Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 340: Stockpiling Food, Expanding Territory and Expanding the Army (Part )

In Wanhua White House, Lin Hai held a small-scale meeting on the afternoon of the second day after returning to Jinhe Kingdom.

Participants included company directors Shi Zhuniang, Feng Yidao and Fang Xiu'e who are based in Tamsui, as well as Immigration Secretary Xu Xinlan, Household Registration Secretary Shan Lai-di, Finance Secretary Chen Yaozu and Economic Development Secretary Lun Diyi.

"I called you all here to discuss two things," said Lin Hai, who sat at the head of the group. "First, the drought in Guangdong and southern Fujian. I think you have heard about this. What do you think?"

"Boss, this is a good opportunity for the company's development. We should hurry up and stockpile food and recruit as many immigrants as possible." Lun Diyi was the first to speak.

"Do you all think so?" Lin Hai looked around at everyone. Those from the Navy Department were all in Keelung, so no one here should be against recruiting more immigrants.

Everyone nodded when they heard this, except Chen Yaozu, who then said, "Recruiting more immigrants is definitely a good thing, but most of the money in the Finance Department's treasury has already been taken. I wonder how much grain the general manager wants to buy and how many people he wants to recruit?"

Chen Yaozu was talking about this year's budget, which was decided at the board meeting at the end of last year. Since Lin Hai insisted on investing huge sums of money in both naval construction and the recruitment of immigrants, the amount of flexible funds reserved was not much.

Now that it’s just the beginning of the year, the rate of immigration is faster than expected, and the spring drought has caused the price of rice in Fujian and Guangdong to rise, so the financial pressure has become apparent.

"I think the more the better." Lin Hai's answer was concise and to the point.

"This is difficult to deal with." Chen Yaozu was always outspoken. He stood up and said, "General Manager, Fujian has a large population and little land, and half of its food is imported from other provinces. If the drought continues this year, there will be countless people who want to emigrate, and the price of food will soar..."

"Don't talk so much. I know everything you said, and I made my point very clear." Lin Hai interrupted Chen Yaozu and said to him with a smile, "As for the money, you are the president of Sihai Bank, you figure it out."

"Then we can only issue bonds." Chen Yaozu knew that Lin Hai meant to use financial means again. He thought for a while and said, "The general manager said that we will have a decisive battle with the red-haired people next year. I think the financial pressure next year will not be small. I think we can issue some medium- and long-term bonds this time, with higher interest rates."

"Okay, your Finance Department should study this as soon as possible and submit a proposal." Lin Hai said, "Do you have any other ideas? Guangdong has also suffered a disaster. If the disaster worsens, I would like to recruit people in Guangdong at the same time."

Guangdong was originally a grain exporting area during the Song and Yuan dynasties. However, with the completion of the development of the Pearl River Delta in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the population of Lingnan continued to grow, and the development of overseas trade stimulated farmers to switch from rice to mulberry. Therefore, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the grain produced in Guangdong could only maintain self-sufficiency.

Chen Yaozu thought for a moment and said, "The only way is to sell the company's assets at a low price. Since the decentralization order was issued, the easy-to-sell properties have been sold very quickly, and the remaining properties are no longer sellable in China. I originally planned to wait and see how the Ministry of Transportation attracts investment overseas. If the general manager agrees, we can sell them at a low price now and realize the cash earlier."

"Look, aren't these all ways?" Lin Hai nodded in agreement. "In short, we need to try every possible way to get all the idle money in the hands of the people and concentrate our efforts on doing big things. You, the God of Wealth, need to use your brain more."

Lin Hai paused, then continued: "Tomorrow I will go to Keelung in person to persuade the board of directors to pass a special resolution to authorize the Civil Affairs Bureau to approve large sums of money needed for immigration and grain purchases at any time. After this resolution is passed, the Finance Department must make a budget and final accounts every month, so that the calculations can be more accurate on a rolling basis to ensure that all the money that can be spent is spent." "Yes, President!" Chen Yaozu smiled bitterly when he heard this. It seems that the Finance Department will be busy this year.

"Regarding the immigration issue, have you all seen my determination? Next, let's talk about land distribution. The fields in Wanhua and Yilan are almost distributed. The land in Taoyuan is barren, and I don't want to use it for farming at the moment, so we need to expand the land. In order to increase food production as quickly as possible, I think the expansion direction of Jinhe Kingdom should be in the Jianan Plain..."

Lin Hai stood up and walked to the map hanging on the wall of the conference room. "This map was obtained through the company's field survey. According to preliminary estimates, there are at least 300 million mu of arable land that can be developed in the Jianan Plain, and rice can be harvested three times a year. If water conservancy projects can be built and guano can be used to fertilize the fields, grain production is expected to reach 800 million shi."

All the people present were important officials in the civil affairs department. They were stunned after hearing what Lin Hai said. 800 million dan of grain was enough to feed 200 million people. It should be noted that the grain output of Jinhe Kingdom last year was only more than 60 dan, which was just a slight surplus to feed 13 people in Jinhe Kingdom and Iron Kingdom.

Of course, 800 million shi of grain is just a long-term expectation. The Jianan Plain is located in the tropics, and rainfall is highly concentrated in the summer. Simply put, when it is dry, people will die of drought, and when it is flooded, people will die of flooding, so the requirements for water conservancy projects are very high.

What's more, unlike the Mekong Delta, the Jianan Plain does not have a large river with abundant water flowing through it, so large-scale water conservancy projects are not as simple as digging canals. Large reservoirs must also be built to store water. Not to mention the huge increase in the amount of work, the initial one-time investment is also very large, unlike digging canals where the results can be seen bit by bit.

The Jianan Canal built three hundred years later was extremely expensive and took ten years to complete. This was obviously not something that the current Jinhe Kingdom could hope for.

However, hundreds of years before the construction of the Jianan Canal, the Jianan Plain had already become the granary of Taiwan, because Han people began to migrate here as early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, and water could be diverted to irrigate the land near natural streams, ponds or pits. In addition, the soil of the Jianan Plain is mainly fertile alluvial soil, and the temperature is high, so even dry land or fields with no wind can produce good harvests.

Two hundred years later, during the Jiaqing period, the Jianan Plain was basically reclaimed, with paddy fields accounting for only a small part of the total, and most of the land being planted with upland rice. However, the official population of the area had reached 130 million, which was almost the limit without the use of pesticides and fertilizers and without the construction of large-scale water conservancy projects.

For the current Jinhe Kingdom, this number will shrink further, because the coastline of the Jianan Plain has changed a lot in later generations, and the area of ​​​​cultivable land in this era is probably only about 70% to 80% of that in the Jiaqing period.

In other words, relying on the Jianan Plain to feed 100 million people may be a more realistic goal. This is enough. Even if the drought in Fujian and Guangxi continues, it will take several years to relocate a million people. After a few years, it will be time to start working in the Mekong Delta, which has better agricultural conditions.

"Besides, you all know the purpose of my diplomatic mission to Guangnan this time. Lord Nguyen has agreed to jointly send troops to Cambodia and agreed that the Jinhe Kingdom would occupy the land west of the Mekong River..."

Lin Hai walked to another hanging map and gestured: "I plan to name this piece of land Hexian. The area is about the same size as Zhangzhou Prefecture, but the estimated arable land that can be developed is as high as 1500 million mu, which is more than the entire Fujian Province..."

"The most important thing is that the fertility of the land in Hexian is beyond your imagination. As long as the water conservancy is repaired, one mu of land can easily produce two shi of grain. If you work a little harder, more than three shi is not a problem. In other words, in the future, Hexian can produce 5000 million shi of grain a year and feed more than 1000 million people!"

(End of this chapter)