Chapter 283 The Key to Changing Rice to Mulberry
When the imperial court’s order to change rice to mulberry came to Zhejiang, it was already February.
Hu Zongxian, who received the urgent official document, still held two letters in his hand.
One of these letters is a letter written to him by his mentor Yan Song, and the other is a letter written by Yan Song's son Yan Shifan.
Hu Zongxian walked into the study with the official documents and two letters from the court. He handed these three things to Xu Wei, sighed and said,
"The court is going to put Zhejiang on the fire!"
Xu Wei opened the letter, and he After carefully reading the three letters, he sighed and said:
"If you are so prosperous, you will suffer from this chaos. Hu Gong rectified Zhejiang relying on Mr. Yan Ge. Now it is time for the Yan family to collect rewards."
Hu Zongxian sighed and said: "Everyone in the world says that I am a strict party. Changing rice to mulberry can only be done in Zhejiang. Wen Chang, can we change rice to mulberry?
" Still understanding, he shook his head and said: "It will definitely not work."
Xu Wei said: "Changing rice to mulberry requires the people to change the rice fields into mulberry fields, and let the people raise silkworms and sell raw silk in exchange for grain. It sounds very good, but in fact it is not. There is simply no way to implement it well."
"First of all, not every household can raise silkworms well, and they are forced to take over it across the board. The people who originally raised silkworms resented the court because there was too much raw silk, and the price dropped. People who know how to raise silkworms will resent the court because they cannot raise silkworms and make silk." "
Then the silkworms really produce silk. At what price will the court buy it?" "
The government collects spring and summer grains. , there are even subordinate officials exploiting them, and there are tricks of kicking buckets and spraying the tops. Now they have to collect raw silk from the entire Zhejiang Province, and the price of this quality of silk is very different. If the subordinate officials pass on shoddy quality, the loss will be to the court. If we talk about good things, then the people are the unlucky ones."
"Another one is grain." "
Even if the people sell raw silk, they still have to buy grain from the market."
"Zhejiang as a whole no longer produces grain. Prices will inevitably rise, and there will definitely be grain merchants hoarding them. When grain prices rise, even if you make more money by converting rice into mulberry than before by selling grain, you may not necessarily buy more grain than you grow. Isn't it going to cause a civil uprising?"
Xu Wei paused and then said:
"Also, converting rice to mulberry requires capital. Whether it is buying silkworm seeds or mulberry trees, this is something that ordinary farmers cannot afford. If If you forcibly change rice to mulberry, the people will have to sell their fields in the end."
"Hu Gong, if you change rice to mulberry, Zhejiang will be in chaos."
After hearing Xu Wei's words, Hu Zongxian sighed and said:
"You are right, Chief Wen. But Mr. Yan Ge and Mr. Xiaoge both wrote letters. I have no position against the national policy of changing rice to mulberry."
Hu Zongxian did not say half of what he said. After the change of rice to mulberry was proposed in the court, only Taichang was the only one in the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty. Gao Gong, the minister of the temple, clearly expressed his opposition, and none of the ministers of Qingliu spoke out against it.
Both Yan Dang and Qingliu remained silent on the proposal. This is something that has never happened since the dispute between the two parties worsened.
As a backbone of the strict party, Hu Zongxian had no position to oppose.
Xu Wei once again thought of the words "You are prosperous with this". He was silent for a while and said:
"Hu Butang, do you really want to implement the conversion of rice into mulberry?"
Hu Zongxian thought for a while and said: "The current plan is to drag the word mulberry." ."
"Delay?"
"Yes, Zhejiang is too big, and not everywhere is suitable for planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms. Let's start with Hangzhou Prefecture, report to the court and wait for Hangzhou Prefecture to produce silk, and then promote it throughout Zhejiang." "Why Hangzhou Prefecture
? ?"
Hu Zongxian said: "Hangzhou has developed trade and has many mulberry fields. Even if it is converted from rice to mulberry, it will have little impact on food prices. If it doesn't work, Hangzhou Prefecture, like Suzhou Prefecture, will buy grain from Ryukyu to stabilize grain prices."
Xu Wei immediately said: "The plan of the Ministry of Finance is wonderful!"
Hu Zongxian shook his head and said: "If there is no trouble in Hangzhou, we can slowly promote it. If there is trouble in Hangzhou, I will write another letter asking for a postponement of changing rice to mulberry. Mr. Yan Ge will not What can you say about me?"
Hu Zongxian's calculation was good, but like all those in power, their biggest problem is that they treat their subordinates as political tools without selfish desires. Maybe it is because there are so many people around who are fawning, and they always feel that their words can Be true to your word and carry it out to the letter.
Ma Ningyuan, the prefect of Hangzhou, like Hai Rui, was born in Juren. Normally, with his background, it would be difficult for him to be a prefect, especially in a large prefecture like Hangzhou.
The former governor of Hangzhou was impeached and dismissed because of the Hangzhou fire last year. Ma Ningyuan was recommended by Hu Zongxian, so he was considered by Hu Zongxian to be a die-hard subordinate. He handed over the conversion of rice to mulberry to the Hangzhou government because of Hu Zongxian's support for it. Ma Ningyuan's trust.
However, Hu Zongxian still underestimated the "motivation" of his subordinates. When he said that Hu Zongxian had handed over to him the change of rice into mulberry that the entire court was very concerned about, Ma Ningyuan quickly summoned his subordinates as if he had been given a shot of blood. Have a meeting next time.
The discussion lasted from day to night, and candles were lit in the lobby. Magistrate Ma was still making urgent arrangements to study the national policy of "converting rice to mulberry" as if he had been given a shot of chicken blood.
On the seat next to him, Yu Zongyuan, then Zhejiang's military commander, was yawning.
Yu Zongyuan was recommended by Su Ze and transferred from Fuzhou Zuowei to Zhejiang.
Originally, Hu Zongxian didn't trust Yu Zongyuan that much, but after meeting the second young master once, he was quickly impressed by him.
The greatest advantage of our Angel Investor No. 1 is that he always follows good deeds.
Before meeting Governor Hu, Yu Zongyuan followed the instructions of his adjutant Lin Deyang and praised the advantages of the gun in front of Governor Hu.
In fact, in the 39th year of Jiajing, the Ministry of War began to manufacture bird guns on a large scale, mainly transporting them to the southeastern coastal areas. Hu Zongxian also had an understanding of the power of bird guns.
In particular, Qi Jiguang admired bird guns very much, and his right-hand man praised them so much. Hu Zongxian also knew the advantages of bird guns.
Yu Zongyuan talked eloquently to Hu Zongxian, talking about bird and gun warfare, and Hu Zongxian was stunned for a while.
However, Hu Zongxian only listened to half of Qi Jiguang's words. Although Qi Jiguang felt that bird guns were quite powerful, they were limited to imported bird guns and those captured from Japanese pirates.
The bird muskets produced by the Ming Dynasty are not included in this list. This is naturally because the quality of the bird muskets produced by the Ming Dynasty is so poor. They often explode and misfire, and soldiers are afraid of using them.
The Second Young Master Yu talked a lot about the benefits of bird guns, and even said that he would form a new army of bird guns, which suited Hu Zongxian's appetite.
There was no need to throw away the muskets issued by the Ministry of War, and instead spent money to purchase imported muskets. Hu Zongxian was often impeached by officials for this matter.
Now that the Second Young Master Yu has taken over everything, he can help remove the inventory of gunfire issued by the Ministry of War, and can also ensure that these birdguns can be used to train the new army. It is naturally a win-win situation for Hu Zongxian.
Therefore, Yu Zongyuan was immediately reused by Hu Zongxian, and he was appointed as the Zhejiang Staff General to organize and train the new army.
After passing the interview, Mr. Yu also made a request to his boss.
He volunteered to be stationed near Hangzhou, of course, so as not to delay enjoying the prosperity of Hangzhou. Hu Zongxian agreed to his request, asked him to recruit troops near Hangzhou, and set up his military camp outside Hangzhou.
After getting what he wanted, Second Young Master Yu naturally left all the military training tasks to Lin Deyang, while he spent the whole day enjoying himself in Hangzhou City.
This time, Ma Ningyuan, the prefect of Hangzhou, wanted to implement the conversion of rice into mulberry. Magistrate Ma, who had been promoted from a civil servant and had rich experience at the grassroots level, understood that it was impossible to implement the conversion of rice into mulberry by relying solely on the subordinate officials and officials of the county government.
So he set his sights on Yu Zongyuan's army.
Yu Zongyuan's Hangzhou New Army has a total of three thousand people, one thousand of whom are equipped with Ming bird blunderbuss issued by the Ministry of War, and two fifty-man general flags, which are equipped with Folang machine guns cast by the imperial court.
The rest of the battalions are also trained using the Yuanyang Formation tactics, because Yu Zongyuan has no interest in embezzling "little money" such as food and salary, and Lin Deyang and other key officers were trained by Su Ze. It can be said that the Hangzhou New Army They were well-paid and well-trained, and Ma Ningyuan could tell that they were elite.
Magistrate Ma said: "General Yu, I need your help in converting rice to mulberry this time."
Yu Zongyuan was so confused that he almost fell asleep when he was suddenly called by Ma Ningyuan, and he looked up blankly.
However, Second Young Master Yu was not a fool. He immediately said: "The new army in Hangzhou belongs to the army commanded by Governor Hu. Without Governor Hu's order, I dare not move without authorization!" Although Second Young Master Yu is a dandy, he knows that this
involves Getting to the land is the most difficult thing to do.
Although he couldn't tell what was inappropriate about changing rice to mulberry, he knew that the people would definitely not be willing to do so.
The Hangzhou recruits he led were all recruited from the vicinity of Hangzhou. It was no problem to defend the country and fight against Japanese pirates, but when he was asked to suppress the local area, everyone was a fellow villager. Yu Zongyuan also knew that this was a hot potato.
But Ma Ningyuan still said reluctantly:
"It's not like we need all the new recruits from Hangzhou to dispatch. We only need General Yu to lead the elite personal guards and follow me to inspect the situation in various places. This is not a difficult task, right?" Yu
Zong After thinking about it for a while, Yuan felt that it was feasible. He spent all day in Hangzhou, so it would not be a good idea to offend this local official.
The government in Hangzhou was busy issuing policies to promote the conversion of rice to mulberry. Su Ze in Nanjing also received a government order.
He was a little stunned. There was no such thing as converting rice into mulberry in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
But thinking about it, it seems that there is nothing wrong with converting rice into mulberry.
The Ryukyu tribute trade in Fuzhou City's Bosi was in full swing. In fact, from the emperor to the ministers, no one knew the tricks involved.
How could a small Ryukyu country be able to eat such silk, buy so many goods, and trade with so much money?
From the emperor to the ministers, everyone knew who the Ryukyu Tribute was doing business with.
But they all remained silent, and the reason was naturally very simple: the court had no money.
In the past few years, troops have been deployed in both the south and the north. There was an earthquake in Guanzhong, and the three major palaces were burned down. The emperor also wanted to build Taoist temples all over the world.
In addition, the emperor also gave various rewards. For example, when Princess Yu gave birth to a grandson, the emperor rewarded her with fifty thousand taels of silk.
Such excessive rewards are naturally inconsistent with the ancestral system, but the emperor still suppressed the objections of the Ministry of Revenue with the sentence "This is my family matter."
The imperial court has no money, but the Fuzhou Ship Bureau can send money every year. Ryukyu merchants propose to harvest as much silk as they can, and it seems normal to propose changing rice to mulberry?
Since time traveling, Su Ze has been unable to change the course of history, and now history has finally changed.
Fang Wanghai came back from the Yamen worriedly, summoned Su Ze to his house and said:
"The imperial court is promoting the conversion of rice to mulberry in Zhejiang. If it succeeds, it will definitely be promoted to the southern Zhili area. Now the people will suffer!"
In Zhejiang Notes that year At the time of the tariff law, Fang Wanghai knew the virtues of the officials below him better than Hu Zongxian.
The powerful will inevitably collude with the subordinate officials to first raise the price of mulberry trees, and then force the people to switch from rice to mulberry trees. Those who cannot afford mulberry seedlings will be forced to sell their fields by the subordinate officials, or they will simply be prohibited from farming, leaving the land unused and forced to In the end, the people sold their fields to survive.
Fang Wanghai had already guessed that the core of the strict party must have rushed to Zhejiang, ready to benefit from this change of rice to mulberry.
Fang Wanghai looked at Su Ze expectantly, but Su Ze shook his head this time.
"Changing rice to mulberry is a national policy, and I can't shake it. The only advantage is that Hu Zongxian is mature and prudent, and he did not cater to Yan Ge and his son and push it forward. Now there is a buffer time for the pilot project in Hangzhou." "I'm worried
. It's the Japanese pirates."
"Since the death of Wang Zhi, the Japanese rebellion in Fujian and Guangdong has continued. Now the imperial court has added more troops to the point where the people are in dire straits. From last year to this year, several civil unrests have broken out in Fujian and Guangdong. If this continues, Fujian and Guangdong will Spring sowing will also be delayed."
"Zhejiang is also plagued by Japanese pirates every year. If the conversion of rice to mulberry is implemented in Zhejiang, then the entire southeastern coastal provinces will not have enough food."
Su Ze did not say a word, and the whole The shortage of food in the southeast also has his share of "contribution".
Because of the promotion of new spinning machines, cotton textile workshops throughout Jiangnan are now facing a problem, that is, there is not enough cotton.
Originally, the cotton in Songjiang Prefecture was purchased by merchants from the north and Hunan and Hubei regions. In the Jiangnan region, it was generally only planted in a small part of the ridges in the fields, which was not a climate.
But since last year, all the workshops that have used new machines have made money. After the machines have evened out human capital, they can make money as long as they have cotton. You must know that cotton is too expensive in the increasingly cold north. Good sale!
This year, there are even Jiangnan businessmen in Jiangnan contacting overseas merchant ships in an attempt to purchase cotton from overseas.
As for those who can't buy cotton, they can only find ways to grow it themselves.
This year in Jiangnan, some dry fields have begun to grow cotton.
The profits from these two cash crops, cotton and silk, began to make the entire Jiangnan region take the initiative to "change rice to mulberry" and "change rice to cotton." As a land of plenty, Jiangnan was actually short of food.
At the same time, the capital, Prince Yu's Mansion.
Zhang Juzheng said to Xu Jie:
"The key to changing rice to mulberry is not mulberry, but the rice!" "
It is easy for the strict party to implement the change from rice to mulberry, but it does not cause civil unrest in Zhejiang." "
Japanese rebellion is happening in Fujian and Guangzhou . , then only Southern Zhili will be able to support Zhejiang."
"If we hold the food of Southern Zhili in our hands, we will be invincible!"
(End of this chapter)