved, for an agricultural country, what is more important than food. However, they still don't quite believe what Zhao said. If the Chola Kingdom can produce so much grain, then how strong should the Chola Kingdom be? In an agrarian society, food means a population and a large army, and the difference between a strong and a weak country is the difference between total food production.

If Zhao Ji wants his proposal to be approved by the political affairs hall, he must make the basis clear, and it is useless to just guarantee it. In fact, Zhao Ji is not very confident, and he has a lot of thoughts about gambling.

Zhao Ji graduated from the Department of History in his later life, and he has a relatively good understanding of the colonial history of the Western European powers. The name of Shiran, later Sri Lanka, comes from the Arabic transliteration. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is a transliteration of later English. In later generations, Sri Lanka was known as the "Kingdom of Gemstones", and the ruby and sapphire produced in the country accounted for more than ninety percent of the world's production. Because of its brilliance, European colonizers called Sri Lanka the "tears of the Indian Ocean".

Now, most of the Great Song Dynasty's knowledge of the Chola Kingdom and the island of Shilan is relayed by Arab merchants. Shilan Island is the granary of the Chola Kingdom and the throat of the Indian Ocean and the Shiran Sea. The island has been the object of contention between Sriwijaya and Chola in a war that has been going on for nearly a millennium.

The topography of Shiran Island is flat, and because of the perfect development, the primeval forests on the island have disappeared hundreds of years ago and become a large granary. In the tropics, because of the rapid metabolism of animals and plants, most of the nutrients on the surface are stored in the plants, once the plants are cut down, in the absence of high-tech agriculture such as fertilizers and pesticides in later generations, it is difficult to operate agriculture in the tropics. The tropical rainforest can be said to be a green desert, which is why the agriculture of the South Seas countries was extremely backward before modern times.

In later generations, Thailand was a major rice producer and almost the breadbasket of Asia, but that was based on modern agriculture with pesticides and fertilizers in later generations. In this era, although there was also a water conservancy irrigation system near the capital of Chenla, however, the scale was small, the technology was backward, the copper and iron production was backward, and there was a lack of cheap steel farming tools, and they were blocked by endless forests.

The development of the Golden State is faced with such a problem: when the forest is cut down, the nutrients on the surface are taken away by the trees, and the barren land needs to be cultivated intensively, and pests and diseases must be prevented. From deforestation, to deep ploughing, to fertilization, the cost input is too great. Such barren land led to the four dynasties of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties in history, in the overseas expansion stage of the era of mainland expansion, overseas expansion did not achieve much effect, resulting in the slow development of civilization.

Zhao Ji really wanted to have a piece of land like the Great Plains in the middle of North America that could be cultivated, but the Great Song Dynasty faced the west coast of the Americas. Even if you go to the Americas, it's hard to get there. The South Seas are green deserts, and the Songhua River and Heilongjiang are under the control of the Northern Liao. The relocation of the capital to Jiangning and the development of Nanjing, the economic center, changed the pace of historical development, and the Great Song Dynasty would no longer lose the Central Plains as it did in history, and finally be destroyed by the Jurchen Mongols. Because after moving the capital to Jiangning and developing Nanjing as an economic center, the Great Song Dynasty has eliminated the dispute between the north and the south, and eliminated the possibility of separating feudal towns. In this way, there will be no internal friction of strong and weak branches, and it will be a matter of time before China is unified.

However, what Zhao Ji wants is not just to unify China, what Zhao Ji wants is to achieve a breakthrough in Chinese civilization and original industrial civilization. Of course, with the development of Golden State and Australia, it was only a matter of time before the original industrial civilization of the Great Song Dynasty was born. It's just that Zhao Ji didn't dare to entrust this mission to future generations, and in his lifetime, to achieve a breakthrough in civilization, this is Zhao Ji's goal.

India is an opportunity, and Shiran is a breakthrough. Unlike the South Seas, Shiran is affected by the marine monsoon, and it is not as hot as the South Sea and the Indian subcontinent, but it is still rainy. Importantly, the land of Shiran is very fertile.

The terrain of Shiran Island is very flat, with only a few hills in the north, and most of the land on the island is suitable for farmland. There is abundant rain, the land is fertile, and the rice can be harvested four times a year. Farmers don't even need to plow, they don't need to sow seeds, they don't need to work intensively, just the scattered grains in the ears of wheat can grow a new field of wheat after harvesting. Moreover, the yield of farmland is appallingly high.

For this reason, even though Sriwijaya and Chola were in a tug of war, wars, and water conservancy facilities were destroyed, it was still a big granary. Zhao still remembers what later generations did not know from which book he saw: during the 500 years of the Dutch, French, and British colonization of India, Shilandau was known as the "granary of Asia". It produces 70% of the food produced in Asia, not only for the Indian subcontinent, but also for half of Europe, free from European colonizers.

This statement may be an exaggeration. After all, in later generations, Sri Lanka will not be self-sufficient in food. Zhao Ji carefully analyzed it, which is related to agricultural technology in different eras. In this era, the Great Song Dynasty produced two stones per mu, that is, one hundred and thirty-three catties, and the highest was six stones, which was only 700 catties per mu. In later generations, the average yield per mu was 14,500 catties, and the high yield even reached more than 3,000 catties.

Zhao Ji calculated that if he replanted Zhancheng rice on Xilan Island, and brought the advanced cultivation technology of the Great Song Dynasty, and the people of the Great Song Dynasty would manage it, then it should not be difficult for the yield per mu to reach the average yield per mu in later generations. Coupled with the fact that Xilan Island is four crops a year, the annual grain output will be very amazing, and it should not be a problem to feed the entire Great Song Dynasty.

In the current Great Song Dynasty, there are many hills in the south, soil erosion in the north is serious, grain production is not high, and the construction and maintenance costs of water conservancy facilities are very high. Moreover, in order to prevent pests and diseases, the farming method is rotational tillage. That is, rice is cultivated only once a year, unlike Shilan, which can be harvested four times a year.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ji pointed to Xilan Island and explained: "Xilan, in the Han Dynasty, it was called the Cheng Buguo, in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was called the Lion Kingdom, and in the Tang Dynasty, it was called the Sinhalese Kingdom. The land is fertile and crops four times a year. The reason why the current grain output is not high is mainly due to the long-term war between Srivijaya and Chola. In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Dynasty sent people to the island to preach, so the people of the island mostly believed in Buddhism. The conflict between Hindus and Buddhists, and the island's backward agricultural cultivation methods are all reasons for the low grain production in Shilan. This time, the 400,000-strong army, 50,000 all-defense troops and their families, were to take root on the island of Shiran and conquer the whole of India. ”

"The saint is gambling, this gambling is the national fortune of the Great Song Dynasty. The Great Song Dynasty now needs a stable development. The pace of Shengshang's pace is too fast, and Da Song can't keep up. The possibility of war is too great, how can the Holy One be sure that he will be able to conquer the Indian region? Today, neither the Golden State nor Australia is yet to be developed. Although the scale of Wang's ten-year plan to rule the world is so large that it cannot be completed within ten years, if the Great Song Dynasty can continue to improve the new law and adhere to this development plan, then it will not be completed in ten years, and a hundred years will not be a problem. Why did the saint have to gamble so eagerly on the national fortunes of the Great Song Dynasty? The prime minister asked puzzled.

It is true that Shen Kuo is a politician, but he is also a scientist, and in such a period of great rule of the world, what is most needed is such a scientist who understands everything. His question is also the question of everyone in the political hall, and they prefer Zhao Ji to be quiet and enjoy the peace of the Great Song Dynasty. But in their eyes, Zhao Ji, this emperor is impatient for anything. Let's talk about the faint king, Zhao Ji almost single-handedly created the Chinese Empire and ended the military confrontation between the Song, Liaoxia and Xia Kingdoms, and it was obviously not that kind of reckless militarism. It doesn't seem appropriate to use the word "great joy" to describe it. It's really incomprehensible!

When Zhao Ji heard this question, he didn't know how to explain it, could he say that he was a traverser, and he wanted to make the original industrial civilization of the Great Song Dynasty and achieve a breakthrough in Chinese civilization in his lifetime? Historically, the Great Song Dynasty had the "Iron and Steel Revolution", "Fuel Revolution", "Printing Revolution", "Urban Revolution", "Agricultural Revolution", "Commercial Revolution", "Financial Revolution", "Porcelain Revolution", and the Renaissance. It can be said that the Great Song Dynasty has half a foot into modern times, and the Chinese civilization has half a foot into industrial civilization.

However, it was only half a foot. With Zhao Ji's crossing, this half foot has become half of his body, but Zhao Ji is still worried. If you don't see it with your own eyes, Zhao Ji is unwilling.

After hesitating for a long time, Zhao Ji opened his mouth and said: "I am ordered by heaven, and my will is the will of heaven. This is a task entrusted to me by Heaven, and you as courtiers will know it. We must not waver in accomplishing the plan of governing the world within 10 years. If there are difficulties and problems, just find a way to solve them. ”

The theory of ghosts and gods is only used by Confucianism to restrain the power of the monarch. As far as Confucianism is concerned, it is not strange that the language is confused. The ministers of the political hall are all Confucian children, so they naturally don't believe that God specially handed over the task to Zhao Ji. Immediately, everyone cast contemptuous glances at Zhao Ji, as if to say, "There is no such foolishness." ”

However, no one dared to object to Zhao's statement. Seeing that the atmosphere was a little awkward, as an imperial party, he hurriedly added to Zhao Ji: "I have carefully studied the recitals of Li Changxiao and the four of Zhang Gou Hongshe, and I have discussed the Indian region with the big cannibal Ansari Pu Yuanyi. I think the Holy One's plan works. The Golden State has no eyebrows for development, not only in terms of food shortages, but also in terms of cheap labor. After the implementation of the Abolition Law, the forced labor was recruited and costly. Chola is said to have a population of 15 million, and India has a population of 80 million. The weather there is hot and precocious. Our Da Song men and women are less than sixteen years old, and they can't have children at all. And there, a woman can give birth at the age of ten. ”

Compared with Zhao Ji's opinion, the political affairs hall is more willing to listen to Zhang Di's explanation, because Zhang Di is reasonable and well-founded, and has studied it carefully, unlike Zhao Di, who is just talking nonsense and has no basis. Hearing Zhang's explanation, everyone nodded yes.

[，！ ]