After all these years of running, the distance from Yinshan Town to Linquan Castle has been shortened a lot.

Before! The slowest speed is about a month. Afterward! Shortened to about twenty days. And then later! Everyone found the nearest route again, and it only took half a month.

And now! From Yinshan Town to Linquan Castle, it only takes ten days. And! There is no need to walk at night yet.

Other than that! On the way from Yinshan Town to Linquan, there are inns, restaurants and wine shops.

Right now! From Yinshan Town to Linquan Castle, if you walk day and night, it will only take five days.

It's true! The road is a walk. With the continuous exploration of the caravan, a straight line was finally found and the time was shortened.

After everyone thought that it was the nearest route, the roads became "official roads" thanks to the caravans. Even! It is wider than the official road.

The road on the savannah is not only wide, but also very flat. But! Because of the straight line, there is a ravine and a hillside in the middle. So! It's not absolutely flat, either.

It was a year after he returned to Linquan Castle when he left. There is no way!

In ancient times, transportation was so backward. It will take more than a year to turn around. In the modern world, if you don't travel, you can run a round trip in a few days. The earth has become a global village, let alone wandering around the country?

Today's Linquan Castle has basically formed a scale. The pattern of urban planning has been formed.

Future! It's just filling in the blanks. Tear down the thatched houses on both sides of the street and build good houses with stone and wood structures. There are more businessmen who come to operate, filling all corners of the city.

Under the management of the third brother-in-law and others, there is finally a team of guards.

Before! Baekyu's vision was that there would be no army. But! Under the pressure of the international situation, there must be an army. Otherwise! You can't guarantee the safety of the city.

At the strong suggestion of the third brother-in-law and others, a paid army was formed. The paid army is equivalent to the "professional soldiers" of modern society. Or! Mercenaries.

Give them a basic salary and let them complete basic training or tasks every day. And then! It's a paid service. When dealing with dangerous affairs, a certain reward is given according to the amount of merit.

Other words! Kill a bad guy and give you how much money! How much money is given to you when a crime is detected.

Of course! Everything is not what you think, self-righteous, do whatever you want. Everything is organized and led, and it is all under the arrangement of the people above, and you go to investigate and deal with it.

Other than that! The big merchants, on their part, encourage them to cultivate their own defense forces. Not only do you have to fund the City Guards, but you also have your own protection just in case.

It's the same as the All Soldiers program: everyone is a soldier. When the country is in danger, everyone participates and can fight.

In terms of tax collection, the full collection of taxes began without affecting Bai Gyu's previous commitments.

Before! Bai Gui promised not to collect taxes under what circumstances. But now the situation is different, no taxes are collected and others take advantage of the cheap, and the cost of city management has to be borne by him alone. It's true! I can't take it anymore.

The previous regulations are still in effect: in order to encourage merchants to settle in Linquan for long-term business, there is no charge for the first period of time. The merchant who comes and goes away will not collect your taxes. But! Once you settle in and operate for a long time, you will have to collect taxes.

It's not a tax, it's an administrative expense.

After several years of development, the local population of Linquan has developed rapidly. In addition to the continued migration, fertility is high and almost every household has an increase in population. The area of land reclamation is also expanding indefinitely, and the villages are also expanding invisibly.

In agriculture, Bai Gui still does not collect taxes from farmers. The main purpose is to encourage them to have children and expand the population rapidly.

At the suggestion of the third brother-in-law and others, a policy of encouraging childbearing and punishing non-childbearing was also implemented.

It's the same as in the vassal states of Zhou: when a woman reaches a certain age, she must marry and have children. Otherwise! Collect your taxes.

But! The age is not that low. Bai Gui suggested that for the sake of the quality of the population, it is necessary to be at least 18 years old.

The youngest baby in the family is over seven years old, and they are encouraged to have another child. After the age of thirty, a woman is free to give birth.

Men can be polygamous, but! Live with only one wife. Other wives are just tools for procreation. The babies they give birth to can be subsidized by the state. Their family does not collect taxes until their children reach the age of majority.

In agriculture, the absence of taxes is only temporary, and is only a means of encouraging childbearing. Once the population has risen, an agricultural tax is levied. Once the agricultural tax is collected, the peasants will consciously refrain from having children.

It is conceivable: when the burden of life is heavy, and you can't support yourself, who wants to have children?

Taxation can act as a lever to regulate fertility.

On the whole people are soldiers, there is no stop.

As the population increased, there were more people in the village, and contradictions among the people appeared. Sometimes! For a trivial matter, they quarrel with each other and even fight. Outcome! Under the persuasion of the management personnel, they were willing to participate in collective military training.

They not only want to defend the collective, but more importantly, learn some martial arts and defend themselves. Once someone bullies you, you have the bottom in your heart, and you are not afraid.

And also! With the increase in population, the concept of family and clan is also important. People who come from one place, or relatives, are instinctively united. Once a collective incident occurs, a family, a family of people, will unite against others.

People who come from a place also have this situation. When there is a quarrel or conflict with someone else, they will stand together.

Whenever this happens, the managers will stand up and organize them into a team of "all the soldiers".

Of course! Instead of encouraging them to fight among themselves, the managers rather! Instill in them knowledge of national defense.

If one day, the Linquan Castle is attacked by other tribes or invaded by robbers, the people can be organized smoothly.

The people do not have personal feelings and experiences, and it is useless for you to disseminate national defense knowledge to them, because they do not understand them.

Just like some countries in modern society, they always spread the "threat theory of a certain country" to their citizens, with the aim of establishing an imaginary enemy and uniting the people.

Without an imaginary enemy, the people will have no sense of national defense and will not be able to unite.

It is not necessary to wait until the little devils occupy the northeast and half of the country before they have a sense of national defense and a national complex...... Until that time! It's too late.

The enemy is always watching us, why don't we even dare to say it? Isn't it?

As soon as the enemy shows signs of aggression, it is necessary to take advantage of the problem and cultivate the people's sense of national defense.

If there is no unity among the people, no matter how rich they are, they are all empty. War is really coming, and everything will be destroyed.

So! The so-called happiness in front of us is only temporary.

(End of chapter)