Li Zhi held up his trousers and walked one foot deep and one foot shallow in the muddy ground. After walking for a full mile, he found a relatively protruding dry land.
When he walked to the dry ground, the first thing Li Zhi did was to take off his short-sleeved shirt. He twisted it hard, and drops of water came out from the thin shirt.
Li Zhi shook his head, took the water bottle from the attendant, and drank the water in big gulps.
Nowadays, transportation in the coastal areas of one town and nine provinces basically relies on ships. It only takes ten days to take a ship from Tianjin to Southeast Asia. Li Zhi took advantage of some time before the Chinese New Year to take a look at the Indochina Peninsula to inspect this newly built land.
soil of.
However, I didn't expect the climate here to be so hot. In the Mekong Delta, the southernmost part of Vietnam in December is no different from the summer in Tianjin. It is now 12 o'clock at noon, and Li Zhi estimates that the outdoor temperature is at least 30 degrees.
.
Moreover, the Mekong Delta, or the alluvial plain of the lower reaches of the Mekong River, which later became Vietnam's large granary, was really a swamp in a primitive state at this time. There were sticky wetlands everywhere, with short wetland plants growing there, which looked like nothing.
agricultural value.
Li Zhi put down the kettle, but heard Li Laosi suddenly shout: "My lord, you have such a big leech on your feet!"
Li Zhi was stunned and looked at his little feet covered in mud. Sure enough, he saw a blood-red leech sucking on his little feet in the mud, desperately sucking blood from his muscles.
Li Zhi was startled because the leech was really huge, seven or eight centimeters long. It was very different from the small leeches commonly seen in Jiangnan. The insect didn't know how much blood it sucked from Li Zhi's feet, and its body became bulging.
Yes, it's quite shocking if you look closely.
Li Dingguo, who was standing aside, frowned and jumped over. He said: "Your Majesty, this leech cannot be pulled out with force, otherwise its mouthparts will be unable to be pulled out in the flesh and the wound will fester. Our soldiers are dealing with this leech."
To grow blood-sucking bugs, we use the toilet water you gave us, Your Majesty."
Li Zhi was stunned for a moment and said, "Toilet water still has this use?"
Li Dingguo nodded and said: "Toilet water is really a treasure for repelling insects and mosquitoes. My lord, please wait!"
Li Dingguo ran to an attendant, took out a bottle of toilet water from the attendant's backpack, walked back and poured some on Li Zhi's feet.
The toilet water was really magical. As soon as the leech smelled the toilet water, it squirmed uneasily. After a while, the insect pulled out the sucker from Li Zhi's muscle, shrank its body and fell on the soil.
Li Dingguo immediately stepped forward and stomped on the fat leech several times, turning the fat leech into a bloody paste.
Li Zhi looked at the wound on his foot and found that there was a large area of black around the wound and the bite was still bleeding. He couldn't help but sigh.
"The development of Indo-China Peninsula has a long way to go."
The development of this hot and humid land in the south is definitely a systematic project that tests social organization and adaptability. For example, China's Jiangnan region has been gradually developed since the Qin and Han Dynasties, but until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, productivity still lagged behind that of the Central Plains.
Li Laosi cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have a plan for the development of the Indo-China Peninsula. It's a bit abrupt to say it."
Li Zhi said: "What policy? As long as it is beneficial to our Han nation to occupy this fertile land, we can boldly say it."
Li Laosi said: "I think that the people in Tianjin, Shandong, Henan and even Jianghuai Province cannot stand the humidity and heat in Southeast Asia. When northerners come here, they have to lie in the shade of trees for half of the year and do everything.
No. The best way to develop the land here is..."
Li Laosi paused and finally said: "The best way is to migrate the heat-resistant Lingnan people from Guangdong and Guangxi to develop the land here."
Li Zhi was stunned when he heard Li Laosi's bold suggestion.
There are indeed many problems with this proposal.
First of all, Li Zhi's important purpose of moving people from one town and nine provinces to the Indochina Peninsula for development was to enrich the people. In the mainland, each person only had a few acres of arable land, and some were still tenant farmers. Even if they had the strength to use it, they had no land to farm. But in Southeast Asia, one person only has a few acres of farmland.
He can often cultivate 40 acres of paddy fields and harvest hundreds of tons of grain in a year. His income is several times, ten times or even dozens of times higher than before.
Therefore, the right to immigrate is also an important benefit for people in one town and nine provinces.
Li Laosi's suggestion was to give this important benefit to the residents of Guangdong and Guangxi who were not ruled by Li Zhi.
This is undoubtedly a loss to the people of one town and nine provinces.
The more important thing is the suspicion of the imperial court. The residents of Guangdong and Guangxi are not Li Zhi's people, and the large-scale development of Indochina Peninsula requires millions or tens of millions of people. The people of the emperor migrated from Guangdong and Guangxi to Indochina Peninsula.
It will greatly reduce the population density and local finance and taxation of Guangdong and Guangxi. For the Ming Dynasty, this was a net loss of population.
This approach is likely to be interpreted by the emperor as poaching.
After Li Laosi made this suggestion, he handed over his hand and said: "However, there are problems in the implementation of this method. It is unfair to the people in one town and nine provinces, and it is not good for the emperor. The prince just talks about it as a minister and don't take it seriously."
After hearing this, Li Zhi said: "We still have a lot of land to develop in the future. The Han people in one town and nine provinces will have even more vast land in the future. It is not a big problem to develop the Indochina Peninsula for the Han people in Guangdong and Guangxi. This
It’s nothing to say that it’s unfair to the people of one town and nine provinces.”
"As for poaching the imperial court and reducing the wealth of Guangdong and Guangxi..."
When Li Zhi said this, he suddenly fell silent for a long time.
Recently, the relationship between Li Zhi and the Emperor has dropped to a freezing point. If he emigrates from Guangdong and Guangxi to Southeast Asia again, will it completely anger the Emperor Zhu Youjian?
But after thinking for a while, Li Zhi made up his mind.
"It doesn't matter. This is a great thing that benefits the country and the people. I think the emperor will understand."
"Li Laosi, this policy is feasible. You are ready, and when everything is ready, go to Guangdong and Guangxi to recruit Lingnan Han people to go south to Southeast Asia!"
Li Laosi blinked, but he didn't expect that Li Zhi agreed to his suggestion.
He cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I will prepare for this matter right now."
Li Zhi nodded, looked at the swamp around him, and said, "I wonder if the Lingnan Han people who are accustomed to the humidity and heat coming to Southeast Asia will speed up the development of this wild tropical area?"
Li Dingguo stood aside and suddenly asked: "My lord, you said that the Han people in the mainland will have a wider land in the future. Where should we attack next?"
When Li Zhi heard this, he looked south, waved and said, "In the next year, we will go all the way south to Australia and New Zealand!"
Li Dingguo was stunned and asked: "What is Australia and what is New Zealand?"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "Of course, talking about Australia is too far away. The first problem to be solved is to drive away the Dutch on Java Island and control the entire Southeast Asia first."
