Chapter 291: Coping with Waste Grain and Growing Cotton
"Now food can just guarantee basic survival. We must not switch to cotton just because cotton is profitable, otherwise we will go back to the time when we are hungry!"
"No matter how advanced industrial production is, it must be based on sufficient food supply, otherwise this advancement will not be stable."
"As the social economy prospers, we must ensure an adequate supply of food, otherwise it will be false prosperity."
Song Yang held an emergency meeting to discuss the matter of growing cotton from waste grain.
Although after the land is divided, the people are free to plant whatever they want.
But if this freedom seriously harms food security, it must be corrected.
After Song Yang pointed out the central content of this emergency meeting, he looked back at everyone.
Everyone's eyes turned to Master Gao.
Grand Master Gao has been in charge of Shangshu Province for many years and has rich experience in politics.
Fang Zhe was not at home, and those present here, such as Yu Ming, Ma Cheng, Xu Lin and others, were all executioners, so asking them to use their brains to come up with ideas was far less effective.
Ma Cheng, the only one who had worked as a civil servant for several years, had never been exposed to agriculture.
So everyone turned their attention to Master Gao.
Grand Master Gao lived up to expectations and said after a moment of thought:
"Your Majesty, it is not difficult to solve this problem. I have two strategies to offer."
"First, the people are forced to not grow cotton on the original land for food crops; if they want to grow cotton, they can open up land on their own."
"This method can not only ensure food production, but also make use of the land to grow cotton and reclaim wasteland."
"However, the prince's order is needed, otherwise the people may be disobedient. After all, manpower is limited. If you grow food, you may not have the energy to manage cotton."
"Second, reduce the issuance of food stamps, increase food prices, and lower tax rates to reduce people's enthusiasm for growing cotton."
"Compared with Jiangbei, Jiangnan is not suitable for cotton growth. The main cotton producing area in Daqian is not in Jiangnan. The people's cotton planting technology is definitely not as good as food crops."
"If the profits from growing cotton are not too high, people will not choose to grow unfamiliar crops."
"But this method... will reduce food tax revenue."
As expected of Gao Liangping, who has been in politics for many years, he immediately came up with effective solutions.
Either of these two points can well solve the problem of using waste grain to grow cotton.
Song Yang has been taking notes just now.
After Gao Liangping finished speaking, Song Yang picked up the notebook, looked at the contents and pondered for a long time.
“Is it feasible if the two policies are combined?”
Song Yang looked at Gao Liangping and continued to ask: "The policy is to reduce a certain amount of grain taxes, and at the same time, the government will build additional granaries to purchase reserve grains at a guaranteed price. In this way, the grain reserves will be abundant, which can not only ensure the consumption of the Renaissance Army, but also
Used for disaster relief in years of famine. It also has the effect of stabilizing prices."
"The prince is talking about Changpingcang?" Gao Liangping asked subconsciously.
Song Yang nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, yes. It's Changpingcang."
The main function of Changpingcang is to regulate grain prices.
Gao Liangping nodded and said: "Changpingcang is feasible. At present, overall grain output is increasing year by year. It is also necessary to start planning for Changpingcang in advance."
"Okay. Let's settle this first."
Song Yang wrote the words Changpingcang in his notes.
He added that he would reduce grain taxes before continuing:
"On the basis of the reduction of grain taxes and the establishment of Changpingcang, the people are required not to convert the original cultivated land of food crops to cotton. Of course, as the Taishi said, if the people still have the energy to open up wasteland to plant cotton, we will
I don’t object either.”
Song Yang integrated two highly benign policies together.
After hearing what he said, Gao Liangping said with a smile: "I admire your prince's quick thinking!"
Gao Liangping flattered him before continuing: "Combining these two strategies can indeed achieve better results."
"On the one hand, lowering grain taxes and then implementing compulsory policies can reduce people's resistance. At the same time, the benefits brought by Changpingcang can also offset the loss of reduced tax revenue caused by lowering grain taxes."
"Taken together, I think this method is feasible."
Gao Liangping analyzed it, explained the key points clearly, and finally approved this method.
Song Yang looked at the notebook again and recorded a lot of content on it.
After pondering for a while, he said: "Okay. Just follow this method."
"By the way..." Song Yang suddenly thought of some questions.
"Spring plowing has begun this year, and some people may have prepared cotton seeds."
"So this year we will not implement the compulsory policy for the time being. If there is a shortage of food, the government will come forward and hire people to reclaim wasteland to replant food."
Song Yang thought of the special situation this year, because when he discovered it, some people were already preparing to plant cotton.
At this time, forced replanting may cause greater losses.
So Song Yang separately talked about this year's special circumstances.
"I just want to emphasize that no matter how the industry develops, food supply must be guaranteed! And Jiangzhou's food output can only grow, year by year!"
Song Yang emphasized by tapping his pen on the table, which shows that he attaches great importance to food supply.
"Also, officials at all levels should perform their duties to ensure food security in various places. After the meeting, a document will be issued immediately to all states and governments for implementation."
Song Yang made the final request.
"Grand Master Gao made great contributions today, thank you for your hard work!" Song Yang gave Gao Liangping a verbal commendation.
The old teacher now wants status and status, status and status.
And he is not short of money either.
He was happiest when Song Yang gave him verbal praise.
He is the last senior executive to join the Jiangzhou core team.
The most important thing is to gain Song Yang's trust step by step.
After receiving Song Yang's praise, the old teacher had a smile on his face.
A look of success flashed in his eyes.
The two policies were separated, not because he didn't think of it, but because he had been an official in the court for a long time.
It is customary to leave summary matters to His Majesty the Emperor.
Of course, it now seems that the effect is there. Doesn't this earn Song Yang's praise?
After the meeting, the clerks organized the meeting minutes into various documents.
Policies are clause by clause and requirements are sentence by sentence.
The final document was handed over to Song Yang for review.
Song Yang signed his name with one stroke of his pen and used the seal, and the document was completed.
This first version of the document is just a meeting minute, requesting that the policy of this extraordinary meeting be conveyed.
Let officials everywhere take note.
The specific operation plan still needs to be adjusted. After all, establishing a Changping warehouse involves many issues such as site selection, labor, capital investment, etc., which cannot be solved with a piece of official document.
Changpingcang is an institution directly managed by Jiangzhou, and local officials are not allowed to interfere with the operation of Changpingcang.
Therefore, it will take at least several months to implement this plan.
Moreover, as Fang Zhe, who is the director of political affairs, is not at home, this matter must not go past him.
When he came back, everyone sat down and smoothed it out before it could be officially pushed down.
In mid-April, Jizhou received a shipment of cotton.
The person who pushed the boat was the steward of the palace.
At the same time, it also brought news from Jizhou.
Starting this year, Jizhou will reduce its grain planting area by half and switch to cotton!
Song Yang was speechless after hearing this:
"Song Kai is a very smart guy on weekdays. Why is he so confused on important matters?"
Gao Liangping said: "Jizhou already has a strong military, and the recovery of people's livelihood is second only to Jiangzhou."
"Song Kai changed the grain to cotton and then purchased grain from Jiangzhou. This is putting his life in your hands."
After hearing this, Song Yang silently shook his head.
He doesn't like these calculations, but in this era, he must face them.
Jizhou directly planted half of its cotton this year.
This is not only because Song Kai wants to hand over his life to Song Yang.
It’s because cotton is really profitable!
With the money from selling cotton, you can buy things that you simply cannot buy by growing grain.
If you keep going back and forth, your profits will more than double. Making money is so sweet!
So after Song Kai returned, he discussed with the bedridden old prince and immediately decided to switch to cotton cultivation.
According to Song Kai's original opinion, this year we might as well plant cotton throughout the country.
In the end, the bedridden old prince persuaded me, so I only planted half of the seeds.
Song Kai doesn't have to worry about overall governance, as long as he makes money.
There were absolutely no problems with the post-disaster recovery and reconstruction requested by Song Yang.
The money earned from cotton can be easily invested in economic construction and improving people's livelihood.
Moreover, Song Kai also promised the people to purchase food at a guaranteed price and provide food at low prices.
As long as you grow cotton, you can have as much cotton as you want.
I buy your cotton and then sell you food at low prices to ensure that you will not be at risk of starvation.
After this kind of operation, the people will also make money, and naturally more people will support him.
Moreover, Song Kai and his son have a very good reputation and prestige in Jizhou, and the people are willing to believe them.
As for the technical issues of cotton cultivation for poor people.
Song Kai is a very smart guy.
Since last year, we have been searching from state to state for refugees who know how to grow cotton.
By this year's spring plowing, there are already hundreds of cotton planting technicians in Jizhou.
Let’s just talk about cotton planting technology.
It may not be as good as Jiangbei and Henan Road, but it is definitely the number one in Jiangnan.
Song Yang didn't know about these things and didn't bother to talk to them.
Most of the first alliance members were given full autonomy.
As long as you don't mess around like hell, that's up to you.
Moreover, the grain output of the state directly under Song Yang is completely guaranteed.
The excess grain produced can also be sold to state capitals like Jizhou that replant crops.
It can be regarded as a kind of commodity circulation.
After the spring plowing work was over, Fang Zhe returned to Jiangzhou.
We brought up relevant issues and discussed them in detail, including how to implement it, whether to set up a separate agency, how much manpower and material resources would be needed, and when to start implementing the policy.
Many issues were discussed one by one, and the document was formed and officially issued in June.
In the past few months, Song Yang has made rapid progress in the design of Frankie cannon and Hongyi cannon.
The wooden templates fit perfectly.
The iron test product was also completed on June 2nd.
A Franco cannon and a Hongyi cannon, two new cannons, were placed there at the same time.
Song Yang and a group of Jiangzhou dignitaries arrived at the test site early.