Liuqiu Company has 32,000 farmers engaged in agricultural cultivation, distributed in nearly 100 agricultural settlements, mainly engaged in rice and sugarcane cultivation. After nearly half a year of hard work, a total of 300,000 acres of land have been reclaimed in various settlement sites, and 100,000 acres of rice and 200,000 acres of sugar cane have been planted. Although the incentives are in place and supported by high-quality iron tools, the speed of reclaiming wasteland is really not as fast as that of the Western Sichuan Plain. On the one hand, the western Sichuan plain has been fertile farmland since the Qin Dynasty. Although it was abandoned due to the invasion of the Mongolian army, a fire can burn all the miscellaneous trees and wormwood. Keelung is surrounded by extremely dense wild jungles. Fire not only destroys the timber used for construction and shipbuilding, but may also burn down ports and settlement sites because of the uncontrollable fire. Therefore, only axes and big saws can be used to deal with the giant trees in the jungle. . On the other hand, Liuqiu Island lacks cattle, horses and other large livestock that can plow the land, so the efficiency of plowing the land is naturally inferior to that in western Sichuan. There are a lot of wild buffalo on the island, but they cannot be domesticated in the short term and can only be hunted for meat.
Although 100,000 acres of rice have been planted, grain is still the first item purchased by Liuqiu Company. Various pioneering activities consume a lot of food. It can be expected that in the coming year, the self-produced food output will still not be enough. Although wasteland is still being reclaimed, the recruitment of refugees will continue for many years. The goal set by Liuqiu company executives is to strive to solve the problem of food self-sufficiency next year. In order to solve the current food problem, Boss Qian has organized a fleet to go to the south to purchase food. The purpose of buying grain in Quanzhou was to allow Pu Shougeng and other large merchants to make profits from it, so that they would not embarrass the company's caravans. However, South Fujian, including Quanzhou, has many mountains and few fields, and the food produced is barely enough for local consumption. The grain that Pu Shougeng sold to Liuqiu Company was purchased from other places, so the resale price was naturally not low.
Liuqiu Company purchases most of its grain from Cochin, Champa and Luzon. These three places are called northern Vietnam, southern Vietnam and the Philippines in Ouyang Xuan's mouth. In the past, merchant ships from the Southern Song Dynasty traveled along the coastline to these places, passing through Quanzhou, Danzhou and other places. Although the journey was long, it was safe. Liuqiu Company went to three places this time, but it sailed directly from Keelung to the three places. The direct flight distance is short but risky. Fortunately, many of the sailors recruited by Boss Qian are familiar with this route. In addition, Liao Nilu also sent a battalion to accompany him for the purpose of training the navy, which deterred those who wanted to take action. pirates along the way. Therefore, although there were minor troubles and twists and turns along the way, we successfully brought back dozens of boatloads of food.
Boss Qian also purchased hundreds of buffaloes this time. Based on the fact that one buffalo can plow the fields worth ten laborers, these buffaloes can equal thousands of laborers. The climate on Liuqiu Island is warm and rainy, so it is not suitable for horses or oxen to plow the land. Buffaloes are the first choice for plowing. Jiaozhi, Champa and Luzon are similar to Liuqiu. Agriculture is mainly based on rice, and naturally there are a large number of buffaloes. After Boss Qian sold the tea, silk, porcelain and other commodities he brought, he bought enough food and saw that the transport ship he brought still had many empty cabins, so he bought a large amount of water until all the cabins were full. .
The amount of money spent on various industrial and mining constructions and the purchase of grain and buffalo was extremely huge. Boss Qian raised these funds by selling the shares of Liuqiu Overseas Exploration Company and the bonds of Liuqiu Agricultural Development Company. These stocks and bonds were sold by Li Kaipeng. He first marketed them by drawing a pie, telling stories, and describing visions. It had certain effects but did not meet expectations. Later, he started with senior officials such as Jia Sidao and Lu Wende. In addition to gifts of stocks and bonds, he also asked them to inscribe the company's inscription, and created a sense of mystery that Jia Sidao and Lu Wende valued Liuqiu Company extremely.
In addition, Li Kaipeng also tricked Liao Yingzhong, a disciple of Jia Sidao, and Weng Yinglong, a court official, into buying stocks and bonds. After Jia Sidao became prime minister, he spent all day playing and playing, and most of the government affairs were handled by these two people. He only signed his name on official documents. Therefore, although Liao Yingzhong and the court officials were just low-level staff, they were still extremely powerful. Most of the senior officials in the court under Jia Sidao's control were flatterers, and upon seeing this, they also bought Liuqiu Company's stocks and bonds. As the saying goes, "official customs drive folk customs", wealthy private businessmen and merchants believed that there would be huge profits, and followed the high-ranking officials in the DPRK and China to rush to buy them. In less than half a month, they sold out all the stocks and bonds.
These stocks and bonds each raised hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, far exceeding the estimates of Liuqiu company executives. This is an astonishing number. Although the Song Dynasty had a developed economy, it lacked gold and silver. Most of its currencies were copper and iron, and they even issued banknotes out of desperation. There are many rich people in Lin'an, and the price of silver is frighteningly expensive. One tael of silver is worth three guan, and can buy two hundred kilograms of rice. You know, the annual income of a well-to-do family in Lin'an is only about twenty taels of silver. The funds obtained from these stocks and bonds in half a month are equivalent to the income of tens of thousands of households, which is amazing.
In addition to marveling at Boss Qian's idea and Li Kaipeng's marketing methods, there are two other things that everyone lamented. First, the gap between the rich and the poor in Lin'an is really too big. The wealthy dignitaries and wealthy businessmen are too rich, while the homeless people begging on the street With no clothes to cover the body, he is really too poor, which is in accordance with the poem "The wine and meat in the rich family are stinky, and the bones are frozen to death on the road"; secondly, the money from finance is too much. Although everyone still hasn't figured out what Ouyang Xuan meant by seigniorage, they understand the importance of finance through this incident. Yu Zhu has decided to let Boss Qian start preparing the bank and issuing banknotes.
Sufficient funds have greatly accelerated various construction projects in Liuqiu. After careful preparation, Liuqiu Overseas Expedition Company's ship also set off. The first batch to set off were three large ships with more than a hundred sailors. After setting off from Liuqiu, they would sail to the distant northeast. Before leaving, Yu Zhu conveyed Ouyang Xuan's words to the sailors: "Bring back potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn, and you will have great wealth." The introduction of these three plants and the appearance of their fruits and plants, as well as the general directions of the Bison Continent and the Alpaca Continent, have been memorized by these sailors. Yu Zhu told them that these three plants are worth a hundred times more than gold and jewelry, and they must bring back the seeds and roots.
This voyage thousands of miles across the ocean is extremely dangerous, and even if we get back successfully, it may take several years. Therefore, those who go there sign up voluntarily, and they are all ambitious and adventurous people. Among these people were the old Western Sichuan Navy troops brought by Yu Zhu, as well as sailors from northern refugees and other maritime merchants. The largest number were former pirates, accounting for half of the total number of sailors. "Heroes do not ask where they come from." As long as they meet the conditions for boarding the ship, Boss Qian does not care about the sailor's previous identity. What's more, this kind of life-threatening adventure is not suitable for people who follow the rules, but is more suitable for groups like pirates.
The most feared thing about ocean voyages is actually not being caught in a storm and being buried in the belly of a fish, but being lost in the vast ocean and dying of hunger and thirst in the end. Although Ouyang Xuan has pointed out the direction for the fleet and will find scattered small islands for supplies on the way, the journey is too far, so the three ships are loaded with as much fresh water, food, and preparations as possible. They had plenty of lemons, soybeans and other necessary supplies for sailing, and even brought a few cats with them. Rats not only spread diseases, eat food, and even chew through ship cabins, they are a hidden danger for ships on long voyages. Lemons are shelf-stable, and green bean sprouts after sprouting from soybeans are rich in vitamins. Both of these can prevent sailors from suffering from scurvy if they cannot eat fresh food.
