The ministers didn't care about this. In their opinion, the conditions on the train were limited and it was normal not to prepare food. What's more, the taste of the food was not too bad.
"In the future, there will be a dining car on the train. Everyone can eat in the dining car. Of course, it is also possible if you bring your own dry food. For ordinary people, the food on this train must be relatively expensive, and they may not be willing to eat it."
"As long as you know what's going on, if you think the circulation of these people and materials is more important than making profits, then just do this."
"But this will also expose a problem, that is, will the large-scale population movement cause the local people's land to be unable to complete cultivation? This choice is a bit difficult. If a large amount of promotion and construction is carried out, the manpower and material resources required will inevitably be extremely high. High."
"Although people can earn more money through such promotion, didn't you also say that? Datang's cultivated land red line and grain red line cannot be shaken, which also requires a large number of people to invest in farming."
"I'm afraid we can't take care of both, at least with the current population of Datang." Li Shimin looked at Li Ke and asked.
Li Ke scratched his head and had to say that the problems raised by Li Shimin would actually happen. Li Ke had never worried about population because he was used to the huge population resources of his motherland in later generations.
But the current Tang Dynasty has not yet reached that point.
Thanks to the current land and household registration policies of the Tang Dynasty, people are increasingly more enthusiastic about registering their children, because as long as they register, some subsidies and land allocation will be given priority.
Therefore, almost all people who have children have registered for residence registration.
This allowed Datang to complete a population census last year. The current population growth rate of Datang is about 2.3%.
This growth rate is not low at all. The population growth of Datang last year was about 600,000. According to the population growth rate of 2.3%, plus the integration of Xue Yantuo and Shi Wei into Datang, the total population of Datang has reached Thirty million people come out.
"I don't want to stop. Although maintaining food red lines and cultivated land is a problem, we can solve it through other methods." Li Ke thought for a while, and then said seriously.
"Other methods? What method?" Li Shimin and others were a little confused.
"Let an ordinary family cultivate hundreds of acres, even thousands of acres, or tens of thousands of acres of land." Li Ke said seriously.
"How is this possible?" Everyone was stunned. It would be very difficult to grow all the 100 acres of fields in Datang. Some of the cultivated land needs to be planted with other cash crops, such as Hemp, mulberry, etc.
The imperial court of the Tang Dynasty had regulations in this regard.
In places such as the Guanzhong Plain and now Henan Prefecture, if the wheat is not harvested within a few days after it matures, the wheat will even sprout directly on the ears, which is equivalent to ruining the wheat.
Although it is not inedible, it is just a bit unpalatable, but this is not a problem for the people. After all, they did not even have to eat unpalatable food before, but it is impossible to save seeds.
One thousand acres, ten thousand acres? It’s impossible even to think about it.
"There is nothing impossible. This steam engine can drive such a huge railway. What would happen if tires were installed underneath it and then drove the plowshare behind it?" Li Ke asked a question.
Everyone was stunned.
This is a path they never envisioned.
"In the vast plain areas such as the Guanzhong Plain, Henan Prefecture, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, if such a machine is built, it is possible to cultivate dozens or even hundreds of acres of land in a day. As for harvesting, can harvesting be invented? What about the machines used, which directly replace manpower?" Li Ke asked with a smile.
Duan Lun next to him took out a pen and paper from his pocket without saying anything and started to record it. As the Minister of Industry, he will definitely be responsible for these things in the future, and of course he must record them.
This is a path they have never imagined, but it is the future direction of Datang, and this possibility is extremely high.
After all, this huge steam engine can even drive such a terrifying train. If it were made smaller and equipped with wheels, wouldn't it be impossible to drive a plowshare?
"It will take at least ten years or even decades for our manpower shortage to appear. However, after more than ten years and decades of development, we may not be able to develop such farming machinery, so we will not be able to develop such farming machinery in the future. Just adjust it again." Li Ke said with a smile.
Li Shimin's words reminded Li Ke that the current Tang Dynasty may also embark on the path of large farms in later generations. China in later generations will not be able to follow such a path because a large number of people need farmers and fields.
It is impossible for land to be concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, but in fact on the eve of Li Ke's crossing, a large number of people were concentrated in cities, while almost all the people in rural areas were over forty years old.
After this group of people pass away, it will definitely be the trend for the next group of people to collectively farm a large amount of land.
At least before Li Ke crossed over, several of his elementary school classmates had already formed a collective cooperative in their own village, and began renting all the land in the village and returning to mechanized farming.
And now the Tang Dynasty has no shortage of arable land.
In the future, the cultivated land of the Tang Dynasty will be more and more. With the population growth of the Tang Dynasty, even if it reaches the population of later generations, it is unknown how much land it will occupy.
It is not impossible to develop mechanized farming.
The experiences are different, and the final path taken does not necessarily have to be exactly the same.
Otherwise, Li Ke thought about it, tricked another family into spending huge sums of money to buy an agricultural machinery, and let them try a large-scale mechanized farm first? After all, it will be these aristocratic families that will be able to purchase and rent large amounts of farm land.
Li Ke believes that there must be some aristocratic families who have a special liking for land, so they can give it a try. Making money proves that this path is feasible and lays a lot of experience for subsequent development.
After all, it’s not the court that’s losing, it’s the family. Isn’t that great? In fact, it is estimated that you will not lose money. At most, you will make little money, which is slow but stable.
"Good job. Just have an idea." Li Shimin nodded with satisfaction. Very good. If you continue like this, who will take over the throne in the future? Let’s not talk about reputation and so on. Who can take on these things?
Time flew by while the ministers were chatting. More than three hours after they boarded the train, Chen Cang - arrived!
"Now we are about to arrive at Chencang Station! In other words, we have arrived at Chencang from Chang'an, and we can take a one-day trip to Chencang." When Li Ke's smiling words rang out, Li Shimin and the others were in a trance... just In less than two hours, they had covered a distance of more than three hundred miles!
