After visiting the old lady Lu Pheasant, she went back to the palace to recuperate overnight, and the next day it was just dawn, and Liu Ying's figure appeared outside Sima Gate again.

The destination of Liu Ying's trip is undoubtedly the Xiangfu between Shangguanli and the arsenal.

But what is different from the past is that Liu Ying left the palace this time, did not bring a large team of guards with great fanfare, nor did he take the prince's chariot, only brought three or five guards, and walked out of the palace from Sima Gate.

Walking slowly on Artemisia Street, looking at the sparse figures of the people on the street, and the bright smiles full of longing for the future, Liu Ying only felt relaxed and happy.

"The major affairs of the country are only Rong and worship."

"The great affairs of the people, food and goods alone, ······"

Gu Gu let out a sigh, and Liu Ying's face couldn't help but swell with a comfortable smile.

This time, the Zhengguo Canal was renovated, and on the surface, it seems that only the people in the Weibei area, especially on the north and south banks of the Zhengguo Canal, have benefited.

When the sky is over, that is, after the autumn harvest, the court can collect more agricultural taxes from this area.

But in fact, as far as Liu Ying saw with his own eyes at this time, the people of Chang'an, who are hundreds of miles away from Zheng Guoqu, have all the longing and joy on their faces, and it is not difficult to see that the dividends of Zheng Guoqu renovation are by no means only eaten by the people along the coast.

The reason couldn't be simpler: supply and demand determine market value.

Excluding man-made turmoil such as the outbreak of war, as well as natural disasters such as floods and droughts, the demand for food in the Guanzhong region is basically constant.

That is, according to the consumption of more than 900,000 households in Guanzhong, a total of more than 5 million people, and the annual consumption of 24 stone of grain per person, the annual grain demand of Guanzhong is roughly around 120,000,000 stone.

If we count the fact that most peasants only eat seven or eight points full, and they are all in the habit of eating corn and coarse grains, the annual grain demand in Guanzhong may not even be 10,000 stones.

Compared with the demand of less than 10,000 stones, what is the approximate grain output in Guanzhong?

——In the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the Son of Heaven, issued the "Decree on the Granting of Land to the People", and all the people in Guanzhong got 100 acres of land per household!

In this way, more than 900,000 peasant households in Guanzhong now have more than 90 million mu of land.

According to the calculation of the average yield of three stones per mu, and then removing the tax rate of 15 taxes and 1, the agricultural tax that needs to be paid to the state treasury is nearly 20 million stones, and the annual grain output in Guanzhong is at least more than 250 million stones!

The demand for less than 10,000,000 stones, and the supply of more than 25,000,000 stones, logically speaking, this is a proper oversupply, and the price of grain in Guanzhong should be so low that it is staggering.

But in fact, as the only 'Tianfu anointed' land in this era of barren land and scarce arable land, the grain produced by the land of Guanzhong is not only used for 'self-sufficiency'.

- Jingwu, Huainan, Changsha and other places, all over the swamp ponds, rainforests;

——The Yan Dynasty is located in the north wall, and the two counties of Shang and Dai, including Beidi and Longyou, are barren and have very low grain yields;

In addition, the Zhao State, which has many hills and wilderness in its territory and little arable land, and the Qi State, which is in a similar situation and relies on commerce for their livelihood······

In the end, the vast majority of today's demand for more than 3 million households, nearly 17 million people, and nearly 40,000,000 stone grains and rice every year depends on the country of Bashu Tianfu and the 'export' of the land of Guanzhong.

As a result, Guanzhong, where the supply of grain greatly exceeds demand, has also faintly seen a trend of supply exceeding demand after 'exporting' more than 60 or even 70 percent of its grain output to Kanto.

It may sound a little strange: if you can't eat enough, why do the people in Guanzhong still sell their food?

This question, in fact, is also very well understood.

As peasants who are destitute and sit on 100 acres of fertile land, the vast majority of the people in Guanzhong basically have no grain storage capacity.

As a result, after the autumn harvest every year, the vast majority of the people will only barely keep the grain they need for the winter, and the rest can only be sold at a price slightly lower than the market price to those grain merchants who 'appear out of thin air' in the fields and villages, waving a lot of copper coins to buy grain.

Mi Jia, a grain merchant who was not a philanthropist, was obviously more willing to transport the rice and grain purchased at low prices to the Kanto region, and then sell it to the barren land and high grain prices in the Kanto region at a high price several times the purchase price.

On the other hand, most of the rice and grain in Guanzhong were sold to Kanto, which made the rice and grain in Guanzhong more and more scarce.

In this case, excluding the grain merchants who are linked up to raise prices, the determinant of grain prices in Guanzhong is no longer determined solely by the supply and demand relationship within Guanzhong, but depends on the supply and demand relationship between 'the grain output in Guanzhong - the grain demand of the whole world'.

To exaggerate it, if we want the grain price in Guanzhong to fall due to 'oversupply', it is necessary to make the grain output in Guanzhong enough to supply most of the Kanto, and the remaining part is still enough to supply Guanzhong.

This is also the reason why the price of grain in Guanzhong has remained high in the past ten years, and even at the beginning of the establishment of Guozuo, it once soared to 8,000 yuan a stone.

-- In order to supply the rations of tens of millions of people in Kanto, Guanzhong is really 'under great pressure'······

And now, the crown prince Liu Ying has been ordered by the son of heaven Liu Bang to completely renovate the abandoned Zhengguo Canal, which at first glance seems to be only Guanzhong, or even only about hundreds of thousands of people in Weibei.

It seems to be far from affecting the price of grain in Guanzhong, just a Zhengguo canal.

But the actual situation is: it is precisely a 300-mile-long Zhengguo Canal that can indeed affect the grain price in Guanzhong and even the whole world!

The reason is very simple - if Guanzhong and Bashu are the granaries of the whole world, then Weibei, especially the north and south banks of Zhengguoqu, is the granary of the entire Guanzhong!

Guy Yin alone has shouldered the irrigation task of nearly 300,000 hectares of fertile land on the north and south banks, or nearly 30 million acres of fertile land!

Take this year as an example, Liu Ying repaired the Zhengguo Canal at the beginning of the first year of the year, and after the autumn harvest, the 30 million mu of fertile land on both sides of the Zhengguo Canal will produce an extra 30 million stone of grain as long as the average yield per mu rises by one stone!

So can the Zhengguo Canal, which has been thoroughly repaired, raise the 30 million mu of fertile land in Weibei from two and a half to three stones per mu last year to three and a half stones per mu in one fell swoop, or even four stones?

If it had been elsewhere, this might have been a myth.

But if it is along the Zhengguo Canal in Weibei, then this increase can almost be called inevitable.

——You must know that 40 years ago, the Zhengguo Canal had just been completed and opened to water, and the grain output on both sides of the canal that year exceeded five stones per mu!

By the following year, more than 40,000 hectares of salty land that could be irrigated by the Zhengguo Canal reached an astonishing six stones and four buckets per mu (1)!

From this point of view, even now, the acres of fields on the north and south banks of Zhengguo Canal have lost some fertility due to years of cultivation, but as long as the water used to irrigate the farmland is sufficient, the yield of five stones per mu may still be a little overhanging, but the yield of more than four stones per mu is no problem at all!

That is to say: just by repairing a Zhengguo Canal, nearly 300,000 acres of land in Weibei can be transformed from a lower field with a yield of two and a half stones per mu to a field with a yield of more than four stones per mu in one fell swoop!

And the price of grain in Guanzhong will also drop sharply because of the extra 40 million stone of grain!

From this point of view, the farmers on both sides of the strait are indeed the biggest beneficiaries of the restoration of the Zhengguo Canal, but the people in other parts of Guanzhong, and even in the eastern part of the country, can get a little respite because of this.

Naturally, in Chang'an, which is only 100 miles away from Zheng Guoqu, the people are smiling because Zheng Guoqu has been repaired, which is a normal thing.

"In this way, starting next year, Weibei should be able to pay more than 2 million stones more in the agricultural tax paid into the state treasury."

"Even if Yingbu rebels again, Xiao He will not be like this year, he can only pick up military rations from the courtiers······"

Thinking to herself, Liu Ying couldn't help but smile again, and then stopped with a smile on her face.

- Prime Minister's House, here.

·

"Is that enough?"

When Liu Ying's figure appeared outside the Prime Minister's Mansion, the main hall of the Prime Minister's Mansion was already filled with dozens of officials and piles of bamboo slips.

Almost everyone was too busy to take care of the stage, and while looking at Chen Jian in his hand, he was measuring something on the ground with his remuneration.

And the contents measured by these officials, who were often 600 stones and 1,000 stones, were all sent to Zhang Cang, who was also busy calculating.

Hearing Xiao He's urgent inquiry in his ears, Zhang Cang couldn't help but raise his head slightly and put the brush in his hand back on the case.

"Gentleman."

"It's not all there yet."

Shaking his head slightly, Zhang Cang immediately got up from the wooden case with joy on his face and bowed his hand to Xiao He.

"However, since the year of Lianlao, Sanyuan and other counties, and the first year of the Han Dynasty, when the Zhengguo Canal was still unblocked, the comparison of agricultural products was obtained, and this year in Weibei, when the yield per mu is more than four stones!"

"If it can really reach four stones, then the treasury should have nearly three million stones more in agricultural taxes!"

Speaking of this, Zhang Cang's expression on his face even faintly fluttered.

"The price of grain in Guanzhong should also fall from 500 yuan to less than 1,000 yuan."

"After going back and forth for a few years, and then dredging and repairing the water conservancy in Weinan, the price of grain in Guanzhong may fall below 500 yuan."

"The agricultural tax collected by the state treasury may be as much as 25 million stone per year······

Hearing Zhang Cang's calculation, even if he was mentally prepared, Xiao He couldn't help but gasp.

"The annual revenue of the treasury is 25 million stones?"

As if he couldn't believe it, he muttered again, and when Zhang Cangman nodded solemnly, Xiao He couldn't help but sigh in some surprise.

"It must be known that last year, the national treasury was only 17 million stone ······ when it entered the agricultural tax."

"Only one Zhengguo Canal was built, and the agricultural tax collected by the state treasury was nearly 20% more in an instant······

"Sure enough!"

"Sheji, it should be agriculture-oriented!"

"When the treasury is abundant, the country's major policies should also be based on water conservancy!"

As soon as Xiao He's words fell, before Zhang Cang nodded in agreement, he heard Liu Ying's slightly hoarse voice outside the hall.

"Xiao Xiang's words, the theory of the old minister seeking the country!"