The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 663: The Crisis of Heaven - Population is about to Explode! (Please subscribe and vote)
On the morning of February 8th, the ninth year of the Tianli calendar, the sun was shining brightly in Tianjing City. In the newly built small hall of the Zongli Yamen, twelve gas lamps illuminated the room brightly, and a government work meeting of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was being held!

Those sitting in this small meeting hall for the meeting, in addition to the "gods" in Tianjing, were the ministers of various departments of the Heavenly Kingdom, as well as governors-general in local areas and general managers in charge of people's livelihood and economy in each province.

With the surrender of Shanxi and Mongolia and the victory of the Yunnan-Guizhou pacification campaign commanded by Zhu Ba, the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, in the seventh and eighth years of the Tianli period, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom now controlled the entire China except Shaanxi, Gansu, the plateau, and the Western Regions.

In order to more effectively govern such a large area and such a large population, Luo Yaoguo held a government work meeting every spring starting from the ninth year of the Tianli calendar, so that local governments could report on their achievements in the previous year and discuss the work priorities for the new year. Of course, it was also necessary to coordinate between provinces and between the central and local governments.

The first person to report was the Governor-General of Zhili, Zuo Zongtang. He slowly unfolded the yellow silk report of Northern Zhili Province and said in Hunan Mandarin: "Northern Zhili Province has newly reclaimed 1.2 million mu of wasteland this year, and the cotton production has increased by 30% compared with last year. Tianjin Weaving Factory has newly established eight spinning workshops and four weaving workshops, and the cotton cloth production has increased."

"Old Zuo, you are so ashamed to be the first to talk about this achievement?" Qin Rigang, the newly appointed King of Yan, laughed and slapped the account books of the three northeastern provinces. "Last year, three million mu of black land was newly reclaimed outside the Great Wall! The sorghum and soybeans were piled up so high that the granary doors could not be closed!"

Not to be outdone, Shi Dakai's father-in-law Huang Yukun showed the accounts of Guangdong and Guangxi: "Guangdong added 15 sugar factories last year, and Guangxi's tung oil production was

"Hahaha, it's our turn now!" Yunnan-Guizhou Governor Zhu Ba stood up with a smile and clasped his fists towards Luo Yaoguo, "Prime Minister, I have fulfilled my mission. In Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, we have beheaded 30,000 people and captured 70,000 people! The chieftains in Dali City will recite the True Covenant sooner or later!"

Amid the laughter of the whole room, the speaker of the National People's Congress, Hong Xuanjiao, used a small wooden hammer to knock on the sandalwood tabletop, making a crisp sound: "If you ask me, the most gratifying thing is the number of registered residents counted by the Ministry of Household Affairs - it has exceeded 400 million!"

When Luo Yaoguo heard the number "400 million", he looked up at the huge "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Map" on the wall and tapped his knuckles on the table. He knew these numbers by heart - Sichuan had an additional population of more than 600,000, Huguang had more than 1 million, and even Yunnan and Guizhou, where the war had just ended, had an additional population of 200,000 or 300,000. Adding up all over the country, the population increased by several million last year! At this rate, within five years, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would have an increase in population equivalent to the total population of France.

Moreover, according to Luo Yaoguo's estimation, the population growth rate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will remain high for a considerable period of time in the future!
This is the “equal land distribution bonus”!
Because "equal distribution of land" allowed people who would have starved to death to have food to eat, and also allowed men who would have been unable to find wives to get married. Of course, it also allowed babies who would have been drowned to survive.
"Food." Luo Yaoguo suddenly spoke up, and the laughter in the room stopped abruptly. "What was the average yield per mu in each province last year?"

Cheng Fupei's Nanzhili account book was flipping through the pages loudly: "Three and a half shi of top-quality paddy fields, and one and a half shi of dry land"

"That's the number during the Qianlong period, right?" Luo Yaoguo said solemnly. "If there is enough food for 300 million people, will it be enough for 400 million people? 400 million people will be enough. What about 500 million, 600 million, and 700 million people? Ladies and gentlemen, every dynasty has considered population growth a good thing, because when they founded their country, they experienced a turbulent time when the population was reduced by half or more. When the country was founded, there were at most tens of millions of mouths in the country, so it would be okay if it increased several times. But our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had 400 million people when it was founded. If it increased fourfold, it would be 200 million, and if it increased threefold, it would be 160 million! But how much land can we cultivate in the country? Is it enough for one mu per capita?"

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became solemn.

Most of the entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Heaven were born as farmers. They knew very well how many kilograms of grain could be produced from an acre of land. They also knew that an important reason for the chaos in the world was that there were too many people and too little land!
Feng Yunshan frowned and said, "How about imports? Last year's Annam rice."

"How much surplus grain does Annan have?" Zhejiang Governor Wang Kuiyi smiled bitterly, "In the past two years, people in Guangnan and Annan have been starving to death every year!"

Wei Changhui said with a smile: "Why not try Southeast Asia? The rice from the Javanese paradise."

"Wei Juncai has established a firm foothold," Hubei Governor Xiao Chaofu shook his head, "We can't plunder too much. Besides, Java Island is so small, how much food can it produce? The deserted island south of Java is quite large."

Are you interested in Australia too? Luo Yaoguo glanced at Xiao Chaogui's brother and thought, "Oceania is great. Not only is it vast, it also has abundant iron and coal mines, and a small population. It is the new world prepared by Heavenly Father God for the Chinese, but it was snatched away by the hateful white people! But right now, the British Empire is not something the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can deal with."

"How about India?" Luo Yaoguo did not mention Australia, so he had to turn the topic to India. "Bangladesh is rich in rice, and northwest India is rich in wheat!"

"But India just finished a war." Hunan Governor Zeng Yuzhen just opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Anhui Governor Zhu Jiutao's sneer: "Didn't the King of Wings help us fight? It's not too much for us to occupy a piece of land in India to grow rice!"

"Ahem." Luo Yaoguo quickly interrupted this important official of the Heavenly Kingdom who was a former Tiandihui boss, "My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain are allies!"

Maria smiled and interrupted, "We can buy rice from India. We can speed up the colonization of Southeast Asia while buying rice from India to make up for the domestic shortage. At the same time, we can see if we can export more people to the New World. Don't just focus on North America, South America is also a good choice."

Luo Yaoguo nodded. He couldn't think of a better way. This was the only way!
When it got dark, only Luo Yaoguo's core team was left in the meeting room. Senior advisor Nathaniel Rothschild smoked a cigar while making a suggestion: "Jacob Sassoon is willing to be our comprador, on the condition that the Shanghai Stock Exchange writes off his bad debt of 800,000 taels." "Let him dream!" HSBC General Manager Wu Chaoyue shook his head like a rattle, "Does he want the exchange to take the loss for him?"

Zhao Wenlie, the chief advisor of the Prime Minister's Office, opened a secret report sent by Shi Dakai: "India is now full of starving people, and hundreds of thousands of people starve to death every year."

Nathaniel shook his head: "But India is still exporting a lot of food - this shows that the domestic food prices in India are relatively low and exports are profitable. In addition, growing cotton in India is more profitable! So Indian landlords prefer to grow cotton and export food. Hundreds of thousands of people starve to death every year just because the poor in India have no money to eat. The free economy is so cruel."

"Actually, there is another way!" In the corner, Weng Tonghe, a graduate student from the Department of Psychic Power (Department of Chemistry) of Taiping University, suddenly cleared his throat.

This historical “top scholar” chose the science department of psychic energy after he was admitted to Taiping University—he couldn’t choose the liberal arts department! His liberal arts were at the top scholar level, so what else could he study? There was nothing else to study, so he had to study chemistry, and studied it all the way to graduate school.

However, Luo Yaoguo also knew that he was obsessed with power, so he did not delay his career as an official. He appointed him as a secretary in the Prime Minister's Office at an early stage - and gave him a rank of fourth grade.

"Mr. Benny Laws is currently extracting superphosphate from steel mill slag, ammonium sulfate from coking plant waste, and ammonium nitrate from Indian saltpeter."

"The Saltpeter War." Luo Yaoguo suddenly interrupted Weng Tonghe.

"Prime Minister, what war are you talking about?" Navy Minister Wang Yan became excited when he heard the word war.

Luo Yaoguo suddenly laughed: "Wang Yan, the Navy Department can start imitating the Glory-class ironclad ship in three years. I need the Glory-class to gain control of the sea along the Pacific coast of South America!"

"South, South America?" Maria was stunned. "Your Highness, what is on the Pacific coast of South America?"

"There's saltpeter, guano, and rubber!"

The morning fog in London had not yet dissipated, and Moore's carriage had already stopped at the East India Dock. Sir Bonham's calfskin shoes stepped on the wet pier, leaving a series of clear footprints.

"Karl, you'd never guess," Bonham pointed at the wooden cruise ship with black smoke billowing out in the distance, "The steam engine of the Oriental Queen is the latest product from Glasgow. It only takes twenty-three to cross the Indian Ocean."

"I'm only concerned about North Korea's need for mining equipment in its coal mines." Moore tightened the collar of his tweed coat and glanced at the piles of mechanical parts on the deck. "Also, those Bessemer converters."

"Don't worry, they are all loaded in the bottom cabin!" Wen Xian patted his shoulder and suddenly lowered his voice, "By the way, Shi Dakai, the 'Sword of the True Covenant' of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, is in Calcutta, and his 20,000 troops are heading to Java in batches." He blinked, "With the speed of the Oriental Queen, we may be able to meet this legendary general."

Friedrich was directing the coolies to move his and Moore's precious typewriter. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Then we must hurry up - I heard that General Shi is the world's first-class general. I am looking forward to meeting him."

Bai Siwen waved goodbye to his two sons and shouted in Chinese: "You must study hard, otherwise His Royal Highness will not recommend you to go to Oxford or Cambridge!"

As the whistle blew, Moore took a last look at the Tower of London in the fog. As the cruise ship slowly left the shore, Bonham shouted something on the dock and pointed to the Thames. Friedrich leaned against the railing and turned to the direction Bonham pointed: "Look!"

A three-masted sailing ship flying the flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was sailing into the Thames Estuary, and the deck was piled with wooden boxes marked "Jingdezhen". Bai Siwen raised his telescope to take a look and muttered in a low voice: "Is it Jingdezhen's blue and white bone porcelain? Hehe, Jingdezhen is going to compete with Royal Doulton for food."

Moore nodded: "Once China achieves industrialization, many Chinese products will come to compete with European capitalists for the market. By then, a new era will have arrived!"

(End of this chapter)