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

Chapter 46 Where are the people? Where is the city?
Li Yuanji continued to move towards Haikang, the capital of Leizhou. Haikang was Li Yuanji's final destination.

Another three days passed, and Li Yuanji and his party finally entered the territory of Haikang. After walking for a while, they saw Wang Xuance, Su Dingfang, and a strong and unfamiliar scholar who were waiting for him.

The group hurriedly came to Li Yuanji.

"See you, Your Majesty."

Li Yuanji looked at them and was very happy.

"I didn't expect you guys to come first. How are things going?"

Wang Xuance and Su Dingfang looked at each other, and finally Wang Xuance said, "Your Majesty, the rebellion of Ning Changzhen and others has been quelled, and Ning Changzhen and Ning Daoming have both been beheaded by me.

It was Feng Xuan who ran back to Gaozhou. I originally wanted to kill him, but Xuan Ce said that Feng Xuan was a member of the Feng family, and Your Majesty was with Feng Ang, so I let him go.

In addition, we have captured 20,000 prisoners, so there is no shortage of people to work here now."

After hearing this, Li Yuanji felt relieved. Ning Changzhen was such a shameless person. He had to get rid of such a person. How could he survive in Lingnan if he slandered him for no reason?
"Okay, well done. As for Feng Xuan, I'll let Feng Ang take care of him."

After Li Yuanji finished speaking, he looked at the strong scholar, Ning Chun.

Ning Chun saw Li Yuanji looking over and immediately bowed and said, "I am Ning Chun, the governor of Leizhou, and I pay my respects to the king."

Li Yuanji helped Ning Chun up.

"Dahe, this time it's all thanks to you. Ning Changzhen and others rebelled, but Dahe not only did not fall for them, but fought against the rebels. I will never forget Dahe's kindness."

Ning Chun stood up and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, this is my duty. I was a minister of the Tang Dynasty and now a minister of Your Majesty. Lingnan is Your Majesty's fiefdom. Everything in Lingnan should be loyal to Your Majesty."

Li Yuanji's face was filled with a touching smile, but he was sighing in his heart, this Ning Chun is so smart that he doesn't seem like a local.

These words clearly showed that Ning Chun was loyal to the Tang Dynasty before, and now that Lingnan had become his fiefdom, he was still loyal to his determination and attitude. He was truly a smart man, and Li Yuanji felt very good about such a person.

He is loyal and not pedantic. Although we don't know his true abilities, he must be good enough to be the governor of a state.

"Haha, it's a pity that many people can't see the situation clearly. Now that Dahe is here, I am even more powerful in Lingnan."

The few of them chatted briefly, and then Ning Chun took Li Yuanji into the city. On the way, Li Yuanji also asked about the affairs of Leizhou.

"Dahe, how many people are there in Leizhou now?"

Ning Chun's expression suddenly became solemn when he heard this.

"Your Majesty, there are now 12,000 households in Leizhou, or nearly 70,000 people. These were re-verified two years ago. There may be some errors, but they won't be that big."

Li Yuanji couldn't believe it when he heard the population number. It was not too many, but too few. This was not the population of Haikang alone, but the entire Leizhou. How could there be only this few people in one state?

Seventy thousand people, even if we include the old, the young, women and children, and spread it out evenly, how many people can there be in one place?

What did he do in Lingnan? He came here to develop Lingnan, to enjoy the damn corrupt life, and then to raise a large army to prevent Li Jiancheng or Li Shimin from coming to power and killing him in the future. However, with so few people now, how can he develop? Development also requires population!
Leizhou is so small. Other states may have larger populations, but there are definitely some with lower populations than Leizhou. The population of Lingnan and other places combined is not as much as that of one prefecture in the Tang Dynasty. How can you expect to develop better than the Tang Dynasty?

Li Yuanji looked at Ning Chun in disbelief.

"Dahe, are you kidding me? A whole Leizhou, less than 70,000?"

Ning Chun nodded bitterly, and then said: "Yes, my king, these are registered in the household registration. Some of these people were exiled here in the past, and more are local people who chose to be registered in the household registration.

However, in Leizhou, I have roughly calculated that there are about 150,000 Li Liao people who are not registered, but live in the countryside, led by cave chiefs, and make a living on their own.

Previously, Chen Longshu wrote to the court to establish the new Nanfuzhou for the sake of these Li Liao people, forcing them to register as residents so that taxes could be collected.

But Lingnan was too poor, and sometimes it was difficult to maintain even food and clothing. Even paying half of the taxes was unaffordable. Chen Longshu also aroused opposition from the chieftains of various caves in Nanfuzhou, and had no choice but to retreat to Longzhou and rule the south from Longzhou. "

Li Yuanji understood this time and comprehended Ning Chun's meaning. First of all, these 70,000 people were included in the household registration of the Tang Dynasty and were in the open.

As for the Li Liao people, we can register them in the household register like Chen Longshu did, so that we can increase the population. However, we must be careful about the means. The Li Liao people’s cave chiefs are unrelated to each other, and there is no unity among the cave chiefs.

Living in the countryside and making a living on their own shows that they have not been ruled by a king, have not yet been enlightened, are extremely backward in all aspects, and are easy to conquer.

Li Yuanji understood, but it was only slightly better than before. It was just a little better. The territory of a state was equivalent to a city, and the total population was only a little over 200,000. How could he be happy?

No wonder these places are sparsely populated. They are really sparsely populated. There are not many people at all.

Then Li Yuanji stopped thinking about it. Now that he was already here, he could only get to work, develop Leizhou, and then attract people from other places.

Now it is the early Tang Dynasty. As long as Lingnan develops, he can still go to the Tang Dynasty to snatch people. At this time, the people of the world are not having an easy time.

"Dahe is thoughtful. I know about this. Let's go into the city first. After we enter the city, I have something to tell you."

Li Yuanji really needed to talk to these people about the next plan. The people around him now were the ones he could use at the moment. Planning and development required people to do it, and he had to give these people the inside scoop.

Later, when he arrived in Haikang and saw the city, Li Yuanji was shocked again. It was not for any other reason, but because this city could not be called a city at all.

Although he had seen several cities before, none of them were as dilapidated as this one. Guizhou was close to the Tang Dynasty and the city was in better condition. Cangwu was Feng Ang's territory and was a bridgehead for attacking other places, so it could be built well.

But what does Leizhou have?
Ning Chun has only been in Leizhou for a few years. Not only is it far away from the Tang Dynasty, it is also considered remote in Lingnan. What can be expected?

First of all, the city wall is nothing special. Just throw some bricks and put some wood together to make a barrier. And the houses inside are, in one word, rotten and dilapidated. There are potholes everywhere on the road.

It was a completely muddy road. Whenever it rained, Li Yuanji could imagine how difficult it would be to walk on this road.

This is still the road inside the city. He could understand that the muddy road outside was the same inside the city, there was no change.

(End of this chapter)