In December, the heat in the Mekong Delta is like summer.

Li Zhi pulled his trouser legs, walked in the muddy mud with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and walked forward for a mile before he found a relatively protruding dry plot.

Walking to the dry field, the first thing Li Zhi did was to take off his short-sleeved shirt. He twisted it hard, and unexpectedly wrung out drops of water in the thin blouse.

Li Zhi shook his head, took the kettle from the attendant's hand, and took a big gulp.

Nowadays, the transportation in the coastal areas of one town and nine provinces basically depends on ships, and it is only ten days away from Tianjin to Southeast Asia by steam. Li Zhi took advantage of the fact that there was still some time before the Chinese New Year to take a look at the Indochina Peninsula and inspect the newly laid land.

However, I didn't expect the climate here to be so hot. In the Mekong Delta, this December in the southernmost part of Vietnam is no different from the summer in Tianjin. It's 12 o'clock in the afternoon, and Li Zhi estimates that the temperature outside is at least 30 degrees.

Moreover, the Mekong Delta, or the alluvial plain of the lower Mekong River, which was the great breadbasket of Vietnam in later generations, was really a swamp in its primitive state at this time. Sticky wetlands are everywhere, with dwarf wetland plants growing that seem to have no agricultural value.

Li Zhi put down the kettle, but heard Li Laosi suddenly shout: "Lord Wang, you have such a big leech on your feet!" “

Li Zhi was stunned and looked at his little feet covered with mud. Sure enough, he saw a blood-red leech sucking on his little foot in the mud, desperately sucking blood from his muscles.

Li Zhi was taken aback, because the leech was really huge, seven or eight centimeters long, which was very different from the small leeches common in Jiangnan. The insect didn't know how much blood it had sucked on Li Zhi's feet, and his body was bulging, and it was very terrifying to look closely.

Li Dingguo, who was standing on the side, frowned and jumped over. He said: "Lord Wang, this leech can't be pulled out by force, otherwise its mouthparts will not be pulled out in the flesh and blood, and the wound will fester." Our soldiers deal with this blood-sucking bug by using the flower water you gave us. “

Li Zhi was stunned and said, "Is there still this use for flower water?" “

Li Dingguo nodded and said, "Flower water is really a treasure that repells insects and mosquitoes." Wait, Lord! “

Li Dingguo ran to one of the attendants, took out a bottle of toilet water from the attendant's backpack, walked back and poured some on Li Zhi's little feet.

The flower water is really magical, and as soon as the leech smells the smell of the flower water, it squirms uneasily. After a while, the worm pulled the suction cup out of Li Zhi's muscle, shrunk and fell to the dirt.

Li Dingguo immediately went up and stepped on it a few times, trampling the fat leech into a bloody paste.

Li Zhi looked at the wound on his foot and found that there was a large black patch around the wound, and the bite was still bleeding, so he couldn't help but sigh.

"The development of the Indochina Peninsula has a long way to go."

The development of this hot and humid land in the south is definitely a systematic project that tests the social organization and adaptability. For example, China's Jiangnan region has been gradually developed since the Qin and Han dynasties, but until the Sui and Tang dynasties, productivity lagged behind that of the Central Plains.

Li Laosi arched his hand and said: "Lord Wang, for the development of the Indochina Peninsula, the minister has a strategy, which is a bit abrupt to say. “

Li Zhi said: "What strategy? As long as it is conducive to the occupation of this fertile land by our Han nation, we can boldly say it. “

Li Laosi said: "The minister thinks that the people of Tianjin, Shandong, Henan and even Jianghuai Province can't stand the humidity and heat of Southeast Asia. When the northerners come here, they have to lie on their stomachs in the shade of trees for half of the year, and they can't do anything. The best way to develop the land here is..."

Li Laosi paused, and finally said: "The best way is to migrate the heat-tolerant Lingnan people from Liangguang to develop the land here. “

Hearing Li Laosi's bold suggestion, Li Zhi was stunned.

There are indeed a lot of problems with this proposal.

First of all, Li Zhi relocated the people of one town and nine provinces to the Indochina Peninsula for development, with the important purpose of enriching the people. In the interior, the common people only have a few acres of arable land, and some of them are tenant farmers, so even if they have the strength to exert themselves, they have no land to plant. In Southeast Asia, one person often cultivates 40 acres of paddy fields and harvests 100 stones of grain a year, and his income is several times, more than ten times, or even dozens of times that of before.

Therefore, the right to immigrate is also an important benefit for the people of one town and nine provinces.

Li Laosi's suggestion was to give this important benefit to the residents of Liangguang who were not under Li Zhi's rule.

This is undoubtedly a loss for the people of one town and nine provinces.

The more important thing lies in the suspicion of the imperial court. The inhabitants of Liangguang are not Li Zhi's people, and the large-scale development of the Indochina Peninsula requires millions or tens of millions of people. The migration of the Son of Heaven's people from Liangguang to the Indochina Peninsula will greatly reduce the population density and local finance and taxation of Liangguang. For the Ming court, this was a net loss of population.

This practice is likely to be understood by the Son of Heaven as digging into the wall.

After Li Laosi finished talking about this suggestion, he arched his hand and said: "However, the implementation of this law is quite problematic, it is unfair to the people of one town and nine provinces, and it is not good for the Son of Heaven. The prince just said casually as a subordinate, don't take it seriously. “

When Li Zhi heard this, he said: "We still have a lot of land to open up in the future, and the Han people in one town and nine provinces will have more land in the future." It is not a big problem to give the Indochina Peninsula to the Han people of Liangguang. This is not a big deal to say that the people of one town and nine provinces are unfair. “

"As for digging the corners of the imperial court and reducing the wealth of the two Guangzhous..."

When Li Zhi said this, he was suddenly silent for a long time.

Recently, the relationship between Li Zhi and the Son of Heaven has dropped to the freezing point, if he immigrates to Southeast Asia from Liangguang again, will it completely anger the Son of Heaven Zhu Youzhen?

But after thinking about it for a while, Li Zhi still made up his mind.

"It's okay, this is a great thing for the benefit of the country and the people, I think the Son of Heaven will definitely understand."

"Li Laosi, this policy is feasible. You are ready to prepare, and when everything is in order, you will go to Liangguang to recruit Lingnan Han people to go south to Southeast Asia! “

Li Laosi blinked, but he didn't expect Li Zhi to agree to his suggestion.

He arched his hand and said, "Lord Shengming, the minister will go and prepare for this matter." “

Li Zhi nodded, looked at the swamp around him again, and said, "I wonder if the Lingnan Han people, who are accustomed to the humid heat, can accelerate the development of this wild tropics when they come to Southeast Asia?" “

Li Dingguo stood aside and suddenly asked: "Lord Wang, you said that in the future, the Han people in the mainland will have a more vast land, where are we going to attack next?" “

When Li Zhi heard this, he looked south, waved his hand and said, "In the next year, we will go all the way south to Australia and New Zealand!" “

Li Dingguo was stunned and asked, "What is Australia and New Zealand?" “

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Of course, talking about Australia is too far, the first problem to be solved is to drive out the Dutch on Jawa Island and control the whole of Southeast Asia first. “