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

Chapter 370, Bill Exchange and Self-Raised Funds

Hu Hai had seen very clearly in recent years what kind of people the Han officials were. In Kuaiji County, his good brother Guan Hong had embezzled more than 100,000 yuan from him in the past two years.

This is just his family. With the developed commerce in Kuaiji County, it is not surprising that his good elder brother Guan Hong made millions. However, his good elder brother was just a Han official with a salary of 600 stones, which could be regarded as a lower-middle-level official in the Han Dynasty.

He had no doubt that the county magistrate and even the county governor above him had embezzled more money. Kuaiji County was flowing with rivers of gold every day. How many people could endure such a huge amount of wealth?

Although Hu Hai had never been to other counties, he thought that all Han officials in the world were the same and there would be no difference. It was only in Guanzhong that the Han Emperor had stricter control, so his second uncle would be so worried.

But compared with the Qin officials, Hu Hai thought that the Han officials were pretty good. Although they were a bit greedy, at least they were doing their job and did not cause chaos in the world.

Li Feng was dissatisfied and said, "Don't think that you are despicable and mock idealists. Qin Juzi combines knowledge and action and works for the benefit of the people of the world. This is the real great sage."

Hu Hai asked with great interest, "You admire him so much, why haven't I seen you join the Mohist school?"

Li Feng said awkwardly: "I have already worshipped you, Master."

Well, he admitted that he couldn't stand the strict Mohist rules.

Hu Hai said: "Since we are talking about the unity of knowledge and action, tell me honestly, are you willing to disclose your property?"

Li Feng said calmly, "I still have to go to the government office, so I don't have time to chat with you."

Hu Hai held Li Feng's hand and said, "I have something else to ask you. What is the matter with the pasture tickets issued by the court? Can I really get 1 acres of pasture? Could this acres of pasture be the Gobi Desert?"

Li Feng said: "The court is giving you this certificate. You can go to the desert and enclose land by yourself. If you want to enclose grassland, you can enclose grassland. If you want to enclose Gobi, you can enclose Gobi."

Hu Hai said: "Only a fool would go to the Gobi Desert. There are so many Hu people in the desert. How can we solve the safety problem?"

Li Feng said: "After the Han Dynasty annexed the Xiongnu, it would establish the Mobei Protectorate to maintain local security, and there would be no risk. How can you buy an acre of land for 100 coins?"

It was very difficult to obtain land within the Han Dynasty. The Han court would check the land conditions in each county every year and send imperial censors to the local areas to monitor the land conditions.

Especially those wealthy and powerful families with more than 10,000 acres of land, every time such a wealthy family appeared, Xu Fan would personally find the local county governor to find out the reason.

If they could not explain clearly, they would be subject to re-education at the least, dismissed from office or even beheaded at the worst. Land was the red line that Xu Fan drew for Han officials. If there were problems with other matters, Xu Fan would still make a break, but if there were problems with land, basically the head would be lost.

Therefore, the price to pay for annexing land in the Han Dynasty was extremely high. The land on the black market would be sold at a high price of 2 to 3 coins per acre, and it would take decades to make a profit. Xu Fan wanted to increase the cost for nobles and powerful people to annex land.

Of course, the Han people also opened up legal ways to acquire land.

One is to reclaim wasteland by yourself. The Han Dynasty supported this kind of thing, and there was a policy of tax exemption for three years. However, the cost of reclaiming wasteland was extremely high, and it would take at least ten years to make a profit. In the Han Dynasty, it generally took 2-3 years to make a profit from opening a textile factory. If the land reclaimed exceeded tens of thousands of acres, the court would impose heavy taxes, which was equivalent to working for the court.

Therefore, few wealthy people in the Han Dynasty wanted to open up wasteland. Only farmers were willing to increase their own land bit by bit. Anyway, for farmers, labor was not valuable, and it was a good thing to increase their land by one acre.

In fact, throughout history, the land in the world also increased little by little. However, the land gained by the farmers would soon be plundered by the nobles and powerful. The court did not protect the lower-level farmers, and the plundering became more frequent. If Xiangzi did it too much, the farmers would become desperate.

They would rather become refugees than open up wasteland, would rather starve to death than increase the wealth of the nobles. When there are too many refugees, they will attack the nobles' strongholds and perish together with this unfair heaven.

This is why it took thousands of years to develop the Jiangnan area, because the nobles and powerful people have been holding it back for thousands of years.

The second is to buy land in the territories of the princes of the Han Dynasty. There is no restriction on this. The princes of the Han Dynasty are also enthusiastic about you coming to open up wasteland and give you preferential policies. Basically, you can buy as much as you want, and they will even help you provide manpower for opening up the wasteland.

However, the infrastructure in the territories of the Han Dynasty's princes was much worse than that in the interior of the Han Dynasty, and there was even less manpower. It was almost impossible to recruit a farmer who knew how to farm, as they were also landlords in the vassal states.

They could only hire barbarians from the vassal states and help them train them to become qualified farmers, which made the cost of reclaiming wasteland even higher.

However, because these princes had fewer restrictions on land than the Han Dynasty, there were still many people who were full of expectations for land and went to the vassal states to open up wasteland.

Because it was too difficult to obtain land in the Han Dynasty, the powerful people in the Han Dynasty were so interested in ranch tickets. Of course, price was also an extremely important reason. Due to the boom in the textile industry, wool became a valuable raw material. With the addition of silage technology, the price of ranches in the Han Dynasty was also rising rapidly. Even one mu of grassland in the south of the desert cost a thousand coins.

The price of grassland in Mobei is 10 times lower than that in Monan. Even though it is remote, has a bad climate and is dangerous, many people are still willing to invest in Mobei.

After learning all this, Hu Hai said, "You are also a Han official. Do you have any internal indicators? If so, please leave a certain number."

Li Feng's face changed drastically and he said, "No, if you want to buy ranch tickets, go to the bill exchange, which is next to the goods exchange."

After saying that, he shook off Hu Hai and left.

Hu Hai curled his lips and said, "It seems that my second uncle's position in the court is not high either."

He didn't believe that there were no internal indicators. Any good things in the Han Dynasty were first taken by the nobles and then by the common people.

Seeing Li Feng leave, Hu Hai could only say to Zhu Pei and Zhuzi: "Let's go to the Bill Exchange to check the situation."

As soon as he got out of the door, Hu Hai hailed a cab and said, "Let's go to trade bills!"

The driver said, "50 coins for the fare."

Zhuzi shouted, "You are stealing money. 50 coins can buy one stone of grain."

The driver looked down on me and said, "Where did you come from, you country bumpkin? This is a first-class carriage with windows, and the horses are first-class horses from the Imperial Household. This whole set costs 5 coins, and I'm charging you 1 coins. That's not expensive at all, you haven't seen anything like it on the market! If you don't have money, don't call a taxi, take a -coin-a-trip public carriage instead."

Rental carriages were also invented by Xu Fan, mainly to absorb the production capacity of the carriage workshop. However, the effect was not very good. The rich had their own carriages, and the poor could not afford rental carriages. Not many people were willing to pay a stone of grain just for a ride in a carriage, so such carriages were only available in wealthy places like Chang'an City.

Hu Hai threw out a banknote and said, "I'll rent your carriage for a day."

The driver took a look and found that it was a ten-string banknote.

He said happily, "The boss is so generous, please get in the car."

The three of them got on the carriage.

On the way, the driver asked, "Master, you look like a local, but you don't seem to be rich in Chang'an."

Hu Hai said: "I am engaged in maritime trade in Kuaiji County."

The driver suddenly realized and said, "No wonder the boss is so generous, it turns out that you are a sea merchant."

"Boss, I heard that one trip to the sea can earn dozens of times the profit. Is this true?"

Hu Hai said: "It's fake. When spices were at their most valuable, we could only make about ten times the profit. Now it's about five or six times. There are more and more sea merchants going out to sea, and the spices of the Han Dynasty are becoming less and less valuable."

"Five or six times is not bad. You won't find such a profitable business in Chang'an."

Hu Hai nodded and said, "The atmosphere in Chang'an is indeed not very suitable for doing business."

"Boss, do you also want to buy a ranch ticket?"

Hu Hai nodded.

"I guess so. If I have money, I will buy a ranch. I can buy an acre of land for 100 coins. This is simply a gift from heaven."

Then he said angrily: "There are treacherous officials in the court, and the court does not want to do such a good thing. If the price of a ranch ticket of 100 million yuan is lower, I will have to buy a few hundred acres.

This is because they don't want ordinary people like us to seize this opportunity to make a fortune. I have been to the bill exchange these days and found that the people who bought the most are the great nobles and merchants of our dynasty."

Xu Fan set the ranch ticket price at 100 million coins per ticket, with the original intention of protecting the common people of the Han Dynasty. But the common people did not see it that way. Those who bought the ranch tickets were all high-ranking officials in the court. What they rushed to do must have benefits. The court set the price of the ranch ticket so high just to prevent the common people from getting rich.

Zhuzi sneered, "That's the grassland in the north of the desert. You can't make much money by buying a few hundred acres of land and raising dozens of sheep. And are you willing to sell your belongings in Chang'an and settle in the desert? The desert is a lawless place. If bandits really appear, do you think you can resist them?"

"I have already defeated the tyrannical Qin army, so why should I be afraid of a mere horse thief?" However, the driver also knew that his idea was unreliable. He would be crazy to give up his life in Chang'an and run to the desert.

Only Hu Hai was sitting nearby, feeling depressed, wondering how the boomerang could have hit him.

Not long after, Hu Hai and his companions arrived at the Bill Exchange.

The bill transaction is a huge factory building in the city. Inside there are both noble people and big businessmen wearing gold and silver, but most of them are middle-class people of Chang'an who come to watch the fun.

They have a little money, but it is not enough to make a million. They want to get on the carriage of wealth, but they are not qualified. They can only watch with envy as the rich and powerful Han people come here with a carriage full of gold and silver to buy ranch tickets.

"Brother, do you want to buy a ranch ticket too?"

Hu Hai laughed and said, "Everyone who comes here has the same idea."

The man sighed and said, "They have such thoughts, but they may not have such strength. They are mostly just watching the fun."

The visitor introduced himself: "My name is Jiang Rui, from Chang'an. I have an idea that I would like to share with you. I wonder if you would like to hear a few words from me?"

Hu Hai said, "Brother, please speak."

"I can come up with 200,000 yuan. Seeing your performance, I think you can come up with hundreds of thousands of yuan. We can find a way to unite with a few people. If we all pool our money together, maybe we can get a ranch ticket."

Hu Hai laughed and said, "Buying a ranch ticket is just an admission ticket to the desert. You can't make money just by having a pasture. You also need to find a way to buy cattle and sheep, hire herders to graze them, and hire guards to protect the sheep. If you go to Mobei without any strength, you will just be eaten up."

Jiang Rui said: "There is a way to do this. I wonder if you have heard of Mo Nan Trading Company."

How could Hu Hai not have heard of it? The Mo Nan Trading Company was originally just a group of textile owners from Yanmen County and Taiyuan County who joined forces and acquired millions of acres of grassland in Mo Nan.

They joined forces with the Mo Nan Protectorate and became one of the richest trading companies in the world by collecting cattle and sheep and selling them to the herdsmen.

A few months ago, they took out 10 billion yuan in one go to support the imperial court's Northern Expedition, and the ranch tickets were even obtained by them.

Jiang Rui smiled and said, "We can also unite in this way. Unite some people who have pastures, so that we will not lack herders and cattle and sheep. Unite some textile factories, so that we will not worry about no one buying wool. With more forces united, we can pay a little money to hire a few Han army veterans, so that we will not have to worry about horse thieves."

Hu Hai nodded and said, "Brother, your idea is good, but the capital is too low. You actually want to use 20 yuan to leverage a business worth tens of millions of yuan. I do admire your ambition, but the risk of doing business with you is too high."

Jiang Rui was a little disappointed after hearing Hu Hai's words and was about to turn around and leave.

But Hu Hai said, "I also have an idea. I see that you are a talented person. You can invest your capital in my ranch. I can ask you to be the manager. If my ranch prospers, I can give you a share of the profits."

Jiang Rui suddenly realized, "I was mistaken. I didn't expect that your family fortune is so rich. I am willing to follow in your footsteps."

Then Jiang Rui followed Hu Hai to the counter and said, "I want to buy a ranch ticket."

The Han official said, "Let me explain the risks first. The ranch you purchased is in Mobei. If the imperial court does not occupy Mobei, the bill will not be invalidated, but you can only wait for the imperial court to spend a few years to accumulate strength and launch another war in Mobei. If the imperial court does not conquer Mobei, the millions of dollars will not be borne by the imperial court. You have to bear the risk yourself."

Hu Hai said: "I know clearly."

The Han official asked, "How many do you want?"

"Three!"

The Han official took out three receipts stating that one could enclose 1 mu of land in Mobei, and they were stamped with the emperor's seal, the prime minister's seal, and the military supervisor's seal.

The Han official continued to ask: "Do you have an account at Kaifa Bank?"

"Yes!" It was certainly difficult for Hu Hai to carry his assets of tens of millions with him, so he kept them in the two major banks of the Han Dynasty.

The Han official waved his hand and a young man ran over.

"This is the guy who runs the bank. Follow him and transfer the money to the court's account."

The Han Dynasty's financial system was relatively developed, and with the help of the bank clerk, the two parties quickly completed the transfer and received the three ranch tickets.

Just when Hu Hai was about to leave.

Suddenly, a man called out, "Dear country gentlemen and shopkeepers, I also have a profitable business, and the profit is not inferior to ranch tickets.

My Duyang County wants to build a rail carriage connecting to Chang'an. The total length is less than 4 miles, and the cost of the project is about 000 million yuan.

After the railway is completed, it will connect a large area west of Chang'an. Goods from Guandong can reach Beidi County at the fastest speed, and the cattle, sheep, war horses and wool from Beidi County can also enter Chang'an City at the lowest price. The business prospects of this railway are very good.

The track can pay back in five years at most, and Duyang County is willing to provide the operating rights of the track for 20 years. All the profits made by Duyang Track during these 20 years will belong to the investors. "

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar. This was the first time that someone dared to sell the operating rights of the track.

Who is this person? Can he make the decision?

Does the court allow such a thing?
The railway from Luoyang City to Chang'an has made people all over the world understand that railway is an extremely profitable project. However, the military value of the railway is extremely high, and everyone has a fixed idea that such a transportation road like the Chidao must be built by the court.

Will the imperial court allow ordinary people to repair it?
Hu Hai said: "Who do you represent? What qualifications do you have to give up the right to operate the track for 20 years? If you don't do this well, you will be sued."

"I am the chief clerk of Duyang County!" He then took out a document and said, "This is the document from the court asking Duyang County to raise funds to build the railway. It is stamped with the seal of the Prime Minister's Office. Gentlemen can take a closer look or go to the Prime Minister's Office to ask."

Immediately, a group of people gathered around and carefully examined the document in the hands of the Duyang County Chief Clerk. It turned out that the imperial court had asked them to raise funds on their own, and the seal of the Prime Minister's Office on it was even more authentic.

Hu Hai said: "The court asked your county government to raise funds on its own, but it did not allow merchants like us to repair the track. If this thing goes wrong, we will not pay the money but end up in jail."

The chief clerk of Duyang County said, "We are a country that values ​​the rule of law. The emperor has given us orders three times and five times, and we can do what the law does not prohibit. The court has not prohibited the use of private money to repair the tracks, so this is a legal matter, not to mention that we in Duyang County have documents permitting it from the court."

Speaking of this matter, it is related to the Northern Expedition. Han Xin and his men launched the war ahead of time, and many of the original infrastructure projects of the Han court were stopped. Zhou Zhang even stopped the construction of the Grand Canal. After all, the lessons of the First Emperor were still vivid in their minds.

Duyang County was the unlucky one in this Northern Expedition. They had applied for the rail project for several years and finally got the project approved last year. This year they have to prepare funds to start construction.

As a result, all the court's money was used to buy food, weapons and equipment. The wooden track project that they had been looking forward to for a long time was suspended because the court had no money.

This made everyone in Duyang County extremely disappointed. Now the development speeds of the counties in Guanzhong that are connected to the rails and those that are not connected to the rails are completely different.

The people of Duyang County were not convinced, so they asked the chief clerk to lead a team to Chang'an City to ask the court to find a way to allocate money and grain.

He also said that the whole county had been looking forward to the railway for a long time. If the construction could not start, everyone in Duyang County would be extremely disappointed, and we would not have the face to see anyone in our hometown.

But now that the Northern Expedition was about to begin, no one had the time to care about this small project in Duyang County.

Seeing that they could not complete the task, the chief clerk of Duyang County finally asked the court for a document allowing them to raise funds on their own.

At that time, Zhou Zhang believed that it would take at least one or two years for Duyang County to raise funds on its own. In such a long time, the Battle of Mobei would have ended long ago, so he did not pay much attention to writing this document.

He never expected that people in Duyang County would raise funds in this way.

(End of this chapter)