The three great artifacts of America are of course the key to saving the world, but in fact this matter is definitely not as simple as imagined. Just getting the seeds is enough.
When Gao Pragmatic was studying at the Party School in his previous life, he heard a teacher from the Party School briefly talk about the promotion of the three major high-yield crops in China. After listening to this, he did not feel at all that these three major crops could be fully promoted on the land of China soon. spread out.
To understand this reason, we have to start with the introduction of these three major crops. Later generations have different opinions on when corn was introduced to China. Some people believe that corn had been introduced as early as the twelfth year of Emperor Xianzong's Chenghua reign in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, the mainstream view was introduced after Columbus arrived in the New Continent in the fifth year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty.
However, there are still disagreements about the specific timing. There are many theories such as 15 years, 1531, 156, 1572, etc., and the accounts of its circulation channels are also very inconsistent. There are three major views and a combination of the three major views of passing through the northwest, southwest and southeast sea routes.
Gao Pragmatic was taking an economics course at the time, and he didn't study it deeply or simply didn't study it at all. In fact, he just heard the teacher mention it, so he couldn't judge which one was true. However, based on his feeling alone, he felt that the sea route seemed more likely, but it was useless to rely on "feeling" for this thing.
Anyway, corn was cultivated throughout the country until the early Tatar period, but it was not popular. This is for sure. It was really during the Qianlong and Jiaqing years that it was promoted on a large scale. Due to the pressure of large-scale population growth, the Taqing government began to promote it on a large scale. Relatively speaking, it was widely planted in the south earlier than in the north, and it was only in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China that large-scale promotion began in the north.
So, what about sweet potatoes? There used to be a saying that sweet potatoes existed in China during the Han and Jin Dynasties. However, agricultural history generally does not accept this view. The mainstream view is that sweet potatoes, that is, yams, were discovered during the Han and Jin Dynasties. When the real sweet potato was introduced to China, it was first believed that it was introduced in the 20th year of Hongwu, but few people agree. The mainstream view is that this species was only introduced in China during the Wanli period.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, sweet potatoes were planted on a large scale in Fujian and Guangdong, and in small quantities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. That is to say, before the early Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes were only widely planted in the area south of the Yangtze River. During the Qianlong period, due to population pressure, nationwide cultivation began except in border areas and Gansu. So during the Jiajing and Daoguang periods, sweet potatoes became one of the staple foods.
Let’s talk about potatoes. The earliest time when this product was introduced into China should have been during the Wanli period, but because the evidence is relatively vague, the academic community generally agrees that it was the early Qing Dynasty, and the specific time is the planting record of Taiwan Province in 165. The latest record of its introduction is that Shanxi merchants introduced it from Kazakhstan through Russian business. Some people believe that "Huihui yam", that is, potatoes, was introduced by Hui compatriots from the northwest.
However, due to the degradation of potato species, it was introduced many times and through various channels. It was not until the Qianlong period that it was promoted on a large scale.
It is precisely because these three artifacts have been fermented for many years that they only became powerful during the Qianlong period. Therefore, Qianlong, the leader of the captives, was obviously a prodigal, but he could actually become a saint in some people's eyes. History is sometimes so ironic.
On the other hand, the late Ming Dynasty, which introduced the three major artifacts, was unlucky enough. He died before the three artifacts could be recognized as their masters.
It is precisely because he knows these situations and understands that it is not easy to promote new species. Regardless of whether it is due to the degeneration of the species or the time it takes for the people to accept it, this matter will definitely not be accomplished in three to five years, so Gao Pragmatic can only send people to collect them while doing so. Seeds, while thinking of other ways to alleviate the turmoil caused by the disaster in the north.
What can be done is to divert grain from the south to the north. Because even during the most severe period of the Little Ice Age, the south was not greatly affected, and there was no major production reduction.
But the south-to-north grain transfer is not an easy task. In order to transfer grain from the south to the north, the imperial court spends so much time maintaining canals and controlling water transportation every year. In the end, it has to open another sea transportation. Even if sea transportation is opened, it has only maintained the situation so far. , this situation is better than the same period in history.
Looking at it this way, the imperial court has no spare energy to continue the south-to-north grain transfer. To increase the intensity of this "transfer", there are too many aspects that need to be addressed. For example, for these grains, although Southern Zhili has almost universally adopted a whipping method and changed the grain payment to banknotes, you can buy grain with money, and the price of grain in the south is lower than that in the north. Even if transportation consumption and expenses are included, it is still lower than the grain price. Buying grain in the north is cost-effective.
This is purely from the perspective of economic benefits. If from another perspective, the money is directly escorted to Beijing to buy grain in the north, then the north will be even more short of grain. Therefore, the south-to-north grain diversion by water and sea transportation must not be shaken. Not only cannot it be shaken, it can If so, it will even be strengthened.
However, this is not enough. The main function of these grains is to supply the Gyeongsang Province. Areas outside the Gyeongsang Province will not enjoy much benefit. Once a large-scale natural disaster breaks out, the food shortage will still be in short supply. The imperial court will not have the spare capacity to provide extensive disaster relief. It's not a big deal to give some severely affected areas "three years of tax exemption" and other treatment, but others can only look at them with big eyes and small eyes.
Moreover, most of the grain is currently sent from South Zhili to the north, but in fact the price of grain in South Zhili is not particularly cheap. Because the so-called Southern Zhili refers to the generation of southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui in later generations. Although this area has good land, it is an economically developed area, especially the textile industry, so a lot of the land is not used to grow food, but is used to grow food. Some cash crops have been planted, so it is very difficult and uneconomical to continue to carry out south-to-north grain transfer from the southern Zhili area.
Now only Huguang and Sichuan can really have surplus grain to support the north.
But everyone knows the terrain of Sichuan. Transporting grain from the Sichuan Basin to the north is as difficult as the road to Shu, almost as difficult as Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. Even if you are willing to spend a lot of money to force the transportation, the efficiency will definitely be disastrous. Even if you think more generously, you can only support Shaanxi a little bit.
Therefore, the main focus can only be on Huguang.
Gao Pragmatic's idea was not only because he knew that "Huguang is well versed in the world," but it was also supported by actual data. This data came from Gao Gong's six-year work in the Wanli Dynasty to clear the land.
Gao Gong's clear Zhang Tianmu is roughly similar to the data obtained by Zhang Juzheng's historical Zhang Tianmu. This Qingzhang is actually the second large-scale nationwide cultivated land census conducted by the Ming Dynasty since the "Hongwu Qingzhang". After the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court compiled a new fish scale album, which was more complete than the tax album in the early Ming Dynasty, which is reflected in the following points.
First, the land clearing was relatively thorough. This time, not only the land of the common people, but also the land occupied by clans and princes was re-measured. The edict issued by Gao Gong in the name of the emperor was: "The land of the father-in-law shall be equalized. However, if there is any obstruction and obstruction, no distinction shall be made between clans, officials, soldiers and civilians. According to the law, I will punish you severely." Because of the strong political pressure given to local officials through the "Exam Examination Law", the smooth implementation of land clearing was finally ensured, and a total of 15.5 billion acres of undeclared land was cleared.
The second step was to unify the mu system. In the past, there was a phenomenon of "large and small acres" in the north. This time, Gao Gong used the "clearance of land" to unify the country's acre system, with 240 steps per acre. The "unified mu system" reduces the trouble of collecting taxes and grains, and basically eliminates the loopholes of low-level officials taking advantage of "big and small mu" to make profits.
Third, the tax collection rules are simplified. After the land was cleared, the imperial court divided the land into three categories: upper-level fertile fields with water sources, medium-level barren and poor fields, and lower-level high-water-rich fields. When paying taxes, regardless of whether it is official land or private land, the rules are the same: 1 mu of upper-class land is actually counted as 1 mu, 15 acres of middle-class field is converted into 1 mu, and 2 acres of lower-class field is converted into 1 mu.
After this clearing, the total cultivated land area of the two capitals and the Thirteenth Chief Secretary was 75.8 billion acres, an increase of 39.1 billion acres compared with the first land clearing in 14 years of Hongwu. Judging from the results, Huguang, Shandong, and Sichuan had the most serious land underreporting, with 55.19 million acres, 36.58 million acres, and 26.45 million acres of cultivated land respectively identified.
Based on this data, the simplest truth is that Huguang must have sufficient food.
But the problem is that this does not mean that more food in Huguang is on the market out of thin air, but that most of it is in the hands of the officials, gentry, landlords, and royal families who control the land. The court can only collect a little more tax here. The real If we want Huguang to support the Central Plains, the key issue is how to get the food out of the hands of these people.
