Zhu Jishi has always had a wrong idea that farming should be a profession, a profession with a lot of "money", and it requires a dynamic group of farmers to devote themselves wholeheartedly, rather than the sideline of migrant workers or the old life of rural people in their later years. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info, ybdu, this is actually related to what he saw and heard in his youth and youth, although he is a city dweller in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong, but the place where he lives is not far from the countryside, and there are many farmers among his relatives. Of course, I know that the land in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong has been abandoned and a large number of young and middle-aged people in the rural areas have left. When I was studying in Germany, I saw the prosperity of the European countryside and the prosperity of agriculture. In addition, Emperor Zhu, who was a returnee, always had a little bit of admiration for foreigners, so he mistakenly regarded European family farms and agricultural cooperatives as the most ideal agricultural system.

However, Zhu Jishi also knew that in order to realize this ideal agricultural system, there must be enough arable land, and at the same time, the ability of the cities to absorb the surplus population in the rural areas must be strong enough. Otherwise, a large number of peasants who have left the land will flood into the cities, with no food and clothing, but they will be the best rebels!

Moreover, the family farm is actually a capitalist mode of agricultural production - there is only wage labor, and there is no feudal personal dependence. In China in the middle of the 19th century, the rich peasants and small and medium-sized landlords who existed in large numbers in the countryside were in fact similar existences. The gentry and landlords, who ruled the countryside, were an obstacle to the development of family farms, and the gentry, as the de facto rulers of the villages, oppressed not only the poor and middle peasants, but also the wealthier but politically undignified families.

In addition, the family farm is only a production organization and not a fighting collective. It would be too dangerous to move the unsavory Han peasants as families to areas where the struggle was fierce, such as Northeast China, Siberia, and Xihua.

Therefore, Zhu Jishi, who has been in power for nearly 20 years. Family farms have never been promoted with much fanfare. However, at this time, with the acceleration of the industrialization process of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of colonies and new territories were developed and the situation gradually stabilized. In addition, the rule of the rural gentry gradually collapsed under the double impact of the imperial examination reform and party politics. It was time for the Ming Dynasty to implement the "ideal rural system" of family farms and cooperatives.

Today, Emperor Zhu summoned Zuo Zongtang, Luo Zenan, Zheng Hong and Liu Peng to the Hot Spring Palace, just to discuss this matter with them.

"The development and progress of a country starts from the ground to the ground, and the key to building a house lies in the foundation. If the foundation is not solid, even if the building is thousands of feet high, it will collapse sooner or later in an instant. And I, the Ming Dynasty, should build the foundation of eternity. The foundation needs to be very solid. The foundation of our China has been agriculture since ancient times, and the people regard food as the sky. The country is agriculture-oriented......"

Zhu Jishi was still talking. It's all a great truth, but it sounds a little funny to Zuo Zongtang and others - Your Majesty, you have always been based on industry and commerce, how do you think of taking agriculture as the foundation today? But no matter what I thought in my heart, my face was a respectful expression of listening carefully to the teachings. As a minister. You can also live in peace for 20 years. Zuo Zongtang also knows who can play a mule temper and who can't play a big name.

Zhu Jishi's gaze swept lightly over several faces, and said with a smile: "But for thousands of years in China, I have been accustomed to opposing the foundation of agriculture and the end of industry and commerce, but in fact, it is not necessary. The so-called hustle and bustle of the world is for profit, business is for profit, isn't it for money to be an official for thousands of miles? I haven't heard of the opposition between the soldiers. Since the three people of the scholars and industrialists are all profit-seekers, how can the peasants not be moved by profits? Even I, the king, like to speak well...... Oh. I am a king who loves money and takes it in a good way. Write it down for me, and this will be regarded as the emperor's ancestor in the future. My descendants must remember that they can love money, but they must take it in a proper way. ”

Weng Tongyi is the minister of the imperial study, so he naturally follows Emperor Zhu like a fart, and at this time he is holding a brush to record the "sermon" of Emperor Laozi. Hearing Zhu Jishi's words, he hurriedly recorded the words "The king loves money and takes it in a good way". Our Emperor Zhu has always loved money, and he can't listen to any nonsense about "not competing with the people for profit" - he does not regard the royal consortium as an abnormal super-monopoly consortium in the Greater China economic circle.

Zuo Zongtang and Luo Zenan also glanced at each other when they heard this, and they both nodded in agreement. Zuo Zongtang said loudly in his Hunan official dialect: "What the emperor said is extremely true. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of our cabinet has also thought of a lot of ways to help the farmers of Daming increase their income over the years, but there are too many farmers and the land is thin, so it is not easy to have food and clothing, and after all, it is not as good as the people of industry and commerce. ”

Luo Zenan also said: "Your Majesty, I have tens of thousands of farmers in the Ming Dynasty, and the arable land is currently registered as only 250,000 mu, which already includes the land of various subject countries. Although there is still a lot of uncultivated land in the northeast, northwest and south, 300,000 mu is the upper limit. 300,000 acres of cultivated land are distributed to 50,000 farmers, which is 6 acres of thin fields per capita. ”

The population of Daming is really larger. Counting all the subject states (excluding the Kingdom of California and New Japan), the population of the 17 years after the liberation must have exceeded 60,000! And the natural growth rate is more than 1.2% per year. If nothing else, around 1900, the total population of the Ming Empire will definitely exceed 1 billion! As for the cultivated area, even if you conquer the entire South Seas, the Indochina Peninsula and Australia, the maximum sky is 4 billion mu, oh, there may be about 2 billion mu of grassland, but the population carrying capacity of the grassland cannot be compared with the cultivated land. At that time, if the urbanization rate of Daming is only 20% to 30%, then 800 million to 700 million agricultural population will divide 4 billion mu of land equally, and the per capita is 5 to 6 mu, and a family of 5 and 6 will only cultivate 30 mu of land. Although it is more than twice as good as the historical situation of only 2 mu and 3 mu per capita, it is impossible to become rich after all.

What's more troubling, after 1900, will the natural population growth rate of the Ming Dynasty decrease? If this kind of rapid growth is maintained, the population of 1.5 billion, 1.8 billion, or even 2 billion will probably be reached soon. At that time, the resources and land of the Ming Empire will have to be tense again.

According to the experience of later generations, the slowdown in population growth is often related to the increase in urbanization rate, the increase in per capita education level, and the intensity of competition in society as a whole. Urbanization, in turn, often means greater competitive pressure and easier access to education...... To put it bluntly, it is also a bad move to keep the people from resting and toiling all day long. However, Emperor Zhu intended to use this method to alleviate the pressure of excessive population growth, so as to ensure that the Ming Dynasty could maintain peace and stability for a long time after closing his eyes.

The foundation of urbanization, in Zhu's view, is precisely a prosperous and efficient agriculture. Only when about 30% of the peasants (it is impossible to feed 97% of the citizens with 3% of the peasants at present) can bear the heavy responsibility of supporting 70% of the urban population, can the urbanization rate of the Ming Dynasty reach a level comparable to that of Britain, France and Germany.

Zhu Jishi smiled slightly: "Luo Xiang, my idea is to let 20,000 farmers cultivate 300,000 acres of land. On average, there should be 15 acres of land, and based on a family of 5, a farmer should have 75 to 100 acres of land. Therefore, the family farm I plan to support is currently about 100 acres. ”

Emperor Zhu did not want a family farm of 200 acres per household like in Poland. It is not easy for Daming to do 100 acres here. As for further concentration of land and the formation of greater scale effects, that is a matter of the future.

"Your Majesty, does the Han land also want to support a 100-acre farm?" Zuo Zongtang shook his head slightly and said, "There are many people in Han and little land, and the arable land is only about 120,000 mu. If they are all 100-acre farms, they will be 12 million farms at most, and if there are 5 people per household, there will be only 60 million farmers. Even if you include mulberry planting, handicrafts, traders, animal husbandry and fishing, the maximum number of people in the Han countryside is 100 million. Where do the remaining 300 million people go? What should I do? ”

"Naturally, I went to the city and took industry and commerce as my business!" Zhu Jishi had a plan in his heart, "The population of the 18 provinces of the Central Plains and Han should be controlled at about 400 million as much as possible, including 100 million farmers and 300 million industrial and commercial people. Therefore, in the next 20 years, I should support a hundred acres of farms, expand urban commercial ports, and continue to encourage people to move to the frontier and the kingdom of California and the new kingdom of Japan in the New World of America! (To be continued.) )