latelenovela Chapter 634 Is there enough food?
Chapter 634 Is there enough food?
Xiahou Chang smiled and said, "Your Majesty cares about the people. From now on, the cotton yield per mu should be set at 40 kilograms. In this way, the officials below will not be able to embezzle."
“Is corruption serious among the officials below?”
"It's not serious, but there are still some small corruptions." Xiahou Chang thought about it and smiled:
"In general, the administration is clean and honest, because the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice have a joint supervisory office, and the emperor's Mohist disciples supervise officials at all levels."
Ye Kun nodded and asked again: "The Ministry of Personnel reported that grassroots officials are having a hard time because of the sharp drop in grain prices, is that right?"
Xiahou Chang was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, "How can the life of an official be hard? They don't actually live on salaries. Even if they don't covet money, there are always others who give them money."
Ye Kun was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.
Xiahou Chang asked carefully: "Your Majesty, am I wrong?"
"You are right. Officials belong to the privileged class. Even without a salary, they can live well."
Ye Kun nodded, and suddenly sighed: "Some things, I know it's the case, but it's hard to change."
In ancient times, officials’ corruption and bribery were very covert.
These are all private transactions, so it’s hard to trace them.
Moreover, inconvenient transportation and poor information flow make it difficult to supervise officials.
Xiahou Chang nodded: "When water is too clear, there will be no fish; when a person is too strict, there will be no followers. Everyone has selfish desires, and officials are no exception. Even a saint cannot completely eliminate the favoritism and corruption of the officials below.
In my opinion, the lower-level officials are just eating and drinking, or getting close to the local gentry and collecting some small money in private. Generally speaking, the grassroots officials can still complete the tasks assigned by the court and are more likely to obey the emperor's instructions. "
As they were talking, they arrived at the door of the State Guesthouse.
Cherry is already waiting here, see you in person.
Ye Kun returned the greeting and said with a smile: "Cherry, it's been a long time since we last met. You look younger and more energetic."
"Thanks to the emperor's blessing, the cherries don't age too quickly."
"Very good, let's go in and eat and talk while we eat."
Everyone sat down in the luxurious box.
This time we had separate meals, with each person having a small low table with a few exquisite dishes and a pot of wine.
Ye Kun took Xie Baochan and Liu Yuejuan to sit together, introduced Xiahou Chang and Yingtao, raised his glass and said: "You two are guests from afar, I toast to you."
Xiahou Chang and Yingtao hurriedly stood up and drank a cup while standing.
Ye Kun put down his wine glass and asked Yingtao: "General Huangfu Lin, how are you?"
"Your Majesty, General Huangfu has been in charge of the Southeast Navy for the past few years. He has also traveled to the Donghua Peninsula and Fuso Island. He has been drifting on the sea for many years and has caught a cold. His joints are not in good condition. In other aspects... he is fine."
"Rheumatoid arthritis is a common disease among veteran sailors. You should keep warm."
Ye Kun nodded and said, "Huangfu Lin is about the same age as me, also forty years old. Since he is in poor health, let him stay in Jinling and command the navy generals, and then arrange for others."
In fact, the main combat mission of the Eastern Navy has been completed.
Liaodong, Jizui Peninsula, Fuso Nagashima Island, and Izushi Island have all been taken.
The future mission of the Eastern Navy will mainly be transportation.
Transport young barbarian natives from overseas back and then send young people from the Chinese people over to continue the blood transfusion.
Of course, supplies also need to be transported and exchanged.
Yingtao thanked him and said, "Huangfu Lin has returned to Jinling to recuperate. The navy of Donghua Changdao is now under the command of Huangfu Lan. This time, Huangfu Lin came back and brought back more than 30,000 Fusang natives. They have been sent to various places according to the wishes of the Nine Departments."
Ye Kun nodded to show his satisfaction.
Xiahou Chang interrupted, "Your Majesty, over the years, we have introduced several million overseas workers, right?"
"Only two million."
Ye Kun shook his head: "I have seen the statistics of the Ministry of Households. The total number of overseas workers is only two million, including 1.3 million men and 700,000 women. In the direction of Chang'an, there are another 70,000 to 80,000 foreign laborers, who we paid for."
Yingtao smiled and said, "Your Majesty, isn't it enough to bring in so many people? I heard from Huang Fulin that transporting an overseas native here is actually very expensive. We have to build ships, provide food and drinking water on the road, and be responsible for training, as well as casualties on the road..."
"This population is far from enough."
Ye Kun took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "If our coal mines and iron mines in various places are to be expanded, two million people will be needed. There are also cement plants, glass factories, ceramic factories, quarries, textile factories, official farms, etc., which all require a large number of laborers."
Free labor, don’t waste it.
Xiahou Chang was shocked: "Iron mines and coal mines require two million people?"
Ye Kun smiled and said, "In fact, two million people are not many. Moreover, our current productivity is stronger than that of two people in your time. Even so, when I built the railway, Wu Qiong and others still felt sorry for the steel."
Today's steel production is more than a hundred times that of ten years ago.
However, building railways, steam cars and ships, and infrastructure in various places all require a large amount of steel.
As a consumable, no matter how much steel you have, it is not enough.
The higher the steel production, the higher the coal consumption.
Therefore, steel and coal are the top priorities and the most important foundation for development and progress!
Cherry pondered:
"Your Majesty, there are many newborns in Jiangdong now. Some families have wives who marry foreign women as concubines. It is common for a family to have seven or eight children. Huangfu Lin said that in another ten years, the population of Jiuzhou will reach 100 million. Will there be enough food by then?"
Ye Kun laughed out loud when he heard this.
Cherry also smiled: "What is the emperor laughing at?"
"I laugh at you, but you still think in the past."
Ye Kun put down his glass and said, "This year's sweet potatoes, also known as yams, have been harvested nationwide, causing the national grain price to plummet. There are also potatoes, also called potatoes, which are also very high-yield. In addition, there is corn. Although the yield is not high, it is close to the per-acre yield of barley and is suitable for most mountainous and sloping lands.
Now that we have sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn, the people of China will never go hungry again. Not to mention 100 million people, even 200 million people will be able to eat well! "
Cherry exclaimed: "Are yams and potatoes so powerful?"
Xiahou Chang was very concerned about grain production during his nationwide survey this time, and said with a smile:
"Your Majesty is right. The yield of sweet potatoes is extremely high. The people cannot finish eating them all, so they feed them to pigs and chickens. The remaining sweet potatoes are cut into slices and dried into sweet potato chips. The yield per mu is more than 300 kilograms.
Dried yam can be considered as a fine product. One mu of land can produce more than 300 kilograms of fine grain, and there are hundreds of millions of mu of land in the country. Just one season of yam can feed 100 million people. "
Ye Kun nodded: "Lord Xiahou is quite familiar with grain production. However, the upper limit of sweet potato production per mu is 10,000 catties. Our current production still has a lot of room for improvement. We are still cultivating improved varieties, and the sweet potato production will be further increased in the future."
Xiahou Chang was also surprised: "Ten thousand pounds, this is too... scary, right?"
Ye Kun smiled and said, "Our Science and Technology City has been researching chemical synthetic fertilizers. If they are successfully developed and promoted vigorously, the yields of crops such as rice, wheat, and rapeseed will double. It should be possible to achieve a yield of 10,000 catties per mu of sweet potatoes."
Xiahou Chang asked: "When can this chemical synthetic fertilizer be developed?"