"The words of all the people are very confident and their opinions are consistent with the world. I will consider them carefully and then discuss resolutions with the Privy Council." Luo Zhaoyun did not say anything. He trusted Xu Shiji very much in the past because history had a conclusion and had a good record of Xu Shiji's military capabilities.

However, the current situation is so the court officials said that Xu Shiji's experience, experience, family background, etc. are not enough to convince the public. If he is an emperor, he will be determined to do so, it will easily give people the impression of being stubborn. Even if Xu Shiji wins, this impression will not be easily expelled.

Once Xu Shiji receives some setbacks in his advance, the opposition voices in the court will become more noisy and will affect the court's use of troops in the south.

As an emperor, you cannot think that you are smart enough to ignore everyone's opinions and suggestions. Even if you insist on it correctly, you need to reach a consensus with the court officials or form a unity of opinions for a few important officials.

Otherwise, if the long term continues, all ministers will feel that His Majesty will not listen to the loyal words, do not actively advise, and do not communicate frankly, and it will easily lead to a lonely person and unable to hear the real voice, which will destroy the political ecology.

"Your Majesty's wise!"

Whether it is the censor of the Censorate, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, or the minister of the three provinces, six ministries and nine ministers, when he saw that His Majesty could listen to his remarks in time, he would seriously consider it with the Privy Council, he felt that the advice was effective and did a good job for the court.

Next, Luo Zhaoyun asked about Du Water Supervision, which is the water conservancy department, which involves the restoration of river engineering in the canal and major water systems.

The Dushui Supervisor carefully answered that he was already studying the restoration of the old Yellow River road, how to avoid the water level surge caused by the confluence of major water systems and the Yellow River, rushing out of the new river channel, flooding the farm, etc.

"The Ministry of Revenue's big search and view" is going on, how is it going? How many people are there in the jurisdiction of the court?" Luo Zhaoyun suddenly asked about the population question.

In a farming society, land and population are necessary factors for the imperial court's development, and the top priority is related to taxes, corvee labor, conscription, etc., which are the foundation and must be paid attention to.

Gao Shilian, the Minister of Revenue and the Tongping Zhang Shi-lian of the Political Affairs Hall, stood up and said: "I will report to Your Majesty, including Guanzhong, Jiangbei, Jinzhou, Youzhou, Hebei, Qilu, Luoyang, northwest, and eight regions, the household registration and population were surveyed. Except for the south of the Yangtze River, the population is currently 12 million. To the south of the Yangtze River, there are areas occupied by Xiaoliang, Du Fuwei, Li Zitong and others. In addition to the land of Lingnan and Minyue, it is estimated that there are three million people. In this way, the population of the country is only 15 million."

"So few." The ministers in the court all took a breath of a cold breath, feeling that the population figures were too big during the Daye period.

In the early days of Emperor Yang of Sui, the population was censused once. At that time, the population of the Sui Dynasty was more than 46 million. According to the practice of previous census, only the real numbers would be counted, because many wild husbands, wealthy slaves, etc. in remote places were not included in the statistics.

Luo Zhaoyun seemed to feel the population gap. A few days ago, he had seen the total population, household registration, grain, and treasury during the Sui Dynasty. He remembered this number. Today, Gao Shilian reported more than 15 million people, which was 30 million less than that during the Daye period.

"How come so many people are missing? Will there be any errors in statistics?"

"That's right, although the world is in chaos, there will be so many people."

Some officials began to discuss and whisper, questioning the data from the census.

"It's a sin. This is the crime of Emperor Yang of Sui. It's so rare that there are 30 million people. It's gone." Du Yan, a senior secretary of the Hanlin Academy, cried loudly, and with compassion, it led many officials to blame the tyranny of the previous dynasty.

Du Yan has extensive knowledge and is well-known when he was young, but he is not very focused and sometimes he is prone to taking shortcuts.

Two years ago, Wang Shichong usurped the emperor, established Zheng State, and appointed Du Yan as the Minister of Personnel, and trusted him very much. However, at that time, Du Yan was not in good shape with his nephew Du Ruhui, so he slandered him in front of Wang Shichong and put on small shoes for Du Ruhui's brothers, causing Du Ruhui's brother to be killed, and Du Ruhui left Luoyang in a mess.

Although the two are now both Dahua officials, Du Ruhui is obviously even more lifted by Luo Zhaoyun. Du Yan is just a member of the Hanlin Academy and has no real power. At this time, when he heard the country's population decline sharply, he took the opportunity to cry loudly, be compassionate and take the lead, and can win the good reputation of "love the people".

Some officials from Confucianism also cried, looking heartbroken, and cursed the cruelty of Emperor Yang of Sui in the previous dynasty, which made the people live in poverty and the people could not survive, which led to the decline of the population and the decline of this sharply.

Luo Zhaoyun did not believe that the population would really be reduced by as much as 30 million. When he read history, he vaguely remembered the historical materials of the sharp decline in the period of the Sui and Tang dynasties. In the early years of Wude in the Tang Dynasty, the national census population was almost the same, just 15 million, but historians analyzed many 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. More people did not die on the battlefield, but died from the side damage caused by the war - the destruction of agriculture.

At that time, wars continued, the strong men were arrested, the self-harm and self-harm, and fled into the mountains and forests, and the cultivated land was abandoned. The number of people who died of hunger was dozens of times that of soldiers and righteous soldiers who died in war.

But even so, the population at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty would not have dropped sharply to such a huge scale. The main reason for the sharp decline at that time was because locals concealed household registration and incomplete statistics. Because during the war, farmers were displaced and destroyed the original household registration system; many people devoted themselves to wealthy families. When the world in the north stabilized, many farmers had already harbored wealthy families and became slaves or tenants, and had no household registration. Many original villages were empty in nine out of ten, and it would be very difficult to accurately count the population.

Luo Zhaoyun understood these things and was already very clear and said, "I feel that the population has dropped sharply due to the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, but it is definitely not to reach this level. This census population, due to the initial establishment of the imperial court and the local administrative agencies have not been fully established, the review of the big search may not be carried out thoroughly. Many villages and villages have not yet fully returned, so the statistics will be very small."

"After the implementation of the provincial and county systems, the new policy will be carried out, and a detailed survey will be conducted. In addition, local prefectures and counties must post notices to allow the local tyrants to let slaves and tenant farmers free their freedom. The servants and servants left behind must be registered, and the number and upper limit of employment for different households must be stipulated. If you dare to hide people privately, sell, and enslave them, you must strictly investigate and punish them. All people will be allocated land and agricultural tools to register, and local production will be restored as soon as possible!"

When the ministers heard His Majesty’s remarks, they suddenly felt that they were quite awakened. Things did not seem to be as simple as the statistics were on the surface. Even the hard-working talents such as Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, and Du Ruhui admired Luo Zhaoyun’s ability to temporarily analyze and respond. They could criticize current problems in a short time and point out the key points in a sharp way. They felt ashamed of such political insights and understanding.
Chapter completed!