"The old man also agrees with Zhu Shangshu and Cao Shangshu's views!" Chen Yiming just said lightly, and then looked at Zheng Yongji on the main seat.

"A few of them are right!" Zheng Yongji bowed his head and said: "The old man has served in the household department for many years, and he still knows some things.

In particular, after the household department measured the land of the whole country last year, the old man found that compared with the beginning of the founding of the dynasty, the cultivated land did not increase in the slightest, but the population of various places increased by more than four or five times.

At the beginning of the founding of the dynasty, Emperor Taizu ordered the household department to check the population of the whole country, and the result of statistics was that the population of the whole country was less than 10,000.

Today, the population of the whole country has increased to 50,000,000, and if the tax revenue of the state treasury is only the idea of hitting the people's one-third of an acre of land, I am afraid that after more than 100 years, the finances of the country and the DPRK will inevitably face the situation of not being able to make ends meet in the past few years, and it will even be more serious than before. ”

"Zheng Ge is serious, right?" Gao Pei said with displeasure in his heart.

"What's serious?" Zheng Yongji squinted at Gao Pei and said, "At the beginning of the founding of the dynasty, Emperor Taizu was afraid and didn't expect that today, two hundred years later, the population of the Great Zhou would increase fivefold, right?" ”

Zheng Yongji's words gave everyone a wake-up call.

Compared with the beginning of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the area of cultivated land in all parts of the country has not increased, and the grain output has not increased.

With so much food now, it seems that there is not much problem in feeding 50,000 people.

But what if the population grows to 60,000, 70,000, or even 80,000?

At that time, with today's food production, will it be able to feed so many people?

This brings us to another issue.

The reason why the dynasties have fallen has not exceeded 300 years, except for the problem of land annexation, that is, the population has increased dramatically, so that the imperial court can no longer support so many people.

Unlike modern society, the country's arable land area has not increased much because of science and technology.

However, because of the improvement of seeds, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the grain yield per mu has increased year by year.

In feudal society, farming was completely dependent on God for food.

The wind and rain are smooth, and the people still have a bite to eat.

But when it comes to the year of the big rebirth, let alone eating, selling children and daughters is a common thing.

Once the people could not survive, rebellion became inevitable.

Otherwise, at the beginning of the founding of the country, even if there were major disasters in various places, why did the people not have a large-scale rebellion?

Isn't it because the population was small at that time, and the people had enough land in their hands, although life was still poor, but the people still had a bite to eat?

However, in the last years of the dynasty, the land was increasingly annexed by the landlords and gentry, not to mention the rapid increase in population was also an unavoidable problem.

Because at that time, there were many people and few places, and the tax revenue of the imperial court gradually declined, and there was no longer enough money and food to help the victims.

That's why the people who have no way to live will rebel.

Such a phenomenon has occurred repeatedly, and even the wise and virtuous ministers of the past dynasties have been unable to reverse the curse of the dynasty for 300 years.

"What Elder Zheng Ge said is extremely true!" Li Guangtai nodded and said, "Those who do not seek a hundred generations are not enough to seek a moment."

As an official of the imperial court, since we have found a problem, we must solve it, and we can't leave it to future generations to solve, right?

Although the old man doesn't know if my Great Zhou can escape the curse of the dynasty for 300 years, if according to His Majesty's wishes, the national glory of the Great Zhou will continue for decades, there is still no problem. ”

As long as the state has enough money and grain, even if it encounters natural and man-made disasters in the future, Da Zhou will be able to survive for decades.

Zheng Yongji's words sounded the alarm for everyone present.

It can be said that everyone here is a vested interest in the Great Zhou, and naturally does not want the phenomenon of the collapse of the dynasty in later generations.

Otherwise, it will be their children and grandchildren who are unlucky.

……

The conversation in Donghua Pavilion reached Zhang Lingyang's ears through the secret agents of Jinyi Wei.

After listening to the secret agent's narration, Zhang Lingyang fell into deep contemplation.

If Western science and technology had not been introduced, even if Zhang Lingyang had great ability and carried out various tax reforms, it would only be a temporary means to continue his life, and it would not have been able to fundamentally lift the curse of 'the collapse of the dynasty in 300 years'.

Thinking about the feudal dynasties of the previous life, it seems that after the population of the previous dynasties reached a certain scale, an unprecedented era of great chaos will come.

The two Han Dynasty lasted for 400 years, but inevitably, there was the Yellow Turban Uprising, followed by the chaotic Three Kingdoms era.

Of course, there is the issue of land annexation, but the factor of population explosion has to be taken into account.

Compared with the beginning of the Han Dynasty, although the cultivated land area in the last years of the Han Dynasty increased somewhat, it was also extremely limited.

However, the population in the last years of the Han Dynasty increased by dozens of times compared with the place where the country was founded.

With the production conditions at that time, even if there was no question of land annexation, what about a hundred years later?

I am afraid that a hundred years later, the population of the Han Dynasty will explode to a new height.

With the grain production at that time, it could feed 50 or 60 million people, maybe 80 million or 90 million people?

The answer is obvious!

In later generations, production technology has improved, and the land cultivated has increased, but once the population reaches a limit, problems will also arise, large and small.

Just like the Ming Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty system had various flaws, the population of the Ming Dynasty in the last years of the Ming Dynasty skyrocketed to an unprecedented 20,000,000 people.

With serious land annexation and frequent natural and man-made disasters in various localities, peasant uprisings of all sizes naturally broke out.

However, in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, new varieties with high yields such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn were popularized on a large scale, coupled with the implementation of policies such as spreading into acres, so that in the last years of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the population soared to 450 million.

If there had been no invasion by the Western powers, it would not have been a problem for the Manchu Qing dynasty to continue for another 100 years.

In the Song Dynasty a thousand years ago, the cultivated land area also decreased compared with the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the problem of land annexation was not effectively alleviated, but why was the Song Dynasty able to feed more than 10,000 people?

Naturally, this was because the court of the Song Dynasty had enough tax revenue to maintain the normal operation of the state apparatus.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, there was no large-scale peasant uprising at all, which has to be said to be the tax system of the Song Dynasty played a hated role.

Both the Southern Song Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty were called 'weak Song Dynasty' by the officials, and they donated a large amount of money and grain to the Western Xia, Liao, Jin, and Mongolia every year, and the country also recruited those rebel armies from time to time.

But the Song Dynasty was always able to come up with enough money.

It is said that money is a man's courage, and if you change to a dynasty, I am afraid that it is the same concept.

If the treasury does not have sufficient money and food, no matter what you do, you will only be afraid to look ahead and look ahead......

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