In fact, thanks to the grain trade with Wei and Liang, the state of Chu can be said to have made a lot of war money.

This not only stabilized domestic agricultural production, but also obtained hundreds of millions of taels of silver in foreign trade income through grain trade every year, which greatly enriched the finances.

Up to now, the annual income of the Chu State has reached 300 million taels.

Among them, the agricultural poll tax is about 80 million taels of silver.

Domestic and foreign tariffs amounted to about 90 million taels of silver.

The commercial tax amounted to about fifteen million taels of silver.

miscellaneous taxes, about five million taels of silver.

In addition, the eighteen feudal states in the southwest of Lingnan also pay a tribute of 10 million taels of silver every year.

Coupled with the grain trade of 100 million taels of silver per year, the annual income of the Chu State can reach 300 million taels of silver.

Such a huge income also made the finances of the state of Chu richer than ever.

After all, the state of Chu has only 2 million soldiers so far, and even if it is all according to the military salary of the soldiers, it is only 120 million taels of silver a year, which is less than half of the annual income.

And the remaining Chu officials at all levels, local development investment, local stability maintenance investment, local government maintenance and other expenditures, it is impossible to use up the remaining 180 million taels of silver.

In fact, let alone 180 million, it is 80 million taels of silver, and the court of Chu State opened its hands to spend it, and it couldn't spend so much money.

Therefore, basically, the state of Chu can guarantee a financial surplus of 100 million taels of silver every year.

Up to now, the treasury of the Chu State has reserved almost 600 million taels of silver, which is enough for the five-year expenses of the current two million troops.

The population grew and flourished, the grain harvest was bumper year after year, and the treasury was full and rich, and the growth and harvest in all aspects made the national strength of the Chu State rise year after year.

Nowadays, both inside and outside the government and the opposition are said to be in power today, the people are happy, and the country is rich, which is an unprecedented prosperity.

And because Lu Yuan's year name is Shenwu, so in the folk, it is also called the current era of Shenwu.

Especially in the north of the Yangtze River, the war is raging, and the entire Kyushu seems to be fighting everywhere, and the Chu State in the south of the Yangtze River can still maintain such a peaceful and rich life, like a paradise outside the world.

This is even more rare.

However, when the government and the opposition were praising each other, Lu Yuan, who was the founder of this prosperous era, did not have much joy in his heart, but still had some worries.

……

Late at night, Baling City is still brightly lit.

As a large city of two million people, Baling may be the largest city in the world in today's Kyushu.

When today's son was tolerant, after ascending the throne and becoming emperor, he observed the people's livelihood and suffering, so he deliberately opened a curfew, so that the people could also do business in the streets and alleys of the city at night, and there was one more way to make money.

After more than ten years of development, as people from all walks of life gathered in the imperial capital, Baling has become more and more prosperous, and now it has the reputation of Ninety-nine Fang, known as the Divine City on the ground.

However, if someone asks where the most interesting place in Baling City is, then everyone will definitely mention the 3000 lake boat on Dongting Lake outside the city.

The quiet lake is dotted with red light, and the gorgeous and noisy buildings and boats should be lined up to travel under the moon.

This is the border between Tongjiang Lake, Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, the happiest place in Baling City, and also the place where countless people are drunk with money.

"It's really prosperous."

Lu Yuan stood on the second floor of a building boat, looking at the building boat on the lake like stars in the distance, and he couldn't see the edge at a glance, listening to the light song of Man Yue floating on the lake, as if it was endless, and couldn't help but sigh.

Behind him, the red light was hazy, several graceful women danced, and there were skilled musicians singing and playing in the pavilion, and the smell of wine was permeating, and the smell of erosion filled the boat.

"Indulging in vocal music, losing one's mind with playthings, lingering here will only make people waste and completely sink."

Sun Siwen walked up from behind, looking at the absurd scene on the boat and even the rivers and lakes, he couldn't help frowning, who had always behaved properly.

"Don't be so harsh."

When Lu Yuan heard this, he turned his head and smiled at this old friend: "Men love women, it is normal for people to love." People in the world love beautiful and relaxing things, and lust is the most symbolic representative of them.

Otherwise, the 3,000-floor ship that leads to the rivers and lakes will not be famous all over the world, and even Kyushu countries continue to have people coming to visit, and they have become my big Chu label.

We want to experience the prosperity of Baling, how can we not come here for a visit. ”

As he spoke, Lu Yuan took a glass of wine from the red card of Lou Chuan who was waiting next to him, threw the cup after drinking it all, and casually grabbed the Oiran who was leaning on the railing and laughing, and in the other party's exclamation, she raised her chin and said with a smile: "Qingyu girl's name is spread through the river, do you say?" ”

Qingyu looked at the handsome young man in front of her, felt the strong body of the other party, and the fragrance came to her nose, this manhood made her blush rarely, and said: "Lu Gongzi is right, outsiders come to Baling, if they don't come to Tongjianghu, they can't say that they have been to the imperial capital." ”

After speaking, Qingyu seemed to react, and there were some problems with what she said, and added: "That's what the outside world says." ”

Seeing his friend's frivolous appearance, Sun Siwen wanted to persuade him that as a king, he should not indulge in women's sex, but should be diligent in government and love the people...... Balabala has a bunch of truths, and he has never been used to them.

But suddenly thinking of the location of the two of them, as well as the identities of the two of them at this time, I had to force my impulse.

In the end, I had to say sullenly: "The nature of men and women, although it is a natural principle, also needs to be practiced, such overindulgence will only lead to corruption."

For a long time, the Chinese people only know pleasure, but do not know pragmatism, and the country is in danger.

Yueyang Mansion should be allowed to ban the flower boats that pass through the rivers and lakes to correct the folk customs. ”

Hearing this, Qingyu, who was playing with Lu Yuan, changed her complexion, glanced at Sun Siwen, and her heart pounded a few times.

As an Oiran who has undergone strict training and grew up in the Flower Moon Field, Qingyu is naturally very proficient in observing words and colors, and recognizing people's identities.

So when she saw Lu Yuan and Sun Siwen, she felt the nobility of the two of them who had been in the top position for a long time, and knew that these two guests were absolutely extraordinary.

This can be confirmed by the fact that they made a generous move tonight and directly chartered the entire flower boat, and their mother specially told them not to offend the distinguished guests tonight.

At this time, listening to the conversation between the two, I can't see what the identity of this young man is.

But it seems that he is about forty years, and he is quite old-fashioned middle-aged man, but he sounds like a big official of the imperial court, at least older than the Yin of Yueyang Mansion who is the fourth grade.

Otherwise, it is impossible to speak so politely, and if you open your mouth, you will let Yueyang Mansion Yin ban the flower boat through the rivers and lakes.

But it is precisely because of this that the Qingyu girl is nervous.

Because in this Jianghu, she is the Oiran, so she can continue to be beautiful with her fame.

In the future, if you save enough money, you can redeem yourself, find an official and a rich businessman to marry, and be a concubine, which can be regarded as having a background.

But if there is no access to the rivers and lakes, the future days of Qingyu will be unpredictable.

There is a high probability that it will be even more miserable than the future of being a concubine.

How could this not make her nervous.

"Haha, Brother Sun, look at it, what you said scared the Qingyu girl."

Lu Yuan is now cultivating, and naturally immediately noticed the stiffness of the person in his arms at that moment, and after a little thought, he knew what the other party was thinking, and couldn't help but glance at Sun Siwen, who had a straight face, and said with a smile: "The things in this world are better than sparse."

If you ban this Tongjianghu, it won't be long before there will be a second Tongjianghu, but the name may be changed to Wanhua Street, Qunyanfang and so on.

As long as the nature of love between men and women cannot be changed, this kind of thing cannot be broken.

Blindly suppressing will only make the matter deformed and go in a more uncontrollable direction.

Now prosperous and prosperous, Jiangnan has moved from chaos to peace, and the life of the world has changed from hard to rich. It's actually right to start loving pleasure. ”

After a long time, and now that you have money, can't you be happy?

For this mentality, Lu Yuan understands.

Because that's what he thinks, and that's what he does.

When it comes to enjoyment, who are the people in this world who can compare to him, the Emperor of Chu?

Sun Siwen thought about it, and finally nodded and said: "Indeed, it is better to block than to sparse, this matter cannot be forbidden." However, now through the rivers and lakes, the atmosphere is still too barren.

Go on, how do the world view my imperial capital, and how do they view my Great Chu?

The imperial court still needs to guide it to stifle the current wind of pleasure. ”

In fact, Sun Siwen is not against Huachuan Qinglou, after all, when he was young, he had not been to such places.

So for this kind of thing, of course, he knows that it will not be forbidden.

Sun Siwen is against this kind of desolate atmosphere now, fearing that the whole Chu State will indulge in pleasure, be corrupted by fun, and gradually sink down.

That's a disaster.

"That's right, for the issue of atmosphere, the imperial court only needs to guide, and it is best not to interfere directly, so as not to overkill."

Lu Yuan nodded approvingly, and then said, "But these atmosphere issues are actually just trivial matters. Nowadays, the atmosphere in the country is extravagant, and it is only because the world is peaceful that people are lax, so they indulge in pleasure.

But now Kyushu is in turmoil, and my Dachu lives in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River, so there is a bit of prosperity.

But Brother Sun, you know, all this is actually just the appearance.

Our stable days in Yangzhou will always become unsustainable with the passage of time.

At that time, heaven and earth will force us to enter the battle situation in the Northland Zhongzhou.

At that time, the war will be together, and the soldiers will be prosperous, and no matter how much decadence and extravagance there is, they will also be tempered by blood and fire with perseverance and thrift.

Now this prosperous scene is just the last dream before the troubled times.

Weiliang, Zhao Xu and other countries are the tomorrow of my great Chu. ”

Comfort makes people decadent, and danger makes people introspective.

Lu Yuan knows this truth very well, so he has never had a headache for such a trivial matter as the atmosphere.

When Sun Siwen heard this, his face was serious: "Is the country going to raise a war?" ”

The green jade body in Lu Yuan's arms also stiffened.

War, this kind of thing, is terrible when you hear it.

She's just an Oiran who entertains people with her voice, and she has nothing else to do.

If the war starts, regardless of whether it will affect the territory of Chu or not, it is certain that his livelihood will be affected.

And what are the identities of these two guests!

Is it really good to talk openly about such state affairs here?

After listening to these militaristic events, I won't be killed in the end.

Qingyu's heart trembled a little.

"Not so fast."

Lu Yuan shook his head and said with a little worry: "But it's not far from that day." Brother Sun still remembers the thirteenth year of Shenwu, the population household registration after my Great Chu unified Yangzhou? ”

Sun Siwen recalled and said: "I remember that there are more than 7.13 million households in the country, with a population of 36.52 million. ”

Lu Yuan nodded and said: "Yes, this is the number, it is now twenty-five years of Shenwu, twelve years have passed, and now my country's latest household registration has more than 8.7 million households and more than 4,530,000 people."

The number of people in China has increased by nearly 9 million compared with 12 years ago.

Among them, minus the 3 million people who surrendered to the Xiliang Kingdom, the 1.3 million people of the Snow Plains belong to the naturally growing population of the country, about 4.5 million people.

That is to say, in the past 12 years, the people of our Great Chu have multiplied by 4.5 million people.

This is also the time when there were several large-scale migrations in the country, which seriously affected the lives of the people.

Seeing that with a stable life and a prosperous life, the desire of the people in the country to have children will be further improved.

Based on past historical calculations, perhaps in another ten years, the population of our Great Chu will naturally multiply to 52 million; Twenty years later, it will be 70 million; Thirty years later, it may be more than 100 million.

Even if not, forty years from now, there will certainly be 100 million people.

100 million people, Brother Sun, do you know what that means? ”

Lu Yuan stared at Sun Siwen and sent out a soul torture.

Grunt!

Sun Siwen swallowed his saliva, and his throat was dry when Lu Yuan said this topic.

Although he did not study statistics, he did not have the concept of population control.

But being prime minister for so many years does not mean that he does not know what the consequences will be if he is overpopulated.

The simplest one, the truth that there are many people and few places, and there is not enough food to eat, is still very simple and easy to understand.

"In that case, my county of Dachu will have a population of 10 million." Sun Siwen's tone was low.

Lu Yuan sighed: "Yes, I only have ten counties in Dachu, if there is really a population of 100 million, then the household registration of each county will reach 10 million, and individual counties may reach 20 or 30 million."

Although Xichuan, Jianghan, Dongting, and Peng Li are rich, it is not that they can't afford to support so many people.

But at that time, it will not be so easy for the people of the world to think that they can eat and eat like today.

Living hungry is the norm.

Even if the population increases further, when the food can no longer meet the basic survival needs of the whole country, large-scale famine, cannibalism, and uprisings will be staged one after another.

At that time, this prosperous era will also be destroyed. ”

Speaking of this, Lu Yuan couldn't help but shake his head.

In fact, for him, it is natural to hope that the more the population, the better.

Just like in the past twelve years, the state of Chu has obviously not expanded its territory, but still maintains the territorial scale of ten counties and eighteen countries.

However, with the development of the local county and the continuous growth of the population, the national strength of the Chu State has increased, and the luck gathered by Lu Yuan has still increased by several percent compared with twelve years ago.

That's the benefit of population uplifting.

However, the territory remains unchanged and the population continues to skyrocket, and the practical problems brought about by it cannot be ignored at all.

After all, there are only ten counties in the Chu State, and the territory of these ten counties will slowly collapse and shrink with the future changes in Antarctica.

At that time, how will it be possible for a shrinking territory to feed a growing population?

This is a question that cannot be avoided.

If it is an ordinary monarch, he can only live for a few decades, and it can be said that future generations have their own posterity, and these problems can be thrown to future generations to take over.

But Lu Yuan is immortal!

These problems, which will detonate in thirty or forty years at most, are just a blink of an eye for him.

I can't avoid it at all.

Therefore, this population problem has become an urgent matter for him to solve.

But how to fix it?

The nature of men and women, the instinct to reproduce, this is rooted in genes, can you force people not to have children?

Now there are no condoms, and no one can perform surgery, so you can't force it.

Sun Siwen also thought of this, frowned and thought for a while, and said tentatively: "It may be possible to increase taxes and frequent labor, make the people tired and miserable, and inhibit the reproduction of the population." ”

Lu Yuan glanced at him, he didn't expect that this friend, who had always been known for his love for the people, would make such a violent argument. But he still nodded: "This strategy is indeed feasible." ”

What is the motivation for the current people of Chu to be keen on having children?

It's not that life is good and rich, so I want to have more lives.

But if the people are deprived of their wealth through heavy taxes, they will only be left with enough resources for the lake's mouth.

And then through frequent labor, they are separated from their husbands and wives, and they cannot be reunited often. After coming back, my body was tired and my energy was exhausted, and my desire naturally decreased.

The combination of the two phases can indeed reduce the reproduction of the population.

Even cruelly, under this kind of policy, even if the people below give birth to children, they can't support them at all.

Extra children will eventually end up drowning.

However, this kind of policy is inevitably too cruel, and the oppression of the bottom is too ruthless.

Through these years, although Lu Yuan has tempered his heart as hard as iron, he does not lack the courage to implement this kind of policy.

But if it is not necessary, I still don't want to persecute the people too much, and there is still a little conscience left in my heart after all.

And there are actually other ways to solve this problem.

So after affirming Sun Siwen's method, Lu Yuan continued: "Brother Sun's method is applicable to peacetime, and at the same time, the territory of the country cannot be expanded. It's the kind of compromise that has to be consumed internally when resources are in a bind.

But for now, it's not so extreme.

Thirty years later, the population problem of our Dachu will be imminent.

And by that time, the northern countries were probably exhausted.

At that time, our Great Chu national strength has just entered the current peak, and after decades of recuperation, it will be enough to accumulate tens of millions of male soldiers, send dozens of generals, mobilize 30 million people, and wave the Northern Expedition.

After a few years of fierce battles, you can sweep away the heroes and unify Zhongzhou.

In this way, not only can the territory be expanded, but the surplus population of the country can also be consumed through war.

And in the northern Zhongzhou, after a series of wars, the population will definitely wither, and there will be enough space to feed the people of Dachu.

At the same time, after the war, the people of the world will inevitably be more tenacious, and then apply the policy of Brother Sun to exhaust the people, and if it is a little more relaxed, it should be able to control the population. ”

That's right, Lu Yuan's idea is to let the population grow to the limit first, and eat these demographic dividends first.

When it can't be controlled, then through a war, the excess population will be consumed.

After all, the cold wave in the north is approaching more and more violently, and the news has reached the south of the Yangtze River.

Everyone knows that now that the heavens and the earth have changed, many places seem to be no longer suitable for human existence.

Originally, Lu Yuan estimated that in a hundred years, there would be changes in Antarctica, which was obviously too optimistic.

It may be thirty or forty years later, when the population of Chu has grown to the limit, the poisonous fire in Antarctica will begin to break out.

At that time, there is an example of the cold wave in the north in front of him, and the Chu State University can use the approach of poisonous fire as an excuse to launch a northern expedition for the people of the whole country.

The natural righteousness of survival is in front of us, and we can unite all the hearts of the people in the country, gather all forces in one place, and fully support the Northern Expedition.

Whoever dares to oppose it will be against the people of Yangzhou.

Like Sun Siwen's kind of tired strategy, compared with the war, it is simply weak.

If it is used, it will not only arouse public resentment, offend the people of the whole country, and even force the people to rebel.

And it will also weaken the country and drain itself.

It's so good to press Lu Yuan.

In the name of seizing a way of life for the people of Yangzhou, he coerced the people of the whole country to go on a northern expedition together, and let the people of the whole country participate in the war by themselves.

There is no more effective way to reduce the population than a disaster like war, except for natural disasters.

In this way, not only do you not have to worry about the loss of reputation, but you can also gain countless prestige for nothing.

Lu Yuan hugged Qingyu, who was already trembling, comforted the poor girl who was frightened by their cruel topic, and said with a smile: "So, before this war comes, let the people of Dachu enjoy the little prosperous time left."

In another thirty years, it will be troubled times. ”

Sun Siwen looked at Lu Yuan deeply, and finally nodded: "Okay." ”