Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 958, Encouraging Birth and Persisting Immigration
"I finally understand why Liu Jin insisted on conducting a census. In the past, it was just a simple registration of the population, the ratio of men to women in the population, the population distribution of each province, and the ratio of Han people to non-Han people. , the proportion and number of men, women and children, etc., we don’t know anything about it.”

"The status quo is conducting a census, but it is to make all the information clear."

After listening to Liu Jin's speech, Liu Jian looked at the forms and drawings in his hand again, and couldn't help sighing.

"Yeah, I really benefited a lot."

"From these tables and drawings, we can grasp the real situation of our Daming, know how many young and strong laborers there are in our Daming, how many children need to be raised, and how many old people need to be supported."

Li Dongyang couldn't help sighing for a while. From this form, everyone finally had an accurate understanding of Daming's population.

"I didn't expect that there are thousands of octogenarians in our Daming, and there are dozens of centenarians among them."

Zhang Mao also nodded with a smile, took one of the forms and said with a smile, according to the data gathered from all over the Ming Dynasty, there are still many elderly people in Daming, and there are dozens of centenarians.

"Your Majesty, I think this is a sign of a prosperous age. My Ming ruled the world with filial piety, so I should give these old people some preferential treatment."

At this time, Xie Qian stood up and said very solemnly.

"The ministers think that Xie Gong's words are true!"

When the others heard it, they also expressed their support.

It is the tradition of the Chinese nation to treat the elderly well. Similarly, all dynasties have given preferential treatment to the elderly over the age of [-], as recorded in the Book of Rites.

At eighty, one of his sons will not be in politics, and at ninety, his family will not be in politics.Those who are disabled and sick are not supported by people, and one person does not engage in politics.This means that if there are elderly people over the age of 80 and 90 in the family, the children and grandchildren can reduce the corvee accordingly.

In the Tang and Song dynasties, the imperial court even built special institutions for the elderly. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were lonely homes established by the imperial court to adopt orphans and widows without children.

"Ok!"

Emperor Hongzhi also nodded solemnly, thought for a while and said: "Well, let's give an order to a local government. All elderly people over the age of [-] can receive [-] catties of grain from the government every month, one catty of salt, half a catty of tea and five catties of tea. Ten copper coins, you can get a piece of cloth from the government every year, and you can see the officials without kneeling, and the elderly over [-] years old will be exempted from punishment!"

Of course, Emperor Hongzhi knew about this, and all dynasties have also given some preferential treatment to the children of the elderly in this regard, such as exemption from corvee and the like.

But now Emperor Hongzhi is different. He has a lot of money and wealth, and he directly gives food, salt, and copper coins, and even announces it. It can be said that this policy is quite acceptable.

With these subsidies from the imperial court, these old people basically don't have to worry too much about retirement.

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

When everyone heard this, they hurriedly replied to Emperor Hongzhi.

Although Emperor Hongzhi gave too many discounts, he distributed food, salt, tea, cloth, etc., and directly distributed money, which was very powerful.

But on this matter, everyone has no opinion, because since ancient times, all dynasties have ruled the world with filial piety, and what they pay attention to is filial piety, and at the same time, they also pay attention to respecting the old and loving the young.

It is right to give some preferential treatment to the elderly.

If anyone raises any objections or objections on this matter, once the news spreads, the reputation will be rotten, and then a group of old people will block your door and scold you to death every day.

Of course, more importantly, in this era, there are too few elderly people over sixty.

According to this census, there are less than [-] elderly people over the age of [-] in the entire Ming Dynasty, which can be said to account for not even one-thousandth of them.

This is mainly because the medical technology of this era is really poor, coupled with the lack of living materials, people can't even eat enough, and it is really difficult to live long.

In the Ming Dynasty, the average life expectancy was only [-] years old. Even in the Republic of China, the average life expectancy was only [-] years old. There were very few people over [-] years old.

Therefore, in the case of a small number, according to the policy of Emperor Hongzhi, it is actually a very small expenditure for the court.

"Well, let's do it this way."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded happily. He himself was a filial person. Otherwise, he would not have been conferred the title of Ming Xiaozong after his death. He was still very generous in treating the elderly well, and he gave great policies.

"Yes!"

Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others nodded quickly.

"Your Majesty, judging from the statistical population data, there are still many problems in the population of our Ming Dynasty. I think that relevant policies should be formulated to improve the population of our Ming Dynasty."

After discussing the matter of treating the elderly well, Liu Jin thought about it and stood up again.

As soon as everyone heard it, they immediately became interested. Although everyone read the data and analysis, they didn't realize how many problems there were.

"Tell me!"

Emperor Hongzhi smiled and nodded.

"Your Majesty, taking the Western Regions as an example, the proportion of Han people in the Western Regions is not very high. This requires the court to continue to immigrate to the Western Regions. Secondly, among the tribes in the Western Regions, the ratio of men and women is very different. , basically the ratio is between one to seven to eight, and some are even one to ten."

"This shows that among these large and small tribes, there are very few men. This is a big problem. We can formulate some policies accordingly, such as emigrating to the Western Regions from provinces with more men than women in the customs. Firstly, it can increase the proportion of Han people, and it can also solve the problem of marriage difficulties.”

Liu Jin thought about it and said.

"Hmm~"

Hearing Liu Jin's words, they immediately found out the census data of the Western Regions Province, and immediately nodded.

"It turns out that the tribes in the Western Regions are so short of men."

Zhang Mao smiled and said, "Liu Jin, you were too ruthless last winter."

"Cough cough~"

Hearing Zhang Mao's words, Liu Jin couldn't help blushing, thought for a while and said, "Mr. Zhang, although the lack of men in the Western Regions has something to do with last winter's war to recover the Western Regions, it's not the main thing. "

"The Western Regions have been very turbulent since ancient times. The tribes, big and small, have been fighting endlessly all year round. Therefore, the people's customs are tough, which is also the main reason for the scarcity of men in the Western Regions."

"That's it~"

Everyone also nodded slightly. In fact, since ancient times, there have been more women than men in all over the world, because every war will kill a large number of men. In wars, although women are tortured, they generally do not kill women. Men are different, basically there is only one dead end.

"Except for the Western Regions, the two provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi are located on high loess slopes, and the natural conditions are very harsh, but the population is very large. I believe that a large number of people should continue to migrate from these two provinces."

"Relocating people from some remote areas with extremely inconvenient transportation and poor conditions can, on the one hand, move to places with better conditions and live a more prosperous life; on the other hand, it can also protect the local environment. The reason why the Yellow River is prone to flooding is that A very important reason is that the environment on the high loess slopes is getting worse and worse, and a large amount of sediment flows into the Yellow River due to rain, causing harm to the middle and lower reaches of the river."

"In addition, in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan area, the transportation in many areas is extremely inconvenient, and the lives of people in these areas are very difficult. I think that people from these areas can also be relocated on a large scale."

"There is also Jiaozhi in Nanyang. The proportion of my Han people is very low. On the one hand, the imperial court should vigorously immigrate to Jiaozhi, and at the same time, it should encourage non-Han people to marry us Han people, and encourage Han people to take foreigners as concubines. Rapidly increasing the population and proportion of our Han people is also promoting national integration and consolidating our Ming Dynasty’s rule in Jiaozhi.”

"Judging from the overall population data of my Ming Dynasty, the total population of my Ming Dynasty is still too small, and the differences are also very uneven. The population is mainly concentrated in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, while overseas Australia and Golden Continent are lower than the vast , the land is fertile and the natural conditions are superior, but the population is very small."

"This requires the imperial court to adhere to the immigration policy on the one hand, and move a large number of people from the two capitals and thirteen provinces out. On the other hand, it must encourage births and increase the total population."

Liu Jin expressed his opinion in one breath. After all, Liu Jin still felt that the population of Daming was too small.

You must know that the current Ming Dynasty has already regarded the Pacific Ocean as its own inland sea, occupying a large area of ​​Asia, and monopolizing Australia and the Golden Continent. With such a vast land, the population is only 1.5 million, which is too small.

Therefore, birth must be encouraged, and the more births, the better.

In the past, I was worried that the food would not be enough to eat, and there would be too much food to feed, but now it is different, the food can’t be eaten up, there is plenty of food, and there is still a lot of land that has not been cultivated, no matter how large the population is Several times, ten times, there is no need to worry about not having food to eat.

"Insist on immigration, encourage birth!"

After everyone listened, they also grasped the key point of what Liu Jin said, and nodded after thinking about it.

"Liu Jin, do you have any good ways to encourage childbearing?"

Emperor Hongzhi thought about it and asked.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen~"

"In terms of encouraging childbirth, I think that Han people should be encouraged to take foreigners as concubines, especially in places outside the customs and overseas where there are a large number of foreigners, the imperial court should issue a policy requiring every Han to take at least one non-Han as a concubine!"

Liu Jin thought about it and said.

If you want to have more children, in addition to being diligent in making people, the most important thing is to have more women. There are not enough Han people, so naturally you have to encourage more foreigners to be concubines.

　Do you support it?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)