Chapter 1313: It's hard to describe

The next day, Yun Zheng brought Tuo Huan and Ye Zi to the government office.

They stayed in the office all day to listen to the reports from the cabinet officials, and then they made some preliminary plans for the next year with the cabinet officials.

Today, Shuobei and Northwest Protectorate have completely gotten rid of the food shortage problem, but what has followed is the population problem.

Shuobei and Northwest Protectorate are so large in area, but the total registered population is less than five million.

This is an extremely serious problem.

Yun Zheng has invested a huge amount of money in the development of Shuobei, but the population that can enjoy the benefits of these investments is extremely limited.

In Chen Bu's words, it's like they dug a well, which could originally provide drinking water for fifty people, but now only five people are using it.

Calculated this way, their investment is actually not worth it.

The cabinet believes that Shuobei should suspend the construction of various infrastructure and focus on developing people's livelihood.

At the same time, policies encouraging childbirth were introduced.

Of course, no matter how good their policies are, unless people are migrated from other places to Shuobei and Northwest Protectorate, the population problem cannot be solved in a short period of time.

After all, this person is not a crop; he cannot be grown in a year or half a year.

In addition, Chen Bu mentioned the issue of disarmament again.

However, this time the main target is the Northwest Protectorate.

The population of the entire Northwest Protectorate is only over one million, but the various miscellaneous soldiers there, together with the Northern Army and the Guiyi Army, have a total of nearly 200,000.

This is an extremely exaggerated number.

Chen Bu believed that they needed to disband some unimportant troops and allow more people to return to farming, grazing and the like, rather than occupying a large population to carry out some huge projects.

However, Chen Bu's disarmament proposal was once again rejected by Yun Zheng on the spot.

Chen Bu is looking at the present, while Yun Zheng is looking at the future.

The Northwest Protectorate did have too many soldiers, but a large portion of them were actually just field soldiers under the name of the Guiyi Army.

The Northwest Protectorate is the prototype of the Construction Corps, and it is very likely to be completely transformed into a Construction Corps in the future.

The purpose of maintaining such a large-scale force now is to maintain this framework.

He also needs time to verify whether this path is the most suitable development path for the Northwest Protectorate.

Some things cannot be seen in one or two years.

Chen Bu and the people in the cabinet were somewhat helpless about Yun Zheng's insistence.

Afterwards, Yun Zheng mentioned the construction of a highway from Jiqing to Zhen and He states.

"Your Highness, this is definitely not possible!"

"Such a long road would consume a lot of manpower and financial resources, and it would not make much sense."

"Instead of building a highway, it would be better to choose a place in Zhenzhou to build a port!"

"Your Highness, please don't let your head get carried away..."

As soon as Yun Zheng's idea came out, it was opposed by everyone.

Everyone, including Ye Zi, opposed it.

A huge amount of manpower and financial resources have been spent on building the highway from Langya Mountain Pass to Lingzhou. If we build a longer highway, it would be a disaster.

Moreover, the grassland is originally open and there is no need for such a road.

"I just said it casually. I didn't say that construction will start right away."

Yun Zheng stopped everyone and said, "If we want to completely control the lands of Zhenzhou, Hezhou and Li Dynasty, we must have this road! However, we can talk about this later..."

Maybe many years later, when they have invented steam engines and trains, there will be no need for roads anymore.

But this is all a matter for the future, it’s really too early to think about it now.

Seeing that Yun Zheng did not insist on building this newly conceived highway, everyone felt relieved.

"Your Highness, will you use military force against Xiqu next year?"

At this time, Chen Bu took the initiative to ask again.

Yun Zheng raised his eyes and smiled, "Did someone ask you?"

"no no……"

Chen Bu shook his head and smiled, "Shouldn't the cabinet draw up a detailed plan for next year? If Your Highness wants to use troops against Xiqu, the cabinet must take the use of troops into consideration when drawing up a detailed plan."

Yun Zheng thought for a moment and replied, "It can be taken into consideration appropriately, but the people's livelihood should be the main priority!"

He himself didn't know whether he would use military force against Xiqu next year, and he couldn't give Chen Bu a definite answer.

When sending troops against Xiqu, we must consider both their situation and the situation in Xiqu.

Moreover, it also depends on the situation inside the country.

It is too early to talk about using military force now.

"I understand."

Chen Bu already had an idea in his mind and didn't ask any more questions.

"Any other questions?"

Yun Zheng asked everyone.

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

We have been chatting for a whole day, and it seems that we have covered all the questions and discussions.

"Okay! That's it!"

Yun Zheng stood up tiredly, "Before I go to Muzhou, the cabinet will draw up a detailed plan for next year."

"Yes!"

Everyone took the order together.

Yun Zheng stretched and looked at Chen Bu again, "I heard that you just had a son two months ago?"

"Yes."

When talking about his son, Chen Bu smiled so hard that he could hardly close his mouth.

Chen Bu is also in his forties.

This can basically be considered as a child born in old age.

Yun Zheng smiled, "I didn't get to have a full moon party at your house before, so how about I go to your house tonight and eat and drink for free?"

"It is my honor!"

The smile on Chen Bu's face became even brighter.

"Okay, then let's go to your house together."

Yun Zheng called everyone over.

When talking about going to Chen Bu's house to eat and drink, everyone started laughing.

Chen Bu was naturally very welcoming and quickly followed Yun Zheng out of the office.

By the time they walked out of the office, it was almost dark.

"Hurry back to the mansion and inform Madam to bring the people in the mansion to welcome His Highness and Madam Zi."

As soon as Chen Bu went out, he gave instructions to the servant.

"and many more!"

Yun Zheng stopped the servant who was about to leave, and said to Chen Bu, "No need to notify him, just go!"

"Yes!"

Chen Bu accepted the order.

Chen Bu's house was not far from the government office. In less than a quarter of an hour, they arrived at Chen Bu's house.

"I am Chen Yao, respectfully welcoming His Highness and Madam Zi."

It was not until they entered the mansion that Chen Bu's wife, Yao, hurriedly ran out with her child in her arms to greet them.

"No gift!"

Yun Zheng raised his hand gently and walked forward with a smile.

Looking at the baby boy sleeping soundly in Chen Yao's arms, he took out a gold lock from his sleeve pocket.

"Your Highness, you can't do this!"

Chen Bu stepped forward quickly and said, "When the child was one month old, the princess and all the ladies gave him a gift..."

"What they gave was what they gave, and what I gave was what I gave."

Yun Zheng interrupted Chen Bu and stuffed the golden lock into the baby boy's wrapping.

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

Chen Bu was very grateful and bowed.

"Okay!"

Yun Zheng stopped Chen Bu and asked, "Have you named the child yet?"

"got it."

Chen Bu glanced at his son and replied, "The child's name is Chen Guan, which means Guan who is in charge."

Chen...Guan?

The corners of Yunzheng's mouth twitched slightly.

Why give such a good child such a bad name?

"Your Highness, do you think this name is not good?"

Chen Bu noticed that Yun Zheng was acting strangely and asked tentatively.

Yun Zheng patted Chen Bu on the shoulder and said, "How about calling him Chen Mu? The name Chen Guan is quite funny... well... it's hard to describe..."

"Thank you for the name, Your Highness!"

Chen Bu was overjoyed...