It was already late at night in the imperial palace in the capital, but Emperor Hongzhi was not sleepy at all. He was staring at the simple globe made by Liu Jin non-stop.
"If potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and food crops with dozens of yields per mu can be introduced back to the Golden Island, there will be no famine in the Ming Dynasty from now on."
Emperor Hongzhi has always been obsessed with the three crops with high yields of gold. For him, gold, spices, gems, ivory, etc. are not as attractive as crops with dozens of acres per acre.
As the emperor of a country, he is very aware of the importance of food.
After more than 100 years of development in the Ming Dynasty, the population has increased many times, but the land and food have never changed. This contradiction has become more and more acute with the growth of population and the continuous annexation of land.
Once a natural or man-made disaster occurs, refugees will immediately appear everywhere. In severe cases, farmers who cannot survive will rise up. Even though it is now known as the Hongzhi ZTE, this phenomenon is still very common.
"Your Majesty, it's time for you to rest."
At this time, Xiao Jing, the eunuch who accompanied Emperor Hongzhi and was also the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and the admiral of the East Factory, came over and reminded him.
If Liu Jin were here, he would definitely be able to recognize him at a glance. This person is clearly the person who was following Emperor Hongzhi today, dressed like a butler.
"How did the investigation go when I asked you to investigate it?"
Emperor Hongzhi ignored it and continued to stare at the globe. He even held a ruler in his hand to measure the globe. While measuring it, he said to himself: "The distance between this Golden Continent and our Ming Dynasty is really big."
It’s far enough, several Ming Dynasties away, but if you go northeast from the north of our Ming Dynasty, it’s very close to the northwest of Huangjin Continent.”
"Go back to Your Majesty, we have already found out everything."
Xiao Jing took a leather coat from the little eunuch beside him and gently put it on Emperor Hongzhi.
"Say it."
Emperor Hongzhi still stared at the globe.
"Liu Jin is from Changli County, Yongping Prefecture, North Zhili. He is seventeen years old and has been admitted as a scholar. He lost his father in his early years and was raised by his mother alone. He is smart, hard-working and very filial since he was a child.
."
Xiaojing revealed the information he found about Liu Jin.
"Well, a filial person wouldn't be too bad."
After listening to Xiao Jing's report, Emperor Hongzhi nodded. He has always adhered to the policy of governing the country with loyalty and filial piety. He still attaches great importance to a person's character, the most important of which is filial piety.
"Have you found the information about Xu Xiake?"
After thinking for a while, Emperor Hongzhi asked again.
"Your Majesty, I haven't found any information about Xu Xiake."
Xiaojing shook his head and replied.
"It's normal if we haven't found it. If we find it, we won't be considered an expert. Of course, it doesn't rule out that Liu Jinzi just thought of a name to fool us."
Emperor Hongzhi turned the globe and said: "I want you to check the data over the years. Is Liu Jin's statement about the monsoon true?"
"Back to Your Majesty, I have asked people to check all the historical records from the Han Dynasty to the present. It is indeed as Liu Jin said. Once there is a famine, it will either be floods in the south and drought in the north, or drought in the south and floods in the north. And
The time is also consistent with what Liu Jin said."
"And as he said, every dynasty change must occur in a year of famine, and all of them start with the northern provinces."
He replied respectfully: "I also asked people to check the information left behind by Zheng He when he sailed to the West. The climate in Annan, Siam, Luzon, and Nanyang is indeed very different from that in China."
"According to records, these areas have summer all year round, and there has never been snow or frost at all. Rice can indeed be harvested three times a year, with extremely high yields."
"It seems that this Liu Jin is not just talking nonsense. This Golden Continent seems to really exist. These sweet potatoes, corns, and potatoes should not be aimless."
"Even though the output may be exaggerated, no matter what, if these three food crops can be introduced to our Ming Dynasty, our Ming Dynasty can also have three more food crops, and the people can also have enough to eat."
After hearing the filial reply, Emperor Hongzhi turned the globe and fixed his gaze on the Golden Continent. At the same time, he also carefully looked at the location of the Ming Dynasty and then at the location of the Golden Continent. He had already made a decision in his heart.
"How much money is needed to organize a fleet to go to the Golden Continent? How is your discussion with that Du Min'en going?"
After thinking about it, Emperor Hongzhi asked again about today's promise to organize a fleet to the Golden Continent with Du Min'en. Now that the imperial court is in financial difficulty, the emperor doesn't have much money left.
"Based on the calculation of ten lucky ships, it would cost about 100,000 taels of silver to be fully equipped with all materials and manpower. In addition, including the cost of building the lucky ships themselves."
"Because we are in partnership with Du Mingen, we only need to pay 50,000 taels of silver. Of course, we can order the requisition of this lucky ship. In addition to the fact that the cost of building the lucky ship is relatively much cheaper, it only costs about 20,000 taels.
Two pieces of silver is enough."
Xiaojing's memory was very good. He had already memorized these things before he came to report. He could quickly answer whatever Emperor Hongzhi asked him.
"Since we are doing business with people, we should do things according to the rules of the business, and we should do whatever we want."
"50,000 taels of silver is not much. Let's use it from the internal funds. If we can get these three high-yielding crops, even spending 500,000 taels or 5 million taels of silver is still worth it."
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while and said.
This internal money is different from the treasury. Internal money belongs to the emperor personally and is private money. It is completely under the emperor's personal control. The emperor can use this money for food, drink and fun, and the courtiers will not care about it and will not have any objections.
But the treasury is different. The treasury belongs to the state and can only be used to handle national affairs. If the emperor wants to use the money from the treasury, he must get the consent of the ministers and there must be serious reasons.
50,000 taels of silver can organize a large-scale fleet to the Golden Continent. It has to be said that the purchasing power of silver in this era is still very strong. After all, the silver from the Golden Continent has not flowed into the Ming Dynasty on a large scale, and the value of this silver is still very high.
high.
Of course, in this era, whether it was the emperor's internal funds or the Ming Dynasty's treasury, there was not much real silver, far from the huge sums of hundreds of millions of taels of silver that were often hidden away.