Read Novel Full Chapter 839 - 10: Population Issues (Part 4)
Chapter 839: Chapter 10: Population Issues (Part 4)
Now that there is new salt, the people no longer worry about lacking salt. As long as they consume salt well, their bodies will be healthy, making it less likely for them to fall ill. Most importantly, consuming salt provides strength. When they have strength, they can work.
Of course, during the registration process, there were people who reported falsely. Once discovered, they were severely punished. Upon learning this, other dishonest citizens did not dare to act recklessly and honestly registered in the household registry.
After registration, people received not only the aforementioned benefits but also household registries and identity cards. Of course, these household registries and identity cards were devised by Zhao Yao, who believed they would be very convenient.
During these days, the Ministry of Revenue has been extremely busy. However, with Zheng Qian, the strict Minister of Revenue, overseeing, the ministry remained in order despite the workload.
The population of Swamp Prefecture was not large, and within a period, registration was fully completed.
Zheng Qian and his subordinates organized the registration lists before meeting with Zhao Yao.
Upon hearing Zheng Qian’s detailed report, Zhao Yao was astonished. He said in disbelief, "Only a little over twenty thousand people in the entire Swamp Prefecture city? So few?!"
"Yes, my lord." Zheng Qian was also taken aback when organizing the data, unable to believe Swamp Prefecture’s population was so small.
"All counties and villages combined in Swamp Prefecture don’t even reach a hundred thousand?!" Zhao Yao could hardly believe it, "Is the population really that small?!"
"I didn’t expect it either."
"It can’t possibly be that few. Where did the people go?" Swamp Prefecture, considered a moderately large city in Lingnan, should not have such a small population.
"My lord, Swamp Prefecture experiences significant population movement, as you know, the citizens of Swamp Prefecture frequently disappear," Zheng Qian explained, "Also, every year, many people in Swamp Prefecture die from illnesses."
"I anticipated these two factors but didn’t expect the population to be this small." Zhao Yao was a bit troubled, rubbing his forehead as he said, "With such a small population in Swamp Prefecture, other prefectures can’t have much more."
"My lord, Taichuan Prefecture, Shaoshan Prefecture, and Duanzhou Prefecture should have a much larger population. Aside from these three, other prefectures definitely don’t have many people."
Hearing this, Zhao Yao remarked, "Fortunately, when I initially asked the citizens to register, I did not grant them the freedom to enter and leave Swamp Prefecture freely, otherwise, they would surely have fled, further decreasing the population." Due to court laws, people from different prefectures in Lingnan are not allowed to move freely in and out of Lingnan. Zhao Yao initially intended to abolish this rule upon his arrival in Lingnan but later reconsidered. If he allowed people to move freely in and out of Lingnan, they would certainly leave to seek livelihoods elsewhere and would not be willing to stay. Although they don’t know what lies outside, it certainly won’t be worse than Lingnan; they might even have a better chance at life outside. Remaining in Lingnan would mean living in continual hardship.
Worried that the citizens would all leave Lingnan, Zhao Yao opted to temporarily abandon plans to abolish the rule. In retrospect, this decision proved correct. The population across Lingnan is too sparse, which is not conducive to development.
"It seems I still need to think about bringing in people from elsewhere." However, given Swamp Prefecture’s current situation, there is no way to attract outsiders, mainly because foreigners are unwilling to come to Lingnan. They can only wait for Swamp Prefecture to become prosperous enough to attract outsiders.
"My lord, we can purchase slaves from foreign countries," Zheng Qian had already investigated, "Slaves from those foreign countries are sold very cheaply."
After pondering for a moment, Zhao Yao agreed with Zheng Qian’s suggestion: "Let’s first buy some slaves from those foreign countries to use. However, we shouldn’t buy randomly; if we buy slaves with illnesses, they might spread diseases to the residents of Swamp Prefecture, potentially causing an epidemic."
Zheng Qian hadn’t considered this point. Hearing Zhao Yao’s insight, he realized the need for caution.
"You’re right, my lord."
Zhao Yao contemplated further and said, "Alright, when those foreign merchants come to Swamp Prefecture to do business next year, we’ll get acquainted with them and purchase some slaves through their networks."
He added, "To maintain business relations with us, they surely wouldn’t sell us sick slaves."
"You’re wise, my lord."
Zhao Yao also considered intermarriage. He initially thought about allowing free marriages between Lingnan residents and foreigners, but reconsidered, deeming it somewhat inappropriate. The idea would wait for a more suitable time; for now, things would remain as they were.
"Here’s what we’ll do: encourage citizens to have more children. Having five children will entitle them to benefits." To solve the issue of Lingnan’s sparse population, the simplest solution is to incentivize childbirth. As long as people are willing to have more children, the population will gradually increase. Of course, the benefits can only be temporary; they can’t be permanent, or else people will endlessly have children, and he cannot sustain providing benefits indefinitely. "We can start by giving them one or two catties of salt, or half a pound of grain. Draft the specific plan and submit it to me."