Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 486 Grain in Huguang
Of course, the three major artifacts in the Americas are the key to saving lives, but in fact, this matter is definitely not as simple as imagined-is it enough to get the seeds?
When Gao Yushi was studying at the party school in his previous life, he once heard the teacher of the party school briefly talk about the promotion of the three high-yield crops in China. spread out.

To explain this reason clearly, we have to start with the introduction of these three major crops.When corn was introduced to China, later generations have different opinions.There is a view that corn was introduced as early as the 12th year of Ming Xianzong Chenghua (1476).Of course, the mainstream view was introduced after Columbus arrived in the New World in the fifth year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty (1492).

However, there is still disagreement on the exact timing.There are many theories such as 1500, 1531, 1560, 1572, etc., and the distribution channels are also very inconsistent. Some have passed through the northwest (Spain-Mecca-Central Asia-Northwest), the southwest (Spain-India, Myanmar-Southwest ), the Southeast Sea Route (Spain-Philippines-Chinese merchants-southeast coastal area) and the combination of the three major viewpoints.

Gao Yushi was studying economics at that time, and he didn’t study it deeply or at all. In fact, he just heard the teacher mention it, so he couldn’t judge which one was true.But from the point of view of feeling alone, he felt that the sea route seemed more likely, but it was useless to rely on "feeling" alone.

Anyway, until the early Qing Dynasty, although corn had been planted all over the country, it was not popular, this is for sure.It was really popularized on a large scale during the Qianlong and Jiaqing years. Due to the pressure of large-scale population growth, the Qing Dynasty government began to promote it on a large scale.Relatively speaking, the south was widely planted earlier than the north, and the north even started large-scale promotion in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.

So, what about sweet potatoes?There used to be a saying that China already had sweet potatoes in the Han and Jin Dynasties.However, agricultural history generally does not accept this view. The mainstream view is that sweet potatoes, that is, yams, were discovered during the Han and Jin Dynasties.When the real sweet potato was introduced to China, it was first believed that it was introduced in the 20th year of Hongwu (1387), but few people agreed. The mainstream view still believes that this species was introduced into China during the Wanli period.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, sweet potatoes were widely planted in Fujian and Guangdong, and a small amount in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. That is to say, before the early Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes were only widely planted in the south of the Yangtze River.During the Qianlong period, due to population pressure, except for the border areas and Gansu (including Ningxia), the nationwide planting began.So in the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods, sweet potatoes became one of the staple foods.

And potatoes.The earliest time this product was introduced to China was during the Wanli period, but because the evidence is relatively vague, the academic circles generally agree that it is the early Qing Dynasty, and the specific time is the planting record of Taiwan Province in 1650.The latest record of its introduction is that Shanxi merchants introduced it from Kazakhstan through Russia. Some people believe that "Huihui yam", that is, potatoes, were introduced from the northwest by Hui compatriots.

However, due to the degeneracy of the potato species, it was introduced many times and in various ways, and it was not until the Qianlong period that it was widely promoted.

It is precisely because these three artifacts have been fermented for many years and only became powerful in the Qianlong period, so the captive chieftain Qianlong was obviously a prodigal son, but he was able to become a holy king in some people's mouths. History is sometimes so ironic.

On the other hand, the end of the Ming Dynasty who introduced the three major artifacts was also unlucky enough, and died before the three major artifacts were recognized as masters.

Just because I know these things, I understand that it is not easy to promote new species, regardless of whether it is because of the degeneration of the species or the common people need to accept time, anyway, this matter is definitely not something that can be done in three to five years, so Gao Pragmatism can only send people to collect it. Seeds, while trying to find other ways to alleviate the turmoil caused by the disaster in the north.

What can be done?It is nothing more than south-to-north grain transfer.Because even during the most severe period of the Little Ice Age, the south was not affected much, and there was no major production reduction.

But the south-to-north grain transfer is not an easy task. For the south-to-north grain transfer, the imperial court spends so much time maintaining the canal and controlling the water transport every year, and finally has to open another sea transport, and even if the sea transport is opened, it has only maintained the situation so far— —Of course, this situation is better than the same period in history.

Looking at it this way, the imperial court has no spare power to continue the south-to-north grain transfer. To increase the intensity of this "adjustment", there are too many aspects that need to be settled.For example, these grains, although Southern Zhili has almost universally popularized a whip method, changing grain to Jiaoyin, but you can buy grain with silver, and the price of grain in the south is lower than that in the north. Buying food in the north is cost-effective.

This is only from the perspective of economic benefits. If you look at it from another angle, the money will be escorted directly to Beijing to buy food in the north, and the food shortage in the north will be even worse!Therefore, the south-to-north grain transfer by water transport and sea transport must not be shaken, not only cannot be shaken, but even strengthened if possible.

Yet this is not enough!The main function of these grains is to supply Gyeonggi, and the areas outside Gyeonggi will not enjoy much benefit. Once a large-scale natural disaster breaks out, the food shortage will still be in short supply. The imperial court will not have the spare power to provide extensive disaster relief. In some areas, the treatment of "free tax for three years" and the like, others can only stare at each other.

Moreover, at present, most of the grain is sent from Nanzhili to the north, but in fact, the price of grain in Nanzhili is not particularly cheap.Because the so-called Nanzhili is the generation of southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui. Although this area has good land, because it is an economically developed area, especially the textile industry is very developed, so a lot of land is actually not used to grow food. Some economic crops have been planted, so it is very difficult and uneconomical to continue to carry out the South-to-North grain transfer from the South Zhili area.

Now only Huguang and Sichuan can really provide surplus food to support the north.

However, everyone knows the terrain of Sichuan. Transporting grain from the Sichuan Basin to the north is really as difficult as the road of Shu, which is almost as difficult as Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition.Even if you are willing to spend a lot of money to force it to be transported, the efficiency must be terrible. Even if you think about it, you can at most support Shaanxi.

So the main focus can only be on Huguang.

Gao Pragmatic's idea is not only because he knows that "Huguang is ripe, the world is full", but is supported by actual data. This data comes from Gao Gong's work on Qingzhang's farm during the six years of Wanli Dynasty.

Gao Gong's Qingzhangtianmu is roughly similar to the data obtained by Zhang Juzheng's Qingzhangtianmu in history.This Qingzhang is actually the second large-scale nationwide census of cultivated land by the Ming court since the "Hongwu Qingzhang".After the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court compiled a new fish-scale atlas, which was more complete than the "Yellow Book of Fu and Service" in the early Ming Dynasty, as reflected in the following points.

First of all, the clearing of the land is relatively thorough.This time not only the land of the common people, but also the land occupied by the clan and the princes were remeasured. Gao Gong issued an edict in the name of the emperor: "All grains are distributed across the country, but there are obstinate obstacles, regardless of clan, officials, soldiers and civilians, according to The law is important." Because of the strong political pressure given to the local officials before the "examination law", the smooth implementation of land clearing was finally guaranteed, and a total of 1.55 million mu of concealed land was cleared.

The second is to unify the mu system.In the past, there was a phenomenon of "big and small mu" in the north. This time, Gao Gong unified the national mu system by "land clearing", with 240 steps as one mu. The "unified mu system" reduces the trouble of collecting taxes and grains, and basically eliminates the loopholes for low-level officials to use "big and small mu" for profit.

The third is to simplify the tax collection rules.After the land was cleared, the imperial court divided the land into three grades: high-grade fertile fields with water sources, medium barren fields, and low-grade high fields without water.When paying taxes, regardless of whether it is official land or private land, the rules are the same. 1 mu of high-grade farmland is actually 1 mu, 1.5 mu of middle-grade farmland is converted into 1 mu, and 2 mu of low-grade farmland is converted into 1 mu.

After the Qingzhang this time, the total arable land area of ​​the two capitals and the 7.58th chief secretary was 14 million mu, an increase of 3.91 million mu compared with the first land clearing in Hongwu 5519 years.From the results, the concealment of land in Huguang, Shandong, and Sichuan is the most serious, with 3658 million mu, 2645 million mu, and [-] million mu of arable land found respectively.

According to this data, one of the simplest truths is presented: the food in Huguang must be sufficient!
But the problem is that this does not mean that the food in Huguang is more on the market out of thin air, but more in the hands of the officials, gentry, landlords and royal families who control the fields. The court can only collect a little more tax here. If Huguang supports the Central Plains, the key issue is how to get the food out of these people's hands.

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(End of this chapter)