This food shortage did have one benefit, which was of great benefit to Li Jia's move to open up wasteland in Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Due to the shortage of food, many desperate porters had no choice but to accept Li Jia's employment to break away from the heavy labor and move towards the bright road of increasing productivity.

As mentioned earlier, Li Jia bought several thousand acres of wasteland near Baisha Port, plus a small hill. These lands were not for viewing. He was preparing to carry out large-scale productivity labor.

After this shortage of food and grass, and all the resulting events, it was clear to him that whoever controls the food will control the entire Hainan, and whoever is the real king of Hainan.

The first thing Li Jia did was to select Champa rice from Fujian and improve rice seeds from Hainan.

The famous name of Champa rice throughout history is not fake. Compared with ordinary rice, the customs are real.

"Compared to Chinese rice, the ears are longer without awns, the grain size is smaller, and the rice grows regardless of the location."

Many people have a misunderstanding, thinking that the Champa rice in the Northern Song Dynasty was imported directly from the Champa Kingdom. But in fact, these rice have been planted in Fujian for hundreds of years. During the Northern Song Dynasty, it was just vigorously promoted, and the rice has adapted to

Due to China's climate, upland rice was transformed into rice.

Because of its high yield, it was widely accepted by farmers and became today's early rice, while China's native rice became late rice.

"Champa rice can be harvested twice a year in Fujian, but Hainan is vast and sparsely populated with fertile land, so it can be harvested three times a year. If promoted effectively, Hainan will be self-sufficient in food in a few years!"

Looking at the reclaimed land in front of him, Li Jia was filled with emotions.

People in Hainan only focus on the outside world and only want to build more ships and transport more food back. However, Li Jia is different. Self-reliance is the way to go.

The thousands of acres of wasteland in front of him cost him hundreds of dollars. If it could be harvested three times a year, the food produced would be enough to supply the entire Baisha Port.

"Mr. Lang, according to your instructions, we have recruited more than 100 farmhands, which is more than enough to cultivate these thousands of acres of land!"

"But they are very suspicious of Champa rice. After all, it is so shocking that it can be harvested three times a year. I don't believe it either!"

Liang Zheng looked at Lang Jun's confident look, but doubts lingered in his heart.

"Don't worry, you will understand in a few months!" Li Jia was extremely confident.

"Before, I sent people to Fujian to bring in a batch of grain. The grains they picked were round and fragrant, and they were planted in winter and harvested in summer. In a few months, Qiongzhou will naturally bow to me!"

"What happened to the three major chambers of commerce?"

"Ever since they smashed up their grain store, they have become more honest. In my opinion, it is mainly because of the grain ships entering the port in the past two days. They are just taking a temporary rest. They may be holding back some bad news!" Liang Zheng said slightly.

He bent down and said with a smile, obviously no longer paying attention to them.

"Let's spare their lives this time. When we gain a firm foothold, it will be easy for them!" Li Jia sneered.

Li Jia adheres to the principle that if anyone punches me, he must be prepared to bear the consequences of hundreds or thousands of punches. It can be said to be retribution, or it can be said to be stingy.

"Not bad!" Li Jia knelt down and pinched the slippery soil. A rotten smell emerged from the tip of his nose, indicating that the soil here was very fertile.

Hainan has abundant rainfall. Although it is said to be a wasteland, it is nothing more than some muddy swamps with mud everywhere. It is most suitable to leave the wasteland.

In addition, in order to save labor, we specially bought oxen, and the plowing speed was extremely fast. Compared with the people in the past, who carried the land on their backs, it was simply heaven and earth.

"Eh-" Suddenly, Li Jia saw a rare item, which turned out to be a curved shaft plow. Such an ancient and advanced farming work made him curious.

"Since when do we have this thing?" Li Jia was quite moved as he looked at the iron plows in the hands of the farmers.

"A few days ago, news came from Danzhou that a large iron mine had been discovered, and you ordered that as many weapons as possible be forged.

You ask for quick development, but there is no other way. The iron ore mine is rich, so I just transported some ore back from Danzhou, and then called a few blacksmiths to build a few iron plows. After all, they are much faster than wooden plows!"

Li Jia showed some joy on his face and said encouragingly: "You are really doing a good job, very good!"

Li Jia naturally knew about the iron ore discovered in Danzhou. This was the Shilu Iron Mine, later the largest open-pit iron mine in Hainan. It was easy to mine and had extremely high iron content. It was known as the richest ore in Asia.

Therefore, Li Jia ordered that weapons be forged first, and Danzhou naturally obeyed and used all the blacksmiths to forge weapons, but there was a surplus of ore, but he forgot that steel was the primary productive force.

The demand for iron in agriculture is also indispensable, such as sickles, iron plows, hoes, etc. With them, it is certain that the output will increase greatly, but Li Jia forgot about it for a while.

"For rice, there will be hatred for rice. Although I allow them to exchange the rice for the next few years for cattle, the iron plow cannot be used in vain. If nothing happens, let them dig ditches and build ponds."

Although Hainan has three crops a year, it still rains a lot, so necessary water conservancy facilities are still needed!"

"It is necessary to build a few ponds on these thousands of acres of land to raise some fish and shrimps and improve the food!"

As Li Jia thought about it, a lot of knowledge about agriculture kept pouring into his mind. He imagined that this place could be like his own, with paddy fields surrounding ponds. When there was a drought, water would be pumped out for irrigation. If there was too much rain, it would be discharged to eliminate waterlogging.

Some mulberry trees were planted beside the pond and field ridges. The children climbed the trees happily. They sat on the ridges and handed some sweet and sour mulberries to their relatives who had worked hard for a long time. The buffaloes who had worked hard to plow the fields took advantage of this time.

, slipped into the pond and rested happily.

"What you said is true. Qiongzhou is prone to waterlogging, so ponds must be built!" Liang Zheng's face straightened, and then he remembered the extraordinary weather in Hainan.

"If this is the case, then the ditch must be dug deep, otherwise it will be easily blocked!"

"It's great that you can think of this!" Li Jia nodded and continued to give guidance:

"You have also read books for a few years. Don't limit your vision to the Analects of Confucius, Spring and Autumn Period, etc. Read more "Essentials for Qi Min", "Book of Agriculture", etc. Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, agriculture is the foundation, so you must pay attention!"

"Besides, these farmers come from all over the country, and their methods are also different. If there are good methods, they will naturally become more popular. When you come here, you put food first and do whatever it takes to increase food production and income!

Food is the keystone——"

"Next year, the number of acres of land that will be reclaimed must reach 10,000 hectares. Although these lands are not ours, they are not others' either. They belong to no one and are on a first-come, first-served basis! Our stone tablets on the trees naturally belong to us!"

Hearing this, Liang Zheng trembled all over, it turned out that he could still do this.
Chapter completed!