I

The details of the tax reform plan have been released but have not had time to be officially promoted.

Zhao Han went to work as usual today, but found that the female officials, palace maids, and daily historians all had happy faces.

"Did you find any money when you went out?" Zhao Han joked.

Li Xiangjun smiled and replied: "Your Majesty, the local officials reported the auspiciousness."

The smile on Zhao Han's face suddenly disappeared, replaced by an expression of boredom.

Li Xiangjun quickly explained: "Your Majesty, this auspicious sign is not fake, it is in the lacquered wooden box on the desk."

Zhao Han walked over and sat down, then opened the box and found an ear of rice lying inside. One rice with two ears is extremely rare. This kind is called Jiahe and has been regarded as auspicious since ancient times.

Zhao Han said: "Give it to the Agriculture Department and let them use it for breeding. If they can't produce anything, forget it. As for the local officials, make them benevolent and love the people. Don't make a fuss next time you encounter Jiahe."

Ding Shijing, the historian who recorded the daily notes, couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, Jiahe is the leader of the five grains. If the king is virtuous, the two seedlings will show off together. In Zhou De, three seedlings have the same ears; in Shang De, they have the same root but different ears. ; In Xia De, they have different roots but the same beauty. This Jiahe plant and the two seedlings have the same beauty, which is why His Majesty is so prosperous."

Zhao Han glanced at him and asked: "The twin ears of rice are my virtues. Don't the consecutive natural disasters mean my virtues are weak? I don't talk about my strange power and my god. Don't speculate here and there."

"Your Majesty is holy."

Ding Shijing stopped talking and wrote: On August 5th, Chizhou Prefecture presented auspicious signs. One rice has two ears, and two seedlings compete for beauty. The left and right said: This emperor is victorious in virtue. The above statement: If the good harvest is the king's virtue, wouldn't disaster and misfortune be the king's fault? Don't talk about strange powers and confuse the gods. Don't speculate on God's will.

One rice with two ears is most likely due to a genetic mutation. Anyway, no research has yielded any results after hundreds of years.

Regardless of whether they were trying to flatter the emperor or not, when local officials encountered this incident, they would definitely offer the golden harvest, and they would not dare to keep it themselves. Zhao Han cannot reward, otherwise it will distort the atmosphere; he cannot punish, otherwise it will dampen the enthusiasm of officials.

In the afternoon, Chen Xisong from the Agriculture Department was ordered to meet with him.

This guy deliberately didn't change his clothes, and there was still mud and water on his trouser legs. He knew that the emperor liked this kind of image.

Zhao Han pointed to the lacquer box and said: "There is a Jiahe plant. You can use it to breed it. You can play with it however you want. I don't blame you if you don't succeed in growing it."

"According to the order!" Chen Xisong carefully took the box away.

Zhao Han asked: "How about promoting new crops?"

Chen Xisong said: "Your Majesty, sweet potatoes and corn have spread all over the southern provinces. Especially in the mountains and hills, every family grows them. The agricultural office found that planting corn every year will reduce the fertility of the land. There is no such concern in interplanting beans. . Therefore, if you have a middle field to plant corn, it is best to interplant corn with beans. After the corn ears are firm, it does not require much water and fertilizer, and sweet potatoes can be interplanted at this time. In this way, corn, sweet potatoes, and beans can be planted on a piece of land at the same time. Doubling the yield will not damage the fertility of the land.”

"This method is very good." Zhao Han praised.

Chen Xisong said: "It has been implemented in all provinces, and farmers are very happy. Therefore, despite successive years of disasters, there is always enough food. Even in the lean years, the price of rice has not exceeded 11 cents per catty. When there is a good harvest in some areas, the price of rice The price is even only two cents per catty.”

"Two texts?"

Zhao Han frowned and immediately said to Li Xiangjun: "I have forgotten this matter. I immediately ordered the cabinet to spread the news to local counties. Datong Bank will set the lowest price for money and grain exchange every year. Even if it is a good harvest year, it will not The price must be two cents per catty. Otherwise, once the true collection is cancelled, the field tax will only be collected in cash from now on, and farmers will inevitably suffer heavy losses. Also, the lowest price of grain in each county must be reported to the court every year. The anti-corruption inspector will draw a few County, check whether the pricing is arbitrary."

Throughout the dynasties, there were times when one could only afford two pennies per catty of rice.

But it is different now. Due to the large inflow of silver and copper, silver dollars and copper coins are minted every year. In some economically developed areas, there are already signs of inflation, and the price of rice at two cents is really too low.

After Zhao Han gave the instructions, he said: "You continue."

Chen Xisong said: "As for the barren mountainous areas, now everything you see is corn and sweet potatoes, and countless mountain people depend on these two crops for their livelihood. Last year, Guangxi's corn output even far exceeded that of wheat, sorghum and other cereals, becoming second only to wheat and sorghum." Rice is the second largest crop.”

The high yield of corn is certain, and its advantages include not being picky about the land.

It is sheer nonsense to say that ancient corn was not that powerful and its yield was actually very small, because farmers voted with their bellies. Take Guangxi as an example. In the early Qing Dynasty, corn was only grown for children to eat and play with. But after 20 or 30 years, the mountains and fields were covered with corn, and farmers spontaneously began to plant it widely.

Chen Xisong added: "Sunflowers are spreading rapidly in the north. They like cold and dry conditions, and are particularly suitable for planting in the north. Nowadays, the northern provinces have vast land and sparsely populated areas, so growing sunflowers does not require much manpower."

There is still a lot of land in the north, and the government has not allocated it to them, but by default, farmers can cultivate the land without owners. This kind of ownerless land does not need to pay taxes. The ownership belongs to the government and can be allocated to new immigrants at any time. There is too much land and too few people for the common people to cultivate, so large areas should be planted with less laborious crops.

Sunflowers became so popular that in many northern states and counties, melon seeds became a local specialty and were shipped to the south in large quantities every year for sale.

It is certain that sunflowers were introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty, probably during the Zhengde period.

But this thing has always been an ornamental plant, planted in gardens by literati, and now it has finally spread to farmland.

Chen Xisong said with a smile: "Your Majesty, sunflowers are not the only crops grown from gardens to farmland. Farmers are also planting tomatoes, which are similar to watermelons and are quite refreshing. Every summer, farmers carry tomatoes. Persimmons, go to Nanjing city to sell them and make a profit."

Tomatoes are tomatoes, and the name tomato already existed in the late Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Han suddenly became interested: "Are tomatoes only sold as fruit? Has anyone fried them? Have you ever eaten scrambled eggs with tomatoes?"

"Can tomatoes be fried as vegetables?" Chen Xisong was a little confused.

This is beyond everyone's awareness, because they all regard tomatoes as fruits. Have you ever seen eggs fried with apples?

Zhao Han asked: "Are there any tomatoes for sale now?"

Chen Xisong said: "Your Majesty, tomatoes are also called tomatoes and June persimmons. It is already August and the tomatoes are out of season. If Your Majesty likes it, the farm can plant some and present them to the palace next June. middle."

"Plant as many ridges as you like, don't plant too many," Zhao Han said with a smile, "When the time comes, I'll treat you to tomato scrambled eggs."

It is always pleasant to talk about farming. The promotion of corn, sweet potatoes and Chinese cabbage has been completed, and tomatoes and sunflowers have also been transformed from ornamental to edible. Artificial cultivation of kelp is being studied, and there are some insights. Peanuts became popular on their own and did not need the imperial court to promote them.

These crops not only enrich the people's dining tables, but also keep them full during disaster years.

If it weren't for the support of high-yielding crops, how could Zhao Han have been able to support so many troops in the face of such a bad climate caused by successive natural disasters? You know, grain must be used for disaster relief every year, and the north is still in the state of land tax exemption.

Fine-wool sheep are already multiplying, and future grassland herders can also have a stable income.

By the way, speaking of fine-wool sheep, the fine-wool sheep of Datong Xin Dynasty were introduced from Spain. The Spanish royal family has declared bankruptcy. This is the fifth time that the Spanish royal family has gone bankrupt in the past century.

What does royal bankruptcy mean?

I won’t repay the money I borrowed, so I don’t care.

If Spain had not gone bankrupt several times, it would not have been so easy for the Netherlands to become independent. Because Dutch bankers were once the largest creditors of the Spanish royal family. The moneylenders in the Netherlands are all very influential, and they will not easily fall out with Spain for the money they have lent.

Spain's industrial, agricultural and commercial policies are almost as crazy as they are set.

Because wool was easier to collect taxes, Spain restricted food cultivation and used a large amount of good land for grazing sheep. Spain became the largest food importer in Europe. In order to monopolize commerce, the nobles formulated policies to crack down on merchants, which caused the Spanish industry and commerce to fail.

At this point, agriculture, industry and commerce all collapsed, and they relied on overseas colonial exploitation to survive.

Colonial oppression became more and more brutal, resulting in a sharp decline in the population of the Americas, and the once-strong American market also shrank.

Now the King of Spain left a huge debt after his death, which is about 50 million taels converted into silver. If you have too many lice, you won’t be itchy. If you have too many debts, you won’t have to worry. That’s it anyway. As for the financiers who were cheated, they should hang themselves or jump into rivers.

Spain's declaration of bankruptcy this time means that the Thirty Years' War in Europe is coming to an end.

The Thirty Years' War was the beginning of modern European history. The Westphalian system established after the war lasted until World War I. Of course, we now have to ask whether Datong China will agree to this international order system.

In addition, France became the land hegemon and the Netherlands became the maritime hegemon.

The civil war in Britain has ended, and the king fled to Scotland, where he was ransomed by Parliament for 500,000 pounds and placed under house arrest. The king was under house arrest, but he ran away again and was trying to persuade the Scottish army to rescue him.

The British Civil War was not a bourgeois revolution.

The division of spoils after the war was the bourgeois revolution - Lord Protector Cromwell first won over the army and civilians and withstood the king's counterattack. Then he betrayed his trust and attacked the army and civilian parties. The fruits of the revolution were stolen by the gentry and nobles, which was very similar to China's Revolution of 1911.

By saying so much, I just want to express one idea: All the major wars that Europe should fight have been fought.

Next, European countries paid more attention to overseas colonization. Even if there is a war in the future, it will be around maritime interests. Exchanges between China and Europe will become more frequent and closer.

The overseas sales of Chinese products will reach another peak, and the customers are those Europeans!

Zhao Han traveled to a ghostly period with successive natural disasters, which was also a heyday of maritime trade.

(Chapter 614 has been released. If you are interested, you can read it.)