Zhou Tong's face was a little red, knowing that Zhao Feng might not look down on these businesses of hers. After all, she only had a small grain store left. However, since there was no grain for sale, there was only one clerk inside, who still came here occasionally. Helpful.
It stands to reason that these nobles have a lot of land and can grow a lot of food, so they will sell the food they can't eat in order to exchange for daily expenses.
Zhao Feng was also curious, why could Zhou Tong not grow much food despite having so much land?
But when he came to Zhou Tong's lands, Zhao Feng was stunned.
"Mr. Zhao, this is my land. I heard they said that these lands are very barren, so the annual food output is not good."
Zhou Tong sighed softly and looked at the farmers working in the fields. These crops were sparse visible to the naked eye!
Zhao Feng opened his mouth, squatted down and grabbed a handful of land, twisted it with his hands, smelled it again, and then frowned and said.
"Your Highness, how barren is your land? This is obviously saline-alkali land, and you can't grow much food at all!"
Zhou Tong looked at Zhao Feng with some confusion, a little confused.
"ah?"
Zhao Feng was amused by Zhou Tong's appearance. This princess was really too naive.
But the land in the hands of these nobles was given by the imperial court, and as Zhou Tong was a very favored princess, how could the imperial court give her so much saline-alkali land?
So there must be something fishy here. Maybe Zhou Tong's land has been secretly exchanged!
Zhao Feng has heard that a lot of land in Youzhou is saline-alkali land or sandy land, and most of the crops currently cultivated by the Zhou Dynasty are not suitable for growing in saline-alkali land and sandy land.
It is precisely because of this that Zhou Tong does not have such a high food output, and even the food he eats at home occasionally needs to be purchased from outside.
Zhao Feng looked at these saline-alkali land and sandy land, as well as the crops grown by these farmers on them, and couldn't help but shake his head.
"Let them all stop. Even if these crops are planted, it is impossible to have a high yield. It is a waste of money."
Zhou Tong looked at Zhao Feng in confusion and quickly tried to dissuade him.
"Mr. Zhao, now they have planted all these lands, but they still can't make much money. If they let these lands lie abandoned, wouldn't they lose even more money?"
Zhao Feng turned to look at Zhou Tong and couldn't help but shake his head and smile.
"Your Highness, don't you want to learn how to do business? Then I will teach you the first thing today. The most important thing in doing business is to learn to calculate your own costs."
"Your Highness Princess, think about it, now that you have found so many people to farm, whether it is those two or these manpower, it is your cost, and how much does it cost to manage these lands?"
"If the yield per acre of these lands is not high, then you will not make any money farming these lands, but will lose money. This is the reason why your expenses are higher than your income!"
"If that's the case, then why continue to lose money?"
When Zhou Tong heard what Zhao Feng said, although he was a little confused about the costs and benefits, he already understood what Zhao Feng wanted to say.
This made Zhou Tong take a breath of cold air and look at the working farmers with a shocked expression.
"So Mr. Zhao, what you are saying is that it is better not to make money than to lose money, right?"
Zhao Feng smiled and nodded, then thought for a moment, and suddenly remembered that the caravans he had sent to the Western Regions had brought back a lot of seeds, many of which were suitable for planting in such land.
So Zhao Feng said directly.
"Your Highness, it's not that you don't make money. You ask these farmers to turn all the newly grown crops into the ground to increase soil fertility. I will get you some seeds suitable for planting in such land. "
"As long as these seeds are planted, it is guaranteed that the yield of your land will be higher, and you can make a lot of money without even having to worry about management!"
Zhou Tong nodded happily.
When the farmers heard Zhou Tong's order, they all showed puzzled expressions and muttered with dissatisfaction.
"These are the seeds we worked so hard to plant. Now they have sprouted and grown a little. Why are they all turned into the soil again?"
"Yeah, isn't this a waste?"
After hearing their words, Zhao Feng couldn't help but sneered.
If they really thought about Zhou Tong so much, they would never plant such crops on such land.
However, Zhao Feng was prepared to put aside the matter of these lands, because these lands were most likely not the lands assigned to Zhou Tong by the imperial court, so he still had to ask the local prefect.
After following Zhou Tong around for a whole day, Zhao Feng was also a little tired. He didn't expect that the situation in Zhou Tong's fiefdom was already so difficult. If he didn't come, it wouldn't take long for Zhou Tong to really kill him. If these lands are sold, they will become the laughing stock of the court.
After returning, Zhao Feng called Liu Jia and Li Ding and asked them how they were doing today.
Fortunately, both of them were servants that Zhao Feng brought from home, so Zhao Feng was very reassured by their work.
Liu Jia bought a lot of gifts and sent them to the prefect. The prefect seemed very happy, especially when he heard that Liu Jia was sent by Zhao Feng, and he immediately respected Liu Jia.
"Sir, Magistrate Sun also said that you must find a way to introduce him when you return to the capital. If possible, he is willing to obey your words!"
Hearing Liu Jia's words, Zhao Feng chuckled.
"These officials think about climbing up every day, thinking that after climbing to a higher official position, they will be able to make more money."
"In this case, you first pretend to agree to him, and by the way, ask Her Highness the Princess about the land."
Liu Jia nodded. Since Zhao Feng was an official in the capital after all, it was better to have less contact with local officials. All these matters fell on Liu Jia.
Li Ding also reported to Zhao Feng.
"Sir, I have found some people who are investigating. They are all familiar with the situation here, and they are all people who have been oppressed by Meng Da. Maybe they can actually find some evidence!"
Zhao Feng nodded lightly. As long as they could produce solid evidence, they would definitely be able to send Meng Da and the housekeeper here to prison, and even get back Zhou Tong's misappropriated properties!
Just as he was thinking this, there was a knock on the door, and Zhao Feng immediately signaled the two of them to be silent.
