Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 267 The prosperous Song Dynasty
In a flash, another two years passed.

Today is the [-]th birthday of Queen Mother Du. As the Song Dynasty became more and more powerful, and the court became more and more wealthy, such celebrations naturally began to become extravagant.

Even if the old lady wants to be frugal now, it is impossible for the court to ask her to be frugal, especially now that Xue Juzheng is the official.

Besides, when the court held ceremonies, this kind of extravagance and waste would not only make all the money for the merchants, but would also promote employment.

Brothers Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangmei are also interested in using this birthday to celebrate it as a super event, and hold a shareholders' meeting in advance to make a large-scale dividend. After this dividend, Zhao Guangmei will spin off many businesses in the business bank and list them separately. Yes, the society has raised funds.

On the largest Wude Square outside the Royal Palace in Luoyang City, Xue Juzheng, dressed in the emperor's attire, led the civil and military officials and took the lead in saluting the old lady.

"I, Xue Juzheng, would like to congratulate the Queen Mother. I wish the Queen Mother to be as blessed as the East Sea and live as long as the Southern Mountains."

After saying that, he knelt down and saluted again. The three sons of Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Guangmei all sat next to the old queen mother, and no one thought there was anything wrong with receiving the emperor's salute from him.

In the square, there are naturally red flags waving, colorful ribbons fluttering, crowds of people and flowers.

Every street and shop in Luoyang was specially decorated for this purpose. Even every passerby held a bouquet of flowers in his hand and began to arrive in an orderly manner under the organization of the government. Birthday wishes in the square.

That is to say, Luoyang is already a pure capital city. If it were Kaifeng, the imperial court's organization would not be so strong.

As for singing and dancing, that's even more so. Today, the entire city of Luoyang is eating running water mats, noodles, pastries, wine, and even meat. They are placed along the Suzaku Gate to the city gate. No matter who the people in the city are Everyone can come and have a bite to feel the happiness of the Queen Mother.

"Hehehe, official, please get up quickly. As an old woman, I am already satisfied if I am still alive. Seeing my Song Dynasty become stronger and stronger every day is already the best birthday gift for me. There is no need for this. extravagant."

Hearing this, Xue Juzheng smiled and said: "The Queen Mother is right. These are all the thoughts that all the civil and military officials of our dynasty have for you. But when it comes to birthday gifts, I really have a birthday gift that I want to dedicate to the Queen Mother."

"Oh? What is it?"

Xue Juzheng ordered someone to deliver a box. Empress Dowager Du took it and opened it herself. Zhao Guangmei and Zhao Kuangyin could not help but tilt their heads to look at it curiously.

But there were only a bunch of wheat ears, a bunch of rice, a corn and a potato inside.

"what is this?"

"Returning to the old queen mother, that bunch of wheat ears was made from wheat grown in the far west and crossed with dwarf wheat from the Guanzhong area. This was a test project ordered by His Highness the King of Qin as early as six years ago. After six years, After years of testing, it was finally made. With fertilizer, the yield per mu can reach more than [-] kilograms."

"Is it really more than five hundred pounds?"

Xue Juzheng was also extremely excited and nodded repeatedly: "It is indeed more than five hundred kilograms. We have been trial planting it in the Guanzhong area since last year. Even without the supplement of high-grade fertilizer, there is still a yield of three to four hundred kilograms."

The so-called advanced fertilizer currently refers to the simple version of chemical fertilizer developed by Zhao Dezhao.

The reason why it is a simple version is that Zhao Guangmei herself does not know whether it is chemical fertilizer or not. To put it bluntly, it is nitric acid.

Nitric acid is sold to farmers, who then mix the nitric acid with human and animal feces, urine and other filthy substances, and then ferment it or heat it over a low fire. Anyway, the effect is much better than using manure directly.

This thing contains a little bit of ammonium nitrate.

Of course, there is another more advanced one, which is phosphate rock dug directly from overseas islands, that is, guano ore. The price is much more expensive than buying nitric acid, but the effect is better, and... not as good as nitric acid. nausea.

As for hybridization, of course it was Zhao Guangmei's idea. Agricultural technology has always been the field that commercial banks attach most importance to, and hybridization does not really require high scientific prerequisites. It is more basic and can be done through various experiments. Back and forth, the blind cat will always encounter a dead mouse and hand over a higher-yielding variety.

"As expected, the grains are plump and distinct. The ears of wheat look bigger than what I have seen before."

As he spoke, he took one off and chewed it in his mouth, with a smile on his face.

Xue Juzheng continued: "This rice is the Champa rice introduced from Zhenhai and the Xiyi rice introduced from the southwest. It has also undergone countless hybridizations, improvements, and selections. The yield per mu is still higher than that of wheat, and it is carefully cultivated. Under this, the yield per mu is six to seven hundred catties."

"There are also potatoes and corn. These are new varieties introduced from the American continent after the Song Dynasty opened up sea trade. At present, although they have not gone through several generations of hybridization, the yield is really amazing. The yield per mu is astonishing. If there is more than a thousand kilograms of rice, and no land is picked, even in mountainous areas, you can still have a good harvest. Now, the Ministry of Household Affairs is taking the lead to organize various farms to plant on a large scale."

"How many acres have been planted in total of this new type of wheat, rice, corn and other new things?"

"Replying to the Queen Mother, thanks to the promotion of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the available arable land in our Song Dynasty is now 11 billion acres. Starting from this year, all of it will be planted with new crops!"

The current agricultural taxes in the Song Dynasty are basically not collected at all. On the contrary, land subsidies have not stopped every year.

Although the currency has been depreciating with the release of money year after year, and the money has not increased in recent years, after all, giving money is better than nothing.

Naturally, the number of fields that can be counted by the Ministry of Household Affairs is increasing year by year. The most troublesome problem of hidden fields in previous dynasties has been solved in this way. The amount of cultivated land has been second only to the exaggeration in history. The Sui Dynasty became popular and released satellites.

I heard that His Highness the King of Qin is building an insurance company so that everyone in the Song Dynasty will have insurance in the future. The court will pay money to the people every year. After this thing is completed, there will definitely be no hidden houses.

In the past dynasties, they have always asked for money from the land and the people. However, in the Song Dynasty, it was reversed and they would go after the land and the people for money.

Simply unheard of.

The old lady was so happy that she grinned from the corners of her mouth to her ears. She nodded her head and said: "Okay, okay, okay. The yield per mu is a thousand catties, and there are 11 billion acres of land. This must be... oh, how much food must this be?" , ah? Haha, haha, in my Song Dynasty, isn’t it true that there are no more cold-hearted people now? Officials, you’ve done a good job, it’s really good!”

When Zhao Guangmei heard this, she couldn't help but frowned and said: "11 billion acres are planted with this stuff, and produce so much grain. How can we eat it? How can we eat it all? What is the population of the Song Dynasty now? Isn't this cheap grain hurting farmers? I Inflation has been severe in the Song Dynasty in recent years, and food prices are too low, so the people in the countryside will suffer."

"Forehead……"

Xue Juzheng was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he could only say yes with a wry smile.

In fact, this is simply because the requirements are too high. In fact, the life of rural people in the Song Dynasty may not be worse than that of the lower-level migrant workers in the city. If this is compared with previous dynasties, especially compared with the later Zhou Dynasty, It was a magical life.Whether inflation is expanding or whether prices are rising has nothing to do with other people. People in the village don't have that many opportunities to spend money. In any case, the court does not collect taxes and the landlords do not collect rent. This is all true. , at least all the food grown can be put into one's own stomach.

If the price of food is low, then don’t sell it. It can be used to feed chickens, ducks, pigs and dogs, and can also be used to make wine. Even the overly busy work is now done by serfs. In their free time, they do some carpentry work. In fact, in small days It’s also flattering.

Besides, you can still go to the city during the off-season. Currently, at least in the Central Plains, the villagers around the city are all old people who stay in the village and watch the serfs work, while the young people go to the city.

You know, in the later Zhou Dynasty, the burden on the village was very heavy, and some people even had to starve their own children to death to raise war horses for the court.

If you are a little older, anyone who has experienced the wars of the Five Dynasties can only feel grateful for the Song Dynasty.

But since Zhao Guangmei was surprised, Xue Juzheng naturally had to defend himself and said quickly: "Your Highness is right, I am also trying my best to promote the planting of cash crops, as well as the planting of some auxiliary vegetables and fruits. But at present, the Ministry of Household Affairs There are still not enough technical officials, and by the way, there are also brewing, breeding, and feed-related things. I believe it won’t be long before everyone in our country, the Song Dynasty, can eat meat.”

There is actually nothing that can be done about this. To be honest, almost every single one of the people in the Song Dynasty can grow rice and wheat, as well as beans, millet and other rations. Even rapeseed and cotton have been cultivated since the founding of the Song Dynasty in recent years. It was only later that we started vigorously promoting it, but in fact the effect was just that.

Ordinary people always put food security as their top priority. Cash crops are actually mulberry, hemp, and tea, but not other things. But nowadays, these things are very cheap and cannot be sold at high prices. .

There are still too few types of economic crops.

As for new crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn, ordinary people don’t even know them, let alone know how to grow them.

For so many years, ordinary people have focused their skills on how to eat well. They really don't know how to eat well. After 200 years of troubled times in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, it was extremely difficult to stay alive.

As for feed and breeding, this is even more nonsense. There are no problems in villages closer to the city, but in ordinary villages farther away from the city, it is no exaggeration to say that the whole village may have never seen what a pig looks like. .

"Hey~, you and Sansi are indeed doing a good job, but in my opinion, it is not good enough. Food, especially staple food, is enough to eat. In the prosperous age of the Song Dynasty, we have been eating enough. The Ministry of Revenue, especially the Ministry of Revenue, must further increase the number of agricultural and technical subordinates. How many people did the Ministry of Revenue take for the imperial examination last year? "

"This... the Ministry of Finance wants a total of 69 people."

"Small, too few. I think next year, we will have to recruit 500 people, or even 1000 people. Even if they don't know any agricultural technology, as long as they are young and literate, they can be recruited first. They don't know agricultural technology." We, the Ministry of Household Affairs, can teach. Once the church is established, send them down to various villages and towns to teach. Wouldn’t this push them out?”

Xue Juzheng nodded repeatedly when he heard the words and said quickly: "Yes, Your Highness is right."

But he couldn't help but feel secretly happy in his heart.

In fact, he had long wanted to expand the establishment of the Ministry of Household Affairs and recruit more subordinate staff to learn agricultural techniques. However, the provinces under his command had not allowed him to do so. The ministers and prime ministers did not allow him to increase the power of the Ministry of Household Affairs so much.

Firstly, it is because the three departments have their own system and they are all Xue Juzheng's people. Others do not want the household department to grow bigger because of their own selfishness. Secondly, it is also because it is easy to ask the gods but difficult to send them away. When the establishment of this thing is expanded, it is easy to abolish it if you want. It’s impossible.

As an official, he is a pure parallel import, so he really can't pass, but since Zhao Guangmei said it on such an occasion, he should be able to pass if he goes back and works hard.

"Well, more peanuts can be planted in the northern region, and the cultivation area of ​​cotton can be expanded. Fruits and vegetables must be planted. There are many kinds of rubber and sugar cane in the southern region, especially rubber. Rubber will be used in a lot of ways in the next few years. , prices will definitely remain high.”

"Yes, I made a note of it."

Seeing this, the old lady interrupted with a smile: "Okay, okay, today is to celebrate my birthday, not to go to court. Besides, haven't you stopped asking about state affairs? He is also an official now, and I respect him." I am very satisfied with this gift. Food and rations are never too much. You have never been hungry, so you don’t understand. I think he is a good official and knows how to do business."

Zhao Kuangyin said with a smile: "Mom, you are right, the third child, he is just picky."

"What about you? What birthday gift did you prepare for your mother?"

"Of course I'm ready."

After saying that, Zhao Kuangyin clapped his hands and ordered someone to bring up a huge scroll, as tall as a person.

As the scroll slowly opened, a huge world map unfolded and appeared in front of you.

"This... what is this?"

"Mom, this is my new map of the Song Dynasty."

"Pfft~!!"

Before the old lady said anything, Zhao Guangmei sprayed it first.

What are you doing?
Isn't that the chart that has been proven?

Why is there a map of the Song Dynasty?

"Brother, please wait a moment. All the sun, moon, mountains and rivers illuminated are all Song soil?"

"Third brother, you don't know something. Mother, please take a look."

As he spoke, Zhao Kuangyin picked up the jade ax in his hand and pointed at the area that seemed to be the Japanese country:
"This big island is full of silver mines. The proven reserves alone are at least several million tons. The land is fertile and produces a large amount of sulfur. However, its people are scattered and there is no complete country at all. Although they have paid tribute In the Tang Dynasty, there was a lack of smelting iron, so it was easy for me in the Song Dynasty to conquer it."

"And here, this is a big island, bigger than the Song Dynasty. It has abundant products and a pleasant climate. However, the island's population does not even have a basic political power. If we don't take it, wouldn't it be against the destiny of heaven?"

Saying that, Zhao Kuangyin smiled proudly and said: "I was about to congratulate my mother. Last year, our navy of the Song Dynasty conquered all directions. We only sent more than [-] troops, but we killed no less than a million thieves. We gained countless land and money. The price is at least one billion yuan, and I want to give it to my uncle to build a great Song Dynasty business. What do you think of this birthday gift for your son?"

Zhao Guangmei: “…………”

'Look, let me tell you, Brother must be more ruthless than those guys in Europe.'

(End of this chapter)