The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 690 Fish and bear paws
While Tian Ze, Chen Gong, and others were reassured by the stability and rapid development of the entire world, they were also troubled by the problem of population migration.

People are living too well; it's too difficult to carry out another large-scale population migration.

Besides doing ideological work, we should at least provide something that can attract these people.

As a result, the amount of money, food, and supplies spent on migrating people is increasing, and now it accounts for nearly 10% of fiscal expenditure.

If large-scale migrations of people were to occur in India, the southeast, and the northern Xiongnu regions, this proportion could potentially double or even triple.

Chen Gong and others were also under great pressure.

Wealth never appears out of thin air. Printing money or minting coins does not equate to having money; it is ultimately just a general equivalent.

Although the Great Qi is developing rapidly and its people are prosperous, it is still at most at the stage where everyone can eat their fill and most people can eat meat occasionally.

The rate at which society creates wealth is growing rapidly, but the accumulation is still insufficient.

By forcibly allocating large amounts of money and grain, and even using half of the fiscal budget for relocation, Tianze has been able to maintain stability.

However, for ordinary people, this will inevitably be a heavy burden, and they will harbor resentment and create a lot of hidden dangers.

"So, we still have to restrict land use, right?" Tian Ze asked with a sigh as he looked at the plan presented by Chen Gong and the others.

Chen Gong, Zhang Zhao, Guo Yuan, and the others exchanged glances and nodded deeply.

In the end, they became the very thing they hated.

If this had happened a few years ago, they would never have believed that their future selves would make such an "absurd" suggestion.

However, when they actually stand in this position and see further ahead, they have to admit that some of the "absurd" policies in the eyes of ordinary people and even many insightful people are actually "good policies" that they have to do.

"Your Majesty, the Great Qi has far too much arable land and grain," Guo Yuan said in a deep voice.

It's hard to imagine that the Minister in charge of agriculture would say such a thing.

“Low grain prices hurt farmers. Excessive arable land and grain production have both advantages and disadvantages for the people, but for the country, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages,” Chen Gong sighed.

“If this continues, the prices of arable land and grain will be out of control. Only by freeing a large number of people from the land can this be curbed.”

"But today's factories and workshops simply cannot support such a large population."

"Without an outlet for venting, problems will eventually accumulate and become serious."

“The people will gradually become lazy and no longer work hard. The progress of the Great Qi will come to a standstill.”

"But we still have external enemies, and the Seven Kings are now developing rapidly. We can't just stand still or even regress."

Social development follows its own laws and requires a gradual approach.

Running too fast may seem like a good thing at the time, but the hidden dangers behind it will inevitably accumulate and wait for the day they explode.

Tian Ze's talent was a divine skill in times of chaos, but now it has become a hidden danger.

Over the years, Tian Ze has also realized this and has been trying his best to control the speed and direction of development, but he still can't stop it.

As someone suffering from a deep-seated fear of insufficiency in food, manpower, and weaponry, Tian Ze had laid an extremely solid foundation for the Great Qi in the past, accumulating far too much wealth and resources.

Chen Gong and others had also keenly noticed this point before, but the development of the world is still uneven.

Although many people have become wealthy, there are still so many people who came later who are just barely able to feed themselves. How can they bear to slow down the pace?

You can't have your cake and eat it too; they can only try their best to maintain a balance. But now, this problem has reached a point where it absolutely must be solved.

Zhang Zhao, the most upright of the three, stepped forward and looked at Tian Ze and the ministers, saying, "The Great Qi is what it is today, mostly thanks to Your Majesty's talent and foresight."

"But if I may be so disrespectful, Your Majesty will not always be here. What will become of Great Qi then?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present fell silent.

Tian Ze, however, did not stop Zhang Zhao from making his "disrespectful" remarks.

He has become indifferent to these formalities and is now more focused on solving the practical problems at hand.

"Nowadays, many fertile lands in Liaodong that Your Majesty once cultivated have begun to slowly decline, with the yield dropping from eight shi per mu per year to about three or four shi per mu."

"Over the years, our Great Qi has been continuously building water conservancy projects, improving and promoting agricultural techniques, and the yield per mu has reached this level, which is more than double that of the Han Dynasty, which is extremely high!"

Upon hearing this, all the ministers present nodded in agreement.

In just over twenty years, grain yield per mu has more than doubled, which is simply unimaginable. Only they know how much effort they put in behind the scenes.

It was a miracle created by the countless scholars, common people, and the corpses of countless foreign slaves who built water conservancy projects and fertile fields.

If we calculate according to the nine grades of land classification during the Han Dynasty, in the present-day Qi Dynasty, the middle and upper grades of land have become the mainstream, the middle grades are relatively rare, and the middle and lower grades and below are almost non-existent.

Giving people the right to choose their land, and even the means to give up farming, is an incredible and grand undertaking.

As for Tian Ze's talent, it's completely cheat-like and can't be considered talent at all.

"Even without His Majesty's talent, our Great Qi can still barely sustain itself with grain. The grain in the national treasury is piled up like mountains and is about to rot."

"In addition, the continued construction of water conservancy projects, the continuous increase in the yield per mu of cultivated land, the reduction of slaves, the development of the seven kings, and the reduction in the consumption of food in foreign wars."

"I believe Your Majesty should relinquish control now!"

"Moreover, we also need to take this opportunity to further regulate the fertile land."

"Ideally, we should get rid of most of the Nakata areas, or even Nakagami areas, either by building irrigation systems to cultivate them into Ueda areas, or by abandoning them altogether!"

Zhang Zhao said this in an extremely arrogant manner.

Having served as an official in the Great Qi for so many years, Zhang Zhao now believes most in the four words: "Man can conquer nature."

With the current stable rule of the Great Qi, clean governance, efficient administration, abundant food, sufficient slaves, and popular support, what project could not be accomplished?

Especially with the presence of Tianze.

Tian Ze's talent is practically a bug.

Even without those magical techniques, the knowledge of hydrology surveying, sensing water veins, and the water conservancy knowledge that Tianze acquired from later generations is enough to defy the heavens.

Zhang Zhao could confidently say that, under Tian Ze's planning and guidance, the water conservancy of Daqi has always been in a virtuous cycle, and even if it were to stagnate, it would naturally continue to improve within a hundred years.

Similarly, as long as all land is cultivated normally, with proper fertilizers and crop rotation, its fertility will not decline, and may even improve.

This also means that with the improved climate and increased yield per acre, there is no need to worry about food and arable land.

(End of this chapter)