Iron Dynasty Chapter 1150

“According to statistics, after the civil war ended, the Empire’s population growth has been stable, with a net increase of about 20 million.” When Pang Yukun mentioned the welfare system, he thought of the Empire’s population growth, as it was the most direct result.

“Twenty million in ten years, an increase of about two million per year. Ten years ago, the Empire’s population base was eighty million. This annual growth rate is about 2.5 percent, which is a bit low.” Xiao Ming said.

Pang Yukun said, “The growth was slow in the first few years, but since Your Majesty introduced the welfare policy, the Empire’s population growth has accelerated. According to statistics, the growth rate is five percent.”

Xiao Ming nodded. Population growth was a long process. It would take a hundred years to grow the Empire’s population from 100 million to over a billion. The only thing he could do now was to encourage childbirth and accelerate this process. The reason was simple: the Empire’s vast occupied territory needed people to cultivate it. Otherwise, sooner or later, these lands would be occupied by other countries with exploding populations. After all, in addition to the war of blood and fire, humans also had to face the war of reproduction. When a nation’s population gradually decreases, it will not be able to control its territory from being occupied by other populous races, and its former glory will only be a wedding dress for others.

Because of this, he was treating the increase of the Empire’s population as a war. Coming from modern times, he was very clear about a principle: the more developed a society is and the richer the material goods are, the more the population growth rate of that country will decrease, and it may even become negative. In the future, the Empire would also face this problem, so he could not be careless and had to encourage having more children during the initial stage of the country’s development.

So he said, “In that case, you should improve the Empire’s maternity welfare policy during this time. Families who have three to five children will enjoy a lifetime of free education and medical care. Families who have more than five children will receive a maternity subsidy and free transportation in addition to the above benefits.”

After a pause, he continued, “The reason why people are unwilling to have children is mostly due to the high pressure of life, so the Empire must pay the most attention to areas involving people’s livelihoods. Currently, the Empire’s education is completely free, except for universities. The partial free medical care is not the Empire’s final goal. In the future, we must achieve completely free medical care. Also, the Empire will next build welfare housing across the country, and families with more than three children can get one for free.”

Pang Yukun did not object to Xiao Ming’s idea. The Empire’s finances were becoming more and more abundant, and it could completely afford to implement such welfare. He said, “I will go back and issue these policies to the prefectures. With such a great deal, the people will probably cheer.”

“This is exactly what I want. No matter how much territory the Empire occupies, it’s a waste if no one goes to cultivate it.” Xiao Ming frowned. Fei Ji was old, Pang Yukun was old, and he was also getting old. Time waits for no one. He wanted to do some great things that would benefit his descendants while he still could.

Pang Yukun said, “I have already ordered the Empire to build oil reserves in all the prefectures, and we will store as much petroleum as possible while Persia has not gone back on its word.”

Xiao Ming nodded. “In addition, we will use the ore transported back from the various colonies. After meeting the Empire’s domestic demand, the rest will be used for land reclamation, which will be left for our descendants.”

Pang Yukun wrote this down. As the two of them were talking, the motorcade had already arrived at the Imperial Palace. After getting off the car, Pang Yukun returned to his office, and Xiao Ming went directly back to his bedchamber.

…

Moscow.

While the Empire was cheering for the successful test flight of the airplane, Catherine was frowning. The news from the border kept coming in, which plunged her into a panic.

“In one month’s time, the Imperial army has successively occupied Yelets, Caravelle, and Mondomusson. Your Majesty, Moscow is now completely undefended against the Imperial army,” Ivanov said worriedly.

Catherine said, “No one expected the Empire to suddenly launch an attack on us at this time. It is obvious that the Empire is responding to France’s Henry.”

Igor said, “Your Majesty, compared to France, the most important thing for us now is to protect ourselves. The defeated soldiers are all talking about the Empire’s terrifying weapons. It is these weapons that easily destroyed the Empire’s border fortresses. Many people say that these weapons are unstoppable.” He was the commander of the Tsarist Russian army, so he was most concerned about the war.

Catherine pinched her eyebrows. She had not expected the Empire to have such great courage to directly attack Tsarist Russia. After all, they had been in a stalemate in Central Asia for several years, and she thought it would continue.

“In order to deal with the Empire’s possible attack, we must call back the army that was preparing to go to France.” After a long period of hesitation, Catherine made a very difficult decision. No one could predict what the Empire would do next. Would they continue to wander on the border, or would they invade completely? As the Empress of Tsarist Russia, she had to consider her own country, and Europe could only be put on hold.

Neither Igor nor Ivanov had any objections. Now, it was not Britain that was in danger, but Tsarist Russia. Catherine suddenly regretted getting involved in the British’s affairs. It was clear that the Empire was becoming more and more difficult to provoke.

The order to withdraw the army heading to France was quickly sent out from the Kremlin, and the news was also received by Queen Victoria. Months had passed, and Queen Victoria had lost a lot of weight. When she received this news, her spirits immediately drooped.

“Three fortresses on the Tsarist Russian border were destroyed in a matter of days. Catherine must be terrified this time,” Queen Victoria said.

Brooke said, “Indeed. After all, the hundreds of thousands of Ottoman troops did not cross these three fortresses, but the Eastern Empire did it in just five days. But it is said that this is all because of a strange weapon. This weapon is said to be a combination of a machine gun and a cannon, but it is said to be extremely hard and runs faster than a horse.” With Queen Victoria’s knowledge, she could not imagine what kind of weapon this was, but if it could make Tsarist Russia so terrified, it must be another weapon that changed the balance of the battlefield.

She sighed and said, “We cannot be so desperate. It seems it is time to talk to the Empire. We cannot stay in Tsarist Russia forever, and Catherine is not trustworthy. If necessary, she would even hand me over to the Eastern Empire in exchange for benefits.”

Brooke was also worried. The situation in Britain was very serious now, and they really could not wait any longer.