"The words of the secretaries are conclusive, and the opinions they state are also in line with the world's principles, and I will seriously consider them, and then discuss the decision with the Privy Council." Luo Zhaoyun didn't say it to death, he used to trust Xu Shiji very much, because history has long been decided, and there is a good record of Xu Shiji's military ability.

However, the current situation is like this, what these courtiers said is also reasonable, Xu Shiji's experience, experience, background, etc., are not enough to convince the public, if as the emperor, he insists on going his own way, then it is easy to give people the impression of rigidity, even if Xu Shiji wins, this impression is not easy to get rid of.

Once Xu Shiji receives some setbacks in the army, then above the court, the opposition will be even more noisy, which will affect the court's use of troops in the south.

As an emperor, you can't feel that you are smart enough to ignore everyone's opinions and suggestions, even if you insist on being right, you need to reach a consensus with the courtiers, or form a unity of opinion with a few important ministers.

Otherwise, in the long run, all the courtiers will feel that His Majesty will not listen to the advice, will not actively advise, and will not communicate frankly, and it will be easy to form a lonely family and not be able to hear the real voice, which will also destroy the political ecology.

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

Whether it is the official of the Imperial Historical Tower, or the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, the servant of the three provinces, six ministries and nine secretaries, seeing that His Majesty can listen to the remarks in time, he will seriously consider them with the Privy Council, and they all feel that the words are effective and have done a good thing for the imperial court.

Next, Luo Zhaoyun asked about the water superintendent, which is the water conservancy department, which involves the restoration of the canal and major water systems.

The Metropolitan Water Superintendent replied earnestly that he was already studying the restoration of the old channel of the Yellow River, how to avoid the water level from soaring caused by the confluence of major river systems with the Yellow River, rushing out of the new channel, flooding farms, and so on.

How is the "Great Suo Maung Reading of the Ministry of Households", and how many people are in the area under the jurisdiction of the imperial court? Luo Zhaoyun suddenly asked about the population.

In an agrarian society, land and population were the necessary factors for the development of the imperial court, and the most important thing was related to taxation, conscription, conscription, etc., which was the foundation and had to be paid attention to.

Gao Shilian, the secretary of the household department and the Tongping chapter of the political affairs hall, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, with Guanzhong, Jiangbei, Jinzhou, Youzhou, Hebei, Qilu, Luoyang, Northwest, eight regions, the census of household registration and population, in addition to the south of the Yangtze River, the current population is 12 million people, south of the Yangtze River, is Xiao Liang, Du Fuwei, Li Zitong and other occupied areas, plus Lingnan, Minyue, it is estimated that there are 3 million people, so estimated, the national population, only 15 million. ”

"So little." The ministers of the DPRK and the Central People's Republic of China all gasped, feeling that the gap between the population figures and the Great Cause years was too great.

At the beginning of the great cause of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, there was a census of the population, and the population of the Great Sui was as much as 46 million at that time.

Luo Zhaoyun also seems to feel the gap in population, a few days ago he looked at the total amount of population, household registration, grain, and treasury in the Great Sui period, and remembered this number, and the population reported by Gao Shilian today is more than 15 million, which is 30 million fewer than in the Great Cause period.

"How can there be so many fewer people? Could it be a statistical error? ”

"That's right, although the world is in chaos, there will be no shortage of so many people."

Some officials began to talk and exchange questions, expressing doubts about the census data.

"Evil, this is the crime of Emperor Yang of Sui, it is difficult to write, with a population of 30 million, it is gone." The scholar of the Hanlin Academy, Du Yan, cried loudly, with compassion, and led many officials to accuse the tyranny of the previous dynasty.

This Du Yan has a wide range of knowledge and a good reputation when he was young, but he is not big-minded and sometimes easy to take shortcuts.

Two years ago, Wang Shichong claimed the title of emperor, established Zheng Guo, appointed Du Yan as the secretary of the ministry, and trusted him very much. But at that time, Du Yan had a bad relationship with his nephew Du Ruhui, so he slandered in front of Wang Shichong and put small shoes on Du Ruhui's brothers, causing Du Ruhui's brother to be killed, and Du Ruhui left Luoyang in embarrassment.

Although the two are now both Dahua officials, Du Ruhui is obviously more affected by Luo Zhaoyun's lifting, this Du Yan is only as a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and has no real power.

Some officials from Confucianism were also crying, looking distressed, and scolded the cruelty of Emperor Yang of the previous dynasty, which made the people miserable, and the people could not survive, so that the population withered and plummeted.

Luo Zhaoyun did not believe that the population would really be as much as 30 million, when he read history, he vaguely remembered the historical materials of the sharp decline in population during the Sui and Tang dynasties, in the early years of Wude in the Tang Dynasty, the national census population was almost the same number, fifteen million, but historians analyzed a lot of reasons.

Because of the chaos in the world at the end of the Sui Dynasty, many people died, but the number of people who died in the war was actually very limited, and more people died not on the battlefield, but because of the side damage caused by the war - the destruction of agriculture.

At that time, the war was incessant, the strong men were caught, self-mutilated, and fled into the mountains and forests, the cultivated land was deserted, and the number of people dying of starvation was dozens of times that of the soldiers and volunteers who died in the war.

But even so, the population at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty would not have plummeted to such a huge extent, and the main reason for the sharp decline in population at that time was due to the concealment of household registration and incomplete statistics in various places. Because during the war, the peasants were displaced, destroying the original household registration system; Many people have joined the wealthy clans, when the northern world has stabilized, many peasants have taken refuge in the wealthy, become slaves or tenants, no household registration, many original villages, ten nine empty, and then want to accurately count the population is very difficult.

Luo Zhaoyun figured out this, and his heart was like a mirror, and he said: "I feel that the population has decreased sharply because of the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, but it will never reach this level. ”

"After the implementation of the provincial, state and county system, the new policy will be implemented, and a detailed census will be conducted again. In addition, local prefectures and counties should put up notices to let the wealthy families in all localities liberalize the freedom of slaves and tenant farmers, and those who remain must be registered, stipulate the number and upper limit of employment in different family properties, and strictly investigate and punish those who dare to secretly hide people, sell them, and enslave them. When all the people return to the locality, they will be allocated land and agricultural tools, etc., and they will be registered in the household register, so that local production can be resumed as soon as possible! ”

When the ministers heard His Majesty's remarks, they immediately felt a lot of awakening, things didn't seem to be as simple as they seemed to be on the surface, and even Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and other practical talents all admired Luo Zhaoyun's temporary analysis and response ability. They are ashamed of their ability to pinpoint the disadvantages of the times in a short period of time and point out the key points with a sharp point in their political insight and understanding.