"A lot of money……"
Li Qingzhao couldn't help but glance at the box of gold on the table. Although these gold ingots were bright, they only amounted to a few thousand taels of silver.
Compared to 300 million taels, the gap is huge!
"Three hundred million taels...impossible!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said it was impossible, but his eyelids kept twitching, and he retorted: "In the Ming Dynasty, we can only collect 20 million taels of rice and grain a year. Add in the salt, iron and silver taxes, and we will only get 10 million taels of silver a year." "
Li Shimin silently calculated in his mind that even ten million taels would be a huge income for today's Tang Dynasty. With this money in hand, he dared to say that he would be able to bring peace to the world in less than three years.
Just spending money can make enemy cities surrender.
"In all overseas lands, they are all barbarians who live like hair and drink blood. They are uneducated and are no different from savages in many places. How can these barren places allow our Ming Dynasty to obtain three hundred million taels of silver?!"
Zhu Yuanzhang's rebuttal was reasonable and well-founded.
Li Shimin agreed, and Li Qingzhao on the side also looked at Chu Zhen, waiting for his explanation.
"It's simple. There are more gold and silver mines overseas than in China."
Chu Zhen grabbed another handful of corn and put it on the electronic scale, "For example, it's called Luzon. Its gold mine is open-pit and can be mined easily. Another example is the Indian land on the other side of the world. The silver mine output can reach three Ten tons.”
"How many taels is thirty tons?"
"One ton is two thousand catties, and one catty is ten taels."
Chu Zhen weighed another one or two corns and motioned to Li Shimin to take them away with a piece of paper.
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, calculating in his mind over and over again, but finally he didn't understand.
Chu Zhen glanced at him, picked up a gold ingot and put it on the electronic scale: "710 grams, which is twenty taels in the Ming Dynasty, and fourteen taels here."
"..."
Zhu Yuanzhang was completely confused, "How many taels are these thirty tons?!"
"Eight hundred and fifty thousand taels."
Lin Daiyu, who was sitting quietly, was the first to answer, causing Chu Zhen and others to look at her.
Sister Lin covered her face with a round fan, "I calculated it in my mind and it's about this number."
Chu Zhen smiled and said, "Miss Lin's calculations are really fast."
Lin Daiyu smiled at him and said no more.
Li Qingzhao stood next to Chu Zhen and said thoughtfully: "Do overseas countries have so much gold and silver? This is different from what is written in the book."
"Although gold and silver are also important, this is more important."
Chu Zhen pointed to the miscellaneous grains Lin Daiyu brought, "Corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, these three drought-resistant crops can be planted in mountainous areas outside of farmland, so they can bring 30 to 50% more food to farmers. , can feed tens of millions more people.”
Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Li Qingzhao, the three people who had never seen corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, were all stunned.
"So, no matter how much an emperor reduces taxes, encourages people to farm mulberry trees, builds water conservancy projects, and urges farmers to farm, he still can't grow so much food to feed tens of millions more. Even a population of hundreds of millions!”
Chu Zhen looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, who subconsciously asked: "These corns, potatoes and sweet potatoes are all brought back from overseas?!"
"right!"
Maybe it's wrong, but Chu Zhen wanted to change Zhu Yuanzhang's belief that overseas countries are barren lands, so he said this specifically, including silver and gold.
But when Longqing opened the sea, hundreds of millions of silver really flowed into China!
"This, is this corn?"
Li Shimin held one or two corn kernels in his hands as if they were treasures, to the point where his hands were trembling slightly.
His mind was filled with Chu Zhen’s words:
Feed tens of millions more people!
Even if there are not that many people and that much land in the Tang Dynasty today, it is still okay to feed millions more people, right?
Even if it doesn't work, let people grow more corn in the mountains to make more military rations. It will still be a great achievement!
"Mr. Chu, can these corn kernels germinate?" Li Shimin asked quickly.
Chu Zhen looked at Lin Daiyu with a smile. After meeting his eyes, Sister Lin nodded and affirmed: "Of course it can germinate. These corn kernels have been dried. Just plant them next spring."
“Can I plant it in the summer?”
"Yeah, that's okay. I can eat corn twice a year."
Lin Daiyu, who had no knowledge of farming, answered with a guilty conscience.
Chu Zhen smiled at her, and Lin Daiyu blushed, looked at him with shame, and turned away.
How does she know how to grow corn? I only know that you can eat steamed corn on the cob in June, July and October, which is sweet and soft.
Uncle Chu smiled at her, clearly knowing the meaning of her words!
"I will ask Xuanling and Ruhui to plant them as soon as I return!" Li Shimin said immediately.
This is a matter of people's livelihood!
Zhu Yuanzhang also held a bag of corn tightly, and his fiery eyes fell on the pile of corn kernels.
How can one or two kinds of seeds be enough? !
Chu Zhen weighed another one or two taels of corn to Li Qingzhao, left another bag for Sister Lin, and said with a smile: "You can take the rest back and make seeds. Try planting them first, and then I will find good seeds for you." "
Modern corn varieties are definitely better than those during Lin Daiyu's Dashun Dynasty, but most modern corn varieties cannot be planted, so Chu Zhen had to look for them specially.
In addition, it is not that he gave corn to Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shimin. They went back and gave farmers one kind, and the output of millions of kilograms was immediately the next year.
That's nonsense.
Not saying that there are too few seeds, just saying that officials have figured out how to plant seeds and then promote them so that farmers can accept the idea of planting. It would be great if it can be completed within ten years.
Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes.
Not in a hurry.
Chu Zhen distributed the remaining corn kernels to the three of them in bags. Zhu Yuanzhang held the small bag of corn kernels tightly, looked around, and asked: "Chu Zhen, your family doesn't look like a farmer. I don't think there are any potatoes or sweet potatoes." Bar?"
"It's true that I don't farm. I'll give you potatoes and sweet potatoes next time."
"That's fine."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "The farming season has not come yet, so we can't plant it even if we take it back."
Li Shimin really wanted to get it now, after all, he didn't know how long it would be before he came next time.
Li Qingzhao returned to Sister Lin with a tael of corn and handed it to her as a weight and measure.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shimin also returned to the sofa on the right and sat down.
Several people were speechless for a moment.
After waiting for a while, Chu Zhen said: "Why did I talk about silver just now? I just wanted to say that for overseas trade, the benefits of opening the sea outweigh the disadvantages."
He looked at the two "emperors".
Li Shimin shook his head: "Let's calm down and think about it. Now I still pay attention to the war in Longxi, and I can't care so much about other things."
Even if you plant corn, it will take several years to bear fruit.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him sideways: "Chu Zhen, you are very prejudiced against my plans and policies for governing the country? I would like to hear it."
"Did you listen to the sea ban?"
Chu Zhen doesn't know how to do it at all. He can't do it in practice, but can he still lose to Zhu Yuanzhang on paper?
"Let's not talk about the sea ban!"
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he would most likely lose on the sea ban. After all, he had 300 million silver and tens of millions more people to feed, and it all depended on the sea ban. He would lose no matter what.
"Last time you said," a smile appeared on Zhu Yuanzhang's dark round face, "It's the same whether I abolish or not abolish the prime minister. Tell me, why are they the same?"
Something's wrong!
He came prepared!
Chu Zhen began to ask:
"Hu Weiyong is still in jail?"
"It's closed."
"What about the rest?"
"You said Hu Weiyong is a member of the party? He is also being detained."
While the two were talking, Lin Daiyu also whispered to sister Qingzhao about Hu Weiyong's history books.
Chu Zhen smiled and said: "Well, let me ask you again, why is the abolition of the prime minister system for?"
"Abolish the Prime Minister System?!"
Li Shimin was surprised to hear this.
He originally thought that Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty abolished a prime minister, but he didn't expect that he abolished the prime minister system and abolished all the left and right servants of Shangshu Province?
Thanks to Pindao Jiejiezi for sister Lin’s 2000 point character reward
Thanks to Yuan Qi Ziheng for the 2000 point reward.
Thanks for the 200 reward for waiting for a candle.
