Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 153 Wei Ting's palpitations, Cen Wenben's yearning for Lingnan's future
Cen Wenben, Wei Ting and others were full of sighs. They suddenly realized that they had made the right decision to come to Lingnan. If they had not come, how could they have seen these? If they had not really seen these, who could have believed them?

Before coming to Lingnan, no one could imagine that Lingnan would be like this today. The wild and desolate land that was promised was nowhere to be seen here. The people and their appearance here are much better than those in the Tang Dynasty. It is simply unimaginable.

Ning Chun and Xie Shufang listened to Cen Wenben's sigh and didn't say anything, because in their eyes, they also felt the same way. Without Li Yuanji, no one in the world would be able to use these things.

Cen Wenben looked at it for a while and finally put it down reluctantly. With the canals, water wheels, and today's curved plow, Cen Wenben could already imagine how convenient farming would be here and how well the crops would grow.

Then Cen Wenben looked at the busy crowd in front of him and asked Ning Chun again.

"Ning Yuanshi, I have always heard that there are few people in Lingnan, and Haikang was originally just a small city, how come there are so many people? In addition, when we passed Shaozhou and Guangzhou, we saw many people migrating to Lingnan, and there were officials and soldiers helping the people migrate to Lingnan. Why is this?"

Cen Wenben couldn't help but ask the two biggest questions in his mind immediately. He was really curious about how Li Yuanji did all this.

Ning Chun smiled and spoke after hearing this.

“Angel, you don’t know that there are many natives in Lingnan, who are collectively called “tiaoren” by the imperial court. These “tiaoren” are not included in the household registration, so the imperial court only sees a small population of Lingnan.

Although the imperial court had a policy that those who joined the Tang Dynasty household registration could pay half of the taxes paid by the Tang people, Lingnan was poor and could not pay even half, so the people there were unwilling to register as residents.

Before, in Douzhou, yes, this Douzhou is the former Nanfuzhou, the name changed by the king. The former Douzhou governor, Chen Longshu, was the one who forced many people to become citizens. The final result was that people all over the state rebelled, and Chen Longshu had to retreat to Longzhou.

However, in the end in Longzhou, the governor Chen Longshu was still killed by the people. Finally, with the intervention of the king, some of the people were punished, and the rest were all naturalized.

The king has temporarily suspended the tax payment policy in Lingnan. Different tax payment policies will be formulated according to the development progress of each place. For example, here, taxes will not be paid until next year.

Moreover, those who pay taxes have already had a harvest this year. Those who are naturalized later will still not pay taxes next year. They will only pay taxes in the second year after the farmland allocated to them has a harvest.

This is why there are so many people here, because people from the surrounding areas have become naturalized citizens and walked out of the mountains to come to the city or the village resettlement site established by the king. It is precisely because of this humane policy that the people here respect and worship the king so much.

In the early days, the money, food and material expenses here were all borne by the king alone. According to the king, this place is poor, and if you want to achieve results, you have to pay first. As long as it develops, the tax revenue will naturally increase and feed itself. "

What Ning Chun said could be found out with just a quick check, so there was no concealment at all. However, he did not mention anything else, such as commercial taxes, port entry and exit taxes, trade taxes, etc. Not a single word was said.

Wei Ting knew roughly what Ning Chun said, but Cen Wenben had been in Jingzhou before and knew very little about these things. Now, after listening to Ning Chun's words, Cen Wenben felt a surge of admiration in his heart. It was not so easy to make such policies in line with the development of Lingnan in a timely manner.

Cen Wenben knew very well that some things seemed easy after knowing them, but were not easy before they happened. For example, the tax policy formulated by Li Yuanji was the first time he heard that it could be implemented in this way.

Before we knew it, who could have thought of such a method?

Especially the money, food and supplies he brought with him, which were all selflessly contributed just for the initial development. Cen Wenben was even more impressed. Without this expenditure, the development here would not have been so rapid. After all, the people here have to survive and gain people's trust, which is too difficult.

This is not only a question of whether one can think of it, but also a question of whether one has the courage to do so even if one can think of it. This kind of courage determines many decisions. Once it fails to develop and problems arise in the middle, one will face the collapse of the entire situation, which will be irreparable.

Even if Li Yuanji had done a lot before, as long as the development collapsed, the people would not trust him, and all his previous efforts would be in vain and would never come back.

At this time, Cen Wenben really admired Li Yuanji from the bottom of his heart. The current development of Lingnan, even if it was Li Jiancheng or Li Shimin, they might not have done as well as Li Yuanji. At this moment, he really began to take Li Yuanji, the King of Qi, seriously.

In Cen Wenben's eyes, what Li Yuanji has shown now is no worse than Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, and may even be better.

After a while, Cen Wenben slowly spoke.

"The King of Qi is truly admirable. He has such courage and ability. This place has hindered the King of Qi. If he were in another place within the Tang Dynasty, the King of Qi's achievements would probably be greater, and the time spent on governance would be shorter, so he could develop the place.

However, it is a blessing for Lingnan that the King of Qi comes to Lingnan, and it is even more of a blessing for the Tang Dynasty that it has hope.

Ning Yuanshi, I want to ask, when the King of Qi first came, the food should not be enough for so many people, I wonder how they solved it? And how many people are there now?"

Cen Wenben's focus is still critical. The two points he mentioned are, one is the pain point that tortured Li Yuanji at the beginning, and the other is how the situation has developed to the present, which can be seen intuitively.

Ning Chun put away the smile on his face when he heard that, sighed, and then spoke slowly.

“Don’t be afraid of being laughed at by the angels. At the beginning, the king and us palace officials were tortured by the shortage of food. The food that the king brought from Chang’an, plus the food that he bought along the way from Chang’an, was not enough to eat.

We once cut rations. Except for the army, which continued to eat as normal, everyone else, including the king, tightened their belts. Then we had people catch fish in the sea to increase food, and we organized hunters and sent out the army to hunt to ensure food.

Fortunately, Duke Geng sent some food and supplies, and then the king sent people to Hangzhou, Suzhou, Taizhou and other places to do business, and used the money earned to exchange for food, and gradually overcame these difficulties.

Angel, you don't know, when it was difficult at the beginning, there were no axes for felling trees, hoes for plowing the land, and tools for opening up wasteland. These were all made bit by bit later. Although it seems that it has developed, everyone here remembers the hardships in the beginning. As for the population, the king was shocked when he first came. There are only about 12,000 households in the whole Leizhou, and the total population is less than 70,000. This is the whole Leizhou. When the king heard it, his face was full of disbelief.

As for Haikang, there were only nearly 20,000 people at that time, but now, Haikang has a population of nearly 150,000. I think it will reach 150,000 in a day or two. These populations do not include the army, but only the civilian population.

This is the development of the place in the more than one year since the king came here. The population of the city has reached 100,000, and the rest of the people are all resettled in the villages outside.

Our next goal is to expand the city again. Now the city has reached its maximum capacity and can only accommodate 100,000 people, but the expansion has already begun. When the angel came in, he must have seen it. The next goal is to increase the city's population to 200,000.

At the same time, five more village resettlement sites outside the city will be added, bringing the population of Haikang and its surrounding areas to 500,000. In other places in Leizhou, such as Xuwen, Zhanjiang, and Shenchuan, the focus will be on developing the urban population, and villages are currently only developed here.

By the way, Zhanjiang was originally called Tieba, and it was also the name that the king changed. The king felt that the original name was not elegant, so he named it Zhanjiang. "

What Ning Chun said made Cen Wenben silent for a while. He was shocked in his heart, shocked by Li Yuanji's generosity and the development plan here. In fact, even if the population here developed to 500,000, he would not be surprised if it was put outside.

The base of 500,000 people is not even comparable to that of the leader of Chang'an. He was shocked because this is Lingnan, not other places in the Tang Dynasty. It is not an easy task to develop Haikang into a city with a population of 500,000 here.

How many people are there in Chang'an? According to the Old Book of Tang, in the seventh year of Wude, there were 2.19 million households in Chang'an. How many people are there in one household? Generally speaking, there are about five or six people, but some have more and some have less. Even if we count the fewer people, how many people are there?

The development of Hikvision is still very difficult, but because this is Lingnan, it makes people feel extremely shocked compared to before.

Now, after hearing Li Yuanji's plan for this place, Cen Wenben immediately became interested. He also had some experience in governance, and he couldn't help but want to personally join in on this epoch-making development.

Wei Ting on the side was also shocked. At this moment he felt that his trip to Lingnan was not in vain. If he hadn't come here, how could he know so many differences here.

Although this place still cannot be compared with the Tang Dynasty, even if it has developed to a population of 500,000, it is still far behind. However, the current Tang Dynasty belongs to Li Yuan, not Li Jiancheng.

Now Wei Ting also hopes that Li Yuanji can develop this place better and better. In his eyes, due to the limitations of conditions, no matter how well it develops, it can never be compared with the Tang Dynasty. In this case, as long as it develops better here, Li Yuanji's power will be greater, and it will be more helpful to Li Jiancheng, and at the same time he cannot threaten Li Jiancheng, which is very good.

But Wei Ting was also worried. Li Yuanji had changed too much after leaving Chang'an and coming to Lingnan. With such great talent and amazing ability, why didn't he show it earlier?
Especially when he thought about how Li Yuanji came to Lingnan on his own initiative without consulting Li Jiancheng, Wei Ting felt overwhelmed. He now realized that Li Yuanji was really not a simple person. Both his own abilities and his creative ability were simply incredible.

Wei Ting couldn't help but wonder, was it possible that Li Yuanji was hiding his incompetence when he was in Chang'an before?

But on second thought, Wei Ting felt that it was impossible. How could he not know what Li Yuanji was like? Everyone in Chang'an knew it. He didn't look like he was hiding his incompetence. If he wasn't the King of Qi and if he wasn't very close to Li Jiancheng, he would have been killed countless times.

Wei Ting's heart was filled with excitement. He suddenly realized that he must pay close attention to the King of Qi. Li Yuanji was a man who could make a big fuss if he wasn't careful. Once these inventions of Li Yuanji were reported back to the Tang Dynasty, Wei Ting didn't dare to imagine how high Li Yuanji's prestige would be.

Wei Ting made up his mind at this moment. Since he could not help Li Jiancheng in any way in Chang'an, it would be better for him to keep an eye on Li Yuanji for Li Jiancheng. Any disturbance here could be reported to Li Jiancheng at the first time. Li Yuanji could not be ignored now, even in Lingnan.

After a while, Cen Wenben spoke slowly.

"The King of Qi is truly admirable. I believe that this place will soon reach a population of 500,000. Nowadays, many people in the Tang Dynasty are migrating to Lingnan. I guess this is also the work of the King of Qi, right?

Coupled with the attractiveness of Lingnan, the population will grow very rapidly. In particular, if the people can survive and have food, more people will inevitably be born. In at most twenty years, I dare not imagine what Lingnan will be like by then.

However, according to current developments, it may not take 20 years. By then, Lingnan may become the most prosperous place in the Tang Dynasty."

Ning Chun also laughed when he heard this.

"Haha, then let me borrow the angel's good words. I believe that the king will be happy when he knows it.

It is getting late now, and there are still some places I want to take the angel to see, including the cement that the angel wants to see, so we can only go there tomorrow.

Angel, please follow me. The palace has already prepared wine and food. The king must have finished his work by now. The autumn harvest begins today, and the king is leading the palace people to harvest the grain. When we get to the palace, I think the king will be here soon."

When Cen Wenben and Wei Ting heard this, they both became interested.

"Ning Yuanshi, the King of Qi is harvesting grain with the people now. How can we go back? Ning Yuanshi, take us to the King of Qi, and we will also harvest grain together."

Both of them were curious about Li Yuanji. As the King of Qi, he was actually harvesting crops in the fields. They both wanted to see him.

Seeing these determined expressions, Ning Chun looked at the sky, and then led a group of people to walk towards Li Yuanji.

(End of this chapter)