"Mr. Li, I have a suggestion, but I want to tell you about it." Ma Huaxing, deputy head of the Taiwan Breeding Group, bowed to Li Xiao and said.

“But it’s okay.”

"Mr. Li, our army is in Taichung. Since 550,000 new refugees have arrived, the land has been opened up so far. To date, the land has been opened up is 2.33 million mu. If the tax is collected per mu of eight dou of rice, it can collect 1.86 million stones of grain per quarter, and a total of more than 3.72 million stones of rice can be collected in two quarters a year. In addition, the annual potato production of 4.66 million stones is enough to support the supply of all the military and civilians of our army. Therefore, it is believed that when the grain production is sufficiently surplus, the remaining land can be used as economic crops such as cotton fields, tobacco fields, sugarcane fields, etc., which can increase our army's economic income."

After Ma Huaxing said this, he looked at Li Xiao with anticipation, but unexpectedly, Li Xiao pondered silently.

In fact, Li Xiao thought that what Ma Huaxing said was very reasonable, but now he is no longer satisfied with the status quo and has to focus more on the overall situation.

If the number of the Tiger Army will be further expanded in the future, the territory will continue to increase, and the people and refugees under their rule will continue to increase, then, although the current total grain output can supply more than several times the current Tiger Army, when the territory and people increase significantly, Li Xiao would never hope that there would be insufficient food supply.

Think about how many hungry people in the Ming Dynasty rebelled and followed the thief because they could not have enough food, and how many soldiers and soldiers mutinied and surrendered to the enemy because they lacked food and paid. In the face of these bloody reality, the importance of this food is self-evident.

The army is based on food and the people are based on food. At any time, grain production is the most important matter, so thinking that satisfies the current situation is undesirable.

"Deputy Commander Ma's words are reasonable, but I think it's better to prepare for the future and prepare in advance. After all, in the future, the number of troops and people of our army will only continue to increase, and the amount of food required will continue to increase, so it is very necessary to ensure sufficient food supply. Even if there is too much food now, it can be temporarily stored. Whether it is to deal with famines or help the poor in the future, or even support the sale to the Ming army of other troops."

After Li Xiao said this, everyone nodded. Li Dingguo, the battalion commander of Pingnan Battalion, agreed and said, "Mr. Li said it is true! Food is the most important thing for the people, so there is no reason to think that there is too much food. Li is not afraid to tell you, thinking that the reason why Li became a bandit was because he couldn't survive without food, and he had to join the bandits to survive! To put it bluntly, even if the grain really reaches the point where our army and the people can't finish it, they can still be sold. Now that I have so short of food in the Ming Dynasty, as long as our army is willing to sell it, I believe that rice merchants from all over the country will come to our army to buy it."

When Ma Huaxing saw everyone talking like this, he looked embarrassed, but at this moment, Li Xiao smiled and said to him: "Deputy Commander Ma, in my opinion, everything cannot be generalized, and your opinion is quite desirable. Therefore, I believe that the best way to compromise between the two is to focus on grain production and economic crop production as the supplement."

Li Xiao paused and continued: "I have planned initially that from now on, of the 2.6 million mu of developed land in Taipei, 2 million mu of ordinary arable land will be used as ordinary arable land, and the other 600,000 mu of land with poor soil quality will be converted into cotton fields to produce various types of cloth. The 320 mu of developed land in Taichung have now developed 2.33 million mu of land, and the remaining 600,000 mu of low-quality land will be converted into mulberry fields and silkworms and weaving silk. The 5.2 million mu of wasteland in Tainan will be developed into rice fields, and the other 1.2 million mu of wasteland will be developed into sugarcane fields because Tainan has sufficient water sources and fertile soil. As for tobacco fields, due to its large and small output, it will be completed after the rice fields in various places will be developed, and then the crop rotation will be carried out."

From history to today, sugar has always been a product with a lot of demand and tight sales, whether sold to Japan or Europe, the profit is extremely high. However, the humid, hot and plain land in southern Taiwan is the most suitable for planting sugarcane and developing the sugar production industry. In real history, Chen Yonghua, who was respected by Zheng Chenggong as the "Wolong in the World", once taught people to plant sugar in wastelands with slightly poor soil quality, to squeeze sugar, and then sell it abroad to make profits.

Under the leadership of Chen Yonghua, Taiwan has developed a total of about 10,000 mu of sugarcane fields. Due to the humid and hot climate in Taiwan, the environment is particularly suitable for sugarcane growth. The newly planted sugar fields can produce about 16 dan of sugarcane per mu every year. After pressing the sugar sugar and purifying and decoloring, the sugar yield rate is about 10:1, which means that 1.6 dan of sugar can be produced per mu of sugar, totaling 16,000 dan. According to the information of the book "History of Trade in the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties", once this sugar is transported to Japan, the export price of a dan of sugar is more than 6 taels of silver. If it is transported to Luzon for resale in Europe, it can be more, ranging from 7 to 8 taels. Therefore, this nearly 10,000 mu of sugar cane fields can be exchanged for Zheng's Taiwan for more than 100,000 taels of silver every year.

"Mr. Li, there are previous examples for both cotton fields and mulberry fields, but how do you plan to manage this sugar cane sugar?" Ding You, the leader of the Tuoxian Group, asked.

"Everyone, because of the special product of this sugarcane field and in order to expand the planting area as soon as possible, this official intends to allow each sugarcane farmer to share 20 mu of land and to convert the grain tax into it. The price of the sugarcane to be purchased is 1 qian and 5 cents of silver per leuco. In this way, each sugarcane farmer can produce 320 qian and receive a total of 48 taels of silver. Excluding costs, the profit can be at least 35 taels of silver. In this way, the life of this family can be more abundant."

Li Xiao continued with a smile: "And, according to my understanding, the bagasse that has been squeezed after juice can be used as fertilizer to fertilize the fields, thereby improving the soil quality, allowing the sugarcane land to produce further. In a few years, the yield of the sugarcane fields will only be higher, and the sugarcane farmers will also make more profits."

After hearing Li Xiao say this, Ding You's face was full of hope. He continued: "If these 1.2 million mu of sugar cane fields are developed, 1.92 million dan of sugar can be produced every year. If the sales price of 6 taels of silver is calculated, it will be 1,152 taels of silver. Taking out the cost and loss, you can get a net profit of more than 8 million taels a year, which is really a considerable profit."

After Ding You finished speaking, the crowd burst into laughter, and everyone was deeply moved by this tempting prospect.

After talking about sugarcane, what Li Xiao wants to plan and develop is another big profit, tea production.

Since the 38th year of Wanli, the Dutch East India Company sold the first batch of Chinese tea from Fujian back to Europe. The Netherlands has set an example, such as the British, Portuguese, Spanish, etc., and have begun to export large amounts of tea from China through maritime trade.

These teas are comparable to another Chinese product that can make significant profits besides silk.

Taking the data in the book "History of British Overseas Colonialism" as an example, in 1687, the year before the "Glorious Revolution" in Britain, the British East India Company stipulated that every merchant ship from Mumbai to Xiamen should carry 150 dans of tea when returning to the voyage (note: 112 pounds, 50.8 kg). Based on 5 ships per year, this is 1,500 dans, about 76 tons.

According to historical records, the price of 1 pound of Chinese tea in the UK can be as high as 10 pounds, about 30 taels of silver. This figure is converted to 3360 taels of silver per load of tea, which is equivalent to 39 taels of silver per kilogram of Chinese tea. In other words, in 1687, after each British merchant ship returned, it would carry back 504,000 taels of silver. In terms of five ships per year, it would be worth 2.52 million taels of silver and a total price of 840,000 pounds.

Of course, the export price from China is not that high. According to the "Guangzhou Prefecture Chronicle", taking Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty as an example, the export price of a polaroid of tea is about 20 to 30 taels of silver, with an average price of about 25 taels of silver. However, the cost of purchasing, freight, tax and other places is only less than 10 taels per polaroid, and the rest is net profit. In other words, if Europeans sell these teas to their local area, they will be 134 times the profit!

This is simply a huge profit like drug trafficking!

Even after the mid-18th century, when India and Southeast Asia began to produce tea in large quantities, the related profits never fell below 10 times. It is said that as long as capitalists have 300% profit, they can sell ropes that hang themselves, let alone 10 to 134 times profit. This is why batches of European merchants are willing to come to the east one after another. After all, in Mencius's words, it is that the profits are everywhere.

After the First British-Dutch War, the Dutch, who were defeated by the British, had to relax their control over maritime rights, and the British East India Company was able to further expand to the Far East to more conveniently import goods from China. From the 24th year of Yongli, that is, the 9th year of Kangxi, the British East India Company signed a trade treaty with the Zheng family in Taiwan and set up a shopping mall at the Dayuan Port. From then on, it began to purchase various products from Taiwan, one of which was a big deal, tea.

Since then, the amount of tea purchased by the UK from China and Taiwan has continued to rise. From 1770 to 1774, the UK imported an average of 42,000 dans of tea from China every year, and from 1800 to 1804, the average annual increase was 220,000 dans (11,000 dans) per year. By 1860, the UK imported an astonishing amount of tea from China as much as 440,000 dans (22,000 dans).

For comparison, in the mid-18th century, a first-class battleship cost only 100,000 pounds, while the current battleship cost in the 17th century was only more than 60,000 pounds. In other words, in the 17th century, the money used by the British to buy tea every year could be used to build 14 battleships!

However, due to the strength of the early Qing Dynasty, Britain did not dare to act rashly. At this time, Britain, the empire that had not set sun, had just determined its dominance worldwide, and the British Empire that dominated the world had to grit its teeth and exploit these yellow-skinned monkeys that they looked down upon for more than a hundred years.

In other words, in the past hundred years, the British used guns and cannons to oppress and exploit the colonies, while the Chinese used high-end goods such as tea, porcelain, silk and other high-end goods to transfer the wealth plundered from the colonies by the British by bloody and brutal means. This is really a more clever way of exploitation. You must know that in more than a hundred years, it was hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

Until Britain was no longer invincible around the world, and because the American War of Independence caused Britain to be greatly damaged, when the silver was about to be exhausted, British people decided to take the risk and start selling opium to China to change the trend of this trade deficit.

The result of the later results, all readers knew. The Qing government banned opium, and Britain declared war on the Qing court, and the First Opium War began. However, the already declining and corrupt Qing Dynasty was no match for the British in terms of combat will and ability. After the defeat of the First Opium War, China was pushed to the ground by the great powers and took turns to ravage and bite, and began a century-old modern history full of humiliation, blood and tears, and bullet marks and wounds.

In modern Taiwan, it is already a major tea production province with an annual tea production of nearly 20,000 tons, especially the most precious and famous for frozen oolong tea. Although tea has been Taiwan’s main export project until modern times, tea has been planted widely in Taiwan, and it was not until Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan that it began to grow on a large scale under the leadership of Chen Yonghua.

After introducing the profits of tea to the attending officials and fully arousing everyone's appetite, Li Xiaofu said: "Everyone, I want to tell you that this tea tree has a characteristic, which depends on the variety, which depends on the variety. In other words, tea farmers have no income during this period."

When Li Xiao said this, he deliberately paused. When he saw the faces of the officials around him, he immediately showed a look of thought.

Li Xiao continued to talk: "So, this brings a problem. If we let immigrants operate through family contracting methods like developing rice fields, these immigrants will not be able to wait for so long. After all, in the past three to five years, immigrants have to eat to support their families, and the government cannot support tea farmers for free for so long. Therefore, this official believes that this work can only be carried out through factory management, that is, the only feasible strategy is to recruit employees and build and operate tea gardens, led by the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department.

"Mr. Li, according to your wishes, what kind of cultivation and management are these tea gardens?" Zhao Wencai asked from the side.

"So, Ben Bo has learned from tea farmers that it is best to open tea gardens in gentle slopes and hills, so as to draw sunlight. In this way, the official arranged for officials of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department to go to suitable areas in various places for testing. Try not to occupy wasteland that can be reclaimed into fertile fields, and see at least 200,000 acres of tea gardens will be opened."

Li Xiao has read the information in his later generations and knew that if the standard of making steamed green tea is based on the year when the tea can be picked, a mu of tea can produce 300 kilograms of dry tea. Of course, this is the planting level in later generations. In today's Taiwan, a mu of tea garden can produce roughly two tannes of tea, and 200,000 tannes of tea garden. If it can produce 600,000 tannes of tea, it is calculated at an average export price of 25 taels of silver per tan, which is an income of 15 million taels!

After hearing Li Xiao’s analysis, everyone at the meeting was very happy. Everyone looked excited and looked more and more excited about the future.

Seeing that everyone was happy, Li Xiao was also very happy. He continued: "Everyone, in addition to making this land of Taiwan a huge granary and economic crop base for our army, Benbo also wants to build it into an economic base as important as Shandong. Workshops such as raw silk factories, weaving factories, spinning factories, sugar pressing factories, cigarette factories, cement factories, quarries, brick factories and other workshops must be established in all parts of Taiwan. Another particularly important point is to find iron ore production sites in Taiwan, and then, like Tielong City in Shanxian County, Shandong, make iron and steel, vigorously produce weapons, armor and various iron tools, so as to achieve self-sufficiency in Taiwan and even export large quantities of iron products."

Everyone agreed with Li Xiao’s words.

If Li Xiao’s plan can be implemented successfully, it would be equivalent to Li Xiao building an economic center in the north and south. In the environment of frequent wars in the north, Taiwan, which has basically a peaceful environment, will even have a bigger and better development prospect than Shandong.

Next, Li Xiao formulated a large-scale road construction plan. That is, to build a cement avenue from Taipei to Changhua to Kaohsiung, running through the north and south of Taiwan. In the current situation where the official roads of the Ming Dynasty were basically only about one zhang wide, Li Xiao decided to build the cement avenue that he wanted to build at least three zhang wide, so that the transportation of commercial goods and personnel in the north and south will be more convenient and fast.

Finally, another major plan by Li Xiao fully demonstrated his ambitions

"Everyone, in addition to the above content, I also decided to spend manpower and money to build Kaohsiung City on a large scale. With the existing original Chikan City as the inner city, it will build an outer city with a circumference of 24 miles outside, so that it will become our army's real trade and political center in Taiwan, so that merchants from all over the world can freely buy and sell merchants and trade goods here. I want this Kaohsiung City to become the most magnificent, majestic and inclusive city in the entire Southeast Asia region, so that commercial goods from all over the world can be widely accepted and welcome guests and friends from all directions. And merchants and officials from all over the world must take a good look at what is the real Chinese majesty and what is the real celestial spirit!"

Li Xiao's words were loud and loud, with his thick eyebrows and eyes full of bright light.
Chapter completed!