The words "Suzhou" and "Hangzhou" really shocked Zhu Di.

Zhu Di asked suspiciously: "Where is Suhang?"

When these words came out, Zhu Di felt that these words were a bit unskilled and that he was actually hasty.

However, what Zhu Di said did express Zhu Di's true feelings.

"We are the Suzhou and Hangzhou of the Ming Dynasty." Yang Shiqi said calmly: "Of course, Yingtian Mansion and Taiping Mansion are far inferior. They can only be compared with Suzhou Mansion or Hangzhou Mansion."

He looked very humble.

But when he said these words, Zhu Di and the officials were still shocked.

You know, more than ten years ago, without the freak Taiping Mansion, Suzhou and Hangzhou would have been one of the richest areas in the world.

The annual taxes collected here, the money and food generated, and the prosperity of business are all very few.

Zhu Di was extremely surprised. He pondered for a while and then said: "Suzhou and Hangzhou? This is really rare. How can this barbaric place like Xinzhou, which has only been around for more than ten years, compare to Suzhou and Hangzhou?"

"The annual taxes, especially the silver tax." Yang Shiqi said: "As far as I know, the annual silver tax in Suzhou is six to seven hundred thousand taels, while in Xinzhou, it has reached 1,370,000 taels."

As soon as this statement came out, no one expected it.

Yang Shiqi continued: "Xinzhou now has seven shipyards, which can build more than 140 ships every year. In addition, around this shipbuilding, a large port has been built, as well as various workshops, especially steel-making workshops.

In Xinzhou, Chen led the people to discover a large amount of iron ore. The iron ore in Xinzhou is of particularly good quality and is much better in quality than the iron ore in Daming."

"In addition, coal is also everywhere in Xinzhou. With the help of cheap coal and iron ore, steel can be produced, which can be traded with Western countries. It can also take this opportunity to recruit a large number of manpower."

Yang Shiqi paused and continued: "The situation in Xinzhou is a bit more special than that of other vassal states. There have not been a large number of natives here, but it is rich in minerals, and these minerals are especially easy to dig.

If the coal and iron were excavated in Daming, it might require three laborers, but in Xinzhou, it might only require one laborer."

"I believe that to govern a place is to discover the strengths of the place, analyze its weaknesses, and then use the strengths to avoid the weaknesses. Therefore, ten years ago, I made a policy of focusing on steel and industry and commerce."

Zhu Di listened carefully and couldn't help but wonder: "How can a thousand kilograms of coal and iron require so little manpower?"

Yang Shiqi replied: "Yes. On the one hand, this place is rich in mineral veins, and because it has been a barren land for thousands of years, almost no one mines the minerals here. Because of this, this place is different from the Ming Dynasty.

There are continuous mountains, and many minerals are located deep in the mountains. Extracting them is time-consuming and labor-intensive."

"What's more...for thousands of years, most of the minerals that are easy to mine in shallow layers have been completely mined by successive dynasties. Therefore, if you want to continue mining, you have to continue to use time-consuming and labor-intensive methods to dig deep mines. All of these

The manpower and material resources required are also unimaginable.”

"But many of the minerals in Xinzhou don't even require mines. They are located in shallow depths, so the cost is naturally much lower."

Zhu Di nodded.

Yang Shiqi continued: "So this has become the strength of Xinzhou. Since it has advantages, it must be used. After all, Xinzhou is not far from the Western vassals. Xinzhou has established ports and transported a large amount of steel.

, and purchasing many Western specialties to meet the needs of the army and the people is enough to make the soldiers and the people rich."

"After Changshi Mansion made profits from coal and iron, the next thing to do is to spend a lot of money to recruit soldiers and civilians to move to Xinzhou. On the other hand, it is to build ports, railways and roads, and build irrigation and water conservancy. Your Majesty,

Coal and iron alone cannot last long, not to mention that if it is too single, it will inevitably lead to

It is easy to fall into an embarrassing situation. Therefore... The essence of the minister's large-scale construction of ports, water conservancy, and roads is to revitalize the industry and commerce of the entire Xinzhou. In this way, not only the transportation of coal and iron will be more convenient. The land of this Xinzhou is vast.

, it can also promote animal husbandry and open up thousands of hectares of fertile farmland."

“With livestock, wool can be produced, and wool can promote weaving. There is enough food, and there is a large amount of meat brought by livestock. Coupled with the convenience of transportation, there are coal, iron, workshops, and the port brings

The large amount of income will make the military and civilians even more prosperous."

Zhu Di listened carefully and felt that Yang Shiqi was very interesting.

Yang Shiqi's speech was really one-dimensional, but if he chewed it carefully, he felt that it was very organized.

I saw Yang Shiqi continue: "I personally conducted a survey and found that in this Xinzhou, each household eats up to fifty kilograms of meat, five hundred kilograms of rice and noodles, and many other fruits and vegetables every year."

As soon as this statement came out, the officials were in an uproar, and all of them opened their eyes in disbelief.

Can you eat fifty pounds of meat every year? What is the concept?

At least in the Ming Dynasty, this was something that even the small gentry could not understand. Ordinary poor people might not even have a bite of meat in a year.

As the emperor, Zhu Di was most concerned about the people's food and clothing. Hearing Yang Shiqi's words, he couldn't help but be moved and said: "Really, there are so many?"

Yang Shiqi smiled calmly and said: "The land in Xinzhou is vast and there is a lot of reclaimed land. There is also a lot of land suitable for farming after increasing water conservancy and irrigation. There is also a large amount of pasture where cattle can be grazed.

Sheep, farmland...can also be cultivated. And because there is so much farmland, the vast majority of farmers own hundreds of acres of land."

Hundreds of acres?

Yang Rong asked subconsciously: "Hundreds of acres? Does this wealthy farmer own it?"

Yang Shiqi said surprisingly: "This is a relatively poor farmer..."

"..."

Then everyone opened their eyes in shock.

Yang Shiqi's words really shocked people.

Yang Shiqi even said: "Because there is so much land,...even the criminal prisoners exiled by the imperial court were given hundreds of acres of land for resettlement in Xinzhou. They did not farm intensively, but most of them raised cattle and horses, and they mostly used animal power for farming.

, the yield per mu may not be high, after all...

...There is not enough manpower and no time to cultivate more than ten acres of land like in the Central Plains and Jiangnan, but the food grown is far more than what each household needs. Therefore, each household raises more cattle, horses and chickens

Duck teaches these livestock and poultry to eat these excess grains."

"..."

I have to say that if this Xinzhou is really as Yang Shiqi said, it will really be a paradise model.

There is almost no land conflict. Everyone can own hundreds of acres of land, but manpower is scarce. Minerals are available as soon as they are dug. Sowing the land is waiting for harvest, and there is no need to mess around. There is a lot of pasture for grazing.

Doesn't this mean that a random household can be compared to the middle-class gentry and landowners of the Ming Dynasty?

The impact of this realization is of course huge.

While everyone was shocked, Yang Shiqi smiled and said: "Of course, the above are Xinzhou's strengths. If these strengths are not brought into play, they are useless. Just like coal and iron, if you can't train steel machinery by yourself, then no matter how many

What is the use of coal and iron? After spinning a large amount of wool, how can we make a profit without port transportation? There is also a large amount of land. If we do not build water conservancy, roads and bridges, I am afraid... it will be nothing more than barren land.

That’s all.”

"But with these, we can attract the population. In order to attract the population, Chang Shi's Mansion spent a large sum of gold and silver, or hired workers at high prices to place them, or took in prisoners, even if they were criminals.

Prisoners also teach them that they have a place to shelter from the wind and rain, so that they can have food and clothing without worries. In this way, there will be nothing to worry about."

"In the past ten years, Xinzhou has worked hard to attract a population of 130,000 households and 790,000 people. Together with the new children, it has also increased by 170,000. With people, more can be cultivated

With more land, more minerals can be mined.”

Everyone listened and felt excited.

Some people couldn't help but smile bitterly. In the Ming Dynasty, everyone was fighting to the death for land annexation. This was good, because in Xinzhou, there would be no people to reclaim wasteland and annex the land.

Comparing people to each other is really irritating.

Calculated in this way, Xinzhou actually has a population of one million. This number is indeed no longer smaller than that of a prefectural city.

Although it is not as good as Suzhou and Hangzhou, if it has so many minerals and cultivated land, as well as a large amount of pasture, and can handle goods through the port, it is obviously not a boast to say that it is comparable to Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Zhu Di nodded and said with emotion: "Well... Calculated in this way, it is an outstanding political achievement."

What is unexpected is that Yang Shiqi actually said: "The jurisdiction of the Changshi Mansion does not stop here! Your Majesty, in fact, the way to govern is to be flexible. It needs to be adapted to the circumstances of the time and the local conditions. Just like the military of Xinzhou, because in

There are no major foreign invasions in Xinzhou. The local natives

It is also rare. Therefore, Xinzhou does not have a permanent guard station. Instead, it establishes a few inspection departments and orders them to maintain public security. However, because Xinzhou is a large island, it urgently needs a navy.

It can attack nearby pirates and ensure the routes between Xinzhou, the West, and the Ming Dynasty."

"I set up a navy in Xinzhou, recruited personnel, and built new ships. Today, the Xinzhou Navy has more than 70 large and small ships. There is also a naval school in the navy to teach water warfare.

The ships in Xinzhou are not expensive, but the number of ships I am riding on this time is ten thousand taels.

Thousand Materials, recently launched, has sails as power. If it is a war, the ship is also equipped with a propeller for a steam engine, and its speed can be doubled. Such a huge ship is the flagship of the navy, and can carry nine thousand materials of cargo and

It can be said that the supply ship is the best in the world."

After Zhu Di heard this, he frowned slightly.

In this world, the largest Fu Ship is probably about 6,000 in size. This is already the largest ship in the Western Pacific Navy.

Of course, what Zhu Di didn't know was that at this moment, a huge ship with 4,500 pieces of material had appeared in Venice. Xinzhou, on the other hand, was quite wealthy and actually launched an even more ruthless ship.

It's just that Zhu Di doesn't understand ships after all, and actually doesn't know much about them.

I just feel that Yang Shiqi, as a long-time historian, knows all the affairs of Xinzhou very well.

I have to say that such a person is a talent no matter where he is.

Zhu Di was very satisfied with Yang Shiqi. Although he was older now, he still had a strong thirst for knowledge, so he said: "What is the use of building such a ship?"

Yang Shiqi smiled and said: "Such a ship costs Xinzhou 190,000 taels of silver. This cost is huge, and it's easy to calculate, but it can't just be calculated like this."

There was obvious curiosity in Zhu Di's eyes. He pursed his lips and said nothing, as if he was waiting to listen seriously.

So Yang Shiqi continued to talk eloquently: "The biggest shortcoming of the imperial court is that it only focuses on immediate benefits. When I was in Hanlin, I saw the imperial court, especially the documents of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Most of the shortcomings lay in this. It should be noted that the expenditure of money and food, in addition to the expenditure of money and food,
To be continued...