Summer Palace.

Li Shimin listened to Li Zhong's report on the potato planting with relish.

"So, the potatoes grown by various methods look pretty good?"

As a qualified emperor, Li Shimin's attention to grain output is very, very high.

In fact, even in later generations, leaders are very concerned about food issues.

After all, food is the foundation of everything. If this foundation is unstable, then the trouble will be great.

Imagine the scene of buying isatis root and salt back then. If it happened to buying food, wouldn’t it be messy?

"Yes, potatoes grow very well. No matter which planting method is used or where the land is planted, the growth is very good at present. Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that the yield of a thousand kilograms per mu by His Highness the King of Chu is likely to be really possible."

Although Li Zhong always thinks that the thing of a 1,000 pounds per mu is really exaggerated.

But this was said by Li Kuan. Now the fleet has worked hard to retrieve the potatoes from South America and has been sown smoothly. Then the credibility of Li Kuan's words is very high.

"If the yield of potatoes really exceeds a thousand kilograms, then the food problem of the people of the Tang Dynasty will be really solved; after the population reached a certain level in the past dynasties, various problems will arise. In the final analysis, it is because there is insufficient land and insufficient food, so a series of problems arise.

The people of the Tang Dynasty were actually very simple. As long as they were not hungry, they could live a good life. Even if they were wronged, they would not easily risk losing their heads and rebel.

The most important thing is that the tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty has been increasing in recent years, but the land tax paid by the farmers has not increased by a penny. This is simply a miracle. I feel that the completely unrealistic proposal of exempting the land tax from farmers in the future will actually have hope of realization."

Since ancient times, agricultural tax has been the main source of tax revenue for various dynasties.

Whether it is taxes charged on the head, taxes charged on the land, or other messy taxes.

In short, the tax revenue of the feudal dynasty was mainly obtained from peasants.

If the Tang Dynasty could change this law that has been passed down for thousands of years, it would definitely be a matter worthy of historical books.

Before this, Li Shimin didn't dare to think about such a thing.

However, in recent years, he has been full of expectations for this matter.

Can you achieve this goal in your lifetime?

Even if it cannot be achieved, reducing the tax burden of farmers is a very great achievement, right?

"Your Majesty, the development of various parts of the Tang Dynasty has been very smooth in recent years, and there is no particularly great disaster. His Highness, the King of Chu, took the lead in bringing back a large amount of wealth to the Tang Dynasty from overseas, so that the court would no longer have financial pressure. He could even build multiple cement roads at the same time, so that the roads north of the Huai River can all be the same, and that the circulation of goods in various places will become convenient at once.

When the cement roads leading to Zhenbei Road are also built, and with the cultivation of potatoes, the vast grassland will become the real pasture of the Tang Dynasty, and from then on, the problem of the Hu people plaguing the Central Plains dynasty will be fundamentally solved."

Li Zhong was talking in a nagging manner.

As he grew older, he spoke more in front of Li Shimin.

If it were ten years ago, he would have basically stopped talking without saying anything, and would have finished things with one sentence, but he would not have used two sentences.

Basically, when Li Shimin chatted with him, he talked more unilaterally and did not get any feedback.

Now it is like a kind of communication between friends.

"Well, the matter about Zhenbei Road has been arguing for so long, and it is time to officially announce it! However, at this time, I felt the shortage of manpower. I heard from the Ministry of Revenue before that many people have been added every year, but on the vast Zhenbei Road and Liaodong Road, those people are like scattering pepper, which is not enough to see."

The shortage of manpower is already an obvious problem when the Tang Dynasty wants to develop.

However, the increase in population cannot be achieved in one day.

Even the current birth rate of the Tang Dynasty is already very high, and the overall population has not exceeded 100 million, and it is even a relatively large distance from this small goal.

There is no way. These days, people have a relatively short life span. Even if they can live to fifty years old, they will be considered a long life.

There are really not many ordinary people who live past sixty years old.

As for the age of seventy...

If everyone's life is so long, there would be no saying that "life is rare in seventy years."

It’s not like later generations, they are always in their eighties and nineties. If they hadn’t controlled the birth of the population, the population would have probably exceeded 2 billion.

"Your Majesty, I have a suggestion, I don't know if I should say it."

When Li Zhong saw that Li Shimin was worried about the population, he couldn't help but come up with an idea.

But if this kind of thing is placed at the court level, it seems a bit inappropriate.

"What suggestions? Just say it, just like a little lady, this is not your Li Zhong's style."

Li Shimin glared at Li Zhong with dissatisfaction.

"Last year, there was a Tianzhu businessman named Hamedi in the western city. He cooperated with the Chu Prince's Mansion to do a big event. According to the situation learned from his subordinates' investigation, after Hamedi joined forces with the Chu Prince's Mansion, he is now about to defeat the sugar industry in Tianzhu. Through this cooperation, his subordinates have a new understanding of Tianzhu.

There, the population living there is no smaller than that of our Tang Dynasty, but these people seem to have no combat effectiveness. Any team of people can deal with them.

Your Majesty must have heard of some things that the Chunyu family in Dengzhou did. They transported a lot of people from Japan, Silla, Baekje and other countries to Chang'an City for sale, and were very popular with shopkeepers of various workshops.

However, after years of plunder, the number of slaves transported to Chang'an City by the Chunyu family every year has begun to decline. Japan and other places have also begun to strengthen controls in this regard. As a substitute, I think the Chunyu family can focus on India in the future.

At that time, the Donghai Fisheries Dengzhou Shipbuilding Workshop will specially make a batch of sea ships for the Chunyu family to transport slaves. As long as you go out to sea, you can transport tens of thousands of people back. If there are several such sea ships every month, it will definitely greatly alleviate the population pressure of our Tang Dynasty.

After all, these people are strong laborers and can go to the fields to help with their work. At that time, each of the farmers who go to Zhenbei Road will be equipped with two slaves for each of the court, which will definitely attract many people to go there."

Guanzhong Road is now in short supply. Even if you immigrate to Zhenbei Road, Li Zhong felt that it was impossible for everyone to plant potatoes, as it would not be possible to plant much area.

At this time, all kinds of slaves are naturally needed to help.

The family has two, which is just a gift from the court. In fact, if you want to increase the scale of the ranch and potato middle finger, each family has a place to use it even if there are twenty slaves.

If those Indians came to Zhenbei Road, they would not be afraid of their escape if they were not familiar with the place.

Besides, although Datang brought them to work, he still had enough food and would not deliberately beat them.

At that time, we will cooperate with the publicity of schools established by the Ministry of Education in various places. When the next generation of these slaves grows up, we will gradually forget that we are a native of India.

"Li Zhong, if you throw your idea out at the court meeting, you probably will definitely jump. However, I think it's a bit feasible. However, India is too far from the Tang Dynasty, so why not consider the people in Nanyang?"

Li Shimin is not a pedantic person. As long as it is a thing that is conducive to the development of the Tang Dynasty, even if the means are not so bright, he doesn't mind.

"The people of South China are naturally OK, but in recent years, the development of Puluo Zhongcheng has attracted a large number of people of South China, and their potential has been almost discovered. If you continue to bring them to Zhenbei Road, the effect may be far less suitable than that of the people of the Indians.

Your Majesty, there are tens of millions of people in that Tianzhu. Even if we just bring a million people back, Zhenbeidao can become a prosperous new palace in the Tang Dynasty, make the grassland a pasture for the Tang Dynasty, and solve the threats of future generations."

After Li Zhong said this, he turned to look at Li Zhi who was sitting in the corner learning to handle government affairs.

It was Li Zhong's last sentence that made Li Shimin decide to adopt this suggestion.

In Li Shimin's view, with Li Zhi's weak personality, if he had to face the harassment of the Hu people on the grassland, he really didn't know if Li Zhi could do it.

Instead of doing this, it is better to completely solve this problem when you are in your own hands.

"The Chunyu family is used to this industry. Since you think that Tianzhu has great potential, let the Chunyu family focus on Tianzhu. In addition, I remember that Northwest Trade also raised a group of people in Liangzhou to capture slaves on the grassland. Since the focus is now shifted to Tianzhu, then these experienced people should not be wasted. Let them also arrange a group of people to go to Tianzhu to see if they can get a group of servants back to the Tang Dynasty as soon as possible.

Of course, we are not suitable to reward these servants directly to immigrant people at that time, but we can give them some subsidies to immigrant people and then use these subsidies to buy these slaves.

In short, we not only want to dispel the people's concerns about going to Zhenbei Road, but also make them look forward to going to Zhenbei Road."

With Li Shimin's decision, the route from the Tang Dynasty to Tianzhu will be destined to become busy in the future.

After seeing the profits brought by selling slaves, I believe that those nobles in Chang'an City will definitely be moved.

If a civil servant is concerned about face, he wants to do something, and then set up a archway, so he may not be involved directly.

But those generals are different. As long as they see the profits and the support attitude of the court, they will definitely rush to India.

This is almost a business without any money, why not?

"Well, I will make arrangements right away! I believe that within this year, the first batch of slaves from India will appear in Zhenbei Road."

...

Wuhe was in the middle, and Xu Xiaode, the Minister of Rites, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shopkeeper Wen, this time I heard your persuasion. Otherwise, the "Story of Travel on the Sea" was so popular a few days ago, and if my "Etiquette Story" hit me, I would definitely be bleeding. Then no one would care about it."

Nowadays, the cost of paper has dropped and the cost of printing has also dropped. Many officials and nobles are thinking about Shuli's statement.

As for the down-and-out scholars who make a living by writing books, they are naturally even more keen to find people to help publish books.

Although Xu Xiaode's official position is not very high, his daughter is very favored in the palace, so naturally many people outside want to follow his "beardman" route.

So even though he knew that Xu Xiaode wrote the "Etiquette Story" was very ordinary, Wen Qiming was willing to help him publish it, and even paid for it to print thousands more copies.

"Shilarious Secretary Xu, you are acclaimer! Speaking of which, the release of "Story of the Sea Travel" is actually a contribution to the book market in Chang'an City, allowing more people to go to the bookstore to take a look and buy books that they are basically interested in.

Now that this wave of craze is almost over, our "Etiquette Story" is released again, there is no need to worry about being affected by them, and even attracting more people to buy because of their influence."

How could Wen Qiming dare to be proud of Xu Xiaode?

I am just the shopkeeper of a book shop in Chang'an City.

Although under the promotion of the Chu Palace, the status of merchants in the Tang Dynasty was greatly improved.

But no matter how much you improve, merchants are merchants after all, and it is impossible for them to truly surpass officials in the land of the Tang Dynasty.

"Wait a few more days, I can buy "Sea Travel Story Collection" in various bookstores, and the sales volume will gradually decrease every day. When our "Etiquette Story" is released smoothly, we will not be afraid of encountering any opponents and stealing the limelight from us."

Xu Xiaode still knows what the book he wrote is like.

However, at his age, he is thick-skinned enough that as long as he publishes a book, he will be shameless.

Even if you pay for it yourself, you can consider it.

After all, these costs can be recovered in other ways.

"Well, I think I can go on the market for a week at most. In the past few days, I will arrange some warm-up methods to let everyone experience the style of your masterpiece, Mr. Xu."

There are very outstanding good books in Chang'an City, with only a few books every year.

As long as you don’t encounter popular products like “Story of Travel on the Sea”, Wen Qiming will be confident that Xu Xiaode’s books will be “hot”.

When Xu Xiaode introduces himself to others, he will have one more content.

Xu Hui in the palace can also have more confidence and reasons when she wants to help her father find an official position.

"Okay, then I'll trouble you. I'll follow your arrangements!"

Xu Xiaode had another drink with Wen Qiming with a smile on his face!
Chapter completed!