My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 799 Entering a State-Owned Factory

At this point, the cultural and educational reform of the empire that Fusu had always wanted to complete since he planned to transform the Qin Empire has been completely deployed by Fusu, and it will only take three to five years to see the results.

Everything about the cultural and educational reform has been clarified.

The most fundamental purpose of cultural and educational reform is to promote the Tao and restore people to the highest virtue;
To implement Confucian education for nobles and common people respectively, and to build social thought based on the scientific principles of Taoism;

Then came the construction of the discipline of imperial thought, the shift from a macro perspective to micro research, and from the reorganization of various schools of thought to the establishment of modern disciplines.

Everything is moving towards a more systematic, organized and effective goal.

Today, in the backyard of the Imperial College, huge pots are filled with boiling water, and steam is rising into the sky.

The log slurry in the pot still has a faint green hue. No bleach has been added to the pot. Although the color looks a little darker, the slurry is becoming more and more uniform.

The Qin Empire was still exploring papermaking, but relying on its developed political system and the allocation of human and material resources, they quickly completed the research and development of papermaking in just over a decade.

The Qin State had mastered no less than three complete papermaking process flows.

Each set of procedures has been fixed and there are a large number of craftsmen who are familiar with this method.

There was great support both in terms of technology and manpower to support the combination of papermaking and printing.

However, the traditional method of papermaking is very laborious.

Officials in wooden clogs walked around the yard to dry paper, while others carried cloth for filtering paper and walked back and forth between the pulp pools in the house.

Qin II was wandering in the backyard of the Imperial Academy, looking at this scene, with mixed feelings in his heart.

"If I could see paper being mass-produced by machine workshops in my lifetime, I would die without regrets."

Everyone was surprised and looked at Qin II.

They knew that Qin II had always been a wise ruler with great strategic vision and lofty ideals and ambitions, but he never said such things in public, such as "if only this or that would happen."

Qin Shihuang often liked to say such things. When he saw Han Fei's book for the first time, he said, "If I could meet this man and travel with him, I would not regret dying."

But Fusu was not like that.

Suddenly, in the paper-making workshop of Taixue, Qin II said this.

Everyone present immediately became interested, as they knew that Emperor Qin II was planning to set up a large state-owned mine and recruit male workers.

At the same time, many large national textile factories were built to recruit female workers.

A large number of idle workers are attracted by the money and new jobs and are asking for information.

However, these two types of factories are still in the preparation stage, and the eunuchs serving the emperor have no power to inquire about them, let alone witness them with their own eyes.

But everyone knows that there is such a thing as a factory, which brings together many people to work collectively and produce material materials.

In the past, there were also such places in the Qin State, where many people were gathered together to work.

However, unlike in the past, Qin II planned to use recruitment instead of forced conscription; although all manufactured items belonged to the government, they would receive very generous rewards for manufacturing these materials.

That is, the people who work for them can get almost half the value of the products they make.

This is Fusu’s ideal, to let those who make products enjoy the benefits of their products.

The world of the past is becoming a thing of the past.

There will no longer be a story that a woman spends her whole life weaving gauze but never gets to wear a gauze skirt in her entire life.

Now the situation has changed. Basically, a woman can enjoy half of the yarn she weaves in her lifetime, and the other half will be transferred to the state and converted into national defense forces to protect her safety, which is equivalent to a hidden benefit.

There will no longer be such a situation where miners work hard all their lives and end up being unable to support their wives and children.

Basically, one person can support the whole family by working, and there will be a surplus.

As soon as this plan to build a state-owned factory was proposed, it was immediately praised by Confucian disciples and those doctors all praised it.

However, this task was assigned to the pair of brothers most trusted by Qin Shihuang - Meng Tian and Meng Yi.

It was because of these two people that other officials of the Qin Empire did not dare to have any bad intentions on this matter. Because if Meng Tian presided over this matter, no one would be able to make money from it, but might even lose their lives.

Meng Tian was a man of both civil and military talents.

Facts have also proved that Meng Tian had a very high prestige and was very popular among the people. It was actually a waste of his talent for Qin Shihuang to send him north to recover the Hetao region in those years.

Meng Tian was definitely qualified to be prime minister.

This can be seen from the fact that he was able to manage the state-owned factories without any noise at all.

However, what surprised everyone was that Qin II not only wanted to promote the state-owned factory model in the mining and textile industries, but also wanted to build a large factory in the papermaking industry.

When many people were praising him, they said, "Your Majesty is really wise and intelligent. In this way, those young people who can't settle down at home will have a new place to go. With this paper mill, and giving them generous rewards and profits, why should we worry about them thinking about fighting?"

People at that time praised and agreed.

The officials also looked over, their eyes shining.

According to information revealed by their superiors, this group of people are very likely to be converted into workers, regain their freedom in the future, and only be registered in the factory.

Only Chen Ping was always quick-witted, and he immediately realized that this matter could not last long.

"Your Majesty, if we open a paper mill, the production will far exceed the expenditure, which will lead to stockpiling and unsaleable goods."

"Scarcity makes things valuable. Once a large amount of paper appears on the market, I'm afraid the price of paper will drop rapidly."

"Then the workers won't be able to make enough profit from papermaking to support their lives."

Chen Ping's answer made everyone present feel a chill on their faces, and some people even regretted what they had just said.

The officials looked at Chen Ping with stunned expressions.

They were all very curious, who was this eight-foot-tall, handsome man?

Fusu smiled and said, "Well said. However, first of all, the paper will not be unsalable and there will be no backlog;"

"Secondly, the essence of state-owned factories is state control. I am willing to give those miners and female workers generous compensation because the value of those minerals and cloth is very high. Allocating more value to the craftsmen will be more beneficial to the Great Qin Empire."

"People get more money, so they naturally want to spend. Once they start spending, the products produced by the lowest-level people in society will be bought by more groups, thus creating a virtuous economic cycle within Daqin."

Chen Ping asked again, "What's the difference about the paper mill? From your Majesty's tone, you don't plan to sell paper to the people."

The Second Emperor: "Papermaking was originally intended to serve education. So although this can become a profitable business, I will not leave it to the people to do it on their own."

"From now on, all education will be under the strict control of the state. No one will be allowed to produce books privately to confuse the public."

"All those fake works and books in the folk must also be cleared out and destroyed." Chen Ping understood, "I understand your majesty's meaning. Your majesty will not open a paper mill on a large scale. It will only be based on income and expenditure and meet the needs of the country."

“And the wages of those papermakers will not be divided according to the income from their labor, because the nature of their labor is different and the profits they produce are very small.”

"If we pay them according to the profits from papermaking, it will be disadvantageous to them. So, Your Majesty, do you plan to set a different salary? Let the state pay this salary."

Qin II nodded, "That's right."

Upon hearing this, other officials praised Qin II.

"Your Majesty is truly wise."

Chen Ping felt it was strange. Why did Your Majesty just say that the paper would not be unsalable?

Could it be that Your Majesty made a slip of the tongue and I was overthinking it?

Chen Ping frowned.

Qin II patted Chen Ping on the shoulder and said with a smile, "I guess you must be curious about where I want to sell the paper?"

"Your Majesty, please enlighten me."

Everyone looked at Qin II and Chen Ping, their eyes turned red and their livers and lungs were burning with anger.

If they were told that they were not in that kind of relationship, they would not believe it even if the Jade Emperor came in person to prove it.

However, Chen Ping didn't have time to care about the eyes behind him.

The resonance between him and Qin II was between true wise men, and only he and Qin II themselves understood it.

Qin II gently explained to Chen Ping, "The purpose of papermaking is to print books. I make books in order to distribute them to the people so that they can learn the truth and gain wisdom."

"But if we only distribute books internally, wouldn't it be a bit boring?"

Chen Ping suddenly felt a flash of inspiration in his mind, but he also felt it was incredible.

"Your Majesty, you are not planning to sell these books abroad, right?"

"Sell the books to other vassal states..." Chen Ping thought again. The enfeoffment was just a cover. In the mind of Qin II, every piece of land belonged to the Qin Dynasty. "Your Majesty wants to sell the books overseas, to the frontier, to those foreigners?"

"Yes and no."

"The island nations on the sea are far away, scattered, and small. There are many barbarians in the north and south. Even if they get our books or paper, they may not be able to make good use of them."

"I remember the first time I used paper on the battlefield. The soldiers of Chu used paper as toilet paper. Although I can see from this incident that Chu is really a barbarian."

“But it says a lot.”

"But this has also broadened my horizons. I will no longer limit myself to making paper for books. I can indeed invent paper for daily use."

"Isn't this just another way to make money?"

There was a gleam in Qin II's eyes. He always felt that he was a businessman who was delayed in governing the country.

If Qin Shi Huang had not been such a bad businessman, he could have become a businessman, reselling his inventions everywhere, and within three to five years, he would have become the richest man in the world.

Ahem, it’s a pity that Fusu can only think about it this way.

Once he is an emperor, he will be an emperor for life, and from now on he will have to sit obediently on the throne in Zhangtai Palace.

Chen Ping looked at the raised corners of Qin II's mouth and became even more confused. "Then where does your majesty plan to sell the paper?"

"Beyond the Great Wall, the country west of the continent."

"I plan to prepare a team to take my inventions and papers overseas to spread my reputation. At the same time, I plan to contact various countries and start foreign exchanges and trade with them."

Chen Ping stared at Fusu blankly. At that moment he realized that Qin Ershi was just an enhanced version of Qin Shihuang who had absorbed the experience of Qin Shihuang's failure.

The same love of ostentation, the same greed, the same love of money and wealth.

No one could understand what Qin II was saying.

"Foreign exchange and trade? What is that?"

The accompanying officials whispered...

Every time Qin Ershi came to the Imperial Academy, his mood was different.

Seeing that the Imperial Academy has become so large and filled with heroes from all over the world, Fusu feels a sense of pride and security from the bottom of his heart.

"All the talents in the world are under my command." Qin II said with high spirits, "Not to mention those who have become talents or are about to become talents are under my command, but those who were originally unable to become talents will still become outstanding talents under my command."

Sima Wuyi listened and wrote until he felt something was not right.

His hand stayed on the document for a while, and after thinking for a long time, he began to write down every word truthfully.

Sima Wuyi cursed in his heart as he wrote, "Your Majesty, just be crazy. Look how crazy you are."

Guan Fu looked at Sima Wuyi's face which suddenly turned red. He could see the butcher's aura in the way he wrote.

Sima Wuyi's arm was like an axe, chopping fiercely at some evil on the desk.

Guan Fu looked at Sima Wuyi and felt that he was more terrifying than the fighters on the battlefield.

Qin II was walking around in the papermaking workshop, and soon the doctors came to accompany him.

Among them was Tang Bing, Duke of Dongyuan.

There was another person who was a fan of Qin II's state policies - Kong Yu.

Kong Yu had been in the Qin Empire for quite some time.

However, he still had many dissatisfactions with the State of Qin. He came here because of Fusu and thought that Fusu was practicing benevolent governance.

As a result, Fusu implemented benevolent government with a political system that was different from benevolent government, which elevated Kong Fu's admiration for Qin II to a higher level.

Ever since the emperor assigned one task of educational reform after another to the Imperial Academy, doctors such as Chunyu Yue had already picked up the "Book of Changes" and "Huangdi Neijing" and began to make the most detailed annotations.

Kong Yu was also busy doing this. No one understood what his ancestor Confucius said better than him.

However, when he heard that Qin II was coming to visit in person, he, a distinguished guest who no one could invite normally, actually came to pay a visit to Qin II in person. This shows the status of Qin II in his mind.

When Fusu saw Kong Yu actually came to greet him in person, he felt like a hero and very handsome at that moment!

The autumn fog is thick, and the mountains are covered with red persimmons. Each bright red persimmon is like a flame, burning their passion in this bleak autumn.

(End of this chapter)