"Fifth brother, my younger brother feels that this matter cannot be forced to return to their hometown." After some thought, Zhu Youstew said: "Although it is very easy for the government to issue an order for them to return to their hometowns, it is not a cure for the symptoms, as long as they earn money from farming in the countryside and are not as good as doing labor in the city, they will always want to come to the city to do labor as a laborer." ”

"Then what do you think, how to cure the root cause?" Yun Xi asked again.

"Let the people grow food and earn more than they did in the city." After Zhu Youstew answered, he said: "But there is also a need for people in the city to do labor. Now that business is more and more prosperous, more people are needed to be partners and do labor. The younger brother also agreed with his brother's previous statement that taxes should be levied from merchants and taxes should be reduced from farmers, thereby reducing the burden on farmers. ”

"But in this world, in the end, it is based on agriculture, there are no merchants to do business, they can't collect commercial taxes, the court is just poorer, if no one farms the land and there is no food, the world will be in chaos. So most people should still stay in the countryside and farm. ”

After all, Zhu Youstew is younger, easy to accept new ideas, not as old-fashioned as Zhu Hu, Yun Xi proposed various measures to encourage commercial development, such as allowing businessmen to move around the country freely without a guide, opening the sea to do business, and canceling some domestic checkpoints. But he always believes that agriculture is the foundation.

Zhu You's idea of stewing is not wrong, even if it is put in the future generations, it can't be said to be wrong, after all, people can do without anything else, even if they don't have clothes to wear, but they must drink water and eat. If you don't have food to eat, you will starve to death.

"How do you think they can grow food at home than they can do in the city?" Instead of answering the agricultural-oriented question, Yoon-hee went back to the original question.

"Let every family have a big livestock." Zhu Youstew quickly replied: "A family without big livestock can plant 30 acres of land in Henan, but if there is a cow, the land that can be planted can at least double." Even if some of the feed for the big animals is removed, there is still a lot more food left than there is now. In this way, it is not much less than working as a laborer in the city, and there is no need to live separately from his wife and children if he stays in the countryside, and it is convenient to live with good food, and most people will be willing to stay in the countryside and farm. ”

"Fifth brother, I heard that the imperial court has got millions of cattle, sheep and horses in the northwest this time? Even if every family of soldiers who died in battle was given a cow, the others were also divided into a sheep, and there was still a lot left? The imperial court should transport these cattle and sheep to the Central Plains and sell them to farmers at low prices, even if not every family can have a cow, but also let most families have it, so that there will be more fields to plant and more grain to harvest. ”

"However," Zhu Youstew thought of something to himself, and continued: "Since ancient times, there have been cases where grain is cheap and hurts farmers, and if there is more grain, it may not necessarily be a good thing for farmers. ”

He muttered, "......, but in any case, more food is better than less." ”

Then Zhu Youstew said with a straight face: "As for the last two reasons for staying in the city, you can't indulge them." The family and the country are all over the world, how can you not listen to the words of the family? As for the pastimes in the city, I don't think it's good for ordinary people to have no pastime at all, but it's just a matter of watching a play and listening to a book, and it's not right to spend all the money you earn if you play too much. Fortunately, there are fellow villagers and clans, as long as they earn much less from farming in the countryside than in the city, the clans and fellow villagers will bring them back without the government having to bother more. ”

Yun Xi listened to Zhu Youzhuo's opinion, and after he finished speaking, he said: "Sixth brother, your idea is right, you can't rely on a decree from the government to let them go back." "It turns out that most economic problems will only get worse if they are dealt with administratively, either negatively affecting the economy or breeding corruption. So you can't do that.

However, "It's good that you want every family to have big livestock, but it can't be done for the imperial court to sell the cattle and sheep captured in the northwest to farmers at a low price." ”

"What kind of virtue do these people in the government have, you should know that if you sell cattle at a low price, they will probably divide the cattle into two groups, one of which is sold to their relatives and fellow villagers, and the other group is sold to the merchants who bribe them and let them resell them. In the end, the average farmer still does not benefit. ”

"But don't worry," Yun Xi saw that Zhu Youstew wanted to speak, and immediately added: "There are suddenly so many cattle in the Central Plains, the price of cattle will definitely be reduced, and the people will still be able to get benefits." ”

"You can think that it's not bad for the grain to hurt the farmers, but there is also a way to deal with it, that is, let the people in the Central Plains raise more pigs, cattle and sheep, and the livestock have to consume feed, and the feed is also food, so that too much food will not be consumed? If that is not enough, let go of winemaking, which costs a lot of food, and the price of food will not be too low. ”

"But, fifth brother, there are still people in the world who can't afford to eat food, and they can't just raise livestock, how can they let go of winemaking?" Zhu Youstew said eagerly.

"Isn't the reason why the price of food has dropped is because there is more food? Now as long as there is no disaster, the entire people of Daming will have food, and there will be more food in the future, how can there be people who can't afford to eat? Yun Xi asked with a smile.

Zhu Youstew was stunned for a while, and didn't know how to answer for a while.

"Sixth brother, since ancient times, the direct cause of the demise of one generation after another is that there are many people and little land, and the lack of food is enough to make the people rebel, so the lack of food has a deep memory; But now the Ming Dynasty has more people and less land, and the grain is enough to eat, and the more land is planted, the more grain is produced. Yun Xi said.

Zhu Youstew has also understood. His thinking is completely the thinking of more people and less land, but he forgot that at this time, Da Ming is less people and more people.

"Fifth brother, my younger brother is wrong. However, the younger brother thought that it was still not appropriate to completely let go of winemaking, and the imperial court should control it. The population is always increasing, and now the vacant land in the Central Plains will be filled, and the situation of too much food will always change. But Zhu Youstew said so in the end.

"Sixth brother, when you think about things, you can't just think about this one-third of an acre of land under your feet." Yun Xi said.

"Fifth brother, what do you mean by this?" Zhu Youstew asked.

Yun Xi did not answer, but said: "In addition, since there are fewer people and more land now, we should adopt the method of farming with fewer people and more land, rather than still using the method of farming with more people and less land." ”

"What is this man's farming method with less land and more land?" Zhu Youstew asked again.

This time Yun Xi answered, but still did not answer positively: "Your brother already has a plan in his heart, and when the spring of next year begins, my brother will choose a few places in Beijing, Kaifeng, Suzhou and other places to experiment, and you will know when the time comes." ”