"Fifth brother, I think we cannot force them to return to their hometowns." Zhu Youdun said after some thought: "Although it is very easy for the government to issue an order to let them return to their hometowns, it treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. As long as they plant crops in the countryside,
The money earned from the land is not as good as working as laborers in the city, so they will always want to come to the city to work as laborers."
"Then what do you think, how to cure the root cause?" Yunxi asked again.
"Let the people earn more by growing food than working as laborers in the city." After Zhu Youdun answered, he added: "But the city also needs people who work as laborers. Now that business is becoming more and more prosperous, more people are needed.
They work as waiters and laborers. My younger brother also agrees with what my elder brother said before about collecting taxes from businessmen and reducing taxes from farmers, thereby reducing the burden on farmers."
"But this world is based on agriculture. If there are no merchants to do business and cannot collect business taxes, the court will be poorer. If no one farms and there is no food, the world will be in chaos. So most people should still stay here
Farming in the countryside.”
After all, Zhu Youdun was younger and was more receptive to new ideas. He was not as rigid as Zhu Ju. Yunxi proposed various measures to encourage business development, such as allowing merchants to roam around the country freely without guides, and opening up the sea to do business.
He supports some domestic measures, but he always believes that agriculture is the basis.
Zhu Youdou's idea cannot be said to be wrong, even in later generations. After all, people can have nothing else, even no clothes, but they must drink water and eat. Without food, they will starve to death.
"Then what do you think, how can we make them earn more by growing food at home than working as laborers in the city?" Yunxi did not answer the agriculture-oriented question, but returned to the original question.
"Let every family have large livestock." Zhu Youdou quickly replied: "A family without large livestock in Henan can cultivate thirty acres of land, but if it can have a cow, the land that can be cultivated can at least double.
Even if some of the feed for big livestock is removed, the food left in the end is much more than now. Calculated in this way, it is not much less than working as a laborer in the city, and if you stay in the country, you don't have to live separately from your wife and children.
The food is delicious and convenient, so most people would be willing to stay in the countryside and farm."
"Fifth brother, I heard that this time the imperial court got millions of cattle, sheep and horses in the northwest? Even if every military household with someone killed in the battle got a cow, the others also got a sheep and there was still a lot left? The imperial court
These cattle and sheep should be transported to the Central Plains and sold to farmers at low prices. Even if every family cannot have a cow, most people should have one, so there will be more fields to plant and more food to be harvested."
"However," Zhu Youdou remembered something again and continued: "Since ancient times, low grain prices have hurt farmers. If there is more grain, it may not necessarily be a good thing for farmers."
He muttered a few words: "..., but no matter what, it is better to grow more food than less."
Then Zhu Youdou said sternly: "As for the last two reasons for staying in the city, we can't let them go. How can we not listen to the family and the country? As for the pastimes in the city, I don't think ordinary people
It is good to have no entertainment at all, but it is enough to watch a play or listen to a book. Playing too much and spending all the money earned is wrong. Fortunately, there are fellow villagers and clans, as long as they earn money by farming in the countryside.
They are not much different from those in the city, and the clan and fellow villagers will take them back without the government having to worry too much."
Yunxi listened while Zhu Youdun expressed his opinions. After he finished speaking, he said: "Sixth brother, your idea is right. You can't let them go back just by relying on a government order." Facts have proved that,
Using administrative means to deal with most economic problems will only make things worse, either having a negative effect on the economy or breeding corruption. So we cannot do this.
However, "Your idea of letting every family have large livestock is a good idea, but it is not feasible for the imperial court to sell the cattle and sheep captured in the northwest to farmers at low prices."
"What kind of virtue are these people in the government? You should know that if you have been in Kaifeng for more than ten years, they sell cattle at low prices. They will probably divide the cattle into two groups, one group of which will be sold to their relatives and fellow villagers, and the other group will be sold to
Give bribes to your businessmen and let them resell. In the end, ordinary farmers will still not benefit."
"But don't worry," Yunxi saw that Zhu Youdou wanted to speak, and immediately added: "There are suddenly so many more cattle in the Central Plains. The price of cattle will definitely drop, and the people will still get benefits."
"It's good to think that low grain prices hurt farmers, but there is also a way to deal with it, which is to let the people in the Central Plains raise more pigs, cattle and sheep. The animals have to consume feed, and feed is grain. In this way, won't the excess grain be consumed?
?If it’s not enough, let’s open up winemaking. Winemaking consumes a lot of food, so food prices won’t be too low.”
"But, Fifth Brother, there are still people in the world who can't afford food and can only raise livestock. How can we let wine be brewed?" Zhu Youdou said eagerly.
"The reason why the price of food has dropped is because there is more food. Now as long as there is no disaster, the people of the entire Ming Dynasty will have food to eat. In the future, when there will be more food, how can there be people who can't afford to eat?" Yunxi smiled.
rhetorical question.
Zhu Youdou was stunned and didn't know how to answer for a while.
"Sixth brother, since ancient times, the direct reason for the demise of one dynasty is that there are too many people and too little land, and there is not enough food to eat, which causes the people to rebel, so I have a deep memory of the lack of food. But now in the Ming Dynasty, there are too many people and too little land, but there is enough food to eat.
The more land you plant, the more food you will produce." Yunxi said.
Zhu Youdun also understood. His thinking was completely based on the idea of more people and less land, but he forgot that at this time, the Ming Dynasty had fewer people and more land.
"Fifth brother, my younger brother is wrong. But my younger brother thinks that it is not appropriate to completely liberalize winemaking, and the court should control it. The population is always increasing, and now the vacant land in the Central Plains will be filled up, and there will always be an excess of food.
Change." But Zhu Youdou finally said this.
"Sixth brother, when you think about things, you can't just think about the three acres of land under your feet." Yunxi said.
"Fifth brother, what do you mean?" Zhu Youdun asked.
Yunxi did not answer, but added: "In addition, since there are fewer people and more land now, we should use the method of farming with fewer people and more land instead of still farming the land with more people and less land."
"What is this method of farming with less people and more land?" Zhu Youdou asked again.
This time Yunxi answered, but still did not answer directly: "Your brother has already made a plan in his mind. When the spring comes next year, he will choose a few places to test it in Beijing, Kaifeng, Suzhou and other places. Then you can