Zhu Biao stayed in Kaifeng for five days, in these five days, Zhu Youstew accompanied Zhu Biao all over Kaifeng City, although there are still a lot of monuments in the city, but because of the flooding of the Yellow River for many years, most of the Tokyo Bianliang was buried in the yellow sand, and the ground of Kaifeng was raised several meters.

There are not many monuments that can be preserved on the ground, and even the Kaifeng Iron Tower, which is very famous in later generations, also seems a little dilapidated at this time, but Li Jie knows that just a few years later, Zhu Youstew's father will overhaul this iron tower after returning to Kaifeng, which is also the most important repair of Kaifeng Iron Tower, coupled with the maintenance of later generations, which makes the iron tower able to be passed on to future generations.

In addition to the historical sites, Zhu Biao and Li Jie also focused on examining the living conditions of the people inside and outside Kaifeng, don't look at the current Kaifeng City only has more than 200,000 people left, and the population in the city is even less than 100,000, even if the counties under Kaifeng are added together, the total population of the entire Kaifeng Mansion does not exceed one million, but this is already the most prosperous city in the whole Henan.

A considerable number of the people under the rule of Kaifeng Prefecture are immigrants from other places, because Kaifeng is relatively close to Shanxi, so it is also one of the first areas to receive immigrants, and some of the children of immigrants have grown up.

But even so, there is still a large amount of wasteland around Kaifeng Mansion that has not been reclaimed, which used to be fertile land, but now the population is insufficient, and there is not enough manpower to open up the wasteland.

In the face of this situation, the local government also began to encourage childbirth, such as giving birth to two boys, rewarding two men, giving birth to three men, rewarding a pig, and the people are also willing to have children, first, there is more land, there is no need to worry about having children, and secondly, when the children grow up, they can also help the family work, so whether it is in the countryside or the city, you can see children running and frolicking everywhere.

In fact, not only Kaifeng, but also the entire Henan, Hebei and even Shandong, almost all of them have a similar situation, and the imperial court even takes the number of births in the prefecture and county as one of the assessment criteria for officials, if the population of a certain place grows rapidly, then it is a great achievement for local officials, and it is easier to get promoted in the future.

Five days later, Zhu Biao also decided to set off again, Zhu Youstew was very reluctant, but he was a sensible child, and in the end he didn't say anything to keep it, but just asked people to prepare a lot of supplies, and then personally sent Zhu Biao's team out of the city.

However, at the time of separation, Zhu Youstew, who has always been mature and steady, also hugged Zhu Biao and cried bitterly, although it was only a few days, the uncle and nephew also cultivated a very strong relationship, Zhu Biao looked at this nephew more and more pleasing to the eye, and even Li Jie suspected that if Zhu Biao did not have a son, he would definitely bring Zhu Youstew over as a son to cultivate, and he would also pass on the Ming Dynasty to him in the future.

In the end, Zhu Youstew said goodbye to Li Jie, Li Jie also encouraged him a few words, and then the team began to set off, and then slowly left Kaifeng City, but when he walked far away, he could still see Zhu Youstew waving to them when he turned around.

In fact, Li Jie can also understand Zhu Youstew, his father Zhu Hu is an unconscious goods, and he was placed under house arrest in the capital the year before last, which caused the Zhou Wangfu to be panicked, but the old Zhu also handed over the huge Zhou Wangfu to the young Zhu Youstew management.

You must know that the vassal kings of the early Ming Dynasty were not those vassal kings who ate and waited for death in later generations, but all of them held heavy troops, although the Kaifeng guarded by the king of Zhou did not belong to the border fortress, but it was the rear of the northern border fortress, and even when the war in front was tight, the king of Zhou also needed to assign a large army to support.

Therefore, the affairs of the Zhou Mansion are actually very heavy, and sometimes even the local government affairs need to be handled by the Zhou Palace, and when Zhu Youstew took over the affairs of the Zhou Palace, he was only a ten-year-old child, even if he was assisted by the officials of the palace, but there was still a lot of pressure on Zhu Youzhuang, so he would be precocious and intelligent than children of the same age.

And just when Zhu Youstew took up the important task of Zhou Wangfu alone, Zhu Biao's uncle suddenly came from the capital, bringing him long-lost family affection, and even compared to his father Zhu Hu, Zhu Biao is more amiable, it is estimated that in Zhu Youstew's heart, Zhu Biao has replaced Zhu Hu to play the role of a father, so when they are separated, Zhu Youstew will be so reluctant.

Zhu Biao also looked a little sad after separating from Zhu Youstew, he didn't speak for a long time along the way, Li Jie didn't speak, but looked at the scenery outside the window, only to see that in the spring fields, many farmers are busy farming, and some children of all sizes can be seen everywhere in the fields, and some of the older children can already help the adults work.

"What are you looking at?" At this time, Zhu Biao finally broke the silence and took the initiative to ask.

"Watching those kids!" Li Jie smiled and pointed to the children in the field outside the window.

"Watching the kids?" Zhu Biao was also stunned when he heard this, during this time they were patrolling around Kaifeng, and they had seen too many children, and even some villages had more children than adults, and there was a woman who gave birth to eleven children, and even was set up by the government as a memorial arch.

"Your Highness, now that the population of the Central Plains is insufficient, I wonder how many generations it will take at least to fill this vacancy?" Li Jie replied with a smile again.

"This ......" Zhu Biao also showed a look of surprise when he heard this, and then thought about it before replying, "With the current population and fertility rate, I'm afraid it won't take long, it is estimated that in two generations at most, that is, thirty years, the population of the Central Plains will be able to recover to its heyday." ”

"Your Highness is right, but has Your Highness considered what problems would arise if the population was overpopulated?" Li Jie smiled again, he also asked this question to divert Zhu Biao's attention.

"Overpopulation?" Zhu Biao was stunned when he heard this, because he really hadn't thought about this problem.

"Now there are few people in the land, so the people can have a lot of children, without worrying about the problem of no land to cultivate, but if it is not controlled, the population will be too large in the future, resulting in more people and less land, and the food produced by a piece of land is limited, and when there are too many people, there will inevitably be some people starving, if people have no food, they will lose their minds, and then turmoil will be inevitable!" Li Jie spoke again.

"How do you fix that?" Zhu Biao also frowned when he heard this and asked, although this question seems a little distant, and even if he is in power, he may not encounter this problem, but he also wants to think more about his children and grandchildren.

"There are three ways, the first is to start artificially controlling the growth of the population when the population reaches a certain number, just like the imperial court now encourages fertility, and at that time it may be necessary to control birth."

"How can fertility be controlled? You can't help but let the people have their own children, right? Zhu Biao's face was incredible when he heard this, even if the court was lenient, it couldn't manage the people's beds?

"Your Highness doesn't have to worry, there will definitely be a way to control it then." Li Jie smiled again and said, wasn't the condom invented for this purpose? Of course, Li Jie himself does not recommend this method.

"And what about the remaining two?" Zhu Biao asked again.

"Birth control is throttling, that is, reducing the growth of the population under the condition that the land remains unchanged, and the second way is open source, that is, not to control the growth of the population, but to expand the territory, and even when necessary, to grab other people's land!" Li Jie replied with a smile again.

"This ......" Zhu Biao showed a contemplative look when he heard this, he did not reject this idea of expansion, but he knew that there was a big problem in actual operation.

"Now that the land of the Ming Dynasty has expanded to the limit, if it expands outward, I am afraid that the imperial court will not be able to rule effectively at all." Zhu Biao finally raised his head and said his opinion.

In fact, Zhu Biao only said half of it, and there is another reason, since the Qin and Han dynasties, Huaxia has occupied all the richest land around, and the surrounding area is either a desert plateau or a sea and dense forest, and there is no value at all.

"Your Highness, don't just focus on the vicinity of Daming, have you forgotten the globe I dedicated to Your Majesty before?" Li Jie opened his mouth to remind.

"I don't want to ......" Zhu Biao was also startled when he heard this, he also had a globe, although he also felt that the earth was unbelievably big, but he never thought of really occupying land outside of the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing Zhu Biao's reaction, Li Jie also sighed secretly, in fact, he and Lao Zhu had discussed similar issues before, but the starting point was the placement of the vassal kings, in fact, it was to encourage Lao Zhu to let Zhu Di and these vassal kings go out and spread the glory of the Ming Dynasty to the world, but Lao Zhu did not make up his mind, and only said that he had to think about it and there was no sound, so Li Jie began to agitate Zhu Biao again, but looking at Zhu Biao's appearance, it is estimated that he has never considered this problem.

"But those places are too far away, aren't they?" Zhu Biao thought about it again and finally spoke again.

"Your Highness, why did you forget, I once told you that technology is moving forward, and the speed of the current carriages, horses and ships is very slow, but in the future, there may be thousands of miles a day, or even thousands of miles of transportation, from Jinling to Kaifeng, maybe it will only take a few hours, from the Ming Dynasty to the Wa Kingdom, and the same day can be returned, then where else can the world go?" Li Jie finally asked rhetorically again.

In fact, Li Jie said that this does seem a little early, but he does not really want to persuade Zhu Biao to do something, but to leave a mark in Zhu Biao's heart, so that he can understand that the world is constantly changing, and some inherent concepts also need to be changed, which is his real purpose.

"Your Royal Highness, people have no far-sighted worries, there must be near-term worries, His Royal Highness King Yan went to Goryeo, in fact, it is a good start, in fact, we don't have to look too far at the beginning, there is still a lot of space to expand nearby, such as the Wa Kingdom, Nanyang, Western Regions and so on." Li Jie struck while the iron was hot and said again.

Zhu Biao finally showed a contemplative look when he heard this, although Li Jie's words were a bit shocking, but with his trust in Li Jie, he also began to seriously think about the possibility of these ideas at this time.