As the Prime Minister of the Empire, Li Hai was not only a lobbyist. He carried the internal affairs of the empire on his shoulders. The lives of hundreds of millions of people in dozens of provinces of the empire are closely related to their policies. In fact, the people of the empire had little reaction to pacifying the southwest. After all, the gap in strength between the two sides is too huge, so in the eyes of most people who care about this matter, pacifying the southwest is only a matter of time.

For the Prime Minister who had just taken over Guangfu District, his first job was to make everyone have food and clothing. In the first year of the empire, this work was achieved by relying on massive amounts of food imported from the Nanyang Province, establishing a reserve granary, setting up a porridge factory, renting nationalized land to landless refugees, and exempting taxes and rents, organizing idle people and refugees in the city, providing work for them through major projects such as building roads and dredging rivers, and the widows and beggars who were living on the streets were also concentrated to support them.

Two years after entering the empire, social peace and industry and commerce in various places developed rapidly. The labor force that had lost its engineering due to the completion of social projects was given the opportunity to enter workshops and shops. Offices at all levels, especially in the Jiangnan region, began to set up art practice centers on a large scale, with administrative offices at all levels providing places and food and clothing, and key industrial and commercial masters providing technicians to train strong labor into workers, and then enter workshops to work. This model is most common in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions where the commodity economy is extremely prosperous, especially in traditional and strong industries in Jiangnan such as textiles. It not only recovers rapidly, but also expands rapidly.

The imperial reform broke the personal dependence relationship between Zhu Ming and the Qing Dynasty. The personal dependence between slaves and masters, tenants and landlords either no longer existed or was completely renewed, bringing sufficient labor to economic development. The empire's center was transferred to Jiangnan, especially after the establishment of Shenjing as the capital of the empire, capitalists from overseas provinces of the empire used marine trade to quickly inject capital. In addition, the huge demand on the coast, along the river and canals, as well as the semi-colonized Japanese market, all gave Jiangnan's economic development abundant momentum.

"Anhui requested to allocate 35,000 labor reform, hard labor and other offenders for the expansion of their iron ore production. Another 500,000 taels are required to invest, requesting to borrow from United Bank, or opening up part of the iron ore shares to private individuals."

In Li Hai's office, subordinate officials routinely reported a series of major events to the Prime Minister. After hearing about the increase in iron ore production, Li Hai did not hesitate at all and said: "The financing matter can be opened to solve the problem of some shares. As for labor, there is no one. The people he wants need to immigrate overseas or use them to dredge rivers. In addition, it is notified that the development of the southern steel industry is mainly in the direction of high precision, and primary products such as iron ore and pig iron are not among the promotion. Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Liaoning have been set to be the priority."

"Hejian, Hebei, Daming, Shandong Linqing, Wuding and other five prefectures and 17 counties encountered locust plagues, and the particles in many places were not harvested, and the production was reduced by more than 80%. Please ask the cabinet to allocate silver to provide disaster relief, which will cost 125 yuan in silver......"

"No! Locust plague causes production reduction and no harvest. You can use rice and grain relief. How to directly obtain the finance? First, embezzle 500,000 yuan of industrial and food reserve grain in the warehouses in Tianjin, Jining and Huaian to distribute it to the government. It can be replenished before the end of the year. The Ministry of the Interior will go to various places to investigate the disaster situation. After news, it will be dealt with separately.

"I said that during this period, Jiangsu and Anhui prefectures and counties have been expanding their grain reserves. It turns out that they have planted the fields for growing grain into cotton! Everyone, I would like to ask, if there is a famine in the Lianghuai area on one day, wouldn't it be that the empire's heartland will also suffer this disaster?" Li Hai pointed the table with his finger and asked.

Ma Donglai's face changed slightly, he coughed lightly, and said, "Prime Minister, the two Huaihe Rivers are densely packed with convenient transportation, with canals, and foreign transportation. If there really is one day, whether it is the grain of the two lakes, the grain storage of the two capitals, or the grain from overseas, it can be quickly arrived, and it is not that serious."

Li Hai smiled: "The deputy prime minister has simply thought about it."

Ma Donglai moved when he heard this, and didn't know what Li Hai meant. Seeing that he was puzzled, Li Hai looked at everyone and asked, "Do you know what this king means?"

The cabinet ministers shook their heads slightly, Ma Dong looked at the cabinet officials and asked, "Do you know?"

A young member of the 24th and 5th century stood up and said respectfully: "I think that your Highness said that it should be a disaster not only for agriculture and farmers, but also for industry and commerce. For example, locust plagues, locusts are not only for rice and wheat, but also for cotton plants. Similarly, floods are not divided into grain or economic crops, and they are also affected by disasters. If the grain yield is reduced or poor harvest, the people cannot fill their stomachs. But as the deputy prime minister said, relying on the benefits of transportation of Lianghuai Water Network, allocating grain support in various places, but if cotton fields are damaged and cotton production is reduced, then what should the textile industry in Liufu, which relies on Lianghuai cotton as the raw material?"

"It's very good, then what do you think?" Li Hai asked with a smile.

The man said, "This egg cannot be placed in the same basket. My empire is vast, and one province can cover the Thai and western regions. In this way, the cotton planting area can be expanded and the raw materials required by the six governments can be distributed to more provinces as much as possible, such as the northwest province in the northwest of the northwest provinces suitable for cotton growth. In this way, a province will suffer from disasters and will not be cut off and the prices of cotton cloth will soar. Moreover, it can also take this opportunity to develop the economy of various places, which is also a good move."

"Although you are not right, you are also very knowledgeable. Write down his name and give it a full mark in this year's assessment." Li Hai praised.

"Secretary, do you think what he said is wrong?" Li Hai asked again.

Ma Donglai had to say: "The reason why Lianghuai is the largest raw material production area of ​​textile industry is mainly because Lianghuai is convenient transportation. Although the northern provinces are also suitable for climate, if they are not close to canals and ports, the cotton freight rate will be high and the cost will rise. Take Shandong as an example. Because of its closeness to the canal, the cotton price in Jining in Linqing is no different from the average price of cotton in Lianghuai. Dengzhou and Qingdao are cheaper than Lianghuai because of their convenient shipping. However, Qingzhou, Laizhou, Tai'an and other prefectures have more land transportation and the cotton price is higher than Lianghuai. As for what he said just now, it is even more inconvenient to transport. A asbestos transported from Shaanxi and Gansu is probably higher than that of twill cotton cloth of the same weight. Therefore, it is right to divide the source of cotton equally, but it cannot be distributed at will."

"The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are all right, but... But the textile industry in Liufu is expanding rapidly. The cotton required this year is still enough. But this development is first. The spindles may exceed 500,000 next year. The dredging of the canal will cause insufficient output of major cotton producing provinces such as Shandong and Henan. If the number of cotton fields in Lianghuai is suppressed, wouldn't it hinder the expansion of the textile industry? Xiaguan recalls that it is not only suitable for cotton growth, but also convenient transportation. Looking at the provinces along the rivers and coasts, it is not in line with it. Xiaguan believes that only Lianghuai can do it for cotton production." The Minister of Light Textile Industry said with a sad face.

Ma Donglai glanced at Li Hai quietly, with a hint of pride between his eyebrows. Although he didn't expect what Li Hai and his subordinates said just now, the current situation was a bit slapped the Prime Minister in the face. So what if you think about it in a long time? The textile industry needs cotton to develop, and to produce cotton can only focus on both sides. In the end, you have to compromise. You can't cut off your arms and suppress the textile industry.

"Who said that only Lianghuai can do it, will your vision not be longer?" Li Hai asked lightly.

"Oh, Your Highness, the cotton promoted by Nanyang is introduced from Brazilian cotton from South America. Although it has been introduced for more than ten years, it is still being cultivated. Luzon can still be planted, but Nanhua and other provinces are all low-yield, while Australia is too far away and the shipping price is too high..." The Minister of Textile Industry talked about the various disadvantages of the cotton production area. Li Hai also knew some of them, but it was not so detailed. But like his judgment, in fact, no matter how big the empire's sea ships were built, the transportation prices of bulk goods such as cotton remain high, and the development of various workshop industries still needs to be near the raw material production area. In fact, it was completely solved until the steam-powered ships appeared.

Li Hai knocked on the table and stopped the other party's speech. He said: "Don't always stare at the imperial provinces. Doesn't Japan produce cotton? As long as the tariffs are reduced to less than 30%, Japanese cotton can also be used as a cheap source of raw materials."

"Japan?"

None of the cabinet ministers thought that Li Hai directly made foreign countries the primary choice. Li Hai continued: "Japan has a dense population and a suitable climate. Like most of the two Huaihe Rivers, it has always produced cotton. As long as the tariff barrier is broken, it can be used. Moreover, using Japanese cotton is a win-win situation."

This is not just about the textile industry and cotton. Those who can enter the cabinet are not fools. They also have an understanding of the empire's strategy. Japan is still in the stage of defeat and compensation. However, the empire has focused on the future and not only cultivated the pro-China forces of this country, but also carried out various controls. Procurement of Japanese cotton can control its foreign economy. As long as the source of this raw material is cultivated, the empire can threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands or even millions of Japanese farmers. I think Japanese samurai dare not let so many farmers have no market for cotton planted by cotton.

Moreover, Japan is a country that is short of food, and rice is hard currency. Obviously, the expansion of cotton fields is based on the reduction of grain fields. In Japan, only the empire can provide so much food and control the country's food, which basically controls the entire Japan. This is extremely beneficial to the empire's development of surrounding strategies and expansion in Japan.
Chapter completed!