Lin Jin, who told her family that she was going to study in Guangzhou, had the intention of visiting Guangzhou, but that was her plan after returning from Luzon. Her first stop away from home was Luzon. However, when she went to Luzon, it was not just for fun, but also for inspection.

Although the Chamber of Commerce has been taking Luzon for several years, this is the first time she has been here. However, before the crossing, she had been here before, and even now, she was in Luzon, not without acquaintances, Liu Xianglian came here one step ahead of her, and she mixed well in Luzon, so during Lin Jin's stay in Luzon, he became her guide.

……

Walking on the country road, Lin Jin looked at the green sugarcane in the field, as if she saw a beautiful "money scene", and showed a satisfied smile on her face.

Out of the limitations of the times, after Liu Xianglian saw the field, her first thought was always to plant things like mulberry on it, so when she saw the sugarcane field full of eyes, she couldn't help but sigh and said: "Although everything seems good here, most of the crops in this field are not crops, but sugarcane, which can't fill your stomach." If there is a natural disaster or something, won't the people go hungry? This development plan is wrong. ”

Lin Jin glanced at Liu Xianglian and asked with a smile, "Do you have a farm on the island?" When Gusu sent Liu Xianglian to Luzon, she also gave him a reward of 1,000 taels of silver.

"Bought a manor house of five hundred acres."

"Then you must have grown a lot of grain on your farm, right?"

"Well, I grew most of the rice and a little corn."

"Do you have neighbors next to your farm? What do they grow in their fields? ”

"Of course there are neighbors, but they grow sugar cane and other things that are not suitable for eating."

"Then when you turn back to the harvest, sit down with your neighbors, settle the score, and see which of you earns more."

Looking at the sugarcane fields in his eyes, Lin Jin smiled and said: "Actually, this sugarcane field was not formed all at once. Back then, when we first took Luzon, I asked that most of the land be planted with sugar cane for sugar production, but some people felt that it was impossible not to grow crops, so they objected.

I didn't say anything at the time, I just asked everyone to do what they wanted. But within two years, the original shouting that they had to grow food was quietly changed to sugar cane. After you have calculated the harvest account, change your course and don't wait for the next year. ”

"Why?" Liu Xianglian retorted unconvinced: "Yes, it may be more profitable to grow sugarcane than to grow grain, but with food in hand, don't panic in your heart......"

Lin Jin interrupted him: "Don't apply Da Qin's set to Luzon's side, the situation on these two sides is different." You've been here for a while, and there are few people here, and you should have seen a lot of locals, i.e. barbarism. They are very lazy, they don't plant anything, they don't care about anything, they lie in the shade of the trees all day long, and when they are hungry, they go to the nearby trees to pick some bananas, mangoes, jackfruits, etc. to satisfy their hunger. In this way, they not only survived, but also survived well. Therefore, natural disasters here are never hungry, so food reserves have become unnecessary. ”

After a pause, she continued: "Luzon's prosperity was based on maritime trade, and its geographical location was very special, and it was a necessary place to trade with Westerners. Therefore, if this place is occupied and developed as a grain base, its prosperity will soon decline.

After all, there may be a shortage of food, but the surrounding countries, such as Annam and Siam, are not short at all. Therefore, even if grain is grown in Luzon, the surrounding countries cannot sell it, so they can only be transported to Daqin to sell. But if it is transported to Daqin, a bucket of rice will be sold for almost five dollars of silver to return to the capital. This price, unless it is a disaster year, otherwise, there is no such price on the market.

But growing sugar cane is different. Even if it is not shipped out, it is sold in Luzon, and a load of crude cane sugar costs about two and a half taels of silver, so it is very easy to earn three or four taels of silver per acre of land. And this is still at the price of crude cane sugar, if refined, it is doubled; If it is decolorized and made into snowflake candy, the price is even higher. As long as you take out the income from 500 acres of sugarcane to buy grain, it will be enough for you to eat for a few years. After this account is calculated, who is stupid to plant crops? ”