Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 83: Miser, Ming Dynasty’s joke
After the first month of the year, the 13th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty arrived.

For Zhu Yunfeng's Yunfeng Company, it has also reached a critical moment.

Because spring plowing is about to begin.

It was the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and when the holiday ended it was already February 2th in the Gregorian calendar.

The company officially started operation.

Zhu Yunfeng, Ji He and Zou Ting went to the town government in person to sign the land lease contract.

In fact, the town government had already planned these things last year. The town has even recruited idle labor from various villages and even surrounding towns to farm the fields.

However, signing the contract in advance requires paying two more months of rent, so it naturally starts at the beginning of the year.

Breeding will not take place until late February, so there is more than half a month of buffer time. Even if there are unexpected events in the middle, they can be compensated at any time.

Fortunately, there were no accidents.

After the contract was signed, the money was transferred from the company account to the public account, and the town government distributed the money to the farmers who rented out the land.

However, the labor cost is not as expensive as you might think.

It was not the long-term employment that Zhu Yunfeng had originally envisioned, but rather hiring people based on the number of times they came.

It means one early seedling raising, one rice transplanting, one plowing, one pesticide spraying, one topdressing, one land watering, one harvesting, one grain transportation, and one grain drying. The charge for each time ranges from 50 to 100 yuan per mu.

According to the local labor price, it costs about 600 yuan per mu to complete all the processes in one quarter. The labor cost for 300 mu in one quarter is only about million yuan.

But in order to increase the enthusiasm of the workforce, there are additional rewards besides the minimum basic wage.

For example, if the process of seedling cultivation, transplanting, field management, harvesting and processing in the first quarter is approved by the technical department and the final harvest meets the standards, then an additional income of 20-50 yuan can be obtained at one time.

Although it is not much, it is good enough for farmers.

In addition, a technical team was found in the early stage, and the budget exceeded the standards that Zhu Yunfeng had initially calculated.

Cooperation with Gaoke Group has resulted in higher costs for raw materials. Fertilizer is about 200 yuan per mu, seeds are 60 yuan per mu, land rent is 500 yuan per year, and pesticides are 50 yuan per mu.

So the cost in the first quarter is 700 million. If we take into account other various expenses, such as paying employees' salaries, hiring technical teams, buying covering films, rice, sprayers, renting harvesters, etc., the cost in the first quarter is about 1000 million.

According to the technical team's estimated analysis, if nothing unexpected happens, the annual output per mu will be around 1800 kilograms. Based on the local purchase price of 1.3 yuan per kilogram, the total revenue in the first quarter will be close to 1200 million.

If you think about it this way, it seems like there is some profit, but not much.

of course.

If we also take into account the supplies provided to the Ming Dynasty, it would be a huge loss.

But that's another matter.

After all, once the business of exchanging silver and gold is launched, the profits will be unimaginable, so it doesn't matter if there is a loss.

soon.

In late February, breeding begins.

Yunfeng Company and Gaoke Group started cooperation on 5,000 acres of land in the first quarter.

Gaoke Group sent a team of experts to provide technical guidance, and Yunfeng Company’s own technical staff learned how to shoot on the side.

at the same time.

The imperial farm in the Ming Dynasty is also ready to go.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao attached great importance to this matter and personally recruited thousands of farmers to carry out synchronous operations.

On February 2, the technical team of Gaoke Group arrived yesterday. After resting for a night in the hotel opened for them by Yunfeng Company in the town, they officially started technical guidance.

Lansha Town actually has quite a few plain fields, mainly distributed on both sides of the Lansha River. There are more than 20,000 acres of plain fields along the river bank about ten kilometers north and south of the town.

But these lands are good lands, and many families cultivate them themselves, and few are willing to rent them out.

The town has only helped to secure more than 3,000 acres so far, and they are relatively scattered.

However, more than 500 acres of them are concentrated in Yinghua Village in the north of the town.

There are many good fields in this village, but most of the villagers are engaged in the printer business. On weekdays, only the elderly in the village grow vegetables, wasting so many good fields.

The expert team used the plain land of Yinghua Village as a demonstration rice seedling pond for planting.

Yunfeng Company's technical team recorded and learned on the side, and immediately went to other places to carry out the same guidance work the next day, proceeding simultaneously in the expert way.

Compared with traditional operations, the expert team still has its unique features.

Traditional farming methods are relatively simple and crude, and there are actually only a few steps: fertilizing, breeding, transplanting, and harvesting.

The method of fertilization is to spread the fertilizer on the field and then plow the field to make the fertilizer work into the soil.

Then, a large amount of rice seeds are scattered and the land is plowed again to allow the seeds to mix into the soil and begin to germinate.

After more than a month, when the seeds have grown successfully, pull out all the seedlings in the field, replant them, and then wait for the harvest.

But the technical team is much more meticulous. After applying fertilizer, they plow the land, compost it, and then spray "seedling strengthening agent".

There are also requirements for ploughing the land. There is a standard for the number of times to plough, the depth of ploughing, the specifications, etc.

More attention is paid to sowing. The variety is the high-yield conventional rice of Gaoke Group. In their experimental fields, the yield per mu in one quarter can often reach 800-900 kilograms.

Before sowing, various methods need to be carried out, such as seed screening, soaking in medicine, germination, etc., followed by high temperature and high humidity, and covering with film and grass.

After more than ten days, there are still processes such as applying fertilizer, controlling water and training seedlings, transplanting with medicine, and transporting and transplanting.

After 35 days, at the end of March, the seedlings in the rice pond are officially moved into the rice fields. Then we just have to wait for the rice to grow vigorously. In the meantime, we have to do certain field management, such as pest control, irrigation, and topdressing.

During this period, Zhu Yunfeng watched the entire process and had people take close-up photos from many angles, making sure to record all the processes.

He finally understood.

In fact, the expert team's operations were not very high-tech, and they did not use any of the various advanced equipment they had in the experimental fields.

But in terms of detail treatment, it is much more sophisticated than the rough traditional farming methods of ordinary farmers.

The average farmer wouldn't bother himself with so many extra steps.

However, it is precisely these additional steps in details that may increase the original 70%-80% seedling rate to more than 90%.

The original yield of 600 kilograms per mu in the first quarter increased to 650 kilograms.

Don't underestimate these 50 kilograms.

If applied to 5,000 acres, that would be more than 20,000 kilograms, which can increase grain output by more than 50,000 kilograms a year.

Therefore, details determine success or failure, and it is no wonder that they are a professional team.

At the beginning of April, the 5,000 acres of rice fields owned by Yunfeng Company in Lansha Town had all been planted and officially entered the growth stage.

Zhu Yunfeng went to the Ming Dynasty to see the situation there.

It was March in the Ming Dynasty. When I just came out of the underground palace, the soft sunlight sprinkled down, as if dispelling the coldness of the palace and making me feel warm.

There was no one in the huge, empty square, and the news of the forbidden underground palace had long been spread in the palace.

Some people say that it is a fairy cave, and Your Majesty can get things they have never heard of or seen from the underground palace every day.

Some people say that the ground is connected to the heaven, and those are treasures bestowed by the heaven. But they were afraid that they would be damaged if they fell from the sky, so they were sent directly into the ground using the magic of immortals to make them easy to pick up.

Some people also said that after His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu was separated from his parents, he ended up in a Taoist temple deep in the mountains to learn magic, and these things were moved here by him using his magic.

All kinds of strange rumors spread in the palace, slowly reached the court, and also flowed into the people, adding a bit of mystery to the destiny of the Zhu family.

However, the four people who knew the truth, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Empress Ma and Zhu Di, kept silent about it, and others did not dare to ask.

The emperor's eldest grandson Zhu Xiongying was arranged to study in Wenhua Palace. Outsiders were not allowed to approach him and he was protected in all aspects.

Zhu Yunfeng climbed up the stairs.

When he reached the platform outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the guard at the door saw him and immediately knelt on one knee and said, "Greetings to His Majesty the Prince of Wu."

"Well, where are His Majesty and the Prince?"

Zhu Yunfeng asked.

"Your Majesty and the Crown Prince have both gone to the Imperial Farm."

"Well, take me there."

"Yes."

The guards hurried to inform the current chief officer on duty, Feng Jie, the deputy envoy of the Yiluansi.

Feng Jie is the nephew of Feng Guoyong. Now many of the commanders of the imperial guards in the palace are second-generation military commanders. These are also the teams prepared by Zhu Yuanzhang for the crown prince Zhu Biao, and the leader among them is Lan Yu.

Unfortunately, after Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Yuanzhang had to carry out a large-scale purge of these second-generation military officials to ensure Zhu Yunwen's smooth succession to the throne, and many of these people were executed.

Feng Jie arrived soon and summoned six hundred guards. He also asked the Imperial Horse Administration to allow the prince to ride in his carriage. The group marched out of the Donghua Gate, the east gate of the imperial palace, and headed southeast of the imperial city.

Leaving the city from Chaoyang Gate and crossing the moat, one can see from afar on the north bank of the Qinhuai River in the south, southeast of the imperial city. There are some simple wooden houses surrounded by fences, and several military camps are built around them.

Based on the comparison with the map used by Zhu Yunfeng, he estimated that this place was the area of ​​Nanjing University of Science and Technology in later generations.

But at this time it was under the jurisdiction of Jiangning County, Nanjing. There were some villages outside the city, dense forests, and countless wastelands at a glance. Along the south bank of the Qinhuai River, the Qi'an Temple stood alone in the warm sun.

There are still a lot of wastelands at the moment.

Zhu Yunfeng was thinking about it, and a word came to his mind - military farming.

There are now millions of soldiers in the Ming Dynasty. In Nanjing and the surrounding areas such as Fengyang, Taiping, Zhenjiang, etc., there are 300,000 to 400,000 soldiers combined. If we cultivate land and reclaim wasteland, the amount of food will increase greatly.

And the most important thing is that he visited the people and asked some people in the fields, and asked them if they would be willing to cultivate high-yield rice if they had it.

Except for a few people who were willing, the rest of the farmers just smiled and avoided talking about it.

After all, the so-called high-yield rice is something they have never seen before. Farmers' values ​​are simple, and if they could see it with their own eyes, they would naturally be willing.

But if it is illusory, no one would dare to bet on it.

If the soldiers stationed around Nanjing were allowed to cultivate land and reclaim wasteland, the surrounding people would certainly be able to see the results.

At that time, let Zhu Yuanzhang order the villages in Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhejiang, Songjiang and other places to select representatives to go to Nanjing to see it with their own eyes, and let them go back to publicize it. I am afraid that it will quickly boost grain production across the country.

Since the Song Dynasty, the Taihu Lake basin has been the main grain-producing area. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it gradually developed to the Dongting Lake basin. It can be said that the Taihu Lake and Dongting Lake areas produced most of the country's grain and fodder at that time.

Therefore, as long as we promote traditional composting technology, new conventional rice seeds and a small amount of pesticides in these places, we may be able to achieve amazing results.

The north was supplemented with new conventional wheat varieties, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peanuts and other crops. It would not be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to have an agricultural revolution two years later.

As he was thinking this, the carriage slowly stopped outside the imperial manor.

At this moment, the number of the Imperial Manor Yiluan Guards, the imperial personal troops and the imperial manor's own garrison had reached 30,000, surrounding the imperial manor in three layers inside and outside.

"His Royal Highness Prince Wu has arrived!"

Feng Jie came to the door and shouted.

"See Your Highness!"

Many of the imperial soldiers knelt on one knee outside the fence of the imperial farm.

Jiang Li, who had been promoted to the commander of the imperial army, came to Zhu Yunfeng and said, "Your Highness!"

"Well, where are His Majesty and the Prince?"

Zhu Yunfeng asked.

"Your Majesty and the Crown Prince have just inspected the rice fields and are now resting in the manor."

"Take me there."

"Yes."

Jiang Li then led the way.

Zhu Yunfeng's own guards stayed outside.

According to Ming Dynasty regulations, the prince has 600 guards. Others have permanent guards, but he has to temporarily draw them up every time.

no way.

After all, the prince stays in Ming Dynasty every day. He spends little time in Ming Dynasty, and it would not be appropriate for him to prepare a personal guard and keep them idle every day.

When you enter Huangzhuang, you will see endless green rice fields with transparent film on the edge of the fields.

The rice seedlings have been planted on all 5,000 acres of land. The next step is field management, which includes weeding, scientific water management, seedling replacement and support, and pest control. There is no need to be so busy every day.

About a mile away from the entrance, there are many shanties built. They are the residences of the farmers recruited by Zhu Biao.

It was March, the spring of the year. Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were sitting in a shed beside a field. They were wearing coarse cloth and dressed like two farmers, with sweat stains on their foreheads and mud on their feet.

Just now they went to the fields to weed personally. This could be regarded as Zhu Yuanzhang taking Zhu Biao to experience his childhood life.

"Grandfather, great uncle."

When Zhu Yunfeng came over, Zhu Yuanzhang shielded the eunuchs, palace maids and guards on his left and right and asked them to stay away.

Soon, there were only three of them left within a radius of fifty meters inside and outside the shed.

Zhu Yuanzhang wiped his forehead with a towel and said with a smile: "Yunfeng, I haven't been so happy for a long time."

He pointed to the green rice fields and said, "When I was a kid, I had never seen such dense rice. If you plant too much, the rice won't survive. No wonder the yield is so high per mu."

Zhu Yunfeng also smiled and said, "The experts said that as long as the steps are correct, with their high-yield and disease-resistant rice, high yields will definitely be no problem. And Daming has never used fertilizers. To be honest, I am looking forward to it. Who knows, there will be more than modern times."

"Well, that's great."

Zhu Yuanzhang was all smiles. If these rice were planted around Taihu Lake and Dongting Lake, the stomachs of all people in the world would be filled overnight.

"Yunfeng, what's going on today?"

Zhu Biao asked.

"It's like this. I've already opened a hardware processing factory. I've got all the documents, factories, and machine tools ready. I plan to talk to my ancestors and officially start abolishing the treasure notes."

Zhu Yunfeng sat on the bench at their eight-immortal table and said, "I plan to purchase a large amount of silver and then make alloy silver coins. That is, the weight of a silver coin is the weight of one tael of silver in the Ming Dynasty, but the cost will be much lower, and the silver content may be only about 70%. The current economic level of the Ming Dynasty is still too advanced to trade in paper money. First, conduct basic transactions through copper and silver coins. When the economy is more developed, I will purchase a printing factory there and directly print paper money with better anti-counterfeiting capabilities."

'Directly abolish the treasure notes?'

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, he didn't want to abolish it directly.

Because Baochao is very useful.

If you run out of money, just print as much money as you want.

How can you bear to give up such a good tool for making money?
But to be honest, he now understands the principle of inflation.

So he pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "Then let's abolish it."

"Well, when the time comes, I will get a large amount of silver coins, and the Ming Dynasty will stop printing banknotes. I will use silver coins to exchange all the banknotes in the private sector, or collect them back through taxation."

Zhu Yunfeng has already thought of a countermeasure.

Zhu Yuanzhang found this very irritating and said, "Using silver coins to exchange for banknotes? Isn't this just exchanging the court's gold for silver and giving it to the people? Wouldn't the court be losing a lot of money?"

"Grandfather, you are going too far."

Zhu Yunfeng had long known what kind of character this ancestor of his had, so he patiently said, "You want all the people in the world to die. The court can make up for the loss in modern times. The price difference between gold and silver is so big nowadays, you can make up for it from other places. When you have money and food, you can rob other countries, or do business and get gold back from other countries. You only need gold for trading, and you can spend a lot of silver. Do you still want to rob the people of the world for this little money?"

"No, there are wars everywhere and the court has no money."

Zhu Yuanzhang said shamelessly.

"Wow, you are such a miser. You just abolished the treasure notes and refused to exchange them for the people. The treasure notes became waste paper overnight. How many families will go bankrupt? This is too outrageous."

Zhu Yunfeng said disdainfully: "If you do this, I will make you laugh at the Ming Dynasty."

"You say what you want, but I won't listen to you."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered.

During the Hongwu period, he distributed banknotes on a large scale and plundered the people to the utmost.

Baochao can be used to pay taxes, but it can only offset 70% of the tax. For example, if you want to pay one string of tax, you have to pay one string of Baochao and 300 copper coins.

In addition, if you want to exchange old Baochao for new Baochao, you need to add 500 copper coins, and then exchange one string of old banknotes for one string of new banknotes.

Then the people could take gold, silver and copper to the court to exchange for treasure notes. But when you took the treasure notes to the court to exchange for gold, silver and copper, the court said sorry, the law stipulates that treasure notes cannot be exchanged for gold, silver and copper.

In order to force the people to use treasure notes, barter was prohibited among the people, so that many people were forced to trade privately and there was no money circulation at all.

The last and most crucial point is printing money. When there is no money, they print money crazily, which leads to serious inflation during the Hongwu period.

At the beginning, one string of Baochao could be exchanged for one stone of rice. By the middle of the Hongwu period, it was five strings of Baochao for one stone of rice. During the Yongle period, it became ten strings of Baochao. During the Renzong and Xuanzong periods, it became twenty-five strings of Baochao.

In more than 40 years, the Baochao has depreciated times. For a country of the size of the Ming Dynasty, this is an extremely exaggerated inflation rate.

And the root of all this.

It’s because of Zhu Yuanzhang’s policy of killing but not burying.

It can only be said that Professor Zhang Hongjie of the School of History at Renmin University of China was right in his evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang. He was a peasant all his life and had the mindset of a miser from the small landlord class who came from a peasant background.

He rewarded his sons lavishly, with their salaries and wages being dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times higher than those of court officials.

However, the court issued treasure notes, which were allowed to depreciate rapidly, making it difficult for the officials to live and even their basic survival became a problem.

It can be said that corruption was rampant in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, and Zhu Yuanzhang’s monetary policy was at least one-third responsible.

just now.

That's when he starts to use his miser mentality again.

"Then I'll tell you."

Zhu Yunfeng cleared his throat and said, "During the Hongwu period, a Korean delegation visited a commercial street in Nanjing. The court taught the merchants how to answer the delegation's questions in advance. After the delegation came, they asked an old merchant how much he earned per month, and the old merchant replied that he had 3,000 strings of cash. The delegation asked him how much he had in savings, and he replied that he had 100,000 strings of cash. The delegation asked, "What are you going to do with all this money?" The old merchant replied, "I'm going to change my clothes." "

"Do you understand? It takes 100,000 strings of cash to buy a set of clothes!"

He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"not understand."

Zhu Yuanzhang played dumb.

"Do you know how much bread costs now?"

Zhu Yunfeng paused for a moment, then immediately changed his words and said, "How many banknotes does one stone of rice cost? Five hundred thousand banknotes! That's too much money for a carriage to carry! You're issuing banknotes so recklessly, making the people suffer. You're going to go to hell!"

"Humph."

Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head to look at the scenery in the distance, pretending not to hear.

Just kidding, he saved money for the war and to reward his son.

I have so many sons to reward.

Even if Zhu Yunfeng could get money from modern times.

But he has issued hundreds of millions of banknotes over the years. In the ninth year of Hongwu alone, he issued more than 5000 million to the army.

If all of them were recovered, the court would lose hundreds of millions.

Is he willing to pay this money?
It doesn’t matter even if I go to hell. At worst, I can fight my way out and massacre everyone in the King of Hell’s Palace.

Zhu Biao felt embarrassed and said with red face: "Then let's do as you say, Yunfeng. We can exchange the treasure notes with silver coins when the time comes."

"Biao'er, what are you talking about?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily, "Do you know how much banknotes there are out there? Nearly 10 billion strings of silver. If you take back so much, how much will the court lose? If you don't manage a household, you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. Is it easy for your father to save some money for you and your brothers?"

"Father!"

Zhu Biao put his hands on the table, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "You said that if I can deal with Hu Weiyong, I will make the policy in the future!"

"Humph! Then go ahead. I don't care. The Ming Dynasty will be ruined by you sooner or later."

Zhu Yuanzhang flicked his sleeves and walked away angrily, muttering something like "It was not easy for me to save up some family fortune, but it was all squandered by this rebellious son" and "The son of a successful family cherishes manure as if it were gold; the son of a failed family spends money like manure".

Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Biao looked at his departing back and smiled at each other.

The old man has many shortcomings.

But there is one thing that cannot be said.

That is to value family ties.

As long as Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Biao unite, Lao Deng will be helpless.

(End of this chapter)