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

Chapter 345, Universal Values ​​and Thirteen Incenses

In the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, October 20th. Zhangtai Palace, gathering of sages.

This year's Sage's Conference has undergone many changes.

First, there are many newcomers. The general strike last year scared those sages and made them understand that this status is not only an honor but also a trouble. Therefore, many old sages do not dare to continue to run for sage this year. .

In addition, what happened last year, coupled with Mo Zhe's constant propaganda, the people also saw that these sages did not make decisions for them. This year, many people did not choose those old sages, so a new group of sages came forward.

The second is that the former Shaofu ordered Qin Bo to run for election as a sage in Chang'an City. At the same time, the Mohists also actively mobilized their own forces to run for sages this year. They are now in Guanzhong, Nanyang County, Chen County, Kuaiji County, Handan County, and Taiyuan County. He has Mohist identity.

The emergence of this new change caused a sensation in the entire Dahan hierarchy and Shilin. No one expected that Qin Bo would return to the Dahan hierarchy in this capacity.

Even though Xu Fan kept saying that the legal system of the Han Dynasty came from the Sage Association. However, the senior officials of the Han Dynasty still regard the Sage Society as a jade seal, which has no practical effect. The various schools of thought still focus on the position of the Han Dynasty court. The hundreds of schools of thought are also competing for the position of the Han Dynasty's Three Gongs and Nine Ministers, and the 2000 stone governors. Hundreds of locations.

If the official position of more than 2000 shi is occupied more, the power will be greater, and if the official position is less than shi, the power will be small. Not many people in the Sage Association really care. But Qin Bo's actions finally made them start to pay attention to this battlefield.

This year's Sage Meeting is still the old tradition. Prime Minister Zhou Zhang reports on the Han Dynasty's achievements for the year and the progress of several major projects.

Just after Han Xin finished speaking, the whole audience was shocked.

To be honest, the people of the Han Dynasty are extremely arrogant. After all, no one in the surrounding forces, whether it is economics, politics, or culture, can fight against them. Not to mention that they can fight, there is no existence even close to the Han Dynasty.

Finally, Prime Minister Zhou Zhang said that we should increase investment in education and strive to have rural primary schools in every township in Han Dynasty within five years, and universal primary education within 10 years. Increase financial investment in major colleges and universities to provide suitable talents for Dahan's industrial development.

"Ahem!" Xu Fan said at this time: "Dear sages, the Huns are the descendants of Dayu, and are my blood brothers of the Han Dynasty. Don't say such words that are not conducive to unity."

After Zhang Cang settled the accounts, he made these people understand that rail transit was not suitable for poor areas. They would be happy if the court paid for the construction of the rails, but they would be a little unhappy if they had to pay for such an ancestor.

With the strength of my big man, I can easily occupy this area. If God doesn't take it, I will suffer the consequences. I, the big man, can evolve a country even if I don't occupy these islands. Those here will definitely become my big man's enemies. "

Being deceived by Han Xin, many sages already regarded the Huns as the biggest enemies of the Han Dynasty, and the sages in the border counties coveted the Huns' pastures, so he proposed to build Chang'an City leading to Jiu. The original county track passed almost unanimously.

Sage Cui Yi said: "General, can you tell us carefully about the development of the Huns in the past two years and how they became such a powerful empire?"

Therefore, the sages present were shocked when they heard that Han Xin wanted to establish a rule thousands of miles away. This was a matter of making it clear that there was no way back to the original. The poor people in Shang County and Jiuyuan County can only grow grass. They can't even afford maintenance fees.

Tracks have been a hot topic in Dahan in the past two years. Basically, where the track is built, there will be wealth.

Xu Fan finally understood why Lighthouse talked about universal values, but not how it fooled people from other countries into joining the Han Dynasty, and how the Han Dynasty expanded its territory.

But its high price is also jaw-dropping. The construction cost of 20 yuan per mile makes everyone understand that this is a road paved with money, and its maintenance costs are also extremely high.

After Han Xin, Luan Bu appeared.

Now that Han Xin's map was displayed, they were surprised to find that a force as powerful as the big man actually appeared on the grassland.

Moreover, Zhang Cang asked these county sages to think about their local business situation. Are there so many carriages entering every day? If there were not such a prosperous business, then not only would the construction of the track not make money, but it would also invite a wealthy ancestor to return. Home.

Prime Minister Zhou Zhang's face was solemn. Han Xin secretly changed his concept here. The desert is naturally vast, but these lands look big, but they are actually extremely barren. There are a lot of Gobi and desert in them, and even the grass does not grow. The population of the so-called Xiongnu Empire was only one million, and the so-called hundreds of thousands of cavalry were just the young and strong in the front fighting, and the old and weak in the back herding sheep. There are only tens of thousands of real elites.

He brought a map of the northern Han Dynasty and said: "The Huns have been fighting in the desert for the past two years. They have successively annexed the Dingling people in Beihai, Fuyu people and Yushen people in Liaodong. In the west, they have also formed an alliance with our Han enemies, the Dayuezhi people. , put forward the theory of grassland nationality in politics, and ambitiously wanted to unify the entire desert and make us the Han enemy. "

"Yes, yes, the Huns are my Han brothers. As brothers, we Han people have the obligation to lead the Huns out of the wilderness and into the embrace of civilization." The sage from Jiuyuan County reacted immediately.

After Han Xin introduced the development of the Huns, he loudly said: "There is no room for two powerful empires in this world. There must be a battle between the Han and the Huns. Only by defeating the Huns can I, the Han Dynasty, be the well-deserved overlord of the world. This war will It will be unprecedented. If we want to defeat such a powerful enemy, we must send hundreds of thousands of troops into the grassland and spend countless money and food to defeat such a powerful enemy."

"This track should be built," shouted a sage from Shangjun.

Prime Minister Zhou Zhang's deafening speech naturally won the applause of the whole house.

A carriage charges a maintenance fee of 400 yuan, and hundreds of track carriages have to pass through every day to maintain the cost of maintaining a track of one hundred miles. If the track wants to pay back its costs in one year, it needs to pass thousands of rail carriages every day. The fewer carriages traveling, the longer it will take for the track to pay back its costs.

Then Han Xin drew a line along the Qin Straight Road on the map and said: "Preparations for the war against the Huns are about to begin now. In order to transport the grain from the Central Plains to the border counties, I, the great Han, must build a road from Chang'an City to Jiuyuan. County track, this can save 90% of food consumption.”

There are really only a few counties in the world that can achieve this kind of commercial scale. There are only a few wealthy counties such as Xiangchen County and Kuaiji County. However, these counties are located in the south with dense rivers and have convenient canal systems. The cargo capacity is larger, but the speed is slower. Rail transit does not have the advantage.

As long as the Huns are our own people, the desert has been the territory of the Han Dynasty since ancient times.

"Those who oppose the construction of tracks are traitors who sympathize with the Huns. Traitors will be punished by everyone." The sage from Jiuyuan County shouted.

They may dislike the Huns, but they cannot dislike the Huns' wool and the Huns' pasture.

The only difference is that there are many counties applying to build shipyards this year. Counties with large rivers in their territory have all made this request. After all, the temptation of Spice Island is too great, and few people can refuse.

He took out a chart and said: "This is the location of Spice Island. There are so many islands around Spice Island. There are hundreds of islands we discovered on this trip alone, and Spice Island has several counties in Han Dynasty. There are more than one such large island, but we don’t know how many there are. Our fleet has only explored this small area.”

"We are attacking the Huns now not to kill them, but to reintegrate them into the embrace of the Han civilization. War is the price we have to pay. This is a civilized unification war. All sages must clearly understand this. ”

"The Huns are not yet in their most powerful form, but they are already a powerful grassland empire with a territory of thousands of miles and can recruit hundreds of thousands of cavalry. The Huns are already my Han's most powerful enemy."

"I would like to come here and there will be many islands that are as rich as the Spice Island. These islands have no civilization or countries, only some savages.

Han Xin nodded, and then began to talk about the history of the Huns bit by bit, focusing on the development of the Huns after Maodun came to power.

But Han Xin said: "Although the construction of the track is expensive, it is nothing compared to the upcoming Northern Expedition. The imperial court has to transport tens of millions of dan of grain from the Central Plains of Guanzhong to the front line. The track can reduce the civilian expenses by 90%. This amount of money alone is enough to repay the cost of the track, and the court can also get a track for free, and it will be a pure profit in a few years. If the maintenance costs cannot be afforded, the worst case scenario is that the track will be demolished. "

Then came the three gongs and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty. The 2000 Shi County Sheriff reported his results, which were basically not much different from last year.

After the governors finished speaking, Han Xin came on stage.

Zhou Zhang finally concluded: "If we want to build a world of great harmony, we not only need Han officials to manage the world, but also talents from various schools of thought to lead the people to develop industries and increase the wealth of the world. Scholars must become talents who can lead the people to get rich. To go deep into all walks of life in the world and to make a difference in building a harmonious world, Han officials are no more noble than great blacksmiths."

For the Huns to integrate into the Han with such a heavy gift, they must be the brothers of the Han from the same father and mother.

Although the people of the Han Dynasty were a little too arrogant, they really didn't care about the forces around them. They were more concerned about whether they could win an industry for their county and use the court's money to build water conservancy facilities, roads, cities, education funds and other internal affairs of the Han Dynasty.

When the track first appeared, many counties and counties applied to build the track. Faced with this situation, Prime Minister Zhou Zhang asked Zhangcang to give Zhangcang to the Han Dynasty governor, and the sages settled an account.

"A thousand-mile track is built in a border county?" The sages were in an uproar.

When Xu Fan heard this, he sighed inwardly. The geographical environment of Dahan in the world is very good. It is relatively isolated. There is only one big enemy in the north, and there is a string of islands in the sea to the east that can protect the hinterland of Dahan. It can be said that this It is the true chosen country.

But maybe it was born out of sorrow and died in comfort. It is obvious that the distance from the mainland of the Han Dynasty is only a few thousand miles. The Han civilization has spent thousands of years and has not assimilated this land. Treasures like Spice Island are placed in the sea. You They are not willing to pick it, and insist on waiting for it to be delivered to their door.

On the contrary, it is the people from Daqinzhou who traveled tens of thousands of miles to come here, and then spent 200 years to completely tear apart your thousands of years of hard work. In the end, this area became its own chain.

Isn't this the best portrayal of not taking what God gives you, but taking the blame instead? God has given you the best geographical location, but you don't want to make progress, so your blessed land becomes your own chain.

"So this general proposed that the imperial court increase its investment in the South China Sea, build more docks on this waterway, build more sea-going ships, and relocate more people to the Spice Island to make it the homeland of our great Han Dynasty. , Provide my big man with endless wealth, the sea contains endless treasures, my big man's one investment will be returned ten times or a hundred times in return. "

Of course, Luan Bu's proposal was unanimously approved. Spices alone can bring hundreds of thousands of gold to the Han Dynasty every year. Any normal person can detect the wealth contained in the ocean.

Everyone thought that the sage conference would end at this time, but Qin Bo said in the middle of the venue: "With the support of the people of the world, I, the Han Dynasty, won the world. Therefore, the Han Dynasty is not a one-man world like Bao Qin, but us. The Great Han of all people. The Association of Sages is not only the proof of the legal system of the Great Han, but also the institution for the governance of the Great Han."

"The wise men present should represent the people of the world, but what happened last year shows that although the wise men are elected by the people, they may not necessarily represent the interests of the people."

"Why such a thing happens can be explained very well by borrowing a saying from the emperor, that is, the butt determines the head. Whichever side of the butt is sitting on the scene, the head will speak to the side where the butt is sitting."

"Someone proposed that in the future, if you want to select wise men, you must disclose your current net worth and property and accept the supervision of the people of the world. At the same time, you must increase the number of wise men from merchants, craftsmen, and farmers. The number of wise men in a county will be increased from two to four. We can't leave all the sages' places to the powerful." Everyone looked at Qin Bo's proposal, but the good thing about the sages today is that there are not many powerful people in the past, but there are more sages who are farmers. In addition, Qin Bo had the support of a large number of Mohist sages.

Qin Bo's proposal was voted by half of the sages.

Shusun Tong said to Fu Sheng in shock: "Fourteen of the ninety sages in the Han Dynasty are from the Mohist family. They have become the most powerful force in the Sage Association. Qin Bo actually wants to interfere through the Sage Association. The government of the Han Dynasty."

Fu Sheng said: "We are waiting to let the Confucian people select the sages, and we cannot let the Mohist family dominate."

This year's Sage Conference was quite peaceful for the princes and powerful men.

But it had a huge shock to the Han people, especially the map of Spice Island that Luan Bu hung up. Imitation versions soon appeared. Many people who wanted to make a fortune bought these maps as if they were getting treasure maps.

Seeing how easy the business was, Xu Fan was worried that the common people of the Han Dynasty would be deceived and buy fake maps and get lost in the sea, so he simply made thousands of copies himself and sold them for tens of thousands of yuan each. Even so, the supply still exceeded the demand. Printed twice.

Even Xu Fan had to lament the prosperity of the Han people.

In the sixth year of the Han Dynasty, November 10th, Zhaoli, Huhai courtyard.

More than a dozen young men from Zhao Li gathered in Hu Hai's yard.

One of the young men slaughtered a fat Longxi sheep with a butcher's knife in his hand. His techniques were very skillful, including bleeding, shaving, and butchering. The young men around him also helped.

Hu Hai took out some bamboo charcoal and lit it in a special barbecue stove.

Then he smiled and said: "You are lucky. This is a new popular way of eating in Chang'an City, barbecue. This was invented by the emperor."

Zhu Zhu said with a simple and honest smile: "The people in Chang'an City are really weird. They just barbecue. This is not what we have done since we were little."

The children of the farmers didn't eat anything. They usually roasted the small animals they caught and ate them. You don't have to worry about the taste, it just creates an atmosphere.

Hu Hai said with disdain: "You can just catch a mouse or rabbit and burn it with some wood. This can be called barbecue."

Hu Hai used a bamboo skewer to make a few skewers of mutton and said, "Look, what is real barbecue?"

Hu Hai grilled the mutton skewers on the charcoal fire, and soon the mutton skewers were covered in oil.

Zhuzi and the others inhaled the aroma of mutton skewers.

Although Zhao Li has made some money and become rich in the past two years, the lives of the villagers have not changed much. Chickens and ducks are sold for money, and textile cloth is also sold for money. Part of the money received was returned to Hu Hai.

The rest began to rebuild their houses. It was very difficult for people like Zhuzi to have a good meal.

Because Zhaoli is close to the city of Chang'an, fashion trends in Chang'an also spread to Zhaoli.

In the past, for villagers, a two-story wooden building that was out of reach was the best house in the world, but now a building that is not made of cement bricks is not considered a good house.

For an ordinary villager, building a new house is a lifetime event, and he will live here throughout his life, old age, illness and death.

In the past, it was okay if there were no conditions, but now the villagers in Zhaoli have calculated their income and found that after two years of hard work, they can really build this small cement building.

So the villagers in Zhaoli began to go to the kiln factory to buy bricks and the cement factory to buy cement, and then invited relatives and friends around them to buy a few meals and let them help them build small cement buildings.

So at this time, Zhaoli has become a small construction site. There are more than a dozen small buildings under construction, and the first one to be built is Zhaoli Primary School.

The two-story small high-rise building has six spacious classrooms and a wide cement playground. After the construction of Zhaoli Primary School, Zhaoli suddenly became a hot spot in the countryside. Such construction is unprecedented in the countryside. Every villager he met was extremely envious of Zhao Li's wealth.

This primary school makes the villagers in Zhaoli three points higher than the villagers in other villages.

As long as a family starts to build a small building, even if the house is not completed yet, matchmakers from all over the country will already come to the door, and the flowers in each village will be selected by Zhao Li's young people.

The visit of matchmakers further stimulated the enthusiasm for building repairs in Zhaoli. The villagers in Zhaoli still have to repair their own buildings even if their lives have been poor in the past two years.

All the money is spent on repairing cement buildings, so there is no condition to improve their lives. However, this is nothing to those villagers. They have suffered for half their lives. It doesn't matter if they have to suffer for two more years. As long as their lives can be improved. Seeing hope, this little bit of suffering is no longer bitter.

Therefore, the living conditions of young people in Zhao Li have not improved much.

"It smells so good, Brother Hu Hai, are you okay?" Zhu Zhu tried his best not to let his saliva flow out.

Hu Hai said proudly: "There is still one more step to go."

He took out a porcelain bottle from his sleeve, then turned the mechanism, and several small holes appeared. Hu Hai used the porcelain bottle to pour the barbecue a few times.

Suddenly an indescribable aroma spread throughout the courtyard. Everyone's mouth was watering.

"All right!"

When Zhuzi and others heard this, they all snatched the mutton skewers from Hu Hai's hand.

Hu Hai said angrily: "You bastards, you didn't even leave any of them for Mr. Nai."

"It's so delicious!" Zhu Zhu said obsessedly.

"This is the best barbecue I've ever had in my life."

When Zhuzi and the others saw Hu Hai getting angry, they immediately skewered the mutton and grilled it for Hu Hai.

Originally, Zhu Zhu wanted to take the porcelain vase from Hu Hai's hand and learn from Hu Hai's methods, but Hu Hai refused to give it to him. Otherwise, he insisted on doing it by himself, and he was extremely careful to spread it to avoid waste.

These people each divided a few mutton skewers and ate them.

"We've had barbecue before, why isn't it as delicious as this time?"

Hu Hai shook his porcelain bottle proudly and said, "You guys, you guys, you think that ordinary barbecue can have such a fragrance because of the addition of these spices."

"You are lucky to have met Mr. Nai. In the past, only big nobles and merchants could afford spices. Not to mention eating them, you can't even smell them."

Zhu Zhu and the others looked at the porcelain bottle in Hu Hai's hand in surprise and said, "What are you holding are spices?"

Spices were a hot spot in Guanzhong during this period. The villagers didn't know much about it, and they didn't even know what spices were, but they knew that they were worth as much as gold.

Hu Hai continued: "This is not a kind of spice, but a seasoning mixed with thirteen spices, called Thirteen Spices. Just this small porcelain bottle of spices costs a thousand dollars. This is also the magnanimity of Nai Gong." I’ll spread it for you, otherwise you’ll just smell it.”

You can tell from the name that Xu Fan created Thirteen Incenses. The reason why Xu Fan created Thirteen Incenses is also very simple, just to expand the scope of use of spices.

In this era, most spices are used for incense, and a small part are used for bacon. The scope of use is actually very narrow. If used in this way, the spices in Dahan will soon fall below the floor price, increasing the use of spices. The market is obviously an imperative.

So Xu Fan developed spice-braised pork, thirteen-spice condiments, and various barbecues using spices based on later generations.

Not to mention the act of grinding precious spices into powder and sprinkling them on barbecue, the aristocrats and rich men of the Han Dynasty liked this kind of concoction.

As long as it is a noble banquet for the Han Dynasty, the host's favorite thing to do is to grab a handful of thirteen incense and sprinkle it on the barbecue. The more you catch, the higher the host's reputation.

After knowing this, Xu Fan could only curse in secret, but he didn't stop such behavior, because the big man still relied on them to expand the spice market.

It is precisely because of the demonstrations of these nobles that barbecue became so popular in Chang'an City.

(End of this chapter)