One morning in September of the year 3251 of the Tang Dynasty, an important meeting was being held in the newly completed Peach Blossom Hall of the Liu family.
In the Peach Blossom Hall, on the floor paved with golden sandalwood, dozens of foundation-building elders of the Liu family are sitting cross-legged.
Liu Changxu and Yang Qingxue sat side by side on the golden throne of the main hall. Su Jinxiu, Qin Yulian, Li Zhenxin, Wu Yunyue, and Liu Fuyue sat on either side of them.
This meeting was proposed by the patriarch Liu Fuyue. To this end, he also invited his father Liu Changxu and his aunts to the meeting.
"Father! Mother! Auntie! Elders, I have called you all here for a meeting today. I have a very important matter to discuss with you!"
Liu Fuyue said:
"What's the matter! Tell me!"
Liu Changxu looked at his increasingly mature son and felt very satisfied! So he gave an encouraging inquiry:
Liu Fuyue thought for a while and said:
"Father! Dear aunts and elders! The biggest problem our Liu family currently faces is insufficient population. With the establishment of New Taocheng, more and more monks are pouring into Taohua Island!
Many of these monks come with their families and plan to live permanently in New Taocheng! If things go on like this, the foreign population of Taohua Island will surely increase.
However, the growth rate of our family's population in the past few years has not been satisfactory. In the past few years, the family has only increased by thirty people, which is almost negligible compared with the rapid growth of the outside population.
In this case, the territory that our Liu family has worked so hard to build has become a wedding dress for others!
Therefore, I think it is necessary for our Liu family to adjust the population marriage and childbearing policy and do our best to increase the population."
Liu Fuyue's words made everyone present suddenly fall into deep thought.
In fact, everyone understands this issue, but they just don’t want to say it out loud!
This is because female cultivators account for the majority among the top brass of the Liu family. Yang Qingxue, Su Jinxiu, Qin Yulian, Li Zhenxin, and Wu Yunyue all play a very important role in the Liu family.
The marriage and childbirth policy that significantly increases the population will inevitably affect the vital interests of the Liu family's female cultivators, which will lead to strong opposition from this group of people.
After all, no woman wants her husband to have too many wives and concubines to compete with her for favor.
Sure enough, as soon as Liu Fuyue finished speaking, Yang Qingxue and Su Jinxiu turned to look at their husbands with rather unkind eyes.
And Li Zhenxin quickly sent a message to her son, asking him not to talk about it again. She didn't want her son to cause public outrage.
Liu Fuyue didn't expect that his opinions would cause such a big reaction from all the aunts, and he couldn't help feeling a little regretful, but the words had already been spoken and he could no longer take them back.
As a result, the entire hall fell into silence, and no one was willing to speak.
Liu Changxu looked at the people in the hall and knew that he had to speak.
Ignoring the murderous looks in Yang Qingxue and Su Jinxiu's eyes, Liu Changxu said:
"Yue'er is right. Our Liu family's population and fertility policy must be adjusted. Otherwise, with the current population and fertility policy alone, it will be difficult for the number of our Liu family to grow rapidly.
I suggest that the family’s original population and fertility policy be significantly adjusted.
One, continue to give high rewards to tribesmen for taking wives and concubines.
The clan members are monks, and every time they marry a wife or concubine, they will contribute points to the Qian Family as a wife and concubine subsidy.
If you marry a monk, then double the 1,000 family contribution points to get 3,000 family contribution points.
The clan members are mortals. Every time they marry a wife or concubine, they will be rewarded with a thousand acres of land at a time, and a special reward of one hundred taels of gold will also be given.
No matter how much you marry, you will be given a wife subsidy.
The second is to continue to give high fertility rewards to the tribe.
Both husband and wife are monks. Each time a child is born, the couple will be rewarded with 500 family contribution points. Once the child detects spiritual roots, the couple will be rewarded with 1,000 family contribution points each.
If one or both spouses are mortals, every time a child is born, the family will reward each spouse with 500 acres of land and 100 taels of gold.
Once the child detects spiritual roots, the couple will be rewarded with one thousand acres of land and two hundred taels of gold each.
The third is to continue to encourage casual monks or other family monks to marry into the Liu family, and give male monks who marry into the Liu family the same treatment as family monks.
In addition to encouraging the tribesmen to work hard to have children, there are also strict restrictions on the entry of outsiders into Taohua Island.
Foreigners are prohibited from settling in places other than Xantaocheng.
Monks from foreign families and casual cultivators can only live in Xintao City.
And these foreign monks are reviewed and registered to prevent evil cultivators from mixing in.
At the same time, a residence token will be issued for every monk living in New Taocheng. Those who do not have a token will be expelled from Taohua Island.
People who come to Taohua Island temporarily must also apply for a temporary residence token, which will be taken back when they leave!
..."
Everyone in the hall was surprised when they saw Liu Changxu's eloquent story.
Especially Liu Fuyue, seeing his father saying so much and seeing how every suggestion was so reasonable, he couldn't help but admire it. It seemed that his father had already had this idea, but he just expressed it today.
After Liu Changxu expressed his opinions, he looked around at everyone present and asked leisurely:
"Do you have any other opinions on what I said?"
"No, I agree!"
"I agree too!"
……
Everyone present said they agreed, but in fact they all had different opinions. However, everyone was not a fool. Liu Changxu did not give everyone time to discuss. It was clear that his mind had been made up and he did not give everyone a chance to object.
Of course, most of the cultivators present highly recognized Liu Changxu's suggestion. The only dissatisfaction was that the reward was too generous, and they were worried that the family would not be able to afford such a generous reward over time.
If this policy is really implemented, some members of the Liu family may not want to do anything but focus on marrying wives, taking concubines, and having children.
And will this reduce the enthusiasm of the clan members for cultivation and lead to a decrease in the combat effectiveness of the family monks?
Originally, those monks who only wanted to practice and did not want to have more children would join the ranks of trying to have children.
"Father, there is still a situation in the family that needs to be resolved!"
Liu Fuyue said hesitantly:
"What's the matter? Yue'er, tell me!"
Liu Changxu said in a gentle tone:
"There are too few unmarried female nuns and mortals on the island now. Although the policy you mentioned is good, there are currently not that many female nuns on the island who can marry our Liu family."
Liu Fuyue said:
"In this way, you send someone to make an announcement in Xantao City and announce the decision that all foreign monks need to apply for residence tokens.
At the same time, it was also announced that a fee of twenty low-grade spiritual stones is required to apply for a new Taocheng residence token, while female cultivators can apply for it for free! This will attract female cultivators to live in Xindaocheng."