"What does Aiqing mean by this?" Zhu Houzhao looked at Liao Fan and asked with a smile.

In fact, there was no need for Liao Fan to tell this, Zhu Houzhao also knew about it.

What is the basis for developing industry and commerce?

The answer is simple, that is agriculture. Only by achieving self-sufficiency in food can the Ming Dynasty achieve this?

The answer is yes.

Although farming in this era was unscientific and the yield per mu was low, there were not as many people in the Ming Dynasty as in later generations, and the cultivated land was enough to feed the people of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that this was before. In recent years, with the prosperity of coastal smuggling trade, silk has become a hard currency, and the main grain-producing areas of the Ming Dynasty are Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

And what are they doing? They are playing with changing rice into mulberry. To put it bluntly, they are not planting rice, but planting mulberry trees to raise silkworms and weave cloth.

Under such circumstances, there is naturally less land for growing food.

Coupled with the increase in disasters in the north, food prices naturally skyrocketed. As time went by, this situation became more and more serious. By the late Wanli period, the court could not collect taxes, the bureaucracy was corrupt, land annexation was serious, and rice was replaced by mulberry.

It's serious.

Natural disasters have further intensified. Not only in the northwest, but also in the entire north of the Yangtze River, grain production has been reduced or even eliminated. The consequence is that there is once again not enough food to eat, and the Ming Dynasty is naturally full of wars.

What is the solution? Change the mulberry fields into rice fields?

This is reversing history, and Zhu Houzhao would not do this.

You must know that raising sericulture and weaving silk in mulberry fields can earn a lot of foreign exchange through export. This is a high-profit project. How can it be abandoned just for farming?

If there is no food, then look for food from other places. The first thing is to promote high-yielding crops. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn are not available at the moment, but they can be found, and it is not impossible to obtain them. After all, the colonists all brought these things with them.

In addition, there is a plant called rye in the vast land of Russia. Although it is not delicious, it is cold-resistant and can be grown in Russia, let alone the Ming Dynasty? Even in the Little Ice Age, rye can be grown, especially in the vast Northeast

of black soil.

With rye, Northeast China could become the main grain-producing area of ​​the Ming Dynasty, and the land north of the Yangtze River could also be cultivated on a large scale.

The second is the south direction. It was cold in the Ming Dynasty, but it was still very warm in the south. In Jiaozhi, in the southeastern peninsula, rice is harvested three times a year. Jiaozhi can be included in the Ming Dynasty and become the new main grain-producing area of ​​the Ming Dynasty.

With these two stable main grain-producing areas, the price of grain in Ming Dynasty can be stabilized, but this must be done step by step.

Over in Liaodong, Yang Yiqing was farming. There was no rye now and he was planning to plant soybeans. Zhu Houzhao gave him great support.

After getting the rye seeds, Daming could directly plant rye on the black soil and graft it without any difficulty.

As for the south direction, Zhu Houzhao has not thought about it for the time being. It is too far and we will have to deal with the matter in the north. Although there have been many disasters in the past two years, the scope is not large. The other two main grain-producing areas of the Ming Dynasty are still stable for the time being.

Of these two main grain-producing areas, one is Huguang and the other is Sichuan, so food is not an issue that needs to be solved urgently for the time being. Of course, this is a chess game across the country.

Looking at Guyuan alone, there is little land and low output. With so many people coming in all at once, it is indeed a bit stretched to supply the upcoming cities such as Yinchuan, Baotou, and Fengzhou.

But Zhu Houzhao is not worried, because if there is a profit, there will be people selling it. Once the price of grain in the northwest rises, there will naturally be businessmen selling grain here.

Even if the merchants don't sell, the court can organize people to buy and sell.

Not to mention anything else, my own Qi Zhai can definitely take on this business. Although it can't make a big profit, it can still make a small profit.

As for whether the people in the northwest can afford to eat, Zhu Houzhao is not even worried. With his investment of five million taels, and the addition of Shanxi merchants and gentry, the northwest will soon usher in a period of great prosperity.

Whether you are working or doing business, your income will increase.

Zhu Houzhao's idea was very good, but Liao Fan didn't know it.

He had begun to worry now. After listening to Zhu Houzhao's words, he quickly said: "Your Highness, the price of food in Guyuan has been rising three times a day. If we don't find a way, the people will not be able to afford food. Once there is a riot, I'm afraid...

It will affect His Highness the Crown Prince’s vision!”

This is said in a polite way, but the meaning is actually very simple. If there is no food to eat, your idea will be just a castle in the air!

Zhu Houzhao looked at Liao Fan and said with a smile: "I will find a solution in the next few days. Don't worry, food prices will recover soon."

Although Liao Fan is still worried, His Highness the Crown Prince has said so, do you still want to refute it?

This is not the way to be a minister. Liao Fan quickly bowed and said: "I understand."

After Liao Fan left, Zhu Houzhao sat on a chair and drank tea.

Glancing at Tang Bohu behind him, Zhu Houzhao asked with a smile: "Is the person here?"

"Go back to Your Highness, we are here, wait outside." Tang Bohu quickly bowed and said.

Since leaving the capital, Tang Bohu has become the closest official to Zhu Houzhao. Tang Bohu has stepped in for all the things that it is inconvenient for the eunuch Liu Jin to do.

In the past, this errand belonged to Wang Shouren, but now Wang Shouren has his own errand and has no time to do this anymore.

"Then call him in!" Zhu Houzhao put down the tea cup in his hand and ordered with a smile.

Not long after, two men walked in from outside. Both men were different.

The one on the right is a fat man with a big face and squinted eyes. Whenever he smiles, his face is filled with charity. He has a big belly and looks like a big-bellied Maitreya Buddha.

Zhu Houzhao smiled when he saw this person. As for the person on the left, he was very thin.

He is not tall, and his appearance is very ordinary. He looks unremarkable and would not make a splash if thrown into a crowd.

"Sun Liang, the general manager of Qizhai Sanbian, came to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." The big fat man knelt down and saluted Zhu Houzhao. He looked very stupid as he was panting.

But Zhu Houzhao would not really think so. You must know that although Qi Qi Zhai is a business owned by him, it is also an officialdom. Being able to be the general manager of the three sides, Sun Liang is definitely not an ordinary person.

"Qian He, the sixth-rank deacon of the Huanyi Bureau, meets His Highness the Crown Prince." Qian He followed the fat man and knelt down.

The Huanyi Bureau is not a high-level yamen, but it is an extraordinary existence to be able to be a sixth-grade deacon. This person is also the general person in charge of the Sanbian Huanyi Bureau.

These two people are the three heads of Qi Zhai and Huanyi Bureau, the two major forces that Zhu Houzhao has developed in recent years. This time Zhu Houzhao will use them.

After glancing at the two people, Zhu Houzhao nodded, and then said: "Get up!"
Chapter completed!