Hearing Luo Zhang's words, Li Shimin couldn't help but asked curiously: "Is there anything in the Dashi Kingdom that we can learn from?"
Luo Zhang smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I have a question. Do you know the current population of the Tang Dynasty?"
Li Shimin thought for a while and said: "There are tens of millions of people. According to statistics from the Ministry of Household Affairs last year, there were three million households. Even if there are five people in one household, fifteen million people will be no problem!"
"The reason why there are only these people is also caused by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. Back then, there were as many as 40 million Han people. In just a few decades, only more than 10 million people were tortured by him. This is still the case. Years, there are so many people to recuperate, otherwise, there would be even fewer people!" Li Shimin said with emotion.
Luo Zhang was quite familiar with history. Li Shimin's words were correct. The Tang Dynasty indeed only had 15 million people, which could be said to be pitiful.
Compared with the vast territory of the Tang Dynasty, let alone 15 million, 300 million or 500 million would not be a problem. Of course, with so many people, there would be a lot of trouble.
There must be at least 100 million people in order to be justified.
But it is not easy to have so many people. It will be in later generations that there will be so many people. Before that, the population has not been growing.
The most critical issue is food. Where can we get so much food?
Before Luo Zhang came, the Tang Dynasty had always had a food crisis. After that, Luo Zhang solved the urgent problem by getting potatoes. Now he has occupied the land of South Vietnam, where rice is harvested three times a year. It can supply food for hundreds of millions of people.
Nowadays, there is no shortage of food in the Tang Dynasty. Even if there is a natural or man-made disaster, it is not afraid at all. It is impossible for the people to cannibalize people and eat tree bark because of lack of food like before.
"Your Majesty, do you know how many people there are in Dashi Country?" Luo Zhang asked again.
"How much?" Li Shimin asked.
"There are 80 million people. Their country is not as big as our Tang Dynasty, but they have 80 million people, which is five or six times that of our Tang Dynasty!" Luo Zhang sighed.
"What? There are so many people there? Can they feed so many people?" Li Shimin was surprised. This was the first time he heard this news. You must know that before, tens of millions of people in the Tang Dynasty could not feed 80 million people. , how to feed?
If Luo Zhang hadn't said it, he probably wouldn't have believed it at all!
"The land in the Big Food Country is fertile and more suitable for growing food. Just like in South Vietnam, rice is harvested three times a year. Although there is not three crops there, it can be two crops. There are many fields that can be cultivated there, and there are more cattle and sheep. , so it is not difficult to feed 80 million people!" Luo Zhang explained.
"Eighty million, eighty million people, this..." Li Shimin said with a wry smile.
"So Your Majesty, what we want to learn from the Great Food Country is the population!"
"population?"
"Yes, it's population. It allows our people to have more children. Now we don't have to worry about food. How can we not have more children?"
"Think about it, the Tang Dynasty is so big and has a population of only 15 million. How can there be masters with such a small population?"
"If there were tens of millions of people, how many strong people would you say there would be? It's possible that it would be almost as big as the Big Food Country!"
"This is the base I'm talking about. Our population in Datang is too small. How can we select good seedlings to cultivate and grow?"
"Well, if you don't tell me, I really haven't thought about such a problem. I always feel that my Tang Dynasty is very powerful, so I don't have to worry so much!"
"I didn't expect that this was just the opposite of what we wanted!" Li Shimin sighed.
"We were able to defeat Goguli and the Turks before because we have a large population, we have many experts, we have many soldiers, and with the things I have created, it is not difficult to win. Now we have to defeat Dashi, but It's not that easy!" Luo Zhang said calmly!
