At the end of the 20th year of the Grand Duke's reign, Zhu Jingyuan received a report from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The first household registration report collected and organized by computer.
The total population of the world has reached 2.4 billion.
Due to the use of computer sorting, it provides a very rich classification of ingredients and a lot of classified statistical details.
The population composition of the Ming Dynasty is now very complex. It should be said that it is unprecedentedly complex.
We already have to count the world's population, and we also have to consider the household registration system reform that Zhu Jingyuan has continued to implement for thirty years.
The experience of looking at data through different statistical calibers may be completely different.
Computer databases bring this to light.
The most commonly used statistical measure by the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty today is the population of "Ming Dynasty households".
That is to say, the number of people in the families headed by Ming people can currently be an exaggerated figure of 1.5 billion.
The population of 1.5 billion is divided into three major parts.
In the first part, the total number of pure Ming people whose parents are all Ming people now exceeds one billion.
There is nothing good to say about pure Ming people. Their previous ancestral homes are all in the Ming Dynasty, and they are the largest ethnic group in the world.
In the second part, there are only mixed-blood Ming people whose father's line is from Ming people, and the total number is still 400 million.
The composition of the mixed-blood Ming people is complicated. First of all, there are the first generation mixed blood of pure Ming people and pure indigenous people.
There are also mixtures of first-generation mixed-race and first-generation mixed-race, which are called second-generation mixed-race.
Then pure Ming people mixed with the first generation, and pure Ming people mixed with the second generation.
There are also first- and second-generation boys who mix with foreign girls.
This caliber can be subdivided infinitely. The household registration can count three generations of people from the Ming Dynasty, but in fact there may be more generations.
After Zhu Jingyuan's household registration system reform, these contents were only retained in the Ministry of Household Affairs' own files.
These things will no longer be displayed on the general identity documents issued to the parties.
According to the current system, as long as every generation in the paternal line is from the Ming Dynasty, then they are all from the Ming Dynasty legally.
Because except for the freshest generation of mixed-race, other types of mixed-race descendants have been completely enlightened.
If they pass the general education examination before the age of sixteen, they can obtain an identity card.
Their descendants have the same ID card since childhood
However, in civil society life, the power of tradition is still very powerful.
Most Ming people in the civil society will find ways to marry Ming girls as their wives as long as they have the ability.
Then if there is still some spare time, they may take in another foreign concubine.
Finally, these parents will also pay more attention to the children born by the first wife and regard them as their heirs.
Only when there is no other choice will they directly marry a foreign wife.
Even the Ming royal family will continue to do this now and in the future.
After the computer system was established, the Ministry of Civil Affairs made a special database to check old files when necessary.
The first is to select concubines for the children of the Ming royal family.
Both parents and grandparents must be from the Ming Dynasty, and their ancestral home must be in the thirteen provinces of the two old capitals.
Then there are some academic studies on the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Rites, including observing the attitudes and political tendencies of mixed-race naturalized people.
As well as some special and sensitive positions, old household registration files will be checked before appointment.
The third part of the Ming family is people who belong to the Ming family, but are still not Ming people. They are wives and concubines of pure foreign origin.
Their total number now exceeds 100 million.
This number has actually always existed. Ever since Emperor Shizu reformed the slave system, it has been a tradition for Ming people to take concubines from foreign tribes.
However, the amount of data on foreign concubines used to be relatively stable.
But after the end of the West-Spanish War, this number experienced rapid growth that lasted for more than ten years.
A large number of Thai and Western women joined the Ming families who settled there.
In terms of statistical caliber, the second largest group after the Ming Dynasty family population is the Taixi people.
Including pure Thais and mixed races of Thais and other ethnic groups.
The total number is over 450 million.
This number is hundreds of millions less than the total population of Europe and the West before the war.
Even thirty-five years ago, when the World War ended, the total population of Europe and the West was just over 400 million.
It is equivalent to the current total population of Taixi people returning to the same level as thirty-five years ago.
Because during the war between Europe and Spain, a large number of young and middle-aged soldiers died on the battlefield, and a large number of civilians were affected by the war.
During the social transformation process after the war, some nobles and officials who were extremely angry with the public, as well as those who resisted, were executed.
During the Great Migration after the war, some old, weak, sick and disabled people could not stand the bumps and fatigue, and died early or were abandoned by their families.
A large number of young women also joined Ming families.
The combination of these factors has led to a very obvious downward trend in the total number of Taixi people more than ten years ago.
It was not until the end of the migration that stability gradually returned.
But there was also no retaliatory growth typical of the aftermath of a war.
Because after the war, the Ming court began to require each vassal state to control its population.
The theoretical basis was proposed by Malthus, a Spanish man.
At present, most of the Thai people live in vassal states, and most of them have relatively high independence, rather than directly governed provinces in the Ming Dynasty.
The resources of a single vassal state are limited.
If their population grows too much, it will inevitably lead to the resources of their vassal country being unable to make ends meet.
This in turn led to internal turmoil and even war within the vassal states.
While this situation was foreseeable, the Ming court could not allow it to happen.
This was for their own good and also to save money for the Ming court.
The central court of the Ming Dynasty had no obligation to provide infrastructure and relief for unreasonably excessive population.
The actual evidence is what they have done over the past few decades.
It seems completely irrational.
Crazy destroying things that can be destroyed, greedy consumption of resources that can be consumed.
One side ignored Ming's warnings and reminders, and annexed the countries of the same race in a willful manner, and massacred their fellow tribesmen.
On the one hand, he had no self-awareness at all, and ignored Daming's kindness and invitations until his death.
The number of such people must be controlled.
Therefore, after the end of the Spanish-Taiwan War, the Central Court of the Ming Dynasty began to implement the "Malthusian Plan" in all vassal states.
A couple outside the Ming family could only have two children at most.
After the Taixi people, the third largest group in terms of statistical caliber is the Hu people, with a total number of approximately 350 million people.
Hu people are a very complex collective name for a large number of small and medium-sized ethnic groups.
Including the originally chaotic Tatars, Kazakhs, Persians, Dacans, Tianzhu people, Nanyang people, Yin people and other ethnic groups.
In fact, all people who are not Ming people, Taixi people, or Mo people are now included in the category of Hu people.
The largest number of the Hu people are the Tianzhu people.
That is, the indigenous people who originally came from the Tianzhu area now total 130 million people.
Among them, the population of Tianzhu, the Ming Dynasty's colony in Tianzhu, is about 70 million.
The British moved to Mozhou, Yinzhou, and the Indians in the UK, plus their descendants, there are about 60 million people in total.
The last relatively large statistical caliber is the Mo people and the mixed population of the Mo people and other ethnic groups.
The total number finally reached 100 million.
Before the industrial age, the population in the interior of Mozhou was not that large, and it was not as large as the Tianzhu area.
A total of 2.4 billion people.
Ming families accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total.
The growth rate of people in Ming Dynasty still shows no tendency to slow down, basically maintaining a growth rate of 100 million in five years.
Even during the Atlantic-Spanish War, there was no significant decline.
Because before Ming Dynasty entered the war, the war did not threaten Ming Dynasty, and the people of Ming Dynasty did not think that Ming Dynasty would lose if it participated in the war.
The war between Spain and Spain even boosted fertility rates again to some extent.
Because most people in the Ming Dynasty felt that the Ming Dynasty was bound to win, and that a truly unprecedented prosperous age was coming.
After the war, the entire western continent fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
This is a very large asset.
For Daming at that time, it was at a level where he could eat a little and feel full.
Even ordinary people have the opportunity to benefit from this matter and obtain more wealth relatively easily.
When ordinary people give birth to children at this time, they have the mentality to seize more resources for the family.
This once again boosted the mental state of society as a whole.
All other ethnic groups have begun to control the population, and the proportion of Ming people will continue to increase in the future.
When Zhu Jingyuan saw the world's population situation, he thought of his own family's situation.
Zhu Jingyuan once thought that he would have the opportunity to learn from some outstanding people in ancient times and give birth to more than a hundred sons.
But Zhu Jingyuan didn't do that.
In ancient times, as long as men had normal physiological functions and had enough wives and social resources, the number of children would not be a problem at all.
If you work hard for heirs and calculate the fertility period of your wives and concubines, it is not difficult to create a hundred sons.
It's just that most powerful men don't work hard purely for the sake of their children.
In the classical era, primogeniture was the system of inheritance, and the male master with normal physiological functions could give birth to children soon after getting married.
Children who are ranked first, such as the second son, third son, and fourth son, can also play a certain role as backup heirs.
What follows doesn’t make much sense anymore.
Usually after the male owner has two or three children, he doesn't care about how many children there are in total.
When they look for women later, they basically do whatever they feel like doing.
On the contrary, people who are likely to have physical problems have to fight for half their lives to give birth to heirs, but they often don't have many children.
Under this logic, in ancient times, only men with particularly strong needs would have many children.
But when it comes to Zhu Jingyuan, it's different. He has to select the one he likes from among multiple children to succeed him.
Then we need to have as many children as possible, otherwise there will be no good choices.
Therefore, the current emperor of Ming Dynasty needs to fight for more heirs.
The Ming emperor usually ascended the throne when he was about thirty years old and retired when he was sixty years old.
Sons born in the years before and after the succession have a chance to succeed when their father retires.
The prince who obviously has no chance of succeeding to the throne has a concept of childbearing similar to that of ordinary nobles.
But if the prince knew that he had a chance to compete for the throne, he would start working hard when he became the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Therefore, the years before and after he succeeded to the throne were the peak fertility period of the Ming Emperor.
Before Zhu Jingyuan ascended the throne, he took two concubines from the prince every two years, which lasted until the year he ascended the throne.
And except for the earliest ones, all the others have calculated their ages, and they will be twenty years old a few years before and after he ascends the throne.
Within two years after he ascended the throne, he took in eight more concubines.
Zhu Jingyuan worked really hard because he really had a throne that he needed his children to inherit.
From the age of sixteen to now, Zhu Jingyuan has had 142 children, 81 boys and 62 girls.
In the eight years before and after he ascended the throne, a total of sixty-four children were born, thirty-six boys and twenty-eight girls.
Three-sevenths of them were born during those eight years.
After those few years, especially after the Thai-Spanish War, Zhu Jingyuan became slack.
For Zhu Jingyuan, that is really work.
You have to work hard during the day and at night, and you have to follow the normal calculation of the concubine's reproductive period, so you don't have much freedom at all.
You will definitely get tired of it after a long time.
At the same time, it is also because after the sixth year of the Grand Duke, any more children will probably have no chance to compete for the throne.
When I was sixty, they were all less than twenty-five.
Even if one completes reserve education at the age of fifteen, subsequent practical training in governance will take at least ten years, and it is already too late.
So there is no need to work hard anymore.
His final successor will basically be chosen among his children in the eight years before and after he ascends the throne.
Among the thirty-six sons, four were born to concubines of foreign races such as Feiya, and had no chance to participate in the competition for the reserve position.
There were actually only thirty-two final candidates.
For these children, the 20th year of the Archduke is also a very important year.
If they cannot complete their studies this year, the remaining time will not be enough for them to complete their administrative training.
However, this is only theoretical. In terms of education and practical training, they will not be ruled out in advance, because after completing the practical training in governance, they will have the opportunity to become princes.
Only those who are over twenty years old and have not completed their studies will be directly eliminated.
Three have appeared so far.
Zhu Jingyuan's own talent may not be top-notch, but it is at least above average. After all, both his parents are elites.
His concubines are also elites.
The probability that you and your alliance will give birth to a real idiot is not high, so the probability of being directly eliminated beyond your age is not high.
On the contrary, the probability of producing a genius is much higher than that of an ordinary family.
There are already two people who have completed their studies at the age of fifteen, and five who have completed their studies at the age of sixteen. Most of them can complete their studies before the age of eighteen.
There are also some very smart girls among them.
Now among that group of boys, only the last few who have not yet reached their age are left.
At the end of the 20th year of the Grand Duke's reign, Zhou Wang Zhu Zhaoye, who was in charge of royal family education, came to visit Zhu Jingyuan again.
Theoretically, the royal family's religious education is under the control of the Supreme Emperor, but the matter of the successor is the emperor's business, and theoretically even the Supreme Emperor cannot interfere.
Therefore, in recent years, King Zhou often came to report on the status of the prince's education.
Zhu Zhaoye handed over the paper report document, attached the handbook (USB flash drive) that stored the original data, and briefly explained the overall examination situation:
"Your Majesty, in the Grand Duke's graduation examination at the end of the 20th year, a total of six princes scored above the passing mark.
"The youngest among them is Di Lan, the sixty-fourth son of the emperor, who is not yet fifteen years old."
Zhu Jingyuan had just uploaded his account to the computer, and when he was about to open the file, he heard these two reports, and the movement of his hand obviously paused for a beat.
Zhu Jingyuan had an impression of the child Zhudi Lan, because his birth was a relatively unexpected accident.
Zhu Jingyuan's mother is Wang Ya, who is the de facto housekeeper of Zhu Jingyuan's harem and the de facto queen without queen status.
Zhu Jingyuan really liked Wang Ya's reliability and ability, so he often went to Wang Ya's palace to rest after he no longer wanted to work hard for the heir.
The two of them already have the mentality of an old married couple, and most of the time rest is pure rest.
Occasionally what happens is an accident.
Especially Wang Ya was already thirty-five years old when she became pregnant with Judy Lan.
Zhu Jingyuan originally didn't dare to let her have a child.
But after being an emperor for a long time, especially when he had just come out of the mentality of trying to create an heir, he no longer had so many worries.
In addition, Ming Dynasty's caesarean section surgery was already mature, so Zhu Jingyuan was not too worried about the concubine having difficulty giving birth again.
So Judy Lan is really an accident within an accident.
As a result, this child has been extremely smart since he was a child, and he is obviously smart, rather than being naturally mature like Zhu Jingyuan was when he was a child.
It can be seen from the results now that he completed the reserve education before he was fifteen years old.
Even earlier than Zhu Jingyuan.
Although there were already two people who graduated at the age of fifteen, Zhu Jingyuan was a little surprised that Zhu Jingyuan was under fifteen.
This is a new record.
After Zhu Jingyuan gave birth to many children, he felt that having children was a bit like opening a blind box, and Zhu Jingyuan was like a golden child.
But when the emperor chooses his successor, it is not just about being smart.
You must also have a relatively calm character and mentality, and the ability to understand the complexity of people and society.
The most important thing is the overall view and the concept of governance.
Specific to a person himself, he does not need to be a real genius, but he must at least be relatively smart, and at the same time be stable, mature and calm enough.
But according to Zhu Jingyuan's experience over the years, most smart children are not stable enough.
Most of the stable children are not smart enough.
As a reborn person, he has been more mature than his peers since childhood.
This may also be an important reason why I was able to attract my grandfather's attention in the first place.
Then Zhu Jingyuan felt that Zhudi Lan should have the idea of competing for the crown prince as he rushed to complete his final exam before the end of the year.
If he really retires at the age of sixty, and if he really graduates one year later, he may really miss the last train.
It is normal to have such thoughts, after all, it is the pinnacle of power in this world.
However, in order to catch up with the final year and make all the results barely pass, Zhu Jingyuan will not give him a chance.
Zhu Jingyuan would even think the other way around.
If he is really the most suitable heir, then Zhu Jingyuan can stay on the throne for a few more years and wait for him.
Just like my grandfather, the few years he stayed on the throne were perfect for tempering the mentality of potential heirs.
It depends on whether the heir who is usually in good condition will develop problems due to continuous inner suffering like his ninth uncle did back then.
Zhu Jingyuan actually knew that many princes in ancient times were tortured by their fathers.
For example, the princes of Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
The more powerful the emperor's father is, the more uncomfortable it will be for them as princes.
They usually have to show their abilities, but they can't be too capable and make their father suspicious.
Zhu Yuanzhang may really not be suspicious of his eldest son, but Zhu Biao will never think that he can spend time casually.
Even if Zhu Yuanzhang said it himself, Zhu Biao would not really believe it, and would even be even more frightened.
After Zhu Yuanzhang deposed the prime minister, Zhu Biao became the de facto prime minister and the standing deputy emperor.
As the founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang certainly had an excellent mentality.
His strong spirit can support his continuous high-intensity explosion, and he is willing and able to handle all matters that he wants to handle personally.
But if he pressed the same thing on his son Zhu Biao, Zhu Biao would be frightened and get angry.
Zhu Jingyuan always felt that Zhu Biao was forced to death by Zhu Yuanzhang in his previous life.
But now that he has become the emperor, he is still equivalent to the emperor who was appointed to conquer the world, but he has the mentality of trying to force his son.
Zhu Jingyuan already has sons who deliberately retired a few years late to survive him.
So Zhu Jingyuan opened Zhudi Lan's file and first looked at the final evaluations of all subjects given to him by all his teachers.
Most of the subject evaluations are only "passed", only one third is "moderate", and only two subjects, Internet and computer, are "good".
There is no "excellent" one...
Zhu Jingyuan frowned slightly. Although not all of them were qualified, the difference was not big.
These average and good scores are probably where his talents or interests lie, so he can do better than other subjects with the same amount of energy.
Moreover, this child is already extremely talented, so he should be able to do well even if he is not particularly attentive.
Most of the subjects that are only qualified are just passable.
With this critical attitude, Zhu Jingyuan continued to read the comments of Judy Lan's teachers.
"Extremely talented, but not particularly active in learning. Maybe the content of the standard courses is too simple."
"Exceptionally intelligent, not very interested in most teaching course content, but most interested in the application of computer fantasy simulations."
"Astute in mind, strong in skills, and likes to explore unknown areas and events..."
After Zhu Jingyuan read it in general, he felt that what these teachers said was very tactful.
Their words, translated into the words of their parents and teachers in their previous lives, should be like this:
"This child doesn't like to study", "he just likes to play computer games", "is naughty, bullies classmates, and often gets into trouble..."
Zhu Jingyuan felt in his heart that the child's willingness to graduate might not be to compete for the throne.
Maybe it's really just to escape from school as soon as possible.
After graduation, I went to a local place for practical training and spent more time playing than in school.
Zhu Jingyuan sighed lightly.
Although I plan to be the emperor for a few more years like my grandfather, I will try to get through the mentality of the heir.
But for Zhudi Lan, his current time point is still very tight. If he is just having fun in the past few years, he may really have no chance to become the heir.
Although Zhu Jingyuan looked at Judy Lan's situation with a critical attitude, he really had relatively high expectations for this child.
Although you don't need to be extremely smart to be an emperor, if you are extremely smart and qualified in other aspects, that is also an excellent candidate.
Zhu Jingyuan thought for a few seconds and asked King Zhou to call all the children who graduated this year.
Talk to him personally and see if he can be saved.
While waiting for the children, Zhu Jingyuan continued to read the detailed reports of these children to understand their more specific situations.
(End of chapter)
