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Text Chapter 173: Unity (1)

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    April has arrived and the barley is fragrant.

    Di Renjie and Wei Yuanzhong came to the palace, handed the Zong Zong in front of Li Wei, and said happily: "Your Majesty, look."

    Li Wei opened the file and looked through it.

    After ten years of governance, the population has increased rapidly, and finally the total population of the country has exceeded 60 million.

    This number not only symbolizes the prosperity of the country, but also has another meaning.  Another reason why Li Shimin always respected Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty for his civil and military achievements was that in Li Shimin's hands, the population increased a lot, but it never reached two-thirds of what it was when the Sui Dynasty was at its peak.

    To this day, the total number of the country¡¯s statistical population barely exceeds that of the Sui Dynasty.

    The reality is even more. This population is only the population of the actual jurisdiction, and does not include most of the Western Region, Hezhong, Khorasan, Tochara, Sind, Sestan, Baluchistan, Sind and the west of the Maklan Mountains.  vast area.  It also does not include the nomadic peoples in most areas of Liaodong and the north of Yinshan Mountain.

    Of course, the population of the Sui Dynasty did not include the population of the Jisi area.  The total population of the Tang Dynasty must have exceeded that of the Sui Dynasty at its most powerful, but it is hard to say what the actual jurisdiction was.  In the Sui Dynasty, there were still a large number of runaways and hermits.  After ten years of great governance, almost half of the runaways and hidden households were exposed to the public through various methods and means.  In fact, in the past ten years, the population has only increased by more than 10 million.  However, because life is stable, the number of children has increased. In another ten years, that will be the second peak period of population growth.

    This is very similar to Tianbao Weishi in history. The foundation laid by Kaiyuan can be a real person.  The peak of the increase was during the Tianbao period.  But unlike Tianbao, after ten years of non-stop stalemate many wealthy families have been forced to develop overseas.  With the emergence of a large amount of new farmland, the land crisis is far less serious than during the Kaiyuan period.  Some seafarers even finally focused their attention on Oceania and opened up some farmland and pastures.  Li Wei didn't pay much attention to this.

    Under the current conditions overseas, management is ineffective.  The future direction is also very unclear. The focus is on bases. Once the bases are established one by one, then it will no longer be a dream for ships to sail to North and South America.  With miscellaneous grains, the current large-scale development and the vast territory, it is enough to accommodate a population of 200 to 300 million people.

    What will this population look like once it appears in the world?

    "Okay." A smile broke out on Li Wei's face.

    "Your Majesty, this was my dream more than twenty years ago."

    "Di Qing, if you work hard, the future will be better." It refers to the development of technology After years of hard research and development, the original blast furnace and converter steelmaking appeared.  Steel technology is making leaps and bounds. If it continues to develop like this, steam engines will no longer be a dream in twenty or thirty years.

    Li Wei knows best what changes this kind of machine will bring once it appears.

    Wei Yuanzhong said: "Your MajestySong Jing's advice must be cautious."

    As the population of the Tang Dynasty increased, so did taxes and income.  Part of them were moved out of the tribe and tenants to create new civilians and became Yu, the tax payer.  But it is not the main one. The fastest growing ones are commercial taxes, customs duties, and some imperial industries.

    Taxation and various incomes, grain, silk and money or other "converted together" slowly approached 50 million yuan.  This is also an amazing number.  But there are too many places where money is spent. The investment in water conservancy and road construction across the country totaled 140 million yuan, not the tens of millions originally calculated.  It will take at least four to five years for the project to be barely completed. If it is completely completed, it will take at least twenty years to continue.

    Therefore, the national income has doubled, and it does not dare to reduce the taxes of ordinary people.

    After investing such an unimaginable amount of money, there are still benefits. Large tracts of fertile farmland are appearing all over the country.  There are even pioneers who have set foot in Lingnan.

    However, as people got rich, more and more people burned incense and worshiped Buddha.  There are many temples and temples in various places. Even with such great governance, it is impossible for every common person to have enough food and clothing.  Some people were forced to join Buddhism or Taoism under pressure.  The population is increasing, and the number of people living in temples and temples is also increasing.  And these temples and temples successively took advantage of religion to annex fields.

    Song Jing wrote the letter precisely for this matter.

    Forcibly demolish illegal temples, or stipulate the number of fields and people that temples can occupy, and levy taxes on excess fields and people.

    Li Wei also agreed.

    Wei Yuanzhong didn't think so. In the past ten years, the country has been developing, which is obvious. However, in order to prevent annexation and expansion, many methods have been used to ease the contradictions of preventing expansion of annexation and occupying water conservancy. However, the areas to be released are still too far away.  , it¡¯s better to go to your own doorstep.

    There are even people who have this problemWith this kind of thinking, there was once an emperor and one courtier. Now that the monarch is good, what if it is the next generation?  It¡¯s better to have resources in hand.  So in the past ten years, the emperor and his ministers had many battles of wits against the powerful landlords, using both soft and hard methods.

    In some aspects, some grievances have also arisen.  Although there are many people who make a lot of money from each other, people's hearts are never satisfied.

    It would not be very beneficial to have some conflicts with the religious community at this time.  He expressed his thoughts and said: "Anyway, Your Majesty is in his prime, so this move will definitely be implemented, otherwise it will be one of the major drawbacks of the country. But it cannot be implemented at this time, and it will be postponed for at least ten years. Just like  When I was young, I used a knife to cut out my pocket. It was painful but not necessary. Once it grows up, I cut it with a knife. Not only does it not hurt, it actually removes the root."

    "That is to say, if we cut it now, the opposition will be louder, and there will be more people who don't understand it.  Let it develop to a certain extent, and everyone will see how bad it is and its impact on the country, and then we will take another stormy measure.  Everyone was speechless.

    Li Wei thought for a moment and said, "Yes."

    Then he said: "Di Qing, Wei Qing, since you are here, I want to tell you something. I want to use troops against Silla and Japan."

    The two countries have been at war with each other for more than ten years, and the people are in dire straits, and there is a huge backlog of conflicts.  Li Wei felt that it was time to take action.  Besides, over the years, the imperial court has trained more than 10,000 regular naval forces.  Most of them are used to patrol the islands, or to clean up some pirates, and sometimes to help sea travelers annihilate hostile forces on some islands.  With experience in cross-sea operations.

    Di Renjie frowned and said, "Your Majesty, why do you always want to annihilate these two countries?"

    In his opinion, this is not necessary.

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????OUT out out out of the blue, it is not a native of the South China Sea Islands, it is very fierce, and it is very difficult to capture it.  A person who is equally strong does not need the past ten years to prove that the place he lives in is very cold.  These two countries had been crippled to such a large extent that they did not pose a major threat to the Tang Dynasty. From a strategic point of view, there was no need to conquer these two countries.

    "Di Qing, you also know the history of Dashi. How big a territory did it originally have? The place it lived in was mostly desert and Gobi areas with little water. However, after only a few decades of expansion, how much territory did it occupy? The country is experiencing civil strife.  They were divided into two caliphate regimes and fought with each other, but this is how it was. How many battles did it take for our country to occupy the land of Makran and Sind, and how many soldiers died before forcing the cannibals to make a compromise?"

    But you can¡¯t say that.  The new ruler of the Cavalry, Justinian II, was very incompetent, which resulted in the Byzantine attack being ineffective and increasing the burden on the Tang Dynasty.  If the Holy See had not been seduced by Li Wei to launch holy wars and bear part of the pressure, the cannibals would have been Maklan, Xinde and other places, and they would not have been occupied by the Tang Dynasty.  But on the other hand, if Byzantium does something, it may really take the opportunity to capture Damascus.

    Although the Tang Dynasty launched many attacks, in the final analysis, it was for actual combat training, and the attacks were very stealthy.  The greatest number of casualties were Persians, followed by soldiers from Transoxiana and Tocharian countries.

    "They are very similar. Japan and Silla do not have the support of fanatical religion, but they are stubborn, united, humble, and ferocious by nature. I have mentioned the dangers of the nomads in the north, but as long as the development of technology is maintained, it is possible that the two countries will eventually  Three hundred years later, if some crude thermal weapons appear, the immediate advantage of the northern nomads will be lost. Silla is different from Japan in that they are eager to learn. As long as they settle down, they can find ways to learn knowledge from our country. They are not afraid of a strong nation.  I am afraid that a nation will be strong, united, and humble enough to learn. No matter which nation maintains these three advantages, it will be terrible."

    Di Renjie and Wei Yuanzhong thought about it and realized that what Li Wei said was quite true.  There were many countries that had good relations with the Tang Dynasty or had submitted to it, such as the countries in the South China Sea. They were just arrogant, arrogant and ignorant. When they saw the Tang Dynasty's advancement, they never pursued it.  As for Silla and Japan, Japan actually crossed the ocean and sent students to the Tang Dynasty to learn the excellent culture of the Tang Dynasty.

    The three of them had been working together for many years. When Li Wei looked at their expressions, he knew they had understood and didn't say anything more.

    Wei Yuanzhong thought for a while and said: "But I think it is better to wait until five years later. In five years, the major water conservancy projects will basically come to an end, and the national finances will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. But after five years, the two countries will change."  Being even weaker will also help us launch an attack. And there are still two wars to be launched. Although they are not big, fighting on multiple fronts is ultimately disadvantageous. "

    "Huh." When Qi Yuhao gave advice, Li Wei always accepted it.  Then he asked: "Is there any news about Mo Chu?"

    Grandma¡¯s problem has become another serious problem.

    We let him escape ten years ago, but this kid ended up in Udajian Mountain.?Another team of troops was hung up to carry out guerrilla warfare.  Ashina Dao really spent a lot of effort to suppress them, but Mochu escaped again.  A few years later, he suddenly appeared. This time, he hid in secret and took advantage of a snowstorm on the grassland. Some tribes were struggling to survive, and he bewitched many tribes and participated in the rebellion.  Because the six towns successively added 500,000 to 600,000 people and formed nearly 80,000 government soldiers, his scale was small and he did not dare to cross the Fangshan Mountain.  But Ashina Daozhen was beaten to a miserable state.

    It wasn¡¯t until the year before last that the imperial court couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and sent Heiji Changzhi and Wang Fangyi to personally lead an army of 50,000 people to eliminate the rebellion again.  But this is an outside view. In fact, Li Wei silently ignored the corruption of the rebellion and further improved the loyalty and purity of the remaining Turks on the grassland.

    But we can¡¯t let this kid hide in secret and cause trouble like a poisonous snake. We have sent people to search for him many times, but until today, there is no news.

    Di Renjie and Wei Yuanzhong shook their heads.

    "Forget it, the next order is that anyone who kills Mo Chuo or captures him alive will be rewarded with fifty thousand stink bugs to see if he still dares to run around on the grassland." One Mo Chuo and the other on Qin Ling gave Li Wei a headache.  .

    We have to deal with Lun Qinling soon, and I don¡¯t know if we can succeed.

    Di Renjie then said: "Your Majesty, I and Mr. Wei are here. I have one more thing to ask for."

    "Why use requests?" These two people don't seem to be selfish people.

    "Your Majesty, I and the Prime Minister of Wei have been living together for ten years, so I request your Majesty to let me and the Prime Minister of Wei go out."

    Li Wei also said something similar before. The best way to prevent power from being concentrated in the hands of one person is to mobilize personnel through the economy. My mother did this better.  The various ministers in the court are also constantly making adjustments. Only Di and Wei are left, and there are no changes in personnel.

    But Li Wei said something else.  This is what he learned from the electoral system of later generations.  A term of office lasts for four or five years, or at most two terms unless there are absolutely unavoidable circumstances. This can not only maintain the continuity of policies, but also prevent excessive concentration of power.  When exchanges become intensive, there is no consistent policy.  When exchanges are lazy, power is often concentrated in the hands of one person, especially the prime minister.  Later Li Linfu was so authoritarian.

    However, the talents of Wei and Di have become his most important right-hand men, and they have not moved much.

    Li Wei hesitated when faced with their requests.  Over the years, the people who have made the greatest contribution to the imperial court are not the soldiers at the border.  And it was Wei Yuan, Zhong and Di Renjie.  Some historians compare them to Fang Du of Zhenguan.  It should be said that this metaphor is not excessive.  In particular, Di Renjie's flexibility has helped him resolve many problems over the years.

    But according to the system, if two people live together for a relatively long time, they will set a bad example.  In later generations, we can find several ministers like them.  Even if it could be found, how many people would have the insight to recognize it?

    At this moment, it was actually difficult.
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