Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 279: Soaring Food Prices (6200 words long chapter)
The entire Guangzhou city was filled with kneeling common people, including old men over sixty years old, children just born, women, children and farmers, all of whom were worshipping Zhu Houzhao as if they were worshipping a god or Buddha.

"Long live my emperor!"

"Long live my emperor!"

"Long live my emperor!"

……

Zhu Houzhao did not expect that even though he asked these scholars and civilians to stand up, they still rushed to kneel down to him. He was helpless for a moment and could only walk out, stand on the carriage, and waved to say hello.

But when Zhu Houzhao saw that the Jinyiwei and Liu Jin were so nervous that they were afraid of being assassinated, he had no choice but to sit in the carriage with an extra layer of steel plate.

Frankly speaking, being able to have so many people bow down to you does satisfy one's vanity, and it made Zhu Houzhao feel like a person in a higher position, looking down on all the other people.

He even felt that he was extremely great and had even forgotten that he was just an ordinary loser in his previous life.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that the reason why he appeared outside Guangzhou city today with a small entourage and incognito and had so many people kneeling to him was not because he was really nobler than them in bloodline, intelligence, and power, but because he gave these common people more benefits and gave them the opportunity to live a better life. In this era when people were not enlightened, he could make them live a better life. For these common people, that was the gift he gave them. The only thing they could do was to express their gratitude to him by kneeling.

Zhu Houzhao tried hard to warn himself in his heart not to get carried away by his success and think that he was really great, as great as a god. He was just an ordinary mortal. If he made a wrong policy and harmed the interests of the people of the entire Ming Empire, he would still be pulled down from the altar.

Although the Han people advocated centralization of power, they were not so ignorant as to allow themselves to be fooled by those in power. There were some people who were willing to risk their lives to dethrone the emperor.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had to be on guard against himself.

Although Zhu Houzhao did not become complacent because of this, Liu Jin, Guo Rong and others who stayed around Zhu Houzhao felt honored because they were close ministers of the emperor and they looked down at the kneeling common people with the emperor. In this situation, they felt that they were worshipping Emperor Zhu Houzhao as a god.

It was not until noon that the people gradually dispersed, and Zhu Houzhao continued to move forward. He could not help but shook his head: "Now, more people know that I am going on a tour. Liu Jin, you take a team of people and go to the capital first. Tell the officials along the way who intend to welcome me that I have caught a cold and there is no need to ask for an audience. I have returned to the capital in advance!"

Zhu Houzhao then ordered: "Guo Rong, you will continue to return to Beijing with me in secret!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Liu Jin and Guo Rong responded in unison.

Zhu Houzhao didn't say anything more. He looked at the increasingly prosperous city of Guangzhou and lamented that with the development of capitalism after the opening of Guangdong and Guangxi to the sea, the urbanization in the two regions had become increasingly obvious. He didn't know whether the increasing number of bourgeoisie and urban working class would be a blessing or a curse for the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, in other regions of the Ming Dynasty, especially in the north, there are still many large landlords, and many of them are even royal relatives. These powerful people who have been parasitic on the common people of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years will have conflicts with the growing bourgeoisie and urban working class.

Zhu Houzhao didn't dare to think about it, nor did he know how to think about it. He was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the largest landlord, but he was also the largest capitalist. He himself didn't know whether he should save his life or reform himself. Fortunately, he could now ease the class contradictions that might become increasingly intense within the Ming Dynasty by diverting conflicts through external plunder. Otherwise, Zhu Houzhao really didn't know how to face the two classes of the powerful and the common people.

Urbanization in the south developed rapidly, handicraft development had replaced agricultural development, and a large amount of farmland was converted from rice to mulberry in pursuit of higher profits. In contrast, the north was still densely populated with manors, and a large influx of people from other places continued to become tenants of the landlords.

But what Zhu Houzhao did not expect was that it was the north that experienced a famine and soaring food prices.

"Your Majesty, the capital reported that the price of grain has recently risen to 1.7 yuan per stone! In Baoding, Daming, and Hejian, it has even risen to 1.8 yuan! The people in the city still have no food to buy, and some families have to eat porridge or even flee to other places, all because of the high price of grain!"

Zhu Houzhao had just passed the Huanghuai area when he received a report from the East Factory. He could not help but frowned for a moment, thinking that according to what he knew, in history, during the Wanli period, there was a great famine in Wuzhong, and the price of rice was only 1.6 yuan per bushel, which surprised the world. Now, the price of grain in the capital has risen to 1.7 yuan. Even though the development of the commodity economy in the Ming Dynasty has led to low agricultural production and a decrease in the amount of grain shipped from the north to the south, it is not so high. Doesn't the market have the function of regulating the economy? When the grain price is soaring, why don't merchants take this opportunity to buy grain on a large scale and sell it in the north?"

Zhu Houzhao was full of questions and ordered: "Send someone to ask the Grain Bureau how much grain from the overseas farms has entered the territory of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Censorate should strictly investigate the Maritime Customs that violated the ban and allowed grain to be exported. You, the East Factory, must also strictly investigate the censors who failed to investigate and correct the dereliction of duty!"

Not long after Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, when he entered Linqing, Shandong, he saw a large number of ships moored on the bank of the canal in Linqing, with a large "Kong" flag hanging on them. Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but feel curious and hurriedly ordered the Jinyiwei: "Go and ask who the owners of these ships are and what they are transporting?"

Not long after, the Jinyiwei came back to report: "Your Majesty, I have found out that their boss is the Kong family of Yanshenggong. They are transporting grain to Liaodong to exchange for salt permits!"

Zhu Houzhao saw that these ships had a deep draft and stretched for at least two miles, so he guessed that if these ships were carrying grain, the quantity must be quite large.

Zhu Houzhao could not help but think that Lord Kong Yansheng, as the largest landlord in Qufu, and even the entire Qufu almost became an independent kingdom of his Kong family, was like a "vassal king of a different surname" in the Ming Dynasty, and he would actually do such things as a salt merchant.

"Go ask what the grain prices are like in Shandong recently, and whether the weather is good and the harvest is good?"

Zhu Houzhao ordered.

A few days later, a Jinyiwei came to report: "Your Majesty, a student in Shandong said that Shandong is in great order this year, with no drought or flood, and a bumper crop of grain. The price of grain is as low as eight coins per dou. Local gentry and wealthy families are buying it at a high price of ten coins per dou, which is higher than the price the government pays for it in the Changping Warehouse! As a result, most of the new grain has gone into the hands of merchants."

"I didn't expect that the gentry in Shandong would be so active in alleviating the people's hardship. But why is there such a huge difference in grain prices between the capital and Shandong?"

Zhu Houzhao raised questions in his heart.

After traveling all the way to Tongzhou, Zhu Houzhao decided to take the land route to Beijing. Due to inconvenient transportation in that era, his trip to Guangdong and Guangxi was delayed for nearly two years. In this era without radio, he had no idea what was happening in the capital or the court. Even though he had the Jinyiwei and ministers who could make secret reports, he could not fully grasp what was happening in the capital recently.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao changed his route and rushed back to the capital as quickly as possible.

"Mom, I'm hungry!"

But as soon as Zhu Houzhao arrived in the capital, he saw a little girl sitting on the doorstep, leaning on her mother's arms. Zhu Houzhao felt a little sorry for her, so he ordered the Jinyiwei to give the bag of rice and flour he was carrying to the little girl.

Without waiting for the little girl to thank him, Zhu Houzhao hurriedly rode back to the palace. However, on the way he saw that all the grain shops in the Daming Gate area were closed. Some people gathered outside the grain shops in anger and shouted for them to open the doors. Some grain shops were still open, but they raised the price of grain to a high price of two yuan per dan.

After Zhu Houzhao returned to Beijing, he immediately summoned the chief minister Liu Yu to inquire about the rising grain prices in the capital.

"Although the price of grain has skyrocketed due to the severe drought in the capital last year, it shouldn't be this high. I guess some merchants are hoarding grain, but please don't worry, Your Majesty. I knew this would happen last year, and I have ordered the Grain Industry Bureau to urgently transport 2 million dan of grain to the capital. It is estimated that it will soon arrive in Tongzhou! By then, it will definitely help alleviate the people's suffering!"

The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Yu, replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded after hearing this and said, "That's good. Food is the primary need of the people. We must not let the lack of food lead to civil unrest. We can first use the existing grain in the capital to alleviate the people's hardship and lower the grain price. Or we can use the silver in the national treasury to purchase grain from merchants and transfer the burden on the people caused by the soaring grain prices."

"Your Majesty is wise, I will do it right away!"

After the chief minister of the cabinet Liu Yu said this, he immediately sent a letter to the Imperial Guards, requesting that part of the grain stored by the Imperial Guards garrison in Beijing be transferred to be sold at a fair price. At the same time, he also directly used 200,000 silver dollars from the national treasury to purchase grain, so that the grain price was once again kept stable without rising.

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that due to the rapid development of Ming Dynasty's industry, food shortages in the capital had become more and more frequent recently. Zhu Houzhao was really worried that major changes would occur as a result. This also made him realize that while developing industry, it was also very important to improve agricultural productivity.

Zhu Houzhao was now thinking of the sweet potatoes that had been brought back from South America by Zhang Yanling, the Marquis of Jianchang, the year before last. He could not help but summon Yan Song and Zhang Zhong of the Imperial Horse Administration and asked, "How is the promotion of sweet potatoes going?"

"Your Majesty, I have followed your instructions and asked all the tenants of the Imperial Farm to plant sweet potatoes in the fields. Because the Imperial Farm has provided financial incentives for promotion, the tenants have responded very well. Now all the land in the Imperial Farm in the capital has been planted with sweet potatoes, and they are being harvested one after another. The cellars for storing sweet potatoes have all been dug!"

Zhang Yong, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Stables, replied.

Here, Yan Song also replied: "I have also followed your majesty's order to promote sweet potato planting among the people in the capital. One million acres of land have been planted with sweet potatoes, and they are now being harvested."

"Very good, immediately count how many sweet potatoes we can purchase and whether they can solve the food shortage in the capital." After Zhu Houzhao was sure that sweet potatoes, a high-yield food crop, had been widely promoted in the Ming Dynasty and would soon have a large-scale harvest, he felt a little more relieved and no longer worried about the intensification of conflicts due to the food shortage.

But because Zhu Houzhao now has high hopes for the sweet potatoes, on the second day, Zhu Houzhao still took the cabinet ministers to the imperial farm in the suburbs to check the per-acre yield of these sweet potatoes. After all, Zhu Houzhao only knew from novels in his previous life that sweet potatoes have high yields and can solve the problem of famine. As a modern person living in the era of hybrid rice, his impression of sweet potatoes only remains at the stage where rural people use them as pig food. He does not know whether these sweet potatoes can really create a "prosperous age" or whether they can let the people eat pig food to solve the problem of famine.

The eunuch Zhang Zhong of the Imperial Stables did not expect that the Emperor Zhu Houzhao would suddenly come to the imperial farm, so he did not have time to pull out the sweet potatoes from other fields and stuff them into the acres of land that the emperor was now seeing, to create an auspicious sign of a sweet potato yield of 100 shi per acre, so as to make the emperor happy.

Therefore, Zhang Zhong is a little nervous now. He is really worried that the sweet potatoes dug by His Majesty personally will not produce good quality. If that happens, he may lose his official position.

"Your Majesty, the total weight is 26 stone, 7 jin, 6 liang, 4 qian." After all the sweet potatoes were dug out, Zhu Houzhao asked the people in the Imperial Horse Administration to weigh them. At this time, the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Yu, was the first to say in astonishment: "What! 26 stone!"

Liu Yu did not expect this, because in his impression, the grain yield per mu was only about two shi, but now the sweet potato yield per mu is as high as 26 shi, and it is such a high yield even in the barren mountainous area. For a moment, he could not control himself, and he uncontrollably grasped the scale in the hand of the eunuch of the Imperial Stables in his own hand and took a closer look.

"That means the yield of sweet potatoes is 26 dan per mu. If all the land in the world is planted with sweet potatoes, wouldn't there be no worries about food shortages?"

Wang Qiong also said something at this time, and then he bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said: "I congratulate your majesty, congratulations to your majesty, with this crop, the people will not have to worry about famine!"

The other officials who came with him all followed Wang Qiong in congratulating Zhu Houzhao, and even called it a good omen, a blessing that they, the emperor, brought to the people of the world.

Zhang Zhong also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had never expected that this sweet potato would be so productive.

Zhu Houzhao just smiled. He was used to the officials' flattery. Of course, he also knew in his heart that perhaps for the rulers of the Ming Dynasty at that time, it was indeed a good thing to have a high-yield crop that could keep the people from starving to death. After all, if the people did not starve to death, they would not rebel, and the world would be peaceful and stable for a long time, and the powerful scholars and officials could continue to enjoy prosperity.

But only Zhu Houzhao himself knew that these sweet potatoes could fill the stomach, but they were not nutritious foods. Compared with the amino acid content, the nutritional value of sweet potatoes was far inferior to rice and wheat. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not want the people of the Ming Dynasty to rely on eating this kind of sweet potatoes to solve the hunger problem. It might not be a big deal in the short term, but in the long run it would lead to a decline in the physical and intellectual fitness of the Chinese people.

"This food can only fill the stomach and is not suitable as a staple food. Agricultural science still needs to work on increasing rice and wheat yields." Although Zhu Houzhao said this, Liu Yu, Wang Qiong and others who were still happy about the appearance of high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes could not suppress their excitement. They still had smiles on their faces and walked along the ridges of the fields with Zhu Houzhao in high spirits. They were happier to see the sweet potatoes popping out of the fields than to see gold and silver treasures.

Yan Song took Zhu Houzhao's words to heart. He had been researching elements recently, and his research direction was to find out which elements were necessary for crops, so that he could produce some fertilizers through industry.

Therefore, Yan Song could not help but take over Zhu Houzhao's words and said, "Your Majesty! I have made some progress in my research on the elements necessary for crops recently. I have also supplemented and corrected your knowledge of sacred learning and created a fertilizer called ammonium bicarbonate. I have also used the ammonia and carbon dioxide mentioned in your sacred learning to synthesize urea, which can be used in wheat farming experiments. Your Majesty can go to the Agricultural Science Institute to have a look.

Zhu Houzhao was quite surprised to hear Yan Song say this. He did not expect that Yan Song had made such great progress in the past two years. Not only did he correct the knowledge that he thought was wrong, but he also actually produced two relatively important fertilizers. Although this was related to some reference materials provided by himself as the emperor, it was not easy to truly realize the production process of these fertilizers.

Of course, Yan Song had experience in producing and developing primitive phosphate fertilizers when he was the governor of Southern Zhili. Now with the development of the Ming Dynasty's steel and chemical industries, Zhu Houzhao felt it was not surprising that he could synthesize these two fertilizers within two years.

Zhu Houzhao hurried to the Agricultural Science Institute. As soon as he arrived, the Cabinet Chief Liu Yu said with surprise: "Your Majesty, the wheat ears in Minister Yan's wheat field are indeed much fuller and denser than ordinary wheat ears."

"This is the best piece. There are also failures. There is a rule for fertilizing. Too much is not good, and too little is not fertile enough. Your Majesty and the Lord, look at these wheat fields. They are obviously not good. They have already died!"

Yan Song smiled and said, "Moreover, after comparing the group tested last year with the group tested this year, we found that the fertilizer has a greater impact on the soil and is prone to caking. In the future, if our Ming Dynasty wants to promote this fertilizer, we must start researching and solving these problems."

"I don't care about the most suitable amount of fertilizer to be applied, nor do I care about how you will solve the problem of soil fertility decreasing due to fertilizer application in the future. Just tell me, how much can the yield of one acre of wheat field increase in this way?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

"Half a stone!"

Yan Song replied.

"Really!" Cabinet Chief Liu Yu asked in surprise.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but be a little surprised. He knew that fertilizer could promote grain production, but he didn't expect that fertilizer could increase the grain production of the Ming Dynasty so much. He thought that it might be related to the fact that chemical fertilizers were not used on a large scale in the soil of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Wang Qiong bowed to Zhu Houzhao again and said, "Your Majesty, this is really auspicious! The yield of new grain is more than 20 dan per mu, and now the yield of old grain can also increase. This is truly a good omen for a prosperous era! A good omen for a prosperous era!"

"This is all thanks to your Majesty! If it weren't for your Majesty's plan to govern the world, there wouldn't be such a grand occasion today!" Yan Song also echoed with a smile.

Although Zhu Houzhao and other officials were half really happy because the grain production of the Ming Dynasty could be increased and half were just flattering themselves, he was also very happy and said hurriedly: "Pass the decree to set up a Ministry of Agriculture, with Yan Song as the Minister of Agriculture, who will be responsible to the Cabinet! He will be responsible for promoting sweet potato crops and fertilizers!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Yan Song hurriedly bowed and said excitedly that Wang Shouren of the Imperial University of Peking was already the Minister of War, Zhang Cong was the Minister of Personnel, and Xia Yan held the title of Minister of War and was the Governor-General of Nanyang, while he was still at the level of Vice Minister, and he was naturally very happy to be promoted to Minister.

The cabinet and other officials also hurriedly echoed: "Your Majesty is wise!"

While Zhu Houzhao and his ministers were discussing how to encourage the people to grow sweet potatoes and use fertilizers and increase fertilizer production, Gu Dayong from the East Factory came running over and said, "Your Majesty! A riot just broke out in the Daming Gate area of ​​the capital because the grain store suddenly raised the price of rice to 2 yuan and 5 cents. The people were angry and smashed the grain store, injuring four people. They have now been detained by the Ministry of Justice!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but look at Wang Qiong: "Hasn't the Ministry of Revenue already stabilized the grain price? Why are these grain merchants raising the grain price?"

Soon after Zhu Houzhao asked, Yuwen Zhong, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, came running over in a hurry: "Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened. The two million dan of grain transported by the Tongzhou Grain Bureau suddenly caught fire and most of it was burned! The soldiers and civilians were able to save less than 50,000 dan, and the rest was destroyed!"

"what!"

Chief Minister Liu Yu and several other civil servants nearly fainted upon hearing the news. They relied on these two million dan of grain to maintain the grain prices in the capital, and now almost all of it was destroyed in the fire. They dared not imagine what kind of turmoil would occur, and whether His Majesty would push these cabinet ministers out to take the blame.

Yuwen Zhong, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, also knew that this matter was serious, and he prostrated himself on the ground: "I failed to guard the warehouse properly, Your Majesty, please punish me!"

"Get up first! There's no point in punishing you now," Zhu Houzhao was surprisingly calm.

Although he did not expect that two million grains of food guarded by heavy troops would suddenly catch fire, he knew that the most important thing at the moment was to solve the problem of food shortage in the capital. After all, with the development of industry, there were nearly two million permanent soldiers and civilians in the capital. If the food shortage problem was not solved, there would really be a major unrest!
"Issue an order to have the imperial guards and engineers in the capital immediately assist the imperial farm in purchasing sweet potatoes. Yan Song from the Ministry of Agriculture immediately organizes people to purchase the sweet potatoes from the people in the capital." Zhu Houzhao gave the order first, then asked Zhang Zhong and Yan Song, "How many shi can be expected to be collected?"

"Your Majesty, I can collect about one million stones here," Yan Song replied.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the imperial farm can collect about three million stones," Zhang Zhong replied.

"That's good. In that case, all of us in the capital will have to eat sweet potatoes for a few months. The potatoes that Marquis Jianchang brought back will also be stored and used as temporary food. They will be distributed by the Ministry of Revenue, but the Ministry of Revenue still needs to find a way to purchase food immediately and ask the Grain Bureau to transport food to the capital again!

Yuwen Zhong is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue's purchase of grain. This time, I will allow you to make amends for your crime. If you cannot raise two million dan of grain within three months, I will have to use your head to appease the people!"

Zhu Houzhao said this and turned and left the Agricultural Science Institute.

……

Yuwen Zhong walked with a deathly pale face. He didn't know when he came back. He only knew that he was finished. It was more difficult to raise two million dan of grain within three months than to raise two million silver dollars within three months.

"Master, Mr. Kong wants to see you." Just when Yuwen Zhong was at a loss, the housekeeper in his mansion suddenly came to report.

"Mr. Kong, who is Mr. Kong?" Yuwen Zhong asked.

"He said he was a merchant from Shandong and had two million shi of new grain, which he was planning to transport to Liaodong in exchange for salt permits. But he heard that the capital was short of grain, so he came to ask," the steward said. Yuwen Zhong stood up at once. All he could think of now was the two million shi of grain with his eyes closed. After all, Emperor Zhu Houzhao had issued him an ultimatum. If he did not raise the two million shi of grain within three months, he would have to sacrifice his life to appease the people.

When Yuwen Zhong heard a merchant say that he had two million dan of grain, he immediately stood up and said, "Please invite him in!"

(End of this chapter)