Chapter 1136: Convince

As the Chinese had always been particular about having many children and grandchildren, they had always favored marrying young. This resulted in a speedy increase in the country’s population.

In the past few years, grain production had increased, and the overall standard of living of the people had improved. The population had increased even faster. Just by comparing the poll tax collected by the Ministry of Revenue in the past ten years, one could obtain a general figure.

Great Qi only had a population of 50 million now, but what about ten or 20 years later?

If not for the poll tax, the population growth would probably be even higher.

The poll tax had always been one of the greatest burdens for the common people. If they wanted to abolish the poll tax, they had to first raise the age of marriage and establish a certain concept of birth control. This was so that after the poll tax was abolished, the common people would not give birth even more aggressively.

Naturally, Mu Yangling would not tell Little Treasure that she was aiming to abolish the poll tax and control the population figures. She only listed a tree-shaped set of data of the tenant farmers in her farm. Using this as a reference, she told Little Treasure about the reproduction ability of tenant farmers with low living standards when there was peace and prosperity in the country.

Little Treasure’s eyes widened as he looked at the tree-shaped diagram on the paper. What was a family of four ten years ago had become a family of ten today. Based on this reproduction speed, 20 years later, this family would add at least 36 more people.

Of course, this speed of reproduction didn’t apply to all families, but if even a tenant farmer with poor living conditions was already like this, what about those well-off families?

Mu Yangling showed him another set of data. “This is the arable land data I asked your Fourth Uncle to obtain from the Ministry of Revenue. At least 70% of Great Qi’s arable land has been developed. If the population continues to increase, we will definitely have to reclaim more forest land in the future. By logging and doing forest conversion, we are effectively killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. On the other hand, if we don’t do forest conversion, there won’t be enough land to farm and there won’t be enough grains. At that time, the country will be plagued with refugees and war.”

Mu Yangling looked at Little Treasure hopefully and said, “Little Treasure, as an Emperor, not only do you have to handle the matters at present, but you also have to look to the future. Only by looking ahead can one walk further.”

Little Treasure was deep in thought.

“Your Royal Father, Fourth Uncle, and Uncle Fan have already built a kingdom for you. How to protect and shape it depends on you.”

Little Treasure’s eyes lit up. He clenched his fists and said, “I understand, Fourth Aunt. The carriage of time constantly moves forward, so we should set our sights ahead. We shouldn’t only deal with problems as they arise like in previous dynasties. We should take precautions before the problem arises and dare to pioneer changes!”

Mu Yangling nodded with a smile. “When every dynasty was first established, those in power thought that the dynasty would last for thousands of years, but in fact, it only lasted two to three hundred years because they never set their sights far ahead. Little Treasure, you have to remember that you have to look far ahead, but you have to do things in accordance with the present. That’s because only what’s suitable for the present is the most appropriate. Time is constantly moving forward, and things are constantly changing. What’s suitable now might not be suitable in the coming year. What you think is right isn’t necessarily right, so do listen to others’ opinions. This is only my suggestion to you. Lastly, don’t hesitate when you have to make a decision lest your previous efforts be in vain.”

After saying this, Mu Yangling left him in the study.

Little Treasure had always been very bright. Although he was not as talented as Little An, his thinking ability wasn’t shabby either. Mu Yangling’s words had a huge impact on him.

In conclusion, his main takeaway was not to be like the previous Emperors who pursued a high rate of population growth in order to ensure supply of labor and collect more taxes. It was true that completing these three tasks was enough to make one a wise ruler. But by looking further ahead would one achieve greater heights.

However, there had never been such a far-sighted emperor in history. With no reference to look towards, Little Treasure felt very pressured.

He followed Fourth Aunt’s suggestion and wondered how high a population it would take for all the arable land to be used up.

Little Treasure suddenly felt that having too high a population might not be a good thing, and began to seriously think about lowering the speed of population growth.

Raising the age of marriage was the first step, but raise by how much?

Of course, it was impossible to raise the age of marriage too much at once since the officials would object intensely. Moreover, considering the war had just ended not so long ago and many lives had been lost, it was indeed necessary to boost the population a little.

Little Treasure sat in the study for the entire day. When Qi Haoran returned from the palace, he had yet to come out.

Seeing that Mu Yangling had no intention of calling him out for dinner, he secretly asked, “What did you tell him? Don’t agitate him so much that he decides not to marry. You have to know that he has the heavy responsibility of a country on his shoulders.”

Qi Haoran felt that if it weren’t for the fact that the children of their two families were dense and were no stranger to Ah Ling’s style, all this talk about sexual matters would probably have a traumatic effect on their sexuality, especially after hearing about the cases of sexually transmitted diseases.

Little Bear and the rest weren’t ones to overthink things, but Little Treasure was very meticulous and hadn’t received Ah Ling’s guidance much in the past few years.

Seeing that he was so narrow-minded, Mu Yangling educated him. “Do you think I locked him in the study to teach him about the birds and the bees? Imperial Physician Wang will teach him those. All we did was discuss the population plan.”

Qi Haoran glared at her. “Did you really ask Little Treasure to control the population growth?”

This was something that Qi Haoran could not understand. Who in power did not wish for a higher population? The higher the population, the more successful the ruler would be. Yet, she was urging Little Treasure to control the population growth. Was she starting to persuade Little Treasure seeing that she had failed to persuade Qi Haoran?

Mu Yangling sighed. “I have no choice since you old fogeys can’t understand my long-term vision. My only allies are the kids. In this aspect, you and Zijin are far inferior to them.”

Qi Haoran pursed his lips. “That’s because the children were all taught by you. They usually look fine and follow the rules. But sometimes, they’ll come up with all sorts of odd ideas. For example, look at the population growth. During the Han and Tang dynasties, which Emperor didn’t lower the marriage age? But you, on the other hand, think that the population is too high and the marriage age ought to be raised.”

Mu Yangling said, “This is like a pigpen that’s only so big. It’s too big for three pigs, but it’s just right to raise five pigs. However, because of your greed, you decide to keep ten pigs inside. Now, none of the ten pigs have a place to sleep. Moreover, you only provide five servings of fodder. Isn’t it expected that the pigpen will fall into chaos?”

Qi Haoran pointed at Mu Yangling with a trembling finger. “So my vast country is a pigpen while I’m a pig?”

Mu Yangling tilted her head. “Would you prefer likening it to a horse stable?”

Qi Haoran huffed at her.

Seeing that his parents were about to quarrel again, Little Bear immediately called for his younger brothers to pack up the food on the table and shouted, “Father, Mother, take your time to chat. We’ll go eat with Brother Crown Prince.”

Little An had already quickly brought Tiger Head and the others away with the food.

Qi Haoran glared at Little An’s back, his eyes narrowed. He turned around and gritted his teeth at Mu Yangling. “Little An was so obedient in the past. Look at how the child has turned out under your guidance.”

Mu Yangling snorted and said, “Don’t you men feel that men should teach the sons while the wife teaches the daughters? Little An turned out this way because you and Zijin didn’t teach him well. Besides, what’s wrong with him? With you shouting at me like this, he couldn’t very well stay and watch right? Naturally, it’s best for him to get away from the situation as soon as possible.”

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.