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Liu Che stood in the courtyard, looking at the gurgling water from the Shiqu Pavilion flowing in front of him.

The water from the river is so clean and clear that it can even be drunk.

But Liu Che's thoughts drifted to Anton.

Just now, he received a note from Anton.

Li Guang, the general of Huhao, wrote a letter requesting that the scale of seaborne ships be expanded so that the surplus grain of the Andong Tun Reclamation Regiment could be transferred out as soon as possible.

In this matter, Liu Che had already issued an edict to the general of the building, Yamen, ordering Xu Han to immediately mobilize ships and go to Andong for transshipment.

At the same time, Liu Che also ordered the general of the building ship, Yamen, to speed up the construction of ships, and within three years, build a transport fleet that can transport grain of one million stones at a time, so as to meet the needs of the world's shipping.

It's an imminent thing that must be done.

Because......

Liu Che was shocked to find that the Han Empire had begun to face a shortage of food.

It is an obvious fact that grain prices in Guanzhong this year have risen by 20 percent compared with last year.

The price of corn has risen to 60 cents a stone, the price of wheat flour to 110 cents per stone, and the price of rice to 50 cents.

However, the world's grain output has increased for eight consecutive years.

Especially in the Guanzhong area, the average yield per mu has more than doubled compared with the period of the first emperor!

However, food prices have not been able to be lowered, and this year there has been an abnormal increase.

It's unusual!

made Liu Che immediately vigilant.

Under the control of the Shaofu and Danong, as well as Jing Zhaoyin, and other yamen, the policy of protecting grain prices has been effectively implemented.

Stabilizing food prices to stabilize people's livelihood has gradually become a national policy.

Today, this policy does not only cover the entire Guanzhong.

It also extended to the Three Rivers region, the Liang State and the vast north.

Starting this year, Qi will also implement this policy.

The people responsible for implementing this policy are also reliable officials selected by Liu Che.

The scholars of Lantai will also take turns to supervise and inspect various places.

Therefore, the possibility of someone making trouble is basically ruled out.

And the only possible reason for this is that the people's food consumption is increasing dramatically! Moreover, the people's food consumption is surpassing the rate of grain production increase at full speed.

Otherwise, it would not have happened, and abnormal fluctuations in food prices would have occurred.

A peek at the tube reveals the full picture.

If this is the case in Guanzhong, the world will naturally be unavoidable.

"Half-grown children, eat poor adults......" Liu Che also sighed, quite helpless, he had foreseen this situation for a long time.

Since Yuande, the largest growth in the world is naturally the population.

Especially in the Guanzhong, Sanhe and Northern Counties regions.

The population grows like a balloon.

This is not only because Liu Che encouraged childbearing, but also because of the continuous victory in foreign wars.

Young people who won the war and obtained military merits and martial arts continued to marry wives and concubines, and then hurried to create people.

The bigwigs of Confucianism and Huang Lao are constantly clamoring for more fertility among the people, spreading branches and leaves, and multiplying, which is to repay the monarch's father, filial piety to parents, and return the morality of the ancestors.

The people started a fertility competition.

A person who has only one child cannot lift his head when he goes out.

Two or three, not a big husband.

The standard for a husband is to have at least five children before the age of thirty!

If someone can have more than 10 children, then he will have more face when he goes out! He will be respected by the neighbors, the officials look up to him, and even the rangers, if he is arrested for breaking the law, if he has a dozen or so heirs, then the magistrate may even raise his noble hand and let him go - because this kind of childbirth pacesetter, rashly sent to prison, that is a loss to society, a loss to the people!

In this social environment, there are more and more newborns every year.

The population of the Han Empire was also getting younger.

For example, today, the population born after the first year of Yuande accounts for about 30% of the total population......

Terrible! Terror!

And the first baby boomers are now seven or eight years old.

Their appetites are increasing day by day, and the stable social environment and good economic situation make them get and enjoy more nature than their older siblings, uncles and uncles.

At the very least, in terms of food and clothing, they are much better than their predecessors.

A group of children who open their bellies and eat casually ask if you are afraid?

In particular, it is now a pre-AD feudal society.

At the beginning, Liu Che once feared things are now becoming a reality.

The children who are waiting to be fed are longing and urging their kings and countries to find more resources for their growth and development.

The sword of the Han Empire must find more to fill the stomachs of its people.

Fortunately......

There is a lot of food surplus in the Andong area, and as long as all of it can be transported out, it can temporarily meet these children who are waiting to be fed.

However, in another five years, wait until the potential of the Yuande generation bursts out.

An Anton's grain output may not be able to satisfy these people.

After all, by that time, the people Liu Che would have to feed might be as high as 70 million!

Ten years from now, that number is likely to soar to 80 million!

Twenty years later, it is very likely to break 100 million!

100 million people, judging from the current level of social productivity and technology, the amount of arable land needed far exceeds the amount of arable land owned by the Han dynasty now.

A simple mathematical calculation can tell Liu Che this fact.

Because, an adult needs to eat at least one and a half stones of grain a month (this is the food consumption of farmers during the Warring States period, which is the most basic need).

A population of 100 million people must consume at least 60 million stone of grain per month (this is already the minimum consumption).

According to the most optimistic situation, the average yield per mu in the world is four stones.

More than 10 million acres of land are needed to meet this demand.

And that's just for a month.

For twelve months a year, the Han Empire needed more than 140 million acres of arable land to support its people.

And now the number of acres of registered fields in the world, counting the Andong area, is more than 70 million mu.

Although the Andong area can continue to reclaim wasteland, and in the next 20 years, the arable area will be increased by 30 million mu.

At the same time, the counties of the world can also continue to reclaim tens of millions of acres of wasteland (the excavation of the Grand Canal can accelerate the development of the south of the Yangtze River, thus releasing huge energy).

However, the food gap is still huge.

According to conservative estimates, based on the current situation, twenty years later, the food shortage of the Han family is likely to reach more than 40 million stones!

This means that tens of millions of people will be in famine in 20 years.

This only counts the Han dynasty itself, not the additional vassal states (such as Sanyue and the southwest region).

If these areas are included, the gap is even greater.

"Time is not waiting for me, we must accelerate foreign expansion and immigration!" Liu Che told himself that the pressure of population would force him and his country to continue to expand externally, and in the next twenty years, at least more than five million people would be sent out of the Great Wall and sent to Hexi, Munan, and the Western Regions.

Otherwise, the pressure of the population and the shortage of food alone could crush the Han Empire.

Therefore, within twenty years, the Han dynasty must eliminate the Xiongnu, control the Western Regions, and at the same time extend its influence to Central Asia and open up a communication road to the poison.

This is a dead target, it can't be changed, and it can't be postponed!

The strategy, expansion, and development of the entire empire must be re-planned and planned according to this time!