"This is what you said could increase production by 20%?"

In the Wuying Palace, when Zhu Di stretched out his hand to grab among the treated soil and fertilizer, Zhu Gaoxu spoke:

"It's an exaggeration to say that it's two percent, but it's no problem to steadily increase production by more than one percent."

"If you want to make these things, you mainly have to get struvite from Guano Island on the sea, and then process it and mix it with some plant ash, which is much more fertile than farm fertilizer."

"As far as the experimental field in Taixue is concerned, the yield per mu of the experimental field is about 300 catties when no fertilizer is used, and it can reach about 360 catties in the case of using farmhouse fertilizer, while the experimental field with soil and chemical fertilizer can reach an average level of 400 catties."

Zhu Gaoxu reported the situation of the experimental field and continued to report: "If you want to talk about it in detail, it is the output of paddy fields and irrigated fields. ”

"In the experimental field of soil and chemical fertilizer used in the Taixue Agricultural Institute, the average rice field is 400 catties, the highest is 462 catties, the average irrigated field is 340 catties, and the highest yield per mu is 382 catties."

"In addition, there are also studies in the north, among which the yield of the experimental field of Jilin Agronomy was selected."

"Among them, the average yield per mu of paddy fields reached 167 catties, the highest was 185 catties, and the average yield per mu of irrigated fields was 122 catties, with a maximum of 147 catties."

After talking about the data, Zhu Gaoxu continued:

"According to the data of the experimental field, the maximum benefit can be obtained by placing the chemical fertilizer in the south of the Yangtze River, because the output of soil fertilizer is very limited."

After his words were spoken, the entire Wuying Hall was a lot quieter, and Zhu Di originally looked at the soil and fertilizer, from the disgust of guano at the beginning, and then the attention to increasing the yield by 100 catties per mu.

Zhu Di is not a son of heaven who does not know the people, he knows very well that many people in the south of the Yangtze River cannot afford to use farm fertilizer at all, so for the rich, the emergence of soil and fertilizer is at most an increase of 40 catties, but for ordinary people, it is an increase of 100 catties.

Such an existence can undoubtedly be called a 'national weapon'.

"You say production is limited, but how limited is that?"

Zhu Di looked at the soil fertilizer in his pocket in front of him, his eyes couldn't move, and his breathing became even faster.

"Because struvite needs to be excavated to make it, and a 5,000-material horse ship can recover up to 500 tons of struvite, and 500 tons of struvite and plant ash can be made together to get 1,500 tons of soil fertilizer, so the output of soil fertilizer needs to look at the output of struvite and the yield of plant ash."

Zhu Gaoxu explained: "It is easy to say that the grass and wood ash is easy to say, and the difficulty lies in struvite on the road of opening up the wasteland in the Northeast and the South Sea. ”

"At present, only the South China Sea islands have a large amount of struvite, and Erchen has calculated that even if a hundred 5,000-material horses and horses are arranged, they can run at most three times a year, and the three trips can bring back about 150,000 tons of struvite stone, and after production, they can get 450,000 tons of soil fertilizer."

"According to the view of sprinkling 50 catties per mu, at most 9 million mu can be taken into account."

After saying this, Zhu Gaoxu did not forget to add: "Of course, this is when struvite is sufficient, if struvite is not enough......"

He didn't say anything more about the rest of the words, but Zhu Di understood what he meant.

He also knows what unit the ton in Zhu Gaoxu's mouth is, one ton is 1,000 catties, and 1,000 catties of soil and fertilizer can take care of 20 acres of land.

"Nine million acres ......"

Zhu Di muttered about this number, and only after a little calculation, he understood the benefits of this soil fertilizer.

Nine million mu may not seem like much, but the output of nine million mu of land has increased by 100 catties, which is 6 million stone grain.

"How about this thing for Jun Tuntian?"

With good things, Zhu Di's first thought was to use it for the military tuntian, after all, most of the output of the military tuntian was still handed over to the governor's office of the five armies, and in this way the interests of the imperial court could be maximized.

"What Erchen means is to distribute the soil and fertilizer directly to the people of Suhu and Song, and then collect taxes and buy grain on the spot."

Zhu Di's thoughts Zhu Gaoxu also thought about it, but he thought that it was too scattered to distribute the soil and fertilizer to the hands of Juntun.

However, if we want to concentrate the land in the military cantonment, it will undoubtedly be more difficult and affect more people.

In this case, it is better to divide a certain area to facilitate management.

As for this place, Zhu Gaoxu chose Suzhou and Songjiang Mansions.

First, most of the floods in these two prefectures have been controlled, secondly, they are close enough to the Nanyang, the Yangtze River, and the canals, and thirdly, the grain yield here is high per mu and the cultivated land is vast enough.

Suzhou and Songjiang are geographically connected, and are the richest and most prosperous places in the south of the Yangtze River.

There are nearly 3 million people in Erfu, 14 million mu of cultivated land, and it is also a place with a very high yield per mu, with an average of 2 stone per mu.

Under such climate, geography and population conditions, it is undoubtedly the best place to concentrate on the use of soil and chemical fertilizers.

"If you want to use Su Song Erfu, you have to start measuring the cultivated land......"

Hearing that Zhu Gaoxu was going to use Susong Erfu as a soil and fertilizer demonstration area, Zhu Di reminded him of something in his words.

As the two most prosperous prefectures in Jiangdong except for Yingtianfu, Susong Erfu has 4% of the population of the Ming Dynasty and 10% of the land endowment of the Ming Dynasty, so they not only have a prosperous economy, but also have an intricate relationship.

There is hardly a single official or minister whose name can be said in the court and the central government who did not buy fields and houses in the second mansion of Susong.

It is precisely because of this that the division of cultivated land in Susong Erfu is prone to problems.

The problem with the two governments is that there is no problem with the quantity of cultivated land, but there is a big problem with the quality of cultivated land, and the problem of household registration division is even greater.

If you want to move the second mansion of Susong, it is equivalent to the cake of most people above the temple.

"People from Bohai can be persuaded by their sons."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed, and Zhu Di frowned slightly when he heard this: "I ......"

He didn't say a word for a long time, and then he looked at Zhu Gaoxu before he said, "I'll help you convince them, and at the same time, I'll let Ji Gang and Chen Ying help you." ”

Zhu Di's hesitation was a military general from Yanfu, and once he could convince them, others would not be able to hinder Zhu Di.

"In that case, there's no problem."

Zhu Gaoxu returned the salute, but Zhu Di asked: "You have to tell me first, what are you going to do to Erfu." ”

"Yes." Zhu Gaoxu knew that this was a bottomless manifestation of Zhu Di's heart, so he explained in detail the changes he would make to Su Song's Second Mansion in the future.

"Susong No. 2 Prefecture has a population of nearly 3 million and 14 million mu of cultivated land, but it bears 3.85 million stone fields."

"Erchen thinks that this field endowment does not need to be reduced, and it can even be slightly increased to four million stones."

"However, the premise here is to measure the local land situation and collect taxes according to the situation of the cultivated land."

"Although this is a bit complicated, the imperial court only collects taxes in the second Susong Mansion, and the number of lieutenants, grain chiefs, and officials sent will be twice as many as those of ordinary prefectures and counties."

Zhu Gaoxu said it, and Zhu Di said softly: "Four million stone ......"

He calculated slightly, if it was according to Zhu Gaoxu's suggestion, then Susong Erfu would levy forty-two catties of grain per mu of land.

"It's not easy for people to change farm fertilizer to soil fertilizer." Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu and reminded.

"But how many families can afford to use farm fertilizer?" While Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhu Di rhetorically, he said:

"The fertilizer given by the imperial court is sold according to one penny per catty, and the yield of grain is 100 catties, and there can be 3560 catties after paying taxes and grains, which is 50 or 60 catties higher than the original output, and now the price of Susong rice is three cents per catty, and the people can earn more than 100 wen per mu."

"Besides, even if it is farmhouse fertilizer, the cost is not cheap, at least three trucks per mu, thirty or forty yuan per car, which is not cheaper than chemical fertilizer."

"As long as the imperial court gives a policy, the ministers don't believe that those people who can't afford to use farm fertilizer will not use soil and fertilizer."

Zhu Gaoxu is sure that no one understands the peasants' desire to increase grain production better than him.

Even if they become very conservative when confronted with new things, as long as the officials in the court are the first to start using soil fertilizers, the people will follow suit.

"What's your policy?" Zhu Di asked, and Zhu Gaoxu also took the opportunity to say:

"The trend of the people is dominated by officials, and the officials are dominated by the court."

"Erchen is going to mobilize the officials in Susong Youtian to use soil and fertilizer, and let them order publicity, and at the same time open official stores in the official yamen of counties and towns to display and sell soil and fertilizer in the name of the imperial court."

The "talk and move" he said was more about coercion, after all, the current officials are better controlled than the people.

How many officials in the Second Prefecture of Su Song have clean fields in their hands, and they know better than anyone else.

Zhu Gaoxu's admission of the land in their hands this time can be said to have saved many people from prison.

After so many years of governing the country, Zhu Gaoxu has almost seen it.

If the land can be equalized, it is naturally the best.

If it cannot be equalized, then strengthen the control of taxation and official governance, as long as we ensure that taxes can be collected and used rationally for the people, it will be conducive to the management of the world.

Direct taxes such as land taxes, miscellaneous taxes, and commercial taxes are too cumbersome to collect, but indirect taxes such as salt, tea, and iron are easier to collect.

If it weren't for the fact that the current currency reserves of the Ming Dynasty were not enough to support the collection of monetary taxes, Zhu Gaoxu even wanted to carry out tax reform in advance.

In the case of immature markets, it would only be counterproductive if the currency was levied in advance.

In the late Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng's whip law was originally a good policy, but this policy had a strong "pan-Jiangnan" doctrine.

The so-called "pan-Jiangnan" doctrine is to determine the national market with the economic markets of the south-central and southeastern regions such as Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Huguang, and Jiangxi.

In the context of the continuous influx of silver into the Ming Dynasty, the four provinces of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian, which operated silk, porcelain, and tea, were like factories, not only facing the sea trade lanes, but also steadily moving forward in the industrial chain of production, processing and sales, so the economy prospered.

The second two provinces of Guangdong and Huguang, the former joined the maritime trade as a second-way dealer, and the latter continued to cultivate grain while extensively planting cotton and mulberry trees in the south of the Yangtze River, becoming a large granary after Susongchanghu and other provinces in Jiangdong.

Although there are fewer people growing grain in Jiangnan than before, they make more money doing business and can buy grain from Huguang at a high price.

In other words, the inflow of silver from overseas has basically poured into the pockets of these six provinces, which are also the first provinces to start currency marketization from east to west.

There is no problem in levying monetary taxes on these places, which can be seen from the fact that Zhejiang in the late Ming Dynasty often shipped hundreds of thousands of taels.

However, compared to them, the problems of other provinces in the Ming Dynasty are worse.

Except for the good gold mining in Shandong, the rest of the provinces in the whole north do not have much mining output at all, so after a whip law, it has become the norm for the people in the north to sell grain for money, and then use it to pay taxes.

The key point is that the currency reserves of the people in the north are not much, and after the imperial court collected the currency, it did not concentrate the currency of the south into the north and distribute it to the people, but scattered it all over the world, and the investment in the north was not high except for military salaries.

In the long run, the money reserves in the north naturally became smaller and smaller, and money shortages began to occur.

Coupled with the fact that the problem of official corruption has not been solved, the people's dissatisfaction with taxation and questioning the authority of the law have begun to increase.

In this case, if the rule of officials is reasonably sorted out and the appropriate policy is inclined to the north, then the public opinion can still be saved, but by this time the Ming Dynasty has entered the seventeenth century.

With the beginning of the Thirty Years' War in Europe and the closure of the Tokugawa shogunate, the influx of silver into the Ming Dynasty began to decrease rapidly, while the outflow of copper coins from trade continued.

Not only that, but the rise of the Jurchens in the northeast and the spread of natural disasters in the northwest have aggravated the already precarious financial problems.

These various problems are all problems that Zhu Gaoxu needs to prevent, so he did not blindly follow the world economy, but gradually turned the world economy into a domestic economy.

Silver-copper mines in the southwest, gold and silver mines in Luzon and Japan, these minerals were important pillars of the monetization of the Ming market.

As long as they can stabilize for decades and continue to transport gold, silver and copper mines to the mainland, then as the market money reserves gradually become sufficient, and the monetary policy is biased towards the north, then the Ming can begin to reduce direct taxes and increase indirect taxes.

The price of salt in the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly the lowest in all dynasties, and the situation of private salt is also the most rampant.

Compared with the official salt of the Song Dynasty, the price of official salt in the Ming Dynasty was only more than ten Wen, but even so, there were still people who felt that it was expensive, because the private salt was too cheap.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, illegal salt was not rampant, but according to Zhu Gaoxu's understanding, the common people basically ate more illegal salt, because private salt was cheaper than official salt.

Don't look at it as just five cents, but if it is calculated, the 70 million people of the Ming Dynasty will pay less than five cents each, and the imperial court will reduce its income by 350,000 yuan, not to mention that each person eats a minimum of three catties of salt per year.

If the illegal salt can be cut off and the normal official salt price can be bought and sold, then the Daming Guang salt tax can stabilize at about 3 million yuan, and it will continue to grow with the population growth.

Like the situation with a population of 150 million in the Wanli period, the salt tax alone can receive 7 million guan, and it is absolutely no problem to raise the price of salt a little bit, and it is absolutely no problem to collect 10 million guan in taxes.

After all, during the Wanli period, even in a northwest city like Xi'an, Shaanxi, an ordinary laborer could maintain a daily wage of 20 Wen, and the salary spent on salt in a year was only three days' work, and the whole family was only half a month.

As long as this tax can fall on the people's livelihood, it will undoubtedly be beneficial to the whole world.

Thinking of the issue of market currency, Zhu Gaoxu also said to Zhu Di:

"In the past seven years, the imperial court has harvested silver and copper ingots from the southwest and overseas through the minting process, and now it has released more than 8 million guan to the people in the north through work-for-relief, more than 6 million guan to the south, and there are still more than 6 million yuan of new money in the treasury."

"Therefore, in the new policy of Susong Erfu this time, Erchen is also ready to use the method of currency collection to test the situation in Jiangnan."

A whip law is also worth learning from Zhu Gaoxu, so he plans to use the second Susong Mansion as a pilot to collect monetary taxes.

If this method is feasible, then in the future, the imperial court will collect currency tax in Jiangnan, and then transfer the currency to the north through work-for-relief to alleviate the money shortage in the north.

At the same time, the imperial court could put some of its currency into the southern market, and transport grain from the south to the north, accelerating the marketization of money in the inland provinces in the south.

Once the money is marketized, indirect taxes can be collected.

This is a big game of chess, even if it is Zhu Gaoxu himself, his head is inevitably a little messy, let alone Zhu Di.

Regarding what Zhu Gaoxu said, Zhu Di only felt a headache: "In the future, you should do this kind of thing yourself, just tell me when you're done." ”

"Yes." Zhu Gaoxu also had a headache, he only felt that the economic knowledge he mastered could not support such a huge country.

Therefore, he still has to discuss the specific policy content with Xia Yuanji, Huang Fu, Guo Zi and others before he can get the results.

"Parent ......"

Zhu Gaoxu was about to continue to say something, but at this time he heard footsteps behind him.

When he looked back, he saw Yishaha walking into the Wuying Hall with two copies of the music, and calmly said: "Slave and maid see Your Majesty, Your Highness." ”

"Your Highness, this is a note sent by the Governor's Office of Luzon and the Navy."

Yishiha handed the note to Zhu Gaoxu, who first opened the note of the Navy Governor's Mansion and breathed a sigh of relief after reading it.

"What's wrong?" Zhu Di asked Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu also handed out a recital:

"The imperial court needs plant ash, and the price is too expensive to ship from the South Seas and the Northeast, and there are not enough mountains and forests in the south of the Yangtze River, so the ministers set their sights on Xiaoliuqiu (Taiwan)."

"Xiaoliuqiu is still a primitive area, although the area is not large, but due to the abundant rainfall, the island is rich in vegetation, and it is not only convenient to burn plant ash in the future, but also to solve the problem of plant ash."

"Grass ash and charcoal, these are good resources, which can solve the agricultural and fire problems of the people in the south of the Yangtze River."

"Previously, my son was most worried about malaria and miasma on the island, but with the start of the second voyage to the West, the imperial court will also obtain medicinal materials from Dongzhou that can reduce the symptoms of malaria."

"Didn't you say that you can only get it by going to the West for the third time?" Zhu Di frowned and asked, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said:

"The third voyage to the West was to obtain a large amount of bark, and the second trip to the West was to send an advance fleet after arriving at Kunlun Point (Cape of Good Hope) to learn the local language, search for the animals and plants needed by the imperial court, and wait for the third voyage to the West to arrive in the local area and act as an intermediary to introduce both sides."

Zhu Gaoxu did not feel that South Africa could support the huge supplies needed by Zheng He, so before that, the imperial court would first send an advance team to South America to establish diplomatic relations and learn the language of the other side to introduce the two sides.

At the same time, the Kunlun Cape area will also build a propaganda and comfort division to provide certain supplies for the fleet when it goes to the Western Ocean for the third time.

In this way, when Zheng He arrived in Central America for the third time in the Western Ocean, he would be able to purchase supplies locally, and at the same time send a land advance team to the western part of Central America to build a consolation department.

When Zheng He returned to the Ming Dynasty, the Western Ocean would be over, and it would be replaced by the Ming Ocean (Pacific) trade activities in the Eastern Ocean.

It only takes about 40 days to lease an island in eastern Japan and the Ashikaga shogunate to establish an official factory, and then follow the North Pacific circulation, which will take about 40 days to reach the western part of North America, and about 10 days all the way south to the supply of the Propaganda Division for the construction of the third advance team to the West.

When you come back, you can take the Central Pacific Gyre, counting the time to avoid typhoons, and you can return to Daming in two months at most.

Avoiding the two seasons of spring and winter, when typhoons are frequent, the fleet can basically travel twice a year.

As long as there is a consolation department in Central America and South America, and diplomatic and trade with the local people, then the next thing will be much simpler.

Even if they could not colonize, the Ming Dynasty was able to obtain a large number of gold, silver and copper ingots from the Americas with excellent goods, and supported the local government.

Europe is much less selective than the more selective.

Europe could not advance eastward, so they could only go south and west, so they were doomed to invade the Americas in the future, because they did not have such excellent goods as the Ming Dynasty, and they could not peacefully seize the local market, so they could only choose to use force.

The more often they use force, the more the people of the Americas will lean towards the Ming Dynasty, leaving Europe in a difficult situation, and the only way to start is from Central Africa.

"It's a little far away."

Zhu Gaoxu withdrew his gaze and put it on Zhu Di, and Zhu Di also nodded after reading the Xiaoliuqiu Army report:

"They say there's a natural harbor to the north that can be built, which is good news, but when are you going to land on the island?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Zheng He is still in Alisha now, right?"

Alisa, later known as the Indian state of Olisa, has been clearing the local shipping lanes for pirates in recent months, and has seized a lot of things.

However, these things are not worth mentioning compared to the maintenance of the fleet.

"It is difficult to mine struvite, so Erchen plans to set up a fleet to mine struvite first, and then start the development of Xiaoliuqiu after Zheng He brings back some bark and tree species."

"But before that, this small Ryukyu can also be renamed the Ryukyu Prefecture, and no officials will be sent for the time being."

After Zhu Gaoxu explained, Zhu Di bowed his head and said: "You can do this matter yourself, what is the content of the other note?" ”

He asked curiously about the note from Luzon, and Zhu Gaoxu also opened it and glanced at it, and handed it to Zhu Di with a smile on his face.

"This is even better news than just now."

"Good news?" Zhu Di couldn't wait to take it, and then saw a row of words "golden".

[800 miles north of Luzon, digging soil and producing gold......]

(End of chapter)

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