Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 436 Colonization Theory

Li Mi quickly found Zhang Tianlun, pointed to the signature on the newspaper and asked:

"Zhang Tianshi, is this Jiang Lun a famous scholar in Longyou? Does he have an official position?"

Li Mi cherishes talent, many young ministers in the imperial court are recommended by Li Mi, Jiang Lun's article is enough to see his level, and Li Mi is also thinking about recommending him to the imperial court.

Zhang Tianlun said: "Jiang Lun, this guy is already the head of the Salt and Iron Tax Department of the Longyou Governor's Mansion."

Li Mi was stunned for a moment and asked, "What is the status of this salt and iron tax bureau in Longyou?"

Zhang Tianlun was stunned for a moment and said: "Status? The Salt and Iron Taxation Department is in charge of Longyou's taxation and salt and iron franchise, which is almost equal to the Ministry of Finance, oh, it's not the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs."

Li Mi was disappointed for a while, it turned out that this Jiang Lun was already a member of the Longyou Governor's Mansion.

If he is dug to the court again in this way, he will feel sorry for King Jianning.

Li Mi had no choice but to give up this idea temporarily and continue reading this article.

Jiang Lun continued to list the data in the article. Starting from the court of Wu and Zhou, because of the large amount of land that was not taxed by the rich and powerful, the rent collected by the Tang from the Guanzhong area was so low that it was not even enough to maintain the operation of the local government in Guanzhong. .

Jinshi from poor families at that time were unwilling to go to Guanzhong to be a county magistrate, because Guanzhong was full of powerful and powerful people, not to mention that they could not collect taxes, and even the government's salary was often in arrears.

Only those children from rich families who are not short of money will use their own money to subsidize expenses, just to be able to get promoted as soon as possible.

Guanzhong's finances have reached this point, how can the Tang court maintain the prosperity of Chang'an?
The answer is the Grand Canal.

The Tang Dynasty dredged the Tongji Canal connecting Luoyang to the south of the Yangtze River, and connected the water transportation between Guanzhong and the south of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, the Yongji Canal in Zhuojun (the government office of Beiping) in the north was dug through, and the canal in the north was opened.

Unlike later dynasties that established their capital in Beiping, the Ming Dynasty transported grain from the south of the Yangtze River to Peiping by water transport.

Today, the function of Yongji Canal is to transport money, food and taxes from the north to Chang'an.

Relying on the Tongji Canal to draw blood from the Jianghuai River, and relying on the Yongji Canal to draw blood from the Hedong and Hebei provinces, the prosperity of Guanzhong was maintained, and Chang'an, the greatest capital city, was created.

However, Jianghuai and Hebei combined accounted for less than one-fifth of the country's population. Although they provided almost half of the imperial taxes, they did not obtain a matching political status.

Li Mi was shocked. The problem Jiang Lun pointed out was indeed the deepest struggle of Tang Dynasty.

Li Mi also thought about the current court's handling of criminal officials who took refuge in Puppet Yan. In fact, even today, there are still a large number of people supporting Puppet Yan in the Hebei area of ​​​​Hedong.

It's not just the soldiers of the Puppet Yan Army, but also the people and scholars in the North who are supporting Anlu Mountain.

The reason is very simple, there are only so many positions in Datang, and those who can be officials today are all the children of the powerful.

Even in the imperial examination, it is easier for candidates from Chang'an and Guanzhong to pass the Jinshi examination than candidates from other places.

For example, Yan Zhuang, who just led Luoyang to surrender to the imperial court, was also a Hebei scholar who had tried and failed many times. Later, he took refuge in Anlu Mountain and made his rise to the top.

Li Mi's heart became more and more heavy. What Jiang Lun said was the current status of the officialdom in the Tang Dynasty.

Official positions are controlled in the hands of so many ministers, and it is very difficult for ordinary scholars to get ahead.

Poetic talents like Li Bai and Du Fu had to rely on writing poems to flatter the emperor and high-ranking officials and nobles to become officials.

Scholars such as Cen Shen and Wang Changling could only rely on the Jiedu envoys in the border areas, and they could only be promoted by making military achievements in the border counties.

Even within the powerful group, positions are no longer enough.

During the Kaiyuan period, Zhang Bo, the son of Prime Minister Zhang Shuo, was also the son-in-law of the emperor Li Longji, so he could not be conferred a high official.

In the end, Zhang Bo surrendered to An Lushan, and became the prime minister of the puppet Yan like Da Xixun and Chen Xilie.

It's just that Zhang Bo didn't know whether it was luck or misfortune. He died of illness in the battle of Xiangji Temple, so he was not escorted to Dali Temple for trial.

The upper level is involuntary, the middle level is hopeless, and the lower level is starved to death.

Jiang Lun continued to point out in his policy theory that under such heavy population pressure, several failures in opening up Xinjiang during the Kaiyuan period had actually planted the seeds for the Anlushan Rebellion.

Li Bi nodded, this Jiang Lun is indeed a great talent!

At the end of the emperor's reign, the two major defeats in the crusade against Nanzhao ruined the 10,000+ elite soldiers of the Tang Dynasty.

With the rise of Nanzhao, the powerful enemy Tubo was aggressive, and the north also suffered a defeat. Even Anlu Mountain was almost beheaded because of this defeat.

The pace of expansion of the empire has slowed down, and the newly acquired land cannot be profitable. If it is another dynasty, the people have already risen up by this time.

But Datang did not wait for the peasant uprising, but encountered the An Lushan rebellion.

Jiang Lun believed that the An Lushan rebellion was not an invasion of Datang by foreigners from the north, but a power struggle within the Datang Group.

Anlu Mountain was supported by the noble people in the north. Even when Anlu Mountain established its capital in Luoyang, many noble families in Henan gave up their wealth to support Anlu Mountain.

The An Lushan Rebellion was a struggle for power within the Tang Dynasty, and the cruel thing was that in the Tang Dynasty, where the population had grown to its limit, such a war was needed to "consume" the excess population.

Li Mi only felt cold all over his body, but he also felt a sense of enlightenment.

Why the early days of the dynasty can always be politically clear and the country prosperous and strong.

The number of troops in Taizong's period was far inferior to that in Kaiyuan and Tianbao's years, but their combat effectiveness far exceeded that of the current Tang army.

It's all about population!
If there is not enough food and the people cannot survive, they will rise up and rebel.

The world is calm, the population is also reduced, and the people continue to multiply.

When the population exceeds the limit of the land burden again, the people will not be able to live again.

After reading these, Li Mi only felt desperate.

If ordering chaos is an inevitable cycle, then what is the point of our own efforts?

But there was still a paragraph in the article, so Li Bi hurriedly continued reading.

Li Mi was full of anticipation. Since this Jiang Lun could see the laws of history in the fog of history, does he have a solution?
Sure enough, what follows is the solution written by Jiang Lun.

The first is to increase productivity, which simply means increasing the value of the items that the land can produce.

This productivity is not only the cultivation of food on the land, but also the commodities that can be produced by the workshops on the land.

The solution is also very simple. When the total amount of land cannot be increased, increase the output of the land.

Whether it is the introduction of high-yield food crops, or hybrid rice to increase the yield per mu of food, it can feed more people.

The output of the land also includes the output of the workshop. The article also pointed out that if more commodities can be produced, dumped to other surrounding countries, and then exchanged for food, more people can also survive.

After reading this, Li Bi was also full of praise, this is indeed a good way to solve the population trap!

From this point of view, the establishment of iron workshops and manufacturing industries is also Longyou's first attempt to solve the population trap.

But does Li Mi think this road is really feasible?
Even through trade, how much food can be shipped back?
Continue to read, this is the second solution proposed by Wang Lun - colonization.

This method is also very simple, since the land cannot support such people, then find more land to accommodate these people!
Jiang Lun's method is also very simple and rude. The world is very big and there are many rich places.

Datang can organize colonization groups to develop overseas territories.

What if there is a limit to the territory ruled by the empire?
Then let Zhituotuan become a semi-independent vassal state, as long as these vassal states still use the etiquette and writing of the Tang Dynasty, respect the Tang Dynasty as the suzerain state, and pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty on a regular basis.

In this way, Datang can solve the dilemma of internal population growth, obtain overseas colonies and territories, and obtain a larger market and earn greater profits through trade means!

Seeing this, Li Mi's heart was full of excitement, and he wished he could immediately rush to the bright future Jiang Lun described.

"Strong! Strong! Xiongwen!"

It's just that Li Mi still has doubts about Jiang Lun's vast overseas territories.

Although from the merchants of the Western Regions, it is known that there is an ancient country similar to the Tang Dynasty in the Far West.

But what Jiang Lun said in the article, do the two super continents on the other side of the ocean, the north and the south, really exist?

But in any case, this article is far-reaching.

The article raises questions, analyzes the law of the rise and fall of dynasties, and also puts forward its own solutions.

Such an article is no less than Jia Yi's "Zhi An Shu" famous article through the ages!
What interests Li Mi even more is Jiang Lun's argumentation method in this article.

Questions raised from population changes, the data are detailed and scary, although there is no gorgeous rhetoric, it still makes people break out in a cold sweat after reading it.

And the detailed data makes it impossible to refute. This is the first time Li Mi has seen this method of argumentation.

Li Bi closed the newspaper and said with admiration, "King Jianning is really full of talents! This Jiang Lun is no less talented than Jia Yi! This article is no less powerful than "Zhi An Shu" !"

Regarding Li Mi's admiration, Zhang Tianlun said disapprovingly: "This guy is advocating the theory of colonization on the forum every day, and now he is going to publish it in the newspaper. This idea of ​​colonization overseas is not his alone."

Zhang Tianlun added: "This guy advocates the free market every day in the newspaper, but he also runs a royal palace franchise in Longyou, which is really split. When we get to Shazhou, maybe we can meet Jiang Lun, and then Bi Gong Talk to him again!"

Li Mi and Zhang Tianlun rested in Guazhou for a day, and continued to take a public carriage the next day to Shazhou City, the seat of the Longyou Governor's Mansion.

The emperor Li Longji, who was in the middle of Shu, also met Li Lin, the prime minister sent by his son Li Heng.

(End of this chapter)