In this regard, Li Qiao was very tolerant. Children were inevitably confused. He was willing to give these children a chance to be re-elected.
But this time he must study hard. If he doesn't pay attention, he will be dissuaded.
Although he is rich, he does not want to be taken advantage of and support a useless person.
The medical school branch has enrolled a total of 300 students, who are free of charge and provided with food and accommodation, but no monthly payment.
He has many places to spend money, and he will spend his money wisely from now on.
After the Lantern Festival, the medical school branch starts school, and the officials’ annual leave is over, and it’s time to go to work.
The weather is still quite cold, no different from the twelfth lunar month, and the water in rivers and ponds still freezes every day.
This is not normal.
According to Sheng Hong's original plan, the temperature rose after the Lantern Festival, and the crisscrossing rivers and ponds outside Shengjing City were filled with water. He would lead hundreds of officials to the fields to watch the beautiful scenery of keel waterwheels irrigating farmland.
But now such a small wish cannot be realized.
For several days, he held the map of Dasheng and studied it carefully. From time to time, he called the chief doctor of the Twelve Departments of the Household Department to the Qiuxian Hall to talk.
After finishing the conversation with the doctor in charge of the Twelve Departments, he talked with several bachelors.
After talking to the courtiers, he summoned a few old princes and marquises to come over and chat with them.
The days slipped away day by day, and soon the first month came out.
In the second month of the lunar calendar, the temperature has obviously risen a little, but not too high. It is still chilly, so you have to wear cotton clothes.
However, there was less ice on the water surface, and the major irrigation project undertaken by the Seventh Prince was finally completed. So in mid-February, Sheng Hong led hundreds of officials out of the city to watch farmers irrigate their farmland.
There are keel waterwheels everywhere along the rivers and ponds. More than half of the fields outside Shengjing City can be irrigated by keel waterwheels.
It was a sunny day, with green seedlings and gurgling water. Even though there was still a slight cold wind blowing on his face, Sheng Hong's face finally looked better.
The next day, after the morning court, Sheng Hong did not summon the ministers to discuss matters, nor did he deal with the memorials compiled by Li Qiao that needed his personal approval.
He pulled out Dasheng's map again and studied it for about half an hour. Then he looked at the screen aside: "Li Aiqing."
"Wei Chen is here." Li Qiao quickly put down the pen in his hand and walked out from behind the screen.
"Looking at the temperature this year, it seems a little bad."
Sheng Hong sighed as he spoke, and tapped twice on the map on the imperial desk with his bent fingers; "Do you think it is necessary for me to organize manpower to farm the fields?"
Relying on Li Aiqing alone is too limited.
No more luck.
It was his turn as the king of a country to take action.
Chapter 222 Farming Sheng Hong’s new policy
"this……"
Li Qiao was surprised and his eyes widened a little.
It's a bit sudden.
Everything is fine - at least in the eyes of the world, the world is fine. Although the north has been colder in recent years and food production has decreased, the people have been able to live a good life.
If he hadn't read Gao Zhiyuan's pamphlet, he would have thought that the world was very good.
"Your Majesty, why did you make this decision?" he asked, looking puzzled.
Hearing this, Sheng Hong sighed again, stood up slowly with his hands on the imperial case, and frowned: "I had a nightmare before, do you still remember it?"
"Remember." Li Qiao nodded quickly.
"Looking at this year's situation, it is somewhat similar to that nightmare. Moreover, food is the foundation of the country, and it is always good to produce more food."
Sheng Hong explained.
"I see."
Li Qiao suddenly realized.
Sheng Hong is still thinking about that nightmare...
He is very far-sighted and is prepared for danger in times of peace. No wonder Da Sheng was able to survive in his previous life.
He frowned slightly, looking thoughtful. After a moment, he asked: "Then where are you going to farm?"
At present, there are still a lot of wastelands belonging to the imperial court in Dasheng, but most of them are scattered. Here are dozens or even hundreds of acres, and there are dozens or dozens of acres. There are few complete pieces of hundreds of acres. There are thousands of acres connected.
Tuntian, as the name suggests, is to call on a large number of people to gather in a certain place to farm.
Looking at the entire Dasheng, no province has such large-scale wasteland, unless it is a small-scale farmland.
After Dasheng was established for decades, there were restrictions on ordinary people purchasing land, but there were no restrictions on the purchase of land by nobles.
For example, the Xin family has nearly 500,000 acres of cultivated land in Huaidong Mansion.
Most of the fields in other places are occupied by nobles and wealthy people.
If Sheng Hong wanted to farm, he couldn't think of a suitable place for a while.
“Currently, it’s Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.”
Sheng Hong stood in front of the imperial case. He clicked on the Dasheng map on the table: "It's cold in the north. If you want to farm, you must choose the southern provinces."
"Jiangnan is rich, let alone the wasteland of the imperial court. Even many common people have lost their fields and become tenant farmers of the rich and noble."
"The other provinces in the south don't have much arable land. I dug around carefully and found that these are the only provinces that can still find large areas of wasteland."
Hearing this, Li Qiao quickly pulled out the information about the cultivated land in these four provinces in his mind. Sichuan Province is mainly due to its geographical location, so even though it has the reputation of the land of abundance, the rich and noble people will not crowd there.
Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, now known as Lingnan, were far less developed than in his previous life, so the rich and noble people did not gather there in droves.
There are few powerful nobles and rich people, so these four provinces do have more wasteland belonging to the imperial court than other provinces in the south.
"These four provinces are indeed good, but where do the labor come from?" Li Qiao asked again.
It is best to implement farming in the early days of a dynasty. Generally speaking, when a new dynasty is established, there will be many refugees. These refugees are recruited to farm, the court obtains food, and the refugees also have a fixed residence.
But now Dasheng has been established for decades.
Moreover, in recent years, there have been no natural disasters big enough to cause ordinary people to abandon their homes and become refugees.
Now that the labor force in Da Sheng is performing their own duties, where can Sheng Hong find labor to farm the land?
"That's a good question. I can't make up my mind for a while. Please help me think about how to solve the labor problem."
Sheng Hong still looked gloomy, and every word he spoke seemed as heavy as a stone tied to it. He stretched out his hand and tapped Li Qiao: "Li Aiqing, do you have any good ideas?"
Li Qiao: "..."
He frowned, looking bitter and resentful.
"Your Majesty, the land you gave to Wei Chen, Wei Chen asked the local government to help, and he quickly found enough tenant farmers and long-term workers. The reason is, firstly, because Weichen often reduces or exempts the rent, and secondly, because Weichen tries his best to Solve the irrigation problem.”
"The third reason is that the wages Weichen pays to long-term workers are slightly higher than the local average wages."
Just like Wang Xiuying back then. As a strong laborer, when Wang Xiuying was working at a farmer's house, during the wheat harvest and autumn harvest, she was paid thirty cash a day. In normal times, Wang Xiuying could not get this amount, only twenty cash a day.
As for winter, during the off-farm period, the salary is one hundred cash per month, which works out to just over three cash per day.
But he hired people to work, no matter whether the farming was busy or the farming was slack, whether it was heavy work or lighter work, the wages were always thirty cents per day.
Extra meals are also provided.
If you are a skilled worker, the salary will be a few cents higher.
As a result, people from nearby villages, including the whole of Pingcheng, were happy to work as long-term workers in his family, or simply rented his family's land to farm.
In fact, it is easy for him to offend people like this. He uses high wages to bring labor to his family's fields. Others who hire tenant farmers or long-term workers cannot compete with him, so they must be dissatisfied with him in their hearts.
That is to say, he rose through the ranks too quickly. First, he received the royal pen plaque of Sheng Hong Shang, and then he passed six imperial examinations in a row, and became a third-rank official at a young age. Otherwise, someone would definitely try to trip him up.
Sheng Hong must have had concerns in this regard, otherwise he wouldn't have called several old princes and marquises to come and have family affairs some time ago.
To say which family has the most tenant farmers in Dasheng, it must be these top nobles.
If Sheng Hong wanted to develop farming on a large scale, he would have to compete with these people for strong labor force.
Of course, Sheng Hong has absolute say in Dasheng. The most arrogant British man has been dealt with. Now Sheng Hong has no thorn in his side.
Even if those nobles were dissatisfied, they did not dare to show it on their faces.
But if the tenant farmers are allowed to go to open up wasteland, Sheng Hong must have something to offer. Otherwise, why would the tenant farmers give up everything they have and go to open up wasteland?
Farming involves gathering strong laborers to farm the land every day, and they are far away from towns. This kind of life is relatively hard.
Unless Sheng Hong forces people to open up wasteland, Sheng Hong must provide good benefits to attract people.
The state treasury cannot provide this benefit, so Sheng Hong can only provide it himself.
Now Sheng Hong asked him, did he want him to contribute some money?
He is willing to provide money for farming.
Just as he was about to speak, Sheng Hong spoke up: "It seems that Li Aiqing has no clever plan. After all, he still has to rely on money."
"Forget it, I will follow the farming measures of past dynasties and pull criminals out of prison to farm. In addition, I will recruit farmers from all over the world."
"I will think carefully about the specific policies."
"Your Majesty, farming in the four provinces is not a trivial matter. To send criminals there, you have to send soldiers to guard them. To recruit tenant farmers, you must give some sweetness. The treasury cannot support this sweetness. I am willing to donate some money."
Li Qiao said immediately.
"Li Aiqing, I am very pleased that you have such a heart, but your expenses are huge, so the money for the farming will come from my private treasury. If the private treasury cannot support it, then I will raise funds publicly."
Sheng Hong shook his head slightly and rejected Li Qiao's proposal.
How can you catch a sheep all day long?
Li Aiqing is willing to donate, but he is embarrassed to accept it.
Speaking of which, the current group of nobles in Dasheng contributed a lot to the establishment of Dasheng.
But now that there are constant natural disasters in Dasheng, it’s time for these nobles to shed their blood.
