The black soil of Liaodong ushered in a bumper harvest. Farmers' granaries were filled with grain, so much that there was no place to store it. There was a bumper harvest.
Of course, it is not just Liaodong. In the 14th year of Hongzhi, the entire Ming Dynasty can be said to have good weather. In autumn, the north and south of the Ming Dynasty entered the harvest season.
Rice from the south, wheat from the north, as well as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes introduced from Golden Continent have all begun to enter the harvest season.
In fact, the people who were most happy about the bumper harvest of grain were not the farmers at the bottom, but the ruler of the empire, Emperor Hongzhi.
Next to a farm road on the outskirts of the capital, Emperor Hongzhi and his crown prince Zhu Houzhao, as well as three ministers from the cabinet, were walking very leisurely on the field road, talking and laughing while wearing plain clothes.
"Your Majesty, I am very happy to congratulate you. Good news has come from all provinces in the north and south of the Yangtze River. We have a great harvest of food throughout the Ming Dynasty!"
Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, said to Emperor Hongzhi with a smile.
A bumper harvest of grain may seem to be a normal thing in later generations, but in this era, a bumper harvest of grain is a major event for the entire court, and it is a major event worth being happy about.
Only when there is food can the people have enough to eat, and only when the people have enough food can the country and the court be stable.
However, in this era of relying on the weather for food, it is extremely difficult to have a good harvest. In previous years, droughts and floods often took turns, and occasionally there was a locust plague.
Whenever a famine occurs, there will often be huge turmoil. The court can provide disaster relief in time and stabilize the situation quickly. If natural disasters are combined with man-made disasters, wars will inevitably break out and great turmoil will occur.
A few years ago, there was famine and turmoil in the three northern provinces, and many people died. If Liu Jin hadn't provided fishing relief at that time, we don't know how many people would have died.
Of course, a large part of this is still due to man-made disasters. Since ancient times, natural disasters are not terrible, but the most terrible thing is man-made disasters.
"Yes, Your Majesty, it is indeed gratifying~"
"Every province and state capital has reported a bumper harvest of grain this year. Even here in Liaodong Province, it is said that people have brought in so much grain that they can't even stack it in the granary, so they have to build some temporary granaries outdoors."
"There are also Ryukyu and several Nanyang provinces. Although they mainly grow sugar cane, they still have a bumper harvest of food. Even if we immigrate millions more to these places, we no longer need to transport food from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, we still have to
It can help bring a lot of food to our homeland."
Li Dongyang also said with a smile.
"Not only is there a bumper harvest of wheat and rice, but also a bumper harvest of sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes introduced from Golden Continent. The price of food across the country in our Ming Dynasty is falling, and has dropped to a price that has never been seen in history.
, here in the capital, a pound of rice now only costs four cents."
"If it's sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes and other miscellaneous grains, two cents per catty is considered expensive. Three cents can usually buy two catties."
"How come it's so cheap?"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he couldn't help laughing.
He still remembered in his mind that when there was a famine here in Beizhili a few years ago, the price of food rose to a sky-high price of one hundred and fifty cents per catty.
"Yes, there is too much food. The high-yielding crops introduced from the Golden Continent have very high yields and are relatively drought-resistant. A lot of dry land is used to grow corn and sweet potatoes, and fertile land is used to grow rice and wheat."
"In addition, this year our Ming Dynasty has built water conservancy projects and built many new reservoirs, dams, river lifts, irrigation canals, etc. Of course, what is more important is that our Ming Dynasty has been continuously developing overseas colonies in recent years, encouraging immigrants, and cultivating overseas
The large amount of fields has greatly alleviated the problem of land resource shortage."
"That's why we have a bumper harvest of food this year."
"It is said that every household in Liaodong has cultivated hundreds of acres of fields, and His Majesty has exempted the Liaodong region from taxes for three years. This year alone, the Liaodong region has produced enough food to last them for several years."
"There are also the four provinces of Ryukyu, Jiaozhi, Xianglin, Zhenghe, and Nanyang. The crops here can be harvested three times a year and seven crops every two years. The yield is very high. Although the plantations are basically planted with sugar cane, the grain output is still very high.
High, the grain produced by just these few provinces is enough to supply our entire Ming Dynasty."
"And as more and more people immigrate, more and more land is reclaimed, and the food production in these places will be even greater."
"In these provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Agriculture's large-scale promotion of the cultivation of corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, coupled with the promotion of new agricultural tools and the use of a large number of cattle and horses from the grasslands, have greatly increased production."
"According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, our country's grain output this year is enough to feed our country for three years."
When he said this, Li Dongyang couldn't help but get excited.
Such a rich battle has never been fought before.
According to data reported from various places, government granaries are full and can no longer be loaded. People's homes are full of food and they can't finish it.
Grain prices in various places have been falling again and again. Grain merchants are crying. This is the most difficult moment they have ever experienced. Grain is really hard to sell. I used to make a lot of money from grain, but now I don't have to starve to death.
Not bad.
"Enough to feed me for three years?"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, his eyes widened slightly.
It has always been difficult for the people of the Ming Dynasty to have enough to eat, especially the people at the bottom, who worked so hard all year round that they could not even afford a few full meals.
Now it is said that this year's food is enough to feed the people of Ming Dynasty for three years. This is simply unbelievable.
"Yes, Your Majesty~"
"It's enough to last for three years, and it's three meals a day, so you'll be full every time."
"This is the real prosperous age!"
Xie Qian also nodded solemnly.
"Okay~"
"Just eat enough and wear warm clothes."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded happily and looked at the endless wilderness in front of him. At a glance, there were golden waves of wheat and farmers were working hard.
Although he was happy with how much money he earned, what really made Emperor Hongzhi happy was that he was able to feed the people of the Ming Dynasty.
A few people walked and came to a wheat field. Emperor Hongzhi looked at the old farmers working in the fields and asked with a smile: "Old man, is the harvest good this year?"
The old farmer raised his head and looked at Emperor Hongzhi, and then looked at the people next to him. Although a few people were wearing plain clothes, the clothes were not something ordinary people could afford. What's more, this magnanimity was extraordinary.
Noble person.
He hurriedly said respectfully: "To my noble lord, thanks to today's blessing, we have a bumper harvest this year, and I can finally have enough to eat."
"That's good, that's good~"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded with satisfaction, then looked at the old farmers working in the fields, but no young people could be seen, so he asked strangely: "Old man, where is your son? Why are you the only one who is always working?"
"My son has gone to work in the factory. The moon sounds high in the factory. It is not profitable to farm this kind of land. We have a good harvest of food, but we can't sell it for a price, so we have to eat it ourselves."
The old farmer replied.
It is close to the capital, and most of the young people have gone to work in factories, while the remaining old people farm at home.
"Then you can't handle it alone?"
"Why Tada, this is really tiring."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the field. The field was very vast, but there were not many people farming, and most of them were old people like old farmers. Children were busy, and young adults were rarely seen.
"Just take your time and get busy~"
"It's really too busy. Let them come back and work for a few more days."
"In the past, everyone was scrambling to farm land for landlords. Because there were fewer such fields, the whole family would go hungry. But it's different now."
"No one wants to farm anymore, and they all like to go to the city to work. There are no people farming the land owned by the landlords, so I only farm the little land I own, not much, so I just need to work slowly."
When the old farmer saw that the noble man was polite to him, he also talked more.
“If we don’t cultivate the land, won’t the landlord’s land be left uncultivated?”
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he thought about it and said.
"That's not the case, it's just that there are fewer people farming. In the past, one person cultivated a few acres of land, but now one person cultivates more than ten acres or dozens of acres of land. The land owned by the landlord's family and the rent for rent are much less, but the land is still the same.
There are more, but there are fewer people planting them.”
The old farmer replied with a smile.
"In the past, a person cultivated a few acres of land, but now he cultivates more than ten acres or dozens of acres. Is it too busy for him?"
Emperor Hongzhi asked again.
"Isn't that right? Sometimes I'm really too busy, so I have no choice but to buy oxen and horses to plow the land. Miyun Iron Works has also produced a new plow, which is very useful and has oxen and horses.
, coupled with the new plow, I can barely plant. Even during harvesting, I am still too tired. It would be nice if there was a machine specially designed to harvest wheat."
The old farmer smiled very casually and said.
"A machine for harvesting wheat?"
It is said that it is unintentional, but the listener is intentional. When Zhu Houzhao, who has just recently become obsessed with mechanical manufacturing, heard it, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he seemed to have suddenly found the bravery of the machinery he was obsessed with.
"Yeah, why can't we build a machine specifically for harvesting wheat?"
