Chapter 386: The Population Dilemma (4,000 words)

"Your Highness, the concubine heard that you have a few more beauties? Let's take a look, so that the concubine can see the South Americans. "As soon as the leaders of the Six Edicts were sent away, Wu Meiniang over there got accurate news, and she came to 'Xingshi to ask for guilt' with a big belly.

"Oh, Mei Niang, don't say cool words, I'm dying of sorrow, if this continues, my lustful reputation will really be implemented, what should I do?" Seeing that Wu Meiniang also teased herself, Li Zhen looked bitter, and hurriedly sat Wu Meiniang on the chair, and said helplessly: "But you don't know, I can't accept this situation, these six edicts have just been attached, if I don't accept their gifts, I'm afraid not only the six leaders, but even the entire six edicts will be uneasy, which is very unfavorable to the next rule of the Tang Dynasty." But don't worry, I won't move any of these women, and when I meet the right person after a while, I will arrange to marry them all. ”

"How does this work?" Wu Meiniang smiled at the corner of her mouth, shook her head and objected: "This is the person who was given to His Highness by the Six Edicts, what is the matter with His Highness marrying them off?" Those who know are fine, but those who don't know still think that Your Highness, you don't look down on them? This is also not conducive to the rule of the Tang Dynasty. Your Highness doesn't have to worry that we will be jealous, concubines are not like that. ”

"Of course I know you're not that kind of person...... But what you said makes sense, I'm speechless. Li Zhen's face became even more bitter, and Wu Meiniang suddenly laughed out loud.

"Oh, Mei Niang, it's time for you, you're still brushing me...... Don't you have a solution? Hurry up, tell me what I should do? Seeing this, Li Zhen didn't understand that she was tricked by Wu Meiniang, she didn't come here to ask the teacher about the crime, but to help herself solve this dilemma? Hurriedly grabbed Wu Meiniang's little hand and urged eagerly.

Wu Meiniang's smiling face suddenly retracted, and she sighed leisurely: "Actually, where is there any good way to concubine?" The concubine came this time to suggest that you accept these women. The concubines are pregnant and cannot serve His Highness, and most of the many sisters are pregnant, so these women are just serving His Highness instead of us. ”

Li Zhen said helplessly: "It's not your mistake that you are pregnant...... Am I not the kind of person who is in a hurry...... Is it Xiaofuzi and what you said, this dead eunuch, really said everything, I'm angry, I'm going to settle accounts with him. ”

To this day, where does Li Zhen still not understand that this is all Xiaofuzi's plan? first persuaded herself to accept these women, and then persuaded Wu Meiniang to let her persuade herself to include these women in the East Palace? Only in this way can we ensure the stability of the six edicts. Although he is also dedicated to the public, Li Zhen does not like this method very much.

"Your Highness, don't worry." Wu Meiniang hurriedly stood up and grabbed Li Zhen: "This is what the concubine meant, even if Xiaofuzi doesn't say it, the concubine will persuade His Highness to focus on the overall situation after she knows it, and it's not about Xiaofuzi." ”

"Forget it, we'll talk about it later." Li Zhen suddenly stared at Wu Meiniang's stomach: "Count it out, this little thing should be about to be born, right?" ”

"Yes." Seeing that Li Zhen's attention shifted to her stomach, Wu Meiniang showed a happy smile on her face: "This child was conceived by a concubine in July last year, calculate the time, and it should be in labor in May." ”

"So there's still a month left? That's great. The surprise on Li Zhen's face was even stronger, it was already April, and Wu Meiniang should give birth in another month, and Fan Xueyi, she was pregnant a little more than a month later than Wu Meiniang, and at most in July, Fan Xueyi should also give birth. And it's not just the two of them, because after the two of them became pregnant, Li Zhen forced Li Shimin to give him more than 20 queens, and most of these people are also pregnant, and the interval is very short - that is to say, from this year to next year, Li Zhen will usher in an outbreak of childbirth, and when this period passes, Li Zhen's children will exceed twenty, which is simply a humanoid stallion.

But correspondingly, Li Zhen's reputation may also be completely ruined, after others mention the prince of the Tang Dynasty, the first impression is probably not that of the wise god or the god of wealth, but a pornomaniac, he can't walk when he sees beauty, etc., he simply doesn't know what to say - the problem is that Li Zhen is not this kind of person, although he has been forced into a lot of beauties, he is also a little happy in his heart, but that is just human nature, and it is not the same as his original intention...... That's why Li Zhen felt that she was particularly wronged.

But he just felt wronged, as for the so-called face not to have children, it was impossible, he was a royal family, for the reproduction of the Tang population, it was necessary to set an example.

The Tang Dynasty has been established for less than 30 years, and the time for the world to be peaceful is less than 20 years, although after 20 years of governance, the Tang Dynasty has initially possessed the appearance of a prosperous era, coupled with the guidance of Li Zhen, it has brought the Tang Dynasty to a more prosperous era.

Today's Datang can say that there is no shortage of anything, as long as this period of recuperation and recuperation time is over, it can be said that the restored Datang really has the power to rule the world, but there is only one point, which is the biggest shortcoming of Datang, that is, the population - after the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the population can be said to have fallen to a historical low, only 20 million people.

Even Li Zhen can't change this, even if under his influence, the lives of the people of Datang have improved and they can support more children, but giving birth to children is voluntary, even if Li Zhen is influential, how much impact can it have? At most, 20 million will become 21 million, which is already the limit of his ability.

And the population is sparse, which will lead to another very serious problem, that is, the newly occupied land cannot be digested - this is even more fatal for the future conquest of the Tang Dynasty, the newly conquered territory can not be occupied, where does the conquering army of the Tang Dynasty dare to put these territories behind and conquer more land farther away? Aren't they afraid of the people on these turf fighting back? When the time comes, the back road will be cut off, and it may not be one or two people who will die, and the entire army may be wiped out.

And if you want to conquer the new land, ensuring that there are a sufficient number of Han people in the new land is the most prerequisite - why the Han people can have such a strong assimilation power, in addition to cultural tolerance, more importantly, the number of Han people is enough, it is conceivable that when the people around you are Han people, in order to integrate into them, you will unconsciously learn the customs and habits of the Han people, and this situation lasts for a long time, then you will naturally integrate into the Han civilization.

But what the Tang Dynasty lacks now is the population, and there are actually three ways to increase the population in this era: the first is to classify the people of the conquered land as the people of the Tang Dynasty, but how can this newly conquered people be of the same mind as the Tang Dynasty? Even the Six Edicts, a nation that was subdued by the Tang Dynasty and even took the initiative to ask for annexation, would fight back against the Tang Dynasty when they had the opportunity, and bite the key points of the Tang Dynasty fiercely, how could the people who were forcibly conquered by the Tang Dynasty really surrender to the Tang Dynasty?

Except for the Tibetan and Tianzhu people, who were divided into several classes, the lowest and largest number of people were forever enslaved and exploited by the rulers, and suffered unspeakably. Only in this way, when Datang rescues them with the attitude of a liberator, can the local people be renewed, and most people will really lean their hearts towards Datang. But it is a pity that there are thousands of nations in this world, but how many nations really meet this condition? Moreover, they themselves are not the people of the Tang Dynasty, and they have not experienced the baptism of Han culture, even if they are relocated to the newly conquered territory, what can they do? They may not even speak Chinese, so how can they spread Han culture?

The second method is to encourage childbearing, since outsiders are not credible, then increase the number of their own people, just a child from birth to adulthood, it also takes at least sixteen years, this is a very long period of time, not to mention that the medical conditions in ancient times were not developed, and the probability of infant death was very high.

And although it is said that today's Datang has entered the prosperous era, ordinary people are just able to eat enough, one more child is one more mouth to eat, and it takes 16 years for the child to generate value, how can anyone make such a long investment?

Just because ordinary people are uneducated doesn't mean they're stupid. If it's just one more child, but the long-term investment of sixteen years, the risk is too great, not to mention the death of the child, just say that if the child catches up with the famine year in the sixteenth year, it may be because of this extra person, the family may starve to death.

Therefore, it is not that the people are unwilling to have children, but they dare not give birth, the cost of having children is too great, and then the encouragement of the upper echelons is needed.

At the same time, the high-level officials of the imperial court are also leading by example, not only Li Shimin has added a daughter this year, but as his sons, they also need to be role models, and Li Zhen naturally can't escape this hurdle.

However, it is still that problem, it takes at least sixteen years for a child to reach adulthood, which is too long, neither Li Shimin nor Li Zhen can afford to wait, but fortunately, there is a third way.

The third method, which is not only the quickest, but also the easiest, is the black household. Black households have existed since ancient times, especially during the war years, when the people were displaced and the household registration information was whitewashed, and after the stability of the country, some people became black households for various reasons, and compared to the registered people, the black households are actually not a lot at all.

For example, there is such a record in the Sui Dynasty, when the Sui Dynasty was founded, the population was only 3.5 million households, and after just over ten years, the population surged to 9.8 million households, almost tripling. Of course, this is not because of how clever the system of the Sui Dynasty was, nor how capable the people were at that time - only ten years, at most, it can only ensure that one generation grows up, and even if the population explodes, how can it increase so much? The main reason is actually black households, because of the turmoil in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, black households are everywhere, and a large number of people do not pay taxes to the imperial court. Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian was an extremely good emperor, who grasped the black households quite tightly, and almost all the black households were identified, which caused the population of the Sui Dynasty to surge (this point was mentioned by Ben San before, in fact, all dynasties would usher in a population explosion in the early days of the new dynasty, not how wise the founding emperor was, mainly because they thoroughly investigated the black households).

The Tang Dynasty because the family was strong, so it was not so tight on the black households, it was not that they were unwilling to thoroughly investigate the black households, everyone knew the benefits of population increase, it was really the Tang Dynasty that had just been founded, there were too many things, and the imperial court simply did not have the leisure time to investigate thoroughly, coupled with the obstruction of some families, this thing could not be done.

Many families have the habit of raising black households, because black households do not need to pay taxes, so they only need to pay taxes to the family, the two sides have a very tacit understanding to spare the court, for the family and the black household is a win-win situation, both are good, under normal circumstances, no one on both sides will tear this face, the only one who may suffer is only the imperial court, and it is precisely for this reason that a large number of black households are unwilling to register their household registration and are unwilling to turn to the surface.

Of course, because they don't have a hukou, it's very inconvenient for them to act, because in ancient times, they needed a guide, and without a guide, you couldn't even walk two hundred miles away. However, the range of activity of the ancient people generally did not exceed fifty kilometers, and this limit was not at all similar to no one for them. Another disadvantage is that the black households cannot enjoy the policies of the imperial court - but in ancient times, the policies that benefited the people were too few, and as long as the ordinary people could enjoy it, the black households could also enjoy it by themselves, and it was even more impossible for them to register their household registration (for example, the law of granting land is according to how much land is granted to each household, but the land in the Tang Dynasty is vast and sparsely populated, and there are many barren mountains and mountains.

As for the tax reduction policy? Come on, people don't even have to pay taxes, so how can the tax reduction policy attract them?

However, now is the time when the population is needed, and a thorough investigation of black households will indeed have a miraculous effect on the future conquest of the Tang Dynasty. In fact, this kind of thing is already being done by the Tang Dynasty, and the conquered Nanyang and Borneo and even Tianzhu are actually prepared for these black households.

It's a pity that perhaps the Tang Dynasty's propaganda strategy has not been implemented, although the "Immigration Policy" has attracted the attention of many tenant farmers and black households under the name of the family, so it overturned the land annexation of the family, but this trick is not so attractive to the people hidden in the deep mountains and old forests - not that the attraction is insufficient, but they don't know at all, they don't even know, where will they get out of the mountains?

Therefore, the focus of Datang's efforts is to thoroughly check the household registration, and at the same time increase publicity efforts to attract more black households from the deep mountains - according to the calculations of the previous imperial court, if all these black households are clear, Datang can at least double the number of people, double the population, which is very beneficial to Datang's future conquest, at least after all these people are laughed at, the next generation of Datang may have grown up, and the shortage of people may not be so serious at that time.