People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 618 Enfeoffment
The country is subsidizing farmers to grow crops?

Can such a thing happen?

The times limited Zhang Zhongjing's imagination. Although he was considered an elite scholar of the Han Dynasty and had served as a county magistrate at the grassroots level of the Han Dynasty, he still could not understand this behavior.

However, despite being shocked, he still thought seriously about Xu Chen's words. After thinking about it carefully, he found that it seemed to be possible.

After all, it is still a matter of money. If one day agricultural tax only accounts for a single-digit proportion, it seems that it is not impossible to just stop collecting it. After all, at that time agricultural tax can only be considered a small amount, and the court does not lack that little money.

The act of subsidies may sound unbelievable, but if you think about it carefully, it is actually not that earth-shattering.

To be honest, there is already precedent for the imperial court to subsidize certain sub-industries, the most obvious of which is the power industry.

Since the great breakthrough in electricity technology a few years ago, the imperial court began to build state-owned power plants and started electricity construction. The imperial court had a subsidy policy for factories and individuals who laid circuits, which directly reduced the use costs of factories and individuals, and also reduced the operating costs of power plants.

What is the purpose of the subsidy? It is obviously to support the popularization and development of electricity. Since electricity can be subsidized, why can't agriculture be subsidized?
If you think about it this way, it doesn't seem to be wrong, and it does sound like a good thing. In comparison, the farmers who dig for food in the soil are still suffering too much, while the industrial workers who have emerged in large numbers due to industrial development are relatively better off.

"I used to worry that after people all went into factories, there would be fewer farmers and not enough food. But now it seems that my worry was unnecessary. I didn't expect that the rise of industry would not affect people's food." Zhang Zhongjing shook his head to calm his mind, then continued to take out the chess pieces and put them on the chessboard.

Xu Chen stared at the chessboard and pondered the chess moves while saying, "The population transfer is not completely without impact, but the world has been through war and the population is already insufficient, there is still surplus arable land, and the food pressure is not too great. If it really doesn't work, we can buy large quantities of food from neighboring vassal states. In the end, we can stabilize it. As for the future, there is no need to worry."

Hearing this, Zhang Zhongjing nodded slightly, agreeing with what Xu Chen said about the current situation.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion, the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the infighting among the princes, and various plagues and natural disasters combined to bring too much disaster to this land. The population had already experienced a round of major decline, and now the court had enough land in its hands, but not as many mouths to feed as imagined, so the pressure naturally would not be very great.

But the last sentence Xu Chen said made him a little puzzled.

"Why do you say we don't have to worry about it in the future? The population is still recovering, and the government has many policies to encourage childbirth. If things continue like this, the population will completely expand in a few decades. By then, everyone will go to work in factories. Who will farm to feed so many people?"

"Doesn't Zhongjing remember the fleet returning from the sea five years ago?"

"fleet?"

Zhang Zhongjing was stunned at first, but then he thought of something and looked at Xu Chen again: "Are you talking about the food crops they brought back?"

Xu Chen smiled faintly: "That's right. When they returned from the sea, they brought back species from the distant continent, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and many other crops. These few things alone are enough to keep billions of people alive!"

Zhang Zhongjing originally wanted to say something else, but after staring at Xu Chen's face, he finally fell silent.

In fact, things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn were not known to the public until the fleet returned. Xu Chen had often mentioned them before going out to sea. At that time, many people were still skeptical about this, but now no one has any doubts anymore.

What Zhang Zhongjing wanted to ask was that the yield of these crops was not that high now, and it seemed far from the effect of saving over 100 million lives as Xu Chen said. However, considering that Xu Chen had never failed to achieve what he said, Zhang Zhongjing kept his mouth shut. However, even if he asked, Xu Chen had nothing to answer. It was just that these crops had not evolved to the level of yield in later generations, and it would take a considerable amount of time for them to be artificially cultivated.

But for Xu Chen, this is just a matter of time. Being able to successfully bring these crops back to China is already a huge success. With these crops, at least the Chinese people will have basic food security.

Zhang Zhongjing was still willing to believe what Xu Chen said. After all, he had seen too many accurate predictions from Xu Chen along the way, which made him even regard Xu Chen as a prophet. Some things could not be explained no matter what.

Xu Chen is so confident that the industrial population transfer will not affect food security, he can only feel happy.

If we don't have to worry about people not having enough food to eat, then there seems to be nothing wrong with continuing with the current trend. After all, Zhang Zhongjing witnessed the huge dividends brought by industry with his own eyes.

Speaking of the fleet's return from the ocean, Zhang Zhongjing's heart moved and he remembered something, or perhaps that was the reason he came here today.

"Speaking of going out to sea, I heard that the court has been discussing the issue of overseas fiefdoms recently. I think this should also be the idea of ​​the prime minister. Although the court has not yet reached a conclusion on this matter, I am curious and still want to hear what the prime minister has to say."

"Hmm? Zhongjing is so interested in this matter, could it be that he also wants to go to sea and establish a country?"

When Xu Chen heard this, his first reaction was not surprise, but joking.

Just as Zhang Zhongjing said, the establishment of feudal states overseas was indeed something that the court was discussing, but this discussion was not a secret one. After it lasted for a period of time, even among the people there were well-informed people who were able to get the news, so Zhang Zhongjing was not surprised to hear about it.

"Prime Minister, you are joking. I am already a dead man, how can I make such a plan?" Zhang Zhongjing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After shaking his head helplessly, he said, "I just don't know what restrictions and requirements there are for the establishment of overseas fiefdoms. How will the court implement it?"

After hearing this, no matter how slow-witted Xu Chen was, he knew that Zhang Zhongjing was not just chatting.

He asked in such detail, it can only be that he was really moved. Since it was not Zhang Zhongjing himself, then he was asking on behalf of someone else. I just don't know for whom he was asking.

After looking at Zhang Zhongjing, Xu Chen smiled slightly. He did not show any dissatisfaction, but answered directly.

“In fact, the court has already discussed the preliminary rules for this matter. Even if Zhongjing doesn’t ask about it today, the court should announce it to the public in the future. Although the division of feudal states is a big deal, in the final analysis, the court is only adhering to a few principles.

First, overseas countries must accept the natural enthronement and have their territory formally demarcated by the Xuanxia court before they can be considered legitimate countries.

Second, anyone who establishes a country overseas must abide by the agreement to pay tribute to the suzerain.

Third, any country that violates the above two conditions is an illegal country, and all countries in the tributary system have the obligation to attack it! "

(End of this chapter)