"Come, Kuanren, please have tea. This is the Mingqian I got from Grandpa Huang. I only got two taels in total."

"My lord, thank you very much for your kindness."

"Kuanren's hometown is Shunde in Guangdong. Well, the geographical location is not very good. This is Shunde along the coast?"

"Your Majesty, Shunde is located on the west bank of the Pearl River estuary, so it can be considered a coastal area."

"Oh, the mouth of the Pearl River." As a foodie before traveling, Zhu Youdong watched every episode of CCTV's "Taste of Shunde" without stopping. How could he not know where Shunde is? He started with such a topic, just thinking.

Try to make the atmosphere as relaxed as possible so that he can get the relatively real situation.

"Kuanren, since Shunde is near the seaport, it is located in the Pearl River Delta, right? This land should be extremely fertile?"

"Your Highness is really able to draw inferences from one instance. It is true. The land in my hometown is fertile. Rice can be grown at least two seasons a year, and some can even be grown three seasons. And the yield per acre is not low. If the year had been good and the typhoon had not made landfall,

If so...the best fields can yield about seven or eight shi of rice per mu."

"Yeah." Zhu Youdong gently put the lid on the tea and rolled his eyes: "Kuanren seems to be quite familiar with things in the fields."

"I have been poor since I was a child. Before I passed the exam, I had to work in the fields in order to be able to study."

"Oh, it's rare. Then, Kanren, how does Xianyang, where you are now in charge, compare with Shunde?"

"this……"

"Gu Ye will tell you the truth. I invite you to come to Beijing this time. Liang Yong's matter is just an introduction. The real reason is that Gu wants to know the specific situation in the northwest. So, Kuanren, feel free to say it. No matter what you say

, everyone listened carefully."

Taking a deep breath, Chen Shiji stood up and bowed deeply to Zhu Youdong: "I actually understand in my heart that if His Highness Taisun hadn't defended him, I would have probably removed him from office with a black mark from Ambassador Liang.

Therefore, I will pretend that I am in vain now and say some unpleasant words to His Highness."

"Well, you tell me, you tell me, what I want to hear is the truth. It doesn't matter if it sounds good or not. As long as it's true."

"His Royal Highness just asked about the difference between Shunde and Xianyang. Well, let's put it this way, Shunde can only be regarded as a middle county among the Chief Secretary of Guangdong. And Xianyang is an undisputed upper county among the Chief Secretary of Shaanxi. However, the comparison between Xianyang and Shunde

Come on, the difference is not even a tiny bit."

Perhaps the atmosphere created by Zhu Youdong had an effect, or perhaps Chen Shiji himself wanted to talk. So at this time, he simply left his seat and walked to the center of the hall.

"Your Highness, whether a county is good or not depends first on its production. In Shunde, rice is harvested two or three times a year, and the average yield per mu is about four stones, which is eight stones a year. However, the land in Xianyang can only grow one season of wheat or millet a year.

The average yield per mu is between two and three stones. Just for this reason, Xianyang is far behind Shunde.

Secondly, although there are some large households in Shunde with thousands of acres of fertile land, most farmers have at least two or three acres of paddy fields. Before Chen was elected, his family had 20 acres of paddy fields. In addition to Chen, there was another family member.

The elder brother and two younger brothers, and the four brothers work together, which is enough for the family to have enough food and clothing. In Xianyang, because the land production is small, it is not helpful to have two or three acres of thin farmland at home. Therefore, there are many landless farmers in Xianyang

, all need to cultivate other people’s land to survive.”

Speaking of this, Chen Shiji sighed deeply: "Your Highness, my tenant farmers in the Ming Dynasty generally rent other people's land, and the rent is usually 50% of the harvest that year. In Shunde, my hometown, because of its higher output,

Therefore, landlords usually set the land rent at 40%. In Xianyang, due to the low output, the land rent is usually 50% or even 60%. Calculating this, a landless farmer in Xianyang has to rent at least 20 acres.

Only with the land can we barely have enough food and clothing.”

Zhu Youdong couldn't help frowning when he heard this: It is obvious that farmers in the south of the Ming Dynasty, even if they have no land to their name, can make a living by renting five or six acres of other people's land. But farmers in the north must at least rent

Just plant twenty acres of land.

No matter how much land farmers in the south have, in general, the majority are homesteaders with a few acres of land. In the north, however, the majority are farmers who are completely landless.

Putting aside the issue of whether there is so much land for people to cultivate, the key point is: people only have so much strength. A farmer who only manages five acres of land has completely different effects than someone who manages twenty acres of land. The former can cultivate intensively,

The latter can only rely on extensive farming and rely almost entirely on the weather.

Originally, the yield per mu in the north was low due to unfavorable natural conditions. Coupled with such extensive farming, it became a vicious cycle!

"Kenren, so you say, the farmers in Xianyang are living a much worse life than those in Shunde?"

"That's right, Your Highness. Farmers in Shunde, as long as they have one to twenty acres of paddy fields at home, and there are no sick people at home, they dare to send at least one child to school. And farmers in Xianyang have two to three hundred acres of land at home.

"If you want to send a child to school, you have to make a decision after repeated consideration."

"Well, be generous. Of course, land and food are the foundation of a family. But from Gu's point of view, these people shouldn't just farm, right?"

"Your Highness Shengming. Except for a few foolish men and women, most of these farmers have to do something other than farming. For example, in Shunde, my hometown, in addition to farming, we also have to raise fish and catch some river seafood to sell.

.Uh, what’s more, I think His Highness also knows that Shunde is very close to the sea. This private salt..."

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter. As a great grandson, of course I have to say that smuggling of salt must be strictly investigated. But today when you and I talked, I just listened to this."

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your understanding. Your Highness, according to my observation of the farmers in Shaanxi, who have been working in Xianyang for more than two years, their income outside of farming mainly lies in the tea trade. Twenty or thirty years ago, it was said that the income from tea could account for

It accounts for 50% to 60% of the income of ordinary farmers. However, in recent years, this income has dropped sharply to almost nothing."

Shaanxi is geographically adjacent to Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and other places. During the Xiaozong period of the Ming Dynasty, after the Ming Dynasty abandoned the Hami Guard, Shaanxi was already a border province in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty.

In the surrounding areas, since most of them are nomadic people, they mainly eat meat. Therefore, this tea is an urgent need for the nomadic people. During the periods of Wuzong, Shizong and even Muzong of the Ming Dynasty, Shaanxi's tea was sold throughout the continent.

Many Shaanxi farmers in northwest China have benefited from this.

"Well, Kuanren, the tea trade in Shaanxi is aware of it. But why did you just say that the people of Shaanxi have hardly benefited from it now?"

"It's not all because of those Jing barbarians!"

"Um?"

The Jing Manzi mentioned by Chen Shiji was a native of Huguang (Hunan and Hubei were the Chief Secretary in the Ming Dynasty). Huguang occupied a pivotal position in the economy of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and was known as "Huguang is well versed in the world." After the discovery of the border tea trade,

After high profits, Huguang people began to dump a large amount of tea produced in Huguang to Shaanxi.

Due to the superior geographical environment and various other factors, the price of tea from Huguang is still much cheaper than local tea from Shaanxi even after long-distance transportation to Shaanxi. Therefore, businessmen in Shaanxi no longer purchase tea from local tea farmers, but instead buy it locally.

He became a second-hand dealer: he bought tea from Huguang people and then sold it to many nomadic peoples in the northwest.
Chapter completed!