Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 273 Development Focus
"Without a large agricultural surplus, society will not be able to progress, industrial development will not expand, and the foundation of the entire country will not be very solid!"

Li Xianqing, deputy director of the Xinhua Decision-Making Committee, accompanied by Li Liang, head of Guangfeng County (now Saanich City on Vancouver Island), stood beside a field, looking at the busy farmers in the distance, and spoke in a firm tone.

As the spring breeze blew, the fragrance of soil wafted across the fields. The busy scene of spring plowing made him feel extremely gratified and also made him realize the urgency of agricultural development.

Throughout human history, you will find that if the entire society wants to develop rapidly and stably, it must ensure that it has a solid agricultural foundation.

If everyone can only maintain the minimum living standard and struggle on the edge of food and clothing, then the so-called innovation and scientific progress will be impossible to achieve.

Therefore, once the improvement of agricultural production efficiency slows down, society may stagnate for more than a decade or even several generations.

Only when agricultural productivity reaches a certain critical threshold will society begin to return to the path towards greater complexity.

At the most basic level, a growing population means more human minds, and more human minds will find solutions to many problems more quickly.

One person can see the shortcomings, two people can see the advantages, and three people can discuss things together. It is like this.

If basic food security is guaranteed by efficient production methods, more people can be liberated from hard farm work.

A productive agricultural system allows one person to support several others, who can then be put to other uses.

Only when this basic premise is met can society grow economically and develop in complexity and capabilities.

It can be said that agricultural surplus is the basic engine driving the progress of civilization.

Li Liang nodded and responded respectfully, "Director Li is absolutely right. Agriculture is the foundation of a nation. Only when there is sufficient food can society be stable, and only then can industry and other sectors have a foundation for development."

As he spoke, he flipped open his notebook and reported in detail on the progress of spring plowing in Guangfeng County. "In the more than 30 villages and settlements under Guangfeng's jurisdiction, spring plowing on nearly 70,000 mu of farmland is mostly complete, and the remaining work will be basically finished by late April. This means that our most important and crucial task since the beginning of the year has been successfully completed."

Li Xianqing nodded with satisfaction and motioned him to continue.

"This year, Guangfeng County has added more than 10 mu of arable land. In addition, more than mu of arable land opened up in the past two years has been gradually converted into cultivated land. In the absence of major climate disasters, the output of various grain crops is conservatively estimated to increase by about % compared with last year." Li Liang continued to report with a hint of pride in his tone.

However, his brows soon furrowed again: "However, there are still many difficulties in the agricultural production process, which greatly affect the expansion of agricultural production scale."

"Oh? What are the specific problems?" Li Xianqing turned his head and looked at Li Liang.

"The main problem is that there are too few cattle and horses available for farming," Li Liang sighed. "This means the number of acres of newly opened farmland is lower than we expected. Also, the spring plowing season has been delayed too long, resulting in inconsistent planting schedules for many crops, which has created certain obstacles for later field management."

"In our Xinhua territory, it's not just your Guangfeng County that's short of animal power." Li Xianqing smiled and said, "Large livestock like cattle and horses are in short supply in all regions. This is especially true for the Jinsha River Colonization Team and the Fenzhou Colonization Team. Due to transportation difficulties, the number of cattle and horses is even scarcer, and all land reclamation and land reclamation relies on manpower." "This time, we are negotiating with Spain. According to the signed agreement, those captives need to be redeemed with money. We have made it clear to them that the ransom will be converted into cattle, horses, and other supplies." Li Xianqing said slowly, with a hint of anticipation in his tone, "By then, we should be able to exchange them for hundreds of cattle and horses, which may slightly alleviate our shortage of animal power."

"But I heard the army wants to add some war horses to the cavalry to replace those unsustainable draft horses," Li Liang said. "Moreover, they are planning to build a horse farm to breed better horses for the army, thus achieving the goal of mule-based horses."

"I rejected their proposal," Li Xianqing said with a wry smile. "The military's mounted horses can be completely handled by the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture. There's no need to set up a new agency. Although we've established our country, we only have a population of around 10,000, less than the population of a small county in later generations. Why would we need to establish so many institutions and departments?"

He paused, then continued, "After our defeat of the Spanish invading army, we can foresee that within the next five or six years, the Spanish will be unable to launch another attack against us. Under such circumstances, we won't need to invest too many resources in national defense, let alone maintain such a large army. Furthermore, it would squeeze out already scarce civilian resources and compete for the already limited animal power."

Li Liang nodded in agreement.

He knew that Li Xianqing's decision-making has always been known for its pragmatism, especially when resources are limited, how to allocate resources reasonably is particularly important.

"For us, the most economical national defense strategy is 'a large navy, a small army,'" Li Xianqing continued, his tone tinged with confidence. "As long as we build a strong and professional navy, we can keep the enemy out of our borders and ensure absolute security on land."

He gazed into the distance, as if already reaching a future sea frontier. "After this battle, the Spanish must have realized the unwiseness of launching such a long expedition. We've also learned through various channels that the Spanish military strength along the Pacific coast is not strong, and they have few available warships."

"So, as long as we have a relative advantage over the Spanish at sea, we won't be afraid of them coming to attack us. Besides, building more warships can also transport some immigrants to Ming Dynasty, indirectly increasing our maritime transport capacity."

With the end of the war, after determining that the Spanish were unable to launch another invasion, the decision-making committee lifted the wartime mechanism in February of this year and restored normal social production order.

At the same time, the "huge" army established to deal with the Spanish invasion began to be dismantled, thereby releasing more labor for social production.

According to the strategic requirements of limited national defense, the Marine Corps and coastal defense forces became the major targets of disarmament.

The Marine Corps, numbering more than 326, was reduced by more than half, leaving only two infantry companies, one cavalry platoon, one artillery platoon, and one engineering platoon, with a total strength of people.

The number of coastal defense forces was also reduced by two-thirds, and the Shixing Port Fort and the Xinning Port Fort (now the small town of Oak Bay east of Victoria) only retained a staff of more than 80 people.

The large number of armed militias and Indian servant troops that were urgently recruited were also disbanded and re-invested in agricultural production.

In comparison, the number of people laid off by the navy was not large, and the original organization was basically retained, with four armed warships and a staff of nearly 540 people. Together with the teachers and students in the naval school, the number exceeded 650, almost accounting for more than 60% of Xinhua's total force.

Under the current circumstances, Xinhua will shift its focus to large-scale immigration and industrial and agricultural development in an effort to consolidate the country's foundation and actively enhance its overall strength.

As for the rest, they are all secondary.
-

(End of this chapter)