Instead of waiting for Qin Chengye, Yan Xiwen came.
"Your Majesty, the latest statistics from the Ministry of Revenue are out. Please take a look."
Yan Xiwen handed Fu Xiaoguan a booklet, which was a list of poor areas and poor people in Daxia compiled by the Ministry of Households at Fu Xiaoguan's request.
"Daxia has eleven provinces and two autonomous regions. Based on an average annual income of ten taels of silver per person, there are quite a few places below that!"
"In fact, every province has it. Due to the limited land conditions, the farming conditions in the high-altitude mountainous areas are extremely poor. They mostly grow sweet potatoes because rice requires certain conditions, such as water resources."
"They had no other source of income, so some counties encouraged their people to seek work outside, earning money in workshops. This offered much higher returns than farming, leading to a massive exodus of population from some counties. Many villages became increasingly desolate, with entire villages even leaving their inhabitants alone and vast tracts of farmland abandoned."
"But not everyone is willing to leave their homes. Some, for various reasons, like having elderly or children at home who need care, cannot leave and are forced to stay where they are. So, after these days of screening, the number of people living in poverty in Daxia is over 60 million."
Fu Xiaoguan took a deep breath. Today, the total population of Daxia is less than 500 million, and one-eighth of the population is poor!
Is this prosperous age really a prosperous age?
The development of commerce will inevitably lead to population mobility, which Fu Xiaoguan was originally prepared for. However, he still tried his best to avoid a large-scale outflow of labor, so he has been encouraging businessmen to build workshops in poor areas.
I haven't paid much attention to it for many years, and now it seems that the situation is not what I thought.
"Sit down, let me take a look at this, and you can make some tea yourself."
The two of them were very casual, and Yan Beixi actually made a pot of tea.
After a moment, Fu Xiaoguan put down the list in his hand and asked, "Do you think this situation is good or bad?"
Yan Xiwen pondered for a moment. "In fact, the present-day Great Xia is very different from the former Yu Dynasty. Your Majesty, during the Yu Dynasty, commerce was sluggish, and the people were starving and poorly clothed. That's why you introduced the policy of promoting both commerce and agriculture, and also implemented new commercial laws."
"Because of the preferential policies, many bold businessmen have gone to those remote areas to build workshops, such as Pingling County and Quyi County in Yongning Prefecture."
"But now, Daxia has largely solved the problem of food and clothing for the people and has entered the first industrial revolution, having entered an industrial society. In my opinion, commerce has developed rapidly due to industrial progress and has left agriculture far behind."
"This is the reality today. The people have been liberated from the fields. This is what you told me back in Xishan. Now it's come true. They've left the fields and entered the factories, earning more money and creating enormous value. This is progress, so from this perspective, I think it's a good thing!"
Fu Xiaoguan held the teacup and listened carefully. What Yan Xiwen said was not wrong. The development of commerce would inevitably lead to the emergence of more factories. Even if these factories were innovated and adopted new equipment and technologies, they still needed people.
The commercial development of Daxia has now reached a new height. Various commodities are sold to the Eurasian continent by land, and are also sold in large quantities to the Leah continent by sea.
This is the foundation for the economic prosperity and healthy development of Daxia. There will be gains and losses. The loss is a sharp decline in the population engaged in agriculture.
The grain produced by Daxia can already be exported on a small scale, but the problem now is that there are still more than 60 million people who still cannot get enough to eat - the barren land, harsh living environment, and no place to make money have resulted in them not even having the money to buy food.
"Then how do you think we can solve the problem of these 60 million people?"
Fu Xiaoguan put down his teacup and continued, "I've said before that although common prosperity is impossible, we can't allow the gap between the rich and the poor to become too large!"
"You have to understand, they are all citizens of Daxia. They have the right to live on this land, and we have the right to make their lives better!"
Yan Xiwen nodded, "So, I believe that the next thing the country should focus on is the rural revitalization plan!"
Fu Xiaoguan was startled, then burst into laughter. "Come on, this is a good idea. Can you tell me in detail how to implement the rural revitalization plan?"
Yan Xiwen rose from a county magistrate to a governor, and he had extremely rich experience in governance. When he was in Yao County, he listened to Fu Xiaoguan and took the lead in raising the commercial banner of Yao County, opening up the Yao County port and making Yao County a banner of commercial reform in the former Yu Dynasty.
After going to Tailin City to become the governor, he did not stay in the governor's mansion every day.
That former Yi country was so poor!
They were so poor that when he went on an inspection tour, he cried when he saw the common people!
Taking advantage of the favorable conditions of Daxia's infrastructure construction and his good relationship with Fu Xiaoguan, Yun Xiyan and others, he obtained a large number of infrastructure projects from the Ministry of Commerce and repaired all the roads in the towns across the vast land of Yi State.
He mobilized tens of millions of migrant workers and temporarily solved the urgent needs of the people who were almost starving to death.
There are too many people and the project is moving too fast. All the official roads in that place have been built. What should we do next?
He did one thing - building cement roads in every village!
He brought up the banner of His Majesty, because Fu Xiaoguan did say that if you want to get rich, you must first build roads.
He also obtained a huge special fund from the Ministry of Revenue and built wide cement roads in all the villages in the vast territory.
At the same time, he borrowed rice seeds and sweet potato seeds from Fu Badai and distributed these seeds to various towns. In just one year, he ensured that nearly 100 million people in that land had enough food to eat.
The four regions under the jurisdiction of Tailin City became the only place in the entire Daxia where every village was connected by cement roads. With the extremely convenient transportation, he introduced a large number of businessmen, who went down to various towns and villages to build workshops, solving the employment problem of surplus labor.
Therefore, Yan Xiwen has extremely rich experience in rural issues and commercial issues.
"You're testing me. Actually, I learned all this from you," Yan Xiwen chuckled, taking a sip from his teacup. "You've already raised the issue of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. It's just that you've been so busy expanding maritime and land transportation arteries these years that you haven't paid attention to this."
"Here's what I'm thinking. There's simply too much gold shipped back from the Leah Continent. Let's set aside a portion and have the Ministry of Revenue take the lead in establishing a rural revitalization fund. It's an old rule that funds should be used for their intended purpose."
"It all starts with roads. Once rural roads are built, it will be more convenient for villagers to travel to towns. Even if they raise a few chickens and lay a few eggs, they can go to the market to exchange some money. Besides, those mountains are not completely empty. There are always some special products and unique scenery."
"Now that most people in Daxia are wealthy, they like to travel... You're the one who really started this trend."
"Only when the roads are open can the tourism industry develop."
"Don't underestimate the people living in the deep mountains and old forests because they are poor. They offer unique scenery that city dwellers have never seen! With a report in the Daxia Weekly and praise from the government, the rich will be willing to go there."
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