In early September, Li Zhi began to buy grain from the gentry in the Shandong market.
At this time, various unfavorable news about grain prices were constantly released by "Shandong Daily". After Li Zhi's repeated suppression, the price of grain on the market has become very cheap, basically one, two, eight, and one stone. Li Zhi had previously bought low and sold high.
He earned more than 7 million taels of silver from grain. At this time, he used 4.5 million taels of the money to buy 2.5 million shi of grain in the Shandong market.
More than two million shi of grain from other provinces went around and returned to Li Zhi's hands.
The gentry in Shandong had previously bought more than two million shi of grain at a price of more than 5 taels per shi, but now they sold it all to Li Zhi at a price of 1 tael or 8 qian per shi. The price difference was as high as 3 taels per shi.
, Li Zhi earned eight to nine million taels of silver, and the losses were not unbearable.
Li Zhi bought back the more than two million stones of grain, first of all to provide sufficient calories for farmers planting in autumn and harvesting in summer.
Winter wheat is usually sown in September of the lunar calendar and matures in May of the next year. The sowing and harvesting time of wheat are both busy farming periods, and the total time is about one month. During this month, farmers have very high labor intensity and only eat a pound and a half.
Sweet potatoes cannot get enough calories. During this period, Li Zhi provided each "male" and "strong female", that is, adult men and women, with adequate food. In addition to one and a half kilograms of sweet potatoes, each adult man and woman also had
There is a pound of rice or rice noodles available.
The labor intensity of farmers in this era was high, and there was no meat in their diet. Their food consumption was much greater than that of ordinary people in later generations who ate meat every day. During periods of heavy physical labor, it was normal to eat one and a half kilograms of rice a day. Li Zhi provided them with
The food is equivalent to the calories of one and a half kilograms of rice.
To maintain the food supply for this month, Li Zhi would need to consume about 800,000 shi of food.
Li Zhi told Cui He that he wanted the people to eat a few more taels of rice, not that the farmers had enough to eat all year round. Li Zhi's funds and resources were also limited. To be honest, even if Li Zhi sold iron, he would not be able to make Shandong a people.
Tens of millions of people have enough to eat throughout the year. Li Zhi asked the people to eat a few more taels of rice, so that the people would be full during the busy farming period and not let the farmers delay the farming season because they had no food.
Starting from the eighth day of September, all the strong men who need to work in the fields receive one pound of rice noodles or rice from the relief station every day.
The farmers were previously worried that they would not be able to sustain themselves after eating one and a half kilograms of sweet potatoes during the busy farming season. When they learned that the Duke of Jin had provided additional food, they were all moved to tears.
If you plant in autumn and harvest in summer, you will have enough food to eat. If the farming season is not delayed, this year's harvest will be guaranteed. When the winter wheat matures in May next year, the lives of the people in Shandong will be back on track.
In the Ming Dynasty, Taoism was the state religion. Li Zhi, the Duke of Jin, was so kind and virtuous that he was regarded as a deity by the people. In many places in Shandong, people built shrines to Li Zhi, the Duke of Jin.
Although farmers have no money, most of these shrines are renovated from abandoned small temples, which are very simple and often only enshrine a tablet, or ask a craftsman to make a small clay statue of Duke Jin. But the people are sincere to Li Zhi.
In gratitude, incense is constantly burning in simple temples everywhere.
Li Zhi bought 2.5 million shi of grain, 800,000 shi for farmers during the busy farming period, and 1.5 million shi for farmers who were clearing up wasteland during the construction of water conservancy projects in Shandong Province.
edible.
The severe drought in Shandong exposed the problem of insufficient water conservancy facilities.
Water conservancy facilities have a great impact on grain output and can help local areas survive famines. This does not mean that water conservancy facilities can turn disaster years into good years, but that water conservancy facilities can expand planting areas and increase local food production.
Keep the grain stocks at a high level. With enough grain stocks, even if there is a disaster in some years, the people will not be displaced.
For example, the people in a place need to eat one thousand shi of grain every year. If there are enough water conservancy facilities and enough irrigated fields, they can produce 1,200 shi of grain every year. So even if one of the six years is a disaster year, the people will still be able to eat 1,000 shi of grain.
Being able to rely on the one thousand shi of grain stored in the previous five years to survive the disaster years.
The actual situation in various places at the end of the Ming Dynasty is that the population is still growing inertially, but water conservancy facilities have not kept up. Grain production has not increased but has declined slightly. The land tax revenue of the Chongzhen Dynasty has been declining every year. Of course, there are reasons why the gentry concealed their fields and did not pay taxes.
, another reason is also the dilapidation of water conservancy facilities.
In such a situation, it's usually fine, and you can survive when you're hungry. But when there's a disaster, it's a chaotic situation. In disaster years, when the people don't have food to eat, they all turn into thieves and robbers, fighting each other and fighting for each other.
Limited food.
This tragedy almost happened in Shandong this year.
Shandong has now been regarded as a treasure by Li Zhi. Of course, Li Zhi cannot let such a thing happen again in Shandong. Li Zhi plans to develop water conservancy in Shandong, using dragon tail trucks and dams to irrigate dry land, develop new fields, and expand grain output.
The one hundred and fifty kilograms of grain Li Zhi bought was for the farmers who were clearing up wasteland. When clearing up wasteland, physical exertion was high, and the caloric supply had to keep up.
However, labor alone cannot build water conservancy facilities. People who are proficient in water conservancy must also be in charge. For this purpose, Li Zhi transferred Zheng Hui from Taiwan and asked him to lead the "water conservancy workers" from Hsinchu to develop water conservancy in Shandong.
facility.
On September 12, Li Zhi met Zheng Hui at the dock in Jiaozhou.
Zheng Hui, wearing a red military attaché robe of the second grade, arrived in Shandong on the 5,000-material ironclad Yangwei. When he saw Li Zhi greeting him on the pier, he was very excited and ran quickly from the ship to the shore and knelt down on the shore.
Li Zhi stood in front and said loudly: "The Duke of the country is so alarmed that he personally greets me. I am flattered by this!"
Li Zhi helped Zheng Hui up and said with a smile: "Zheng Hui, you have worked hard. You have done a good job in developing water conservancy in Taiwan. Now Shandong needs development, and your people need to show their skills."
Zheng Hui stood up and raised his hands and said: "Don't worry, Lord, Shandong's water conservancy development will definitely not fail this time."
Zheng Hui pointed at a thin black man next to him and said: "This is Jing Yishan. He has been working with me on water conservancy in Hsinchu since the twelfth year of Chongzhen. He has the most flexible mind and is very principled in his work. The water conservancy projects he has handled are...
There is no one that is not strong, durable, and beneficial to one party.”
Li Zhi looked at the man and saw that he was wearing the official uniform of a third-grade military attache. He knew that this must be a general under Zheng Hui's command, and said with a smile: "Jing Yishan, I want you to help this time."
Jing Yishan seemed a little arrogant, but he did not kneel down to Li Zhi. He made a long bow to Li Zhi, stood up straight and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Guo, this time I have brought five hundred 'water conservancy workers', most of whom are
I have brought along all the water conservancy workers from Hsinchu. We have been busy in Shandong for a year, and we will definitely improve Shandong’s water conservancy facilities to a higher level."
Li Zhi looked at the confident Jing Yishan and the hundreds of conservancy workers coming off the boat one after another, and nodded.
