There were many reasons for the expansion of the Chu Empire in Southeast Asia. Although the direct factor for the expansion in the first two years was to protect and further develop overseas markets, promote the prosperity of domestic industry and commerce, and provide more jobs.
But this was only an early reason. Entering the thirteenth year of Chengshun, especially in the second half of the year, as the supreme ruler of the empire, Luo Zhixue's thoughts gradually changed.
The change of thinking comes from the fact that although domestic grain production has gradually increased in recent years, it still fails to solve the food crisis, and famines occur at every turn.
Although large-scale starvation has not occurred, small-scale famines and even starvation still occur from time to time.
Not to mention that the vast majority of the people are still suffering from chronic malnutrition.
In October of the 13th year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue learned that he had inspected several nearby prefectures and counties, and the focus of the inspection was the situation in rural areas.
There is no doubt that it is impossible for Luo Zhixue to see the real situation during this kind of inspection. He knows with his toes that since he decided to go to a certain place to inspect the rural situation, it is estimated that the local officials will act overnight , even in a certain village that used to be poor, everyone can become a rich farmer overnight...
In fact, what he saw was indeed true. He visited three counties in total and visited more than a dozen villages. Some were good and some were bad. In the good villages, every family had a full warehouse of food and meat for every meal. In the ordinary villages, they had plenty of food. Some of them are in good spirits and don't have to worry about food and drink. Even in the worst villages, they can still get by.
From the surface, it is definitely a peaceful and prosperous scene...
Luo Zhixue is not a fool who has never seen the world. He is naturally aware of the little tricks of his ministers. He does not stop them from showing off, even if he dies... After all, there are policies and countermeasures.
Moreover, the inspection was carried out with great fanfare, and the inspection was reported through the Da Chu Di newspaper. If Luo Zhixue really had to show a bunch of dilapidated villages, wouldn’t this be a source of frustration for everyone? How could we publicize it afterwards? Ah... Is it true that it is said in the Di newspaper that more than 90% of the people in the Chu Empire are malnourished, and people starve to death from time to time?
Definitely not.
Luo Zhixue did not object to their showing off, but felt that they had already put on a show in advance. This rural area was only at this level, so what about before they put on a show? Can you still watch it?
Besides, Luo Zhixue was actually able to feel the real life conditions of most people under his rule through writing.
The simplest is to carry out rebellion through food production data and population data.
Although these data are not very accurate, and large-scale data is difficult to obtain, accurate data on only a few terrains can still be obtained.
Then you can get the per capita food level in some areas!
To judge people's actual living standards, you don't need to look at any other messy economic data, just look at the per capita food.
Before talking about this data, let’s take a look at the per capita grain level in China in later generations. In the first year after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it was a little more than 200 kilograms. After normal production resumed in a few years, it was about 280 kilograms. In the next few years, it was once It rose to 300 kilograms and fluctuated repeatedly in the following decades. It was not until the 21st century that it reached the level of 400 kilograms and began to stop growing.
The reason why it fluctuated around 400 kilograms after the 21st century is because the supply of non-staple foods such as meat and vegetable oil began to increase, which limited the consumption of staple foods.
The per capita consumption of 400 kilograms of staple food is a very important watershed. If it is less, it is not enough, and if it is too much, it is not enough. Generally, the supply of non-staple food such as meat is increased.
Let’s talk about other places, such as countries in the first half of the 20th century, among which Japan has maintained a level of more than 200 for a long time...
At the same time, several major powers in Europe were actually not much better off. Even though they were all major powers, in fact they only weighed about 300 kilograms, and there were a lot of people who didn't have enough to eat.
But the United States is an exception... They have already exceeded 400 kilograms... Their natural conditions are too superior.
When people in various countries are still suffering from widespread malnutrition or even large-scale famine, people's consumption of staple food has stopped rising, and they have begun to increase their consumption of various foods such as meat, poultry and eggs.
Not all in the same dimension...
There is no way, they have the most arable land in the world, and they use mechanization for large-scale farming. The per capita arable land area is very large.
After talking about these data, you will have a rough idea of the per capita food consumption:
Two hundred kilograms will starve people to death, starve to death on a large scale...
About 300 kilograms can survive starvation, but are generally malnourished;
After weighing 400 kilograms, one can eat enough and start to pursue eating well, so the next step is to increase the supply of meat, poultry, eggs, etc., and pursue the so-called diet quality.
And what about the current per capita food level in the Chu Empire?
There is no nationwide data. With the current data statistics, it is impossible to complete such large-scale data statistics and data for a specific region.
In the twelfth year of Chengshun, the per capita grain in Suzhou Prefecture was about 330 kilograms. If nothing else, this was the highest level in the Chu Empire.
In Xuzhou Prefecture in the north of the Yangtze River, the per capita grain is 250 kilograms.
In Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Province, the per capita grain is 270 kilograms.
The Shaanxi-Gansu region is even worse, with only about 200 kilograms in many places.
Roughly speaking, a few places are in a state of major famine, most areas are in a state of small-scale famine, and a few wealthy areas are in a state of malnutrition...
As for areas with 400 kilograms per capita, sorry... there are none.
Of course, the reason why large-scale starvation has not occurred in a few places where per capita grain production is insufficient is simply because of the Da Chu Empire Grain Corporation, which transports grain throughout the country, maintains grain prices, and ensures grain production. Insufficient areas to avoid mass starvation.
In the end, Luo Zhixue estimated that the per capita food level of the Chu Empire was only around 260 kilograms.
And this level would starve people to death.
When Luo Zhixue learned more about issues such as grain production, he saw a shocking situation in the seemingly prosperous show.
This directly prompted Luo Zhixue to change his mind.
Once Luo Zhixue changed his mind, it also meant that the national policy of the Chu Empire had changed. It was also the main reason why Luo Zhixue was determined to spend huge sums of money to carry out the artificial diversion project of the Yellow River to expand Southeast Asia and promote immigration.
These two items also represent Luo Zhixue's important decisions in trying to improve per capita food levels.
Internally, we will continue to open up wasteland, expand the area of cultivated land, and build various water conservancy facilities to ensure more food production.
Externally, expanding food imports, whether by importing directly from the indigenous people, or by immigrating to open food plantations, etc., in short, is to bring back food.
This led to the end of December of the thirteenth year of Chengshun, and the Chu Empire issued a series of policies to encourage immigration.
The empire's first large-scale colony on the Malay Peninsula, the Pekka area, is dominated by the Bangkok area and the Kowloon area. These colonies in the Southeast Asian region are all plain areas with a lot of developable farmland and a good climate. Good, can even be harvested three times a year.
After the Dachu Empire took over these places, in fact, apart from businessmen and official personnel, not many ordinary people went there.
Now, empire officials are encouraging people to go!
And finalized several major incentive policies.
First of all, there is no boat ticket. As long as you are willing to go to Nanyang, you can go there for free on official ships. Currently, you mainly go by navy ships. Anyway, the navy goes to Nanyang every three days for various training and patrols. It is also convenient to bring immigrants there. At the same time, the official We are also preparing to build some specialized passenger ships to serve as ships for overseas immigrants.
Secondly, after arriving at the local area, a certain amount of land will be distributed free of charge, and agricultural taxes will be exempted for three years and half tax for two years. Grain seeds, farm tools, simple housing, and rations before harvesting will be provided in the form of interest-free long-term loans.
All the immigrants have to do is pack up their belongings and board the immigration ships to sail to Southeast Asia.
The rest will be taken care of by the authorities.
And why did the authorities pay such a huge cost?
In order to reduce domestic food pressure.
At the same time, after immigrants arrive, they can grow more food overseas, and the food production in these places is very high, and they can then import food into the country.
In recent years, the Chu Empire has launched rice trade with the Kingdom of Siam, and the Chu Empire can naturally also carry out grain trade in its own colonies.
While increasing internal food production, we also increase overseas food imports, and also export the increased population overseas as much as possible.
A three-pronged approach is Luo Zhixue’s solution to the food problem.
The first policy has the greatest effect. Luo Zhixue estimates that by waiting for domestic infrastructure projects to be carried out, in a few years the per capita grain should be raised to two handfuls of 80 or even 300 kilograms.
But it will be more difficult to continue to rise.
Before the two powerful tools of hybrid rice and chemical fertilizers are developed, it will be difficult for the amount of grain produced per mu to increase. Even if the country continues to open up wasteland and create more cultivated land, the domestic population is also rising... and it is rising fast.
"I Have a Picture Book of Ghosts and Gods"
At the same time, there are limits to the domestically developable cultivated land. Not all places can be cultivated. Therefore, after reaching a certain limit, there are only three ways to solve the food problem: more land, fewer people, and entering modern society.
Modern society is the most interesting. You won’t have to worry about population problems by then, because people will consciously reduce their desire to have children. This is the result of many aspects of modern society. It is not just the housing price issue that is often mentioned in China. People in Europe and the United States have one vote. Developed countries don’t have the so-called problem of high housing prices, but they still don’t like having children.
This is a common situation in many countries after the 21st century...
There are not many people, so there is no need to worry about food issues.
In many places, it is natural to expand overseas... You can directly seize overseas territories to farm your own land, or you can plunder overseas food through colonization and other methods and transport it back to the mainland.
To reduce the population, either reduce the population through war or other events or specific fertility policies, or send immigrants overseas. In short, the population must be controlled under a certain number.
Luo Zhixue chose overseas immigration and expansion!
Not only can the remaining domestic population be exported to overseas territories to strengthen the empire's control in overseas territories, but it can also obtain food from overseas territories to feed back into the country.
If we keep doing this, maybe the whole world will become Chinese.
Kill multiple birds with one stone!
Ever since, starting from the beginning of the 14th year of Chengshun, as various policies and preparations were gradually implemented, the Chu Empire also began a large-scale immigration, which set off a craze to go to Southeast Asia.
Xu Donglai is one of them.
However, they are different from many immigrants who do not have enough to eat and think that they will starve to death anyway, so they might as well go overseas to find a way out.
Xu Donglai was actually a small-time businessman. He went to Nanyang not to immigrate, but to do business and make a fortune.
More than ten years ago, he was actually an ordinary farmer's boy, but he was lucky. He joined the army early and participated in the domestic unification war. By the time he retired in the eighth year of Chengshun, he had already reached the rank of sergeant.
And he also participated in literacy classes during his service. He is the kind who can read, write and count. His cultural level is not bad. He has passed the higher education examination and obtained the academic certificate.
Otherwise he wouldn't be promoted to sergeant.
The Chu Army has launched literacy education within the military for a long time, with officers as the main teachers. In order to encourage soldiers to learn in the early days, under the same circumstances, priority will be given to promoting soldiers who excel in cultural classes.
After occupying the Guannei area, literacy education and the promotion of non-commissioned officers were integrated. It was impossible to be promoted to non-commissioned officers without passing the cultural examination. Only by passing the cultural examination could one continue to serve in the army as a non-commissioned officer.
This is not only to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, but also to cultivate a large number of people and grassroots officials with a certain level of education.
Because these soldiers will retire after a certain period of service, and if these soldiers can read and write after retirement, it will be of great help to the productivity of the entire society, and it will also help the empire acquire a large number of people with preliminary cultural knowledge. level grassroots staff.
Xu Donglai was a beneficiary of the literacy education policy. He passed many cultural examinations during his years of service, and passed the primary school academic examination before retiring.
The military generally retains senior noncommissioned officers with the rank of sergeant and those with some higher education. Such senior noncommissioned officers are the core backbone of the military. However, Xu Donglai was tired of fighting for so many years, so after his service years, Choose to retire.
After retiring, he did not choose to change careers like many retired colleagues. If he changed careers, he could get a job as a patrol policeman or tax policeman based on his qualifications, but he was unwilling to do so.
His ambition is even greater.
If he accepted the job change, he could only live an ordinary life for the rest of his life, but he wanted more.
So he refused to change his job, but took his retirement compensation and the money he had accumulated from serving in the army for many years and went directly into business...
His business is not big, just selling cloth on a small scale, but he makes a lot of money, and now he has accumulated a net worth of tens of thousands.
In the past few years of doing business, he has also come into contact with maritime trade. After all, the cotton cloth of the Chu Empire is the largest export material these days, and the relationship between cotton cloth and overseas trade is extremely close.
Xu Donglai also came into contact with many maritime merchants, even some from foreign countries, and gained a new understanding of overseas countries, especially Southeast Asia.
The more he learned about it, the more he felt that there were many opportunities in Southeast Asia.
It's not about maritime trade... His net worth of more than 10,000 Chu Yuan is much higher than that of ordinary people, but it is impossible to get involved in maritime trade...
Which of those maritime trading companies doesn't have hundreds of thousands or even millions of assets at every turn?
What's more, engaging in maritime trade is extremely risky. You may encounter pirates one day. Even if you don't talk about pirates, storms and other natural disasters are also very dangerous.
Every year, there are always many ships that leave the sea and never come back!
Last year, he heard that a large fleet organized by the Nanyang Trading Company to trade with the Indian Peninsula encountered wind and waves. The huge storm directly destroyed and sank one of the large ships. Hundreds of people were swallowed by the wind and waves, and the ship sank. , the goods were lost and the losses were extremely heavy!
It was a large ship with thousands of tons, and it was as vulnerable as a small child in the face of the storm.
Therefore, maritime trade these days is beyond the reach of ordinary merchants. It would be fine if nothing happens, but if something goes wrong, hundreds of thousands of Chu Yuan will be lost.
Those smaller maritime trading companies may have to go bankrupt and liquidate if their ships suffer such heavy losses.
Xu Donglai didn't have that much capital, so he couldn't do this type of maritime trade, which was hugely profitable but equally risky.
What he valued was not maritime trade, but wanting to open a rubber plantation in Beijia.
Rubber, for most people in the Chu Empire, was a product that they had never even heard of. Even Xu Donglai had only heard of it by accident.
This thing came from the Americas. Xu Donglai didn't know exactly where it came from, but it must have something to do with the Spaniards and the three major official trading companies.
The three major official trading companies seemed to like to ask the Spaniards to get all kinds of novelties from the Americas, and the cinchona tree was one of them.
And rubber is one of them.
The Spaniards didn't know what the Da Chu Empire wanted this thing for, but since they placed an order for it, they got it.
After the empire obtained this thing, it began to plant it on Qiongzhou Island and some hot rainforest areas in the south, and then processed it to produce tarpaulins and other rubber products.
The only rubber factory in the country is directly invested by the Ministry of Industry, and the rubber plantations are rubber plantations directly invested and planted by government-run enterprises.
After Xu Donglai learned this, he started to think about it.
There is currently no private capital involved in this industry. From raw materials to research and production of finished products, all are controlled by official capital. Even the products produced are basically for military supplies.
He just wanted to get involved and build a rubber plantation, becoming the first person to take advantage of private capital.
However, the more he learned about it, he found that it was not easy to grow rubber. There were not many suitable places in the country, and domestic official capital was already involved.
The most important thing is that rubber trees are a typical tropical crop, and the most suitable places for planting rubber trees are those tropical areas in Southeast Asia.
Ever since, Xu Donglai set his sights on the empire's colonies in Southeast Asia, especially the Beijia area.
He wants to build a large rubber plantation in Beijia and make a lot of money from him before others react!
