: Qi Min

Wuzhong, the back garden of the palace.

Xiang Zhuang held Xiang Zheng with his left hand and Xiang Zhi with his right hand. He was walking by the lotus pond. In the hot summer, the room was as hot as a steamer. Xiang Zhuang couldn't stay there, so he simply brought his son to the lotus pond to cool off. At this time, it had been more than half a month since the Battle of Jiujiang ended and the State of Chu and Huainan.

Xiang Zheng and Xiang Zhi are six months old, chubby, pink and very cute.

Xiang Zhuang did not deliberately keep a distance from his son like the ancients of this era. Xiang Zhuang naturally knew the ancient saying that a filial son was made by sticks. But no matter what, the two little guys were only six months old, and even my father and mother couldn't even shout. Why did Xiang Zhuang pretend to be a strict father?

The two little guys look very different, but their personalities are very different.

Xiang Zhengan snuggled quietly in Xiang Zhuang's arms, but stared at Xiang Zhuang with his black eyes, and he couldn't see enough for a long time. He didn't know what the little guy was observing. However, Xiang Zhi's attention was not on Xiang Zhuang at all. He just waved his little hands like a lotus root, trying desperately to provoke Yang Liu on the roadside.

Behind Xiang Zhuang, Wei Yue, Yu Ji and more than a dozen palace maids were followed.

Looking at the back of Xiang Zhuang holding his beloved son, Wei Yue's pretty face was full of happiness and satisfaction. As a woman, she has the favor of her husband, and now she has two lovely sons. In this way, what else can I expect? Now, Wei Yue only hopes that her two sons can grow up happily.

Of course, Xiang Zhi was nominally the descendant of the former king.

Yu Ji's pretty face was also filled with indescribable loving expressions, but unlike Wei Yue, Yu Ji's eyes fell more on Xiang Zhi. Since Xiang Zhi was adopted by Xiang Yu, no matter whether it was windy, rainy, or even hail, Yu Ji would insist on coming to Wei Yue's bedroom and spend half an hour with Xiang Zhi.

Not far away, Ying Zhen was standing in the attic and looking out silently.

Standing behind the attic guardrail, you can see the path opposite the lotus pond. Looking at Xiang Zhuang embracing Xiang Zheng, Xiang Zhi with a happy and happy look on his face, Ying Zhen couldn't help but sigh quietly. Xiang Zheng and Xiang Zhi were more than six months old. If Ying Zhen could not give birth to another son, she would never be the queen of Chu.

But what can I do? Over the past year, Xiang Zhuang has stayed in her Yingzhen room more than in Wei Yue's room. Even if Wei Yue recovers from her postpartum health, Xiang Zhuang will still choose to stay in Yingzhen's room more often. However, even so, Ying Zhen's belly still has no movement and has not been moved.

Yingzhen knew that she could not wait any longer, she had to find another way.

Suddenly, light footsteps came from behind. Ying Zhen turned around when he heard the sound. Baili Yishui's figure had already slim and gentle on the attic, and he said to Ying Zhenfu, "Yishui has seen his wife."

"Little sister, you are here." Ying Zhen immediately stepped forward and grabbed Baili Yishui's hand affectionately.

Baili Yishui is now a famous man in Wuzhong City. His elder brother Bailixian is deeply trusted by the King of Chu. His second brother Baili Mao is also a famous general in the army. If any child can marry Baili Yishui, he will immediately climb to the top. More importantly, Baili Yishui himself is also more beautiful than a flower and unparalleled in beauty.

In the past six months, the threshold of Baili Mansion has been almost flattened by the endless stream of matchmakers.

However, all the noble families who came to propose marriage were turned away, including the grandson of the uncle Sun Guan. No one knew what kind of rich son-in-law Baili wanted to choose. Only Ying Zhen knew Baili Yishui's thoughts. In the past, Ying Zhen would never take the initiative to promote Baili Yishui's good things, but now the situation is different.

After the chirping, when Ying Zhen looked back, she saw that only Wei Yue was left on the path opposite the lotus pond, Yu Ji and a dozen palace maids were left, but Xiang Zhuang disappeared. Looking at the bright and charming Wei Yue, a trace of struggle suddenly appeared on Ying Zhen's face, but when her eyes fell on Xiang Zheng in Wei Yue's arms, her expression immediately became firm.

#############

When Xiang Zhuang hurried into the side hall, Xiang had been waiting for a long time.

"Ziyi, has the statistics of Qimin from the registered household registration result?" Xiang Zhuang asked anxiously as soon as he entered the door.

The so-called household registration and people all refer to the self-cultivated farmers, servants, tenants, etc. that household registration and people all borrowed. It is no exaggeration to say that household registration and people allocate the village is the cornerstone of a country. The source of troops of the army comes from household registration and people allocated, and the country's taxes come from household registration and people allocated. The number of household registration and people allocated directly determines the strength of a country's national strength.

Historically, the reason why Emperor Wu of Han was able to attack the Huns north was that the large-scale registered households and people were the people who had inexhaustible taxes and the inexhaustible military sources that the Han Empire could persist in using troops against the Huns for decades, and eventually defeating the Huns and fleeing west in a panic.

In addition, in addition to the powerful tool of farming and warfare, Qin Shihuang was able to sweep the world and unify the world. In addition to the powerful tool of farming and warfare, the Qin State had a large number of households and people at that time, and even more than the sum of the six Kanto countries.

Before Qin Shihuang unified the world, the total population of the Huaxia people was about 30 million, of which the population of Qin was about 10 million, but most of these ten million were self-cultivated farmers, servants, tenants, etc. The total population of the six Kanto countries was about 20 million, but of these 20 million, the number of households and citizens was less than half!

Some people may ask, where did the other half of the population go? In fact, the other half of the population has become slaves, servants or tenant farmers of aristocratic families. For example, Tian Wen of Qi, Mengchangjun, one of the four princes of the Warring States Period, had 3,000 diners alone. To support so many diners, how many industries do you have to have and how many tenant farmers?

The slaves, servants, and tenant farmers of aristocratic families are not included in the household registration and the people. These slaves, servants, and tenant farmers are only responsible to the master's family. When the state draws strong men, they do not have to apply. When the state collects the captive tax, they do not have to pay taxes. Even when the state collects land tax, the tenant farmers of aristocratic families do not have to pay taxes.

It is precisely because of this that the general trend of Qin's unification of the world is the general trend.

This shows how important the number of households and people is to a country!

As early as when he inherited the throne, Xiang Zhuang had already instructed Xiang to start investigating the registered household Qimin in Jiangdong. Now several months have passed. The seven-way coalition forces have repelled, Jiujiang has been pacified, and the alliance with Huainan Kingdom has also been signed. The investigation of the registered household Qimin should have a result, right?

However, Xiang seemed to be a little depressed. After greeting Xiang Zhuang, he took out a booklet from his sleeve and handed it to Xiang Zhuang. Now the papermaking industry in Jiangdong is quite developed, and all the circulating books are already paper-based. The official government office's office booklets and announcements also use paper.

Xiang Zhuang took the booklet and felt a little nervous for a moment.

After opening the booklet, Xiang Zhuang finally knew why Xiang was in a bad mood. The first page of the booklet recorded the results of the investigation of Qi Min, a registered household in Wuzhong County, Wujun. Wuzhong County is the largest county in Jiangdong. In Xiang Zhuang, there are at least 20,000 households in Wuzhong County, and Qi Min is at least 100,000, but the result made Xiang Zhuang shocked.

In Wuzhong County, the location of the Chu King City, there are only more than 5,000 households, less than 30,000 Qi people!

"Ziyi, isn't this right?" Xiang Zhuang shook the booklet and said in surprise, "A big city like Wuzhong is crowded with people in his spare time. How could it be that there are only more than 5,000 households and less than 30,000 people?! Impossible, this is absolutely impossible. Ziyi must have made some mistakes in your investigation."

Xiang shook his head and explained: "King, there are indeed only more than 5,000 households in Wuzhong, and the number of people in Qimin is indeed less than 30,000. This is true. The reason why Wuzhong City is crowded with people and bustling in its idle time is because there are too many noble families gathered here, and the number of their slaves and servants is even greater."

When Xiang Zhuang heard this, he immediately slapped his forehead and smiled bitterly: "Why did I forget this?"

Xiangzhuang continued to turn down, but the more he turned, he became more and more frightened. Especially when he turned to Kuaiji County, the number of households in each county was only one or two thousand or even a few hundred, and the number of people in Qimin was only five or six thousand or even more than a thousand. What the hell is the county, it is clearly a slightly larger market town!

When we turned to the end, the final figures of this major investigation were clearly on the lookout.

The three counties and 40 counties under the rule of Chu State, the number of households was only 210,967, and the number of Qimin residents was 897,927. This number was far from the expected number of Xiangzhuang. Xiangzhuang thought that Qimin, a member of Jiangdong, had at least two million, or even more, but he didn't expect that it was only more than 800,000, less than one million!

Putting down the household registration book, Xiang Zhuang said with a serious expression: "Ziyi, is this final number trustworthy? Is there any difference?"

Xiang sighed and said helplessly: "King, this number is definitely wrong. The number of households and people in the thirteen counties of Wu County will probably not be bad. However, the number of households and people in the more than thirty counties under the jurisdiction of Danyang County and Kuaiji County is absolutely unreliable. Especially for the fifteen counties under the jurisdiction of Kuaiji County, the actual number of households must be far more than the number on the household registration."

Xiang Zhuang said in a deep voice: "Are you saying that the county magistrates of the counties under the jurisdiction of Kuaiji County lied about the number of registered households and citizens?"

Xiang nodded and said, "I have secretly visited Shanyin County under Kuaiji County and found that the clans of various surnames under Shanyin County are extremely opposed to the investigation of the registered households and people. The county magistrate of Shanyin County is a child of the local clan and he also ignores the official documents issued by the county magistrate. The county magistrate wanted to investigate, but a few days later he was found dead at home. With this precedent, the county magistrate who went there did not dare to investigate carefully again."

"It's outrageous!" Xiang Zhuang said furiously, "Is there any other kingly law?"

Xiang sighed again and said with a wry smile: "The king may not know that there is a folk song circulating in Shanyin County, saying that the three elders of the tribes are the kings of Shanyin, and what they say is the law!"
Chapter completed!