In the study room of the Qianqing Palace in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao was discussing the current disaster with his ministers.
Since the beginning of spring this year, disasters have been affecting the entire Ming Dynasty. To be precise, the whole world has been greatly affected. It was cold at first, and it has not recovered in March.
Then there were droughts followed by droughts, and floods followed. In the Ming Dynasty itself, heavy rains continued in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty, resulting in major floods, and many places were severely affected.
In the northern region, there was a severe drought with no rain for several months, resulting in almost no harvest in the entire northern region. The only places that were less affected were Liaodong and Hezhong regions.
The Liaodong region has a lot of snowfall in winter, and the snow melts and melts into the ground, making the Liaodong region rich in groundwater resources. In addition, there are many rivers in the Liaodong region, so the water volume is less affected. Liaodong's agriculture is mechanized and highly technological. , so the impact is small.
In the Hezhong area, the main water resources in the Hezhong area come from melted water from snow mountains. Although drought weather has an impact, it is not significant. The agriculture in the Hezhong area is distributed in major river areas, so irrigation water can be guaranteed.
Except for Liaodong and Hezhong, almost the entire northern region was greatly affected. Black Earth Province was not spared, and the drought lasted for several months.
"Your Majesty, severe drought disasters have occurred in Henan, Northern Zhili, Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu, grasslands, black soil, Northern Huanghuangzhou and other places. The Yellow River in Henan has dried up. Liu Long, the Chief Minister of Henan, requested to Dredge the Yellow River channel and excavate the silt and soil in the river channel to lower the height of the river bed."
Tong Rui, Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, took the memorial and reported to Zhu Houzhao in detail the current disaster situation in various places.
"Well, there are floods in the south and drought in the north. There are even major droughts and floods all over the world. It is really a troubled year."
After Zhu Houzhao heard this, his expression became serious.
Disasters have occurred not only in the Ming Dynasty, but also on a global scale. Even the Tianzhu continent has experienced a severe drought. It has not rained for a long time. It is estimated that the food production in the Tianzhu continent will also be significantly reduced this year.
In addition, Europe has also experienced severe floods in the west and severe droughts in the east. Western Europe has basically suffered from severe floods. Potatoes grown have become moldy and wheat has been flooded. Eastern Europe has experienced severe drought and cracked land. , the river stopped flowing.
The Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire were also greatly affected. Drought continued to spread, and even cotton cultivation was affected, let alone wheat cultivation.
The only place where the impact is smaller is Egypt. Anyway, they rely on the Nile River for food and a large amount of cotton is grown, so the demand for water is relatively small.
"Are there sufficient food reserves everywhere?"
After thinking about it, Zhu Houzhao was also concerned about the food reserves. Regardless of whether it was a drought or a flood, as long as he had food in his hands, he would not panic, and the people would be able to stabilize, and there would be no chaos.
"Your Majesty, the food reserves in various places are very abundant, enough to guarantee use for about two years."
Tong Rui also replied quickly.
Then he thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, the world is currently experiencing various extreme natural disasters, which will inevitably lead to a significant reduction in food production this year."
"My Ming Dynasty has several large granaries and sufficient food reserves, so there is nothing to worry about. However, the overseas vassals and colonies of our Ming Dynasty are different."
"Many colonies and vassal states do not even grow food at all, and all their food depends on external imports. Normally, there is no problem."
"But this year, there may be problems with the global food supply, leading to food shortages and insufficient supply in these colonies and vassals."
"The people of these colonies and vassal states are also your Majesty's people. They also call us Ming people. I believe that as the suzerain of these colonies and vassal states, I, Ming Dynasty, have the responsibility and obligation to help them."
"So I think that now we should try our best to give priority to the supply of food to our own people in the Ming Dynasty, reduce food imports from Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Persia and the Middle East, and even limit food exports to these regions."
As the Minister of Household Affairs, Tong Rui obviously did a very good job. He knew the importance of food and knew how to keep it firmly in his hands.
"Um!"
"What do you think, dear friends?"
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he nodded slightly. This obviously made sense. There was nothing wrong with reducing food exports in the event of a disaster and giving priority to supplying food to his own people.
"Your Majesty, I think what Mr. Tong said is reasonable. It is easy to sell this grain. If you want to buy it back, there is no place to buy it. The use is in your own hands and you will give priority to meeting the needs of us Ming people."
Liu Jina was naturally the first to stand up and express his support. He was thinking of taking advantage of this global disaster to harvest a wave of leeks, and Tong Rui's suggestion consolidated his thoughts.
"Your Majesty, I also think that we should reduce the export of food and give priority to supplying food to our own people."
Wang Shouren also stood up to express his approval and support.
This principle is very simple. In the face of disasters, food will naturally give priority to meeting its own needs, and then consider whether to export it.
Silver is sometimes very important, but in the face of hunger, money is not as important as food.
"I also feel that we should give priority to meeting our own needs before considering exports. Moreover, the price of exported grain has always been very low, so whether we export or not will have little impact."
The other ministers also nodded in agreement.
"Well, since everyone thinks that the export of food should be restricted, let's do this. Issue an order to restrict the export of food from now on!"
Seeing that everyone's opinions were unanimous, Zhu Houzhao nodded and issued the decree.
"yes!"
Upon hearing this, the ministers also replied in unison.
Soon, all the ministers went back to their yamen to attend to matters, except Liu Jin.
"Lao Liu, how many leeks can we harvest this time?"
There was no one else around, so Zhu Houzhao immediately asked about Liu Jin with a playful smile.
All grain exports in the Ming Dynasty were controlled by Tianjin Ocean Trading House, whose shareholders were Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin.
With the big weapon of grain export in hand, it has always been doing business at a loss.
The price of grain exported is really too cheap. Although the Ming Dynasty itself has a large grain output and low cost, this still needs to include transportation costs and so on.
In fact, Tianjin Ocean Trading Company has been doing this business at a loss. Although the loss is not much, it does not make any money. That is to say, it has a supply chain and sales channels covering the world. Other businesses make money, but whether it makes money from grain does not matter.
important.
But a loss-making business cannot continue for a long time. This time Liu Jin also discussed with Zhu Houzhao to harvest a wave of leeks, not only to earn back all the money that should be earned, but also to earn back the interest as well.
.
The grain of the Ming Dynasty is not free to eat. It has been sold at extremely low prices. In addition to finding a way out for its own grain, it is also to attack the cultivation of grain in dumping areas.
"Your Majesty, we can't calculate it yet, but this time we can harvest Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Egypt. Not to mention more, tens of millions of taels of silver will definitely be no problem."
Liu Jin thought for a while and said.
"Ten million taels of silver?"
"Haha, this is not bad, not bad."
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he immediately laughed happily.
Lao Liu is still so awesome. He used grain to destroy the food production in other parts of the world without making any noise. When the time comes, he can directly use grain to harvest a wave of leeks.
This matter has been planned for six or seven years. People in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Egypt and other regions do not even know that they are already in the game and have become meat on the Ming Dynasty's chopping board.
"Your Majesty, after all, this is actually the income gained over the past few years."
"The importance of food is usually not seen. Only in times of famine can we feel the importance of food. Compared with filling our stomachs, everything else will seem unimportant."
Liu Jin also laughed.
Compared with later generations, my current method is still very low-level, mainly because technology has not yet developed to the stage of genetic technology. Later generations of Europeans and Americans will use seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, markets, etc.
Control global food.
Almost everyone in the world is their leeks. They will harvest a place regularly, and after working hard for more than ten years in a place, the wealth accumulated over decades can be harvested in one fell swoop.
Of course, this is not just about agriculture and food, but also about finance, economy and other aspects. They harvest the world through various means. The world is their leek, allowing them to live a comfortable life.
What I am doing now is nothing at all. It is still very low-level. I am just getting started. Playing with food is nothing. Playing with finance is really powerful. After a wave of harvest, the wealth of an area for decades will be wiped out.