Jinyang Palace is the former Cuiwei Palace, since the son moved here, there has not been much change to the palace, everything remains the original Li Shimin here appearance, but the son and her aunt Pingyang are very fond of flowers and plants, so the entire Jinyang Palace is full of all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, but unfortunately the season is not right now, many flowers and plants have not reached the open season, otherwise there is a strange fragrance everywhere.

Li Xiu accompanied Li Zhi to walk and chat on a gravel road, mainly because Li Zhi raised some questions about governance to ask Li Xiu's opinion, and Li Xiu also answered based on his own experience, but he also emphasized that he had not been in the court for a long time, so the opinions he put forward could only be used as a reference, and Li Zhi also nodded yes.

Speaking of the strategy set by Li Shimin since Li Zhi ascended the throne, the strategy set by Li Shimin is still continued in all aspects, mainly because the foundation laid by Li Shimin for him is too good, so there is no need to change many aspects, such as the external grassland strategy, Liaodong strategy, internal policy and so on.

"Sir, the roads and cities in the north have been almost repaired, but the number of Han people who are willing to move to the grassland is still a bit small, and there are only a few hundred Han people in some remote states, and most of them are merchants, which also makes the imperial court's rule there a little unstable, but now no matter what method the imperial court uses, it cannot attract more Han people to settle down." At this time, Li Zhi asked a question about the north.

"I've been paying attention to the annexation of the grassland, but this matter is not urgent, and we have done quite well in the early stage, those states set up in the south of the grassland have attracted many Han people to settle down, and even the population of some states has reached the scale of Shangzhou, which is not worse than the states in the Guan, as for those more remote states, the main reason for the problem of not attracting people to settle down is that the population of our Datang is still too small, which is also a matter of no choice, only when the population grows in the future, can this problem be solved." Li Xiu didn't have much to do about this matter, so he could only persuade Li Zhi to be patient.

"In fact, the population of our Datang has grown very fast, last year I ordered the household department to count the population of the whole country, and found that in addition to the population of fertility growth, there are many hidden households, homeless people, etc. who have taken the initiative to enter the household registration, and now the total population has reached more than 80 million, and it is more before the Sui War, but I still think the population is too small!" When Li Zhi said the end, he couldn't help but sigh and said, population has become a key issue restricting the development of Datang, but wanting to increase the population is not something that can be done overnight.

"I also read the population statistics of the household department, but I am very optimistic about the population growth of Datang, because according to statistics, there are nearly 20 million children under the age of ten, accounting for about 20% of the total population, these children are born after the establishment of Datang, especially after ten years of Zhenguan, the fertility rate of babies in the country has been growing, according to this momentum of development, I am afraid that it will not be long before the total population of our Datang will exceed 100 million." Li Xiu said very optimistically at this time.

From the beginning of Li Shimin's accession to the throne, until now Li Zhi has succeeded to the throne, Li Xiu has always suggested that Datang encourage childbearing, in fact, this is what Datang has been doing, such as giving birth to three sons can receive subsidies, and even taxes will be reduced to a certain extent, plus the production of grain has been increasing over the years, so Datang's population is also growing at an explosive trend, coupled with a large number of hidden households, homeless people, etc., which are included in the household registration, which accelerates the population growth of Datang.

According to Li Xiu's knowledge, it turned out that the peak of the population of the Tang Dynasty in history should be more than a hundred years later, during the Tianbao period, when there were only more than 80 million people, which was equivalent to the population of the Tang Dynasty according to Li Zhi last year, and this was far from the peak of the population of the Tang Dynasty, with the promotion of high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes, as well as the increase in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, it was only a matter of time before the total population of the Tang Dynasty reached hundreds of millions in the future.

"What Mr. said is right, this is also what I am most happy about, and I also estimated according to the current fertility rate, at most in another ten years, the population of Datang will exceed 100 million, and once the population goes up, as long as there is no war like the end of the Sui Dynasty, it will generally be difficult to come down again." When Li Zhi heard Li Xiu's words, he finally smiled a little and said, he has studied with Li Xiu since he was a child, and he also has a deep attainment in mathematics, and even in his dormitory, there is a trend chart of population growth, which will be updated every few years.

"Yes, as long as the population goes up, the grasslands in the north, the Western Regions, and the vast areas south of the Yangtze River will be thoroughly developed, and then the rule of our Datang will only be more stable!" Li Xiu also smiled at this time and said, if the population is insufficient, the rule of the imperial court will become weak, especially in places where there are more foreign races, so an important aspect of the performance evaluation of local officials is the growth of the population under their rule.

Hearing Li Xiu talk about the Western Regions, Li Zhi was also moved in his heart, and immediately discussed with Li Xiu about matters related to the Western Regions, just before Li Shimin died, he had sent people to completely defeat the Western Turks, so that the countries in the Western Regions surrendered, and the Tang Dynasty also occupied the eastern part of the Silk Road and extended its power to Central Asia.

After Li Zhi ascended the throne, he also managed the Western Regions with the same dedication, although the conditions in the Western Regions were bad, but it could not stand here as an important trade route, and the caravans flowed endlessly, making the cities established by commerce appear on this road, coupled with the submission of the countries in the Western Regions, many Tang people also moved to the Western Regions to live, so the Tang Dynasty's rule here was even more stable than the grassland.

However, there are also some problems in the Western Regions, the most important of which is that the Tang Dynasty has bordered Persia, and Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire have united to fight against the Great Food over the years, but even so, they are still fighting very hard, after all, the current Great Food is in the rising period of the empire, and I am afraid that no country can compete independently except for the Tang Dynasty.

In the past, because the distance was too far, Datang did not get too involved in the war between the three Western countries, at most it was a symbolic support to give Persia a batch of materials, but now Datang and Persia have bordered, and the commerce of the two sides has been connected, so Datang's support for Persia has also increased a lot, after all, Datang still needs Persia to be in front, at least for the time being, he can't let him fall.

"Sir, we have always been on the side of Persia, and the big cannibals know this, but just a few days ago, news came from the south, saying that the big cannibals sent a delegation to our Datang, probably to persuade us to give up support for Persia." Li Zhi finally spoke.