The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 144 The Loom Delivered Home

"Your Majesty, all the summer grain in the army has been dried and returned to the warehouse, and has been collected, totaling more than 820 shi."

"Okay, on average, the yield per mu is close to one stone. It seems that the military households are not usually lazy, and they are still doing their best to take care of the farmer."

Zhu Cihong took the brochure and was overjoyed, and couldn't help but praise it.

800 million shi of grain is enough to feed more than 100 million military households, hundreds of thousands of troops, and everyone in the capital for a year. That is to say, they have achieved self-sufficiency and no need to transport grain from Jiangnan.

Wheat stalks and ears can also be used as fodder for cattle and horses. It is really a bumper harvest year.

"The main reason is that His Majesty's sageness proposed to plant wheat in winter to avoid the drought and scorching summer, so that the harvest can be bumper. If it is popularized throughout the north, the people will no longer have to go hungry."

Liu Xinlan was also very excited at the end. Now it's the end of May, and it hasn't rained in the vicinity of the capital for nearly a month. If they planted spring wheat, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"There is no need to deliberately promote, just announce the output of this year's winter wheat, and all regions will naturally follow suit, especially in the southern part of Northern Zhili and Henan."

Zhu Cilang smiled and waved his hands.

"Yes, Your Majesty, although spring wheat has been planted in all parts of Henan this year, there is still a lot of wasteland. According to the news from shopkeepers in various places, the local gentry are planning to plant winter wheat this winter, and many gentry have sent people to the south to buy cattle. Grain, recruiting tenants."

Liu Xinlan also explained with a smile.

"Let them do it themselves. The imperial court will not interfere, and shopkeepers from all over the country will not interfere. They can grow whatever they want."

As for Zhu Cihong in the north, he will not move for the time being, at least until the end of the tax holiday. It will not be too late to reform after he recovers.

After all, firstly, he didn't have so many people to organize, and secondly, he didn't have so much food to feed everyone in the north.

If the gentry and landlords are reformed now, they will definitely not care about the lives of the people. Last year, they only provided disaster relief in Henan and the southern part of Beizhili for three months, consuming millions of stone grains.

"By the way, have the guard system of each army been completed?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, except for the rear army of Yongping Mansion, which has not been reported yet, the rest of the three armies have been reorganized. According to His Majesty's instructions, each household is divided into two stones of food per person, including the retired general flag and small flag, a total of 300 million stones. Of the remaining 500 million shi of grain, half is being transported to Tongzhou Dacang, and the other half is being hoarded in the military warehouses.”

After Liu Xinlan finished speaking, she said worriedly: "Your Majesty, after many military households distributed the new grain, they sold it to the gentry landlords and grain merchants who went to collect the grain. The slaves are about to ask for instructions, do you want to stop it?"

She really didn't understand that the food was obviously distributed to the military households, why did they sell it after changing hands?
"What is the purchase price offered by those grain merchants and gentry?" Zhu Cihong also frowned.

"It's all one tael, five bucks and one stone." Liu Xinlan replied.

"There is no need to stop it, let the royal branches all over the country also hang up the sign of purchasing grain, and it is enough for two taels of silver per stone."

Zhu Cihong thought about it, and finally said with a sigh.

Two stones per person, a little saving, enough to feed for a year, but those military households were obviously reluctant to eat their grains, and wanted to sell most of the fine grains, and then buy rice bran and wheat bran to eat.

This will save some silver money to buy other daily necessities.

There was nothing Zhu Cihong could do about this, the people had their own plans and knew how to live, so he couldn't force them to buy food, could he?

What's more, this kind of thing must be out of control. The only thing we can do is to prevent them from being squeezed by grain merchants.

"It's Your Majesty, the servant will give orders as soon as I get down."

"Hey! It seems that we still have a long way to go to let everyone eat white flour steamed buns!"

Zhu Cihong got up and sighed.

However, he believes that if there is a bumper harvest next year, the situation will be much better. Because there are many people and less land, each person will be allocated ten acres of land.

If the yield of one shi per mu can be achieved next year, each family of three can harvest [-] shi of grain, and even if half of it is handed over to the court, there will still be [-] shi.

The three of them ate flour all at once, and in a year they would consume at most eight shi, and there would be seven shi of grain left over, and two taels of silver for one shi, which could be sold for 14 taels. .

Of course, with the bumper harvests in all parts of the world, the price of food will definitely drop, but as long as there is no oppression and exploitation by officials and excessive taxes, the people can still live a good life, at least without worrying about food and clothing.

However, the fact is that in all dynasties and dynasties except the period of the founding of the country, the people of the world have never had enough to eat, let alone a meal.

"My servant believes that as long as His Majesty is around, the people of the world will have a better life. Those military households are all thinking of His Majesty. They heard that they knelt on the ground and cried loudly after receiving food and fields. Kowtow to His Majesty in the direction of Beijing, many heads were broken, and Radu couldn't pull them up."

Zhu Cilang was silent for a while, and then asked: "Are the hundreds of female workers in the weaving workshop skilled?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, I'm already proficient. Everyone has woven a piece of cloth, and the slaves have seen it, and it's not bad."

"Okay, more than 2 looms have been built, and it's time to surprise the common people. It just so happens that it's the slack season."

Immediately Zhu Cihong made corresponding arrangements.

In the next few days, the military households in the various guards near the capital were all boiling.

According to the division of each army, four capitals were also established this time. Yongping Mansion was divided into the capital of Jizhen, and the 30 military settlements under its jurisdiction became fifteen guards, each with only about 2 people.

Similarly, the two production brigades were merged into a thousand-household house with about 2000 people, and the two production teams were combined into a hundred-household castle. However, they did not move, but lived next to each other.

Compared with the three capitals in Shuozhou, Xuanfu, Datong, each with 80 million to 100 million people, the four capitals in the capital have only a pitiful 30 people.

There is no way, most of the elderly and children died of starvation, illness, or even being eaten, leaving only young men and women.

The capital in the northeast of the capital is called Shunyi Capital, and its administrative office is located in Shunyi County. The eastern capital is Yutian Metropolis, and its administrative office is located in Yutian County.

The southern government is located in Gu'an, which is the capital of Gu'an.The prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of the two governments have not been abolished, but they can still control the people in the city, and almost all the people in the four fields have become military households.

And most of the official offices of the guards are also set up in the city and larger towns.

At this moment, in a Baihu Fort under the jurisdiction of Shunyi Dusi, nearly [-] military households from two production teams gathered at the grain drying field at the entrance of the village.

Looking at the looms on display, they are pointing and talking curiously. Obviously, most women don't recognize looms anymore.

These 200 people are almost all young men and women and very few girls. There are no children under the age of ten, and no elderly people over the age of 40. Young men who have not married have also joined the army.

However, almost half of the women have big bellies.

If it weren't for the small flag generals who had just been assigned here, the entire Baihubao might not even have 200 people.

"Brother, Baihu-sama seems to be saying that he wants to sell these looms to us, and that he will let us weave from now on."

A girl looked at her brother and said.

The elder brother is named Dagou, in his 20s. There were originally a family of nine. When Wu Sangui evacuated from Jinzhou to Shanhaiguan, his father and the youngest son died on the road.

Later, the family was driven from Yongping Mansion to the capital by the Tartars. The 15-year-old sister was robbed by the Tartars, and the mother starved to death again.

When they arrived in the capital, their five-year-old daughter died of illness.

So much so that there are nine people, and now only the wife, ten-year-old younger sister, and one 16-year-old brother who went to join the army are left, and a total of five people have been lost.

Fortunately, the land is now divided, his wife is pregnant, and his younger brother has joined the army. The family of three is full of hope for the future.

However, there are four people left like them, which is not bad. Most of the others are only two couples, or two or three brothers.

"Little sister, you heard it wrong. It's not for sale to us, it seems to be given to us. Let us weave the cloth and send it to the imperial shop in the Acropolis. A piece of cloth costs five denarii."

The pregnant sister-in-law looked at the loom with anticipation.

"No, sister-in-law, you heard it wrong. It is four qian silver. By the way, sister-in-law, can you weave?"

The girl looked at her sister-in-law and asked.

The sister-in-law shook her head awkwardly.

The big dog ignored the two of them, but listened to the speech of the Baihu adults above with straight ears.

It's a pity that after listening for a long time, I still don't fully understand what it means.

Baihu obviously also found that he had been talking for a long time, but the people below didn't seem to understand, so he asked, "Do you understand everything?"

Everyone shook their heads in unison, obviously not understanding his Henan dialect.

"Mr. Li, it's better to come here." Baihu had no choice but to hold a knife and said awkwardly to a scholar beside him.

Naturally, this scholar was trying a hundred households, and wanted to ridicule him for being overconfident, but thinking that he would have to work together for a long time in the future, he could only suppress the contempt in his heart, nodded, and took a step forward.

"The emperor's kindness is great, His Majesty thought of the hardships of your life, and specially ordered someone to build a batch of looms for you and the women at home to weave for a living in their spare time..."

"Mr. Li, but we don't have cotton and we don't have spinning machines. How can we spin and weave cloth?"

"Also, is this loom given to me or sold to me?"

"How much is it? I don't even know how to weave?"

Everyone obviously understood Xiucai's Mandarin, and while they were all excited, they all asked questions in a hurry.

"Quiet, wait for the official to finish speaking, and you will naturally understand."

Li Xiucai frowned, raised his voice, and continued after the silence below: "The court will provide the yarn for weaving. Each person can go to the royal store to get a bolt of yarn, and take it home to weave into a piece of fabric." After making the cloth, take the woven cloth to the royal shop, and if it passes the inspection, you can get five silver coins as wages.

Of course, the cost of the loom will be deducted for each piece of cloth, and the price of each loom is two taels, which means that after deducting twenty pieces of cloth, the loom will be owned by you. A piece of cloth can also be paid five denarii. "

"As for not being able to weave, you don't have to worry. This is Miss Wang. Your Majesty specially sent her to teach you how to weave. From now on, everyone must not be rude to Miss Wang. Anyone who violates this will be severely punished."

At the end of Li Xiucai's speech, she pointed to a little girl standing beside her. This little girl was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and she was very nervous and shy when everyone looked at her.

(End of this chapter)