Tibet

Li Ye met with the provincial governors and chief historians of Fujian Province on the same day and held a discussion to listen to everyone's ideas.

Looking at the officials gathered together, Li Ye smiled and said: "I have heard everyone's thoughts and opinions. Everyone said that the tax burden is too high, but I can tell everyone that as the war gradually ends, the military's expenditure will be greatly reduced. The tax burden will also be reduced, which is inevitable.

I can promise you now that starting from this year, the additional military tax, rack tax, mule and horse tax, and ship tax will be abolished, the commercial tax will be reduced from one cent to three cents, and the land tax will be reduced from five cents per cent to fifteen cents per cent. , the household tax will also be halved. I have already announced it on Liangzhe Road, and I have officially announced it today on Fujian Road. "

The officials immediately beamed with joy and talked a lot. In the past few years, the court has continued to increase taxes, public resentment boiled, and the people were miserable. The officials were also under great pressure. When walking on the street, they would be pointed at their spines and scolded.

But there was no way. The court was about to go to war, and the north could not collect taxes, so it could only continue to increase taxes from the southern states. Now the King of Qi took over the court forcefully, constantly cracked down on the warlords, ended the war, and gave everyone hope of reducing taxes.

At this time, Li Chengzhao, the governor of Fuzhou, cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness, I have been in Fuzhou for three years. I have deeply felt the prosperity of Fujian. Many products can supply the whole world, such as tea, oil, etc., but it is a pity that they cannot be transported out. If Fujian states can If we vigorously develop road transportation, I believe that Fujian Road will be no less important than Jiangnan Road.”

Li Chengzhao is also a member of the clan. He is one of the few capable officials in the clan. He can lead troops to fight and is quite strategic. Li Ye also admires him.

Li Ye nodded, "Li Shijun is right. Fujian Road is not only rich in tea and oil, but also cotton. Although kapok is a little poor in weaving, it has a good filling and thermal insulation effect. If Fujian Road can plant a large number of kapok trees, then the north The cotton and hemp fields can be reduced a lot and turned into grain fields.

There is also sugar cane, which can be grown on a large scale and then produced locally. Of course, there are also medicinal materials and so on.

As for road transportation, the way out for Fujian Province is sea transportation. By the beginning of next year, the Danba Waterway will be opened, which can carry ships with three thousand stones. This means that the specialties of Fujian Province will be transported directly to Chang'an by water after being transferred through Xiangyang. "

At this time, Li Yi, the governor of Jianzhou, raised his hand and said: "Your Highness, when it comes to shipping, Jianzhou has no advantage at all!"

"I know that Jianzhou is not close to the sea, but Jianzhou has Jianyang Creek, Jianwu Creek, and Jiangle Creek. They merge into the Minjiang River and flow into the sea. Can they not be used for shipping?"

Li Yi smiled bitterly and said: "Most of these three rivers are in mountainous areas. Some water sections are navigable, while some water sections are full of rocks, making it difficult to navigate and regulate."

Li Ye smiled and said: "I remember that Li Cishi served as the magistrate of Shaanxi County. He should know Sanmenxia on the Yellow River very well!"

"Of course I understand that Sanmenxia has always been a serious problem in Guanzhong. It has been rectified for more than a hundred years, but it has no effect."

"If Li Qishi goes to Shaanzhou now, you will find that only the southernmost one of the three huge rocks in Sanmenxia is left. The floods have subsided and shipping is convenient, and it can pass a five thousand stone cargo ship."

Li Yi was surprised and delighted, "How can this be done?"

"The army has powerful firearms, and even the Danba Waterway is about to be opened, not to mention the Sanmenxia. So as long as Governor Li applies to the court, I guarantee that the ship pairs for Jianzhou next year can also be transported from the water to the seaport."

These words gave everyone confidence. As long as all kinds of wild goods can be transported out, and Chang'an can be filled with goods from Fujian Road, that will be a visible political achievement!

After having lunch with the officials, Li Ye immediately took everyone out of the city to visit the Champa Rice Experimental Field. Of course, everyone did not call it Champa Rice. It came from Jiaozhou, so it was called Jiaozhou Rice.

The official in charge of rice planting in Jiaozhou was Wei Qingyue, a professor at the College of Agriculture in the Engineering College. He was also the director of the newly established Improved Breed Promotion Agency in Sinong Temple.

He established a research institute in Quanzhou with more than thirty students.

The officials came to a lush rice field. Five hundred acres of Jiaozhou rice were planted here on a trial basis. Unlike Jiangnan, the rice fields here in Quanzhou were still planted with Jiaozhou rice, and they were planted for two seasons. Of course, it was due to the climate.

"Your Majesty, this kind of Jiaozhou rice is very good. It is drought-resistant and adaptable. The summer grain yield is 550 kilograms per mu. The autumn grain yield is about the same. The annual yield per mu is up to 1,100 kilograms."

Wei Qingyue couldn't hide her excitement and said: "If we promote it throughout the south, the food problem of the Tang Dynasty will be completely solved, and everyone will have enough to eat."

Li Ye smiled and said, "There are also 30 acres of Jiaozhou rice planted in the south of the Yangtze River this year. Does Wei Shuling know?"

"The humble position knows about this, but you just don't know what the outcome will be?"

"It's pretty good. Half of the thirty acres of land have a yield of 400 kilograms per mu, and there are two acres of land that have a yield of 480 kilograms per mu. However, there are also a dozen acres of land that are not good, with only two to three hundred kilograms per mu. "

Wei Qingyue nodded and said: "This situation is normal. It requires continuous adaptation and continuous screening. It will be stable in five to ten years."

"Can it be planted in Guanzhong?" Li Ye asked.

Wei Qingyue smiled bitterly and said: "Guanzhong has always been able to double-crop rice and wheat. Not growing rice is a political issue, not an agricultural issue."

This issue is indeed a political issue. If the people can have enough to eat, who will sell themselves and their land? How can the ruling class annex land and keep slaves?

This was actually the root of the failure of all dynasties. The Song Dynasty solved this problem with extremely developed industry and commerce, but it was a pity that it was still destroyed by foreigners.

In the Ming Dynasty, this old problem returned. Obviously sweet potatoes were introduced to the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli period, but they were only promoted in Fujian and Guangdong. Didn't the court know that this stuff was highly productive? Of course they know, they are afraid that the people will have enough to eat and will not be exploited.

In the end, the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the peasant uprising army who had no enough to eat.

Therefore, the emergence of many high-yielding crops is definitely against the interests of the ruling class. If Zhu Yuanzhang had not promoted it with his powerful monarch, how could cotton have been widely planted all over the world?

Li Ye became the leader of the Tang Dynasty. His identity was problematic. He was not an orthodox royal family, but all the interest groups in the Tang Dynasty supported him, so he was able to ascend to the throne.

It is precisely because of this that Li Ye does not intend to touch the interests of the ruling class for the time being, but he wants to revive the Tang Dynasty. What should he do?

The only way is to make the plate bigger, use powerful force to expand outward, occupy the vast no-man's land, and give the desperate people a way out.

In order to achieve this goal, he needed the population of the Tang Dynasty to grow, and the fundamental guarantee for population growth was food.

So food is his bottom line. Whoever dares to go against him on the matter of food will be destroyed by him?

"We will test it for another year next year, and we will go to Jiangnan for the test the year after that. If it succeeds, we can promote it on a large scale in five years!"