Xu Guangqi has actually been paying attention to the situation in the northwest. After years of investigation and research, he has already had a detailed plan for the development of the northwest. In the past, he wanted to use the knife of the rebel army to solve the problem of the royal family, but the northwest cannot develop, so he has never mentioned it to Zhu Cijiong. Now the rebel army and the royal family have solved it, and the emperor also asked. He was about to tell it, but unexpectedly, the emperor suddenly showed a difficult face and stopped talking!

He couldn't help but ask curiously: "Master, what's wrong with you?"

Zhu Cijiong sighed and said, "I feel uncomfortable thinking that the northwest will be abandoned for ten years. Such a large territory not only cannot create benefits, but also consumes a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain it. It is a pity. If the northwest can develop, the development speed of the Ming Dynasty can at least double."

Xu Guangqi suddenly said when he heard this: "The emperor forgives the crime, but I did not make it clear. I mean that it will take ten years for the northwest to sow crops normally. As for now, although it cannot sow the seeds as normal in normal times, I think of ways to plant some crops, but the yield may be lower and there is no need to waste ten years."

Zhu Cijing asked anxiously after hearing this: "Oh, what can I plant? How much lower will the yield be?"

Xu Guangqi did not answer immediately, but looked at his student Chen Zilong proudly and said with relief: "Zilong is doing these things specifically, so let him tell the emperor in detail."

Chen Zilong was stunned when he heard this. He thought he was just here to listen, but he didn't expect to speak. Of course, the prefect of the past few years was not in vain. He quickly realized that this was the opportunity for his mentor to show himself. He quickly said respectfully: "Your Majesty, this is the case. Before I went to Liaodong to take office, my mentor told me to study which crops to resist drought and how to plant crops in arid areas. After I arrived in Liaodong, after detailed understanding, I found that some areas in the western part of Liaodong were also severe, almost the same as those in the northwest, so I organized manpower to conduct experiments there. The result was that wheat, sorghum, potatoes, soybeans, rapeseed and other crops were relatively drought-resistant, and generally the water requirement was higher during the seedling stage. As long as the seedling stage was passed, the harvest could be guaranteed by irrigation every ten days, but the harvest was about 10% lower than that in other places."

Only 10%, that is, 10%, this is not a problem at all. You should know that there are 300 million to 400 million mu of land in the northwest, and most of it is abandoned now. If all of it is used, how much can it be produced! Zhu Cijing asked excitedly: "How do you solve the problem of irrigation? Now there are only a few rains in many places in the northwest a year, so it is not okay to rely on the weather to make a living."

Chen Zilong quickly explained: "The main thing is to irrigate the Liaohe River water. For this reason, Weichen organized people to dig many channels, introduce the Liaohe River water into areas without water sources, and then build water trucks and dig irrigation canals. It was a little troublesome at the beginning, and just arrange a special person to watch it later."

In fact, the drought in the northwest was really alleviated during this period, and the water flow of the Yellow River and its tributaries was relatively sufficient. Zhu Cijiu noticed this when he personally marched. There are also records in historical books that Li Zicheng flooded Kaifeng. The water of the Yellow River could flood the entire Kaifeng city, so it would naturally be no problem to irrigate the farmland.

Since digging canals can solve the problem, it is not a bad problem. Zhu Cijiuang drew a circle of arid areas such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and asked with hope: "How many water diversion canals should be dug in this area and how many people are needed?"

He was standing and talking without a pain in his back. His stroke was a land of two or three million square kilometers. There was no way to see how terrifying it was on the map of such a large place. It could scare people to death if it was connected to the actual area!

Unexpectedly, Chen Zilong was not scared to death, but said confidently: "Weichen has calculated that there are about 300 million acres of arable land in the arid areas of the northwest. According to one labor per 100 acres, it takes about three to four million labor. However, if water is diverted from a long distance, the riverbed of the diversion canal needs to be solid, otherwise the water seepage is too strong, and the water may not be diverted too far. In this way, one hundred acres of labor is not enough."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cijing waved his hand excitedly and said, "No need to be solid, just water the cement directly. After the cement is dry, there will basically be no water seepage. However, there may not be so much labor in the northwest. Chuyang and how many garrisons are there in the northwest now?"

After the northwest, except for all large and small cities, other places were the population controlled by the vassals and local tyrants. The peasant uprising army had been in trouble for almost ten years, and the vassals and local tyrants were basically killed by them. In other words, in other words, except for the urban population, there are only the families of the tun and thieves left in the northwest, so Zhu Cijing asked this question.

When Sun Yuanhua heard this, he hurriedly replied: "Return to the emperor, there were more than 1.3 million households in the northwest. According to the average five households per household, there are about 6 million people. In recent years, the emperor has recruited more than 500,000 regular soldiers to form a legion. Now there are about 1 million young and strong laborers left, and about 2 million laborers available, and the remaining more than 2 million are all the elderly, weak, sick and disabled."

In other words, it is enough to just use Tunwei and its family members. Zhu Cijing said excitedly: "Okay, cooperate with Zilong to plan and move all the civilians to the riverside area. In other places, Tunwei will dig canals and plant crops."

At this time, Yang Sichang, who had not spoken, suddenly spoke. He said with some concern: "Prince, please forgive me for talking too much. Most of the northwest is the land of the vassal state. What can they agree to the emperor doing this?"

This guy is indeed honest enough. No wonder he offended so many people during the Chongzhen Dynasty. Of course, his intention was not to be afraid that others would disagree, but to remind Zhu Cijiu that doing so would be a waste of money for the borers of the royal family!

Of course he didn't have to worry about this problem. Zhu Cijiu and Xu Guangqi looked at each other faintly, then pretended to sigh: "Alas, these thieves, I don't know how much hatred they have with the royal family. They have almost all the royal family members in the northwest. Where are there any vassals? Now all these lands have come back to me, 200 million to 300 million mu, and they are all abandoned there. My dear friends, think about it, how much pressure is I under!"

This is a typical example of being cheap and being good at taking advantage. He has 200 million to 300 million mu of land in his name and is still complaining. How could anyone else want this kind of good thing besides him, the emperor!

Sun Yuanhua was typically blinded by his acting skills, and asked stupidly: "Master, how can the output of this Tunwei be calculated? They also have to support their families. They can't let them work in vain, right?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cijing said generously: "Let them let go of their planting, and they will be exempted from rent and taxes. I will share the things they grow with them."

This is a bit of a matter of course. Even if they let go of the planting, they can't plant much land. It's the limit for a middle-aged laborer to work hard to manage twenty acres of land. It's a big labourer who is considered to be the elderly, weak, sick and disabled as middle-aged laborer who still can't plant more than half of the land!

Chen Zilong is an expert in this field. He couldn't help but remind him carefully: "The emperor, the empress, is brave enough to take care of up to twenty acres of land a year. No matter how much it is, they can't grow it even if they are exhausted."

When Zhu Cijiu heard this, his face turned red. Damn, this means that more than 80% of the land will be abandoned!
Chapter completed!