Zhu Biao stayed in Kaifeng for five days. During these five days, Zhu Yousun accompanied Zhu Biao to Kaifeng City. Although there were still many ancient monuments in the city, due to the overflow of the Yellow River for many years, most of the Tokyo Bianliang of that year were buried in the yellow sand, and the ground in Kaifeng was lifted several meters.

There are not many ancient monuments that can be preserved on the ground, and even the Kaifeng Iron Tower, which is very famous in later generations, seemed a little broken at this time. However, Li Jie knew that just a few years later, Zhu Youzhuan's father would have someone overhaul the iron tower after returning to Kaifeng. This is also the most important repair of the Kaifeng Iron Tower. In addition to the maintenance of later generations, the iron tower can be passed down to future generations.

In addition to the historical sites, Zhu Biao and Li Jie also focused on the living conditions of the people inside and outside Kaifeng. Although Kaifeng City is only more than 200,000 people left, and the population in the city is even less than 100,000, even if the counties under Kaifeng were added together, the total population of Kaifeng Prefecture does not exceed one million, but this is already the most prosperous city in Henan.

Among the people under Kaifeng Prefecture, a considerable number of immigrants moved from other places. Because Kaifeng is closer to Shanxi, it is also one of the earliest areas to accept immigrants. Some of the immigrant children have grown up.

However, even so, there are still a large number of wastelands around Kaifeng Prefecture that have not been reclaimed. These were fertile land before, but now they are insufficient population and do not have enough manpower to open up land.

Faced with this situation, local governments have also begun to encourage childbirth. For example, if you give birth to two boys, you will be rewarded with two chunks of money, and if you give birth to three boys, you will be rewarded with a pig. The people are willing to have children. On the one hand, there is a lot of land, so there is no need to worry about having no food to have children. On the other hand, when the children grow up, they can also help their homes work, so whether in the countryside or in the city, they can see running and playing children everywhere.

In fact, it is not just Kaifeng, but also in Henan, Hebei and even Shandong. The court even takes the number of children born in prefectures and counties as one of the assessment criteria for officials. If the population of a certain place grows rapidly, it will be a major political achievement for local officials and will be more likely to be promoted in the future.

Five days later, Zhu Biao also decided to set off again. Zhu Youzhuan was very reluctant to leave, but he was a sensible child. In the end, he did not say anything to keep him. He just asked someone to prepare a lot of supplies and then personally sent Zhu Biao's team out of the city.

However, when they were separated, Zhu Youzun, who had always been mature and steady, also hugged Zhu Biao and cried bitterly. Although it was only a few days before, the uncle and nephew had developed a strong relationship. Zhu Biao became more and more pleasing to this nephew. Li Jie even suspected that if Zhu Biao had no son, he would definitely take Zhu Youzun as his son to cultivate him, and would pass on the Ming Dynasty to him in the future.

Finally, Zhu Youzhuo said goodbye to Li Jie, and Li Jie also encouraged him a few words. Then the team started to set off and slowly left Kaifeng City. However, when he walked far away, he could still see Zhu Youzhuo waving to them.

In fact, Li Jie could understand Zhu Youzhu. His father Zhu Su was an uneasy person. He was placed under house arrest in the capital two years ago, which caused panic among the Zhou royal palace. However, Old Zhu even handed over the huge Zhou royal palace to the young Zhu Youzhu for management.

You should know that the vassal kings in the early Ming Dynasty were not those who were scattered and waiting to die in later generations, but were all holding heavy troops. Although Kaifeng, which was guarded by King Zhou, did not belong to the frontier, it was the rear of the northern frontier. Even when wars were intensified, the King of Zhou also needed to assign a large army to support.

Therefore, the affairs of the Zhou Wang Mansion are actually very heavy. Sometimes even the local government affairs need to be handled by the Zhou Wang Mansion. When Zhu Youzhu took over the affairs of the Zhou Wang Mansion, he was only a ten-year-old child. Even with the assistance of the royal palace officials, it still puts a lot of pressure on Zhu Youzhu, so he seems precocious and intelligent than children of the same age.

Just when Zhu Youzun took on the important task of the Zhou royal palace alone, Zhu Biao, the uncle, suddenly came from the capital, bringing him a long-lost family affection. Even compared to his father Zhu Su, Zhu Biao was even more amiable. It is estimated that in Zhu Youzun's heart, Zhu Biao had replaced Zhu Su and played the role of his father, so when he parted, Zhu Youzun was so reluctant to leave.

Zhu Biao also seemed a little sad after parting with Zhu Youtan. He didn't speak for a long time along the way, and Li Jie didn't speak, but looked at the scenery outside the window. He saw that in the spring fields, many farmers were busy farming, and children of all sizes could be seen everywhere in the fields, some older children could already help the adults work.

"What are you looking at?" Zhu Biao finally broke his silence and asked actively.

"Looking at those children!" Li Jie smiled and pointed to the children in the field outside the window.

"Look at the child?" Zhu Biao was also stunned when he heard this. During this period, they had already seen too many children in Kaifeng. Some villages even had more children than adults. There was a woman who gave birth to eleven children, and even a archway was erected by the government.

"Your Highness, the Central Plains is underpopulated now. I'm wondering how many generations it will take to fill this vacancy?" Li Jie replied with a smile again.

"This..." Zhu Biao also showed an unexpected look when he heard this. Then he thought about it before answering, "With the current population and fertility speed, it may not take long. It is estimated that at most two generations, in just thirty years, the population of the Central Plains will be able to recover to its heyday."

"Your Highness is right, but have you considered it? What problems will happen if the population is too high?" Li Jie smiled again. He asked this question and wanted to divert Zhu Biao's attention.

"Overpool?" Zhu Biao was stunned when he heard this, because he had never considered this issue.

"There are many lands now, so people can give birth to a large number of people without worrying about the problem of no land farming. But if there is no control, the population will be too large in the future, resulting in too many people and few lands. The grain produced by a piece of land will be limited. When there are too many people, some people will inevitably go hungry. If people don't have food, they will lose their minds, and chaos will be inevitable!" Li Jie said again.

"How should we solve it?" Zhu Biao frowned and asked when he heard this. Although this problem seemed a bit far away, even if he was in power, he might not encounter this problem, but he also wanted to think more about his children and grandchildren.

"There are three ways. The first is to start artificially controlling the population growth when the population reaches a certain number, just like the court now encourages childbirth, and then it may be necessary to control childbirth."

"How can I control my childbirth? I have to let the people have children, right?" Zhu Biao looked incredible when he heard this. No matter how generous the court is, he can't control the people's beds?

"Your Highness don't have to worry about this. There will definitely be a way to control it." Li Jie smiled again and said. Isn't the condom invented for this purpose? Of course, Li Jie himself does not recommend this method.

"What about the remaining two methods?" Zhu Biao asked again.

"Control fertility is to reduce expenditure, that is, to reduce population growth while the land remains unchanged. The second method is to open source, that is, not to control population growth, but to expand territory, and even to seize other people's land when necessary!" Li Jie replied with a smile again.

"This..." Zhu Biao showed a contemplative look when he heard this. He was not opposed to this idea of ​​expansion, but he knew that there were big problems in actual operation.

"Now the land of the Ming Dynasty has expanded to its limit. If it expands outward, the court may not be able to effectively rule." Zhu Biao finally looked up and said his opinion.

In fact, Zhu Biao only said half of it. Another reason is that since the Qin and Han Dynasties, China has occupied all the richest land around it. It is surrounded by either desert plateaus or sea forests, and has no value at all.

"Your Highness, don't just focus your attention near the Ming Dynasty. Have you forgotten the globe I presented to Your Majesty before?" Li Jie reminded.

"I can't just think..." Zhu Biao was also shocked when he heard this. He also had one globe. Although he also thought the earth was so big that it was unbelievable, he never thought that he would really occupy land outside the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing Zhu Biao's reaction, Li Jie also sighed inwardly. In fact, he had discussed similar issues with Lao Zhu before, but the starting point was to encourage Lao Zhu to let Zhu Di and other vassal kings go out and spread the glory of the Ming Dynasty all over the world. However, Lao Zhu did not make up his mind and said that he would have no sound if he had to think about it. So Li Jie began to encourage Zhu Biao again. However, judging from Zhu Biao's appearance, he probably never considered this issue.

"But those places are too far away, right?" Zhu Biao finally spoke again after thinking about it.

"Your Highness, why have you forgotten? I once told you that technology is moving forward. Nowadays, the speed of vehicles, horses and ships is very slow, but in the future, there may be a means of transportation that can be thousands of miles a day or even thousands of miles a day. It may only take a few hours from Jinling to Kaifeng, and from the Ming Dynasty to Japan, it will be returned in one day. Where else can I go in the world?" Li Jie finally asked again.

In fact, Li Jie did seem a bit early to say this, but he did not really want to convince Zhu Biao to do something, but to make a mark in Zhu Biao's heart so that he could understand that the world is constantly changing, and some inherent concepts also need to be changed. This is his real purpose.

"Your Highness, if you don't have a long-term plan, you will have immediate worries. Your Highness Yan's trip to Goryeo is actually a good start. In fact, we don't have to look too far at the beginning. There is still a lot of space nearby to expand, such as Japan, South China, Western Regions, etc.." Li Jie struck while the iron was hot and said again.
Chapter completed!