Fan Ning stood up and said unhurriedly: "Wechen also saw the locals planting rice in the country of Srivijaya Qi, but they planted rice much more easily than us, and once the rice seeds were sprinkled into the field, the harvest would be harvested after a few months, and the final yield was not low.

Although this is related to the local climate, water and soil, but this kind of rice has omitted the link of raising seedlings and transplanting, saving a lot of labor, if the Great Song Dynasty also has this kind of rice, a person can only plant 30 acres of rice, but now can plant 100 acres, it is not very tired, the rice varieties of Srivijaya have been promoted in Luzon, and I have also brought back some of them, which can be tested in Lingnan, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou.

I'm just giving an example here, and then for example, can we find a way to improve the efficiency of farm tools, such as plows, iron plows are definitely better than wooden plows, if they are made of high-quality stainless steel, it will be very easy to plow in paddy fields, you can easily plow more than a dozen acres of land in one morning, of course, a single farmer can not afford such a steel plow, but fifty farmers can buy a pair, or the government buys it, and rents it for farmers.

But the premise is that the production of pig iron soars, and then we study how to smelt a large amount of refined iron and steel, which is needed not only by the army, but also by agriculture and workshops. ”

At this time, Han Qi interrupted him and said, "Fan Yuanjun means to increase the amount of mining overseas, is that what he means?" ”

"Nope! That was not what I meant. ”

Fanning said: "I mean, we don't pay much attention to technology, resulting in a large amount of pig iron made into inferior items, causing great waste, if our smelting technology is greatly improved, forging more high-quality steel, then the soldiers' war knives can cut off the enemy's spear shafts, arrows can easily shoot through the enemy's armor, the farmer's iron plough can break solid mud, the woodcutter's axe can easily cut off the tree, the miner's iron pickaxe can easily dig out the coal, the production of the entire Great Song Dynasty will increase several times, and the wealth will also increase several times." ”

Fu Bi said: "The imperial court has abolished the status of craftsmen and allowed private workshops to hire a large number of craftsmen, as long as the craftsmen do not defect to the enemy, they are actually very free. ”

Fanning shook his head, "This is not enough, if there is a special school to train high-level craftsmen and conduct high-level research, such as the study of iron smelting, the study of alloys, the study of looms, the study of gunpowder, the study of weapons, the study of agricultural tools, the study of shipbuilding, etc........"

Wen Yanbo's brows furrowed, "Fan Jingluo, you said so much, I don't think you need anything other than weapons and gunpowder, right?" ”

Fan Ning said to Zhao Ji and Empress Dowager Cao: "Just now Xianggong Wen asked a question, Weichen said so much technology, do we need it?" Next, Weichen will report on the eastward investigation. ”

Fanning said to the seven prime ministers: "Everyone knows that I have been missing for three months, and what happened in these three months, I will tell you now." ”

He beckoned, "Lift up!" ”

I saw several eunuchs carry a large wooden shelf, the wooden shelf has a map, seven feet high, five feet wide, Fanning put the wooden shelf in a place where everyone can see, he picked up the wooden pole and said: "Have you seen it, these are the islands and land in the east of the Srivijaya Kingdom, a small number of natives live, most of them are uninhabited islands, and they do not belong to any country." ”

Fan Ning pointed to the top, "This is Luzon Mansion, its area is equivalent to Hebei East Road, here the light and heat are excellent, three crops a year, the land is fertile, if all developed, it can bring 20 million stone grain to the Great Song Dynasty every year, 8 million catties of frosting sugar, 3 million quintals of cotton, as well as 3 million taels of gold and 10 million catties of pig iron, but Luzon Mansion is only an island, there is a wider land under it, these islands combined, equivalent to two Luzon Islands." ”

Fanning pointed to the narrow island below, "This is the island of Java, half of which belongs to the country of Sriwijaya, and the other half is inhabited by a small number of natives, which does not belong to any country, and then to the east is a huge island, this island I call it the Oriental Continent, its area is equivalent to one-third of the Great Song Dynasty, and the forests are dense above, and there are also only a very small number of natives living there, but what is really shocking is the following." ”

Fanning pointed to Australia, "This is a vast continent that even the natives do not have, we call it the Southern Continent, the area is equivalent to our two Great Song Dynasty, high mountains and valleys, rivers and lakes, grasslands, deserts, fertile land, dense forests, can raise tens of millions of cattle and sheep, can raise tens of millions of war horses, we have set up the stone monument of the Great Song Dynasty in the northernmost part." ”

There was silence in the court, and the eyes of the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji were shining, staring at the continent on the map for a long time, and for a long time, Han Qi asked in a hoarse voice: "How far is it from the Great Song Dynasty?" ”

"A month and a half voyage, but the problem is not here, but the shipbuilding technology of the Great Song is not good enough, the big ship is not strong enough, the speed of sailing is too slow, there are too many sailors, our fleet encountered a storm at sea, almost perished, at that time I was thinking, if we can invent a machine, it can make the paddles turn over automatically, no longer need four hundred sailors to step on the ship, then there is no need for sails, forty or fifty sailors on a ship are enough, and then we make the ship stronger, not afraid of strong winds and waves, Then whether it is the Eastern Continent or the Southern Continent, it will completely belong to the Great Song Dynasty. ”

Everyone was silent, and after a while, Fu Bi said: "Fan Yuanjun, we all admire your courage to open up territory for the Great Song Dynasty, but what you said is at least ten thousand miles away from the Great Song Dynasty, it is too far away, even if we supply a little food and materials, it will cost a lot of money, and it is too uneconomical to develop it." ”

After a moment of silence, Fan Ning said slowly: "Although the imperial court does not have this motivation, what about the people? If these islands and land are sold, then many people will inevitably pay out of their own pockets to reclaim and build them. ”

Han Qi asked sharply, "Then who do these islands and lands belong to?" If the court can't control it, then won't they have a kingdom of their own? ”

Fan Ning replied-for-tat and said: "Of course, these islands belong to the Great Song Dynasty, this is like if you own a manor in the Great Song Dynasty, the manor has the owner of the manor, and as soon as the master closes the gate of the manor, can the government enter it at will?" ”

"The nature of the two is different, the manor is under the control of the imperial court, but the island is not, you also said in the report that the area of each island is equivalent to a state capital, so far away, how can the imperial court manage it?"

"The owner of the island invests a huge amount of capital to operate the island, this island is his private property, of course he has the right to dispose of these properties, and the court does not need to care about him, as long as the owner of the island pays tribute to the court every year and pays a certain tax to the court, then what is the difference between him and the ordinary manor owner?"

"But there is no provision in the laws of the Great Song Dynasty about these overseas estates."

"There are no regulations to establish regulations, more than ten years ago, there was no overseas economic strategy government, and there was no Kunzhou!"

Han Qi couldn't compete with Fan Ning, bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, the official overseas, Wechen fully supports it, but if we want to turn overseas into private ownership, this can easily lead to the fact that the overseas territory is independent and the country is established, it is too dangerous, and Wechen will never approve of it." ”

Fan Ning couldn't help but glared at Han Qi angrily and said: "Han Xianggong, if these lands and wealth are not wanted by the Great Song Dynasty, they will be cheapened by Persia, Great Food and Western countries for nothing, how will we explain to future generations in the future?" ”

He said to Zhao Ji and Empress Dowager Cao: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, as the so-called heaven does not take it, but suffers from it, since God has given this opportunity to the Great Song Dynasty, the Great Song Dynasty must take it down, as for what method to use, it can be discussed, but this huge wealth must not be turned away because of some unwarranted worries and speculations." ”

Zhao Ji was enthusiastic when he heard this, and he was just about to express his position, but the Empress Dowager Cao said softly: "Han Xianggong, Fan Jing is a little tired, the mourning family is a little tired, let's talk about this matter later!" ”

After speaking, Empress Dowager Cao got up and left, Zhao Ji was helpless, so she had to smile bitterly and said: "This matter needs to be discussed in the long run, let's stop here for the time being!" ”

He also got up and left, and there were only a few Xiangguo and Fan Ning left in the side hall, Han Qi glared at Fan Ning very dissatisfiedly and said, "Kid is ignorant, you are creating opportunities for those ill-intentioned people." ”

Fan Ning said lightly: "Since they have ill intentions, wouldn't it be better to exile them overseas?" ”

"You... It's nonsense! ”

Fu Bi stepped forward and said with a smile: "Old Han, don't fight with the younger generation, Xiao Fan Xianggong wants to exchange overseas wealth for domestic wealth, and solve the problem of land annexation and too much wealth occupied by the powerful, I'm not wrong!" ”

"I can't afford to be a little Fan Xianggong, but Fu Xianggong has some truth, this is an opportunity to solve the internal contradictions of the Great Song Dynasty, in fact, I am more focused on leaving this land wealth for my descendants thousands of years later, and preempting the Westerners to occupy this land."

Wen Yanbo patted Fan Ning on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Xiao Fan Xianggong really has a big plan, using cheap food to encourage childbirth, using enough population and materials to colonize overseas, and submitting the idea of establishing a technical school to the Zhizheng Hall, this can be implemented first, the sword can break the spear of the Liao soldiers, and the arrow can penetrate the armor of the Western Xia, these two sentences are what I am most interested in." ”

After a controversy, Zhongxiangguo gave Fan Ning the title of a small Fan Xianggong, which recognized his ambition to govern the country with technology to a certain extent.

However, there are still obvious differences on the privatization of the islands, not only Han Qi, Han Jiang, Zhang Fangping and Wu Chong are not in favor of the privatization of the islands, only Fu Bi and Cai Xiang are more supportive of Fanning, while Wen Yanbo is partially in favor of Fanning.