The land was not divided enough, and the soldiers on the front line fought hard to make military achievements, but after returning, they could not divide enough land. This was the biggest problem faced by the Tang Dynasty's military system and the main reason why the recruiting system later replaced the military system.

But in fact, the Tang Dynasty did not lack land, but there was no land to seal it. This seems a bit contradictory, but it is easy to understand. What the Tang Dynasty lacked was fertile fields, not wasteland without reclaimed. It would take at least three to five years to become a piece of wasteland. At the same time, it would also take a lot of energy to invest, which is very unprofitable for anyone.

Therefore, the imperial court also encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland. For example, a piece of wasteland. As long as it is cultivated for several consecutive years, the land will be a reclaimer. But even so, the amount of wasteland reclaimed every year is very limited.

When the Tang Dynasty was just established, after the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, a large amount of unowned land was taken back to the court, so the court also had enough land to reward the soldiers who had made contributions. However, now there are fewer and fewer fertile land, and the land annexation between the new and old nobles is becoming more and more serious, which further reduces fertile land.

For example, taking Guanzhong as an example, there was no land to be sealed decades ago, and even the fertile land in Henan, Hebei and Shandong was almost in a hurry. You should know that these places are all core areas of the Tang Dynasty and the most important source of troops in the Tang Dynasty. If there is no land to separate these places, it will directly lead to the military soldiers who have no motivation to fight, and the Tang Dynasty's soldiers will no longer be as sharp as before.

"I know all these issues, and I have considered them seriously. Even the imperial court is preparing to recruit some soldiers, so that this may alleviate the current dilemma." Li Hong pondered for a long time and finally sighed.

"My territory of the Tang Dynasty is so vast, why worry about not finding land to reward soldiers? It depends on whether the court is willing?" Zhang Zong smiled helplessly. He had learned about the situation of the government soldiers before and was quite helpless about some regulations on the government soldiers.

"What do you mean is to enfeoff the land in other places?" Li Hong finally understood what Zhang Zong meant at this time.

"Yes, since Guanzhong, Henan, Hebei, Shandong and other places have been enfeoffed, then the enfeoffment will be enfeoffed in other places. The south is not enough, and the northern grasslands, or even the Western Regions. As long as the court is willing to let it go, with the population of the Tang Dynasty, I am afraid that there will be insufficient people. How could I worry about insufficient land?" Zhang Zong immediately expressed his point of view.

"Of course, the imperial court wanted to enfeoff land in other places. Although the Tang Dynasty had a large territory, the fertile land was limited, and most of them were concentrated in the Yellow River and the Yangtze River basins. In addition, there were not many fertile lands that could be favored by people. I remember that last year the imperial court divided the fields in Shuozhou to a soldier from Zhechongfu, which caused great dissatisfaction and almost mutiny. This kind of thing was not once or twice, so the court now did not dare to enfeoff land in remote places."

Li Hong was even more helpless in the end. Shuozhou was north of Taiyuan, close to the northern grasslands, and was also a military center of the Tang Dynasty. However, even so, many people were unwilling to settle there. After all, there was a mixture of foreign races, and the security was definitely not as good as Guanzhong and other places. The land was relatively barren, so the soldiers naturally did not want to ask for the land there.

"The soldiers refused to ask for the border land because the imperial court's method of dividing the feudal matter was wrong!" Zhang Zong said with great affirmation.

"The method is wrong?" Li Hong was stunned when he heard this.

"Yes, but the method is wrong. Take the incident in Shuozhou last year as an example. The Zhechong Mansion was originally transferred from Bian, and the soldiers were all from Bianzhou. You should know that Bianzhou is full of large plains, while Shuozhou is mostly mountains. In addition, the weather is bitter and cold, and there are barbaric grasslanders in the north. The soldiers from Bianzhou naturally don't want to ask for the land there."

"But the imperial court has taken this into consideration and the land area of ​​rewarded them has more than doubled. Can't this compensate them?" Li Hong asked again in confusion. The land had doubled, but the soldiers still refused to go to Shuozhou, and even mutiny, which made him still unable to understand.

"Not enough, twice the compensation is far from enough!" Zhang Zong said with great affirmation, "Shuozhou's land is barren. The soldiers of Bianzhou are used to the fertile land in their hometown, so they naturally look down on the thin fields in Shuozhou. In addition, most people are unwilling to stay away from their hometowns. In addition, public security and climate reasons make them unwilling to settle down in Shuozhou. If I were the official in charge of the land distribution, I would give them at least five or even ten times the land compensation!"

"Five times? Ten times? How is this possible?" Li Hong almost jumped up when he heard this. The fields of the Tang Dynasty were not enough. If they were divided several times or several times, wouldn't it be even more insufficient?

"The prince should not be surprised. What I said is that land is not land. Actually, I can't understand why the court has been struggling to reward the soldiers with fields. Can't other land be used?" Zhang Zong smiled and shook his head. The fields must be land, but the land may not be land. In fact, in the Tang Dynasty, most of the land was not land.

"If the land is not rewarded, what will the soldiers plant? If they do not farm, where will the food come from?" Li Hong asked with confusion. Whether it is the Tang Dynasty or any feudal dynasty, almost all the country was established by agriculture, so the importance of agriculture is beyond imagination in later generations, which greatly restricts their thinking.

"Your Highness, it is not only the fields that can produce. For example, you reward the soldiers with a grassland, which can raise cattle and sheep. Even if you don't know how to raise it yourself, you can hire grassland slaves to raise it. In addition, some lands have minerals, gold, silver, copper and iron, and even coal mines can make people rich. Even in the mountains, they can be used to plant fruit trees or tea gardens, and the income is also very high..."

With the blessing of the later generations of information, Zhang Zong was also very clear about the various ways to make money and bring blessings, especially mineral deposits. If you can find a mine on your own land, it can almost be equivalent to getting rich. Even if there is no mine, there are many opportunities to get rich on the vast grassland.

"Will anyone really want these lands?" Li Hong said a little unacceptable. After all, in his perception, only fields are valuable. Although minerals are expensive, they are not so easy to find. As for the grassland, it seems to him as a barren land, otherwise the grassland people would not want to go south to plunder every year.

"As long as the court is willing to reward, there will inevitably be a brave person who takes over these lands. Of course, this also requires methods, such as the grassland..."

Zhang Zong said and explained some of his detailed plans, such as the grassland that he focused on, because in comparison, there are still relatively few minerals, while the grasslands in the north are almost endless. If you want to stimulate the soldiers' desire to take over, you cannot be stingy. For example, a soldier's contribution should be rewarded with ten acres of fertile land, so if it is replaced by a grassland, it will be expanded dozens or even hundreds of times.

As for safety issues, soldiers can also be organized to collectively accept the land on the grassland. Just like the collective ranch in later generations, large areas of ranch are shared by soldiers. Everyone is united, so the safety of the ranch can be guaranteed.

"I understand, this is like the military farm organized by the court, but it is more private. The court only cares about rewarding, and the rewarded land is managed by them themselves, and the benefits are also private." Li Hong finally lit up his eyes at this time.

"Yes, that's it. In addition, if these soldiers can settle in the grassland, they can stabilize the imperial court's rule in the local area and encourage more people to move outward, thereby alleviating the population problems in Guanzhong and Central Plains." Zhang Zong said again.

In recent years, people have been encouraging childbirth, which has also led to the rapid growth of the population of the Tang Dynasty. Some women can give birth to seven or eight or even a dozen children in their lives. Although many died, many of them survived, many of them survived. This also caused excessive population problems in some areas. For example, the population of the entire Chang'an City exceeded one million, and relying on the support of the entire Guanzhong Plain alone is a bit difficult. This is also one of the reasons why Li Zhi went to Luoyang many times and intends to move the capital.

Li Hong pondered for a long time again at this time, and finally looked up and said, "This matter is of great importance. Even I can't make the decision. And I need to discuss with others and make a decision in the future!"

"Your Highness is wise, these are just my own words, and I can only provide a general idea. Even if you want to implement it, you need to discuss it together. Of course, it would be better if other people have a better way."

Zhang Zong also laughed again and said that his influence was far from reaching the point where Li Hongyan obeyed, and Li Hong was just the crown prince and not the emperor. This decision that concerns the national policy of the Tang Dynasty was not something he could easily make a choice.

It was getting late, so Zhang Zong also stood up to say goodbye. When he returned home, he found Wan'er humming a small song in the kitchen to cook. When Zhang Zong entered the kitchen, he found that there were a lot of fresh vegetables on the ground.

"Young master, look, the Changsun family sent us a lot of vegetables, saying they were newly launched dishes, so let's try them first!" Wan'er also ran over happily when she saw Zhang Zong running over, pointing to the vegetable tray on the ground.

Zhang Zong smiled when he heard this. After the vegetables from Changsun’s family were launched, they were also robbed. It can even be said that they could not buy them even if they had money. Many wealthy families directly sent people to the greenhouse to pay directly, and then drove home one by one, so there were not many vegetables that could actually flow to the market. Fortunately, Changsun Yuanyi was a careful woman and could even think of delivering vegetables to herself.

Time passed quickly, and a heavy snow turned the entire Chang'an City into silver. After this snow, Di Renjie finally came back from Zhaoling and wrote a letter to seek justice for Quan Shancai. After all, even if he was guilty, he would not die.
Chapter completed!