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

Chapter 407, Targeted Cleansing and Strengthened Supervision
On November 25, the 10th year of the Han Dynasty, Chang'an City

When Xu Fan saw the message Ye Teng sent back from Jiuyuan County, the content made him frown. Receiving him in person was not a big deal, but blocking the streets and even arresting people were too much.

"Bring me the information about Anling." There were hundreds of officials with salaries of 2000 shi in the Han Dynasty, and Xu Fan didn't know much about Anling.

The attendant quickly found An Ling's information, and Xu Fan learned that An Ling was originally from a powerful family in Nanjun. He first followed Gong Ao and parted ways with the Han Dynasty, and then joined the Southern Expedition Army and followed Ji Bu into Chang'an City. He then received a big gift package of baron, and served as an official step by step for the next few years. Last year, he was promoted to the governor of Jiuyuan County.

After reading An Ling's information, Xu Fan muttered to himself, "It seems that we need to conduct a precise cleansing of the Han officials to clean out the remnants of the previous era."

The Han Dynasty's purge of the Warring States nobles and Qin officials was quite thorough, but because most of Xu Fan's subordinates were from Chu and the place where they revolted was also Chu, a large number of Chu nobles and powerful people defected to Xu Fan.

Xu Fan also needed these people to provide talents to stabilize the regime, especially as the territory of the Han Dynasty was getting bigger and bigger, and the talent gap was getting bigger and bigger, so he naturally needed the help of these Chu nobles and powerful people. Xu Fan's Han Dynasty had not been very thorough in cleaning up the nobles and powerful people of Chu, but now the Han Dynasty's regime was stable and could train more than 100,000 high-quality talents every year.

The nobles and powerful people in Chu were harmful rather than beneficial to the Han Dynasty. They would only corrupt the nobles of the Han Dynasty, disrupt the tradition of hierarchy, and worsen the political environment of the Han Dynasty. Now they must be ruthlessly cleared out of the Han official system.

As for educating them and making them change, Xu Fan would not do such a thankless task. Their three views were formed in their youth, which was difficult to change, or even impossible to change. Instead of spending a lot of effort to change them, it is better to simply purge them from the Han Li group.

"Find the opera order!"

"promise!"

Soon Lu Shu bowed to Xu Fan and said, "I, the minister, am here to pay my respects to your majesty."

Xu Fan said, "Don't be so polite. Find a chair for Lu Shu to sit on."

The servant brought a chair to Lu Shu, and he sat upright.

Xu Fan showed Ye Teng's memorial to Lu Shu. After he finished reading it, he said, "From this incident, we can see that the Han officials are starting to relax again. I want you to write a play called "Yes, the Governor", which mainly satirizes corrupt officials. After rehearsals, you should perform it throughout the Han Dynasty, with the main focus on the Han officials."

Then we told Lu Shu some of the classic lines in the film, such as we claimed that we didn't know the problem, and asked him to translate it into Chinese.

Although Lu Shu's expression did not change after hearing this, he was cursing in his heart. This was to make him isolate himself from the Han officials.

But he also knew that his authority came from the emperor, so he could only say, "I obey your command."

Xu Fan has always been ahead of public opinion. If the Han officials are not alert after seeing this opera, they will deserve to be kicked out.

Then Xu Fan called the Imperial Censor Wu Guang and the Imperial Court Judge Wu Jun, showed them Ye Teng's memorial and said, "Our Han needs to conduct a targeted purge of the nobles and powerful people from the Chu State. We didn't touch them before because our Han needed them, but now they have become a cancer in our Han. We must clean them up and let our Han bid farewell to the chaotic Warring States period."

Wu Guang thought for a moment and asked, "What if our old brothers are affected?"

Xu Fan thought for a moment and said, "If they are too extreme, we should clear them out together, but we must control the scope and not cause any shock to the Han officialdom."

Although purges like that of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty were satisfying, they were too harmful to a country. Zhu Yuanzhang's purges without distinguishing between right and wrong actually caused the Ming Dynasty officials to unite to deal with the emperor, which was extremely undesirable.

From what Xu Fan knows about history, corrupt officials will always exist, and there is no way to completely solve them. So Xu Fan will not think of solving the problem once and for all like Zhu Yuanzhang did. Instead, he will regularly clean up a group of incompetent and foolish corrupt officials, keep the corruption of the Han Dynasty within a certain range, and deter other Han officials. This is the way to achieve long-term stability.

Wu Guang and Wu Jun received Xu Fan's order and said, "Yes!" and then withdrew.

Opera troupe government office.

After Lu Shu came back, he first ordered his men to find the team leader Chen Lian and the deputy team leader Chen Yue to discuss the matter.

Then he said with a bitter face: "How should we write a play that offends people?"

If this opera were to be compiled, he would not only be a traitor to the Han officials, but would also be condemned by everyone.

Soon Chen Lian and Chen Yue arrived and asked, "What do you want from us?"

Lu Shu conveyed the emperor's order to the two of them.

Chen Lian said in surprise: "If this is written into a play, it will definitely be a masterpiece. Our opera troupe hasn't produced a masterpiece in a long time."

Lu Shu said angrily: "Can't you see that if we film a play like this, we will offend a lot of people."

Chen Lian said nonchalantly: "It's okay if they offended us. Our opera troupe doesn't need to be afraid of these Han officials."

Chen Lian was not only a 2000-shi official of the Han Dynasty, but also a count of the Han Dynasty. In addition, due to the special nature of the opera troupe, she did not have to care about the opinions of other Han officials, and naturally she was not afraid of offending them.

Chen Yue said, "We don't know how Han officials do things. It would be difficult to write well just relying on the sentences suggested by the emperor."

Chen Lian said, "We propose that the emperor allow us to enter the government office as Han officials to observe government affairs. This way, the story will be more realistic. You, the magistrate of Luqu, have always complained that you have the ability to govern the country but have no place to show it. This time, you can show it. Let the emperor let you be a fake county magistrate so that you can satisfy your desire to govern the local area for a few days."

Chen Yue smiled and said, "Sister, this is a good suggestion."

Lu Shu was speechless. He understood that the Chen Lian sisters would not be afraid of offending the Han officials, but he felt difficult.

However, Chen Lian's proposal also made him brighten up. As a scholar, he has always had the ideal of governing the country and maintaining peace. It's a pity that his ideal has never been realized. His position has always been very empty, while the Han Dynasty is an extremely pragmatic court. The three dukes and nine ministers are all extremely pragmatic and capable officials.

For a position like his, there is basically no room for advancement, let alone climbing to the position of prime minister.

If he can manage a county on his own, he can transfer to the ranks of civil servants, and thus be qualified to become a prefect, one of the Nine Ministers, or even the prime minister of the Han Dynasty.

Whoever wants to be a position this opera can be one. I want to be a county magistrate or a prefect to realize my ambition.

On the other hand, not long after Ye Teng's memorial arrived, Xiao He also submitted his research report, which mainly talked about the situation in Sanchuan County and the problems he encountered. He also talked about the grassroots people's comments on Sanchuan County's prosperous handicraft industry, the market crowded with merchants, and the rapidly expanding population. The memorial contained more than ten thousand words.

When Xiao He introduced the situation of Sanchuan County, Xu Fan was somewhat reminded of the development of the city where he lived in his later life. He could not feel it while living there, but it was improving every year. The old and dilapidated house in his memory had become a financial street by the time he was in high school, and there was even a copy of the Twin Towers. It was because of this experience that change was the norm for Xu Fan's generation.

However, what Xu Fan was most concerned about was the data on the textile industry in Sanchuan County reported by Xiao He. 550 million pieces of cloth was an extremely large number. According to the amount of cloth consumed by the Han people every year, this number was enough for 500 million Han people. This was just Sanchuan County. There were 50 counties in the entire Han Dynasty. Although most of them were not as developed as the textile industry in Sanchuan County, the textile industry was also increasing rapidly. Even if each county produced hundreds of thousands of pieces of cloth, this was also an extremely large number.

The entire Han Dynasty has a population of less than 4400 million. If the population within the Han Dynasty is included, it may be around 5000-6000 million. According to the consumption habits of people in this era, even if each person consumes one piece of cloth, the consumer market within the Han Dynasty is about 5000 million pieces of cloth. The textile industry will grow at the current scale, and the second industry with overcapacity in the Han Dynasty will be born. Moreover, this overcapacity is different from grain. With more grain, people can hoard it, make wine, and make feed. They can even reduce the planting area of ​​grain and expand the planting of silk and hemp, soybeans, sugarcane and other cash crops.

It is okay even if the grain is not sold. The special properties of grain lead to a year-round surplus of grain, and the commodity properties of grain will decrease. The farmers in the Han Dynasty will bear this loss, and it will not cause an economic crisis. It will even benefit the citizens living in the city.

But the textile industry was different. The self-sufficient peasant economy was destroyed by the textile industry of the Han Dynasty. The entire Han Dynasty textile workshop produced cloth and sold it as a commodity. No family could use up thousands or tens of thousands of pieces of cloth, and cloth was difficult to be converted into a variety of commodities like food. Ninety-nine percent of the Han Dynasty's cloth was used to make clothes.

It won't take more than a few years for Dahan to go through the difficult process of reducing overcapacity.

Xu Fan said, "Go find Shopkeeper Xiong and Shopkeeper Song to come to see me and find me the information about the bank."

"promise!"

A servant went to convey Xu Fan's order. A servant found the information about the bank from the Han Dynasty for Xu Fan.

After the Han Dynasty established investment banks and agricultural banks, the usury forces that existed since the Warring States Period suffered a severe blow. Compared with the banks that often charged one or two times the interest and compounded the interest, the Han Dynasty's banks only required an interest rate of 20%. Moreover, they would not force people to sell their children if they could not pay off their debts, but would just go mining to pay off their debts. The Han Dynasty's banks could be said to be great philanthropists.

However, these usurers learned very quickly. They found that the system of the Han Dynasty money houses was more profitable than usury. They lent money with their own money, although the interest rates were high. However, the people they lent to were ordinary people and small merchants. They dared to exploit such powerless people.

But how much profit can the common people get? Many people cannot pay back their debts. They make a little money but ruin their reputation. Moneylenders are hated by everyone in the world.

But now the money bank system created by the emperor uses other people's money to make money for himself. Although the interest rate is low, it can be regarded as a business with no capital. Moreover, they use the people's capital to expand their business scope. With lower interest rates, more people can pay back the money, and they make more money.

It just so happened that since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the economy has been in a period of rapid development. The area of ​​the Han Dynasty has continued to expand, the market has continued to expand, the wealth has continued to increase, and the number of workshops has continued to increase. Most of these private money houses are extremely profitable like Hu Hai. The high profits naturally promoted the rapid development of the Han Dynasty's money houses.

After learning about this, Xu Fan understood that such a thing was inevitable. The Han Dynasty's crude money house system could not cover the Han Dynasty's workshops, and these private money houses were necessary to supplement it. If they were not allowed to develop openly, they would hide in secret and engage in usury. Instead of doing such a thankless task, it would be better to let them do business openly and regulate their behavior.

Of course, he ordered people to record the information of the Dahan Money House in detail. He could tolerate those who made money honestly, but as for those who engaged in Ponzi schemes, Xu Fan directly exiled their entire families to Southeast Asia.

In today's world, if Xu Fan wants to catch someone, he will have nowhere to escape.

After Xu Fan's cleansing over the past few years, those who remain in the Han Dynasty's financial market are people who are dedicated to their work. Of course, the shareholders behind them are also extremely powerful, and nine out of ten of them are Han Dynasty nobles.

It is impossible to run a money house without strong power. You must have a strong backing to make people trust you and deposit their money in your money house, to ensure that other people will not cheat you of your money, and at the same time, you must have the ability to collect debts legally, so the combination of these two parties is a natural outcome.

Xu Fan was also happy to see this happen, because he also wanted to ensure the safety of the people's property in the bank. Without the real industry, there were only bank owners with debts. Where could Xu Fan go to collect his debts? Even if he sold his whole family, he wouldn't get much money.

But it would be different if there were nobles from the Han Dynasty as shareholders. If they couldn't pay back the money, they would have to hand over their fiefdoms and kingdoms to repay the debts. With such nobles with heavy assets as shareholders, Xu Fan would not worry about the bankruptcy of the Han Dynasty's money house.

"Your servant Xiong Xin and Song Yi greet Your Majesty!" the two men saluted.

"seat!"

Xu Fan looked at the two and said, "There are now more than a hundred banks of all sizes in the Han Dynasty, and almost every county has 2-3 banks. These banks also learn from the Han Dynasty's banks, absorbing deposits from the people and lending to workshop owners, but their ability to resist risks is extremely low. If they are not careful, the hard-earned money deposited by the Han people in their banks will be wiped out. The court cannot let this matter go."

Xiong Xin was overjoyed and asked, "Your Majesty, do you want to take over the private banks and turn them into government-run ones?"

Xiong Xin had long been dissatisfied with these private banks. Not only did they rob his deposits, but they also robbed his loan customers. If they were not backed by earls or marquises, Xiong Xin would have dealt with them long ago. It was a pity that he was a viscount of low power and did not dare to offend the backers of these banks.

Song Yi was similar, but he was more jealous. His agricultural bank had been doing hard work, with a large loan business, a large workload, low turnover, and low profits. Farmers also had poor risk resistance, and it was fine that they were suppressed by the development bank in terms of making money, because their clients were all princes, and they had recently developed business for princes in the Western Regions.

After the princes of Hexi went to the Western Regions, they instantly turned from poor boys into local tycoons. The gold, silver, agate and jade of the Western Regions caused a scramble among the wealthy people of the entire Han Dynasty. The money that the princes of the Western Regions used to buy these luxury goods was all deposited into the Development Bank, which instantly had more than one billion yuan in deposits.

But in the past two years, even private money houses have begun to surpass him, which makes Song Yi very annoyed, and he also wants to eliminate these opponents.

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "In the Han Dynasty, we believe that anything is allowed unless prohibited by law. We have not prohibited ordinary people from running money houses, so it is naturally impossible to force their money houses to be government-run."

Xiong Xin and Song Yi felt a little disappointed.

Xu Fan continued, "But the court must also ensure the safety of the people's hard-earned money and cannot let this happen. I plan to set up a bank.
The Supervisory Committee supervises the money houses of the entire Han Dynasty and formulates money house laws that can protect the money of the people. The position of the Supervisory Committee will be equivalent to a rank of 2000 shi. "

"At the same time, the money house system of our Han Dynasty will continue to expand, adding industrial money houses and commercial money houses, which will solve the loan problems of workshop owners and merchants respectively. As for the employees, they will be separated from your two money houses."

Xu Fan’s idea was very simple, to continue to expand the market share of state-owned banks and expand the power of the banks.

But Xiong Xin and Song Yi didn't care about these. No matter how much money they handled or how big their bank was, they were still merchants after all. How could they compare to the Han officials with a salary of two thousand stones?

In the Han Dynasty, a Han official with a salary of 2000 shi was a high-ranking official, only below the three dukes and nine ministers. As long as they got this position, their status in the Han Dynasty would be completely different.

Xiong Xin and Song Yi said excitedly: "We are willing to serve your majesty."

Xu Fan looked at the two men, understood their thoughts, and then glanced at them several times, and finally looked at Song Yi and said: "Song Qing, you have rich experience in managing money houses. I appoint you as the supervisor of money houses. After you take office, you must formulate money house laws that will not affect the development of the current money houses and ensure the hard-earned money of the people.

At the same time, a deposit reserve system was established, and orders were issued to the banks in the world to deposit 30% of the deposit amount into the banks designated by the court. At the same time, the Han Dynasty banks did not engage in lending and deposit business, but stored the reserves of these banks to deal with sudden disasters, and at the same time minted paper money, gold coins, copper coins and other currencies for the Han Dynasty. "

Song Yi was doing the dirty and tiring work for the two major money houses, and he had done a good job in recent years, so he should be given a sweet reward.

Song Yi was overjoyed and said, "I will definitely fulfill your majesty's wishes."

Xiong Xin looked disappointed, but he quickly said, "Your Majesty, do I need to deposit 30% of the deposit reserve for my bank?"

Xu Fan said: "Whether it is a government-run bank or a private bank, as long as it is a bank, there are no exceptions. This is a guarantee for the people."

Xiong Xin said, "Your Majesty, most of the money I used to develop the money houses has been loaned out, and I can't get this money out at all. The private money houses are probably more vulnerable than ours. If your Majesty issues this policy, I'm afraid a large number of them will go bankrupt, which will be detrimental to the development of our Han Dynasty and the interests of ordinary people."

Xu Fan hadn't really thought of this. He thought for a moment and said, "Song Yi, you should discuss this with the private banks. The court can give them some time, but the deposit reserve system must be completed within this year. If it fails to do so, the court will seal up the banks."

Song Yi said: "I obey your order."

(End of this chapter)