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

After listening to what Cen Wenben said, Li Yuanji frowned.

In fact, although there are still concubines in the Tang Dynasty today, the number is not that large. On the contrary, the more powerful a person is, the fewer concubines he has.

Most of these people have a wife, and not many have concubines. Even if they do, there are only one or two, not many.

Li Yuanji also thought what Cen Wenben said made sense. Those people would not care about the subsidies given by the court, because having a concubine meant being relatively wealthy nowadays, and most people would not have that.

Li Yuanji no longer thought about it. These people were not the main force for increasing the population, and they would have children without him issuing policies to urge them.

After implementing this issue, Li Yuanji waited for the rapid growth of population. His goal was to complete it within three years. Although it was very difficult, it was not without any certainty.

The base is large, and the rate of increase is still very fast.

Li Yuanji stopped thinking about it. There was not much point in targeting these people. If legislation was made, it would be a bit too coercive.

"Then let's do as you say. Let's ignore these things for now and make sure to connect with other things."

After hearing this, Cen Wenben immediately agreed and walked out.

Li Yuanji pondered for a while and was about to get up after realizing that there was no solution to the problem. At this time, Liu Rengui hurried in.

"See Your Majesty."

"Zhengze, but what happened to the navy?"

Li Yuanji looked confused. Liu Rengui came to him suddenly, and he really couldn't think of anything else except the navy. But this was what confused him, what could be the navy's business?

Li Yuanji is not bragging, but the current navy of the Tang Dynasty is so powerful that even if all the navies of other small countries were united, they would still not be able to defeat the navy of the Tang Dynasty. So what can a navy like this do?

Liu Rengui looked at the puzzled Li Yuanji and spoke solemnly.

“Your Majesty, the navy has discovered new land south of Pingnan Province. To be more precise, it is an island, but this island is not small.

The cruiser fleet went to the island and saw some barbaric and unintelligent natives. The two cruiser ships did not have time to explore more before sending the message.

When I received this news, I wanted to send troops to this place. There was a large island isolated in the distance, and I thought that no matter whether it was useful or not, I wanted to build a port there for the navy to dock and garrison.

In this way, if there are external enemies invading in the future, they can be blocked outside to protect the territory of the Tang Dynasty from invasion.

At the same time, it can also serve as the outpost of the Tang Dynasty. If encountering an enemy, the information can be transmitted back to the Tang Dynasty as soon as possible, which can also buy time for the mobilization of the army.

Therefore, I have come to ask the king to allow me to send troops. I only need to send a fleet to capture this place!"

Liu Rengui's purpose of coming to Li Yuanji this time was very simple, which was to send troops. The navy has been silent for too long, and now Li Yuanji is going to start attacking externally. Liu Rengui can't sit still at all.

Regarding the island that has been discovered now, Liu Rengui did have this idea as he said, but this idea was born just to get Li Yuanji to agree to send troops.

Today, the Tang Dynasty's navy has fully implemented steel warships, and the original wooden ships have all been replaced. With such a navy, there has been almost no action after the replacement. Liu Rengui is still a little anxious.

He now only wants the navy to make a high-profile appearance. The navy's equipment change this time was gained by occupying a lot of the Tang Dynasty's economy. Since it has occupied so much economy, it has to do something. The simplest thing to do is to expand the territory.

Now, not only the army is thinking about making a big move, the navy is the same. After all, no one can provoke the Tang Dynasty's army now, and the surrounding areas have been basically cleared. If they want to find the enemy, they have to go and investigate on their own, otherwise there won't even be an enemy.

Li Yuanji listened to Liu Rengui's words, thought for a moment, and soon knew what Liu Rengui was talking about.

Today's Pingnan Province is Indonesia, and further south is Australia.

Li Yuanji was speechless for a moment. Australia looked close on the map, but it was actually not close at all. How could the navy, this ocean street kid, actually go to such a far place?

Li Yuanji didn't know what to say for a moment. There was actually not much arable land suitable for farming in Australia, especially in the central region, which was in arid and semi-arid areas. Even in some places suitable for farming, they still had to be reclaimed by themselves.

In Australia, grazing is more suitable. But when it comes to grazing grounds, the Tang Dynasty has no shortage of them. Now all the grasslands in the north belong to the Tang Dynasty. Why create such a place?

Li Yuanji thought for a while, and felt helpless when he saw Liu Rengui who was eager to fight.

He knew that the army and navy of the Tang Dynasty were now going out under the pretext of gathering information from the surrounding areas, but in fact they were going out to find out which places could be attacked, because the fighting around them was almost over.

Moreover, since there had been no external enemies for a long time, all the armies of the Tang Dynasty maintained training at all times. Many people wanted to go out and find some enemies, especially the promotion of the generals below. Li Yuanji didn't know since when, the generals of the Tang Dynasty had such an atmosphere, that is, if they didn't destroy a few small countries, even if they got promoted, some people would feel that they were not good enough.

It is obvious that the country is crushing the outside world, but because people like Xie Shufang, Su Dingfang, Liu Rengui, Feng Ang, etc., all have the merit of destroying a country, this makes the people below have an illusion that if they don't have the merit of destroying a country, they will be embarrassed to be a general in the Tang Dynasty.

The army's inquiries to the north have not made any progress, as there are basically no people there, unless they cross that area, which is obviously unlikely.

Therefore, the direction of the army is now all focused on the west. There are quite a few small countries that have been discovered there. Now there are more wolves than meat. I don't know how many Tang Dynasty army generals are eyeing it.

As for the navy, it is more difficult to find a target to attack than the army. If it is on land, the army will take over directly. Now it is difficult for the navy to find a suitable place for the navy to take action. Li Yuanji is very clear about Liu Rengui's determination to represent the navy.

After this brief thought, Li Yuanji also figured it out. Since Liu Rengui wanted to fight, then let him fight. It was impossible to let the Tang Dynasty govern it anyway as it was too far away. He could just think of it as conquering a place and developing it later so that the people of the Tang Dynasty would have another place to travel without having to go abroad.

After realizing this, Li Yuanji immediately looked at Liu Rengui.

"Zhengze, your idea is quite good. There should be many smaller islands around this island, right?
You want to send troops, and I allow it. However, I have a request. I will send someone to go with you. He will not participate in naval operations, but after conquering those places, the remaining naval fleet must obey his command. I will leave the rest of the places to him.

Go prepare for the navy's battle, and come back to me when you are ready."

"Thank you, Your Majesty! I obey your command!"

Liu Rengui listened to Li Yuanji's request without any idea at all. He didn't consider who would be in charge of those places. He just wanted to get the navy moving, and he would accept whatever happened after the victory.

Liu Rengui was very clear about his responsibilities, which were to fight, expand the territory for the Tang Dynasty, and eliminate the invading enemies from the sea. He did not participate in other things. He just did whatever Li Yuanji said.

After Liu Rengui left, Li Yuanji also laughed, and then he began to ponder again.

"Who should go?"

Li Yuanji had a headache for a while, a very big headache. After thinking for a long time, Li Yuanji finally decided on the candidate.

"Someone, go and call the King of Chu." The current King of Chu of the Tang Dynasty is Li Yuanji's second son, Li Chengping.

Li Chengping is less than two years younger than Li Chengye and is already sixteen years old, so it is a good opportunity to release Li Chengping.

Li Yuanji knew that there were some small countries and islands around Australia, and the total area was not small. If Li Chengping felt that they were too small, he could let him go out and fight on his own.

Now he was going to give the areas south of Pingnan Prefecture to his descendants for fiefdom, because they were too far away. The directly-administered areas controlled by the Tang Dynasty were sufficient, and for the extra areas outside, he would send his descendants to open up the new Tang Empire.

How strong the people sent out can eventually develop is up to them.

This is what Li Yuanji himself thought. Instead of leaving it to some provincial governors to control, it is better to let his own descendants control it. At least they are all of Li Tang blood. No matter how people fight later, at least they are all Tang Dynasty, and there will be no new countries or forces.

After a while, Li Chengping walked in.

"My son, I pay my respects to my father."

"Chengping is here, please sit down."

Li Yuanji watched Li Chengping sit down calmly and smiled in his heart. He had taught these people well and they actually had quite good abilities.

Li Yuanji then spoke slowly.

"The navy will launch an attack on the areas south of Pingnan Prefecture. As I told you before, I am going to hand over those areas to you.

This time I will let you go with the navy. I will give you 20,000 troops and leave a naval fleet. Whether you can develop that place depends on yourself.

That place will be your fiefdom in the future. When you develop, if you feel that your fiefdom is too small, you can continue to expand outward. It depends on your ability where you can expand your territory.

But I have one request, that is, once you conquer it, you must manage your fiefdom well. If you can't manage it well, don't go out to fight.

Also, the population must be dominated by Tang people, this is indisputable.

Do you have any other questions of your own?"

Li Yuanji looked at Li Chengping. He had determined these things a long time ago. The earth may not look big, but it is actually not small. It is simply unrealistic for the imperial court to directly govern so many places. Li Yuanji was very clear about this.

Anyway, let's arrange these things like this for now, using the surrounding Second, Third, and other Tang Empires to stimulate the Tang Empire, thus forming a good competition. Moreover, as long as they nominally belong to the Tang Empire, over time, the territory of the Tang Empire will naturally take shape gradually.

After listening to what Li Yuanji said, Li Chengping immediately stood up and agreed.

"Father, I am willing to go! In the past, Father relied on Lingnan to develop and expand his fiefdom. Although I am not as good as you, I also want to give it a try.

As your father's son, I will never bring shame to your father!"

Although he would be far away from the central government and it would be difficult to come back, Li Chengping still yearned for it. It would be pointless to stay here. More importantly, Li Yuanji had developed his career with his fiefdom.

Although he has not thought about counterattacking the Tang Dynasty, this time he goes out, he also wants to prove to the world that although he is not the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, his abilities are not bad and he has not brought shame to Li Yuanji.

Moreover, he also wanted to give it a try. Li Yuanji was able to develop and expand his fiefdom with the land of Lingnan. Perhaps he, Li Chengping, could do it too?

He really wanted to give it a try. What was the point of taking over a ready-made one? He had to go out and build a Great Tang Dynasty, only then would he feel a sense of accomplishment.

With the precedent of Li Yuanji, none of Li Yuanji's descendants thought of staying in the Tang Dynasty. There was no hope at all for them to stay. No one could shake Li Chengye's position.

In this case, he might as well go out and fight for it. If one day his fiefdom becomes larger than the current Tang Dynasty, they would like to see how embarrassed Li Chengye will be by then.

Li Yuanji listened to Li Chengping's words and smiled with special relief. He knew what these people were thinking. After all, it was impossible for these people to hide things from him.

But Li Yuanji didn't say anything. Instead, he was somewhat expectant. The Earth is such a big place, he wanted to see what these people could accomplish.

"Well, you are worthy of being my son, Li Yuanji. Since you have confidence, I believe in you too.

Remember what I said, you can take it down, but you must be able to control it yourself, and you must focus on the Tang people. You can't be ambitious and incompetent, or be too unrealistic.

These two points must be achieved. Only with such a fiefdom can it be considered a success and make people attached to the Tang Dynasty. "

After Li Yuanji gave Li Chengping instructions, he asked Li Chengping to go down and prepare.

Li Yuanji himself came to the harem and came to Yang Qingwan.

"Ma'am, are you ready to rest?"

Li Yuanji looked at Yang Qingwan sitting on the bed, and thought that at this time, it might be time to rest.

Yang Qingwan looked at Li Yuanji, immediately stood up and walked in front of Li Yuanji.

"I'm going to get ready for a rest. I'm a little tired, but looking at Sanlang, I'm not sleepy anymore."

"You are really good at talking. I came here this time because I have something to tell you."

Li Yuanji helped Yang Qingwan sit down, then spoke again.

“I have told you before that Chengye’s brothers will all be released in the future. Now the navy is preparing to capture the land south of Pingnan Prefecture, and I plan to let Chengping go.

Now he is the only one who is suitable, and someone else is needed over there, so we are going to let him go."

After hearing this, Yang Qingwan looked a little sad for a moment, but she quickly recovered.

"Sanlang, I know there is no room for maneuver in this matter, but you need to ask Chengping to come back often. Transportation is convenient nowadays, and it won't take much time. It's not good to see him once a year, but it's better to see him once every two or three years."

"Don't worry, Madam. I will tell him all this."

Li Yuanji agreed directly, not wanting Yang Qingwan to worry too much. (End of this chapter)