At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 298, The bud of industry and the bud of aristocratic families
On October 8, the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, Chang'an City, Jingfu.

Jing Yi walked back and forth in his hall with a sad expression.

In the hall, several accounting clerks of the Jing family held abacuses and calculated the Jing family's income in the previous year.

They didn't notice the ugly look on their master's face. Instead, they became more and more excited as they made more calculations. His face became prettier and prettier, and the smile on his face could no longer be suppressed.

As his son's status improved and the world became more stable, Chen County siphoned off a large amount of wealth from around him. The wealth of the Jing family in Yang County has also increased. Now it is necessary to have a special accounting office to sort out the Jing family's annual income.

The housekeeper was also looking at the figures calculated by the accountant. When the account book of the field income was calculated, he was surprised and said: "Master, this year our family's grain harvest alone is 16 acres. Even if we pay taxes and fees, our family can still keep it." 14 shi of grain, not counting this year’s soybean income.”

As the field yield per mu continued to increase, the Han still collected three dou per mu from the Jing family, and their family's land tax became one out of ten, or even lower.

Xu Fan understood that even Han officials were unreliable. Even if they were reliable now, they would not be reliable in a few years. The way of dividing upper fields, middle fields, and lower fields was too complicated and too easy to be manipulated by Han officials. According to the thousands of years of practice, it must be the gentlemen who plant the fields, and the farmers who work on the fields, and layers of taxes are imposed on the people at the bottom.

In order to prevent this from happening, in the taxation system of the Han Dynasty, there was no such thing as upper and middle fields. Taxes were all collected according to lower fields, with three dou per acre. This was simple and clear to prevent Han officials from tampering.

There is an advantage of collecting taxes in this way that even Xu Fan did not think of. That is, the higher the yield per mu of the field, the lower the land tax is. Relatively speaking, the yield of three shi per mu is almost one-tenth of the tax. Now the Jing family's production capacity per mu has reached four stones, and the land tax has been reduced to one in twelve.

Many old scholars looked down upon this, especially the Confucian scholars from the State of Lu. To them, Chen County was a place where rituals and music were broken.

This is also the reason why Xu Fan did not touch the Chu Territory. Not only are there many new rich people, but the Chu Territory powerful are now not only rentiers, but also organized producers. In this era, they are also representatives of advanced productivity. Their production behavior can drive the development of the world.

The Jing family has begun to transform from rent-collecting landlords to large farmers. The reason for judging their transformation is very simple, that is, the Jing family invests a large amount of money in the land every year. Hire day laborers to dig silt to fertilize the fields, buy struvite to fertilize the fields, build canals, windmills, and improve water conservancy facilities on your own land.

Chen County has also become a big country. It is the place with the most watermills and windmills, the longest canals, the most agricultural technical talents, the highest investment in farmland, and the highest yield per mu. Chen County has more food than Neishi County all year round.

The main canal in Chen County has just been built, and the local auxiliary canal will be connected immediately, so the government does not need to worry at all.

There are more and more workshops in Chenjun, and their scale is getting larger and larger, forming a cluster effect. There are hundreds of large-scale textile workshops with more than 100 looms alone. If we count the looms among the people in Chen County, there are probably hundreds of thousands of them. Now Chen County is already a textile city, and the textile industry is full of people. The industrial chain has swept across the entire city and county.

The people of Chen County not only did not listen to these old scholars, they also mocked them and said: "I, Chen County, have ruined my rites and music, why are you still here?"

In order to make money, the local people did not even care about etiquette and integrity. Not only did men and women work together in the same workshop, but they also paid tens of thousands of dollars in salary to female workers. This was simply contrary to Heaven.

The butler thought for a moment and said, "This is not cost-effective. Sir, we can open a textile workshop ourselves and spin ramie into linen. This way we can make more than tens of millions of dollars."

Nowadays, the owners of textile factories in Chen County are robbing female textile workers everywhere. A female textile worker can earn more than a young adult. And the salary of a skilled female worker can exceed 10,000 yuan, which can support a family and make a family happy. The young and old live a prosperous life and become the backbone of the family.

The housekeeper continued, "We harvested 200 million catties of ramie and sold it to the textile factory of the imperial court for tens of millions of dollars. Excluding labor costs, land investment and taxes, our family can earn 500 million dollars."

The rising grain production capacity allows Chen County to feed a larger population, which in turn promotes the development of Chen County's handicraft industry.

Even in the steel industry, sugar mills do not make as much money as the textile industry. And if we include the increase in income of ordinary people and the promotion of industrial development, the ten steel industries and the sugar industry are not as good as the textile industry.

The housekeeper continued: "When the Chu Kingdom was still there, the family's income was only this much. This struvite stone is simply a treasure."

Therefore, the wealthy families in Chen County have increased their investment in their own fields and tried their best to increase the yield per mu of the fields. Buy the new Han Dynasty curved shaft plow! Waterwheel and windmill, build! Canals can increase production, repair them! Soil fertilizers can increase production, learn! Struvite can fertilize the land, buy it!

The powerful behavior of these landlords has led to the investment of ordinary people in Chen County into agriculture. Farm fertilizer has not been widely used in other places, but almost everyone in Chen County knows about it.

At the same time, Chen County was also the place where land equalization was most thorough. The salary was less than a thousand yuan. Farmers directly asked the court for 100 acres of land to farm for themselves. In this case, if the Jing family wants to retain farmers, they must pay this price.

Other counties in the Han Dynasty were still hesitant about struvite, but the struvite from Kuaiji County was always in short supply in Chen County.

In short, every method that can be used to increase the grain yield per acre has been used, and this has also led to Chen County's grain production capacity to be greatly improved every year. In a few years, grain production has more than doubled.

At the same time in the Chu region, the tenant system that Xu Fan hated most was no longer there. Instead, they hired farmers, including food and accommodation, and a monthly salary of thousands of dollars. This is not because the Jing family is kind-hearted, but because Chen County is the richest city in the Han Dynasty. Working in Chen County requires a minimum salary of 800 yuan, and food and accommodation are included.

Then the butler said excitedly: "Master, you don't know in Chang'an that it is so profitable to open a textile workshop now. As long as people in Chen County have money, they will open a textile factory. They can make back their capital in one year and start making money in the second year." ”

These Lu Ru were so embarrassed that they were speechless. They came to Chen County because their hometown had become a battlefield. They came here to avoid the war.

The second reason is that Chen County is rich, has more opportunities, and can make more money.

Chenjun was the magical capital of the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty relied on Chenjun to provide 100% of its finances. The wealth of the world is also gathering in Chen County. Of course, these people must flee to a wealthy place.

"You can't make so much money yourself, so you are jealous of those female textile workers. Fortunately, you are still studying." Chen County is the land of the Han Dynasty. The whole society is getting rich rapidly, and the local people have the arrogance of the Han people. Where can we tolerate these old scholars, talking nonsense here and interfering with their own lives?

And this also touches on the pain points of these Confucian scholars. Their salary in Chen County is only a few thousand yuan, and those with more are only three to four thousand yuan. Although they can be regarded as middle-to-high-income earners in Chen County, they are not as good as the female textile workers, which has become a pain point for them. He kept saying that Chen Jun's rites and music were ruined.

But this also shows the prosperity of Chen County. These textile factories, large and small, can produce millions of pieces of cloth of various colors every year. Now Chen County has become the world's leader in Suzhou's clothing and quilts.

The textile industry is a labor-intensive production industry, and the land is divided between the Han Dynasty and the whole world is short of labor. Therefore, when various textile factories compete for workers, they offer very high salaries. This is why skilled female textile workers are paid tens of thousands of dollars.

The wealth of the entire Chen County is growing exponentially. Money from all over the world is pouring into Chen County and is obtained by these laborers. The wealth of the people at the bottom is increasing rapidly.

As a result, a large number of citizens have appeared in Chen County. Various textile towns have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Theaters, teahouses, inns, hotels and other facilities serving the citizen class have also sprung up. Now Chen County has become somewhat of a Jiangnan water town in later generations. Looks like.

The wealthy people of Chen County naturally looked down upon outsiders. Especially when these people dare to despise their current life.

Opening a textile factory has become a trend in Chen County. Even ordinary farmers will buy a new textile machine when their family makes money, so Jingyi's housekeeper made this suggestion.

But Jing Yi did not pay attention to the steward's words, but said: "This year, our family's land tax will be paid according to 30% of the tax. We will pay one stone and three buckets per acre, no more, no less."

The steward said in astonishment: "Master, do you know what this is talking about? This requires fifty thousand dan of food to be handed over."

Then he said sadly: "Although our family is rich now, we can't waste it like this. You are not saying that you want to accumulate money and food for the young master and prepare to build a feudal country. The family still has more than a dozen children to take care of. Our family has been in trouble in the past two years. Although I earn more, I have to spend more.”

The Jing family is also developing rapidly following the Han Dynasty. In addition to the general Jing Tao, the family has three army commanders, two county magistrates, and more than a dozen Han officials of Qiangfu level. To be counted as a Jing Yi sage, The power of the Jing family extends from the upper echelons of the Han Dynasty to local governments, from the military to the political arena.

The Jing family is finally on the right track. In the past, they looked down on petty officials, but as the territory of the Han Dynasty continued to expand, the official positions of the Jing family's children also continued to rise. It only takes three years for You Jiao to be promoted from pavilion chief to county magistrate, and a major leap in class is achieved almost every year.

This kind of thing would never have happened in the Chu State back then, because the county magistrate also had a son, and his son would inherit his position as county magistrate. Similarly, the generals and county governors also had sons to inherit their positions. In this way, one level at a time When the level is pushed down, not only the people on the lower level can see the whole thing at a glance, but the people on the upper level can also do the same. But the Han Dynasty was different. The upper-class families had not yet been formed, and the upward path was still smooth. If they did well, the county magistrate could become a county guard, and the county guard could become an important minister of the court.

Of course, if you want to be promoted, just doing things is not enough. You must have connections and manage everything up and down.

Although Xu Fan is very strict, there must be loopholes in any system. As long as you want to exploit them, you will definitely find them.

Not to mention that the people who implement the system are also people. They regard this as a favor. Xu Fan has nothing to do. They can also promote their own people reasonably and legally.

So at Jingyi's level, the cost of dealing with favors every year is very high. Every money the Jing family makes goes somewhere. Now because of Jing Yi's words, thirty thousand shi of food expenses were increased, so it was no wonder that the housekeeper said that he was a prodigal.

Jing Yi sighed and said: "The prerequisite for losing a family is to have a family to lose."

"Steward, you are not in Chang'an City. You don't know the current situation in the world. There is a war in the sky. The nobles and powerful people in the Central Plains and Hebei Province have all been captured by the Han Dynasty and sent to the frontiers. Your Majesty has always disliked us controlling too much land. If you find out, My family has evaded taxes, I am afraid that my Jing family may not be destined to be sent to the frontier."

Jing Yi was frightened by the big man's actions. He was not a courageous person to begin with, otherwise he would not have rejected Zhou Zhang back then.

Hundreds of thousands of nobles and powerful men were arrested by Han officials on charges of complicity and sent to miserable places like Liaodong. Today this is even more ruthless than the First Emperor.

Even though the First Emperor was a noble and powerful man, his family always moved to a wealthy place like Guanzhong.

Send people to Liaodong, Hexi, Nanzhong, and Qianzhong to open up wasteland. How many people can survive? This is to squeeze the last value out of the Central Plains and Hebei aristocrats. Who can not be afraid of this terrible end?

Even though Jing Yi understood that with his relationship with Zhou Zhang and his son's status in the Han military, it was impossible for such a thing to happen to them.

But what if it happens? Who can say for sure.

The only way Jing Yi could think of to protect his family was to follow the emperor's wishes. If the world wanted to charge them more taxes, he would pay more. Anyway, if money and food were not taken with him in life or death, their family would not be able to take them with him. That's enough.

"That's not true. With our family's connections in Dahan, who would dare to cleanse us?"

The housekeeper has been taking care of the Jing family's property in Chen County. Although he knew about the Qi-Han War, he didn't know much about the situation in the Central Plains. He would never have thought that the emperor was nominally the King of Qi and would clean up the entire Central Plains and Hebei. The nobles of the land are powerful.

But Jing Yi said: "Who can say for sure? When today was not conquering the world, the name of benevolence and righteousness was well known to the world, but now one crime of Tongqi has wiped out hundreds of thousands of nobles and powerful men. Such a method is comparable to The First Emperor back then, who can guarantee that His Majesty would dislike the Jing family and attack our Jing family?"

In the past, Qing Yi thought he knew the emperor very well, but now he did not dare to have such thoughts. Instead, he felt more and more that the emperor was more and more similar to the First Emperor.

At this time, Xiang Biao came to Jing Yi's mansion.

"My family has 8 acres of farmland in Xiang County. It is fully equipped with watermills and windmills. The yield per mu can reach three stones and five buckets. Now I want to sell it. My friend, are you willing to take it?"

Jing Yi smiled bitterly and said: "In this situation, who would dare to take over the land, especially the land of your Xiang family?"

Jing Yi looked at his old friend with sympathy.

Xiang's family was even more powerful than his own. Not only did he have a Duke, but he also had dozens of officers in the Han army, including three captains of two thousand stone. There are more than a dozen Sima of the Thousand Stone Army. After all, the Xiang family is a general. They are promoted quickly in the army and join the emperor early. They have all the right time, place and people.

When the Han Dynasty occupied Qi State, the power of the Xiang family reached its peak in the past few years. It was much stronger than when it was in the Chu State. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the most noble of the Han Dynasty.

But now that the King of Qi has rebelled, the Xiang family is no longer a human being, and the family's prosperity has plummeted. Even he is not sure whether the Xiang family can overcome this hurdle.

Xiang Biao smiled bitterly and said: "From now on it will be the Chen family, and I am now called Chen Biao."

Jing Yi nodded to express his understanding.

But he thought for a while and said: "Brother Zhou is the only one who can save you now. You should sell your land to the court, so that the King of Han will be happier. Maybe things will turn around for the Qian family."

He didn't dare to get involved in the Xiang family's affairs.

Chen Biao thought about it and thought it made sense, so he went to the Prime Minister's Mansion to find Zhou Zhang.

At this time, Zhou Zhang was extremely busy. He not only had to deal with the autumn harvest of the Han Dynasty, but also had to arrange the logistics of the 600,000-strong army. He also had to find ways to minimize the reduction in food production due to the lack of labor among the people. He also had to prepare to open the Sage Association. , reporting on the development results of Dahan over the past year.

However, when the clerk said that Xiang Biao wanted to see him, he immediately invited him over.

"Chen Biao has met the Prime Minister."

Zhou Zhang watched in astonishment as Chen Biao saluted him.

Then Zhou Zhang said clearly: "Don't worry, Chen Xiao is Chen Xiao, and Xiang Yu is Xiang Yu. His Majesty has no intention of irritating your Xiang family. In order to make Chen Xiao feel at ease, His Majesty also appointed Chen Xiao as the deputy general of the Zhennan Army. The Xiang family of Qi and Han The Dixiang family has been separated for a long time, and your Majesty knows this. "

Chen Biao felt relieved after hearing this, but still said: "Now that the imperial court is fighting, there will definitely be a shortage of money and food. Our Chen family is willing to donate 8 acres of fertile land. If it is not enough, I, the Chen family, are willing to donate another million yuan."

Zhou Zhang knew that Chen Biao was still uneasy, so he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "If the Tiandi court accepts it, it will be purchased at the normal market price, and the money will be forgotten.

Don't worry, the emperor doesn't like the implicated punishment, not to mention that Chen Xiao is the founding father of our country, the emperor still needs Chen Xiao to open up Nanzhong. "

Hearing this, Chen Biao breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the emperor still needs his son to do things, the fate of their family will not be too bad.

Zhou Zhang continued: "After this war is over, you and Chen Xiao can develop the Nanzhong region with peace of mind."

Chen Biao nodded and said: "I will definitely open up Nanzhong for the emperor. Prime Minister, you are so busy, I will not disturb you anymore."

Zhou Zhang shook his head helplessly when he saw Chen Biao retreating. It would be difficult to get rid of the knot in his old friend's heart.

At the same time, he was also worried about the situation in the Central Plains. Chen Biao was not the only one who came to him for comfort.

The sages who came to Chang'an City were all frightened by the situation in Hebei, the Central Plains. They had close relationships with the nobles and powerful people, and many of them were married. They were worried that such a purge would happen to them.

Therefore, this year's Sage Festival was extremely lively, and many people came to Chang'an City with their families in tow. Chang'an City has been regarded as a shelter by them.

(End of this chapter)