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

Chapter 389: Hundreds of Developments and New Owners
The ninth year of the Han Dynasty, May 17th, Chang'an City, the headquarters of Mohism.

In the past two years, with the development of the handicraft industry in the Han Dynasty, the development of Mohism has also been in full swing. There are branches of Mohism in all 50 counties of the Han Dynasty. As long as there are handicraft workshops in the counties, there will be Mohists to uphold justice for the craftsmen.

The Mohist forces are strongest in Guanzhong, Sanchuan County, Chen County, and Kuaiji County. After two years of Qin Bo's efforts, the number of Mohist sages has reached 32, accounting for half of the seats in the Sages' Conference.

The rapid development of Mohism shocked the other schools of thought. Now the academic circles of the Han Dynasty were dominated by either Confucianism or Mohism. Mohism was rapidly eroding the influence of Confucianism. Confucian masters were shocked to find that they were teaching Mohist disciples one after another.

Faced with this situation, great Confucian scholars such as Shusun Tong felt helpless. They had thought about changing the situation, but with little success.

The situation of the Han youth at this time was that most of them would go out to work after finishing elementary school. Rural boys usually followed their parents to farm, and when they were older, they would find a job in the city. Without a special background, most of them were working cattle and horses. The cattle and horses did not want to be exploited by the workshop owners, so they could only find a way to find the Mohists to protect their rights.

Confucianism is the opposite. Their basic base is small and medium-sized landlords and small and medium-sized workshops, which are all the financial backers of Confucianism.

To these core Confucianists, the sight of the Shaofu's workshops was disgusting. They occupied the best geographical locations, used the best and most advanced tools, and raised the salaries of their craftsmen, forcing them to increase their investment.

For many small landlords and workshop owners, this was a very sinful thing. In the past, a textile machine could be used for a lifetime and could even be passed down to one's children. It was common for a textile machine to be used for three to five generations.

But this is no longer possible. New textile machines and spinning machines are emerging in an endless stream. The number of spinning machines has rapidly increased from 10 spindles to 20 spindles to 50 spindles, and is still increasing endlessly. Every time a new machine appears, the efficiency will increase.

If you don't buy these new machines, others will, and the price of the goods you produce will be high, so you won't be able to sell them.

This results in them having to replace a batch of machines every two or three years. More importantly, these machines are becoming more and more expensive, and the investment is getting higher and higher.

After finally making some money, they spent it all on machines, and most of the machines were produced in the court's workshops, which made them very dissatisfied with the court.

These people wanted the court to reduce taxes, relax its protection of craftsmen, and wanted officials to step down and civilians to advance.

Confucianism can only speak for these small and medium-sized workshop owners in the Sages' Meeting. Of course, Confucianism will package a nice statement so that everyone can accept it. For example, if officials are promoted and the people are retreated, they say that they don't want to compete with the people for profits. If they want to reduce taxes, they say that they want to give the people a rest. If they want the court to reduce protection for craftsmen, they say that wealth comes from labor and that hard work is the traditional virtue of the Han Dynasty.

But the situation where the butt decides the head is not only practiced by the upper class, but also by the people at the bottom.

These people who were educated by Confucianism, when they first entered the Han society, always had a clear and foolish look in their eyes. They were curious about everything and full of hope for the future. They believed in what their master taught them, that as long as they were honest, did things steadily, worked hard, and valued harmony in all things, they would become rich sooner or later, and would have their own ways like those masters, marry beautiful wives, and reach the peak of their lives.

But soon the workshop owner will teach them that as long as they are willing to endure hardships, there will be endless hardships to endure. They will find that even if they work hard, their income will not be as good as that of others.

As long as they ask around, they will find out that some of their companions are organized, and if the workshop owners dare to oppress them, there are Mohists to help them.

At this time, Mozhe gave them a lesson, telling them that as long as they took a step back, the workshop owner would take two steps forward. If you work hard for a year, the workshop owner might marry the village beauty you have a crush on. If you work hard for two years, the workshop owner might be able to buy a sandalwood carriage of the same model as the emperor.

Under the pressure of reality, these young people will inevitably turn to Mohism. So it is like a historical cycle: Confucius taught Mozi, and now Confucianism has produced supporters of Mohism.

This kind of thing cannot be changed by human will. The greater the power of the Han Dynasty's workshop owners, the more craftsmen there will be, and the stronger the Mohist school will be.

Great Confucian scholars such as Sun Shutong could only watch as the power of Mohism grew exponentially, quickly surpassing Confucianism and becoming the largest force among the people.

The only thing that made the other schools of thought feel relieved was that the main development direction of the Mohist power was to organize the loose craftsmen among the people of the Han Dynasty. On the contrary, it did not make too deep into the Han court in the past two years. The Nine Ministers only controlled the Shaofu and the various workshops under the Shaofu.

The power of the Han Dynasty court was mainly dominated by Taoism and Confucianism. Because Taoism had the support of Prime Minister Zhou Zhang, the local governors were powerful and occupied a major position. The governance philosophy of the major vassal states was mostly based on the Taoist concept of small countries with few people and inaction, so Taoism occupied an absolute dominant position in the upper class of the Han Dynasty.

This situation led to a very helpless situation for Confucianism. No matter among the people or in the court, they were second in command. In the court, they were suppressed by Taoism, and among the people, they were eroded by Mohism. Obviously, the strength of Confucianism was increasing rapidly, but because the strength of other schools increased even faster, Confucianism was in a state of being suppressed. They could only learn the traditions of their ancestors and take root in the Han Dynasty.

But in general, the top three forces in the Han Dynasty are Taoism, Mohism, and Confucianism. The Farmers are the fourth of the three. With the support of Xu Fan, the Farmers are not bad, but they rarely speak out in the Han Dynasty. The Legalists are in a latent period. As for the other schools of thought, they are just there to make up for the difference. Although they have developed, they cannot occupy the mainstream.

Today is the day when Xu Fan and Mohist school give lectures. Qin Bo has gathered Mohist school's elites to listen to the lectures.

Xu Fan said, "Half a year ago in Mobei, Zhang Liang and I had an academic discussion in Pinglu Fort. I was deeply taught a lesson and understood many principles that I didn't understand before. The Master told you before that production determines distribution. With the current technological level of the Han Dynasty, the goods produced should be enough to make a person rich, but obviously the reality is not the case. Some people are rich, and some are poor. In my Han Dynasty, workshop owners are rapidly increasing their wealth. Who thinks that workshop owners will share their wealth for the sake of a harmonious world and make everyone rich?"

The whole audience burst into laughter!

Fang Hao stood up and said loudly: "They are doing this to make money. If morality can make money, these workshop owners don't mind selling their own morality. Such people would rather sell us all out. How can they make us rich?"

Xu Fan asked Fang Hao to sit down and said, "Students did not try to influence these workshop owners with morality, which shows that the teacher's class is still effective."

"Master has always said that morality is only for individuals. To a power or a country, morality is meaningless. Students only need to look at history books to see that since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, each country has continuously lowered the moral bottom line. The powerlessness of morality is clearly revealed in history."

"And this is the new truth that Master understands. Our Han Dynasty pursues a world of great harmony and has been working towards this direction. At the same time, we have also found a way to pursue a world of great harmony, which is to develop technology so that one person can feed only two people, but one person can feed five, ten or even a hundred people."

"Developing technology is about pursuing the path to success. The faction that can master advanced technology and at the same time provide feedback and continue to produce their companions will be the master of the world."

Ai Qiang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you are the master of the world!"

Xu Fan said seriously: "Call me Master during class!"

The students present burst into laughter again.

Xu Fan continued, "From ancient times to the present, it is impossible for one person to rule the world. Even wise emperors like Yan and Huang had to rule the world together with the tribal leaders at that time.

Dayu's virtue was known to the people, and the family empire he established was to be ruled jointly with the slave nobles.

The First Emperor, who was full of martial virtue, swept the hereditary nobles of the six kingdoms into the garbage dump of history, but he also had to rely on hundreds of thousands of Qin officials to govern the country.

"So there is no such thing as the world belonging to one person, even if it is a family empire. Anyone who says that the world belongs to one person is lying, and anyone who believes this lie is a fool."

"So according to your inference, the First Emperor is a fool."

The students in the room burst into laughter again. Xu Fan stopped the students from laughing and said, "Although the result is correct, the First Emperor created a new era and became the king after all. We still have to respect him."

"Let's go back to the topic just now. The force that can master advanced technology and continuously produce its own companions will become the master of the world. This is the effect of distribution on production in reverse."

"Distribution in turn affects production?" The students present were all confused and they did not quite understand the meaning of this statement.

Well, not to mention that they didn’t understand, even Xu Fan himself didn’t understand. If it weren’t for Zhang Liang’s reminder last time, I’m afraid he would never have thought of this in his entire life.

"In the primitive era, the level of technology was extremely low, and people could only hunt with sticks, which was extremely inefficient. Gathering fruits and food from trees was a more stable way of production. Therefore, the tribal leaders at that time were almost all women. This era can be called the matriarchal era. This tribal system is still maintained by many tribes in southern China today."

"When this kind of tribe develops to its limit and the forest can no longer support enough people, it will inevitably split off, and the split tribe will still be led by women, and go to another forest to collect fruits and food to survive."

"So when the level of technology was limited to gathering and making sticks, the technology at that time could only produce matriarchal tribes."

"Going further in time, Fuxi made nets to catch fish, Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs to make grains, and with the improvement of science and technology, the way to obtain food changed from gathering to fishing and planting. At this time, men became the main force of labor, and the matriarchal society was replaced by the patriarchal society. Tribal leaders like Fuxi began to appear. With the advancement of science and technology in Fuxi's era, tribes led by men were produced, and the world entered the patriarchal era."

"Then the level of science and technology improved again, and bronze ware appeared. Ordinary people were able to harvest more and more grains, and large tribal alliances emerged. Cities began to appear, private property appeared, and those who owned these private properties became nobles. When the level of science and technology continued to produce nobles, it was inevitable that the family-run empire would replace the public empire.

Xia Qi created a hereditary empire, not because of his own talent, but because of the nobles behind him who pushed him forward. Even if Xia Qi had not existed, even if Boyi had become the common ruler of the world, Boyi's son would have created a hereditary empire under the push of those nobles. "

"The most recent technological explosion occurred during the Spring and Autumn Period, when iron tools appeared and cheaper agricultural tools could be made. Farmers no longer needed to work together. A single farmer could cultivate hundreds of acres of land and feed himself as well as the nobles."

"So students can see that during this period of history, countries kept changing to adapt to such development. The initial acreage system of Lu State was imitated by other countries. All countries abolished the well field system and recognized private fields. The technological level of hundreds of years ago continuously created self-cultivating farmers, landlords and gentry. These landlords and gentry continued to erode the nobles economically and replaced the nobles politically. One by one, the elites of landlords and self-cultivating farmers began to appear. Wu Qi, who reformed the state of Wei, Shen Buhai, who reformed the state of Han, and Shang Yang, who reformed the state of Qin, all of these were the process of self-cultivating farmers and landlords replacing the feudal nobles politically and economically."

"Master, Shang Yang and Shen Buhai were also of noble birth, and the top leaders of the six states were all nobles. There was no situation where the landlords and gentry replaced the nobles as you said."

Xu Fan said: "Although Shang Yang and Shen Buhai were nobles, their reforms created self-cultivating farmers and landlords. So when looking at a problem, we can't just look at a person's background, but also see which force his actions benefit."

"The emergence of new forces does not necessarily mean that the old forces will end. They will definitely fight to the death and refuse to step down."

"But history does not change according to human will. When they refused to step down, the First Emperor swept across the six kingdoms with millions of self-cultivating farmers and landlords, sweeping the bloodline aristocrats of three generations into the garbage dump of history."

Xu Fan's in-depth and easy-to-understand explanation finally made the students present understand what production in turn affects distribution.

Li Kai asked curiously, "Our Han Dynasty is more than 10 times richer than the tyrannical Qin Dynasty. Various new inventions emerge in an endless stream. According to Master, our Han Dynasty is in a period of technological explosion. Our Han Dynasty must also have a new distribution method. Then what kind of power is our Han Dynasty's imperial examination constantly producing?"

Ai Qiang said: "Of course it is my Mohist school. The number of craftsmen in the Han Dynasty has increased more than ten times in recent years, and my Mohist school's influence has spread all over the world. Isn't this an obvious thing?"

"Who else but me will be the future master of the world? We must help you govern the world well, and then work together to realize the world of great harmony."

"You're right, we are the masters of the future, let's work together to realize a world of great harmony!" All the students attending the class shouted in unison.

At this time Qin Bo discovered that the emperor's expression was extremely solemn, and he obviously did not agree with what he said.

Qin Bo recalled the emperor's inference just now: tribal leaders, slave nobles, landlords and gentry, and the master of the workshop!!!

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "Although Master wants to say this, reality does not change according to human will. Think about which force has gained the most benefits since the industry boom? Everyone, examine your own hearts, who do you want to be more?"

Fang Hao and his companions stood up and said firmly: "We want to become Mohists and seek benefits for the people of the world!"

The other students only reacted at this time. They also wanted to speak, but were stopped by Xu Fan with his hands.

"This question is about your heart, not what you say."

Fang Hao and his friends also noticed the problem. They recalled again which force had made the most profit over the years since the founding of the Han Dynasty. It was the feudal nobles, but they had already left the Han Dynasty. The others were the workshop owners. This answer made them look astonished.

The concepts of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans were like ideological stamps, firmly locked in their minds. It was hard for them to imagine that merchants, who had the lowest status and were despised, would become the masters of the new era.

Xu Fan smiled and said, "Master, I think many people have already guessed the answer to this question, which is the power of the workshop owner."

"Ai Qiang just said that the technological explosion gave rise to the Mohists and craftsmen. This is not true. The real answer should be that the technology at that time was constantly producing workshop owners, and workshop owners were constantly producing craftsmen in order to gain wealth."

“Just as every slave wants to be a slave owner, so every yeoman wants to be a landlord.”

Then Xu Fan looked at these students leisurely and said: "Every craftsman has a dream of becoming a workshop owner in his heart."

This is not only true of this era, but also of future generations.

And getting promoted and getting a raise to become CEO, and marrying a beautiful, rich woman is the best portrayal.

The answer was unacceptable to many students present.

Fang Hao said: "It shouldn't be like this. According to Master, the workshop owner will definitely become the master of the world. Why don't you teach them a lesson?"

Xu Fan said: "According to the theory that the butt determines the head, the master should indeed teach those workshop owners a lesson. The master also said that there is no class that betrays its interests, but there are individuals who betray their class. The history of the Yanhuang people has always been full of outstanding people who transcend the times. When the times changed, they transcended their own origins."

"Of course, Master's situation is different. As the Son of Heaven, he must reconcile the contradictions of the entire Han Dynasty. He must be like God, taking away the excess and giving back to the deficiency.

We must suppress the powerful, support the weak, and ensure that all forces in the world can protect their basic interests, and not let any one force dominate. The consequence of one force dominating is that the whole world loses balance, contradictions cannot be alleviated, and finally the overall contradictions in the world have to be resolved by war. "

(End of this chapter)