Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 563
Fan Ning stood up and said calmly: "Weichen also saw the local people planting rice in Sanfoqi, but it is much easier for them to grow rice than us. Just scatter the rice seeds in the field, and after a few months The harvest is enough, and the final output is not low.

Although this is related to the local climate, water and soil, this kind of rice saves a lot of labor by eliminating the need for raising and transplanting seedlings. If this kind of rice was also available in Song Dynasty, one person could only grow [-] mu of rice. Now But it is not too tiring to plant [-] acres. The Sanfoqi country rice seeds have been popularized in Luzon, and I have brought back some of them, which can be tested in Lingnan, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou.

I am just giving an example here. Another example is whether we can find ways to improve the efficiency of agricultural tools, such as plows. Iron plows are definitely better than wooden plows. If they are made of high-quality stainless steel, plowing in paddy fields will be very easy. It is easy to plow more than ten mu of land in one morning. Of course, a single farmer cannot afford such a refined steel plow, but [-] farmers can jointly buy one pair, or the government can buy it and rent it out to farmers.

But the premise is that the production of pig iron will increase sharply, and then we will study how to smelt a large amount of refined iron and steel, which will be needed not only by the army, but also by agriculture and workshops. "

At this time, Han Qi interrupted him and said, "What Fan Shijun means is to increase the amount of overseas mining, is that what he means?"

"No! That's not what I meant."

Fan Ning said: "I mean, we don't pay much attention to technology, resulting in a large amount of pig iron being made into low-quality items, causing great waste. If our smelting technology is greatly improved and more high-quality fine steel is forged, then the soldiers The war knife of the sword can cut off the enemy's spear shaft, the arrow can easily shoot through the enemy's armor, the farmer's iron plow can break the solid mud, the woodcutter's ax can easily cut down the big tree, and the miner's iron pick can easily dig out Carbon charcoal, the production of the entire Song Dynasty will increase several times, and the wealth will also increase several times."

Fu Bi interjected: "The imperial court has revoked the craftsmen's registration and allowed private workshops to hire a large number of craftsmen. As long as the craftsmen don't surrender to the enemy, they are already very free."

Fan Ning shook his head, "This is not enough. If there are special schools to train high-level craftsmen and conduct high-level research, such as research on iron smelting, research on alloys, research on looms, research on gunpowder, research on weapons, and research on agricultural tools, Study shipbuilding and more"

Wen Yanbo frowned, "Mr. Fan Jinglue, you've said so much, I don't think you need anything except gunpowder for weapons right now?"

Fan Ning said to Zhao Xu and Empress Dowager Cao: "Mr. Wen raised a question just now. I have mentioned so many technologies. Do we need them? Next, I will report on the eastward inspection."

Fan Ning said to the seven ministers again: "Everyone knows that I have been missing for three months. I will tell everyone what happened during these three months."

He waved, "Bring it up!"

A few eunuchs brought over a large wooden shelf. There was a map on the wooden shelf, which was seven feet high and five feet wide. Fan Ning put the wooden shelf where everyone could see it. He picked up the wooden shelf Gan said: "Have you seen this? These are the islands and lands to the east of the Srivijaya Kingdom. A small number of them are inhabited by natives, but most of them are uninhabited islands and do not belong to any country."

Fan Ning pointed to the top, "This is Luzon Mansion. Its area is equivalent to Hebei East Road. It has excellent light and heat, three crops a year, and fertile land. If it is fully developed, it can bring great benefits to Song Dynasty every year." 2000 million stones of grain, 800 million catties of frosted sugar, 300 million dans of tree cotton, 300 million taels of gold and tens of millions of catties of pig iron, but Luzon is just an island, and there is even more vast land beneath it. Together, it is equivalent to two Luzon islands."

Fan Ning pointed to the narrow and long island below again, "This is Java Island, half of which belongs to the Three Buddhas Kingdom, and the other half is inhabited by a small number of natives, who do not belong to any country, and then to the east is a huge island. I call it the Eastern Continent, its area is equivalent to one-third of the Great Song Dynasty, it is densely covered with forests, and there are also only a very small number of natives living there, but what is really shocking is the bottom."

Fan Ning pointed to Australia, "This is a vast continent without even native people. We call it the Southern Continent. Its area is equivalent to our two Great Songs. It has high mountains and canyons, rivers and lakes, grasslands, deserts, fertile land, and dense forests. The forest can raise tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and can raise thousands of war horses, and we have erected a stone monument of the Song Dynasty in the northernmost part."

There was silence in the court hall. Emperor Zhao Xu's eyes were shining, and he stared at the continent on the map for a long time. After a long time, Han Qi asked in a hoarse voice, "How far is it from Song Dynasty?"

"One and a half months of voyage, but the problem is not here, but that the shipbuilding technology of Da Song is not good enough, the big ship is not strong enough, the speed of sailing is too slow, and we need too many sailors, our fleet encountered a sea storm and was almost destroyed. At that time, I was thinking, if we can invent a machine that can automatically turn the paddles, and no longer need four hundred sailors to step on the cart, then there will be no need for sails, and a ship with forty or fifty sailors will Enough is enough, and then we will make the ship stronger, not afraid of strong winds and waves, then both the Eastern Continent and the Southern Continent will completely belong to the Song Dynasty."

Everyone was silent for a while, and Fu Bi said: "Mr. Fan, we all admire your courage to open up the territory of the Song Dynasty, but you said that it is at least ten thousand miles away from the Song Dynasty. It is too far away. Let us count it as a supply." A little food and materials will cost a lot of money, and it is too uneconomical to develop it.”

After a moment of silence, Fan Ning slowly said: "Although the imperial court does not have this motivation, what about the people? If these islands and land are sold, then many people must spend their own money to reclaim and build."

Han Qi asked sharply: "Then who do these islands and land belong to? If the court can't control them, then wouldn't they be their own kingdom?"

Fan Ning turned back tit-for-tat and said: "Of course these islands belong to Song Dynasty. It's like you own a manor in Song Dynasty, and the manor has its owner. If the owner closes the gate of the manor, can the government go in at will?"

"The nature of the two is different. The manor is under the control of the imperial court, but the island is not. You also said in the report that the area of ​​each island is equivalent to a state capital. How can the imperial court manage it so far away?"

"The owner of the island invested a huge amount of capital to operate the island. The island is his private property. Of course he has the right to dispose of this property, and the court does not need to control him. As long as the island owner pays a certain amount of land and taxes to the court every year, then What is the difference between him and an ordinary manor owner?"

"But there are no regulations on these overseas manors in the laws of the Song Dynasty."

"There are no regulations to establish regulations. More than ten years ago, there was no overseas economic and strategic office, and there was no Kunzhou!"

Han Qi couldn't compete with Fan Ning, and bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, official-run overseas, I fully support it, but if you want to turn the overseas into private ownership, it will easily lead to the fact that the overseas territories are actually independent. It's too dangerous. Not in favor."

Fan Ning couldn't help glaring at Han Qi and said, "Han Xianggong, if the Song Dynasty doesn't want these lands and wealth, it will be for nothing to benefit Persia, Dashi and Western countries. How will we explain it to future generations?"

He said to Zhao Xu and the Empress Dowager Cao: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, as the saying goes, if God does not take it, you will be blamed instead. Since God has given this opportunity to Da Song, Da Song must take it down. As for what to use?" The method can be discussed, but this huge wealth must not be shut out just because of some unwarranted worries and speculations.”

Zhao Xu's blood boiled when he heard it, and just as he was about to express his opinion, the Empress Dowager Cao said softly and softly: "Mr. Han, envoy Fan Jinglue, the Ai family is a little tired, let's talk about this matter later!"

After finishing speaking, Empress Dowager Cao got up and left. Zhao Xu had no choice but to smile bitterly and said: "This matter needs to be discussed in the long run, so let's stop here for now!"

He also got up and left. There were only a few Xiangguo and Fan Ning left in the hall. Han Qi gave Fan Ning a dissatisfied look and said, "Boy is ignorant, you are creating opportunities for those with ulterior motives."

Fan Ning said indifferently: "Since they have ulterior motives, wouldn't it be better to exile them overseas?"

"You...you're just talking nonsense!"

Fu Bi stepped forward and said with a smile: "Old Han, stop arguing with the younger generation. Mr. Fan wants to exchange overseas wealth for domestic wealth, and solve the problem of land annexation and rich people occupying too much wealth. I'm not wrong, am I right?"

"I can't afford to be Mr. Fan, but what Mr. Fu said makes sense. This is an opportunity to resolve the internal conflicts of the Song Dynasty. In fact, I am more focused on leaving this wealth of land for future generations and grabbing it before Westerners. Occupy this land."

Wen Yanbo patted Fan Ning on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Xiao Xianggong Fan really has a big plan. He used cheap food to encourage births, used enough people and supplies to colonize overseas, and submitted the idea of ​​establishing a technical school to Zhizhengtang. This can be implemented first, the sword can break the spear of Liao soldiers, and the arrow can penetrate the armor of Xixia, these two sentences are the most interesting to me."

After a debate, Zhong Xiangguo gave Fan Ning the title of Little Fan Xianggong, which to a certain extent recognized his ambition to rule the country with technology.

However, there are still obvious differences in the privatization of islands. Not only Han Qi, Han Jiang, Zhang Fangping and Wu Chong are not in favor of island privatization. Only Fu Bi and Cai Xiang support Fan Ning, while Wen Yanbo partially supports Fan Ning .

(End of this chapter)