Leaving the somewhat upsetting village, Li Zhi walked through the countryside of Henan with his generals.
There is no accurate data on the population of the Ming Dynasty during the Chongzhen Dynasty. According to official household registration statistics, there were only more than 60 million people in the Ming Dynasty. However, this household registration is extremely inaccurate because the local gentry disappeared in large numbers in order to help tenants avoid corvee labor.
Population. The actual population of the Ming Dynasty was much higher than the figure of 60 million.
According to the estimate of Hong Chengchou, deputy chief of staff of the General Staff Department, the actual population of the Ming Dynasty was about 120 million. Li Zhi believed Hong Chengchou's statistics because Li Zhi happened to read the research of some historical experts in later generations, including Gao Wangling,
Ming history experts such as Ge Jianxiong and Cao Shuji have concluded that the population at the end of the Ming Dynasty was more than 100 million.
Henan's original population accounted for one-tenth of the country's population, but now it accounts for less than one-twentieth.
The central and eastern part of Henan is the North China Plain. After hundreds of millions of years of erosion by large and small rivers, it can be said to be a flat plain.
Farmers in Henan have developed dry fields on both sides of the river, but in other places far away from water sources, most of them are still wilderness areas without farming.
In this era, Henan originally had only over 10 million people. After several years of war, there are now only over 4 million people left. In the later generations before Li Zhi crossed over, Henan's cultivated land area reached 120 million acres. According to the Ming Dynasty
One acre of land in Henan earns more than one stone, and 120 million acres of farmland is enough to feed a population of 40 million.
This shows that Henan has huge potential for future agricultural development.
Li Zhi is confident that Henan will become a new big granary.
Li Zhi walked to a piece of wasteland covered with weeds, raised his whip and said: "Look at this wasteland, we only need to set up dozens of dragon tail trucks to lift water, and it will become a fertile farmland. We are developing in the Northeast.
The experience of the 'service team' can be extended to Henan, allowing private sector forces to participate in agricultural development. We can just sit on the land and collect rent."
"This matter has allowed the wealthy people of Tianjin to take the lead. They can absorb Tianjin's private capital in the form of joint-stock companies and invest Tianjin's surplus resources in the fertile land of Henan. The people of Henan organize 'service teams' on the spot to develop new fields nearby.
, there is no need to build new houses and roads, and the cost of land reclamation will also be effectively reduced."
Compared with the three northeastern provinces with a cold climate and water shortage, Henan has more precipitation, more sunlight, and higher wheat yields. The flat central and eastern parts of Henan can use a large number of new agricultural machinery for farming.
According to Li Zhi's experience in the Northeast, using agricultural machinery produced by factories in Tianjin, one farmer can cultivate hundreds of acres of land. However, with traditional manual planting, one farmer can only take care of about 20 acres of land.
Industrial designers are not limited to the development of industry. The development of industry will also promote agricultural production. Li Zhi's industrial manufacturing capabilities have fed back agriculture through agricultural machinery and water conservancy machinery, making the great development of agriculture possible.
The development of ships made it feasible to excavate natural compound fertilizers such as guano from islands across thousands of miles, which further increased the yield of farmland and further deepened the connotation of industrialized farming.
The development of industrialized farming will cause farmers' income to rise linearly. The new farms in the three northeastern provinces have proven this.
Li Xing smiled and said: "Only under the supervision of the court of eldest brother, private agricultural reclamation will be protected by law. If it is under the rule of gentry or thieves, the people who work hard to cultivate new fields will be raped by powerful or powerful people before harvesting.
The other scoundrels are worried about it, and it is absolutely a waste. So there are thousands of miles of fertile fields, but only a few fields that can be cultivated well."
"In the future, under the rule of Big Brother, the people of Henan can safely fertilize their fields and cultivate new lands, and their living standards will rise sharply. I am afraid that it will not take more than a few years to reach the current level of Shandong."
Zheng Kaicheng thought for a while and said: "To organize a service team to reclaim wasteland in Henan, you really need the strong support of the court. The clan power in the countryside in the Central Plains is very strong. For an outsider to organize farmers in rural Henan, he can only rely on the strong support of the court and the police.
Deterrence can ensure order and efficiency within the service team."
Li Zhi nodded and said: "In order to cooperate with the 'service teams', the main body of Henan's agricultural development, our courts must refine the laws on industrial farming, refine the rights and obligations between service team employers and employees, and ensure that
The service team can really drive the rural areas of Henan."
Zheng Kaicheng looked at the wasteland in front of him and said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty! Although the land snatched by the people has been confiscated, the people will be dissatisfied for the time being. But with the development of agriculture, I believe the people of Henan who are getting richer will understand what the rules are.
, understand the benefits of having rules in society as a whole.”
Li Xing laughed heartily and said: "Now the monthly salary of the service team farmers in the three northeastern provinces has increased to three to five yuan. By then, when the people in Henan receive three to two yuan a month, two people can support four or five people."
My child, I will no longer miss King Chuang."
Li Laosi pondered and said: "I'm afraid that the people in Henan will not be able to figure this out in a short time, and there may be big problems during the implementation of the policy. In some places with strong folk customs, the policy of confiscating dirty land may spark civil unrest.
possible."
Li Zhi nodded and said, "Li Laosi's concerns are very reasonable."
"So we have to mobilize 50,000 troops to Henan to suppress the tyrants. In this first year, before the courts and police have been fully established, Henan will implement military control. No matter how much the people miss the thieves who have equalized their land and exempted them from taxes, they dare to challenge
Those who violate the law will be shot."
Zheng Kaicheng flattered him and said, "Your Majesty is so brave and brave! His use of thunderous means shows his bodhisattva heart!"
Li Zhi smiled, turned around and found Chen Sanduo, the Minister of the "Ministry of Railways" behind the crowd, and asked: "Minister Chen, how is the planning of the South Road railway going?"
The thin Chen Sanduo pushed up his myopia glasses on his nose, took a scroll from the staff behind him, dismounted and ran over.
Today, Li Zhi's glass factory not only produces reading glasses, but also myopia. Although there are not as many myopia in this era as in later generations, with the popularization of Li Zhi's compulsory education and middle school education, there are more scholars, and myopia has also appeared.
Few. Therefore, myopia glasses are now very popular and have become a quite profitable product.
Chen Sanduo ran to Li Zhi and opened the scroll. Inside was a railway planning map.
"Your Majesty, you see, our planned South Railway starts from Tianjin and goes directly to Jinan. After arriving at Jinan, the road is divided into two, one leads to Rizhao Seaport in Qingzhou Prefecture, and the other goes south into Henan and reaches Kaifeng. The railway to Kaifeng is divided into two
One road goes directly to Tongguan in the west, and the other goes south to Xinyang in southern Henan."
"In this way, Tianjin's industrial products can be quickly transported south to Henan by rail. Grain and minerals produced in Henan can also be transported to Rizhao, Shandong for shipment or transported to Tianjin for wholesale trading."
"If the prince wants to use troops against Shaanxi or Southern Zhili, relying on this railway, Tianjin's army can be transported to the front line in a few days."
Li Zhi nodded and said: "Okay, let the steel town expand its capacity, and the construction of this railway will begin immediately!"
