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

Chapter 409: Advance Preparation and the Three Major Changes of a New Official

In addition to inspecting the Brothers Textile Factory, Xu Fan also inspected several large workshops of the Shaofu. These workshops were all developing well. The Han Dynasty was in the first wave of economic dividends, and as long as the goods could be produced, they could be sold.

Several workshop managers have plans to expand production capacity. One manager even said to Xu Fan with great interest: "Your Majesty, our textile factory will expand its production capacity by 2% every year. In five years at most, our textile factory's production capacity will exceed 000 million coins, and we can earn million coins in profit for the court."

The Han managers, who had just emerged from a period of material scarcity, had never thought that the goods they produced would not be sold.

They have endless ambitions and want to work hard to turn their workshop into a large workshop with an annual output value of over 100 million yuan.

Facing the investment boom, Xu Fan found Chen Chui and Zhang Cang and said, "Big Hammer, gather the stewards under the Shaofu and order them to stop the expansion plan of the workshop, sell the goods in the warehouse as soon as possible, and collect the payment from the outside as much as possible. Those who fail to meet these three requirements set by the court will be dismissed and placed in the government affairs school to study."

"Yes!" Chen Chui had followed Xu Fan to visit several workshops, so he naturally understood what the emperor was worried about. Although he didn't understand how the emperor could see that the textile industry would have overcapacity?

But he knew that he was just an ordinary person. If he did not have the trust of the emperor, he would not be able to sit on the throne of the Nine Ministers. The emperor must have seen something that he did not see. He just had to carry out the emperor's orders.

Then Xu Fan looked at Zhang Cang and said, "Your upper accounting department should start to review the situation of the workshops under the Shaofu. If there are any termites, clean them out. You must let the workshops below take charge and act strictly in accordance with the orders of the court."

It is easiest to cover up holes when the economy is developing well. Xu Fan has seen a lot of this in the future. The people below may not execute the orders issued by the court, and may even go against you. Therefore, after an order is issued, subsequent supervision must also keep up to prevent the orders issued from above from going astray.

Zhang Cang was a little stunned and said, "Your Majesty, the situation in the world is peaceful now. What you are doing is not good for the Shaofu. The profit of the Shaofu is an extremely important financial pillar for the court. If there is a problem with the Shaofu, many projects of the Han Dynasty will come to a standstill."

Zhang Cang had not expected that the emperor would suddenly take drastic measures against the Shaofu system, especially since the Shaofu was still in a period of rapid development and the profits it gained each year were increasing rapidly.

Xu Fan said: "When the Prime Minister inspected Sanchuan County a few days ago, he said that Sanchuan County could produce 550 million pieces of various cloths. I also checked the situation in Guanzhong. Not counting the two newly occupied Hexi counties, the four counties in Guanzhong can produce 700 million pieces of cloth. The two places can produce 1 million pieces of cloth. How many pieces of cloth can the 250 counties of the entire Han Dynasty produce?
The population of our Han Dynasty is only 4 million. When the cloth produced in the whole world reaches a level where there is a surplus for every person, overcapacity of cloth will be inevitable, just like grain. "

Zhang Cang was a master of arithmetic, and in addition to reporting on matters relating to statistics, he dealt with data from various counties all year round. He knew that the textile industry in the Han Dynasty was expanding at a rate of 20% per year, and that it was possible that there would really be the overcapacity that the emperor was talking about.

But he did not think about it too deeply, because in many places in the Han Dynasty, cloth could still be used as money, and the Han Dynasty's textile workshops were still money printing machines in his mind.

His thoughts had not yet changed. He did not regard cloth as a commodity, and he could not have imagined that cloth with financial attributes would lead to overcapacity. The overcapacity of money was too advanced a version for the current Han Dynasty.

Now that the emperor reminded him of this, Zhang Cang broke out in a cold sweat. Based on his reverse calculation of the Han Dynasty's taxes, the Han Dynasty's annual output of cloth was definitely close to 5000 million pieces. The Han Dynasty actually had one piece of cloth per capita. This number definitely exceeded the people's needs.

Zhang Cang couldn’t even imagine what would happen if the Shaofu Textile Factory couldn’t sell its cloth.

You have to know that the first source of revenue for the Han Dynasty is the land tax, and the second largest source of revenue is the tax from the textile industry. If there is a problem with the textile industry, it will be no less than a defeat of 10 people for the Han Dynasty. Even if such a loss can be borne, the rapid development of the Han Dynasty will be interrupted, and the prosperity of the Han Dynasty may be interrupted.

Zhang Cang said: "The emperor is very clear-sighted. Since he already knows about this situation, how should the court respond to eliminate this disaster before it becomes apparent."

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "I am not a god. I cannot solve this crisis. I can limit the expansion of the Shaofu's production capacity, but I cannot limit the pursuit of wealth by the people of the world. As long as the textile industry can make money, people of the world will continue to invest in the textile industry."

Xu Fan has seen too many things like this. When people try to make money by making clothes, a bunch of people flock in, which eventually leads to the collapse of the industry. No one makes any money, and then another group of people are cleared out.

Later on, there are the leather industry that manufactures shoes, bags, and belts, the steel industry, then the photovoltaic industry, the information industry, and the real estate industry. It may be that there are too many people in China, so many that an industry can easily burst, making it impossible for anyone to make money.

The hot money that poured in ruined every industry and left behind a lot of junk. Xu Fan remembered that when he was a child, he bought a pair of sandals. They were extremely cheap, but they broke in just half a day.

Zhang Cang said with a little panic: "If this happens, the world will be in danger!"

Xu Fan said calmly: "Don't worry, the world will not be in chaos. With overcapacity, a number of backward workshops will be eliminated, and the textile industry will return to normal. The remaining textile workshops will have stronger productivity and more advanced technology. This is the law of eliminating the weak and retaining the strong, which is in line with the law of nature."

Overcapacity is not a big deal. He encountered it five or six times in his less than 30 years in later life, but he still managed to get through it.

The health of the Han Dynasty's economy was definitely better than that of later generations. There is no reason why later generations could withstand it but the Han Dynasty could not.

Xu Fan, with a calm expression, gave Zhang Cang confidence. Since the emperor had discovered the problem in advance, the Han court would be able to safely survive this crisis.

Therefore, when the Han Dynasty entered its 11th year, the Shaofu Ling Chen Chui issued orders to all the major workshops under his jurisdiction, conveying the emperor's three orders and telling these managers that these three orders were red lines and anyone who dared to cross these three red lines would be directly dismissed.

"Big Hammer, what happened? How could the emperor give such an order?"

"The Shaofu provides half of the court's income. If something goes wrong, who can afford to take responsibility?"

The managers under Chang'an City asked fiercely one by one. Most of these managers were veterans who followed Xu Fan in the uprising in Yang County, and many of them were good friends of Chen Chui, so they were not afraid of Chen Chui.

Chen Chui said, "The emperor said that the textile industry will soon have overcapacity. We must be prepared to prevent it. The three points just mentioned are what His Majesty said."

"How could there be overcapacity in the textile industry after a decade of prosperity? Could it be that Your Majesty is mistaken?"

Chen Chui rolled his eyes and said, "You want to say that you are more far-sighted than His Majesty?"

"Just listen to what His Majesty says. Would His Majesty harm you? I'm telling you in advance that if there are any holes, fill them up quickly. The court will send accountants to audit your accounts. If there are any problems, not only will you never be able to return to the Han Dynasty, but your wives, children and elders will also be exiled to the frontier."

The Han people usually hold people jointly liable for corruption. If one person gets into trouble, the whole family suffers, and often dozens or even hundreds of people from the same family are exiled together.

Upon hearing this, many managers broke out in cold sweats and immediately stopped caring about the three red lines, but instead tried to find a way to plug the hole.

On February 3rd of the eleventh year of the Han Dynasty, Prime Minister Xiao He and Acting Prime Minister Ye Teng, who were on a tour of inspection, returned to Chang'an City. They began to report to the emperor on their inspections of the local areas.

Xu Fan summoned all the dukes and ministers of the Han Dynasty to listen to the reports from Xiao He and Ye Teng.

Xiao He said solemnly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty should control the workshops in this world. According to what I have seen among the people, there are workshops in every county in the more than 20 counties in the south of the Central Plains of the Han Dynasty, including textile factories, brick kiln factories, cement factories, and coal factories. These small workshops are everywhere.

Local counties and prefectures in particular liked to build these workshops, but the management of local county and prefecture workshops was very chaotic, with various problems of misappropriation of funds and corruption emerging one after another, and foolish people not worthy of their positions.

This is just a problem for the imperial court. The common people in the countryside are proud of building workshops, and only the old and weak are left to farm the fields, which seriously affects the grain production of our Han Dynasty. If this situation is not changed, the glory of our Han Dynasty is likely to be short-lived. "

After saying this, Xiao He took out a thick memorial and said, "This is what I have seen and heard during my three-month inspection. I am now presenting it to Your Majesty."

Xu Fan took the memorial and asked with concern, "Is it that serious?"

He thought back to the situation in later generations and found that this was inevitable. People would inevitably move to profitable industries. If mechanization had not solved the problem of labor shortage in later generations, the problem of agriculture would have been even greater. The situation in the Han Dynasty was slightly better. Each household had 100 acres of land, which could ensure that the farmers' income would not be too low.

According to the current situation of the Han Dynasty, the income gap between farmers and ordinary craftsmen is about 2-3 times, unlike the more than ten times in later generations. Xiao He said it was serious, but he was just worried that the development trend of farmers in the Han Dynasty was not conducive to food production. Farmers in the Han Dynasty were still reluctant to give up their land.

Xiao He nodded and said, "The governance of Guanzhong by our Han Dynasty is pretty good, but outside of Guanzhong, there are many problems. The big counties are better, but the local workshops in the small counties are rigid and inflexible, not competitive enough, and they can only survive if the local Han officials protect them."

Chen Chui immediately explained: "These workshops are just registered under the name of our Shaofu. They are all the money bags of the local government offices and have nothing to do with us." Xiao He said calmly: "I know this has nothing to do with the Shaofu, but the court should still manage this matter."

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "The court can't manage it. The situation has become so large that the court can only delegate power and focus on the big issues, but once power is delegated, problems will arise, and the court will also be in trouble.

If the organization level in later generations was 80, the Han Dynasty court probably did not even have 60. There were too many small workshops to manage, and the speed of information flow in the Han Dynasty at that time did not allow the court to do so.

Xu Fan could only focus on the big ones and let go of the small ones, and put his main energy on several key large workshops and the workshops in Guanzhong. The only advantage for the Han Dynasty was that the external conditions were extremely good and there were no enemies.

Therefore, the tolerance rate of the Han people is extremely high. Xu Fan can use these local workshops to educate Han officials and managers. Those with ability will be promoted to large workshops, and those without ability will be allowed to disappear with the industrial overcapacity. The physique of the Han people can withstand such high-cost talent training.

Xiao He thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the local workshops are not of much benefit to the court. Instead, they have become a hotbed of corruption. I think that instead of letting them become a cancer of the Han Dynasty, it is better for the court to let them go and let them learn from the brother textile factories and buy these workshops out to local craftsmen. Only then can they better manage these workshops and compete with your workshops."

"Absolutely not!" Chen Chui said anxiously, "If the court allows the craftsmen to redeem the workshop, let alone the local government office will not agree, what if the craftsmen under the Shaofu see this situation and want to redeem it?
The profits provided by the Shaofu account for half of the Han Dynasty's finances each year. The Shaofu cannot be chaotic. I must be cautious in this matter."

The world is plagued by scarcity and inequality. It doesn't matter if the local small workshops are abandoned, since the imperial court won't be able to collect any money from them anyway.

But the workshops directly under the Shaofu did not dare to do so. The Chang'an Carriage Yard provided the court with a profit of more than 3000 million coins a year, and it was still expanding rapidly. If such a workshop was also redeemed, the court would lose 3000 million coins, which was almost equivalent to the annual tax revenue of a large county. The main profit of the Shaofu was supported by large workshops.

Tax inspector Zhou Bo snorted coldly and said, "Borrowing! The local Han officials will not give up their own small coffers. Even if it is difficult to manage, the court will still manage these workshops."

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "This is not only a difficult problem to manage, but even if the court takes over, it cannot change this problem. It may even get worse, which will increase the burden on the court."

Maybe they would have to provide food and clothing for a million canal workers, and the entire Han Dynasty might be dragged down. If productivity cannot be achieved by force, the gains would be counterproductive. Xu Fan even felt that the workshops controlled by the Shaofu were overused and difficult to manage, and needed to be streamlined.

Amid rapid industrialization, the size of the Shaofu has been expanding. Now, the number of craftsmen directly under the Shaofu alone is twice that of Han officials. If the workshops managed by local Shaofu are included, the size of the entire Shaofu of the Han Dynasty may reach half of the world's population. This is an extremely exaggerated quality, which means that the classical court during the transition period between the Qin and Han dynasties was able to directly organize the production of such a large population.

If it were the Eastern Han Dynasty when the aristocratic families rose to power and there were a large number of middlemen, the imperial court would have completely lost this ability.

Shusun Tong thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I think the court should not build too many workshops. Just like what the Prime Minister has seen, creating a hotbed of corruption is not worth the loss for our Han Dynasty. The local Han officials are reluctant to let go of these workshops, mainly because they need these workshops to make money to build the local area, and our Han Dynasty also needs these workshops to accommodate meritorious officials."

"I have thought of a good way, which is to give up the right to control these workshops and sell some of the shares of the workshops to local workshop owners with strong management capabilities. The court will only retain a portion of the shares. As long as the workshops are well managed, the income from a portion of the shares will also be higher than that of the local Han officials, and the meritorious officials of the court can also be resettled. This can be said to kill three birds with one stone."

Cao Shen sarcastically said, "Feng Chang is indeed a Feng Chang who does not compete with the people for profits. He directly gives the court's profits to those workshop owners. I want to remind Feng Chang, whose salary and whose food do you eat? Don't be a traitor who betrays his own people."

Recently, many great scholars in Chang'an City have been advocating that the court should not compete with the people for profits. The court should withdraw from many industries that are not related to the military and hand them over to private workshops. The court should just do a good job of collecting taxes. The current situation of being both a referee and a player is extremely unfair to the ordinary people of the Han Dynasty.

Football developed rapidly in the Han Dynasty. There were dozens of teams of all sizes in the entire Chang'an City, and a relatively primitive league had already taken shape in the Han Dynasty.

This kind of league is still in a state of wild growth. From time to time, the referee is the owner of a team, and then there will be inexplicable penalties, causing the opposing team to lose.

Seeing this situation, the people of Chang'an City would ridicule those people, saying that they were both referees and players, and that there were 15 people playing football. This has become a common phrase used by the people of Guanzhong to ridicule unfairness.

Of course, there are many calls in the monthly report not to compete with the people for profits, but it has no effect on the top leaders of the Han Dynasty. These officials of the Han Dynasty all emerged from the troubled times. They trust what they have in their hands more. Not competing with the people for profits seems to them to be a crooked way.

The Han Dynasty was able to reduce taxes and exempt people from corvée labor, and at the same time, recruit 600,000 troops at will, all because of the huge workshop system of the Han Dynasty's Shaofu, which provided logistics in wartime and taxes in peacetime.

Without the Shaofu, the Han Dynasty would either become a tyrannical Qin with heavy taxes and levies, or a sickly country with weak military power. These officials of the Han Dynasty could not accept the weakening of the Shaofu system.

Shusun Tong was furious and said to Xu Fan: "Your Majesty, Cao Tongzheng is slandering me. Please help me."

Xu Fan said: "Let's discuss politics, don't make personal attacks, but don't compete with the people for profit. Who are these people? Sun Shufengchang should think carefully."

Sun Shutong heard the emperor's dissatisfaction and stopped talking.

Xu Fan thought for a while and said, "The time is not yet ripe to rectify the local Shaofu workshops. Let's leave it alone for now. When these workshops are not profitable, the local Khan will naturally let them go."

When there is overcapacity, we can directly eliminate it and most of the problems will be solved.

Then Ye Teng reported the problems he saw in the north. Compared with the south, the textile industry in the north was dominated by woolen cloth. Except for a few large workshops, most of the textile workshops were family workshops, so it was not as serious as Xiao He saw.

Although it may be a bit hurtful, the huge production capacity is divided among individuals, and the pressure borne by each individual is less likely to cause unrest. The fields and pastures in the north have become a reservoir of employment.

Of course, this does not mean that there are no problems in the North.

Ye Teng said: "Your Majesty, the northern barbarians are wild and difficult to tame. They prefer to join the army, or plunder, rather than farming. There are many bandits in the north. Although they have not yet threatened the order of our Han Dynasty, they have affected the operation of many merchants."

Many county governors in the north want the court to expand the number of conscriptions in the north. It would be best if these Xiongnu soldiers stayed in the local area to reduce the proportion of Xiongnu in the north. "

Xu Fan thought for a moment and said, "The court will recruit more soldiers from the north, but this cannot be done in a hurry. Let's educate them slowly."

"You must handle these problems in a comprehensive and balanced manner. As the saying goes, a new official has three things to do when he takes office. You should establish your own prestige by fighting corruption. This will also facilitate your subsequent governance."

Xiao He and others said: "Yes!"

On February 5, the eleventh year of the Han calendar, the imperial censor Wu Guang and the chief judge Wu Jun jointly launched a special anti-corruption campaign, purging a large number of Han officials who were originally from the aristocracy of the Chu State. After a month of joint investigation, they investigated and punished nearly two thousand Han officials, of whom hundreds were sentenced to hanging, thousands were sentenced to exile to the Western Regions, and more than eight hundred Han officials were sent to the Political Science College to study.

At the same time, the Shaofu and the Shangji jointly investigated the major official workshops of the Han Dynasty and found out thousands of corrupt managers. The amount of corruption by these managers exceeded 3 billion. This news shocked the entire Han Dynasty and even overwhelmed the actions of the Chief Censor. 3 billion is a fortune that can rival a country. The annual tax revenue of the Qin Dynasty was not even this amount.

On March 6, the eleventh year of the Dahan calendar, Dahan established the Money House Supervisory Committee and the Dahan Money House.

The newly appointed Supervisor of Money Houses, Song Yi, issued a clear order to all money houses in the world, asking them to transfer 30% of their deposits to the Han Money House as a deposit guarantee. Money houses that failed to do so would be banned by the court.

The imperial court gave all the money houses in the world six months to raise money. After six months, if they could transfer 30% of the deposits to the Dahan Money House, the imperial court would investigate and punish unqualified money houses according to law.

The establishment of the Money House Supervision Committee and the deposit guarantee system made the wildly developing money houses throughout the Han Dynasty panic, because most of the private money houses in the Han Dynasty could not afford such money. Money houses make profits by making money from money, and every private money house in the Han Dynasty was eager to lend out all the money in their hands.

At this time, the Han Dynasty's light industry, represented by the textile industry, was also developing rapidly and wildly. There were entrepreneurs everywhere who needed loans, and it was impossible for money houses to keep 30% of the deposits.

Fortunately, the imperial court did not go to extremes and gave them six months to raise the money. So now the owners of the money houses in the Han Dynasty are either collecting debts or trying to absorb deposits from the people.

The Han Dynasty's booming situation showed signs of easing as the imperial court cut off the fuel for the cause. A large number of textile workshops, cement plants, brick kilns and mines that wanted to start or expand were forced to slow down their expansion due to lack of funding sources.

(End of this chapter)