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

Chapter 312, Spreading Datong Thought and Southern Tour

On December 2, the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, in the palace of Qi.

Xu Fan once again summoned all the princes, scholars, and civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty.

This time when Wei Wang Jiu and others entered the palace, they did not sit on the left and right sides. Instead, there were batches of tables and chairs, which were similar to those placed in classrooms in later generations.

This novel approach made the princes not know how to sit down for a while. It was the palace guard who led them to sit down one by one.

Wei Wangjiu found a book on the desk. He hesitantly picked it up and said, "The Book of Datong."

Yingbu sighed and said, "This is your Majesty's old problem. He wants to wait with me for class before leaving."

Liu Bang laughed and said: "The emperor's lesson has always been Huang Zhongda Lu, which is deafening. I haven't listened to it in the past two years, so I am not used to it yet."

Ying preached: "No wonder there are more and more Confucian scholars going to your feudal country. I didn't expect that Liu Bang likes to study more and more as he gets older."

Ji Bu smiled and said: "Your Majesty is doing you a favor. If you don't learn, how can you keep up with this ever-changing era? Your Majesty wants to take us to class here. If one day His Majesty doesn't want to take classes with us, this not only means that we It can no longer keep up with the times, which means that His Majesty has abandoned me."

Lu Chen and others nodded with deep understanding. Starting from "On Friends and Enemies", His Majesty has been teaching them to understand the basic principles of how this world works.

Even if His Majesty is not the emperor, he can still become a master of hundreds of schools. With such a master teaching them to understand the world, what else do they have to be dissatisfied with.

At this time, Xu Fan and Zhang Liang appeared.

Everyone saluted Xu Fan and said, "I will see your Majesty."

Xu Fan waved his hand and said, "You can sit down."

"promise"

Xu Fan said: "There are no kings and ministers here, only teachers and students."

Xu Fan said: "I called you here today because I want you to learn the aspiration of great unity. If all the people in the world support you, you should work for the benefit of all the people in the world."

Then Xu Fan said: "The ideal of great harmony is the greatest benefit of all people in the world. If you want to govern the world and govern your own vassal states, you must move towards the goal of the ideal of great harmony."

Xu Fan waved the book in his hand and said: "This is the step that Zifang designed for our country of Han to enter the world of Great Harmony based on the Datong article in the Book of Rites. As long as we follow this step and move forward step by step, even if We are moving slowly, but as long as we don’t retreat, we will eventually realize the world of great harmony envisioned by the sages.”

"A harmonious world?" Zhao Tuo looked stunned. Would a hero like Xu Fan believe this? This was not meant to deceive the people. Why did Xu Fan even deceive himself, and now he wanted to deceive them, the princes.

Then Zhang Liang said to the princes and officials of the Han Dynasty here: "If you want to realize the unity of the world, there are two pillars, one is production, and the other is distribution."

"What is production is man's ability to transform the world and create wealth. Just like a farmer who plants an acre of food can harvest a stone of food. This process is production. A woman spins silk into cloth. This process is also production. Carpenters create Furniture, houses, farm tools made by blacksmiths, and ironware are all being produced, and the food grown by farmers, cloth woven by women, furniture and houses made by carpenters, ironware made by blacksmiths, and other goods are all creating wealth for the world, so production It’s a process of creating wealth.”

Wei Jiu asked: "Isn't land wealth?"

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, princes fought for hegemony and great powers annexed, not only for land. Now Zhang Liang said that production is the creation of wealth, Wei Jiu was a little confused.

Zhang Liangdao: "Land alone is not wealth. Just like the Liaodong wasteland and the southern wilderness, there is land here, but there is not much wealth. What really turns them into wealth is the production that people add to this land. The wasteland becomes The land is the wealth, and the process depends on production.”

"Why do the princes in the world fight for land?"

At this time, Xu Fan said: "The princes are not only competing for land, but also for population. If there is only you, King of Wei, in the Kingdom of Wei now, even if you, King of Wei, have thousands of miles of land, you still don't have much wealth, because you can't use production to make this money." A piece of land is transformed into wealth, and population is the most precious wealth in the world.”

Xu Fan's words deeply touched the princes like Lu Chen and Liu Bang. Their princely states had enough land but not enough population to create wealth.

Zhang Liang continued: "Why is production one of the pillars of the world of Datong? Because if people want to live, they must produce enough wealth to survive. The more wealth produced, the better people's lives will be.

The production process is not static. Production has been a gradual increasing process from ancient times to the present.

In ancient times, people lived by hunting, and they lived a life of eating hair and drinking blood. Hunting was the main method of production in that era. Not only was this method dangerous, but the prey in an area was limited. The tribes at that time had only a very small number of people. "

Zhao Tuo asked: "There are very few ancient records, and those that have been passed down to today are like myths. How did you determine this, Prime Minister Zhang?"

Zhang Liang smiled and said: "Old history cannot be found in Zifang, but there are a large number of hunting tribes in central Guizhou, southern central and eastern Liaoning, and even in Nanyue Kingdom, there are also a large number of them. King Nanyue, you can recall , do these tribes all exist on a very small scale?”

Zhao Tuo really hadn't thought about this carefully, but now that he recalled it, it seemed that it was almost the same as what Zhang Liang said.

In South Vietnam, tribes that only rely on hunting for a living generally only have a few dozen people, and those with hundreds of people are considered relatively large. And if there is land, even if it is slash-and-burn farming, there will be hundreds of people.

Yingbu even said: "This is the case in certain Britain."

Lu Chen also said: "The situation in Liaodong is similar."

Zhang Liangdao: "Shennong appeared later. He tasted herbs and found grains for the people of the world. The people planted grains to survive. From hunting to planting, this was a period of great explosion of production.

Later, Chi You made bronze wares, Xuanyuan made carts, Xi He made calendars, and Nut weaved cloth. These are all processes of improving production.

The world can produce more goods, the population increases significantly, and villages, towns, and even countries begin to appear. "

"Farming countries had more people and goods, and became more powerful. They began to gradually annex hunting tribes. This was how farming civilization was born, and the concept of the Central Plains began to emerge."

"In the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties, there was no essential difference in production, so the world developed slowly. For thousands of years, the world's population was only a few million, and the world only consisted of the Central Plains."

But in the Spring and Autumn Period, the emergence of ironware changed this situation. The price of ironware was lower, iron ore was widely distributed, and refining was convenient. Ironware was also stronger and more durable than bronze. Using iron tools can cultivate more land, and the yield of food per unit of land becomes higher.

Therefore, in the hundreds of years from the end of the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, the world's production increased rapidly. Therefore, even though the princes of the world continued to compete for hegemony, the scope of the entire world expanded several times. It borders the desert in the north and Baiyue in the south. The world can be cultivated. The land has been almost completely occupied by us Han people, and the population has reached nearly 3 million people now.

The history of the world over the past several thousand years has been a process of production and progress. Therefore, the more advanced production is, the closer people in the world will be to the harmonious world.

In the Middle Ages, Shang Zhou's wine ponds and meat forests attracted people all over the world to curse. But now, even a wealthy family can drink wine and eat meat every day. If production goes further, even a small landowner can have wine ponds and meat forests. "

"According to your statement, Prime Minister Zhang, the ancient times were not as good as the middle ages, and the middle ages were not as good as the present. Then why do hundreds of sages advocate the ancient times, which must be called the rule of the three generations."

Zhang Liangdao: "This is related to distribution. Take the ancient times as an example. At that time, tribes were mainly hunting. There were only a few dozen people in a tribe, and the prey they could catch was extremely limited. They had to be distributed to everyone in the tribe. There was no such thing. The remaining food. Although the tribal leader may eat more, it will not be several times more than the poorest person. Only by maintaining a fair distribution can everyone survive. This is what is called sharing the world. Not because the ancients were moral, but because if they didn’t, the tribe would perish.”

But after the rise of farming, there was a surplus of goods in the world. The tribal leaders at that time took these goods as private property, which gradually formed private property. When private property expanded extremely, the world became the private property of one family and one surname, and the public world became Rule the world.

But the family world has its inherent flaws. The rulers will become more and more cruel and greedy when they are separated from the people. Eventually, the people at the bottom will not be able to survive. The people who cannot survive will support the new king to overthrow the tyranny. This forms The change of dynasties.

Therefore, when there is an extreme outbreak of production, the distribution will be more reasonable, so that all people in the world can benefit from the explosion of production, and the world will be closer to the world of great harmony.

Wei Jiu said: "Prime Minister Zhang, your statement is also flawed. The people support the new king. How did the violent Qin appear?"

Zhang Liang said with a smile: "Bao Qin can give all the land to the people of the world, and can absorb the talents of the six countries for his own use. Compared with the six countries who are still continuing their worldly affairs, how can Bao Qin not be the new king?"

"It's just that after Tyrannical Qin conquered the world, it did not bring long-term peace to the people of the world. Instead, it used heavy corvee to torture the people of the world, and they were even willing to die with Tyrannical Qin. Only then can the emperor lead 800 prisoners and use It took three years to overthrow the Qin Dynasty with millions of soldiers."

Zhang Liang talked about the contents of Datong's book for three consecutive days, and all the princes in the world had a basic understanding of what the Han Dynasty was going to do next.

These princes are also lamenting that another master of hundreds of schools will appear in the world.

After attending these three days of classes, each of these princes bowed respectfully to Zhang Liang and called him Zhang Zi.

After the class, the various princes of the Han Dynasty began to return to their fiefdoms, and princes like Liu Bang each still took care of thousands of Qi's nobles and powerful family members, and continued to enrich their vassal states.

Although Qi is constantly in war, its heritage is too rich. Even now, the registered population of Qi has exceeded one million.

In order to disintegrate the local forces of Qi, Xu Fan directly exiled Xiang Yu's army officers above the garrison and their families to other vassal states of the Han Dynasty. There were hundreds of thousands of them. Of course, compared with the dozens of vassals of the Han Dynasty, each of them had There are several thousand people allocated, so it is not difficult to arrange them.

At the same time, the 60 Han army was also rapidly disbanded, leaving only 1 soldiers for Song Liu and Han Xin to take office, and the entire world quickly returned to peace.

But after the war, Xu Fan did not return to Chang'an City immediately. Instead, he took Zhang Liang, Ge Ying, Chen Sheng and a battalion of forbidden troops directly south from Linzi, hoping to inspect the south.

On January 17, the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Ju County, Donghai County.

Although spring is gradually beginning, the cold wind is starting to bite. But for the people of Ju County, such weather cannot stop them from wanting to make a fortune.

In order to make money, everyone still had to brave the cold wind, lie in the cold sea water, endure the biting cold sea water work, pick out the sea salt from the salt fields, put it into simple rattan baskets and carry it away.

Ju County is located in the southeast corner of Donghai County. It has always been a barren land. It has not produced any famous officials and generals for hundreds of years. A few years ago, a famous general Zhongli Mei was finally born. The elders of Ju County have not yet enjoyed the belt of Zhongli Mei. The good news was that the Qi State was destroyed by the Han Dynasty, Zhongli Mei was transformed from a general to a prisoner, and the whole family was sent to the frontier by the emperor.

Although the local people complained a little about the emperor and sent out their famous generals, the local people still supported the emperor. There is no other reason than that the emperor has brought them tangible benefits.

When Donghai County was under the rule of the Dongchu State, the powerful aristocrats of the Eastern Chu State robbed the local area of ​​the sky and stripped the common people of their families. Even they themselves belonged to the aristocratic masters.

The year before last, the Han army defeated the masters of the Eastern Chu State, sent all the nobles and powerful men of the Eastern Chu State to the frontiers, burned bonds for them, and each household had equal land. Last year, they worked hard for a year, and after the autumn harvest, they were finally able to eat. A full meal. The people of Donghai County gradually lived a good life.

Last year, salt field technology was introduced to Donghai County. The prefect Wang Dao Dongmen Que constructed hundreds of hectares of saline-alkali land, leveled the land there, and built windmills. He said he wanted to create salt fields and recruited many local people to help with the work.

Salt has always been boiled from sea water. How can it grow in the fields? With such an IQ, one can become a prefect. At that time, the people in Ju County also mocked the prefect, saying that even a dog would be better than him as a prefect in the government office. , for a time the reputation of Governor Dog spread throughout Donghai County.

Of course, they earned every kilogram of the grain they should earn, and the local people were waiting to see the governor's joke.

As a result, within a month, the local people were dumbfounded. Salt really grew out of the salt fields. The prefect only had to arrange for people to pick up the salt from the salt fields and sell it. Isn't this just picking up money? The people in Ju County were shocked.

In the next year, Governor Wang built eight salt fields in Donghai County. Each of these salt fields was larger than the last. Especially in the summer, there was an endless stream of carriages carrying salt on the road every day. The people in the county were envious of this. Instead of a carriage hauling salt, it was simply a carriage hauling money.

If they want to make money, they have to break it into eight pieces with a drop of sweat, and sometimes they may not be able to make it. However, the prefect can pick up money from the ground. No wonder he can become a prefect.

For a time, Wang Dao's reputation took a 180-degree turn. When the local people talked about Wang Dao, they all gave a thumbs up and said, "The king is a capable minister."

However, although the people of Donghai County admired the prefect's royal ways, they secretly began to build their own salt fields. This thing is not difficult at all, just level the land so that the sea water can flow in, and then wait to be picked up.

At first, the local people did not dare to build large salt fields for fear of being discovered by the Han officials. Later, they found that even if the Han officials discovered their salt fields, they would not care about them.

After these common people had more contact with merchants, they realized that the Han Dynasty emphasized that laws could be enforced without prohibition. The Emperor of the Han Dynasty prohibited the prefects from doing anything randomly. It was not illegal at all for them to build salt fields. If the Han officials dared to embarrass them, they could complain to the censor.

After the restrictions were lifted, people came to the previously uninhabited Donghai County to build salt fields in villages. For a time, the coast of Donghai County was very lively. Salt fields and villages sprouted up everywhere along the coast. Donghai County The production capacity of salt has increased several times.

So when Xu Fan came to Donghai County, even in winter, he could see a large number of carriages transporting salt on the Chidao. When he came to the coast, the salt fields were one after another, and the white scenery was extremely beautiful.

But Zhang Liang saw this scene and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, the people are going to build salt fields. The court should stop the people's behavior, otherwise the local fields will be barren and it will definitely cause chaos."

In Zhang Liang's view, although salt is important, food is the foundation of the country. It is not advisable for people to give up growing food because of the benefits of salt.

Xu Fan said calmly: "The market will educate these people. When the production capacity of salt is excess, as long as the benefits of salt are not as good as farming, they will pick up the plow."

It's just overcapacity. Xu Fan has seen too much. The market will naturally be balanced after several industrial consolidations.

Moreover, there are so many migrant workers in later generations, but few of them have really abandoned their fields. Not to mention that in this era, per capita has more fields, and the benefits of farming are actually not bad.

Chen Sheng said: "Prime Minister Zhang is overthinking. The salt fields are a one-time investment and do not require much management later."

Then he pointed to the people who were braving the severe cold and said: "And if people harvest salt in winter, what kind of fields can be left unused?"

Ge Ying also said: "Farming is busy with spring plowing and autumn harvest. At other times, my wife can take care of it. I used to work part-time in summer, but it was difficult to find such a thing. Now people have salt fields as compensation. I think very good."

A few people came to a village with a salt field, found an uncle, gave them a bunch of money, and said they wanted to have lunch at his place.

The uncle was very pleasantly surprised. A rich man came, so he took out his own dried salted fish, found a piece of cured meat, steamed a cauldron of white rice, and made what he thought was a feast.

The uncle's family was very poor. It could be said that the family was bare. The two children looked pitifully at Xu Fan and the others eating their own big fish and meat, but they did not dare to come forward.

Xu Fan put some salted fish and bacon on the dinner plate into the bowls of the two children, who immediately speeded up their eating.

(End of this chapter)