Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

The two brothers came out together with the Patriarch and old shopkeeper, they were extremely familiar with the food business.

After thousands of years of agricultural development, the potential of land in the Central Plains had long been exhausted. The desertification in the Guanzhong Plain had become more and more serious, and the drought in Shanxi had become more and more severe.

The country of Tiangfu in Sichuan was blessed by the ancestral water conservancy system. The people's lives were not bad, but it was difficult for the grain of Sichuan Plain to be integrated into the grain trading system of the Central Plains due to the difficulty of Sichuan Dao.

Right now, the Great Qing's food veins were in the two lakes area and the Jiangnan area. Only these two areas could have some food production surplus.

Manchu would not give it to the Han Chinese. Through the canals and water system, a large amount of food was transported to the outskirts of the capital. The large flag men group were like parasites that relied on these food and local taxes to survive.

The Four Seas Trading Company and the Mi family grain store, these two great grain trusts had long obeyed Xiao Letian's orders and did a thorough investigation of the grain industry. The result was shocking.

If there were natural disasters or wars in China, they would certainly cause a very serious famine, and once it happened, it would engulf the entire country.

In front of the Great Famine, the State of Heavenly Province of Sichuan would quickly close down and lock the food in the basin. It did not matter if it was not locked, as the transportation system of the Great Qing at that time did not allow for the delivery of the food.

Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are relatively safe areas in the disaster area. As for the rest, they relied on shipping and river transportation to cover some of the narrower areas. They could also rely on imports to eat some of the expensive food.

This was the only safe place in the entire Qing Dynasty. The remaining provinces would all have super famines. The number of people who starved to death would definitely be in the billions.

The results of the investigation made everyone panic. When Xiao Letian closed the documents, he walked in front of the researchers and bowed deeply towards the humble merchants.

"Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for uncovering the cruel truth …" Right now, the problem of rations for the Chinese is not something that the Great Qing Empire can solve, nor is it something that the corrupt officials and merchants from Qing Dynasty can save! "

"Besides you, hundreds of millions of Chinese people will have no hope! "Only you, only you newly established Chinese merchants, and only you Chinese Shang who still have justice and morals in your hearts can save them …"

"I'll replace the hundreds of millions of citizens. I'll have to entrust all of you with developing Nan Yang's life saving rations. If that day really comes …" I just hope that there won't be a tragedy in which he changes his son! Even if all of you are doing this for your children, all of you must work hard! "

The Confucian Merchant, Chinese Shang? These two names were so heavy that they pressured the executives of the two grain trading trusts to kneel down. They had originally been working hard to develop the markets of Nan Yang, and now that they had the orders from the Prime Minister, how could they dare not work hard?

When they thought back to the situation back then, Tian Lin and Niu Jincai's eyes reddened. They took out their handkerchiefs and wiped their tears, then looked back at the farmlands in front of them.

Black smoke was rising from the horizon. It was because the pioneering team was burning the land and the Chinese had an unusual love for modifying the land. They had collected a lot of Fierce Flame Oil from the Brunei, which was the oil that the westerner was familiar with.

In the original rainforest, this fiery oil, which could not be extinguished by the heavy rain, became a powerful tool to open up human territory.

The South Asian monkeys would never understand why these Chinese were so diligent. They only slept for six and a half hours a day, and the rest of the time they spent working. Although the rice production in the farmlands was enough for them to eat for a hundred years, they were still harvesting new land.

After burning pieces of land, these Chinese workers would immediately build water diversion ditches, level the land and build village villages with strong defensive capabilities. In a few months time, they would be able to create hundreds of hectares of rice fields out of thin air.

In Nanyang, there was no need for people to diligently cook the rice. After planting the seedlings, people wouldn't even bother weeding, because the yield of rice harvested three seasons a year was sky-high.

During the harvest season, Four Seas Trading Company and Mi Family Food Shop would go all out, rolling out roll after roll of Ryukyu currency notes to trade for cart after cart of rice before gathering at the merchant ship of the sea to head towards the distant north.

In the beginning, Tian Lin, Niu Jincai and the rest were still suspicious. They didn't know if this Nan Yang would be able to support an entire group of people, but after seeing the harvest with their own eyes, everyone was relieved.

Tens of millions of years of rain forests had accumulated, filling the soil with fecundity and fertility. Furthermore, the common volcanic eruptions in the Southern Ocean had even provided fertile volcanic ash to the soil. The rice plants here grew as long as if they had gone mad.

The most important thing was that there would never be a drought here. There were rivers and streams everywhere, and irrigating farmlands definitely wasn't because there wasn't enough water, but because there was too much water.

The scene that happened in the Borneo was just a microcosm of the numerous Chinese reclamation area in the whole of South Asia. Under Xiao Letian's protection, the tropical rain forest in the Southern Ocean was shrinking at a speed that far surpassed real history.

Maybe in the future, there would be people who would scold Xiao Letian as an ecological destroyer, but he didn't care that much right now. As long as he could feed those billions of mouths of his, he wouldn't care even if he burned all of Nan Yang's forests.

Another advantage brought about by the reclamation plan was the increase in the number of immigrants. Due to sufficient food, many of the poorest refugees in the country were brought here. Through the company's centralized placement, many large Chinese towns and cities with a population exceeding 10,000 had already appeared in the Southern Ocean.

For example, the fifty odd muscular men beside Tian Lin and Tian Lin were an armed force that had been formed by the Chinese themselves.

The newest Mauser's rifle, the Arabian's war horses that Nan Yang had never seen before, and a few cantaloupe grenades that were imported from the Ryukyu on his waist, these Chinese guards that were armed to the teeth had already smashed up the harassment of the native monkeys more than once, and also took away a lot of their land.

Niu Jincai looked at the fertile land and lamented: "This is truly a fertile land, from today onwards, this will be our territory, whoever dares to snatch it will fight for it with others!"

Tian Lin also gritted her teeth and said, "That's right, tomorrow I will discuss it with the village leaders. From now on, the defense tax will be increased by 30%. They won't object, as long as they agree to increase it by 30%, our company will consider itself increasing it by 35%! "

"I heard that Tanggu will soon be able to produce five to six hundred tons of small warships. At that time, let's buy a few more … If we can't beat the foreign devils, can't we beat those native monkeys? This Borneo must belong to the Chinese even if she dies? "

"Right, right..." Tax increase! Big guy has all the money in his possession right now, so there's no need to complain! "

Just as the two of them were looking forward excitedly, Guard Captain outside the carriage suddenly roared, "Innkeeper, quickly take a look …" Look at the sea! With the shadow of the fleet in sight, what the hell was with all those sails? "All of them are battleships …"