Chapter 7088 A small meeting

Chapter 7088 A small meeting
Based on Chen Xi's knowledge, there's no such thing as "enough" when it comes to food. It's a kind of bioenergy that can be repeatedly obtained, even if it's low-level. As long as it's energy, it can be consumed. And what about pleasure? Humans can't have those too.
This is actually why we need to purchase grain from Jiangdong as feed. Chen Xi needs to conduct new technology verification on the grain produced by the Han Dynasty. As a result, even if we have a lot of grain, it may not be enough. We can only ensure our own food supply while conducting other verifications.

Of course, this was something that was only started in the eleventh year of Yuanfeng. The biggest difference between Chen Xi and the deceased Liu Ba was that Chen Xi was not radical at all in these matters, nor would he engage in any kind of rationing. All of Chen Xi's work was in the real economy.

While financial magic may be the fastest and most terrifying way to make money, in terms of actual development, real industry is the most realistic, the most fundamental, and the most resilient to risks.

However, Chen Xi's approach was so thorough that it created some new problems. The things he talked about eight years ago are still popular in this land. One of Chen Xi's measures was to raise salaries to support the largest agricultural population in the Central Plains and enable them to engage in higher value-added production. With the availability of technology and machinery, the off-farm ratio has been gradually increasing.

The fact that more and more people are able to leave agricultural production is different from the fact that more and more people who have left agricultural production are willing to work in factories. The former is indeed increasing, but most people who can barely enjoy a few days of prosperity have become people who would rather find some work locally than not. If they can't find any, they stay at home using straighteners to cut arrow shafts, chat with old friends, and practice some killing skills for self-defense.

After all, the repeated turmoil ten years ago still casts a shadow on the lives of ordinary people today; it would be a miracle if they didn't.

Even in later years, in the 1990s, long-haul truck drivers still had to carry some cold weapons in their trucks. Although the environment had improved a lot because of Chen Xi and Liu Bei, it would take at least a generation for the shadows to dissipate.

In fact, Chen Xi's almost limitless arrows came from this, because this was one of the very few jobs that everyone could take on. Another job was collecting herbs, but over the years, all the perennial herbs that were easy to find had been harvested, leaving only annual seasonal products. As a result, there were only a few jobs that everyone could do, among which straightening arrow shafts was the most common manual labor.

To be honest, only someone like Chen Xi would remain expressionless while collecting arrows even after having already collected billions of arrow shafts.

However, even though there is not much work, most villagers will not go out to work. Instead, because they can eat their fill, they will expand the scale of activities that were previously relatively small during the off-season, such as folk performances, folk arts, and Nuo opera. Chen Xi clearly felt that the scale of these entertainment projects was rapidly expanding.

Previously, the opera troupes produced by Manxianglou were more than enough to perform in the local area, but now, Liuluo is so busy that she can't even find anyone to perform for her all day, but the opera troupes are still not enough. At present, many villages have raised funds to build large halls within the village for meetings, gatherings, and watching plays and performances.

When Chen Xi first saw this thing, he had one feeling: the progress of human society will not change with the times, but will only change naturally due to economic foundation and entertainment needs. People in any era have the need for entertainment and indulgence.

Incidentally, it was also because of these things that Chen Xi discovered that the population of the Han Dynasty had basically stopped flowing out, and the development of large local enterprises was gradually slowing down.

The former is because they can survive and thrive locally, so people who stay in the local area generally don't migrate unless they have ambition or desire. The latter is for the same reason; if they can survive by farming locally, news of large factories or better living conditions a hundred miles away is really meaningless to them.

Even though Chen Xi greatly improved the efficiency of information flow during the feudal era, many villages were still very closed off. In addition, Chen Xi treated the people equally and genuinely believed in guiding everyone toward a better future. He also recognized that the people had the right to a better life. Therefore, when advancing social progress, Chen Xi deliberately eliminated some elements that suppressed villages and towns.

This leads to a relatively balanced development between urban and rural areas. However, this relatively balanced development actually hindered Chen Xi's efforts to survive in his hometown and live a decent life. Who would want to leave their hometown?

Conversely, if we choose to suppress village development first, creating a de facto urban-rural divide through a nominal urban-rural dual structure, and then artificially creating comprehensive social disparities, then we risk creating a situation where...

Once the agricultural land in townships can no longer support their own livelihoods, a breach is torn in this system, pretending to give the township population an opportunity to profit, thus creating a siphon effect on the young and middle-aged people in the townships.

Chen Xi can now solve all the problems of the shortage of young and middle-aged laborers in the social process. It would be an easy task to send boatloads of young and middle-aged people from the countryside to Australia to engage in animal husbandry.

Even such drastic measures weren't necessary. Chen Xi only needed to implement market-oriented reforms and suppress grain prices to the true value, which is three or four wen per dou of rice. This would force many villagers to work in factories.

Chen Xi felt that as a transmigrator, there was no need for him to make such a undignified scene. He could even feed a few bites of braised pork hock to the aristocratic families he disliked, so why should he be eyeing the meager meager portions in the bowls of ordinary people? It was fine to be slower. The Han Dynasty had already gained an early advantage, so moving at a slower pace wouldn't affect the overall situation. Besides, even if most people chose not to leave their local area to develop, Chen Xi estimated that the annual population surplus would be barely enough to advance the industrial process.

Moreover, sometimes, morality doesn't need to be so low. Giving ordinary people a couple of good meals won't kill them. So, in the end, Chen Xi chose balanced development. And the result of this balance is what it is now. Chen Xi has been defeated by his own actions. Many of the current optimal solutions are no longer usable for Chen Xi.

"So, in other words, I was the one who blocked your path?" Cookie listened to Chen Xi's explanation with great interest at first. He actually enjoyed listening to Chen Xi explain these things because they reflected his own wishes. After all, Cookie was very happy to see that everyone had cakes to eat.

By the way, Cookie actually likes to eat other people's pancakes, especially those that other people make especially for her. No matter how good or bad they are, Cookie eats them with relish. For Cookie, this is not just eating pancakes, but eating the fulfillment of her own wishes.

After Chen Xi joined the game, Cookie could add a piece of meat to the biscuit. If asked, she would say that she ate the fox's meat and that she ate it in place of the fox. As for whether others would believe her, of course they would. After all, this was the Emperor of Agriculture, and no one could disbelieve her.

However, as I listened to Chen Xi's nonsense today, something seemed off.
"I feel like you're saying that I've fed these people too much with the good seed." Cookie looked at Chen Xi strangely and said, "That's not right, is it my fault? Damn it, I'm going to report you to the Prefect of the Capital for slandering me, and then go to the temple to burn incense and ask the gods to help me judge."

"Incredible!" Chen Xi was speechless when she heard Qu Qi's words. "What good would it do to report me to the Prefect of the Capital? What good would it do to burn incense at the temple? If we fight, a bunch of people will come and kowtow to us tomorrow, trying to persuade us to stay quiet."

"Then what did you mean by what you said before? It sounded to me like you were saying that I fed those people too much. If I hadn't fed them too much, they wouldn't have stopped going to work in the factory. The problem is, if I hadn't fed those people, where would all those people have come from to work in the factory?" Cookie seized on a loophole and began to counterattack.

“What you said is not wrong, but never mind, that’s not what I meant. And you know me, I would never do something that would leave people hungry.” Chen Xi said with a hint of speechlessness, waving his hand at Qu Qi. “But the fact that people are not going to work in the factory is indeed a problem, but it’s not fatal. At most, it’s a problem of development efficiency. To me, it’s really not that big of a deal.”

"Speaking of which, I've realized that seed optimization has reached its limit, and it seems to be at its current level. I feel that the optimization of many wheat, rice, and millet varieties can only improve by a maximum of 33%." Upon hearing this, Cookie naturally changed the subject. "I feel that there is little hope for further improvement."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xi nodded. "Your feeling is correct. This is the limit of optimization for improved varieties. After all, they are plants, and their absorption rate is what it is. You have already done a great job optimizing them to this extent. Anything beyond that is no longer within the realm of improved varieties."

In Chen Xi's view, the fact that Cookie could give such a ratio was already incredible. China's agricultural science in later generations had reached a terrifying level, but the actual yield increase rate of improved varieties was only 36%. All the other grain increases came from fertilizers, and the actual increase from chemical fertilizers could easily reach 50%.

In other words, it doesn't matter what kind of crop it is, whether it's vegetables, grains, or fruits. As long as fertilizer is applied, even if the seeds are not good, the yield can be increased by half. This is also why it was difficult for grain to exceed 300 catties per mu in ancient times, because without fertilizer, the upper limit was this limit.

All crops consume soil nutrients; without sufficient soil fertility, everything else is meaningless.

This is why Li You speaks of the Wang family of Kuaiji as if his father has died, and is even willing to admit his mistakes. Because a Leiji Terrace can provide an increase of about 25% in the arable land of a radius of several miles, which is half a village. This is also why the Wang family of Kuaiji has not done anything else in recent years, but as a result, the family's title has been promoted to the title of Marquis of Xiang.

This improvement is truly incredible. In fact, this is not even the limit of the Thunder Platform. According to the original plan, a large Thunder Platform, together with four Thunder Platforms distributed in the four directions, can provide an increase of about 33% in the yield of the farmland in this area.

As for why the thunderclap towers are now being built as standalone structures, it's because everyone needs one. Building one for you is already a favor. The other four can be added later, once each farm and agricultural area has its own thunderclap tower.

However, given the current efficiency of the Kuaiji Wang clan and the efficiency with which the Leijitai was destroyed by lightning, it is unlikely that the Leijitai will be repaired in all places within the next twenty years.

Here's something that's giving Chen Xi a headache. Gongsun Gong of Youzhou has already reported this matter, and Liu Yu has also received it. They're practically ready to bring it up at the Grand Court and start cursing at everyone—the Leiji Terrace, which was built in Youzhou in the fourth year of Yuanfeng, is one of the earliest ones. It was built by the Wang family of Kuaiji and is now in a state of disrepair because it has been struck by lightning for many years.

Because the lightning-attracting platform was broken, the lightning-attracting effect decreased, and the yield per mu in Youzhou this year decreased by 15% compared with last year. Although it is still a significant increase compared with the past, the people of Youzhou were shocked to see the yield return to the ordinary high yield of the past after witnessing the super high yield.

The people of Liaodong can take this issue relatively calmly because they mainly rely on large ranches for their livelihood and don't farm much anymore. They depend entirely on Liu Yu's large ranches for food and shelter. Even if they do farm, they don't have farms as large as those in western Liaoning.

In addition to other sources of income, even if the people of Liaodong experienced a 15% reduction in production, they would only curse a little. But for the people of Liaoxi, who had large farms and various agricultural lands, a 15% reduction in production, especially after the people of Liaoxi already knew why the production had decreased, had already reached the government and then all the way to Chang'an. They had only one demand: that the Wang family of Kuaiji come back and rebuild Leijitai for them!

Of course, the language wasn't that vulgar, but that's roughly the idea. Some locals even said they'd raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the Wang family of Kuaiji, just to get them to come back and repair Leijitai as soon as possible.

To reiterate, the people of the Central Plains are pragmatic. In fact, as of now, practically no one among them understands why the thunderclap dam increases production. But even though they don't understand why it increases production, they can see its effects with their own eyes! Forget about the principles, as long as it works!

The problem now is that the Wang family of Kuaiji has been building the Leiji Terrace from north to south for years without stopping. They send out any capable servants to build it, and after all these years, they've only managed to reach the Huai River line, and now they've only managed to cover most of Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yizhou, Jiaozhou, all the vassal states in the Indochina Peninsula, and all of Jiangdong...

In other words, before the first round of repairs was even finished, the early-repaired thunderclap towers had already begun to show signs of damage. After all, it's normal for something struck by lightning to develop problems after five or six years. When Youzhou discovered that its own thunderclap towers were having problems, Jizhou quickly took notice and found that their own thunderclap towers also seemed to have some minor issues and needed maintenance!
At the same time, this problem was also discovered in some areas of Bingzhou, and then the war of words started.

Liao Li and Shi Xie, who disliked coming to Chang'an, had another very important reason for coming to Chang'an this time, besides the issue of how to divide state assets: they couldn't let the northern bastards recall the young people of the Wang family of Huiji. What would we do if you recalled them?
Especially Shi Xie, Jiaozhou hasn't even been summoned yet. If he's recalled like this, Shi Xie thinks he won't even see the Leiji Terrace spread throughout Jiaozhou before he dies. What a load of rubbish! Are you northern officials going to shit on the heads of our southern governors? Damn it!
Chen Xi had actually received this information a long time ago, but he couldn't express his opinion. The problem now wasn't the damage to the Thunderclap Platform, but rather the lack of manpower for the Kuaiji Wang Clan. The construction of the Thunderclap Platform involved not only electricity but also meteorology and architecture.

So it's not that easy to fix. It's something that looks like metaphysics, but is actually very scientific, so naturally it's not easy to learn.

In order to shock Li You, the Wang family of Kuaiji severely depleted its own young generation, resulting in a shortage of able-bodied men in the family. As for interdisciplinary subjects such as electricity, meteorology and architecture, without systematic learning from childhood, it would take at least ten years to become a master.

This is actually why Li You feels helpless whenever he sees someone mention Lei Jitai over the years. There are only a handful of people in the world whom Li You believes have done wrong, and the Wang family of Kuaiji is currently not only the top, but also in the top three.

However, this problem cannot be solved, and Chen Xi does not want to bring this matter to the Grand Court Assembly, because bringing it to the Grand Court Assembly would really provoke local forces.

This is the means of livelihood. Even if people keep saying that grain prices are low and they can't make money, no major power would miss out on the opportunity to increase grain production. Therefore, if this matter were brought up at the Grand Court Assembly, both sides would definitely be able to gather a group of people to argue at the Grand Court Assembly, or even directly take action.

After all, if you can't handle this kind of thing, you'll be talked about behind your back by your fellow villagers when you go back to your hometown. Even Yuan Shu, who was so powerful, was held back by his fellow villagers in Yuzhou. In the end, he had to bite the bullet and steal Li You's men to get things done. The other governors are facing a similar situation this time!
Liao Li dares to say that because he didn't take action in court, the northern officials stole his manpower. How will the people of Jingzhou view this? Even if they acknowledge Liao Li's abilities and his achievements over the years, they will probably feel in private that Governor Liao is still somewhat weak in dealing with foreign affairs.

Shi Xie faced a similar situation, especially since Jiaozhou had not yet benefited from the Leijitai (a type of military training platform). There were only a few Leijitai built by fearless local veterans, which greatly shocked the locals. Did they even understand what a crazy number it was that grain production increased by 25%?

Damn it, even in the game, let alone in real life, it's at least a god-tier item.

Shi Xie is over seventy years old and values ​​his reputation highly, so the grand court assembly is out of the question. Chen Xi has arranged for Li You and the head of the Kuaiji Wang clan to lead this group in a smaller meeting.

It's almost the end of the month, time to cast some votes, plus votes for the event too, oh dear!