Chapter 166 Census of Chinese Dynasties

"Cut, really." Rolling her eyes, Li Zhen explained: "Bengong really likes American food, because there are several foods in it that taste really delicious, but Bengong won't conquer a continent just for a bite to eat, right?" Of course, there must be reasons for this, but it is definitely not for the selfish desires of the palace, but there are several high-yield crops in the Americas, if they can be successfully planted in Datang, then the entire Datang will no longer be in danger of starvation - no matter whether Datang is in its prime or not, even in the era of war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, no one will starve to death. At that time, food will be the least valuable thing in the world. ”

"Really?" Liu Renliang was suddenly excited, he came from the war era, he knows the importance of food too well, sometimes for a bite to eat, the situation of selling children and daughters happens from time to time, and it is not just a matter of saying that he eats with his son.

In fact, even if the Tang Dynasty has already sprouted a prosperous era, the food has always been insufficient, although it will not starve to death, but it will never be enough for everyone to eat.

This situation lasted until Li Zhen conquered Nanyang last year and looted all the grain in the entire Nanyang, and Datang's grain was considered to be surplus, and there were only two options to completely eradicate this situation.

The first is to look for more fertile land, looking for Datang has been found, that is, Nanyang, as long as Nanyang is thoroughly developed, so that Nanyang becomes the granary of Datang, with the amount of grain produced in Nanyang, it is not a problem to feed the entire Datang. But this choice also has disadvantages, that is, it will cause Datang to form a strong sense of dependence on Nanyang in the future, in case there is a problem in Nanyang one day, for example, someone has blocked the road to transport grain, or if there is a disaster in Nanyang, if you are caught off guard, the entire Datang will definitely be hungry.

The second method is to find a high-yield crop, preferably the kind that does not pick the land, as long as there is this kind of crop, Datang can grow food everywhere, and naturally there is no need to worry about hunger.

However, the Chinese people have lived in this land for thousands of years, and have been looking for thousands of years, and everything they can eat has been found, but there are only five kinds of rice, millet, millet, wheat and soybean that are eligible to become mainstream crops.

Among them, rice is rice, millet is sorghum, millet is millet, also called millet, wheat is wheat, and soybean is the general term for beans.

However, rice is only suitable for growing in the southern paddy fields, the environment limits its yield, wheat is cold-hardy, but the yield is not high, as for millet, bright and beans, although they are among the five grains, but the taste is not good, not to mention, the yield is even lower chilling.

And now Li Zhen actually said that there are several high-yield crops in the Americas, which can completely solve the problem of food and clothing.

Everyone is boiling, if what Li Zhen said is true, it is really a great merit that is higher than the sky, just by virtue of this, it can be compared with the ancient Shennong clan.

Of course, what Li Zhen said was true, but he knew that after those crops in the Americas were introduced to China, the population of China had a big explosion.

Let's take a look at the population growth of the Ming Dynasty after corn was introduced into China, during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, the population was 10 million (mainly because the rule of the Yuan Dynasty was too bloody, and the city was slaughtered and destroyed at every turn), and by the Jiajing period, the population had reached 200 million.

Then the population at the end of the Ming and early Qing dynasties was 19 million (in the twelfth year of Shunzhi, that is, in 1655, a national census was conducted, and the population was 19 million at that time), and then in the first year of Xianfeng (1850), it was already 430 million, and in less than two hundred years, the Chinese population increased by more than 400 million, directly more than 22 and a half times.

Incredible, right?

You must know that at the peak of the Tang Dynasty, the population of the entire Tang Dynasty was only in the early 50 million (during the Kaiyuan period of Xuanzong, there were only 50.9 million), and in the later years of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 400 million - is the Qing Dynasty so good? Or has the Chinese reproductive system evolved over the course of a thousand years? Becoming extraordinarily capable of giving birth?

Of course not.

It is not that the early Chinese were not as capable as the late Chinese, but the Chinese have been very capable since ancient times.

This can be seen from the contrast between the troubled times and the prosperous times, the population was about 30 million at the beginning of the Qin Dynasty (215 BC), and after the wars of the late Han Dynasty, it became 8 million at the beginning of the Han Dynasty (202 BC).

Then after two hundred years of development, the population grew to 60 million at the end of the Western Han Dynasty (2 years ago), and then at the turn of the two Han Dynasty, a scuffle came to the Eastern Han Dynasty during the Ming Emperor period, and it was only 21 million.

Another hundred years of development, by the time of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the population recovered to 56 million.

Then there was the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and then the three-point world, a hundred years of chaos, and by the time the Jin Wu Emperor Sima Yan completely wiped out the last of the Three Kingdoms, Wu, in 280 AD, China's population was only 16 million, and at the least it was even less than 8 million.

However, the Jin Dynasty was not a good bird, under their governance, the country became more and more chaotic, and finally led to the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, and then there was the Five Hu Rebellion of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Han people were even five million when they were the least, if it weren't for Ran Min's Jedi counterattack, he passed down the order to kill Hu, leaving a breath of air for the Han people, I am afraid that the Han people will really be wiped out.

The turbulent times of the Northern and Southern Dynasties lasted for three hundred years, but fortunately, after the end of the period, everyone did not wage war much, and the Han people were able to breathe, and then to the Sui Dynasty to unify the world, Emperor Wen of Sui was even more committed to the development of the population, after the development of father and son, to the national census of the fifth year of Emperor Yang of Sui (609), the population has recovered to 46 million.

But then there was the great chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the population dropped sharply again, and in the twelfth year of Zhenguan, there were only 12 million people, and then in 755, that is, in the fourteenth year of Tianbao, the peak of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the population recovered to 50 million again.

But that year, the Anshi Rebellion occurred in the Tang Dynasty, and the population of the Tang Dynasty fell sharply again, from 50 million to 17 million in just five years (760).

Another 400 years of development, by the fourth year of the Song Dynasty Huizong Daguan, the population recovered to 47 million, which was the peak of the population of the Northern Song Dynasty, but it was only 50 years, and by the time of the 30th year of Shaoxing, the population of the entire Song Dynasty fell to the historical freezing point of 16 million again.

As for the Yuan Dynasty, the population of the Han people was almost never higher than 10 million.

After the Ming Dynasty drove the Yuan Dynasty away, the number of Han people who took over has already been said, a little more than 10 million, and by the 31st year of Wanli (1603), it recovered to 60 million again, and hit a record high again, reaching 66 million.

As for the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, it has been introduced before, 19 million, and then two hundred years later to the Xianfeng period, the population has reached 400 million, and since then the Chinese population has continued to rise, almost never declining, until the current 1.7 billion (it is said).

(End of chapter)