Just after March, the northern land has woken up from hibernation, and farmers everywhere are busy entering the spring sowing time.

Unlike previous years, this year farmers in the north received a special financial subsidy for political axes.

After Wang Chenhao was promoted to the governor of Zhili, in order to improve his political performance and strengthen his influence among the people, he decided to do some practical things for the people. Based on the ancient adage of "the people take food as the sky", the people's personality cult of Wang Chenhao is still limited to formalism and ideology, so in order to deepen the influence on the people, Wang Chenhao decided to start from the food that the people value most.

There is nothing more important to win the support of the common people than to increase the yield per mu of the common people's farming. The most effective way to increase the yield per mu is to fertilize crops. Fertilizer has been around for half a century, and the great powers have achieved some success in growing grain on their limited land and increasing grain production with the help of fertilizer technology.

Problems arise, though. The production of chemical fertilizers in the countries of the great powers is still in the initial stage, and the large-scale industrial production of phosphate fertilizer and urea has only been achieved, and the large-scale industrial production of nitrogen fertilizer is still in the exploratory stage, and the price of chemical fertilizers produced by the great powers is high, and the Chinese people cannot afford to use it at all.

With the completion of the construction of major industrial projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang Industrial Base, a series of fertilizer production lines of Beiyang Fertilizer Plant have been put into operation. In addition to the production of the current international mainstream chemical fertilizers urea and phosphate fertilizers, two German chemists of Beiyang Science and Technology, German chemist F. Haber (F. Haber) and Bosch (C. Bosch) cooperated to create the "Haber-Bosch" ammonia synthesis method to solve the technical problems of large-scale production of nitrogen fertilizer, in which Haber Reading completed the large-scale industrial production of potassium chloride and the method of converting into potassium sulfate, and potassium sulfate is the necessary potassium fertilizer for crops.

In this way, Beiyang Science and Technology Heavy Industry took the lead in completing the large-scale industrial synthetic production project of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, the three elements of crops. Immediately afterwards, the Beiyang Fertilizer Plant set up a production line and began to produce nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, potash fertilizer and urea.

The cost of these fertilizers produced by the Beiyang fertilizer plant is far lower than the international average, but it is still a bit expensive for the Chinese people. At the same time, the traditional people do not agree with chemical fertilizers and think that farm fertilizers are better, so the Beiyang fertilizer plant has not sold a single bag of fertilizer for several months since it was put into operation.

In response to this situation, Wang Chenhao then formulated a series of measures, that is, to open the fertilizer sales market, to make profits for the Beiyang fertilizer factory, and to make the people get actual benefits.

First of all, Wang Chenhao, in his capacity as the governor of Zhili, issued an order to all parts of Zhili Province, requiring local officials to provide agricultural loans to the local people, including the sale and rental of agricultural tools needed by the common people to cultivate the land, the purchase of crop seeds by the common people, and the related expenses required by the tenants to repay the landlords.

Next, on the issue of loan interest. Wang Chenhao clearly issued a decree that all farmers who buy and use the fertilizer produced by the Beiyang Fertilizer Plant will not incur interest in the current year, and will take 10% of the increase in the average yield per mu in the previous five years as interest in the following year. If the yield per mu in the following year is lower than the average of the previous five years, no interest will be charged.

For farmers who refuse to buy the fertilizer produced by the Beiyang Fertilizer Plant, or do not use the fertilizer after purchase, the interest is 4 yen.

It is difficult for the people to repay the interest of 4 yuan, compared with the former, the loan conditions of the political axe are equivalent to the disguised risk of the people planting the land to be borne by the political axe, of course the people are happy, so the government decrees, the people have borrowed from the local political axe to farm, and at the same time receive a variety of fertilizers, and guarantee that in accordance with the provisions of the loan contract, the use of chemical fertilizers in their own land.

In order to ensure the smooth implementation and scientific use of chemical fertilizers in the private sector, Wang Chenhao ordered relevant experts from the Beiyang Science and Technology Biological Laboratory and technical staff of the Beiyang Fertilizer Plant to form an investigation team, which traveled all over Zhili Province to supervise and help local farmers apply fertilizer reasonably and help improve the grain output of Zhili Province.

According to the annual report of Zhou Fu, the general minister of agriculture and industry, in 1897 the population of Zhili Province was 20 million, the total grain output was 6 million tons, and the per capita grain was 300 kilograms.

Improving the grain output of Zhili Province was the top priority, so Wang Chenhao gave Zhou Fu a task in 1898, requiring him to complete the task of producing 10 million tons of grain.

When Zhou Fu heard that Wang Chenhao asked him to complete the production task of 10 million tons of grain, he suddenly turned into a bitter gourd face. Zhou Fu was in the shogunate of Li Hongzhang for more than 20 years, and he knew very well about the grain production of Zhili Province. Since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, no matter how good the wind and rain are, there has never been a time when the grain has exceeded 7 million tons.

"My lord, isn't this 10 million tons of grain too much, and it may be difficult to complete it."

Seeing that Zhou Fu also had a bad time, Wang Chenhao was immediately happy.

"Don't worry, Lord Zhou! In the past, there was no record of more than 7 million tons in Zhili Province because farmers did not know the important surname of chemical fertilizer. The Americans can produce 300 catties of grain per acre, while ours has an output of 100 catties per acre, and we have to count on God to take care of it. The root cause of this is that the Americans use a lot of chemical fertilizers to increase production, and scientific management has this yield. We are also using chemical fertilizers now, and we don't expect to reach the level of American farming all at once, but we are still sure to increase the yield by 40%. If it is properly managed, pests and diseases are controlled in time, and water conservancy projects keep up, doubling or quadrupling is not a problem. ”

Zhou Fu still had a bitter face, in his opinion, Wang Chenhao didn't have a backache when he stood and spoke. When it comes to food, where is you have as much as you want? Anyway, Wang Chenhao set the plan indicators for Zhou Fu with his mouth, and the actual action had to be carried out by Zhou Fu himself. If it is done, it is Wang Chenhao's leadership, and the responsibility for the failure is all repeated.

Zhou Fu's heart was full of scratches, but Wang Chenhao didn't let go at all, and Zhou Fu didn't dare to object, so he had to bite the bullet and continue the task.

"My lord, I think that we should mobilize the common people to farm the land. It is suggested that on the issue of loans for the common people to farm land, if the yield per mu can be doubled, half of the interest on the loan should be waived. If the yield per mu quadruples, the interest on the loan will be waived in full. What do adults think? ”

Wang Chenhao nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Lord Zhou is just a little bit!" In this way, there is no need to worry that the common people will not work hard to farm and collect grain. Again, I only look at the results, as for the intermediate process, Lord Zhou can decide for himself. ”

Zhou Fu suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately Wang Chenhao didn't tighten the reins, otherwise if he didn't have any flexibility at all, then things would be difficult to handle.

However, Wang Chenhao emphasized: "The Russians are still increasing their troops in the Far East, this war is inevitable, and we must reserve enough food." In addition to increasing grain production in Zhili Province, we also have a strategic plan to reserve 10 million tons of grain. ”

Zhou Fu nodded and said, "Lord Ruan has already talked to the lowly position. On the basis of the grain depot in the military grain city, a number of large granaries were built to store grain. ”

Then, Zhou Fu asked with doubts: "My lord, my Beiyang Army is only more than 300,000 people, counting the naval officers, 150,000 tons of food a year is enough." Why do we need to reserve 10 million tons of war food? ”

"You think it's a waste?"

Zhou Fu shook his head and said, "There is no waste of food, and it can be resold if it is not needed." Just stockpiling so much grain may suppress a lot of liquidity. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, understanding Zhou Fu's worries.

"You've only seen one side!"

Wang Chenhao smiled and continued: "Since the Sino-Russian war is inevitable, once the war starts, it will be an unprecedented war. Russia has millions of land forces and a huge navy, and if it doesn't hurt the Russians all at once and make the Russians dare not provoke China again, then this war will be fought like the Russian-Turkish war for hundreds of years and will never end. During the war, it will take a year and a half at least to a few years at most, and the price of grain, as a strategic material, will inevitably rise on a large scale, affecting the stability of the national economy. 10 million tons of grain can be eaten for decades for our army, but the average population of 400 million is only a few months. ”

Zhou Fu immediately understood what Wang Chenhao meant, it turned out that Wang Chenhao had a longer-term strategic deployment. Zhou Fu is also an enlightened person, and he admires Wang Chenhao's early plans.

It's just that it is not easy to reserve 10 million tons of grain. According to the price of 30 dragon coins per ton of rice, 10 million tons will cost 300 million dragon coins. With the current finances of Zhili Province, Zhou Fu shook his head suddenly.

"My lord, I'm afraid that the finances of Zhili Province will be difficult to support."

Wang Chenhao waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't worry about this Lord Zhou, I will find a way to supplement the part of the financial deficit of Zhili Province!" ”

Zhou Fu knew that Wang Chenhao was rich, but 300 million dragon coins was not so easy to bear.

"My lord, it's better to separate the finances of Zhili Province from your personal property, otherwise you won't be able to settle this account with the imperial court in the future."

Wang Chenhao knew Zhou Fu's good intentions. The governors of each province of the Qing Dynasty could only serve for two years, and they changed places every two years. Generally speaking, the governors and vassals would not pay out of their own pockets to make up for the financial deficit, because when they were replaced two years later, the money would be wasted.

For example, Li Hongzhang has sat on the governor of Zhili for more than 20 years and has not moved the place, which is just a special case. Whether Wang Chenhao can secure the position of the governor of Zhili is not a ticket. If the imperial court insists on transferring Wang Chenhao, unless Wang Chenhao rebels, he will have to obey his orders.

Wang Chenhao didn't think about this, but in the end, he still thought that the imperial court would not dare to transfer him easily, so he was relieved and bold.

At this moment, Wang Chenhao has a classic sentence echoing in his mind: The two saddest things in life are that one person dies and the money has not been spent; The two of them didn't die, and the money was spent. The funds in Wang Chenhao's hands have rolled to two billion dollars, and he is not worried about the second sad thing.

He seems to have realized why Carnegie, the richest man in the United States, used his assets for charity, perhaps based on the first sad thing. But Wang Chenhao will not donate to charity like Carnegie did, Wang Chenhao has more important things to do, and he hopes that his money will help his country industrialize, make his country stronger, and no longer be bullied.

(To be continued)