Zhang Jiye, the magistrate of Qingzhou, is smiling happily now. He didn't put any effort into it, and it was like pie in the sky. Since Wang Yonggui was in Qingzhou, he vigorously promoted sweet potatoes and other high-quality crops. This year, Qingzhou’s sweet potato yield per mu has reached 10,000 jins.
At present, Zhang Jiye's request for merit has reached the emperor's desk. Of course, Zhang Jiye did not deny the contribution of Li Miao, a scholar of the Xinke Hanlin Academy. Who said Li Miao was Li Shouzhong's disciple?
Li Miao himself was a young scholar of the Hanlin Academy, with great promise. Zhang Jiye also wanted to have a good relationship.
Qingzhou has harvested 50,000 acres of sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and other high-quality crops, which were quickly snapped up by surrounding farmers. The promotion of sweet potato seeds is very obvious, and the yield of this thing is so high. As long as one acre of land is planted, a family of five or six people can feed themselves all year round.
Qingzhou's sweet potato promotion is almost dozens of times more effective than Tongzhou, Wanping and other areas around the capital. At the same time, there is also the promotion of high-quality crops such as corn, wheat, and potatoes. The effect is also significant.
It seems that Qingzhou and even the entire coastal area will be the main position for the promotion of high-quality seeds in the north in the future. It also fits Li Miao's low-key personality. The impact on Li Miao was not great.
Zhang Jiye, the magistrate of Qingzhou, came to the limelight. The luck promoted by the northern seeds harvested this time is several times that of the southern seeds.
This is still just the beginning. It is estimated that after next year’s autumn harvest, I won’t be able to stop even if I want to, and by then the trend will be established. There is no need for Li Miao to work so hard.
Wang Yonggui mainly did two things in Qingzhou this year. Buy fields, buy barren hills. Use 200,000 taels of silver to buy middle and lower fields, totaling more than 20,000 acres. The banker keeps all the money. There are more than 1,000 households with a population of more than 3,000 to 4,000 people, plus 50 or 60 households of domestic slaves brought by Wang Yonggui.
Basically, domestic slaves were used to manage the villagers, and Wang Yonggui took in fifty or sixty households of slaves from the original villagers. Most of them are the original village heads. Train some more villagers. Most of the villagers work on the farm during the busy farming season and participate in training on weekdays.
In the middle of the farm purchased by Wang Yonggui. Surrounded by a barren mountain of more than 50,000 acres. Qingzhou is also a hilly area. The barren mountains produce nothing at all. The land is poor these days, there is no fertility, and there is no fertilizer.
Wang Yonggui purchased more than 20,000 acres of land in Qingzhou. Twenty thousand acres of land is certainly not a small amount. Although the land in Qingzhou is dry land, the output and income are not very good, and almost no large families will come to Qingzhou to buy land.
Of course Wang Yonggui had to visit the local parent officials. Wang Yonggui, who was born as a master, has a clear family background. The invitation was from Li Miao, the ninth scholar in the second class of Xinke, Li Miao, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. He is a close disciple of Lord Li, the Imperial Consecrated Wine Li Shouzhong.
It's not a small background. People don't care about anything. Just buy land and farm it. These days, it is not new for Shinke Jinshi families to buy real estate. But buying land in Qingzhou is a bit strange.
About fifty thousand acres of barren hills. It belongs to the property rights of Qingzhou government. Wang Yonggui proposed to buy the barren hills for 2 taels of silver per acre. Wang Yonggui still believes that buying is the first choice. Or you can rent it, with a rent of two silver coins per acre per year, and the lease term is at least ten years. Of course, the longer the lease term, the better.
Don't let the government see the barren hills turned into a cornucopia and try any other crazy ideas. Wang Yonggui's bid has exceeded the market price, and the barren mountain itself is worthless. No output at all. Besides, he didn't want to embarrass Zhang Jiye.
In the end, Zhang Jiye, the prefect of Qingzhou, thought it would be better to turn the barren hills directly into money because Qingzhou was too poor. Fifty thousand acres of barren hills were sold for eighty thousand taels of silver. Zhizhou Zhang Jiye also accepted Wang Yonggui's five thousand taels of silver notes.
The last 50,000 acres of barren hills that had remained unchanged for thousands of years were planted by Wang Yonggui with sweet potatoes yielding 10,000 kilograms per mu.
Of course, fertility is also indispensable. Raise chickens, pigs, and sheep to increase the fertility of the barren hills. If the soil fertility is less than 5,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes per mu, you can still have it. Anyway, continuous investment will produce results. The fields and barren hills purchased cost a total of two hundred and eighty-five thousand taels of silver.
These more than 70,000 acres of land have become Li Miao's base camp on the seaside of Qingzhou. He usually selects more than 600 villagers for training. All were trained by the original servants. But the food is good and there is enough meat. I have never seen Zhuang Ding eat like this in recent years. Is it possible to keep up with the nutrition of martial arts training?
It took more than half a year to raise a bunch of villagers into strong men. The food provided by the farmers has also improved significantly. I have never seen such a shop. Not to mention the villagers and servants, the villagers also returned home quickly.
The bankers were originally worried that their lives would be even more miserable after changing their owners. But now they are fine, and they are living the life they dreamed of. Can you not thank this generous owner?
More than 20,000 acres of the original middle and lower fields are planted with wheat, corn, and potatoes, and the yields are also very high. Fertilization increases soil fertility, and coupled with Li Miao's high-quality and high-yielding seeds, it is difficult to achieve high yields? But compared with sweet potatoes, it's still far behind.
After this year’s autumn harvest, too many farmers and landowners from around Qingzhou came to buy sweet potato seeds. More than 10,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes per acre, in addition to saving seeds. All were sold and there was basically not much left. I made more than 300,000 taels of silver from selling just the sweet potatoes. You can still make money by farming.
This is still sold at a low price of two cents per catty. Wang Yonggui could have sold it for a higher price, but Li Miao repeatedly paid attention, not just for the purpose of making money. Instead, the priority was to promote high-quality seeds. For the first time, Wang Yonggui discovered that his boss was very honest and considerate of the livelihood of the people.
The second thing was to purchase a 500-acre abandoned factory building at Qingzhou Wharf. A total of fifty thousand taels of silver was spent. All the original craftsmen in the factory were retained, and some idle craftsmen were purchased from the surrounding areas.
Mainly carpenters and blacksmiths. Less than two months. The factory is up and running again. Mainly produces agricultural tools. Customized sailboats are also available. The one million taels of silver that Li Miao gave to Wang Yonggui cost more than 300,000 taels at the beginning of the year.
After the autumn harvest in October, not only did all the money spent at the beginning of the year come back, but there was also an extra 400,000 taels of silver. Li Miao's voice sounded in Wang Yonggui's ears again. "Butler Wang, the money you spend is your money, and the money you keep is the most useless."
But the proprietor. I went out and came back again. Let’s talk about the proprietor. You didn't let me continue to buy property, saying that I couldn't be too high-profile. Is Wang Yonggui now worried about the money in his hands?
Not only was the money in Wang Yonggui's hands not spent, but it actually increased. It seems that the only way to spend the money is on the island. Wang Yonggui knew that such a large ship could not be built now. The construction of small sea ships has begun.
A few months ago, Li Miao specially sent someone to deliver the most advanced small sea-going ship manufacturing drawings, as well as the most advanced smelting technology, and asked Wang Yonggui to hand it over to an absolutely trustworthy craftsman, and asked the craftsman to destroy it himself after digesting and assimilating it.
