Chapter 387: A Battlefield Without Gunpowder Part VII
In May, there will be a bumper wheat harvest in the north. The two major wheat-producing provinces of Beiping, Henan, and Shandong will harvest nearly 100 million shi of wheat. This year’s food must be enough to eat. People’s homes may have dozens of shi at most, or more than a dozen shi at least. If you save food, you won't panic anymore.
When people have enough to eat, they will naturally have more pursuits. Without the guidance of the government, they will actively develop production and earn money to live a better life. With the development of production, the commodity economy has gradually recovered and prospered. Many old cities are being renovated and expanded, many new towns are being built, and the pace of urbanization is accelerating.
In fact, urbanization has always been one of the policies that Wan Lei has vigorously promoted. Beiping Province was the first province to implement urbanization construction. Now more than 90% of the population lives in various towns. Even farmers are urban residents. They go out to work together during the busy farming season, and engage in handicrafts and commerce in towns during the slack farming season.
Don't underestimate these urban farmers. All of them are middle-class farmers. Each family has dozens of acres of land at least, and hundreds of acres at most. To cultivate so much land, of course, they can no longer face the same problems as before. Turning its back on the loess and turning its back to the sky, specialization and "mechanization" have basically been implemented.
For example, in plowing, there are farmers in each town who specialize in plowing. These farmers keep many mules and horses, and are equipped with new large plows. One person can plow hundreds of acres of land in a day, and the entire town's land is plowed. Often these farmers can finish the plowing, and other farmers can enjoy the benefits as long as they pay some fees.
Another example is weeding. With the development of the chemical industry, Chongdaotang has successfully formulated a chemical agent that can effectively remove weeds. The main ingredients of this agent are sulfuric acid and copper sulfate, although it is not yet highly effective. Low-harm herbicides are very effective. As long as they are applied to wheat fields in proportion, almost all weeds will be removed. Now Beiping Province has basically achieved chemical weeding. Professional pesticide farmers are responsible for spraying, and ordinary farmers As long as you spend some money, you can save trouble.
Another example is harvesting. Last year, the Peking Iron and Steel Works launched an animal-powered wheat harvester. It is equipped with a reciprocating cutter and a reel. It is pulled by multiple horses and drives the cutter through the rotation of the ground wheel, realizing wheat harvesting. Mechanized harvesting can also increase efficiency several times.
In addition, the Biological Research Institute of Chongdaotang has also bred some high-quality and high-yielding wheat seeds, and the application of chemical fertilizers has greatly increased the yield. Coupled with the construction of some farmland water conservancy projects, the wheat fields have been irrigated. Li, Beiping Province alone produces nearly 40 million shi of wheat, and not all arable land is used to grow wheat. A lot of land with inconvenient irrigation is used as cotton land.
The bumper harvest of agriculture also laid a solid foundation for industrial development. Most people in Liaodong were liberated from agriculture and concentrated on mining and logging, because for them, food was too cheap, and those low-yield areas were simply not worth it. It is not worth planting, which also allows the work of closing mountains and restoring forests in Shaanxi and Shanxi to be carried out smoothly.
"This year's grain harvest is bumper, and grain prices in various places are also falling. In order to prevent low prices of wheat from hurting farmers, the Salt and Grain Department has reserved 400,000 silver dollars to purchase grain and stabilize grain prices." On the ninth day of May, Tie Xuan came to Huayuan and gave Wan Lei gave a briefing. This is the second regular executive report meeting every ten days. The other one is on the second, twelfth and 22nd of every month. This means that Wan Lei has to meet with Tie Xuan at least every month. Six times, not counting impromptu meetings.
"It's a good harvest. Isn't it that what the people are looking forward to is having a surplus of grain every year? As for the low price of grain and hurting farmers, there is no need to worry too much for the time being. The people in Shandong and Henan are so afraid of the hard life that they wish they could build more barns and stock up more. When the price of grain is low, there will be no need to sell grain, so this money will be mainly used in Beiping Province to purchase grain from Beiping Province to Liaodong and North Korea, which can be distributed nearby."
"I think so too, but now that the Yellow River embankment has been newly built, there will be no large-scale floods in a few years. If Henan and Shandong have such a bumper harvest every year, the food will be cheap if it is abundant. We must guide it appropriately and let the people plant more varieties. Economic crops." Tie Xuan said.
"Let an analysis article be published to tell the people that things are cheap when they are abundant, and they will know the trade-offs. If administrative means are used to regulate, it is not as effective as using market rules to guide it," Wan Lei said.
"That's right. People all have their own ideas about how to farm. We just need to provide proper guidance. If we do too much, it will be ineffective." Tie Xuan put the document aside and changed the topic, "Listen There is news from Ming Dynasty that Emperor Jianwen is preparing to implement a constitutional monarchy. Is this true?"
"What do you think?" Wan Lei asked with a smile.
“Although there is an edict that agrees with the constitution, it also says that there will be a five-year preparatory period for the constitution. I just want to do it perfunctorily." Tie Xuan said.
"It is indeed a bit perfunctory, and I really can't see much sincerity. But we can see it, and the subjects over there in the Ming Dynasty can also see it. They can't see the actual things, and they will definitely make trouble. Let's appropriately We should guide them so that the Ming Dynasty can truly embark on the road of republic."
"Now that the people are enlightened, the land can no longer be fooled casually. If Emperor Jianwen says one thing and does another without sincerity, sooner or later he will become the target of thousands of people. By then, it will be too late to think about establishing a constitution."
"If you don't have a broom, the dust won't escape by itself. Some people are like this too. If you don't put the knife on your head, you won't know how to rush." Wan Lei smiled calmly. He pointed out two ways for Ming Chao. Of course, he was not naive. The other party would obediently follow suit, but he had many ways to make Emperor Jianwen go on the path he had planned.
"If Emperor Jianwen really intended to be perfunctory, then should we still establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty as agreed?"
"Others can be unkind, but we cannot be unjust. Of course we must establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't Emperor Jianwen like to play tricks on others? Then let's play with him and let him know what it means to play with fire and you will burn yourself. "Wan Lei smiled slightly. He had already had many tricks in his mind, which were enough to play tricks on the relationship between the Ming court and the governor.
While Wan Lei and Tie Xuan were chatting, Liu Yuan, the secretary-general of Huayuan, quickly walked into the small living room. She first smiled at her uncle, Tie Xuan, and then asked in a low voice in Wan Lei's ear. : "Mr. Fang came to visit again, just outside Huayuan. See you or not?"
"I am definitely here to talk about normal diplomatic matters. You should take him to the East Room first, and then ask someone to invite the minister and deputy minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to come over. We can settle everything at once, so as to save the trouble of running back and forth. "
"Yes, I will take care of it now." Liu Yuan responded and left quickly.
Tie Xuan looked at the back of his niece leaving, and couldn't help but feel a little sad. This niece had moved into the Wan family early in the morning, but she had always been nameless and without status. He looked worried, but couldn't say much. After all, Wan Lei was marrying Zhao Xueer. He had already hinted that he would not take any more concubines, and Liu Yuan was destined to be nameless and without status.
Mrs. Tie is also worried about her niece's marriage. She has held several blind dates, but Liu Yuan always makes excuses not to attend. Tie Xuan understands that this niece will never marry anyone else in this life. But Liu Yuan is there every day Busy in the garden and living a fulfilling life, there was no trace of resentment on his face, so Tie Xuan simply ignored him.
The office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not too far from Huayuan. In about a cup of tea, Liu Jing and Xu Huizu also arrived. Wan Lei did not want to waste any more time and came to the East Hall with Tie Xuan. This time In addition to Fang Xiaoru, the interviewer was actually Huang Zicheng. When this guy saw Wan Lei, he always had a straight face, as if his father had died. Fang Xiaoru pulled his sleeves many times and asked him to pay attention to his manners, but he If you don't realize it, you won't even say a polite hello.
However, Wan Lei was too lazy to worry about these trivial matters. As soon as he sat down, he went straight to the topic: "You have been discussing the two conditions we have proposed for more than half a month. Are you willing to accept them?"
"My Emperor, His Majesty, cares about the common people in the world and does not care about personal gains and losses. He has already issued an edict to establish a constitutional monarchy in order to gain popularity among the people. I also hope that you will honor your promise and allow the two countries to establish diplomatic relations and form a brotherly relationship."
"Don't worry, everyone, our country has always kept its promises. As long as you effectively enact the constitution and implement the rule of law, our country will naturally treat you honestly. As for the war compensation you owe, we can give you a deferment period. In the future, as long as you continue to There is no obvious reason for breach of contract, and both parties can also strengthen communication and cooperation in economic, political and cultural aspects," Wan Lei said.
"Since you keep your promise so much, we will naturally not breach the contract again. I just don't know when we can exchange letters of credence and send envoys to each other?" Fang Xiaoru asked anxiously. He really didn't expect that Wan Lei would be like this this time. It was easy to agree.
"The credentials are just a blank document and can be signed at any time. What is important is the statement on the establishment of diplomatic relations. This is announced to the world and allowed to be supervised and implemented by the world, so it is the most important. What we want to talk about now is this statement." Wan Lei said sternly.
"Declaration on the establishment of diplomatic relations?" Fang Xiaoru frowned subconsciously. He knew that Wan Lei would not agree so easily, so he hurriedly asked: "What are the terms in this statement?"
"There are not many terms, only five. These are what we have established in advance. You can take a look at it. If you have any opinions, you can put them forward and we will agree to modify them. If you have no opinions, then sign and seal them, in triplicate and one copy. Publish it to the outside world, and each party will keep a copy of the manuscript as a memo."
Fang Xiaoru hurriedly took over the so-called declaration on the establishment of diplomatic relations and saw that there were indeed five articles written on it. The main content was to urge the Ming Dynasty to complete the state restructuring as soon as possible, establish education as soon as possible, establish industry as soon as possible, and restore farming and mulberry trees as soon as possible, so as to pay for the war arrears as soon as possible. indemnity.
No matter how you look at these five articles, you can't see any disadvantages to the Ming Dynasty, so this draft declaration on the establishment of diplomatic relations passed through the hands of the Ming envoys, and no one raised any objections. Finally, Fang Xiaoru said: "Our country is currently backward in technology. , if your country can provide support, our country will definitely be able to pay the compensation it owes in a short time."
"Support is not impossible, but there is no free lunch in this world. Our government and private individuals have invested countless efforts in research and technology. If you want to come up with nothing, it is impossible. You have to pay corresponding technology transfer fees. "Wan Lei said.
"His Majesty the President has misunderstood. We do not want those secret skills. We just want to send people north to learn basic technologies. These technologies are also widely taught in your country and are not secrets." Fang Xiaoru said hurriedly.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty had transferred steel smelting technology to Wan Lei before, and it cost a lot of money, but in the end the iron produced and the cannons cast were not as good as others. After thinking about it, Fang Xiaoru understood that the Ming Dynasty was wrong. Not only are there high-end skills, but there is also a shortage of craftsmen who are familiar with the skills. If you just introduce technology, it will be in vain. Naturally, he will not make the same mistake this time, so he wants to send overseas students to learn the basic knowledge first.
"You want to send international students? This is not impossible, but in order to facilitate teaching management and for the personal safety of your personnel, all international students must be sent to Beiping City. We will arrange special teachers for education. In addition, try to send outstanding students students, I believe you don’t want to waste your time on stupid students.”
"This is natural. We are also willing to pay the corresponding tuition fees and will never let your efforts be in vain."
"Tuition?" Before Wan Lei could speak, Xu Huizu, who was sitting aside, shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "The first priority in our education is practice. The teaching of various subjects in physics, chemistry and engineering must use advanced experimental instruments and cherished experimental materials. Every day It costs at least several thousand silver dollars to train a qualified college student from elementary school to university. Can you afford it?"
"This." Fang Xiaoru was speechless at once, because if it was true as Xu Huizu said, one student would cost several thousand silver dollars. With the existing financial resources of the Ming Dynasty, it simply could not afford to support several international students.
"Forget it, since we are a country of brothers, it is okay not to accept this amount of money, so as not to hurt the harmony. However, the university is limited to ten students each year, the middle school is limited to fifty students, and there is no limit for elementary schools. You must pass the entrance examination first. If you don't pass, don't blame us for not accepting them. So I still say, send outstanding students, I don't want to waste our important educational resources on mediocre people."
"Yes, we will select the best scholars to come north. The south of the Yangtze River is vast and rich in resources. We welcome your country to set up industry in our country, and our country will provide preferential policies." Fang Xiaoru said again.
"Our country is a country ruled by law, and the Constitution is supreme. The Constitution clearly stipulates that citizens' private property is protected by law and is sacred and inviolable. At the same time, there are many supporting laws to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of employers and employees. Your country still implements the rule of man, The power of the monarch is supreme, edicts are changed day by day, and the personal and property safety of citizens are not guaranteed. Our citizens dare not invest or find employment in your country."
Wan Lei glanced at the envoys who came from Ming Dynasty and said: "For the common interests of the two peoples, I hope that your country can complete the constitutional monarchy as soon as possible, change the rule of man to the rule of law, create a fair and orderly rule of law environment, and ensure the safety of citizens' personal and property If everything is guaranteed, people will naturally be willing to invest in your country, otherwise it will all be empty talk."
"Please rest assured that we will establish a constitution as soon as possible and implement the rule of law." Fang Xiaoru hurriedly assured.
"That's good." Wan Lei responded, but sneered in his heart: "Establishing a constitution as soon as possible to implement the rule of law? How strange!"