After formulating the strategy of moving westward, the huge war machine of the entire empire began to operate rapidly, and began to execute every link according to the battle plan, commanding the fine-tuning and dispatch of generals and staff officers, troop deployment, logistics transportation, pre-war mobilization and common sense training.

Fighting abroad far from home involves the final settlement of large-scale operations in the Soviet Union, and pre-war mobilization and common sense training are very important, such as the combat aspects involving soil, vegetation, building materials, bridges and transportation roads.

In order to provide effective supplies for the Western Expeditionary Army, the empire used dozens of Chang'e airships, which are 255 meters long, 41 meters in diameter, and 46 meters high.

These things have a complete set of systems, operated by the various imperial departments under the jurisdiction of the imperial base camp, Zhang Shusheng does not need to be as comprehensive as before, except for some scientific research matters when necessary, his focus has now shifted to two aspects, management of civilization and some particularly major scientific and technological projects.

When it comes to managing the country, things are not easy, and the vast empire of more than 20 million square kilometers has many things to decide on, such as population issues.

On December 17, 1946, Zhang Shusheng summoned Liu Shaoqi, the vice premier of the empire, to discuss the issue of the empire's population.

As the deputy of the imperial prime minister Zhou Guolai, Liu Shaoqi has the ability to govern the country in fact, and he can also be said to have the ability to govern the country, and he has achieved good results in the imperial work he is in charge of, especially the economic construction work and social reform work.

"Chairman of the Committee, the issue of population growth in our country seems to be relatively simple on the whole.

Before liberation, with the exception of the southwestern region, the country's population growth basically showed a normal growth trend, although it faced unfavorable factors such as poverty and backwardness, class oppression, and warlord warfare. The southwest's population has been growing rapidly, more than double the national average for the same period, reaching an average of 3.2 percent.

According to the population statistics of the southwest on the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the population of the southwest is 190 million, accounting for one-third of the country's population.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the population has grown at 3.5 per cent per annum, thanks to rapid economic development and good social policies, as well as the favorable effects of a peaceful environment......"

At the end of November, the second census was completed, and the total population of the empire had reached 830 million, including 780 million native citizens, Southeast Asians in Southeast Asian provinces, and about 50 million Soviet ethnic people in the Soviet occupation areas. In ten years, it has grown by about 230 million, which is a very fast growth rate.

According to the different citizenship certificates, the first three categories are counted as the core citizens of the Chinese nation, also known as native citizens, and the fourth and fifth categories, which are changed from the population of the occupying country to new ethnic groups, are called new citizens.

In the original official estimate, the population of the empire was more than 700 million, but I didn't expect it to have exceeded the 800 million mark, if according to the laws of the empire, plus those citizens of the empire abroad, the population of the entire empire has exceeded 850 million, about 860 million or even more people.

In the absence of a shortage of land, the imperial government has always encouraged childbearing, implemented free medical care and free education for young people under a huge financial burden, and coupled with the great immigration policy of no shortage of land, the population of the whole country has grown very rapidly.

Because China has not had a good contraceptive habit, although there was already a condom in the southwest period, people still maintained the habit of giving birth when they are pregnant, and the more children and grandchildren, the better, as long as the family can raise it, they will give birth.

Coupled with the good policies after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the population growth is naturally jaw-dropping.

"830 million!"

Zhang Shusheng couldn't help but groan slightly, this number can represent many meanings.

Originally, due to the tragic massacre of the Chinese nation in the war of aggression, a large number of people died, the direct loss of the population was about 50 million, the indirect loss of more than 100 million people, and the displacement of more than 100 million people.

And the loss of the army is only more than one million, and this number also includes some things that are difficult to be strict.

Of course, the long-term warlord melee, the liberation and anti-liberation melee...... Now, due to the strong rise of the southwest, the War of Resistance ended with the defeat of the army before it really began, and the War of Liberation ended with a quick knife cut through the chaos by the southwest, the entire historical process was completely changed, and the losses suffered by the entire nation were far less than in the original history.

In the original history, the population growth rate of more than 2% was maintained every year after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and although the country was poor and white, it still faced problems such as hunger and natural disasters, but the population was growing rapidly.

Today, the empire's population is growing at an average rate of 3.8 percent, which is actually very fast.

However, unlike the original history, when the entire Chinese nation was overwhelmed by hundreds of millions of people, and the original history of the Chinese nation, which only had more than 9 million square kilometers of land, and a large number of frontiers and sea lands were still in a state of dispute, the empire's territory now exceeds 20 million square kilometers, and the effective cultivated land area is nearly three times that of the original history.

The accurate population figure of 830 million is not much, but Zhang Shusheng feels that it is less, especially the number of 780 million local citizens.

"Our population is still small! The population of 830 million is a little more than one-third of the world's population of 2.6 billion, but it is still far from enough. ”

Zhang Shusheng said to Liu Shaoqi earnestly.

Not to mention that the population required for the advancement of civilization is astronomical, even after occupying half of Eurasia in the next few years, this population will not be enough.

The world is very large, and there is an endless amount of land waiting for the Chinese nation to enjoy and endless resources to nurture and strengthen the Chinese nation in half of the Eurasian continent...... Population can be a burden on the state in difficult times, but after civilization evolves, a large population is necessary to reach an advanced civilization.

Society is made up of people, and the more people there are, the higher the quality of the population, the more developed and huge the society will be.

Faced with a huge population gap, Zhang Shusheng was anxious.

It is absolutely impossible for him to slowly produce and accumulate in a few decades, but he must once again accelerate the rate of population growth with some active and effective policies. The reason why a more radical population policy was not implemented at the outset was because of the fear of affecting rapid economic development and war.

Today, the empire was founded, and since the founding of the country 13 years ago, the economy has developed to a very considerable height, and both science and technology and industrial development are advancing by leaps and bounds. The country is getting richer and stronger, the territory is getting bigger and bigger, the technology is getting more and more developed, and the demand for population has once again made Zhang Shusheng realize that he must implement a new radical population policy.

"Yes, if you look at the Seventh Five-Year Plan and the Fourth Ten-Year Plan, we have a very large population gap."

Liu Shaoqi nodded, as the deputy prime minister of the empire, of course he knew how big the empire's ambitions were and how vast the territory would be in the future, and he knew that since the capital of the empire had made up his mind to take at least half of the Eurasian continent, it would definitely be realized under the leadership of His Majesty.

At that time, the population of only seven or eight billion was stretched.

In the Seventh Five-Year Plan and the Fourth Ten-Year Plan drawn up by the Imperial Council, the population of the Reich was to reach 1.5 billion in 1956 when the ten-year plan was completed. Among them, the new fourth and fifth categories of citizens, such as India, Central Asia, and the newly occupied areas of the Soviet Union, will have a total population of about 400 million in some countries in the Middle East, and the number of native citizens will explode from 830 million to 1.1 billion.

It's easy to feel like it's a fantasy at this rate, and Liu Shaoqi is well aware that this plan is almost impossible without an aggressive population policy.

At a normal rate, even if the expansion rate is added, in 1956, the number of the first three types of citizens of the empire, that is, the number of native citizens, could only reach about 950 million ~ 980 million, but now it has to increase the native population by more than 100 million.

This is a very heavy task.

"Yes, we have a huge population gap, and from the several packages that are now used to stimulate population growth, three are for native citizens and the fourth is for all citizens. But either way, there are problems. The three programs for local citizens all face the same problem: the task is too difficult. The fourth plan, while the easiest to implement, needs to be accessible to all citizens. ”

Liu Shaoqi knows that if this population growth plan were for all citizens, it would be easy to accomplish. However, His Majesty has repeatedly stressed that the population stimulus package should be targeted at native citizens first.

After all, the stimulus package is not just about getting people to have a few more children, it's about free health care and education, and even about benefits like state population subsidies. Zhang Shusheng didn't want this kind of benefit to spread quickly.

It is an ironclad fact that native citizens must live better than citizens of the fourth and fifth categories. And this kind of situation of core citizens being superior to others also abounds in other civilizations in the universe.

"The fourth plan doesn't need to be considered, and for a long time to come, other new ethnic groups, the empire does not implement family planning, but it also does not implement demographic stimulus policies, such as India."

Zhang Shusheng is very aware of the strength of the country of India, the current population has reached 250 million, let it let go of life, not to mention welfare and stimulus policies, as long as the war and excessive hunger do not affect the country, then if the empire successfully occupies it and merges its territory into the Chinese empire, in the next ten years, it can easily complete the population growth target of 100 million or more.

If you want to use the limited financial resources of the empire to support a new race like India in the future, Zhang Shusheng will never do it.

Let you join the empire, give your land and resources to the empire, and you will enjoy the absence of war, unified and efficient state management, regionalized reforms, all of which will improve the social and living standards of newly occupied areas such as India step by step, to put it more bluntly, that is, the empire will send people to govern areas like India, but the finances will not be tilted, and the empire will not spend energy to build and improve the living standards of the Indian nation, at least not at this stage, everything depends on the self-development of this region.

Of course, the immigration plans of local citizens will not be affected by this, and many immigrant cities will also enjoy the care of local policies in the future.

With a vast territory, Zhang Shusheng made up his mind to treat them differently from the very beginning, the reason is very simple, why let the Chinese nation nurture these backward nations? Even if the great era of the universe comes, only these nations will serve the Chinese nation.

The new nation that behaves well will naturally be treated accordingly, and the lazy, ignorant and backward nation will live honestly and steadily, and there will be no large-scale starvation, and of course there will be no welfare that will be reduced. It was the incorrigible races that the Empire had given up, not this region.

In Zhang Shusheng's conception, for example, in India, there will also be many prosperous immigrant cities in the future, as well as prosperous metropolises and large port cities, but those are the residences of future local citizens and immigrants. Just like the original historical India, a very developed city, but near the abject poverty, many newly occupied areas in the future, unless they can develop on their own, will also face the severe wealth gap of the slums of India in the future.

Of course, for a long time to come, such as when the Great Age of the Universe comes, these backward and destitute regions will also develop, but they are still far from catching up with the imperial proper, unable to catch up with the immigrant areas, and unable to catch up with those places in Europe where the quality of the population and basic conditions are relatively good.

Therefore, Zhang Shusheng naturally decided to implement a demographic stimulus policy for local citizens.

"Which province is growing the fastest right now?"

Zhang Shusheng asked.

"Bashu region. Due to the good industrial base and developed economy, the development time is 20 years earlier than other regions, so that the population of the entire southwest region is growing rapidly, especially the population of Sichuan is currently growing the fastest! ”

Liu Shaoqi said briefly.

The Land of Abundance was originally a rich place, and no matter what time it was, there was no need to worry about food and clothing, and the population of this area has always grown rapidly. Especially since the southwest period, it has enjoyed the tremendous benefits brought about by free education and social reform, and the population growth has naturally been faster, while in contrast, Sichuan's population growth is much faster than that of Yunnan and Guangxi, which is the result of regional conditions and social and economic development.

It can be said that the most populous area is Sichuan at present, economically speaking, Sichuan is also stronger than Yunnan and Guangxi, even if Yunnan has Dongchuan District, one of the best old industries and old science and technology bases, but Sichuan with Chengdu-Chongqing-Yi as the core of the Chengdu-Chongqing-Yi triangle, rapid economic development, industrial science and technology education development.

"Sichuan! I haven't been back to the southwest for many years, so it's better to take this opportunity to go back and take a look at the population and fertility situation of the people today. ”

(To be continued)