A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 695 Agriculture and Liaodong

At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the country experienced wars in the late Sui Dynasty, and the country's population dropped by as much as 50%. Especially the northern population suffered heavy casualties.

During the peak period of the Sui Dynasty, the population was more than 1,700 households, but the population of Huangzhi was only more than 60 million, and the population of Dingkou was even less. In fact, it is not only the powerful and powerful families who hide their population, but also the common people who are desperately trying to hide their population.

Dingkou is not the population, but the population that needs to pay taxes. Thirteen-year-old men and fifteen-year-old women had to pay a Dingkou tax. It was precisely because of the existence of the Dingkou tax that infant abandonment and drowning occurred in ancient times.

On the one hand, they cannot afford it, and on the other hand, the taxes are too heavy.

The Dingkou tax was abolished during the Daqian period, and the population grew explosively. Although the tax rate of 35% during the Daqian period seemed to be higher than that of the Liu, Song and Sui dynasties.

However, if you convert it into taxes such as Dingkou, field tax, and labor force, you will find that the tax that the people need to pay is actually at least 50%.

Therefore, after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Xuanjing wrote to ask for the abolition of the Dingkou tax to encourage people to have children.

As long as the imperial court is still collecting Dingkou tax, there is basically no need to conduct a census.

Then, taking advantage of the establishment of the new dynasty and the renewal of everything, we promoted the idea of ​​dividing the land into acres. At this time, the north was completely destroyed.

There was very little resistance to the idea of ​​sharing the land. Even in Guanzhong, because of the last food war Wang Xuanjing launched, the nobles were unable to resist, so they had no choice but to agree to Wang Xuanjing's request.

"The household registration statistics of the two lakes have also been sent." Wang Xuanjing sent the national census. "Including the four counties of Youzhou and Hexi, the current population in the world totals more than 13.67 million households. It has been three years since the great cause of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. There is still a far cry from the 17 million households in the period.”

"And due to wars, famines, migrations, plagues, etc., the average population per household in the Tang and New Dynasties was lower than that during the Sui Yang Emperor's period."

Wang Xuanjing continued: "From the excavation of the Grand Canal, the three expeditions to Liaodong, to the wars and the rebellion of Liu Heitai in Hebei, more than half of the country's population was lost, especially in Shandong, Hebei, Youzhou, and Henan. The population loss was too serious."

"But a blessing in disguise and a huge loss of population make the resistance to our reform not great."

Li Shimin sighed: "It's just that the lack of population has also brought about many problems. The imperial court recovered the four counties in Hexi, the old land of Hehuang, Shuofang Yunzhong, and Youzhou. These places are vast and sparsely populated, and they need a large number of people to fill them. Otherwise, these recovered areas The land is full of flowers in the mirror, and the moon is in the water.”

"These places are critical places. A large number of Tang people must be stationed there, so they can only be forced to move. When moving, give more benefits to the people. In the future, we will rely on these people to garrison and recruit troops from among them."

"I have already made arrangements. The migrating people have been given tax exemptions and exemptions, as well as grain, seeds and cattle and sheep farming tools." Wang Xuanjing said. Over the years, a large number of cattle and sheep were obtained through trade with the grasslands. In addition to selling some of them, the imperial court compensated the rest to the migrating people.

"It has been more than 20 years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Only in the five years before the founding of the People's Republic of China and even until the fourth year of Zhenguan, the world was not very stable. The birth rate of babies has increased compared with before. Now this group of children has grown up, and there is a gap in the population. Ease one or two.”

"Since the fourth year of Zhenguan, the world has been stable, the court has officially abolished the Dingkou tax, and the population has grown rapidly. As long as we wait four or five years, these babies will grow up and they can immigrate in large numbers."

"Fifty thousand immigrants from Youzhou, 500,000 from the four counties in Hexi, and 500,000 from Hehuang. Only in this way can we initially control the Western Region and Liaodong, and prepare for the attack on Liaodong."

Li Shimin, like Wang Xuanjing, vigorously promoted the immigration policy, and even went to Jiangnan in person to pressure the wealthy families in Jiangnan to hand over the people in their hands.

"By the way, Your Majesty, a minister below sent some farm tools. I saw them and found them to be very good. Your Majesty may wish to take a look and promote them if you think they are suitable." Wang Xuanjing said with a smile. "What kind of farm tools are they?" Li Shimin became interested.

"The barrel cart." Wang Xuanjing said, and then the group left the palace and headed for the Weihe River outside the city.

In the distance, we can see several waterwheels standing on the Wei River.

The drum truck is an improvement on the previous waterwheel. The structure is more reasonable, the water lifting height is higher, and it is more durable than the previous one. It is very suitable for use in Hexi, Hetao and other places.

Farming in the north relies heavily on water. With this kind of trolley, it is much more convenient to irrigate farmland.

"Your Majesty, in addition to waterwheels, you can also use animal power to divert water. It can be used in places where the water flow is gentle or where it is impossible to build a waterwheel." The official next to him continued to introduce it to Li Shimin.

These water conservancy facilities were indeed useful. After seeing them, Li Shimin was very happy, so he issued an edict and appointed him as Minister of the Ministry of Industry, responsible for promoting these barrel waterwheels in the north.

After more than 20 years of recovery, the population of the Tang Dynasty has grown significantly. In more than 20 years, it was enough for a generation to grow up.

After Li Shimin destroyed Tuyuhun, he did not go on another campaign in order to allow the people to recuperate. What he has to face now is Liaodong.

Since Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Liaodong three times and the whole country turned against him, Li Shimin has been very wary of conquering Liaodong. As for peaceful coexistence with Liaodong, it is basically impossible.

Since the establishment of the Liaodong Kingdom, it has continued to expand westward and southward. The Yan Kingdom and Lelang County in Liaodong during the Qian Dynasty are now occupied by the Liaodong Kingdom.

In addition, the Liaodong Kingdom repeatedly invaded Youzhou, which can be said to be a serious problem in the northern part of the Tang Dynasty besides the Turks.

When Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Liaodong, Li Shimin also went with the army. He saw the mountain cities of Liaodong with his own eyes.

Its city is built on the mountain, which is extremely strong and difficult to conquer. Unlike the Turks, the Liaodong Kingdom is a semi-agrarian and semi-nomadic nation. To be honest, it is more dangerous than the Turks.

Because of the chaos caused by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, if Li Shimin proposed to conquer Liaodong, I am afraid that many people in the Tang Dynasty would oppose it.

He was worried that the Tang Dynasty would repeat the same mistakes and embark on the path of the Sui Dynasty's demise. At the same time, the casualties during the conquest of Liaodong were also frightening. Therefore, Li Shimin was very cautious about the issue of conquest of Liaodong.

Wang Xuanjing and Li Shimin discussed that it would be difficult to mobilize a large army to conquer Liaodong. Wang knew the terrain of Liaodong very well. Liaoze was difficult to navigate, the logistics pressure was great, and the mountain cities were easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Therefore, Wang Xuanjing advised to increase the population of Youzhou first to avoid recruiting large armies from the Central Plains or even the south of the Yangtze River. At the same time, because the city of Liaodong was strong, Wang Xuanjing advised him to follow the method of the Qian Dynasty to quell the battle of Liaodong. The troops were divided into two groups, one by land and one by water.

The army recruited was only tens of thousands, and they used the fleet to penetrate directly into Lelang County. Then two armies attacked from the north and the south to destroy the Liaodong Kingdom.

(End of this chapter)