Competing

Chapter 259 Population Strategy
In the main hall of Yue King's Palace, Yue King Yin Xu sat on the steps, showing the king's spirit.After receiving the congratulations from the subjects of the Yue Kingdom, Yin Xu left the main hall and took a rest.

After everyone walked out of the main hall, they looked at the majestic palace wall behind them, except for the court office where government affairs were handled in front.Behind is the harem of the Yue Kingdom, but the King of Yue is still alone now, and everyone has the same feeling that the Yue Palace still lacks a mistress.

When mentioning this matter, Pu Jun inevitably blamed himself, he was very clear about Li Yuniang's position in Yin Xu's heart.The matter entrusted to him has not been done well. Madam Yu's whereabouts are unknown now, where is she?Feeling a little guilty.

Su Jiao also knew about Li Yuniang, but another thing he remembered was that during the Battle of Julu, Yin Xu had said that he had something to do with the Qin royal family when he recruited him.Of course, it is mainly related to people like Fusu, Meng Tian, ​​and Li You. At the same time, he also claimed to know Princess Ye, the daughter of Fusu.

On the way back, he overheard Su An mentioning that Yin Xu once had a lady in Guanzhong, which seemed to be related to the rescue of Ziying.Therefore, Su Jiao used his rich associative ability to guess whether this titular lady would win Ziye, the Princess of Qin?

It's inconvenient to ask such things too carefully and directly, and Su Jiao is just guessing.The strange thing is that the king of Yue came back, but his wife didn't come back. I don't know what happened?If this is the case, Princess Ziye becoming the wife of the King of Yue, or the queen of the King of Yue, would be of great benefit to these generals who were born in the Qin family.It's just that this is the case, it is still unknown.The same is true for the king of Yue, who covered it so tightly that not a breath of wind could come out.

I don't know who will be the first hostess of the Yue Palace?Everyone couldn't help but gossip in their hearts.

In the afternoon, Yin Xu anxiously came with a few confidants, and held the first high-level meeting after King Yue ascended the throne in the apse.

The core person of the meeting was naturally Yue King Yin Xu, and the participants were Pu Jun, Su Jiao, Su An, Gao Yi, Zhou Da, and Lu Ming.They are loyal confidants who followed Yin Xu in the early days, and they are also the right-hand men of King Yue today.

Seeing the sparse number of people, Yin Xu couldn't help sighing that there are not many talents available around him nowadays.I really hope that Chen Ping, Wei Liao and others will come sooner. Of course, for the time being, this is just a good wish. Wei Liao is better, but Chen Ping has to wait for the right time.

There are also those of Deng Lingmo who never showed up along the way, but just denied the warning.Ever since Da Pu Jun and Su Jiao led the army to arrive, they have disappeared without a trace. Could it be that they thought they were safe and left quietly?This seems unlikely. If you want to leave, you should at least say hello. Zhong Yin is not like this kind of anticlimactic people. Maybe they are still hiding somewhere, and they will naturally appear when necessary.

Thinking of Deng Lingmo, I naturally thought of Ying Ziye. When I left, I said that I went north to pay homage to Fusu. I don't know if I will go or return. Is the beauty all right now?When will I be able to come to the south to meet myself, and who is that mysterious person that Wei Liao was talking about?What's so magical about it, I don't know when I will be able to see it by fate.

After everyone arrived, Yin Xu said: "Okay, let's all sit down and talk!" After thanking everyone, they all sat down, and there was still a trace of restraint between words and deeds.

Yin Xu said: "There will be no outsiders here, so relax!"

It is possible to relax, but there is a limit. After all, there is a difference between the monarch and his ministers. The confidants of the Yue King are well aware of this, and they are all in the right place.

Yin Xu said: "I came here to tell you about the current situation in Yue State, and I need to prepare for some things earlier."

Immediately, his eyes fell on Gao Yi, Lu Ming and Zhou Da, and said: "I have seen Shanyin's achievements, you have worked hard for these two years!" Yin Xu has thanked you several times for this matter, but this time is better than the previous few times. Gao Yi and the others felt a little embarrassed.

Without waiting for Gao Yi to be touched by the politeness, Yin Xu said first: "Okay, let's talk about the specific situation of Shanyin!" Yin Xu knew that Gao Yi and the others had not been easy in the past two years, so they must have suffered a lot. He looked bright, but Yin Xu knew that there must be some problems behind this bright, and now he just listened to Gao Yi's talk, so he was prepared.

Gao Yi also came prepared, and reported back: "Your Majesty, in the past, King Huai gave you 60 households in Shanyin. In fact, the entire Nankuaiji County and the current Fanyi also belong to our Yue Kingdom. The population is about [-] people."

Yin Xu nodded lightly. Population is the source of taxes, labor and soldiers. Today, the population of Yue is only about 60. Compared with the small land and Jiangdong's relatively late-developed land, it is considered Not bad.

According to historical records, after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, the population of the whole world was about 2000 million.Because the economic development was backward at that time, the poor food and medical conditions made the population growth slow, coupled with the continuous years of wars between the princes, the sharp decline in the population was almost inevitable.It can be said that in many wars during the Warring States period, this part of the population that had originally increased all died in the flames of war.From this, we can learn a bloody lesson, that is, the horror and tragedy of war, and the great disaster and suffering it brings to the people.

At the end of the Warring States period, the population of the vassal states was the largest in Qi, which had a vast land area, and the Qilu area was mostly fertile land, so naturally more food and materials were produced, and more people were fed.Therefore, the city and population of Qi State are second to none among the seven heroes of the Warring States Period. It is for this reason that even though the monarch of Qi State often does not do much and is very fatuous, Qi State has always maintained his strength and stood tall. It won't fall for a hundred years.This may be the reason why the so-called centipede is dead but not stiff, and a dead camel is bigger than a horse.

It is located in the south of Chu State. To be precise, the land area is much larger than that of the other six countries. However, most of the south was undeveloped at that time, and many of them were wild lands, mostly forests and swamps.The agricultural development in the south is not developed either. The Yellow River Basin in the Central Plains was developed earlier. Because of Yin Xu's many reasons, the population of Chu State is not very large.By the end of the Warring States period, the population of Chu State was about 500 million.

After Yue State was conquered by the King of Chu, it became a subsidiary state or a county of Chu State.It is not easy to have 56 people in a corner, accounting for more than one-tenth of the total population of Chu State.First of all, the land of Jiangdong where the Yue Kingdom is located is relatively rich, and it is close to the Huaisi Central Plains to the north of the river.

In addition, Wu and Yue were seen here in the early years, and they both developed and expanded successively. The land of Wu and Yue in the east of the river was developed more, which made the development here better than other places in Chu.Therefore, the foundation laid down, coupled with the original good natural conditions of Jiangdong, is relatively better for development, making the population of Jiangdong slightly better.

Another reason is that in 278 BC, Qin general Bai Qi led an army to attack Chu State and captured the original capital city of Chu State, Ying. The King of Chu was forced to move his capital to Chen, that is, Sui and Yang.In 253 BC, the capital was moved to Juyang, and then in 241 BC to Shouchun on the banks of the Huai River, until the Chu State finally perished.

Judging from the process of Chu's capital relocation, the political center of Chu moved from west to east because it wanted to avoid the edge of strengthening Qin in the west.In that era, the political center was also the center of economy and culture. Therefore, the main development sites in the late Warring States period were along the Huaihe River and the Dajiang River in the east, and Jiangdong also benefited from this and was developed.

Furthermore, benefiting from Hengshan King, Fan Jun Wu Rui back then, the Fanyi to the east of Peng Lize has been greatly developed, and now it happens to be the land of the Yue Kingdom.In the past, Wu Rui was the magistrate of Fanyi County, and opened a meal in the area of ​​Peng Lize. At that time, there were many criminals in the north, and the poor people all moved to the south of Fanyi, which made the population of this area larger, and the agriculture and economy developed.

Even so, the population of Vietnam is still very limited, only 60.Among them, there are no more than one hundred thousand adult men at most, and the number of all recruits to join the army is also limited, not to mention that this is actually impossible.It must also be solidly produced, otherwise a large amount of land will be barren, and who will provide food, grass and taxes.What Yin Xu wants is not a country of Yue where the people live in poverty and the people live in hardship.

However, the lack of population in Vietnam is an indisputable fact, and there are not many ways to solve it.One is to work hard to manage the country of Yue and build it into a country where people can live and work in peace and prosperity.When the time comes, there will be wars in the north, and people will inevitably be displaced, and there will definitely be southward migration.

Historically, because of the wars in the Yellow River Basin in the north, the phenomenon of northerners moving south has occurred many times, and thus the economic center has moved southward.Especially in the middle and late Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion, the south was greatly developed, and the economic level gradually equaled that of the north.In the Southern Song Dynasty, it almost completely moved to the south, and there was a saying that Suhu is cooked and the world is full.

Obviously, it is impossible to have such a large-scale migration of northerners to the south, but making the country of Yue very attractive, so that the people in the north who have been ravaged by war can have a yearning and a destination, so that small-scale It is not uncommon for the Southward Migration to appear.

At that time, the population of Yue State will gradually increase, which is an effective means of peace.The opposite is tough force. One of the important reasons and purposes of the wars between the princes in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods was to compete for land and population.The population is a laborer. With the population, the land can be cultivated in time, and there will be more food, thus strengthening the national strength.

Therefore, through military exploits, plundering population by force is also an important means.Judging from the surrounding situation of Yue State, because Beikuaiji County is the Wuzhong Plain in the Zhenze River Basin, the land is fertile and rich, and the population is naturally relatively larger than that of Yue State in the south.

But that is the territory of Xiang Yu's Western Chu State, and the current Yue State does not have the strength to get involved in the Western Chu State.In the northwest is the Jiujiang Kingdom of Yingbo. It is necessary to maintain a good relationship with Yingbo. Moreover, the land of Jiujiang Kingdom in the south of the general is also very sparsely populated, which is obviously inappropriate.

Therefore, possible targets can only be found in the south, where are Dongou, Minyue, and even Baiyue to the south of Wuling.During the Three Kingdoms period, Soochow continued to wage war on Shanyue, and one of the most important purposes was to plunder the population.

Judging from Yue's current strength and actual needs, the temporary short-term goals are Dongou and Minyue.This is the ethnic group that merged with the Ouyue and Fujian people after the descendants of the original Yue State moved south.The people in these areas are healthy and the population in the mountainous areas is quite large, so it would be the best if they could be owned by me.It will be able to greatly supplement the labor force of the Western Chu State, and at the same time these people have been soldiers with good quality since childhood.

During the Ming Dynasty, the "wolf soldiers" from ethnic minorities in the Lingnan area fought bravely. If there is such an army, it will surely get twice the result with half the effort in future battles for hegemony.

The more important reason is that Minyue and Dongou themselves are a huge threat to the Yue Kingdom. Both ethnic groups regard themselves as orthodox descendants of the Yue Kingdom, and both have always wanted to return to the Yue Kingdom's hometown.Moreover, the leaders of the two clans, Wu Zhu and Si Yao, had made great contributions in the anti-Qin campaign, and had admired the land of Yue for a long time.However, Xiang Yu enfeoffed the Yue Kingdom to Yin Xu, making it clear that Yin Xu was enfeoffed to the borderlands, and at the same time, he wanted to deliberately provoke Wu Zhu and Si Yao, and use Dongou and Minyue's knives to deal with Yin Xu.

Wu Zhu and Si Yao may not be unaware that Xiang Yu is using him as a spearman, but they are "willingly" because they have never stopped thinking about the Yue Kingdom and always want to take it for themselves.Therefore, no matter what Yin Xu does, they will send troops to deal with the Yue State, hoping to get their hands on the land of the Yue State.Take back your homeland and restore the glory of your ancestors.What's more, now that Xiang Yu's letter has been sent to Minyue and Dongou, with this layer of provocation and tacit support, I am afraid that the two leaders will be even more unable to bear the desire and impulse in their hearts.

For these Yin Xu can be said to be well aware that Minyue and Dongou will sooner or later want to attack the country.And for a long time in the future, my focus will be on the Jianghuai area of ​​the Central Plains in the north. Before that, I must deal with the threat from the rear and absolutely guarantee the tranquility of the backyard.Therefore, mobilizing troops against Minyue and Dongou is also inevitable, for the stability of the rear and for the population.

The population was plundered from the two places to make up for the insufficient population of the Yue country. Of course, if the population could be successfully reduced, Yin Xu would be happy to use peaceful means.After all, he is not a person who advocates violence, but it depends on whether Wu Zhu and Si Yao know each other well.If they insist on going their own way and resist stubbornly, there is nothing they can do.

If you can't convince people with virtue, even if you don't advocate force, there is nothing you can do. Yin Xu will never regret it at that time.Forty-five thousand elite troops of the Yue Kingdom will go to the front line to deal with Minyue and Dongou, and subdue the people with force.

Of course, in addition to this, there is the most fundamental point, that is to encourage childbearing, but this method is too slow to take effect.For long-term calculations, it is necessary to do so. After all, in the midst of continuous wars, population reduction is inevitable.We cannot rely solely on mechanical growth, after all, natural growth is fundamental.

In a short period of time, this is probably what Yin Xu thought of, the most basic short-term population strategy of Yue.

(End of this chapter)