Zhang Zhongjing was completely confused. He had never thought about this thing at all. Who would have thought about the survival of babies? They didn't even care much about the life and death of adults, let alone these things.
"Zhong Jinggong, under my rule, at least hundreds of thousands, no, millions of babies are born every year, and this number is still increasing year by year. For one million babies, the annual mortality rate reaches 30%, which is 300,000.
The baby died unexpectedly due to various Nascent Souls."
"If Zhong Jinggong could improve their survival rate, how many babies could be saved every year?"
Saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda. This is a Buddhist saying, but doctors also have a similar saying.
When Su Fan showed this, Zhang Zhongjing was immediately moved.
However, he quickly reacted and said with some doubts: "If the survival rate is really improved, then there will be a lot more people under your rule every year. Can it be sustained?"
This is the reason for Zhang Zhongjing's hesitation. It's not like doctors haven't noticed this problem before. Some people even mentioned it before, but in the end it was ignored.
Why?
The people at the bottom are not rich merchants. The number they can afford for a family is limited. One more baby means one more mouth. The annual food production is only so much. If it really means one more mouth, it may not be enough.
If there is any natural disaster, it is very likely that the whole family will be destroyed.
The people at the bottom have very poor resistance, so if it really improves their infant survival rate, it might not be a good thing for them.
"Haha! If Zhong Jinggong is only worried about this, then there is no problem. Under my rule, let alone other things, as long as you have hands and feet, you will never starve to death. Even if you encounter natural or man-made disasters, you will never die of hunger.
You will never starve to death.”
Su Fan said calmly.
"Zhong Jinggong, he seems a little unconvinced."
After listening to Su Fan's words, Zhang Zhongjing looked a little unswerving. Apparently he thought that Su Fan was boasting and did not starve to death. How could it be possible that even in the prosperous times, civilians still starved to death.
Not to mention the current troubled times.
Su Fan also knew the other party's suspicion.
"Gong Zhongjing, my lord is not exaggerating. Under my lord's rule, as long as he is not lazy, no one will starve to death."
"How can it be?"
Zhang Zhongjing still couldn't believe Xun You's words, but Xun You's identity made him feel that he would not lie.
That's why he was even more surprised.
"Because, my lord has opened up thousands of acres of wasteland in Donghai County, and with the help of farmers and Mohists, he has continuously increased the yield per mu of the fields. Now, in the Donghai Territory under the rule of my lord, the average yield per mu has reached five stones.
about"
"The annual grain output in the fields amounts to hundreds of millions of stones."
"this,,,,"
Hundreds of millions of stones of grain is a massive amount, enough to feed a population of tens of millions.
This number also made Zhang Zhongjing feel confused. This is just a county.
Even some states can produce hundreds of millions of shi of grain every year, which is a problem, such as Liangzhou and the state.
This world is indeed very big. It can be said that it is vast and sparsely populated. However, it is precisely because of its vast territory and sparsely populated areas. Except for the hundreds of miles around the city, which is still populated, the rest is wild land.
The wilderness is full of dangers.
In this world, most of the fertile farmland is around cities.
Villages in the countryside are also built around the city. The farther away from the city, the more dangerous it is.
The wild beasts in the wild are just like Africa in later generations. The wild beasts are the world of wild beasts. When the East China Sea Territory was first built, the villages were all around the Suvarna Army Camp.
Later, when Su Fan's army was stationed in the military camp, they continued to sweep away the wild beasts in the wilderness. They killed all the beasts that could be killed and turned them into meat for the army. The rest ran into the mountains, forests and swamps.
Therefore, the construction of the East China Sea Territory cannot be separated from the military.
But in other places, there is no army to help. If you want to open up wasteland, only big families can do it, because they can build Wubao in the wild, and they also have private soldiers to develop fertile land.
The people at the bottom simply cannot do it.
As for the nobles, they would not be able to open up wasteland wirelessly. They did not have enough manpower. Secondly, it was not cost-effective to be too far away from Uburg and the city.
Therefore, places like Liangzhou may not necessarily have as much fertile farmland as Donghai County, and the natural output is also limited.
Donghai Territory has reached its development limit, but Donghai County is very large. If it continues to be developed like Donghai Territory, it is estimated that 50 million acres of farmland can be developed.
After all, the territorial area of Donghai Territory, compared with Donghai County, is only one-tenth the size of the latter.
Of course, it is not easy to develop 50 million acres of land. There is not enough population, and even if so many fields are opened, no one will cultivate them.
After all, this era is not the technological era of later generations. Farming has been replaced by machines. In this era, human power is still the main force.
Even if the livestock in the East China Sea Territory is developed, the cultivated land is still manpower, and there are still only a few cattle and horses. Fortunately, Su Fan has ordered the Ministry of Industry to continue research to see if a rune-powered machine can be developed.
Speaking of those Mohist disciples, of course they are awesome. As long as they raise a few points, they will definitely develop something that is eye-catching.
It's a pity that Su Fan doesn't know much about machines, and his previous two lives were in ancient times, so he can't provide many dead ends.
This is also the reason why Donghai Ling’s machine cannot conduct rapid research.
Therefore, the development of Donghai County is still relatively difficult, not only because of manpower, but also because most of the land in Donghai County has almost fallen into the hands of those noble families.
The remaining wilderness is mostly difficult to develop. Even if it is developed, the harvest will not be very big and the benefits will not be great. This is also the reason why the nobles give up.
Of course, once the population increases in the future, Su Fan doesn't mind developing it. After all, no matter how small the mosquito is, it is still meat.
Therefore, he is in urgent need of people now, but it is a pity that Guan Hai of Qingzhou has nothing to do. You should know that Donghai has tens of millions of people, and Guan Hai will transport more than half of them for him.
Most of the refugees in Qingzhou were collected by Guan Hai and then transported to him.
Next, either transport the population from other places, or grow it naturally locally.
Due to natural growth, the base of Donghai Territory is not small. With Donghai County included, there are definitely more than one million babies born every year, or even more.
However, due to the problem of survival rate, there are many accidents during the growth process, not only in infancy but also in childhood, especially illness, which is their biggest threat.
Therefore, Su Fan needs to build a hospital, which requires a large number of doctors, but there are not many doctors in the East China Sea Territory. Su Fan said that his medical skills are good, but he cannot be a doctor in the hospital himself.
Zhang Zhongjing will be the future Minister of Health in his East China Sea Territory and concurrently the Director of the First Hospital.