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

Chapter 338, Xu Feng’s persuasion and the contradiction between industry and agriculture

On March 2, the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, in Shanglin Garden, cotton field.

There were several spring rains in Guanzhong, the trees grew leaves, the grass sprouted, and everything began to revive.

Xu Fan followed Xu Feng to plant cotton seeds one by one.

After spring plowing, Xu Fan likes to patrol the fields around Chang'an City, and this cotton field is the place Xu Fan attaches most importance to. It was also the first stop on his tour.

Xu Feng said while planting cotton seeds: "Your Majesty, you are a novice in farming. If you have such skills, why not bring some more struvite stones to the big man? If you get one more stone of struvite stone, my big man will have 10 more stones of grain." There is nothing more important in the world than this.”

Xu Fan said helplessly: "The struvite that can be excavated now is the limit. Most of the struvite is on the island, which requires a special sharp-bottomed ship. Instead of the big man's flat-bottomed boat, the flat-bottomed boat goes to the sea to meet It was overturned by waves, but making sea-going ships requires wood and enough carpenters. Now the Han Dynasty has shipyards in Kuaiji County, Guangyang County, and Liaodong County.

But it still takes time. It sometimes takes 3-4 years for a giant tree to be cut down and turned into a plank that can be used to make a seagoing ship. Even if there are dry kilns now, it can shorten the time by several years, but it still takes more than a thousand stones to make a ship. It still takes several months for the sea ships to be transported. If there are not enough sea ships, there will be no way to increase the number of struvite stones. "

In the past two years or so, Dahan has built more than a hundred ships, not counting small fishing boats, with a production capacity of more than a thousand stones. However, facing the huge demand for fishing boats, transport ships, and warships, this number is still not enough.

Last year, the Han Dynasty decided to build a shipyard in Jiujiang County, Lujiang County, Hengshan County, Nan County and other places. To this end, it also allocated a large number of shipbuilders to work as skilled workers in these counties to expand the number of sea-going ships.

Xu Fan said: "Not only have we planted 20,000 acres here this year, but I will also distribute the remaining planting to various princes. When this batch of cotton is harvested, the price of cotton cloth will come down. At most, in four to five years, cotton cloth will become my big man's property." Ordinary fabric.”

Xu Fan said helplessly: "The common people have no seeds for cotton, so they dare not plant it. After all, they are not rich and cannot afford the losses. The princes all over the country have children from farmers. They have talents and can afford the losses."

"In fact, compared with cotton, due to the rapid development of the textile industry in Dahan in the past two years, there are spinning wheels that have increased efficiency dozens of times, as well as new looms. The production efficiency of textiles has greatly increased. The whole world is short of silk and linen. This The price of silk and hemp has tripled in the past two years, but among the people, people would rather grow crops whose prices have dropped by half than grow mulberry and hemp."

The workshop owners in Chang'an City also quickly found a solution, which was to go to the countryside to find some farmers to work as part-time workers. Their salary was even lower, generally less than 500 yuan, and they could only work for a few months during the slack period. thing, but it also greatly solves the dilemma of the labor force. Xu Fan also recognizes this model, which can increase farmers' income.

Xu Fan said: "It is enough for the imperial court to have the prime minister sitting in charge. It is enough for the emperor to make plans for the development of the Han Dynasty and maintain the balance of the various classes in the Han Dynasty."

The largest number of raw materials, shipyards can only build in these two major cities if they want to double the reduction. Moreover, the construction of shipyards locally can also speed up the development of Jiangnan. For the people, cutting down trees can make a lot of money. With this money To open up wasteland as primitive accumulation can be said to kill two birds with one stone. Therefore, the Han court also supported such a move.

"Compared to government affairs, it is a bigger matter to popularize cotton in the Han Dynasty as soon as possible. If cotton is popularized, people in the world will have one more kind of cloth to use. This is real wealth. There will be more wealth in the world. Everyone life will be better.”

"I have asked the government-run textile factories of the Han Dynasty to use this model to set up millions of acres of cash crop fields in Guanzhong, helping tens of thousands of people get rich."

Xu Fan asked: "Is the columbine ready? With this agricultural tool, people can save a lot of energy in spring plowing, and can do other things. Even if they work part-time in Chang'an City, they can earn hundreds of dollars more."

Xu Feng sighed and said: "The people are still hungry. That is to say, we have only had a few full meals in the past two years in Dahan. Even the fellow farmers need to grow seeds and grains."

Xu Feng said: "Your Majesty should pay more attention to government affairs. My farm is enough for you."

Xu Feng said with a smile: "This cotton cloth is indeed good, soft, breathable and comfortable, but it is a little less expensive and ordinary people cannot afford to wear it. But the most correct thing you did last year was to bring cotton cloth to The world.”

Xu Fanxi said: "People in Guanzhong generally only have 100 acres of land, and a small columbine is enough."

Xu Fan continued: "And the Dahan's sea-going ships are mainly used on fishing boats. After all, the struvite sea is for food to grow, but the fishing ships have to catch fish for meat. Last year, the Dahan caught millions of fish. Even if one pound of sea fish is equivalent to five pounds of grain, this is five million dan of grain. If the Han Dynasty wants to ensure that everyone has meat to eat, your majesty will increase the amount of sea fish caught. "

The reason why we do not build shipyards in coastal counties is also very simple. Lands in the Central Plains such as Qidi were developed early, and all the centuries-old giant trees that could be used as dragon bones had long been cut down.

Due to the rapid development of the handicraft industry in Chang'an City, the labor force among the major craftsmen in Chang'an City is becoming increasingly scarce.

Xu Feng smiled and said: "A small columbine has been built. This column can be used by dozens of people to sow, but the columbine that one person can sow more than 600 acres as you said has not yet been successful." ”

Xu Feng frowned when he heard this and said, "Why don't you leave some seeds for the people?"

Xu Fan said: "The situation should be better this year. A workshop owner named Ai Qiang has developed a contract farming model. He first gives deposits to farmers and asks them to plant mulberry and hemp for the textile factory, and then they purchase these raw materials after the autumn harvest. In this way, farmers only need to pay labor force to sell silk and hemp. "

Some flat-bottomed boats can be spliced ​​together with small trees, but if you dare to do this when building a sea-going ship, the ship will be destroyed and people will die. In this era, only Liaodong and Jiangnan can see the endless forest sea.

Xu Feng thought that starting from this year, he could see fish in almost every meal. In Dahan’s meat market, sea fish was the cheapest. He couldn’t help but nodded and said, “This is the foundation of the country.”

"Other textile factories do not want to be limited in raw materials and do not want to be squeezed out by the government-run textile factories of the imperial court and go bankrupt, so they will definitely promote this model. This model can make farmers gain and their risks be transferred to textile factories with stronger risk resistance. If this happens, the people will not have to worry about being hungry. In two or three years, the ratio of food and cash crops will be balanced, and the people will become rich."

Xu Feng smiled and said: "This Ai Qiang is quite capable."

Xu Fan said: "He has indeed done a good thing that benefits the country and the people."

Xu Feng thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, don't blame me for talking too much."

"You say!"

Xu Feng said: "Today's Han Dynasty is already in a prosperous age that I have never seen before. Most of the people in the world can have enough to eat. This is the first time I have seen such a prosperous scene. Even now when I go to hell and see those You can also be proud to say that we, the younger generations, have finally achieved the prosperous age they want to see. "

"Such a prosperous age is so rare. Scholars have worked hard for hundreds of years, and the people of the world have been waiting for hundreds of years. Why does Your Majesty need to cause more troubles? Wouldn't it be better to just enjoy this prosperous age like this?"

"To put it bluntly, this means that if you were the emperor today, if it had been any other king, Qin Bo would have been dead long ago, and the Mo family would have been dispersed again.

The Mo family can control hundreds of thousands of people. This is a great threat to the court. It is no wonder that the prime minister wants to drive Qin Bo out of the court. Qin Bo ascends to a high position and will definitely have power over the government. This is too scary for the Han Dynasty court. . "

Then Xu Feng looked at Xu Fan strangely and said, "Aren't you afraid?"

Xu Fan said: "Why should I be afraid? The people who supported the strike at the beginning were ordinary craftsmen. They wanted to protect their own interests, so they were not supporting the Mohists, but the Mohists were supporting them. People are fighting for their legitimate rights and interests. Why should I be afraid.

In addition to being the emperor, I am also a member of the common people. I only want to do things for four hours a day. One day of rest is still too little for me. I want to have two days of rest. I also want to have a rest. Take holidays, preferably half a month of paid leave a year. "

Xu Feng was dumbfounded when he heard this. He didn't expect that the current "Artisan Decree" was not the emperor's limit, and the emperor had higher requirements.

And he didn't expect the emperor to have such an idea. How weird is this?

The whole world is yours, but you are thinking about rest?

Xu Fan's thoughts were different again. The people of the Han Dynasty were the cornerstone of his rule. He could be the emperor only by relying on the support of the people. Why should he be afraid of his own people. At this time, Xu Fan was a little confused as to why people like Zhou Zhang were so nervous about a general strike. As long as industrialization begins, strikes will become a part of daily life. Workers have nothing to fear when they fight for their legitimate rights.

Xu Feng looked at Xu Fan's clear eyes. This was the emperor's truest thought.

He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "You really don't have the consciousness of an emperor. People like Qin Bo in all dynasties will be killed quickly. It has nothing to do with his moral character, just because he has the ability to rebel. Many powerful officials in all dynasties have died in On this point.”

Xu Feng is more than seventy years old and has seen too many things where birds are gone and their bows are hidden.

Xu Fan said disdainfully: "Why should I be afraid of Qin Bo's rebellion? This world is not my world alone, but the world of everyone in the world. If Qin Bo wants to cause rebellion in the world, how can the people of the world do it?" Follow him."

He may not know what ordinary people are like, but he will be an ordinary person in future generations. Doing things peacefully and being an honest person is the norm for people all over the world. Even if they are bullied, they rarely resist as long as they are not in a desperate situation.

Just like in later generations, when chemical fertilizers and pesticides continued to rise, few people helped farmers speak out. Instead, they cut acres of green crops for feed, as if they had committed a huge crime. The whole world will catch this farmer for bullying. The bully has no right to speak, and the bully dare not resist. Things often happen where farmers can only be sacrificed for the sake of the overall situation.

Such an honest group has rebelled. Shouldn't you examine yourself?

Xu Fan continued: "The opposite is the same. If all the people in the world follow Qin Bo in rebellion, it means that the court is unpopular and the emperor has become a sole man.

What is the purpose of such a decadent imperial court?
Let them continue to oppress the people of the world!
It would be better to let him die early and be reincarnated early, and let a new court rule the world. "

A very famous question in Xu Fan's later generations is why only the Celestial Dynasty has reincarnation, and no other civilization can see this.

Many people want to talk about a long list of things like nationality, culture, inferiority, and so on.

But it's all nonsense. Those small countries with few people are not qualified to talk about how to control chaos and reincarnation. Even if you are strong, they can kill you, let alone your decline.

In Xu Fan's view, the size of the Celestial Dynasty was too large. Even if the Celestial Dynasty declined, there were no enemies that could threaten the Celestial Dynasty.

Therefore, the period of decline of this giant beast is particularly long. It has to decline until it becomes a zombie, unable to resist any threats from the outside world. This is when it will suddenly become ill and die.

But other civilizations such as Da Qinzhou are different. The political system is too fragmented, there are too many countries, the land is too small, there are not enough people, and the size is too small.

When such a small country is strong, it can expand externally, but as long as a useless person like Baozong appears and the country shows any signs of weakness, the surrounding enemies will destroy the country. These small countries are not qualified to enjoy the decline. process.

If it is too big, it will be difficult for the enemy to deliver a fatal blow. Even if there are idiots like Baozong, faint kings like Yang Guang, unprincipled kings like Heng Ling, or even mediocre monarchs like our Song Dynasty, they will only decline slowly and the national destiny can continue to improve. century.

On the contrary, after globalization, the world once again entered the Warring States Period. Those behemoths of ancient civilizations finally had giants of comparable size.

As a result, there is once again a scenario where the hegemonic power declines and may collapse. The beacon of civilization, even if it does not want to make progress, is rapidly declining in the globalization pattern of failure to advance or retreat.

It will be the norm in this era to flourish and die suddenly. The more fierce the competition in the era, the less likely there will be reincarnation. It is only possible that you will decline and be replaced immediately. matter.

In Xu Fan's opinion, if the Han Dynasty declined and stood on the opposite side of the people, then he would die early and be reincarnated early and be replaced by a new court. If he refused to die, he would only make the people suffer for hundreds of more years.

When Xu Feng heard Xu Fan's answer, he said in shock: "Yes, since the world belongs to everyone, why are you afraid of one person rebelling?"

"After all, I still use my old thinking to look at the world of the Han Dynasty, which is a joke to Your Majesty."

Xu Fan smiled and said: "No, Master Xu, you are also a member of the common people, so you can naturally care about the government."

When Xu Feng heard this, he laughed and said: "Yes, I am also a member of the common people, and I am also the master of the Han Dynasty. Whoever dares to rebel in the world of my Han Dynasty, although I cannot defeat him, I will spit on him." "

Xu Fan continued: "The craftsmen have the Mohists to organize them, but the vast majority of farmers in the world do not have a school to organize them. If you want to organize thousands of farmers in the world, this school must be your farmers."

"In recent years, many advanced agricultural tools and advanced farming techniques have appeared in the world, but in most of the territory of the Han Dynasty, people are still farming according to thousands of years of tradition, and no one has spread these advanced techniques to them. "

The spread of technology in ancient times was too slow. Cai Lun improved papermaking, but paper became popular on a large scale hundreds of years later during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Quyuuli appeared in the early Tang Dynasty, but it was not until the Northern Song Dynasty that it spread to the whole world.

There is also sun-salted technology, some say it appeared in the Western Han Dynasty, some say it appeared in the Tang Dynasty, but it was the Ming and Qing Dynasties when sun-salted salt became widely popular.

If you want to spread technology quickly, you must have large organizations taking the initiative to spread agricultural technology.

Originally, the Han Dynasty court could assume this role, but Xu Fan did not trust the bureaucratic style.

He even thought about what would happen. The imperial court would use money to subsidize farmers to buy farmhouses. In the end, the Han officials would give a piece of wood as a farmhouse to the farmers, and the money would be divided among them. And the farmer is happy to get a piece of wood.

He feels that farmers must be able to take on this role. Farmers' technical staff can lead farmers' interests, and farmers will trust them. The technology is easier to promote.

Xu Feng said: "This is what my farm family has been doing, but after all, there are too few children from my farm family, and the scope of influence is limited after all, and they are not as ideal as Mohists."

At this point, Xu Feng felt helpless. The children of farmers want to be officials more than farmers. Of course, this happens in every school of thought. When they go out to be officials, they prefer landlords, big landowners, and manor owners, rather than farmers.

This led to the fact that most of the farmers' children, in addition to becoming agricultural advisers to the Han Dynasty, took refuge in the service of the princes of the Han Dynasty and became officials.

Xu Fan said: "This is human nature, but when farmers' children can make themselves rich, they can also spread technology and make the people around them rich. This can be regarded as a contribution to the Han Dynasty."

"Master Xu can first send farmers' children to the villages around Chang'an City to organize farmers to work together, produce together, and harvest together."

Xu Fan now wants agriculture to keep up with the development of handicrafts, but at this time he encountered the flaws of the Han yeoman system. Although there is plenty of food in the world, the people still grow food. It is clear that the Han's textile machines lack silk and linen, but the people Just don't grow these things, and the incompatibility between agricultural production and handicraft production is a problem for today's Han Dynasty.

Xu Fan understood that there were gains and losses. If a big man wanted to make sheep and eat people, he would not encounter this problem. However, people without property had no spending power, and the economic crisis became an insurmountable problem for the big man.

Because industrialization on a scale of 300 million can still rely on 4 million colonies, but it is impossible for the Han Dynasty to have a colony of 4000 billion with a body of million. At this time, the world has a population of not only billion, but even million. .

(End of this chapter)