In the 400 years of Hanxing, the population reached 50 or 60 million, and it never grew again, why? The various theories of later generations quoted scriptures and classics, and they were all over the place, and the head was the Tao.

Liu Bei actually didn't know. But Liu Bei knew that if he wanted the regime to develop steadily and maintain its vitality for a long time. Then vigorously develop agricultural production to ensure that the people of the world do not go hungry, that is indispensable!

The food issue, to put it closer, is related to whether he can dominate the world. In the long run, it is about whether the regime he will establish in the future will be stable or not.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the population suddenly increased from a few million to 60 million at its peak, and the liberation of agricultural productivity should have made great contributions. Population growth goes hand in hand with the development of agriculture. China has always been a small land and a large number of people. Throughout the 2,000-year history of China's agricultural development, it is nothing more than the following two points: on the one hand, the area of cultivated land is expanded, and on the other hand, the way of intensive cultivation and increasing the output per unit area is adopted. That is to say, the growth of quantity and the improvement of quality.

The distribution of population, cultivated land and agricultural development in the Han Dynasty was very uneven. According to the records of the Book of Han - Geographical Chronicles and the Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Records of the Counties and Counties, among the prefectures under the heavens, the five prefectures of Sili and Xiaowei and Henan, Hebei, Yan, Qing and Xu only account for about one-eighth of the country's area, while the population accounts for more than 60 percent. How many people are here? Cui Wei's "Political Commentary" said: "Today's Qing, Xu, Yan, and Hebei are densely populated and narrow, and they are not enough to confess. "In these places, where there are many people and little land, they can only take the road of intensive cultivation to feed the people. As for other places, there are good and bad fields, abundant and bad years, and the inconsistency of farming techniques, so grain production is not stable at all. More and less time. Sometimes, in years of great droughts and floods, the people have to become homeless people, begging for their lives.

After more than ten years of chaos in the world, people have been displaced and a large amount of wasteland has also been created. Liu Bei was born in Qing and Xu Erzhou, so he ordered officials from all over the country to carry out large-scale reclamation under his rule. to expand the planting area. At the same time, he also asked Gongcao to discuss with the officials in charge of agriculture the tools needed to transform agricultural production.

Liu Bei's emphasis on agriculture still played a great role. Otherwise, what will be used to support him in the war year after year. It's just that this is just the case, Liu Bei still feels that it is far from enough.

So, he gathered a lot of people and held a meeting on agricultural production. At the meeting, Liu Bei demanded that while expanding the area of cultivated land as much as possible, care should also be taken not to excessively destroy forests, lakes and grasslands. It should be supplemented by the necessary soil and water conservation work according to the specific environment. In later generations, environmental protection has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Liu Bei naturally knows that the large-scale destruction of vegetation is very likely to bring about a series of problems such as climate change, soil erosion, and ecological environment imbalance, which will lead to a decline in land fertility and frequent natural disasters, which will bring disastrous consequences to agricultural production and people's lives.

He was afraid that the ministers would not take it seriously, so he emphasized in a loud voice that he would send the imperial history to supervise all places, and if anyone dared to come nonsense, he would be severely punished!

At the same time, he asked Gong Cao, together with Captain Si Jin and Da Si Nong, to go deep into the people, think about what the people think, be anxious about what the people are anxious about, and provide better technical support for their agricultural production.

He said to Xun Yu again: "Wen Ruo, remember to send a message to summon the Wuhuan leaders such as Kudun, Lou Ban and so on to come to the Lamb, I have something to discuss with him." After Xun Yu wrote it down, Liu Bei asked Dasi Nong not only to focus on grain planting, but to take a long-term view, and pay attention to gathering, fishing and hunting, animal husbandry, forestry and other work. Animal husbandry, in particular, can greatly improve the diet of the common people when done well. It can make the variety of food more diverse and promote the improvement of people's living standards. In the Han Dynasty, peasants often had only a few festivals a year to eat meat, and grain became the only staple food, and if they ate wheat and rice every day, the problem of food shortage would be more prominent.

Of course, Liu Bei also knew that under the current small-scale peasant economy, there was a reason why the people and the imperial court could only vigorously develop the planting industry. Because animal husbandry, especially the breeding of cattle and horses, the production cycle is relatively long, generally more than one year, and is only suitable for large-scale operations, where can ordinary people have the ability to do this; In addition, there are many people and little land, and the land utilization rate is very high under intensive cultivation, and there is no place to develop pastures; In the end, because the productivity of agricultural labor is not high, many times the rations for eating by themselves cannot be solved, where is there still the ability to engage in breeding, and it is difficult to raise a pig and raise some chickens and ducks; Capable large landowners, in turn, preferred to disperse their land to tenant farmers for cultivation and rarely engaged in large-scale animal husbandry operations. All of the above is the reason why animal husbandry has not developed for hundreds of years in the Han Dynasty.

But Liu Bei already has a solution. Now, who has the most land in their hands? is undoubtedly the biggest landlord of the year. He naturally has the ability and strength to engage in large-scale animal husbandry. As long as he succeeds, I believe that the big landlords in the world will naturally follow suit. Fools will know that raising cattle and horses is much more profitable than farming. Cattle and horses can be sold directly to the imperial court, and they are not afraid that no one will want them. And how much grain can you get from planting a field for a year?

Liu Bei believed that after the scale of cattle and horse breeding was expanded and the imperial court no longer lacked cattle and horses, cattle farming would be popularized in the world, and there would no longer be the phenomenon of manpower farming. At that time, he will also repeal some laws according to the situation, such as prohibiting the slaughter of cattle and horses. At that time, beef can be brought into thousands of households and served to the people's tables in a grand manner.

The meeting, which lasted for a whole day, determined the important position of agriculture in the group and pointed out the direction of future agricultural development. Liu Bei believes that with his attention, the local officials below will naturally pay attention to it. It doesn't matter if they do it for their political achievements or anything, as long as they can attach importance to agriculture, as long as they can bring real benefits to the people under their rule, as long as they can really promote the development of agriculture under their rule. Liu Bei felt that such an official already met the criteria for promotion.

Regarding what happened in Jingzhou, Liu Bei already knew everything through Guan Hai. It's just that he is really powerless. There were too many opponents, and he had no way to deal with Yuan Shao and start a war with Cao Cao and Sun Jian at the same time. So I could only watch unwillingly as the Cao and Sun families carved up Jingzhou.

Liu Bei also knew that in the future, the north would also involve most of his energy. Cao Cao has Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and others to help, but I am afraid that he has already set his sights on the rich land of Yizhou. This is simply a remake of "Longzhong Pair". Zhuge Liang can see it, and others can naturally see it. As soon as Cao Cao entered Shu, this matter became tricky.