The grassland in Suiyuan is more suitable for farming because it is contaminated with water vapor from the Yellow River, and the Yinshan Mountains block the cold current from Siberia.
What appeared in front of Zhu Yixi's eyes was a vast expanse of wheat, like a green-yellow gauze tent, which made people confused.
Not far away, a group of sheep were nibbling on the grass, and the sheepdogs were looking around vigilantly. If they encountered sheep that wanted to nibble on wheat, they would drive them away.
At the same time, a Mongolian mastiff dog similar to a Tibetan mastiff on the high hill looked around warily.
The barrier of Yinshan Mountain makes the air in Jiuyuan Mansion much softer.
Zhu Yixi is very familiar with white shepherd dogs, because they were introduced from Europe and are specially responsible for herding work. They are good helpers for herdsmen.
The Mongolian Mastiff is more like a guard and can fight wolves.
The reason why shepherd dogs were introduced was to relieve herders from the tedious herding work.
The reason why serfdom prevails in the grasslands and plateaus is because the productivity is not up to standard, not to mention iron tools and so on. Ordinary herdsmen have to face the attacks of wild beasts every day, which is extremely tiring.
Shepherd dogs may not seem important, but they can easily liberate several productive forces and make the grasslands self-sufficient for herders and farmers.
With tribes and clans as the center and scattered families as the center, the hundred-household system can take root.
The governor of Suiyuan followed the emperor step by step. He caught a glimpse of corn and alfalfa, and immediately smiled and flattered:
"Your Majesty, the new crops have greatly changed the grassland. The yield of corn is higher than that of wheat, and it is more cold-resistant. Herdsmen especially like to plant it, but the price of wheat is higher..."
"Just make reasonable arrangements. If you enforce it forcefully, I'm afraid you'll get angry!"
Zhu Yixi said casually, it seems that because he is older, he is not too pushy about certain things.
"Everyone will do good things, and reject bad things. The government should follow the trend, and the grassland is different from usual!"
In recent years, many policies have been implemented on the grassland.
Alfalfa, corn, sweet potato, and sugar beet are widely cultivated.
New horse breeds, camels, white pigs, fine wool sheep, etc. are also being raised by herdsmen.
There have been many successes, and there have also been some failures.
For example, white pigs are scarce in the grasslands and cannot accommodate omnivorous pigs, so many of them have been abandoned.
The same goes for camels. Although they can produce milk and velvet, they eat a lot and can't travel as well as Mongolian horses. They are really cost-effective. Camels can only thrive in semi-Gobi environments such as Alxa.
"How many people are there in Suiyuan?"
Suddenly, the emperor looked towards the blue sky.
"Your Majesty, there are about 500,000, including 200,000 Mongolians and 300,000 Hans..."
"Hahaha!" Zhu Yixi couldn't help laughing.
Among the three places of Suiyuan, Chahar and Horqin, Suiyuan has the highest proportion of Han people.
He turned his head and looked at the lama coming slowly in the distance. He was the Great Lama of Hutuktu in Suiyuan area, commanding the entire temple religion in Suiyuan.
There are 200,000 Mongols, 300 temples, and more than 4,000 lamas. Everyone wants to live a comfortable life but is unwilling to work hard.
Compared with Han Dynasty, the tax on grassland is the lightest. Paying one sheep for every thousand acres of grassland is really light corvee and small tax, so the remaining money is dedicated to the lamas.
"Let's go and meet Hutuktu!"
Zhu Yixi smiled and walked lightly.
Suiyuan's agriculture and animal husbandry have developed fairly well, but the most rapid development is the mining industry.
Coal mines, copper mines, lead mines, tin mines, gold and silver and other mines were continuously exploited, attracting a large number of Mongolians and Han people, especially the adventurous Shanxi people.
Tens of thousands of people are busy in mining. With mining lasting more than ten years, how can there not be many Han people in Suiyuan?
The imperial merchants had almost a monopoly on the mining industry, with only some small gaps left for local forces. Therefore, Zhu Yixi had a clear understanding of Suiyuan's economy.
Taxes amount to 1.3 million, but farming and animal husbandry only cost 4.5 million. The rest are mines, forest land, and water transportation resources.
While Chahar can only graze cattle, Suiyuan has become prosperous due to the mining industry.
He stayed in Suiyuan for a few days, appreciated the beauty of the grassland, and saw the stability of the grassland. He breathed a sigh of relief, and turned south to Datong.
Then we passed Yanmen Pass and went straight into Taiyuan.
He temporarily stayed in an imperial merchant's house for a few days. Then he crossed the Yellow River without stopping and went to Guanzhong and Shaanxi.
As soon as we entered Guanzhong, the people were jumping for joy and cheering all the way, and the gentry and officials were even more proud and enthusiastic.
Zhu Yixi came to her senses: "This is Xiangzi!"
There was only one imperial town in the Ming Dynasty, and that was Fengyang.
But for the Shaowu New Dynasty, most of the civil and military nobles were from Shaanxi. How many nobles had their ancestral home in Shaanxi Province?
The Western bandits and intruders in the last years of Chongzhen, including Zhu Yixi who later unified the world, were also from Shaanxi.
How could Shaanxi not be the hometown of the emperor?
For a moment, Zhu Yixi thought: "Why not build a railway in northern Shaanxi?"
At this time, there was a Shaanxi-Gansu Railway in Shaanxi, which ran directly from Xi'an to Jiayuguan. It had been built for five or six years and was more than 2,000 miles long.
Nearly 10 million yuan of money was lost.
It is expected that it will be built to Urumqi and Ili in Anxi. At the current speed, it will take another five or six years.
The promotion of this railway to Shaanxi is visible to the naked eye.
Artificial work, rails, sleepers, and even gravel paving have greatly stimulated consumption in Shaanxi and led the revitalization of this land.
The governor of Shaanxi never left, with a smile on his face:
"Your Majesty, when I heard that you were returning home, the whole province was rejoicing. Every now and then, people would set off firecrackers in the downtown area, and the people on the official roads took the initiative to clean up and sprinkle water..."
"Yeah!" Zhu Yixi didn't care about these nice words going in one ear and out the other.
He didn't believe it at all.
Ordinary people are busy with three meals a day and use up all their energy. How can they give up their work to sweep the streets?
To the people of Shaanxi Province, his emperor was just a means of showing off.
Did Emperor Shaowu ever give money to the people of Shaanxi?
Officially, railways and other things are running out of space, and there is no money and benefits.
Zhu Yixi didn't bother to pursue those false claims. He said directly: "In the early years of Shaowu, there were nearly four million people in Hezhou, Shaanxi Province, and Hanzhong accounted for less than half. In northern Shaanxi, there were ten houses and nine empty houses. What's going on now?"
"Your Majesty, Shaanxi now has a population of tens of millions, which has more than doubled. Yulin, Yan'an, Pingliang and other prefectures in northern Shaanxi also have a population of over two million. They are recovering very well!"
The 800-mile Qinchuan River seems to be able to support a lot of people. In fact, after thousands of years of continuous development, water and soil erosion have been severe, and tens of millions of people are already a huge burden.
Thinking in his mind, Zhu Yixi said the plan: "There are few people in Anxi, and there are only about 100,000 people in Yili Prefecture. There is an urgent need to immigrate to the border area."
"Your Majesty?" The governor of Shaanxi was shocked. You always took your family out of town as soon as you came back, right?
"One million within ten years!" Zhu Yixi stretched out a finger: "This is my request for Shaanxi."
"Instead of having everyone crowded in Guanzhong, which is short of water, it is better to go to Anxi and live happily."
After saying this, the emperor greeted the local gentry warmly and in a friendly manner.
When he arrived in Xi'an, he first went to pay homage to the Qin King Temple.
Even his branch, the lineage of King Heyang, has its own lavish side hall.
Zhu Yixi, as an emperor, is naturally unable to avoid secular customs and needs to be worshiped one by one.
In the end, Zhu Yixi did not go directly to the Qin Palace to rest, but went to the small courtyard where she once lived temporarily.
The place is closely guarded and even renovated, making it difficult to recognize.
Zhu Yixi frowned, feeling very unhappy. Why should a good house be repaired?
The deep well is surrounded by flowers and stones, just like a flower bed.
The dilapidated courtyard door with a big hole has become covered with copper nails and red paint.
He sat by the mouth of the well, looked down at the deep well water, and couldn't help but think about it: "If I hadn't borrowed food, if I could have saved Sun Chuanting, wouldn't the imperial examination have changed?"
At this time, a dog barked near my ears.
Zhu Yixi came to her senses and picked up the little yellow dog.
This is the seventh or eighth generation descendant of Rhubarb, and it is also the one that looks most like it. Its lively personality is not as stable as its calm one.
In that period when people were starving and hungry, only rhubarb was always by their side to comfort them.
No matter how hungry he was, he never thought of eating his companion.
Years have passed and things have changed!
After a quarter of an hour, Zhu Yixi came to her senses, stepped on the carriage, and drove straight to the Qin Palace.
While walking in this royal city, Zhu Yixi was also quite touched.
Back then, didn't he just report to Qin King Zhu Cunji and borrow a stone of grain?
Now that I think about it, his stingy appearance is still vivid in my mind.
"King of Qin? Now that we have become the Kingdom of Qin, we are no longer an heir. We can still honor our ancestors!"