Chapter 332 Transfer Costs
Xiao Ye's mood was extremely complicated at the moment.
He finally developed an appetite for food, but the person who grew such food was a traitor, someone he wished to cut into pieces.
In addition to such complicated feelings, he also felt a sense of doubt in his heart.
Could it be that Jiang is really a disciple of an immortal?
Otherwise, how could Lingnan grow rice in such a dry environment?
As he suspected, a eunuch had already tasted the rice in the bowl. After confirming that it was non-toxic, Xiao Ye picked up the chopsticks and reached for the small bowl of rice first.
He didn't stop eating after this.
He felt that he had never eaten such delicious rice in all these years. After finishing a bowl, he still felt a little unsatisfied.
I think he can eat a few more bowls.
The eunuchs serving on the side were all stunned.
This was the first time they saw the emperor like eating something so much.
The key point is that the food is not some delicacies from land and sea, it is just a simple bowl of rice.
How can this not be surprising?
The emperor's every move is watched by countless people.
Soon, all the concubines in the harem knew that the emperor particularly liked to eat sea rice.
Then the news was passed on by the concubines in the harem to their respective families, and many ministers of the previous dynasty also knew the news.
After knowing this, many ministers found it incredible.
How delicious must this sea rice be that the emperor actually forgot to hide his preference and just drank a bowl of rice?
Many people began to use their connections to get some sea rice to try and see how delicious it is.
While officials of the Great Zhou were trying to find ways to produce sea rice, refugees outside Cangwu began to migrate in an orderly manner.
They took the tools distributed by Jiang Tangtang and caught locusts as they traveled.
The large number of locusts swarming towards Lingnan became a feast for the refugees. Many refugees worked tirelessly to catch locusts.
These locusts finally allowed them to have a full meal and also gave them their first fortune after becoming refugees.
There were also those smart and courageous refugees who saw business opportunities in it.
He found a way to prepare some tools for catching locusts, and pulled a group of people from among the refugees, left the team, and went around catching locusts.
They dry the captured locusts and make locust powder to sell.
Jiang Tangtang would not only not stop such behavior, but would also support it. Although Lingnan had planted sea rice, the food gap was still huge.
This locust powder is a good thing whether it is eaten by humans or bought by major farms to feed livestock.
Furthermore, due to the drought, Lingnan's business had basically come to a standstill. This was also a good sign for the resumption of business.
Jiang Tangtang didn't pay too much attention to such trivial matters. She focused her main energy on controlling the plague and developing saline land.
Because she had been growing medicinal herbs in the space, she could treat the common people without considering the cost of the herbs. Eventually, the plague in Cangwu was brought under control.
A small number of people in Lingnan were infected with the plague, but because they were discovered and isolated in time and received medicine, the plague did not spread in Lingnan.
Because Lu Shiyan made a timely decision to allow the people to harvest the sea rice in advance, when the locusts from Da Zhou and other places swarmed into Lingnan, they did not cause too much damage to Lingnan.
After harvesting the sea rice, the people picked up tools to catch locusts. After all the locusts were caught, the people started the new season's planting.
After all the harvested rice was threshed, Jiang Tangtang took the initiative and gave each worker ten kilograms of sea rice as a reward in addition to their wages.
This made the workers very happy.
Because the sea rice was harvested a few days early, the rice grains were more broken after being husked, but this did not affect the taste of the sea rice.
Like the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, many people were amazed by the taste of sea rice.
The reputation that sea rice tastes better than ordinary rice quickly spread throughout Lingnan.
Some workers who were reluctant to eat the sea rice sold it as a reward, and also sold it at an unprecedentedly high price.
The sea rice harvest was great, but the ones who regretted it the most were the major families who moved to Lingnan.
Pei Yang thought about the taste and yield of sea rice, and his heart was full of regret. Why didn't he buy the land at that time?
If he buys the land, he can make his money back in less than a year.
Compared to the Pei family, the aristocratic families that didn't get the land were more regretful. If they had hesitated less, they would be the ones reaping the benefits now.
When the noble families were regretting their mistakes, Jiang Tangtang had someone spread the word that the government was going to sell a batch of salt and alkali land.
Just like the mudflats along the coast, these lands can also be used to grow sea rice. The only difference is that these lands are farther from the sea. If you want to use seawater for cultivation, you have to find a way to get the water to the land.
Many noble families were worried that if they hesitated any longer, they would miss the good opportunity like last time, so many families paid money to buy the land before they even figured out how to get water.
This time, Jiang Tangtang is selling the land in the same way as last time, and there are two options.
But because they knew the value of sea rice, the families basically decided without hesitation to choose the first option and pay the money in one lump sum.
Seeing Jiang Tangtang sell a batch of land that was originally not arable at a very high price, the people in the General Staff Office were once again full of admiration for Jiang Tangtang.
Although Jiang Tangtang made a fortune from the major families, she didn't want to cheat them. After all, she still wanted to restore the economy.
Therefore, some methods of diverting water were revealed to the wealthy families who had purchased the land. Of course, these were just some methods Jiang Tangtang had summarized based on the experience of later generations. Whether they could succeed or not depended on their own exploration.
However, these aristocratic families have been able to stand for hundreds of years, and their strength cannot be underestimated. Many of them have a variety of talents.
Soon, a noble family built a dragon-bone waterwheel and a water pool, and transported seawater to the saline-alkali land through multiple transportations.
It would take multiple keel water wheels to transport water to the saline-alkali land multiple times, which would require a lot of manpower and material resources.
But the aristocratic family has already invested a large amount of money to buy the land. If they do not continue to invest at this time, it would be equivalent to wasting the previous money.
The noble families naturally don't want to lose money in vain.
Moreover, no one knows when the drought will end, and even wealthy families dare not sit back and enjoy all the wealth.
Although the investment was huge, at least they could grow rice. Furthermore, considering the high price that sea rice fetched outside, the major families felt that these investments would definitely not be a loss in the end.
So, Jiang Tangtang transferred the cost of developing the saline-alkali land to the aristocratic family.
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