Chapter four hundred and thirty-ninth the discussion of the palace
The rumor that the Navy had discovered Danzhou quickly spread in Jinling under Bai Tu's deliberate promotion...
Almost “one state” of unclaimed land?
The primitive wilderness is definitely not as good as cultivated fields, let alone fertile farmland with water conservancy facilities, but if it is given for free, no one will object - no matter how low the yield is, wouldn't slash-and-burn cultivation be fragrant?
If Yizhou makes people feel like an overseas Huangdao, and after immigrating, they feel a little less at ease, then Danzhou, which has such a large area, does not have this problem at all.
This is why, given Gan Ning's character, he became cautious after discovering the size of Ganzhou. Even at the palace meeting, Lu Su and Jia Xu persuaded Bai Tu to be cautious...
"Given the size of Ganzhou and the fact that it is located overseas, the governor must be chosen with great caution." Jia Xu simply mentioned.
Lu Su said directly: "Yes, once the population of Danzhou increases to one million, if the Governor-General has the intention of 'Zhao Tuo', he may repeat the same mistakes as South Vietnam in the late Qin Dynasty!"
The two of them were talking about the same thing, but Jia Xu would not point it out directly - what if the future governor of Danzhou hates me because of his limited power?
In contrast, Lu Su bluntly stated that no one from a noble family or someone with a serious tendency to seek personal gain could be the governor.
Of course, because of Chu's current navigation technology, no one thought Danzhou should be abandoned.
With the area of Danzhou, as long as it is managed properly, the Chu State can be invincible - even if there is a shocking reversal and the Jingyang and Yangzhous are pushed aside, they can retreat to Danzhou and slowly plan for it.
Even if this unexpected situation is not considered, Danzhou, as an undeveloped land, can still benefit itself.
Bai Tu agreed with Lu Su and others' views, but made slight modifications. In fact, Danzhou's shortcomings and advantages were not as obvious as they thought.
"As for the issue of maritime travel, in fact, with the current navigation technology of Chu State, and the ports of Youzhou and Zhouhu as relay stations, as long as the route is determined, Danzhou should not be as far away as imagined... Just like Yizhou, the first
When I first found it, it took several months, but now it only takes ten months to get back and forth.
But in terms of land, although Danzhou is large enough, Xingba also emphasized in his letter that most of the land discovered now is mountainous."
Bai Tu didn't explain Ganzhou's geographical disadvantages clearly. After all, there was no evidence, and... Bai Tu didn't want to dampen everyone's enthusiasm.
In fact, Bai Tu knew that in terms of fertile land, there are many volcanic areas in Danzhou. Under the buff of volcanic ash, the fertility of the land is indeed good, but... 70% of the entire territory is made up of mountains, and only one-twentieth is plain.
Historically, in the late 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi conducted a comprehensive inspection of the land and discovered land with an annual output of 18 million koku...
It is equivalent to 1/44 of the Ming Dynasty at the same time, and it is not because of the small population and lack of cultivation. At this time, the population of Danzhou was one-tenth that of the Ming Dynasty, which means that the per capita cultivated land area was only one-quarter of the Ming Dynasty!
Perhaps the cultivated land in Ganzhou is not "barren", but it is definitely "poor". It is only because of its rich fishery resources and the fact that the untouchables can easily cope with it that the population is supported...
Historically, almost all farmers in Ganzhou grew rice, but most people could not afford rice in their lives. Rice and radishes were luxuries in the eyes of untouchables.
As for completely "relying on the sea and eating the sea", it is not realistic. When there was a severe drought in Huainan, the General Mansion had this experience - relying solely on fish and meat, people have no strength at all. According to the medical school, there is no staple food.
Below, the consumption effect of fish is not good.
Gan Ning also mentioned to Bai Tu in his letter that Danzhou was mountainous, so Bai Tu mentioned it, but Bai Tu didn't say anything more.
After all, if the land was just "poor", it wouldn't be considered a defect now.
It is impossible for the Chu State to immigrate millions of people at once. In the early stage, there were only tens of thousands, and the number of hundreds of thousands of people in the sky was far from reaching the limit of Danzhou’s cultivated land. Moreover, in terms of fertility per acre, Danzhou’s volcanic ash buff was still very large.
It's awesome, even after the population explodes, if you cooperate with Chu's farming technology and do intensive farming, there's a lot to be done.
More importantly, "reclaiming cultivated land" is only the basis for ensuring stable immigration and effectively integrating Danzhou into Chu State. The real competitiveness is fishery, animal husbandry and silver mining resources.
"However, the land of Danzhou is long and narrow, facing the sea on both sides, and the fishery industry has great potential. In addition...it is not easy to find a place with a large land and sparse population. Chu State may be short of a horse farm. If the conditions are suitable, northern horses can be introduced to Danzhou in the future.
"Bai Tu emphasized.
Herding horses is not only possible in grasslands, but also in suitable mountains and forests.
Although historically, the first introduced breeding horses in Danzhou were small and weak for a long time, but later history proved that as long as the "seeds" are matched well, it is possible to herd horses in the mountains and forests of Danzhou to produce tall horses, such as the Japanese horses during World War II.
In terms of size and charging power, it has surpassed the Mongolian horses of Chinese civilization.
Although the population of Jingyang is not as dense as that of later generations, with the development speed of Chu State, it is obviously not cost-effective to develop animal husbandry on a large scale.
"As for mineral deposits, I hope Danzhou can surprise us. The first batch of pioneers and the Ministry of Industry will also produce a group of surveying bachelors." Bai Tu added.
Actually... Bai Tu also knows, what mineral deposits are there in Danzhou?
There is no shortage of copper, iron, and tin, not only because the area is small and scarce, but because the mineral deposits are really sparse...
There is only one thing that is not lacking, but is very abundant - silver mines.
From the 16th century to modern times, one-third of the silver circulating in the world originated in Danzhou.
Bai Tu was worried about having enough precious metals as general equivalents to facilitate transactions. With the Danzhou silver mine in hand, he could basically boldly support the silver standard without worrying about other princes suddenly producing large amounts of silver and impacting the Chu market...
…
Fisheries, livestock, and silver mines are basically Bai Tu’s psychological positioning of Danzhou.
"Yes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs can also send a group of bachelors in farming to help clarify the land situation in Danzhou." Lu Su agreed.
"But now the people of Chu are peaceful, and the people all appreciate the king's benevolence. But as a result... there are only a small amount of refugees from the Central Plains, which is not enough to open up Danzhou. If you want to relocate people, the means must be carefully considered." Lu Kang
Then he spoke.
Regarding Lu Su's previous hint that Danzhou could never be developed with aristocratic families as the core, Lao Lu behaved very calmly.
The position of governor is indeed not suitable for people from aristocratic families. It is much more dangerous than Yizhou. Lao Lu dare not say that no one would think of separatist rule overseas if conditions permit.
However, Lu Kang is really not optimistic about the reclamation of Ganzhou, and he only relies on ordinary farmers to complete the reclamation!
Regardless of Bai Tu's character or Chu's culture, it is impossible to forcibly relocate people, and if they do so voluntarily, what ordinary farmers crave more is stability.
In other words, Lu Kang did not want to fight for the position of governor on behalf of the wealthy family at all. If the Chu State had become a general trend and the wealthy family had not developed into a powerful family, and there was no ambition to separate the country, he would not be particularly demanding for this position, but for the common people.
They still have to fight for the interests of the state...