| Encouragement of Immigration:...: |
Now, the territory of Qin comprises five times a thousand square li, but the soil fit for growing corn cannot occupy more than two-fifths. The area of the fields does not come up to a million mu, and the produce and treasures of its glades and morasses, of its valleys and dales, and of its famous mountains and big rivers, are also incompletely utilized. This means that the population is illproportioned to the territory. The neighbours of Qin are the three Jin states, and of these Han and Wei are fond of employing soldiers. Their territory is narrow, but their population is numerous; their dwellings are built higgledy-piggledy, and they live close together; their grain production is small, and merchants charge interest. The people on the one hand do not have their names registered and on the other hand have no fields or houses, so that for subsistence they rely on evil occupations and pursuits of minor importance, with the result that those who are exempt from taxation because they live in steep and inaccessible places, in morasses and by streams, are more than a half of the population. Therefore, it would appear that a condition where the territory is not sufficient to support the population is still worse than that where, as in the case of Qin, the population is insufficient to fill the territory. |
