On the table, there was a line chart drawn by Chu Yueqing based on the registered population of the household department that he took from Xuanyuan Hao.

In the tenth year of Emperor Mo, the population of Daqi was more than 50 million.

By the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Modi, the population had dropped to 48 million.

Twenty years, that's 40 million people.

By last year, the population had plummeted to 35 million.

Chu Yueqing stared at this line chart and panicked, even if some black households were not registered, the speed of population decline was inevitably too fast.

You must know that since the founding of the Great Qi 25 years, the most peaceful and prosperous year, there are more than 70 million people. In the following 50 years, the population remained at about 60 million.

"The prince is back?" Chu Yueqing suddenly raised his head and asked Mo Weaving.

"Not yet, Princess."

It wasn't until nightfall and the starlight spread across the sky that Xuanyuan Hao returned to Zhuxinyuan with a heavy dark circle under his eyes.

At that time, Chu Yueqing had already had dinner and sat in the small study for half an hour, boredly flipping through the household population register borrowed from Xuanyuan Hao.

She was idle, and made a more detailed column chart of the total annual population registered by the household department since the accession to the throne of Modi.

Seeing Xuanyuan Hao coming in, she didn't raise her head, but beckoned, "Come here." ”

Xuanyuan Hao smiled, walked over and touched her head: "What's wrong?" ”

"Look at this," Chu Yueqing pointed to the drawings on the desk: "It's not a good thing that the population of Daqi is declining so much. It stands to reason that the founding of the Great Qi has only been more than 100 years old, and it should be a period of prosperity. ”

Xuanyuan Hao's face instantly sank: "I also found out about this." Especially in recent years, the population of Daqi is really small. Last year, a truce with Beimo and Daqi was supposed to be a good opportunity to recuperate, but unexpectedly, it was not yet a year, and Nanling was ready to move again. ”

"If Nan Ling thinks about it, I'm afraid that Bei Mo will not sit and watch the play, and will definitely harass the border from time to time. However, the previous battles with the Northern Desert and Nanling took several years to repair. Daqi is already complaining, if it is really forcibly fought, I am afraid that it will cause civil unrest at that time. Chu Yueqing took out a pen and paper seriously, and drew the outlines of Daqi, Beimo and Nanling with a few brushes on the rice paper.

I can see it almost as a draw.

Xuanyuan Hao couldn't help but look at Chu Yueqing twice.

Chu Yueqing felt the gaze cast above his head, and squinted: "See what I do?" ”

Xuanyuan Hao's face remained unchanged: "I didn't expect you to suddenly have a brain, I am very relieved." ”

"......." Chu Yueqing's eyes widened, and a pair of eyes almost erupted into flames: "When did I run out of brains!" ”

Almost word by word, Chu Yueqing stared at Xuanyuan Hao with hatred, although she was a little confused sometimes, her IQ has always been very reliable, okay? ! Why is this as if her IQ is only online today!

Xuanyuan Hao laughed suddenly, and when he saw Chu Yueqing's face sinking more and more, he couldn't hold back: "Qingqing, I'm just joking with you, don't take it seriously." ”

Chu Yueqing looked at Xuanyuan Hao who seemed to be smiling, wanting to laugh but not daring to laugh, so he also smiled: "Why did you come back so late today?" ”

"I'm going to the palace to discuss things." Xuanyuan Hao found a place to sit down and said to her: "Today, there is an urgent report to the capital in Qunanguan, and at the beginning of the month, Qunanguan actually died of heat stroke because of the hot weather. ”

"Died of heat stroke?" Chu Yueqing frowned, and the expressions of the husband and wife at this time were the same: "Qunanguan is the border south of Daqi, the weather is like summer all year round, the locals should have been accustomed to this kind of climate for a long time, even if the weather is suddenly a lot hotter this year, how can there be such a thing as death from heat stroke?" ”

After talking about it seriously, Xuanyuan Hao asked Xiao Xiangzi to wait outside the house.

Seeing this, Moori also retreated with interest.

After the two left, Xuanyuan Hao picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for both of them, and then continued: "So when the news was first delivered to Beijing, Uncle Huang was also shocked, he had just returned to Beijing from Qunan for only half a year, and something like this happened in Qunan. So I also met Uncle Huang when I was in the imperial study. ”

The imperial uncle in Xuanyuan Hao's mouth is the king of Qunan.

Chu Yueqing raised his eyebrows, knowing why he came back so late, thinking that it was the old emperor who took the trouble to talk about the county lord of Mingwen.

Chu Yueqing didn't say anything, pretending not to understand the meaning of his words: "What about other places, how is the summer situation?" ”

Xuanyuan Hao smiled willy, and moved a small bench next to Chu Yueqing and got a little closer: "The matter of Qunan has not been explained yet?" ”

Chu Yueqing squinted, looked at Xuanyuan Hao's smiling eyes, and said leisurely: "Then you understand?" ”

Xuanyuan Hao coughed slightly at the moment, knowing that this was against Chu Yueqing's hair. Looking at his appearance, his mood is particularly happy.

He doesn't know why, but he seems to be enjoying the feeling of teasing clearly.

However, Qingqing is getting less and less hooked, and it seems that the same thing can't be used too many times.

Xuanyuan Hao suppressed his thoughts, and said seriously: "It is precisely because the people of Qunan are used to seeing such hot days, so they don't take this hot day seriously, and they don't prepare anything to relieve the heat when they work, and because they are used to it, the people of Qunan didn't take this matter as a big deal at first, until people died one after another, and the people of Qunan panicked, and the local state government realized the strictness of the matter, and hurriedly sent someone to report the matter to the imperial court." ”

"There are more or less people dying of heat stroke in other state capitals, but there are not as many as in Qunan. The state capital in the east is close to the sea, the weather has not changed much, basically no one has an accident due to the heat, but the north and west of Daqi are not good, the winter in the north is colder than other places, and the summer is so hot at this time, the difference between one cold and one heat is too big, and many people can't stand it. ”

Chu Yueqing listened, her right eyelid suddenly jumped a few times, and she looked up at Xuanyuan Hao: "So...?" ”

Xuanyuan Hao looked at her: "What do you think of the current situation?" ”

In the past two months, Chu Yueqing has had nothing to do, read a lot of books, and expressed his opinions on many things.

Although Xuanyuan Hao didn't think that her actions were all right, he did not deny that Chu Yueqing's views on many current affairs were more direct and to the point than most officials in Daqi.

Therefore, in two months, as long as there is something in the court, Xuanyuan Hao will deliberately tell Chu Yueqing and listen to her thoughts.

"I don't know what the situation is in Nanling and Beimo?" Chu Yueqing said: "Qunanguan is the southern border of Daqi, and it is next to Nanling, isn't there such a thing as the weather is too hot there?" If so, how did they solve it? There is also the Northern Desert, although most of their territory is northern, and even some of their territory only has spring temperatures in summer, but there is always a part of the land that is close to Daqi, and there is really no one there who is uncomfortable because of the weather?

(To be continued.) )