The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

To be honest, Chen Huai'an was taken aback for a moment when he heard the question, then he laughed.

Li Shimin, his face dark, asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"It's nothing, I just thought of some happy things," Chen Huai'an said, suppressing a laugh.

In the past, Li Shimin always blamed him for not telling him sooner when he had a solution, but now Li Shimin has learned to be smart and knows to ask in advance.

Li Shimin knew perfectly well what Chen Huai'an was thinking, and his gaze grew increasingly hostile.

Chen Huai'an cleared his throat: "I think you should have understood this issue long ago. Do you have your own insights?"

When it came to serious matters, Li Shimin was too lazy to care about these trivial things. He pondered, "Land annexation is one of the problems, but it is not the only reason why the dynasty cannot break the curse."

"Looking at the Sui Dynasty, the corruption of the bureaucratic system was also the most serious problem, so I reduced the number of central officials in the court from two thousand to more than six hundred."

"At the same time, based on the topography of mountains and rivers, the country was divided into ten circuits, including Guannei and Henan, as supervisory regions. Ambassadors were dispatched periodically to inspect these regions, assess officials' performance, investigate corruption and illegal activities, and further improve the official performance evaluation system. Using the 'Four Virtues and Twenty-Seven Excellences' as standards, integrity, agricultural promotion, and population growth were considered the performance criteria for local officials, directly impacting their promotion and dismissal."

"Furthermore, I am relatively lenient in revising laws concerning ordinary people, but my requirements for laws concerning officials are quite harsh."

"It's to restrain officials."

He paused, then continued eloquently, "Furthermore, we strictly implemented the equal-field system, conducted household registration checks, reduced taxes and corvée labor, and encouraged agriculture and sericulture..."

Chen Huai'an listened quietly without interrupting.

After listening, he suddenly realized a problem.

Li Shimin was a firsthand witness to the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and even today, 90% of officials come from that chaotic era.

This group of people shared a striking similarity: they deeply understood the lesson of the Sui Dynasty's swift demise.

Based on this, many policies of the Tang Dynasty were basically established by learning from the lessons of the Sui Dynasty's demise.

They are doing almost everything they can to restore people's livelihoods and reclaim wasteland.

Of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing this right now, but they haven't realized the dangers involved.

After Li Shimin finished speaking, he turned his head and asked, "I have implemented many of these things, but there are still some that I haven't had time to implement."

"In your opinion, is there a problem with this?"

"What if I said yes?" Chen Huai'an countered.

Li Shimin stopped, showing no anger or dissatisfaction, and solemnly said, "Please teach me, sir!"

Chen Huai'an was somewhat surprised, then smiled. Li Shimin was indeed that kind of person.

She is someone who can admit her mistakes and correct them, not the kind of person who knows she is wrong but insists on saving face and says she is right.

He thought for a moment and said, "Most of what you just said is correct. Implementing the equal-field system, checking the household registration, reducing taxes and corvée labor, encouraging agriculture and sericulture, and revising the laws are all correct."

"You just haven't discovered the fundamental problem. All your experience comes from the Sui Dynasty."

"That's why I said before that relying solely on agriculture is far too fragile. Once the people can't survive, the dynasty will inevitably collapse. You didn't refute me because you already realized this problem in your heart."

Chen Huai'an said unhurriedly, "The Sui Dynasty was originally wealthy and powerful, but due to the heavy corvée labor, frequent wars, and natural disasters, a large number of self-cultivating farmers went bankrupt and fled, eventually leading to chaos in the country."

"This made you deeply understand the principle that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it."

"But I want to ask a question: have you ever considered the differences between the Tang Dynasty today and the Sui Dynasty at its peak?"

Li Shimin replied without hesitation, "The population has decreased from nine million households to two million, leaving behind only unclaimed wasteland!"

"Yes, that's why you've been working hard to improve people's livelihoods and increase the population, hoping to restore the country to its former glory during the Sui Dynasty. You've even gone so far as to encourage widows to remarry," Chen Huai'an said.

"If your only goal is to learn from the Sui Dynasty's experience and avoid dying after only two generations, then you have already succeeded."

"But if you want to break the three-hundred-year curse, then you will undoubtedly fail, because you are not even aware of the fundamental problem."

"What's the problem?" Li Shimin frowned, puzzled.

Chen Huai'an explained, "You know about the land consolidation problem, you know about bureaucratic corruption, you are already well aware of the fragile agricultural base, and I don't need to elaborate on the decline of central authority."

"I'll just mention one issue. For example, ten acres of land can support one person. Under the current equal land distribution system, one hundred acres of land can easily support a family."

"But if the population continues to grow, from the current two million households to nine million households, or even more than nine million, reaching ten million or fifteen million households, will the equal-field system still have that much land to distribute?"

"Even if there's enough land, it takes ten acres to feed one person. So how much land would be needed to feed ten million households, or about seventy million people?"

"If the population continues to grow, will there still be land left in the land? Will the land that exists be able to support so many people?"

"..."

"Wait, wait!"

Li Shimin found it hard to believe and raised his hand to stop Chen Huai'an from continuing, saying, "Let me think about it, let me think about it!"

He closed his eyes, his mind racing.

Chen Huai'an was in no hurry and waited quietly. The two little ones, Li Tai and Li Lizhi, looked at each other, not daring to say a word.

Li Junxian waved his hand, and the imperial guards he brought quickly guarded the surrounding area, preventing anyone from getting close.

After a while, Li Shimin opened his eyes, his whole body covered in goosebumps. He realized a horrifying problem.

"You mean... there's a limit to how much land can withstand?"

Even if you continue to implement work relief and free some people from their dependence on the land, they cannot stop eating food. Food still needs to come from the land; that is the foundation of everything.

"The more prosperous our Tang Dynasty becomes, the larger our population grows, and the greater the pressure on the land. One day, we will collapse because the existing land cannot support too many people?"

Chen Huai'an smiled and said, "The demise of the Western Han Dynasty can be attributed to this very reason!"

"You might want to think carefully about what the most famous saying was from the late Western Han Dynasty."

Chen Huai'an's words struck Li Shimin's mind like a thunderbolt.

He already knew Chen Huai'an very well and knew that this man could never speak clearly and would always try to hint at things, even in death.

Now he's using the Western Han Dynasty as an analogy, what's his reasoning?

What do the Western Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty have in common?

Li Shimin twitched the corner of his mouth: "The Qin Dynasty perished after only two generations. The Western Han Dynasty was established on the foundation laid by the Qin Dynasty's collapse. Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, implemented policies of recuperation and light taxes."

"At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the rich owned vast tracts of land, while the poor had nowhere to stand!"

"..."