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

Chapter 400: Engineers Govern the Country and Enjoy the Results

Zhang Liang didn't care about retirement. Historically, he chose to retire after achieving success. Now all his attention and energy are spent on academics, and he cares more about his academic reputation.

Among the three prime ministers of the Han Dynasty, he was the only one who did not train his own successor. As the saying goes, one is strong when he has no desires. Therefore, he was even more indifferent to the selection of the prime minister this time and could stay out of it.

Zhang Liang smiled and said, "It depends on your choice, Your Majesty. Our Han Dynasty has many capable ministers. Ye Nei Shi is an expert in governing the country, but the Minister of Agriculture has helped the Han Dynasty gain hundreds of millions of acres of irrigated land and reclaimed hundreds of millions of acres of wasteland. Isn't this also an expert in governing the country? Back then, Zheng State only created a few million acres of irrigated land, but it was enough to make the Qin Dynasty dominate the world. The Minister of Agriculture's talent is better than 10 Zheng States.

There are also Xiao Tongzheng and Cao Tongzheng who built the Grand Canal, and Zhou Shuijian who completed the tax reform. Each of them has the potential to become a prime minister. "

"If I were to choose, I would not know what to do. I can only let Your Majesty decide. In the end, it is still the wise emperor. If it were not for you, how could the Han Dynasty have so many capable ministers to govern the country?"

The following words are Zhang Liang's truest feelings. The Han Dynasty was founded less than 10 years ago, but it has produced many talents, such as famous ministers like Ye Teng. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, if the princes could have one, they could dominate the world, but in the Han Dynasty, it required fierce competition to become the prime minister. The fact that the Han Dynasty could have so many famous ministers was inseparable from the support of the emperor.

Without an emperor to formulate reasonable taxes for the Han Dynasty, without an emperor to create profitable industries for the Han Dynasty, and without an emperor to take the lead in practicing strict economy, where would the Han Dynasty get so much money to give to these famous ministers to build such huge projects?

Whether it is building the Grand Canal, repairing highways, or canals, all of these cost money. The biggest difference between the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty was that the Han Dynasty had an emperor who knew how to make money.

Xu Fan laughed and said, "You are just being cunning."

Ye Teng's behavior gave Xu Fan a new idea. There is a very famous concept in later generations, that is, engineers should govern the country.

Xu Fan thought it was very good. Compared with the empty talk of civil officials governing the country, which degraded the people who really did things as vulgar officials, engineers governing the country was more pragmatic and more suitable for the current Han Dynasty. Because this path is still feasible even in the information age of the future.

Even if Ye Teng cannot become the prime minister, he must find a way to entrust him with important tasks. He must allow those who are doing work to take on heavier tasks and must not let those who are doing work suffer losses.

And at this moment, Xu Fan's "beep beep beep" sounded a bit like the sound of a single-cylinder tractor in later generations.

Xu Fan looked in the direction of the sound and found that not far from the water area, there was a cloud of black smoke coming out and a large number of people gathered around it.

"Zifang, let's go over and take a look." Xu Fan knew that it was the sound of a steam engine, but he was curious about how the steam engine came to the water's edge.

"Fellow countryman, come and have a look. This is our Han Dynasty's most advanced technological product, a steam pump. You see, its pumping efficiency is more than 10 times greater than that of a windmill. Now is the time when wheat is in the ear, and we need water for irrigation. Unfortunately, there is not much wind in Guanzhong this season, so when you need water, the windmill will go on strike at any time. A water pump does not have this problem."

After saying that, Sun Jie opened the stove cover, put a shovel of coal in and said, "Just this shovel of coal is enough to burn a stick of incense. Look at how much water there is. It's easy to irrigate ten acres of land."

The villagers looked at this strange thing and poked a bamboo pipe into the bottom of the canal. The other end was in the field and water was flowing out. It was indeed more than 10 times more efficient than the waterwheel and windmill. In the time that Sun Jie was speaking, more than half an acre of field had been irrigated.

The villagers around him exclaimed in amazement: "This machine is indeed very efficient, it is equivalent to several waterwheels and windmills."

Although the Han Dynasty already had blast furnaces, and with Xu Fan's promotion, the efficiency of the blast furnaces became higher and higher, and had reached the level of the first industrial revolution.

However, the most widely used raw materials in the Han Dynasty were still various types of wood.

Xu Fan used the method of standardized parts from later generations to greatly reduce the price of windmills and water wheels in this world, and used agricultural loans to accelerate the popularization of windmills and water wheels.

At the same time, Xu Fan made the drawings for making windmills and watermills known to the world. Even farmers with insufficient financial resources could get the raw materials themselves and barely build watermills and windmills. Among them, windmills were not restricted by rivers and could be used to grind wheat and rice, so they were more widely used. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Han Dynasty is now a country of windmills.

The hundreds of millions of acres of irrigated land in the Han Dynasty are not all due to the canals. Countless windmills and water wheels have become the smallest blood vessels in the Han Dynasty's huge body, nourishing the fertile land and increasing the Han Dynasty's grain production capacity.

But windmills also have their limitations. First, they are inefficient. Second, their operation depends on the wind. This means that many times when there is a shortage of water in the fields, the windmill will not turn. When there is no shortage of water, it will start turning again. This is especially true during the wheat heading season when the fields need water. Farmers really want to move the blades with their hands.

This steam-powered water pump is not only highly efficient, but also does not require the cooperation of wind. Many farmers present were attracted by it. With such a machine at home, the production capacity of their fields can be increased by another 30%.

"How much is this coal-consuming machine of yours?" Many people have already planned to get one to take home. While the Han people have been recuperating over the years, ordinary people have saved a lot of money. Because the land belongs to them, they are still very interested in machines that can increase agricultural production capacity.

Sun Jie said happily, "Not expensive, only 8 yuan per unit. This thing can not only burn coal, but also wheat straw and wood. It can burn anything that can be ignited. It is most suitable for you farmers. You can use wheat straw to make fire, although it is a little troublesome, but the ash from the burning can fertilize the fields and make the fields more fertile. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone."

"Tsk!" The farmers around looked at Sun Jie as if he was a lunatic. If you said 8000, the farmers would still grit their teeth, but 8, I'm afraid you are kidding me.

"With 8 yuan, I can buy 20 cows and build a dozen windmills. I also need this machine."

"But this machine is highly efficient, equivalent to 10 windmills, and it doesn't need to be fed like cows," Sun Jie explained.

"It's too expensive and not worth it." The farmers around retreated one after another. Not to mention whether these farmers had 8 yuan, even if they did, they would not buy it.

Sun Jie's promotion was in vain.

"Your Majesty!" Sun Jie said in surprise.

"How did you come up with the idea of ​​promoting steam pumping machines here?"

Sun Jie said: "I think the most suitable places for water pumps right now are mines and farmland. If we can't develop this market, the orders from the world alone will be enough to support all our R&D teams."

The steam expo organized by Xu Fan gave them great inspiration. The expo raised hundreds of millions of dollars for them, allowing them to continue their research. So Sun Jie thought that farmers also needed water pumps, but he did not think about whether farmers had so much money in their pockets.

Then Sun Jie said with a bitter face: "This is already our most advanced water pump. The horsepower is twice as much as half a year ago, and the price has dropped by 10%. But I didn't expect that the farmers don't want the water pump at all." Zhang Liang said: "It's not that they don't want it, but they can't afford it. Do you know that in the standard of farmers in my Han Dynasty, a family property of yuan is a middle-class family, and this is the total property of all the people. Farmers who can take out yuan are all upper-class families, but with so much money, I'm afraid farmers would rather buy cows."

Xu Fan also said: "Unless you can reduce the price of the steam engine to 1 coins, in this case, the steam pump can have a competitive advantage over the waterwheel and windmill."

Xu Fan was speechless at the thought of this. He used a standardized method to produce windmills and waterwheels in the future market and lowered the prices of these two products. However, he did not expect that this would hinder the promotion of steam engines.

Sun Jie's face almost twitched when he heard this. It took their project team half a year to reduce the price by 1%. It would not be possible to reduce it to yuan in a short period of time.

At this time, Sun Jie's apprentice Ding Liu said, "Your Majesty, teacher, we can use slightly inferior materials to build the water pump, which can greatly reduce the price of the water pump. The current hundred-fold steel used to make the cylinder is strong and durable, but it takes too much time and effort to polish it, which in turn increases the price of the steam engine. We use bronze, wrought iron and other soft materials to make the cylinder, which is also convenient to polish. If bronze is used to make the cylinder, the price of each water pump can be reduced a lot."

Sun Jie said: "But this will reduce the power and increase the accident rate."

Now each project team is piling up materials and precision to increase the horsepower of steam engines. No one has ever done the opposite like Ding Liu did.

"You can try this method." Xu Fan said with his eyes lighting up.

This practice became very common in later generations. The best materials were used for high-tech products, and inferior materials were used for second-rate products, but the price could be reduced several times. The reason why China was able to break through the blockade of developed countries in later generations was because of its unprecedented cost-effectiveness.

"You can experiment with both paths. On the one hand, continue to increase the horsepower of the steam engine, and on the other hand, try to reduce the price of the steam engine while maintaining stability."

Sun Jie said: "Yes."

Sun Jie and others took their water pumps and got on the carriage and left.

Zhang Liang asked: "Can this steam engine really change the world?"

Xu Fan had been explaining the role of the steam engine to the Han Dynasty's top leaders, and Xu Fan himself also attached great importance to it. He would visit the laboratories that were developing steam engines almost every month, and sometimes he would help those master craftsmen solve problems.

But the Han Dynasty's top brass were skeptical about this, believing that today's steam engines looked more like strange and erotic techniques and were just toys for the rich.

Xu Fan said confidently: "Of course, Zifang can watch, at most in five years, you will see this trend."

Chang'an City, Prime Minister's Mansion.

Zhou Zhang was also entertaining his old friends.

"You are less than 60 years old, which is the prime time for an official. The emperor is too inconsiderate of our friendship and did not even try to keep you." Jing Yi complained.

Chen Biao said: "Don't dare to talk nonsense. The emperor values ​​the prime minister, and everyone knows it. How can you complain here? It's not that the emperor doesn't want to keep the prime minister, but it's the system. The emperor is leaving a good system for future generations."

Zhou Zhang smiled calmly and said, "It is not an exaggeration to say that I have the most power in the court. I have been a prime minister for ten years and have been able to leave unscathed. This is already a fitting relationship between a monarch and a minister. I am old now, and the position of prime minister should be handed over to the younger generation, otherwise I will be cursed."

It would be a lie to say that Zhou Zhang wanted to retire. Just as Jing Yi said, he was not yet sixty, which was the prime time for a politician. He still wanted to see tracks paved across the entire Han Dynasty, and wanted to connect the Grand Canal to the entire Hebei region, thereby connecting the entire world.

But he also understood how much power he held. The emperor could only tolerate him staying in power for ten years. He was already one of the most holy monarchs in history. If he continued to occupy this position, not only would his friendship with the emperor be severed, but his subordinates would also blame him, cutting off their path to advancement. If he stepped down now, he would be considered to have accomplished his mission.

He looked at Jing Yi and said, "My old friend, you have worked very hard in the past two years. Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings, and it is time for you to enjoy your old age. Leave the work to the younger generation. They are more capable and will do better than us."

After the Battle of Mobei, Jing Tao was granted the title of Marquis, and he was one of the twelve princes who went to Southeast Asia.

Jing Tao did not choose an island, but a major transportation route in the Central and Southern regions, which was roughly the Champa area in later generations. The Han fleet would usually stop here before continuing south to the Spice Islands. At the same time, Champa also had extremely precious wood. Only by having special products in Southeast Asia could development be rapid.

In the past two years, Jing Yi sold all the assets of the Jing family in the Han Dynasty, and then invested all of them in Jing Yi's vassal states. The elites of the Jing family also worked for Jing Tao. Among the vassal states in Southeast Asia, Jing Tao's vassal state was the fastest growing except for Luzon.

Jing Yi has been traveling between Han and Champa for the past two years, transporting various construction goods and people for the vassal states. He has been overworked and his mental state is naturally not good.

Chen Biao also said: "Building a vassal state is a long process. If Chen State did not have Yelang State, it would take decades to succeed. If you work yourself to death, Jing Tao will be left without support. You can't rush to lay a foundation."

Jing Yi said: "I know."

Then he asked: "What are your plans after retirement? How about going to Southeast Asia and leaving a fiefdom for your descendants?"

"This is a good suggestion. You have spent half your life worrying about the Han Dynasty. Now you should leave a legacy for future generations."

Zhou Zhang shook his head and said, "The Han Dynasty is the best foundation I have left for my descendants. After I retire, I want to see the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Han Dynasty and the results of the past decade of governing the world."

Zhou Zhang’s greatest pride in his life is that he and Xu Fan established the current Han Dynasty, ending hundreds of years of chaos.

He did not want nor had the energy to rebuild a country. In Zhou Zhang's view, the Han Dynasty was his best political achievement to show off to the world. He had no regrets in his life, and now he just wanted to enjoy the fruits of his own construction.

(End of this chapter)