The details of the tax reform plan have been released, but it has not yet had time to be officially promoted.
Zhao Han went to work as usual today, but found that the female officials, palace maids and daily historians all had happy faces.
"Have you ever picked up money when you went out?" Zhao Han joked.
Li Xiangjun smiled and replied: "Your Majesty, the local officials reported the auspiciousness."
The smile on Zhao Han's face suddenly disappeared, replaced by an expression of boredom.
Li Xiangjun quickly explained: "Your Majesty, this auspicious sign is not fake, it is in the lacquered wooden box on the desk."
Zhao Han walked over and sat down, then opened the box and found an ear of rice inside. One rice with two ears was extremely rare. This kind was called Jiahe, which has been regarded as auspicious since ancient times.
Zhao Han said: "Give it to the Agriculture Department and ask them to breed it. If they can't produce anything, forget it. As for the local officials, make them benevolent and caring for the people. Don't make a fuss when you encounter Jiahe next time."
Ding Shijing, the historian who recorded the daily notes, couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, Jiahe is the leader of the five grains, and if the king is virtuous, then the two seedlings will show off together. In Zhou De, three seedlings have the same ears; in Shang De, they have the same root but different ears.
"Yu Xia De, they have different roots but the same beauty. This Jiahe plant and the two seedlings have the same beauty, which is why His Majesty is so prosperous."
Zhao Han glanced at him and asked: "The twin ears of rice are my virtues, and the continuous natural disasters are my virtues. I don't talk about my strange power, so don't speculate here and there."
"Your Majesty is Holy Ming."
Ding Shijing no longer spoke, but wrote down: On August 5th, Chizhou Prefecture presented auspicious signs. One rice had two ears, and two seedlings competed for beauty. The left and right said: This emperor's virtue is victorious. The top sentence: Jiahe is the king's.
Virtue, aren't disasters and disasters the fault of the king? You don't talk about strange forces and confuse the gods, and don't speculate on God's will.
One rice with two ears is most likely a genetic mutation. Anyway, no results have been found after hundreds of years.
Regardless of whether they are flattering the emperor or not, when local officials encounter this incident, they will definitely offer the golden harvest. They dare not keep it themselves. Zhao Han cannot reward, otherwise it will distort the trend; nor can he punish, otherwise it will be a blow to the officials.
of positivity.
In the afternoon, Chen Xisong from the Agriculture Department was ordered to pay an audience.
This guy deliberately didn't change his clothes, and there was still mud and water on his trouser legs. He knew that the emperor liked this kind of image.
Zhao Han pointed to the lacquer box and said: "There is a Jiahe plant. You can use it for breeding. You can play with it however you want. I don't blame you if you don't succeed in growing it."
"Yes!" Chen Xisong carefully took the box away.
Zhao Han asked: "How about promoting new crops?"
Chen Xisong said: "Your Majesty, sweet potatoes and corn have spread all over the southern provinces. Especially in the mountains and hills, every family grows them. Farmers have found that planting corn every year will reduce the fertility of the land. Interplanting beans, but there is no such concern
Therefore, if you have a middle field to plant corn, it is best to interplant corn with beans. After the corn ears are firm, it no longer requires too much water and fertilizer, and sweet potatoes can be interplanted at this time. In a piece of land, corn, sweet potatoes, and beans can be planted at the same time.
Doubling the yield will not damage the fertility of the land."
"This method is very good." Zhao Han praised.
Chen Xisong said: "It has been implemented in all provinces, and farmers are very happy. Therefore, despite successive years of disasters, there is always enough food. Even in the lean years, the price of rice has not exceeded 11 cents per catty. When there is a good harvest in some areas, the price of rice has not exceeded 11 cents per catty.
The price is even only two cents per catty."
"Biliterate?"
Zhao Han frowned and immediately said to Li Xiangjun: "I have forgotten this matter. I immediately ordered the cabinet to spread the news to all local counties. Datong Bank will set the lowest price for money and grain exchange every year. Even if it is a good harvest year, it will not
The price must be two cents per catty. Otherwise, once the true collection is cancelled, the field tax will only be collected in cash from now on, and farmers will inevitably suffer heavy losses. In addition, the lowest price of grain in each county must be reported to the court every year. The anti-corruption inspector will draw a few
County, check whether the price is arbitrary."
In all dynasties, there were times when one could only afford two pennies and a pound of rice.
But it is different now. Due to the large inflow of silver and copper, silver dollars and copper coins are being minted every year. In some economically developed areas, there are already signs of inflation, and the price of rice at two cents is really too low.
After Zhao Han gave the instructions, he said: "You continue."
Chen Xisong said: "As for the barren mountainous areas, now everything you see is corn and sweet potatoes, and countless mountain people rely on these two crops for their livelihood. Last year, Guangxi's corn output even far exceeded that of wheat, sorghum and other cereals, becoming second only to wheat and sorghum."
Rice is the second largest crop.”
The high yield of corn is certain, and its advantages include not being picky about the land.
It is sheer nonsense to say that corn in ancient times was not that powerful and its yield was actually very small, because farmers voted with their bellies. Take Guangxi, for example. In the early Qing Dynasty, corn was only grown for children to eat and play with. But after the Second World War,
In the past thirty years, the mountains and fields were covered with corn, and farmers spontaneously began to plant it widely.
Chen Xisong added: "Sunflowers are spreading rapidly in the north. They like cold and dry conditions and are particularly suitable for planting in the north. Nowadays, the northern provinces have vast land and sparsely populated areas, so growing sunflowers does not require much manpower."
There is still a lot of land in the north, but the government has not allocated it to farmers, but by default farmers can cultivate the land without owners. This kind of land without owners does not need to pay taxes. The ownership belongs to the government and can be allocated to new immigrants at any time. There is too much land and too many people.
If there are too few, people can't cultivate it, so they have to plant crops in large areas that are less laborious.
Sunflowers became so popular that in many northern states and counties, melon seeds became a local specialty and were shipped to the south in large quantities for sale every year.
Sunflowers were introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty. This is certain, and it should have been during the Zhengde period at the earliest.
But this thing has always been an ornamental plant, cultivated in gardens by literati, and now it has finally spread to farmland.
Chen Xisong said with a smile: "Your Majesty, sunflowers are not the only crops grown from gardens to farmland. Farmers are also planting tomatoes, which are similar to watermelons and are quite refreshing. Every summer, farmers carry tomatoes.
I sell banana persimmons in Nanjing city and make a profit."
Tomatoes are tomatoes, and the name tomato already existed in the late Ming Dynasty.
Zhao Han suddenly became interested: "Are tomatoes only sold as fruit? Has anyone fried them? Have you ever eaten scrambled eggs with tomatoes?"
"Can tomatoes be fried as vegetables?" Chen Xisong was a little confused.
This is beyond everyone’s awareness, because they all regard tomatoes as fruits. Have you ever seen eggs fried with apples?
Zhao Han asked: "Are there any tomatoes for sale now?"
Chen Xisong said: "Your Majesty, tomatoes are also called tomatoes and June persimmons. It is already August and the tomatoes are out of season. If Your Majesty likes it, the farm can plant some and present them to the palace in June next year."
middle."
"Plant as many ridges as you like, don't plant too many," Zhao Han said with a smile, "When the time comes, I'll treat you to tomato scrambled eggs."
It is always pleasant to talk about farming. The promotion of corn, sweet potatoes, and Chinese cabbage has been completed, and tomatoes and sunflowers have also been changed from ornamental to edible. Kelp is being studied for artificial cultivation, and there are some signs. Peanuts have become popular on their own, and there is no need for the court to go there.
Highly recommended.
These crops not only enrich the people's dining tables, but also keep them full during disaster years.
If it were not for the support of high-yielding crops, how could Zhao Han have been able to support so many troops in the face of such a bad climate with successive natural disasters? You know, grain must be used for disaster relief every year, and the north is still in a state of land tax exemption.
Fine-wool sheep are already multiplying, and future grassland herders can also have a stable income.
By the way, speaking of fine-wool sheep, the fine-wool sheep of the Datong New Dynasty were introduced from Spain. And the Spanish royal family,
They declared bankruptcy again. This is the fifth time that the Spanish royal family has gone bankrupt in the past century.
What does royal bankruptcy mean?
I won’t repay the money I borrowed, so I love you.
If Spain had not gone bankrupt several times, the Netherlands would not have become independent so easily. Because Dutch bankers were once the largest creditors of the Spanish royal family. The Dutch moneylenders are all very influential, and they would not easily go to Spain for the money they lent.
Fall out.
Spain's industrial, agricultural, and commercial policies are as if they are insane.
Since wool was easier to collect taxes, Spain restricted food cultivation and used a large amount of good land for grazing sheep. Spain became the largest food importer in Europe. In order to monopolize business, the nobles also formulated policies to crack down on merchants, which made Spain's industry and commerce unable to develop.
.
As a result, agriculture, industry and commerce collapsed, and they relied on overseas colonial exploitation to survive.
Colonial oppression became more and more brutal, resulting in a sharp decline in the population of the Americas, and the once-strong American market also shrank.
Now the king of Spain left a huge debt after his death, which is about 50 million taels converted into silver. If you have too many lice, you don't have to worry about too many debts. That's it anyway. As for the financiers who were deceived,
It's time to hang yourself, it's time to jump into a river.
Spain's declaration of bankruptcy this time means that the Thirty Years' War in Europe is about to end.
The Thirty Years' War was the beginning of modern European history. The Westphalian system established after the war lasted until World War I. Of course, this kind of international order system now has to be asked whether Datong China can answer
promise.
In addition, France became the land hegemon and the Netherlands became the maritime hegemon.
The British civil war has ended, and the king fled to Scotland, where he was redeemed by Parliament for 500,000 pounds and put under house arrest. While under house arrest, the king actually ran away again and was trying to persuade the Scottish army to rescue the king.
The British Civil War was not a bourgeois revolution.
The division of spoils after the war was the bourgeois revolution. Lord Protector Cromwell first won over the army and civilians and withstood the king's counterattack. Then he betrayed his trust and attacked the army and civilian parties. The fruits of the revolution were stolen by the gentry and nobles.
It is very similar to China’s Revolution of 1911.
By saying so much, I just want to express one idea: All the major wars that Europe needs to fight have been fought.
Next, European countries will pay more attention to overseas colonization. Even if there is a war in the future, it will be around maritime interests. Exchanges between China and Europe will become more frequent and closer.
Overseas sales of Chinese products will reach another peak, and the customers are those Europeans!
Zhao Han traveled to a ghostly period with successive natural disasters, and it was also a heyday of maritime trade.
(Chapter 614 has been released. If you are interested, you can read it.)