"Yes." Wang Zelkova nodded and said, "Planting sweet potatoes and potatoes, the yield of these two crops is much higher than that of rice and wheat, the yield of rice and wheat per mu is only a few hundred catties, but sweet potatoes and potatoes can reach thousands of catties, and if the soil is fertile, it may even be as high as two thousand catties!" Gu Da shopkeeper, Cao Da shopkeeper, you calculate, one thousand catties per mu, how many catties is 500,000 mu? ”

Cao Da shopkeeper said: "500 million catties!" It is enough for millions of people to eat for a year, and an average of one acre of land can feed two people. ”

Gu Da shopkeeper said: "The number of synthetic stones is about 2.6 million stones, and the market price of one stone of sweet potatoes in a good year is worth eight dollars of silver, and 2.6 million stones is two million and eighty thousand taels of silver!" In a famine year, the income will at least double! Well, according to this calculation, growing sweet potatoes and potatoes is actually not much worse than planting mulberry seedlings, and it is more convenient. ”

Cao Da shopkeeper said: "But it has to be sold." ”

"Why can't it be sold?" Gu Da shopkeeper said, "At present, there is a famine in Shaanxi and Shanxi, millions of people lack food and drink, Huguang has just suffered a military disaster, millions of people are displaced, and they are waiting for food, in the future, the central army will definitely use troops against Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Sichuan, and hundreds of thousands of troops will also have to eat at that time, how can they not be sold?" ”

Cao Da's shopkeeper said: "If we plant, people will follow suit, and we won't be able to sell it in a few years." ”

"I want people to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes." Wang Beech said happily, "The third child of our family said that the introduction of sweet potatoes and potatoes from Jiangnan to Huguang is only the first step, and then Huguang will be the center to Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi provinces to promote, and so the five northern provinces are planted with sweet potatoes and potatoes, and the Ming Dynasty will no longer have to starve to death." ”

Cao Da shopkeeper said: "In this way, wouldn't the thieves and Jiannu also have sufficient military rations?" ”

Gu Da shopkeeper said: "Cao Da shopkeeper is too worried, it will take at least five to ten years to promote sweet potatoes and potatoes, and at that time, the thieves and Jiannu have already been pacified by Hou Ye!" ”

The shopkeeper Cao scratched his head and said: "This is also true, it is really going to come to that day, Russia still wants to go back to his hometown to buy hundreds of acres of good land." ”

"There will be that day, and it's not far off." Wang Beech said this, and bowed his hand to the two of them, "The two big shopkeepers, please leave the matter of Chuzhou and Wuchang to you." ”

Shopkeeper Cao Da and Shopkeeper Gu Da bowed their hands at the same time and said: "Boss, you can rest assured to go back to Nanjing, we will take care of the affairs of Chuzhou and Wuchang." ”

"I'm tired."

Wang Beech finally arched his hand, turned and walked away.

■■■

Yanjing, the Forbidden City.

Since Fan Wencheng defected, Dolgon did not trust the Han people very much, and Hong Chengchou, who was far away in Korea, was also recalled to Yanjing by Dolgon, and sent He Luohui to Korea as a governor.

Although the wind and rain have been smooth since the beginning of spring, the two provinces of Beizhi and Shanxi, as well as Liaodong and Korea, are in a very bad mood.

What annoys Dolgon is that the people of the provinces of Beizhili are speeding up their flight to Henan and Shandong! By the beginning of May, the provinces of Beizhi were empty, and the total population had plummeted to less than 500,000! There are less than 30,000 people left in the huge Yanjing City, and they feel lifeless when they walk on the streets in broad daylight.

This matter has to start from two months ago, hundreds of thousands of Mongolian cavalry before returning to the grassland to carry out a large-scale burning and looting of Beizhili, Dolgon originally stipulated that the scope of looting was Xuanfu, Baoding, Zhending and Datong four prefectures, but the red-eyed Mongolian cavalry could not be restrained at all, and finally swept the entire Beizhili, even Ying Tianfu was not spared.

Although Dolgon was furious, there was nothing he could do, the enemy did not dare to offend the Mongol tribes easily, and the Mongol tribes also saw this point before they dared to burn and loot unscrupulously! In the end, Dolgon had no choice but to mobilize the Eight Banners to participate in the robbery, otherwise after the Mongol cavalry finished robbing, the Eight Banners would not even be able to drink the leftovers.

Under the almost frenzied burning and looting of the Mongol cavalry and the Eight Banners Jiannu, the eight prefectures and two prefectures of Beizhili were tragically destroyed, dozens of cities were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of houses were burned, millions of people were slaughtered, hundreds of thousands of young women were taken captive to the grasslands as slaves, and the rest of the people fled to the surrounding provinces of Henan, Shanxi, and Shandong in panic.

In this bloody plunder, although Jiannu grabbed a lot of food, which was even enough for more than 50,000 Jiannu troops to eat for more than two years, Dolgon was not happy at all, because Beizhili under Jiannu's rule had become a barren land, and this result seemed to indirectly prove Fan Wencheng's prediction: Jiannu was not tenable in Guannei at all, and it was better to withdraw to Liaodong as soon as possible.

There were also many voices within Jiannu who wanted to withdraw to Guanwai, but they were all forcibly suppressed by Dolgon.

After all, Dolgon's strategic vision is farther than those Jiannu nobles who only know about the massacre but do not know how to build, and Dolgon knows that if he retreats outside the Guanguan now, it will be a strategic retreat, which means that the "Qing Dynasty" will change from strategic offensive to strategic defense for the Ming Dynasty, and the impact on this ally of Mongolia is decisive.

At that time, Mongolia will definitely dissolve its subordination with Jiannu, and Jiannu will also be reduced to a small tribe outside the Guan, a small tribe with a population of less than 300,000! Such an outcome could not be tolerated by Dorgon, and he did not allow his father's and brother's inheritance to be destroyed in his hands.

■■■

Compared to Jiannu, the situation of the thieves is not much better.

It was the beginning of spring, the spring grain had not yet been harvested, the famine in Shaanxi was the most serious time, hundreds of people died of hunger every day, and the thieves were also starving, so Li Zicheng had no choice but to transfer troops to attack Hanzhong, which is adjacent to Shaanxi, in an attempt to grab some grain from Hanzhong to alleviate the famine.

But due to the involvement of Wu Sangui in Shanxi, Li Zicheng did not dare to send a large army to the battle, and only let the general Liu Zongmin lead 30,000 people to attack Hanzhong, but was defeated by Zhang Xianzhong's righteous son Li Dingguo, and the 30,000 army was almost wiped out, Liu Zongmin was also seriously injured and was almost captured alive by Li Dingguo.

After this fiasco, Li Zicheng was no longer able to attack Zhang Xianzhong, Zhang Xianzhong was busy suppressing the rebellion of the Sichuan provinces, and he had no time to pay attention to Li Zicheng, and the two families quit.

■■■

Nanjing Imperial Palace, Wenhua Palace.

In addition to Sun Chuanting, the first assistant of the cabinet, Qian Qianyi and Lu Daqi, the second assistants of the cabinet, Wang Pu, the governor of the five provinces, Wang Beech, a silk merchant, Qian Kan, a salt merchant in Yangzhou, Shen Yiyi, a tea merchant in Hangzhou, Wei Xian, a cloth merchant in Songjiang, and Huang Quan, a porcelain merchant in Jiangxi.

Wang Beech was the largest silk merchant and a representative of the Shanxi merchant gang.

Qian Kan was the largest salt merchant and a representative of the Huizhou merchant gang.

Shen has always been the largest tea merchant and a representative of Zhejiang merchants.

Huang Quan was the largest porcelain merchant and a representative of the Longyou merchant state.

These four people represent four industries and four merchant gangs, and there are a group of businessmen who are dependent on each other behind them, and they have amazing wealth, but due to the deliberate suppression of the imperial court, they have no right to speak in politics at all, such as Gao Hongtu, they almost ate these businessmen as Tang monk meat.

But now, with the advent of Wang Pu, the situation will be completely different, with the absolute strength of the army in his hands, and the absolute control of the cabinet, Wang Pu has enough ability to improve the position of the merchants, Wang Pu intends to knead the merchants and the Shilin of the time to form a new ruling class.

As for what the final result of doing this will be, Wang Pu can't predict it, so he can only cross the river by feeling the stones.

"Well, since the people are already together, let's get started."

Sun Chuanting's face was a little unnatural, Qian Qianyi and Lu Daqi were similar, they were not used to discussing the country's major policies and strategies with businessmen, after all, in their hearts, the ranking of Shinong industry and commerce had been deeply rooted, although businessmen were rich, but their social status was not as good as that of peasant woodcutters.

Wang Beech, Qian Kan, Shen Yiyi, and Huang Quan also looked a little cramped, holding their knees with their hands and not daring to breathe, for fear that their improper sitting posture would make people laugh, and they didn't dare to answer easily after Sun Chuanting finished speaking, businessmen had no status in front of the official master, not to mention that now sitting opposite was the auxiliary minister of the dignified cabinet, which was the biggest official of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Pu saw the businessman's nervousness, and said with a smile: "The four big families don't need to be nervous, I came to you today to talk to you and discuss the details of the auction of the government-run workshop, I will first talk about a few points, first, this time the government-run transfer to private involves salt, iron, wire, tea, porcelain and other industries, and the imperial court will relax the restrictions on all industries; Second, the time of the public auction is set for half a month, and third, the relaxation of industry restrictions is not laissez-faire, the imperial court still has to supervise industry and commerce, and it also has to collect taxes. Now you have any questions to ask. ”

Wang Beech was the first to ask: "Dare to ask the three elders, does the Weaving Bureau to be auctioned include the Weaving Bureau's houses, looms, cocoons in stock, and all the mulberry fields of the Weaving Bureau?" ”

Sun Chuanting said: "Of course, as long as it is the assets of the Weaving Bureau, they are all in the auction. ”

Tea merchant Shen has always asked: "Just now Hou Ye said that he would relax the restrictions on the industry, does it mean that the villain can buy barren mountains and plant tea trees by himself?" ”

Wang Pu's brows couldn't help frowning, thinking that a businessman is a businessman.

This Shen has always been cunning enough, if the restrictions are completely relaxed, he can spend a small amount of silver to buy barren mountains and mountains, and then cultivate tea mountains, he will not have to pay a high price to buy tea mountains from the government, if he agrees, the court will suffer a certain loss in the short term, but in the long run, this can mobilize the active surnames of tea merchants, increase the production of tea, and promote the trade of tea, so that the tax revenue of the imperial court will also increase.

"Of course." Wang Pu replied without hesitation, "If you are not willing to bid for the tea mountains of the government, you can go and buy barren mountains to re-cultivate the tea mountains." ”

Shen Yi was busy and said: "Ahem, that, the villain just asks casually, we naturally bought the tea mountain of the government, and it can be regarded as our Zhejiang tea merchant making some meager efforts for the imperial court, hehe." ”

Huang Quan, a merchant in Longyou, was more concerned about taxation, and asked in a low voice: "Master Hou, the three elders, the villain wants to know what kind of supervision measures the government will take after the restrictions on the industry are relaxed?" How will taxes be levied and what will be the tax rate? ”

(To be continued)