After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but praise Chang Yu for his ability. He really could solve everything with ease. Now that the military rations have been taken care of, let’s free up our hands to provide disaster relief. It’s just that several prefectures in the capital are thousands of miles away. How can such a big hole be blocked?
By the way, Zheng Zhilong sent a boat of food.
"Where do you plan to plant those beans and sweet potatoes? And can these really solve this famine..." Emperor Chongzhen had great doubts about Chang Yu's large-scale planting of potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Chang Yu has full confidence in this. He still knows a little bit about these two crops, and is even more professional than the agricultural technicians sent by Zheng Zhilong. After all, there was no large-scale planting in the north at this time, but these two crops have already been planted all over the world in later generations. Every corner.
The sowing period of potatoes in the Northeast and Northwest is generally spring, with only one season a year. In Hebei, Henan and Shandong, it is two seasons a year, sowing in February and March, harvesting in June and July, sowing in August and harvesting from October to November. Harvestable, the growth cycle only takes a few months!
Sweet potatoes can also be planted at this time, but the growth cycle takes three months.
As for where to plant it?
The first choice is Huangzhuang.
Huangzhuang is unique to the Ming Dynasty. As the name suggests, it is the emperor's manor. It is mainly concentrated in the North Zhili area, with Shuntian, Baoding and Hejian being the most common. During the Zhengde period, the area of Huangzhuang was about 37,500 hectares. A hectare is one hundred acres of land, do the math yourself.
Of course, so much land was not cultivated by the emperor himself. In all likelihood, it was occupied by local people's land and then leased to the people for cultivation. Only some of the land in the imperial estate near the capital was cultivated by hired hands, and all the income went to the internal funds.
As far as Chang Yu knows, there are at least a thousand acres of land in Huangzhuang around the capital. Although some of it has been planted with crops, there are still hundreds of acres that can be used to grow these crops.
But obviously hundreds of acres are not enough.
It doesn't matter! There are too many abandoned manors of nobles outside the city. Previously, the Qing army besieged the capital and destroyed the surrounding areas. They looted all the noble manors and harvested all the crops. As a result, there is still a lot of idle land that has not been cultivated. , at least tens of thousands of acres.
"Are you going to rent their land?" Emperor Chongzhen was startled: "Even if the land is free, they won't agree if you want to cultivate white people." Chang Yu shook his head: "Of course I won't breed white people, but I won't pay them rent. I plan to use the seeds to pay for the rent. I can guarantee that potatoes and sweet potatoes will become the most important grain reserves of the Ming Dynasty within two years. At that time, not only the common people knew how to plant, but also the nobles wanted to plant, so I planted them for one season in exchange for seeds."
"Won't they go south to buy seeds themselves?" Chongzhen frowned, and Chang Yu chuckled: "The transportation cost is too high, and they can't even buy it if they go there!"
"You said the transportation cost is high, I can understand it, but what does it mean if you can't buy it when you go there?" Emperor Chongzhen was startled.
Chang Yu sighed: "At the beginning of the year, I heard that there was a severe drought and locust plague in various provinces, so I expected a famine. I accidentally thought of these two crops, so I sent people to Fujian to ask Zheng Zhilong for help. It was a precautionary measure, but I didn't expect the severity of the famine. Far beyond my expectation..."
"So when I heard in Jiujiang a few days ago that Zheng Zhilong's fleet was heading north, I hurriedly ordered Jin Yiwei to go to Fujian quickly so that he could buy and stockpile goods and transport them to the capital by sea. This would not only boost the economy of Fujian... Oh, It means that the potatoes and sweet potatoes there will have a market, the people's lives will be easier, and at the same time it will alleviate the famine in the north."
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen sighed and shook his head: "The civil and military forces of the entire dynasty are like waste in front of you! They are helpless in the face of famine, but you have nipped it in the bud early. It's amazing. Chang Yu is very amazing to you! I How lucky it is, how lucky the Ming Dynasty is!"
"If the emperor continues to praise like this, I will feel very guilty." Chang Yu smiled faintly. Emperor Chongzhen sighed and stared at Chang Yu motionless, making him feel hairy all over.
"Why are you so sacred?" Emperor Chongzhen's sudden words gave Chang Yu goosebumps: "I am a eunuch who serves the emperor in the palace. You are not sacred."
Emperor Chongzhen smiled bitterly and shook his head: "To me, you are much more powerful than the gods worshiped in the temple. It is not as useful as asking them to ask you." As he said this, the topic suddenly came back: "Since potatoes and sweet potatoes can really overcome the famine, they should be widely promoted, not only in the capital, but not just in the imperial village, but also among the common people."
"I have sent people to contact King De of Jinan and King Heng of Qingzhou Prefecture. We will plant it on a large scale in the two places, but it is not recommended to promote it to the people for the time being."
"Why?" Chongzhen was puzzled, so Chang Yu explained to him, first of all, the planting technology. In fact, there is no technical content in planting the two crops. Potatoes can be cut into pieces, stirred with firewood ash and buried directly in the ground. Sweet potatoes are slightly To make it more troublesome, you need to bury the sweet potatoes in the soil. The seedlings will grow in ten and a half months. When the seedlings grow 20 to 30 centimeters, you can just dig a hole and bury them in the soil. Even during the growth period, cut off the seedlings and bury them. Soil can still reproduce...
Such a simple technique can only be mastered by anyone who has planted it, so this is not an important reason, but at this time, of course, it is more appropriate to plant the precious seeds in a large area, which is convenient for management and care. After all, this is a place where people will starve to death. In this age, no one is watching, and they can be stolen by you at any time. This is also an important reason why Chang Yu is worried about distributing seeds to the people for promotion. He is afraid that they will eat the seeds without planting them, or that they will be given away by others in the blink of an eye. Take it out and eat it.
Moreover, scattered planting will not play an effective role in dealing with famine.
However, large-scale planting is not only easy to centralize management and supervision, but also can solve the problem of re-employment of many unemployed labor force! You must know that there are huge crowds of refugees in the capital right now.
"Since you are taking the lead in this matter, I will leave it to you to handle it." Emperor Chongzhen walked up to Chang Yu and patted him on the shoulder: "There is no war at the moment, so you can do your best to help me deal with this famine. I hope your sweet potatoes and Potatoes really work wonders, otherwise when winter comes, I don’t know how many people will die!”
"My lord, you should do your best." Chang Yugong cupped his hands and said, "I wonder where Zheng Zhilong's ship will dock at this time, in Tongzhou or on the Tonghui River outside the city?"
"The food has been transported to the city, and it's a drop in the bucket... Those potatoes and sweet potatoes are still in Tongzhou. I didn't know your plan at that time, so I didn't move around. I sent a Jinwu Guard to guard it to prevent it from being stolen... You should start this matter as soon as possible. Bar".
Chang Yu hummed, and suddenly said to Emperor Chongzhen: "By the way, Your Majesty, I want to take credit for someone, and I hope your Majesty will grant it."
Emperor Chongzhen turned to look at him and chuckled: "You are asking for credit for someone before you even get the credits. It seems that this person has a good background or the credit you are asking for is not small. Tell me, is it Gao Jie or Huang Degong?" , I heard that you have been very close to Gao Jie recently, and I heard that you are all in love with him?"
"How can you borrow food if you don't walk or bow to me? Hey, it's not all forced by human nature." Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help laughing after hearing Chang Yu's words: "That's really hard for you. Okay, let's talk. What kind of favor can I ask for for your sworn brother?"
"I'm not asking for credit for Gao Jie, but for Wang Tizhong. I allowed him to be knighted..." Chang Yu then explained his promise to Wang Tizhong. Wang Tizhong's surrender directly reversed the situation and made Bai Wang passive. Chang Yu could He made great progress, and Wang Ti Zhong also captured and killed Bai Wang. More importantly, the significance of buying the bones for a thousand gold coins, and that he could use this to hang Wang Ti Zhong to help him monitor and defend Zuo Liangyu!
After listening to his analysis, Emperor Chongzhen nodded: "This title can be given, but I'm afraid those people in the cabinet will make noises again." Chang Yu smiled faintly: "Probably not. The meaning behind this title, all of you, are familiar with it. You can think of it, the yelling is just for me to listen to, so that I can accept their favor."
"You know everything." Emperor Chongzhen exclaimed: "Fortunately, he is a meritorious general in the feudal army, so they can't find any reason to object. But if you try to nominate an official for promotion, they will immediately catch him. Let me attack you..."
"The emperor's words reminded me again that I really want to promote someone." Chang Yu immediately mentioned Feng Houdun and planned to transfer him to the disaster area to serve as a county magistrate to gain experience.
Emperor Chongzhen had naturally never heard of Feng Houdun's name. He learned from Chang Yu that he was a low-ranking tutor in Jiangyin County, and was very confused as to why he should be promoted.
Of course, Chang Yu couldn't say that he was one of the Three Dukes of Jiangyin. He could only say that he was very loyal and of noble character. He was the most suitable person to settle people in the disaster area, comparable to that of Jackie Chan.
Emperor Chongzhen trusted everyone recommended by Chang Yu. Ability was the second most important thing, but loyalty was the most important thing! He nodded in agreement. Just open his mouth for such a trivial matter. In fact, even if Chang Yu didn't tell him, he could still operate it, but if he told him, it would appear that he had nothing to hide or abuse his power.
