"100 million prestige !!" Chang Wei's body shook slightly by this huge harvest, and suddenly, he remembered that he should say something at this time, his mind was racing, and he said in a condensed voice: "The minister is rude, a capital crime!"

This extremely shocked and quickly calmed down in the eyes of the emperor perfectly, Zhu Youxiao said slowly: "It's okay! Qing is making firearms, training sharps, making machinery, and destroying demons and evil in Jiangnan, and the merit is in the community, and I am very relieved!"

Chang Wei bowed down and said loudly: "Worrying about the king is within the scope of the ministers! The ministers acted recklessly, and occasionally violated the law, but fortunately, our emperor was so gracious that he was not held accountable, so he had to go to the palace to see him." Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Zhu Youxiao said: "Qing is a frank person, I heard that you connived at your subordinates to loot the treasury, is this true?"

Chang Wei hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is clear, the minister may have connived at his subordinates, and there is no looting." ”

"Let's talk about it. ”

"Yes!" After a cautious response, Chang Wei's words became smoother and smoother.

However, although the minister was born in the family of an official eunuch, he was not a wealthy man with hundreds of millions of dollars; he made guns and cannons, and his baggage and food were all from the lair of thieves. In the first battle of Weishan, the ministers first hid the White Lotus thief camp, and when the righteous and brave marched back, the minister had already retreated to Taiping Town with the thieves; the righteous and brave did not know that the silver money in the thief's nest was stored in the treasury, so he moved it by himself. Subsequently, the minister carried out secret espionage in the thief's nest and cut off contact with the army, and when the thief army was eliminated, the volunteer branch went south, and the minister was taken away by the brocade guard at the celebration banquet, and he was trapped in prison before he knew that he had this crime. The minister repented on the spot, and ordered his subordinates to return the money to the treasury and pay the fine in full, and the matter was settled. ”

The emperor said leisurely: "In this way, you are indeed innocent, but how do you explain the matter of pretending to be the identity of Shao Ze of the hundred households in Zhejiang?"

Chang Wei's face was ashamed, "At that time, the minister heard that the Francophile had landed on Liuheng Island in the name of trade, and the minister suspected that they had something illegal, so he pretended to be a false identity and secretly inspected himself. This fact is reckless, and he has already been punished in prison. ”

The emperor said, "Duke Anton, I heard that you know about this?"

Wei Liangdong, who was in the front class, came out of the class and said: "Back to the emperor, Chang Wei had permission from his ministers before acting. ”

The emperor waved Wei Liangdong away and said with a smile: "In this way, you have been wronged for nothing." ”

Wei Zhongxian said on the side of the throne: "Chang Xie Yuan has strong bones and strong martial arts, and he can afford to eat that meal." ”

Chang Wei almost crooked his nose in anger, "A meal of the board, you can afford to eat grass, what you said is easy, labor and management were almost killed!"

The emperor smiled, and his face was straight: "In recent years, the weather has been cold, the harvest has decreased sharply, and there are sometimes people who harbor evil intentions, take risks, and incite civil unrest, so we need to be strictly vigilant." ”

All the officials in the palace said "yes", and the emperor looked around to see where Chang Wei was frowning and pondering, so he asked: "Chang Aiqing is from Suzhou, the land in the south of the Yangtze River is fertile, and the climate is warm, so the people must have a better life." ”

Chang Wei immediately said: "Although the minister grew up in Jiangnan, he also followed his father back to Shaanxi, and he felt the suffering of the people in the north, and he was very depressed. ”

"Oh?" the emperor's voice was raised a few degrees, "I heard that Aiqing is good at the way of financial economy, and can have his own opinions on agriculture?"

The lack of food for the peasants in the north was the emperor's biggest heart disease, and when he heard Chang Wei take the initiative to mention this, he immediately became interested.

Chang Wei pondered his words and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has one or two strategies to increase grain production and alleviate the suffering of the people, but before that, the minister wants to ask Lord John Tang to confirm one thing!"

Is there a way to increase grain production? This sentence immediately aroused a lot of discussion in the Imperial Palace, and the Emperor even responded: "Quasi-play! Where is John Tang?"

"The minister is here!" a European with silver hair, blue eyes, high nose, and thin body in a five-grade official uniform responded to the call.

Chang Wei stroked his chest and said, "Dear Mr. Johannadamschallvonbell." ”

The emperor said curiously: "What?"

Before Chang Wei could speak, John Tang replied excitedly: "Your Majesty, this is the minister's real name, John Adam Schaar von Baier, I can't imagine that Chang Daren's German is so standard, it's really surprising to the minister." ”

The emperor smiled thoughtfully, obviously thinking of Chang Wei's English in the Baiyun Temple, but Chang Wei hugged his fists and said: "Lord Tang, it's just a small person below, don't call me Lord, otherwise, I will be beaten." ”

Wei Liangdong, Xu Yunzhen and others in front laughed in a low voice, and Chang Wei returned to business: "The Spaniards brought potatoes to Europe from the American continent, and the English and Russians found that their cold climate was particularly suitable for potato growth, and their yields were not only higher than those of cereals, but also easier to manage. Yu-sama knows these things. ”

John Tang said, "Oh, in Europe it's called potato, and it's an extremely tasty and productive food. ”

Chang Wei immediately said: "Yes, potatoes have become an important food crop in Europe, and the English, Spaniards, and Portuguese have relied on potatoes to fill their stomachs, and the fertility rate has doubled and fed a huge population.

Tang Ruowang said: "There is some truth, but the strength of Spain, Portugal, and Britain does not depend entirely on potatoes." ”

"It doesn't matter!"

Chang Wei waved his hand and said: "The important thing is that potatoes have spread to Daming, and they are very suitable for growing in the cold areas where the original grain yield is very low and can only grow wheat; potatoes are cold-resistant, barren-tolerant, drought-resistant, widely adaptable, and have ultra-high yields; compared with wheat and rice in terms of climate, water and fertilizer conditions, it is more suitable to produce more grain under the conditions of less land and harsher climate." Liaodong, Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi, all places in the north are suitable for planting, and Jiangnan, Chuangui, etc., all places in the Ming Dynasty are suitable for planting. ”

The emperor pressed his hands on the dragon case and asked urgently, "Does Aiqing have a physical object?"

Chang Wei gestured and said, "When Duke Anton returned to Beijing, the minister collected ten bags. ”

Wei Liangdong immediately answered: "Your Majesty, the minister once sent a bag into the palace. ”

Without waiting for the emperor to speak, Wei Zhongxian instructed the little eunuch to get it, Chang Wei introduced various ways to eat potatoes, the little eunuch took a small bag and sent it to the palace, and the emperor ordered the imperial dining room to do it according to what Chang Wei said.

The emperor praised "Good things, really full." Chang Wei said: "A strong man can be full of 20 potatoes a day, and this thing can be eaten when boiled in a pot, which can be eaten as a meal or a vegetable, and the storage time is long, so it is absolutely necessary to promote large-scale planting." ”

"Good, good!" the emperor decreed: "The cabinet and the household department will first take a charter, and this year this year this potato will be regarded as an important crop and promoted in the northern poor harvest areas." ”

"Yes!"

The emperor praised: "Aiqing is really a practical person, I have already seen the first good strategy that Aiqing said, where is the second strategy?"

Chang Wei hesitated and said, "I'm afraid the second one is a bit difficult to do. ”

"Tell me!"

"Yes!" Chang Wei responded: "The minister thinks about it, even if there is a high-yield crop like potatoes, there must be land to make people full, otherwise ordinary people will still not be hungry, so the minister came up with a way to spread the land into the mu." ”

There was a solemn look in the emperor's eyes: "How do you make the stall into the mu?"

"By collecting the silver into the fields and abolishing the 'poll tax,' the landless peasants will be freed from the burden of servitude, the landlords' taxes will naturally increase, which will limit land annexation, and the pressure on ordinary yeoman farmers will also be relieved. ”

The imperial court also wanted to loosen its control over household registration, allowing peasants and craftsmen to move freely and enter the workshops, thus boosting industrial production. ”

Taking the wealthy Jiangnan as an example, the annual income of a well-off family of five is 38 taels of silver, and the high-income people such as grooms, housekeepers, and maids of the rich families earn 18 taels a year; ”

"A workshop covers an area of only one or two acres, and the workers required are five or six hundred to support two or three thousand family members, they do not need to face the loess and face the sky to work hard, do not need to look at the sky to eat, and their lives are relatively stable; in addition, the workers need certain skills and will increase some knowledge, the workers need to cooperate in production, have good discipline, and will naturally abide by the law and maintain the environment, which is equivalent to receiving an education in the work, which is in line with the intention of the Son of Heaven to educate all the people. ”

In this way, a whip law of the former dynasty Zhang Juzheng can continue to be implemented, after the passage of the apportionment into the mu, the land is united, and the Ding Yin and Tian Fu are unified to the mu as the object of taxation, which can greatly simplify the tax and collection procedures and save manpower. ”

"Ridiculous!"

As soon as Chang Wei's voice fell, he was interrupted by a middle-aged official who came out of work, "Full of nonsense! Let the people leave their hometowns and wander around, and the displaced people will surely become criminals and cause chaos to the world.

The atmosphere in the Imperial Palace suddenly cooled down, but Chang Wei used his keen six senses to find that the emperor was glaring at this person from the throne, and immediately asked, "Didn't ask for advice?"

"Zhou Yanru, the right attendant of the official rite department!"

Chang Wei smiled proudly, "Zhou Shilang thinks that if the imperial court does not let go of household registration control, the poor people will not wander around?

Without waiting for Zhou Yanru to answer, Chang Weilang said: "I participated in the battle to extinguish the two cults of Our Lady and the White Lotus, and found that the thieves' combat power is extremely low, and the weapons in their hands are mostly bamboo spears and sticks, and they will not use the guns and cannons of the official army.

"I once asked a thief: Don't you know that the White Lotus Cult's earthly kingdom of God and the childless old mother are fake? The traitor Xu Hongru is just using you to cause trouble in the world; the thief replied: I am the only one of the twelve members of my family, and the rest are starving to death, so I still care if he is real or fake? As long as he gives me a bite to eat, I am willing to do anything!"

"I learned in the thief camp that the White Lotus Cult occupies three counties and two towns, but it is divided into four factions internally, and its ability to fight is really lowly and pitiful, and it is all a group of ignorant horsemen! However, such a group of people can incite four or five hundred thousand people to follow, why?"

The minds of ordinary people are very simple: as long as they have enough to eat and do not starve to death, they will be good people; if they do not have enough to eat and starve to death, they will become a mob that does all kinds of evil!"

"As a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Rites, Lord Zhou is high up and ignores the sufferings of the people, so it is understandable that he has objections to what I said, but the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites does not convince people with reason, but because I am a small person, I want to 'be guilty of my words', which is not enough gentlemanly demeanor and defeats the dignity of the court!"

Zhou Yanru sneered: "Strong words, your ignorant words are not worth refuting at all!"

As soon as he heard this, Chang Wei fell to his knees with a puff and said loudly: "Your Majesty, can a small minister be the palace to impeach Lord Zhou Yanru, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites?" )