Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1748 Don't think too little of the granary

Inside the Study Room of the Minister of Qianqing Palace in Beijing.

"Your Majesty, Kansu II of Egypt killed all the officials who clamored to take back half of the ownership of the Egyptian canal."

"It seems that he should be able to claim how much he has by now."

Zhu Fu smiled and reported to Emperor Hongzhi that the situation in Egypt had changed.

"Haha~"

When Emperor Hongzhi and all the ministers heard this, they laughed happily.

Let you float, you don't know your own situation, and you still want to take back half of Ming's canal ownership, that is, you need to contain the Ottoman Empire and the Persians in this position, otherwise you will directly send troops to turn you into a colony.

"Egypt is having a hard time now. The Ottoman Empire's army is about to reach the Egyptian canal, and they will suffer in the future."

"This is what they asked for. The Ottoman Empire itself is very powerful. The reason why they couldn't win against Egypt and Persia in the past is mainly because the current Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire just came to power, and the position was wrong. He is consolidating himself. status and power, there is simply no time to concentrate on dealing with them.”

"Now that his status and power have been stabilized, he can mobilize a large number of troops. In addition to the weapons and weapons sold by our Ming Dynasty, it will not be so easy for the Egyptians and Persians to resist."

"Will this make the Ottoman Empire bigger?"

"Don't worry, when Egypt and Persia can't hold on, our Ming Dynasty will make a move. The Middle East must maintain a three-legged situation, which is in the best interest of our Ming Dynasty."

"Well, it makes sense. Once anyone in the Middle East becomes big, it will harm the interests of our Ming Dynasty. The three-legged confrontation is the best situation for our Ming Dynasty."

"There are still deep conflicts and grievances between the Ottoman Empire and Europe. They have no way to use all their troops to the Middle East."

Everyone talked about the situation in the Middle East with smiles on their faces. No matter what, Daming's interests are the core, and it is definitely right to do things around this point.

"Your Majesty, when it comes to Europe, what do you think, can our Ming Dynasty continue to expand to the west?"

Liu Jin looked at the huge world map in Shangshu's room, and quickly locked his eyes on the land in Eastern Europe.

This piece of land is a well-known granary in later generations.

The black land in Ukraine is one of only three black lands in the world. It is very fertile and is the granary of the whole of Europe.

Of course, there is no food produced here now. This is the pasture of the nomadic Crimean Tatars. To be honest, it is really a waste to use this fertile land for grazing.

The westernmost border of the Ming Dynasty has reached the Ural Mountains, bordering the Kazan Khanate and the Principality of Moscow. At the same time, it has also occupied the South Caucasus region. It has been operating here for many years. The land has become the bridgehead from Daming to Europe, and the life is rich and very stable.

In addition, Hezhong Province and Northwest Province have also developed, not only the granaries of Daming, but also the meat warehouses and pastures of Daming.

The grain produced here in a year is enough for the entire Ming people to eat, and the tens of millions of cattle, sheep and horses produced every year are transported to the customs by railway and transported to various places in Daming.

This is already one of the four great pastures of the Ming Dynasty, together with the Northern Grassland Province, Australia, and the South Golden Continent Grassland, it is also known as the four great pastures of the Ming Dynasty. It produces a large amount of cattle, sheep, horses and wool needed by the textile industry.

All of these laid the foundation of knowledge for the westward expansion of the Ming Empire.

Among other things, if the Ming Empire continued to use troops to the west and expanded westward to Eastern Europe, the Ming Dynasty would not need to dispatch food from other places at all, and could directly obtain enough food, meat and food in Hezhong Province and Northwest Province. required horses.

This is why Daming has been working hard to manage these places, not only to consolidate the border areas, but also to prepare for the next step of westward expansion.

"Continue to expand westward?"

As soon as everyone heard it, they immediately regained their spirits.

As expected, Liu Jin, as chief assistant, still likes to expand abroad as always. Daming's land is already so huge, Liu Jin is still too small, and he wants to continue to expand westward to seize the Eastern European Plain.

This style of doing things is really Liu Jin, because Liu Jin has always advocated external expansion. In Liu Jin's words, no amount of land is too much, the more the better.

Even if the land is not needed now, it may be available in the future. Anyway, we should occupy more land when we are strong.

"Liu Jin, tell me in detail."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded and said.

To be honest, Emperor Hongzhi doesn't have any strong desire to expand the land now. After all, the current land of Ming Dynasty is indeed very huge.

It is already a bit difficult to manage it now, that is, with telegrams, it is possible to quickly control and command various places. Otherwise, managing such a huge country is indeed a headache.

"Your Majesty, the land in Eastern Europe is now mainly the Principality of Poland-Lithuania, the Principality of Moscow, the Crimean Khanate, and the Kazan Khanate. In addition, part of the land in the south is occupied by the Ottoman Empire."

"The reason why I advocate that Ming Dynasty continue to expand westward is mainly because the land in the north of the Black Sea is the most fertile black land in the world. There are only three black lands in the world. This is one, and our Liaodong in Ming Dynasty is one. And there is a piece here in North Gold Continent."

"Black land is the most fertile land, and it is also the most suitable land for grain production. In addition, the land here is flat and open, which is very suitable for growing grain and developing agriculture and animal husbandry. If we can conquer it and manage it well, my Ming Dynasty will definitely be able to add more A granary."

Liu Jin came to the huge world map and began to explain in detail.

Emperor Hongzhi, Qi Zhong, Wang Shouren, Han Wen and others also listened carefully, nodding their heads while listening.

The black soil of Liaodong Province in the Ming Dynasty is now famous all over the world. The fertile land of Liaodong has created a large granary in Liaodong. Liaodong has only been developed for more than ten years.

Grain production is increasing year by year.

The land here is most suitable for the development of agriculture. The black soil is very fertile, and the terrain is open and flat, which is suitable for large-scale mechanical planting. The pests and diseases were frozen to death, which also made the crops in Liaodong area rarely suffer from pests and diseases.

Farming is very worry-free. Mechanical plowing, mechanical sowing, and then you can wait for mechanical harvesting. There is no need for intensive farming like the Guannei side.

The land in the pass has always been intensively cultivated, but even if you are exhausted in the fields every day, the food you can produce is limited, because the land is not as fertile as Liaodong, and there are many diseases and insect pests, especially locust plagues, which often appear.

And because it is further south than Liaodong, all kinds of weeds are overgrown, and Liaodong is cold in winter, so there are fewer weeds that can adapt to the cold climate. As for various insect pests, in winter, heavy snow If it is covered, it will basically freeze to death. If it is not frozen to death, it will be mechanically plowed in the next spring. After turning it out and freezing it a few times, it will die in sevens and eights.

When it is suddenly thick enough, it can be plowed deeply, and the top can be deeply turned into the ground, and it can be directly turned into fertilizer.

And the land in the Guan, whether it is the North China Plain, the Huanghuaihai Plain, or the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain, does not have the unique advantages of Liaodong. It is nothing more than extensive large-scale agriculture like Liaodong. It still needs intensive cultivation to reap the rewards.

The importance of food cannot be overstated.

There is food to be stable!
Emperor Hongzhi had a deep understanding of this point. In the past, every time there was a famine, he was most afraid of it, because when there was no food to eat, anything could happen.

That's why the imperial court needs to prepare granaries in various places to stockpile food, and use it to relieve victims in times of famine.

Now listening to what Liu Jin said, the land north of the Black Sea turned out to be another Liaodong region, which made everyone very excited.

Granary, everyone will definitely not think too little, the more the better.

The population of Ming Dynasty is expanding rapidly, and the need for food is increasing, and more food is more secure.

What's more, if Liaodong is the same here, it also means that large-scale mechanized planting is possible, and a large amount of food can be cultivated without too many people.

The importance of food is naturally not highlighted when there is enough food to eat, but once there is no food, then everything is more expensive than food.

People in Daming are really living a good life now, they can’t run out of food, and it’s very cheap, and a lot of it is used to make wine, feed livestock, etc. That’s because Daming now has large granaries such as Liaodong, Hezhong, and Nanyang. Can't finish it.

But in the past, Daming was very short of food, and there would be a major famine almost every one or two years, either drought, flood, or locust plague.

Once that time comes, coupled with unscrupulous grain merchants hoarding and driving up the price of grain, grain will be extremely precious, countless people will starve to death, and the bark will be eaten up. It's something that actually happens over and over again.

For food, Daming people have a deep attachment, and they also know the importance of food very clearly.

There may be no gold or silver, but there must be food, because only when there is food in the hand, will the heart be free.

Combined with the future generations, it is even more so.

Now the population of Daming is only over 10 million, but in the future, the population of Daming may be 20 billion or [-] billion. Naturally, it will not work if there is not enough land and food.

(End of this chapter)