Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 576 Competition is a good thing
"The disciple greets the teacher, and the humble official greets the prime minister."
"Well, everyone is here, sit down."
While Yuan Keli was giving instructions to his favorite disciple in person, the Prime Minister Wen Tihen was also summoning his confidants and disciples.
At that time, the Ming Dynasty was ruled by the Emperor's tutor party, and the Zhejiang party was an auxiliary. However, although the overall relationship within the Emperor's tutor party was good, Wen Tiren, Yuan Keli, Sun Chengzong, Xiong Tingbi and others all had their own factions.
Yuan Keli is a versatile person with a very high IQ, so he also likes versatile people. For example, Ni Yuanlu, Huang Daozhou and others are all great scholars in the field of history , and their talents are beyond words. As for Prime Minister Wen, well, Old Wen has never been a brilliant genius, so he doesn't like those talented people who show their talents at a young age. In his opinion, those who can keep calm and get things done are the ones worth cultivating.
Therefore, the two people he summoned that night were completely different from Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou.
Ma Shiying and Gao Hongtu.
"Yao grass."
"The disciple is here."
"I recommended you to the Emperor, and he replied. So, you have to move to another position."
"Thank you very much for your care, teacher. May I ask where the emperor plans to send me?"
"The court will establish a new Jilin Provincial Government in May this year. Yaocao, you will be the first governor of Jilin Provincial Government."
"Jilin? Teacher, is this new province in the Northeast?"
"Yes, Liaoning Province is further north, and is mainly based on the Songnen Plain that was previously developed by the Jurchens, with some areas south of Longgang Mountain, bordering Fuguo. The provincial capital is located in Changchun Prefecture, and there is an outlet to the sea called Vladivostok. This was a place opened up more than ten years ago when the Jurchens rebelled in order to receive Japanese arms."
"Uh." Ma Shiying thought for a moment, stood up calmly, and said in a calm tone: "Teacher, I am only a fourth-rank official in the Ministry of Public Administration. Logically, my promotion to a second-rank governor is a great favor from the emperor, and I shouldn't say anything more. But, how many Han people are there in the Jilin Provincial Administration?"
"Well, you are calm in times of crisis. That's good. Sit down and talk."
After Ma Shiying sat down again, Wen Tiren said, "The court asked the Jurchens to continue to migrate northward to develop the Sanjiang Plain a few years ago, so in recent years, some farmers from Liaoning have also migrated there. Uh..." Speaking of this, even someone like Wen Shoufu, who never showed his emotions, blushed: "There are about 5,000 to 6,000 households and more than 30,000 people."
"This..." Ma Shiying, who had been listening carefully at first, suddenly looked up, but when he saw his teacher's face, he didn't say anything bad after all.
Seeing Ma Shiying's hesitant expression, Lao Wen quickly laughed and said, "Well, I know that the population is too small, not even as large as a medium-sized county in the interior. So, after my coordination, the court agreed to relocate half of the original residents of Kuandian Liubao, which is about 30,000 to 40,000 people."
Seeing that the blush on Ma Shiying's face had faded a little, Wen Tiren breathed a sigh of relief. "In addition, the court is building a railway from Shenyang to Sarawei recently. The number of workers along the line will not be less than 50,000. Also, hasn't the court conquered Mongolia now? Half of the Hulunbuir grassland has been assigned to the Jilin Provincial Government. As long as you have the ability, the Mongolians on that grassland can also be counted as the population of Jilin. Yaocao, how about it? So, it should be nearly 200,000, right?"
" ...I would like to thank you for your cultivation. I wonder who is my censor?"
"How can there be an inspector in a new province? You can take on the role yourself. The Privy Council will send a cavalry battalion to you to keep you in good stead. Besides, it is a new province after all. Everyone has already discussed it at the State Council meeting. Jilin Province will be tax-free for three years. When you go there, the Ministry of Revenue will allocate 1.2 million silver dollars and 500,000 shi of grain. For the next three years, this amount of support will be halved every year. In the fourth year, which was the 14th year of the Tianqi reign, Jilin not only did not receive any support from the court, but also had to pay full taxes to the court."
"Yes, disciple understands."
"Hey, Yaocao, I know you feel uncomfortable. You probably think this is an exile. But I advise you not to think so. In fact, this is a big plan made by the emperor. If you make achievements in Jilin, you may be able to join the cabinet before I retire in the future."
"Teacher, you are joking. I think if we go to Jilin, it will be very difficult to register all the people and build the Yellow Book of Jilin in three years. But what is the overall situation that the emperor is planning?"
"As the chief of the Tongzhengsi in recent years, all documents have to go through you. I think you should know that although the court has been getting richer in recent years, it has encountered great problems in agriculture. According to the Yanjing Daily, our Ming Dynasty has officially entered the Little Ice Age. Damn it, Zhang Shize boasted a lot in the newspaper, saying that although the Little Ice Age will cause agricultural production to decrease, as long as everyone is united, there is no need to worry. Humph, but I heard from the emperor in private that extreme climates like the Little Ice Age have also appeared in our China before, in the late Xia and early Shang dynasties, the Jin Dynasty, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms."
"ah?!"
Seeing Ma Shiying, who had been acting calm, couldn't help but get startled. Wen Tiren nodded solemnly, "So, we must prepare for a rainy day and solve the food problem. With such a large size, if we don't grow our own food, even if we take all the food from the Southeast Asian countries, we still can't feed so many mouths. Not to mention, when our Ming Dynasty competes with Spain or the Ottoman Empire for global hegemony in the future, the army's consumption of food will increase countless times."
"I think I understand. The establishment of Jilin Province is to open another granary for our Ming Dynasty, right?"
"That's right, Yaocao. Since the emperor abolished the head tax, hiding the population among the people has lost its meaning. So in recent years, the population of our Ming Dynasty has increased dramatically. According to the latest yellow book data, there are now more than 187 million people in the two capitals and 18 provinces of the entire Ming Dynasty. Damn it, the court was so serious about the population census before, but it didn't find these people. I really don't know how they hid in the past. Uh, I'm off topic. Anyway, with so many people encountering this kind of nationwide extreme weather, hey, if we don't prepare in advance, it's hard to say what will happen."
"Teacher, I am deeply worried about what you said. I heard that a typical manifestation of the Little Ice Age is a drop in temperature and less rainfall in the north. If so, then Jilin's agriculture is completely hopeless. How can we build this great granary?"
"The Emperor has set several guidelines to completely solve the food problem in the Ming Dynasty. First, continue to vigorously promote high-yield crops originating from the Americas. Second, strengthen control over the Southeast Asian countries. Third, implement the land tax system to reduce the burden on farmers. Fourth, formulate a protective price for the purchase of local grain in the Ming Dynasty. Fifth, try collective farms."
“A collective farm?”
"Yes, that's what you are going to do in Jilin. Yaocao, my Great Ming Dynasty has consciously protected small farmers since the founding of the country. Therefore, although there have been many years of land annexation, there are no real aristocratic families like those in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period that controlled states and counties and formed a closed market. Although this is very good, it has also caused a new problem. The land is too scattered, which is not conducive to centralized management.
The collective farms that the emperor is talking about refer to a brand new agricultural production model that starts with at least 500,000 mu of land, grows only one crop, uses unified water, fertilizers, and is managed in a unified manner. "
"The emperor is indeed the reincarnation of the Azure Dragon, he knows everything!" Ma Shiying clapped his hands fiercely and became completely excited: "If we really do this, the output of this farm will be at least 20% to 30% higher than that of ordinary small farmers, and the loss will be reduced by at least 50%!"
"Hahaha, now you understand the importance of establishing Jilin Province, right? In the interior of the Ming Dynasty, under the Little Ice Age climate, implementing this policy in the south will definitely be more effective and more effective. But in the south..." Old Wen shook his head and laughed for a while: "Only Huai'an Prefecture is flooded by the Yellow River all year round. If the levee is repaired, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland can be recovered. There is also some good land in Hunan Province, which was established not long ago. But if we really want to talk about large areas of arable land, we still have the Songnen Plain and the future Sanjiang Plain."
"Disciple understands."
"Well, Yaocao, now you know how heavy the burden on you is, right? According to the estimates of the surveyors who went to build the Shen-Sa Railway in the early stage, the newly built Jilin Province has no less than 50 million acres of arable land, and now almost all of it is unowned land, which means that they are all the court's land, so you can build farms as much as you want!"
"I know. When I went to Jilin, the first thing I did was to survey the land, then demarcate the farm area, and try not to sell the farmland."
"That's right." After giving an encouraging look to his favorite disciple, Wen Tiren turned his gaze to Gao Hongtu.
"Yanwen."
"I am here."
"In addition to the newly established Jilin Province in the tenth year of Tianqi, the imperial court will also establish three new Mongolian autonomous regions, namely, the southern, northern and western Mongolian autonomous regions. Your Highness the Regent has already obtained the Emperor's order to transfer Xinjiang Governor Ding Qijun to serve as the first Lieutenant General to Protect Mongolia in the Ming Dynasty."
"Hiss~ I never thought that the positions of Lieutenant General Protecting Xiongnu and Lieutenant General Protecting Xianbei during the period of the mighty Han Dynasty, which were so prestigious, would be revived in the Ming Dynasty! Ding Hengwen is destined to go down in history."
"Yes, everyone wants to restore the position of Qiang Han and take up the post, but who made the emperor choose him?" Wen Tiren smiled and said, "Does Yanwen have any interest in the post of Xinjiang Governor?"
"Thank you very much, Yuan Fu, for your help."
"Well, when you go to Xinjiang, in addition to building good relations with the local ethnic minorities, your main task is to build new collective farms. Xinjiang has little rain all year round, and the land is irrigated by snow water, so there is no need to worry about the Little Ice Age climate. As long as you can control it well, you will still have a lot of food. In addition, it is said that Xinjiang has strong sunshine, which is very conducive to cotton production. You should also plant more cotton while you are there. In this way, fewer grain fields in the mainland will be converted into cotton fields."
"I understand."
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot something important." Patting his head, Wen Tiren said, "Since we are developing agriculture, how can we not have good seeds. Yanwen, you are lucky. The emperor has ordered the current factory owner and the Grand Chancellor to study hybrid crops since he was a child. At first it was hybrid rice, and later there was hybrid wheat. A few years ago, after we conquered Mongolia, the Grand Chancellor used the best wheat in our Ming Dynasty to crossbreed with the forage grass on the grassland and got a new variety. The yield is not very high, but it is drought-resistant and resistant to exposure. It is just right for you to bring this new seed to Xinjiang."
"Hahaha, thank you Yuanfu, thank you Dasikong, and thank you to all the professors in Fangshan."
"As for you." Wen Tiren turned back and said to Ma Shiying, "Why do you think the court had to build a new Jilin Province in the tenth year of Tianqi? The biggest reason is that the professors of the Agricultural Laboratory of our Fangshan Academy of Sciences found a new rice variety that is extremely cold-resistant in Hokkaido, Japan."
When Ma Yaocao heard this, he immediately started shaking his body with excitement: "Teacher! Now I have a clear idea in my mind."
"Hahaha, you all should do your best. I will also be thorough with you. The collective farm is a national experiment conducted by our Ming Dynasty to solve the future food problem. Those who succeed in this experiment will definitely be favored by the emperor. Now, in Huai'an in the south, it is Ni Yuanlu. In Changsha, it is Huang Daozhou. Do you know how heavy the burden on your shoulders is?"
At this point, Ma Shiying and Gao Hongtu both became extremely cautious: "Please rest assured, Master (Prime Minister), I will not let the Second Minister take the cake!"
