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

Chapter 420: Shattered World Views and Basic Fairness
Ye Teng said that he was considering the farmers, but in the final analysis, the farmers still had to go to the most difficult frontiers to settle and cultivate.

The merchant farmer said angrily, "You are just making sweet talk. What the craftsmen do now, can't the farmers do it? Can't the craftsmen reclaim wasteland if the farmers are asked to do so? Don't forget that they were farmers a few years ago. Now that they live in the city, they have become city dwellers? They have even forgotten the basics of being human!"

"If we have to endure hardships, we should endure them together. The sons of farmers should go to the frontiers to reclaim wasteland, and the sons of craftsmen should also go to the frontiers to reclaim wasteland. It is fair for everyone to endure hardships together. Why should we pull one side and trample the other side? You can't eat the food grown by farmers while trampling the farmers into the dirt. This is extremely immoral."

The problem that Dahan is facing today is an extremely familiar problem for Xu Fan. Too many film and television dramas have introduced this problem.

The only good thing about the Han Dynasty is that there is still a lot of wasteland that can be reclaimed, and there is enough time and means to solve this problem.

Xiao He thought for a moment and said, "Given the current situation in the Han Dynasty, reducing the salaries of craftsmen will reduce the willingness of some farmers to work in the city, and they will not reject the reclamation organized by the court. Overall, it is beneficial to the overall interests of the Han Dynasty."

Xiao He thought about what he had seen in Luoyang City. The local young people would rather live in shacks in Luoyang City than farm in the frontier.

Putting aside other factors, the high salary of craftsmen is the main reason. In a big city like Luoyang, a person can earn five or six thousand coins a year by working, while in the Han Dynasty, only a few relatively wealthy villages can reach this figure.

Qin Bo said angrily, "According to your argument, should our Han Dynasty still build a harmonious world? The wealth of the world is increasing visibly. There are many workshop owners in our Han Dynasty with a fortune of millions, tens of millions, and even hundreds of millions. The money they earn is all from the hard work of their craftsmen. In the end, you want to reduce the salaries of our craftsmen. How can this be justified in the world?"

Xiao He said calmly: "There is nothing we can do about this. In the past, craftsmen only accounted for one or two percent of the world's total population. Scarcity makes things valuable, so they can naturally get higher salaries.

But our Han Dynasty has made industry a national policy and has vigorously developed industry. In the past ten years or so, the number of craftsmen has increased dramatically, and now accounts for one-tenth to two-tenths of the world's total population. As far as individual craftsmen are concerned, their salaries are indeed low, but as a group of craftsmen, the benefits you have gained are increasing."

"The court is not targeting the group of artisans now, but is trying to control the scale of the artisans and make the artisan group adapt to the industrial scale of our Han Dynasty. This is the only way to truly save everyone's jobs."

Hearing these people's arguments, Xu Fan's thoughts flew far away. In his memory, the craftsmen also had a good time, especially the people in the Siheyuan, who were talking about things during that period.

A widow could support three children and an elderly person with a salary. Although she had help from others, it was already a great achievement. In the Internet age, those who could do this would probably have to earn over 10,000 yuan a month. Artisans were the highest-paid people in the world at that time.

In the past, Xu Fan always thought that that period was better and that the world was generally fair.

But now, considering the situation encountered by the Han Dynasty during its development and the conflicts between craftsmen and farmers, the establishment of the household registration system makes sense. That is to restrict a part of the people to farming.

If you think about it more deeply, it turns out that the craftsmen during that period were really Mr. Zhao, and their relatively good life was built on the basis of exploiting the farmers.

Xu Fan felt that his three views were about to shatter. It seemed that everyone at that time was aristocratic and craftsmen, and he, a descendant of a peasant, could never reach their level.

Their status is that of small workshop owners today. They rely on their advantageous position to hinder the further development of others. It turns out that many things cannot be thought about deeply.

Qin Bo looked at Xu Fan and said, "Your Majesty, do you also agree with what Prime Minister Xiao said?"

Xu Fan said: "As the Son of Heaven, I must not only protect the interests of the craftsmen, but also the interests of the farmers. I must also grasp the direction and let the Han Dynasty move forward."

"As for the current situation in Dahan, the number of young people is increasing too fast. The fertile land has basically been divided up. The number of jobs created by industrial development cannot keep up with the number of young people. This is the main contradiction in Dahan at this stage."

"There are only two ways to resolve this contradiction. One is to develop the industry in the direction of greater quantity and higher quality, vigorously promote steam engines and steam to replace water power and animal power, improve production efficiency, and make the wealth of the whole world greater. As long as the industry is booming, the number of craftsmen positions required will increase, and the salaries of craftsmen will naturally rise as well."

"But this cannot be done in a short period of time. The steam engine can bring extremely high efficiency. At present, it will reduce industrial jobs. Until all workshops in the world reorganize the industrial chain around it, the number of jobs in the world will increase exponentially. It takes time to reorganize the new industrial chain."

"The second is to develop the wild land, increase the land, and increase the market in towns. This will divert the labor force to the new land and reduce the current employment pressure in the Han Dynasty."

"This is something that our Han Dynasty can do relatively easily. Liaodong, Qianzhong, Nanzhong, the Western Regions, and Nanyang are vast and wild lands. As long as they are cultivated, they can become the homes of the Han people."

Xu Fan understood that it would take time to popularize the steam engine throughout the Han Dynasty, and it took nearly 100 years in the history of industrialization.

Even if Xu Fan is the one pushing forward the Han Dynasty, it will be hard to see results without 10 years of hard work. The supporting industrial chain requires the efforts of many smart and talented people, so in the long run, population pressure will always exist.

Moreover, there are limits to industrial development. In the future, when there is overcapacity, it can be dumped abroad because there is a vast market of billions of people.

But now it is the 2nd century BC, and the group that can be called a country is probably less than two hands.

Tianzhu seems to be just around the corner, but Tianzhu's handicraft industry is not bad either, and its textile industry is its strength. Xu Fan remembers that the first cotton cloth was brought from Tianzhu.

Looking back at history, the cloth produced by Niu Niu's steam engine could not beat the cloth made by Tianzhu's hand-woven looms. In the end, they had to use tough measures to destroy their textile industry. The situation was similar in the Qing Dynasty. Tens of thousands of miles of sea routes were enough to offset the efficiency brought by the steam engine.

Therefore, the Han people today are unable to sell their products even if they want to.

The Han Dynasty could only learn from the advanced experience of later generations and actively develop and cultivate the market. Moreover, the environment of the Han Dynasty was better than that of later generations, and there was no external enemy to destroy it. Of course, the specific practices were different.

The Han Dynasty must rely on reclamation to create its own market. The new market created by reclamation will drive industry, and then the industry will feed back to the reclamation, thus accelerating their efficiency in transforming the world.

Xu Fan was shocked to find that this might be the only way for the Han Dynasty to develop industrialization. Otherwise, industrialization would not be able to make a breakthrough, and the entire Han Dynasty might go back to the old ways, restricting the development of the industry and reducing the contradictions brought about by the solidification of the entire society.

There is a joke in later generations that describes this situation very vividly.

If they could recruit hundreds of thousands of laborers to build the Great Wall, there would be no market for cranes; if they could recruit millions of laborers to build the Grand Canal, there would be no market for excavators; if they could ride in a sedan chair carried by eight people, there would be no market for cars.

Although this may sound a bit extreme, there is a very vivid example of counter-industrialization in history, and that is the travel industry.

From the earliest horses, horse-drawn carriages, and ox-drawn carts, to the sedan chairs with eight, sixteen, and thirty-two bearers in later generations, this is the best portrayal of the fact that people are inferior to horses and oxen.

After Xu Fan figured it out, he said firmly: "At this stage, reclamation is the century-old national policy of the Han Dynasty. The people of the Han Dynasty can only transform these wild lands into wealthy homes to obtain their own happy lives."

Then he said to Xiao He: "The court should formulate a law on reclamation, forcing rural youths over 20 years old to separate their households, and the court will organize them to go to reclamation."

Shang Nong was about to say something, but Xu Fan stopped him and said, "It's the same in the city. Any young people without jobs should be forced to move to the border to cultivate the land. This should be implemented as the national policy of our Han Dynasty."

Regardless of whether they are workers or peasants, I can just let them settle and reclaim the land. This is always fair.

Sure enough, the merchants and farmers stopped talking after hearing what the emperor said. Xu Fan looked at Qin Bo and said, "The court will formulate an asset tax law. All people with a monthly salary of 5000 coins will be subject to a 5% asset tax. For people with a monthly salary of 5000 coins, the tax rate for the portion exceeding 1 coins will be 5000%. For people with a monthly salary of 10 coins, the tax rate for the portion exceeding 1 coins will be 5%. For people with a monthly salary of 1 coins, the tax rate for the portion exceeding 15 coins will be 5%. For people with a monthly salary of 10 coins, the tax rate for the portion exceeding 5 coins will be 20%. For people with a monthly salary of 10 coins, the tax rate for the portion exceeding 50 coins will be 10%. For people with a monthly salary of 25 coins, the tax rate for the portion exceeding 50 coins will be 50%. For workshop owners with a monthly salary of more than 30 million coins, a unified asset tax of 35% will be imposed."

"This tax money will be used exclusively for the court's reclamation expenses. The contradictions brought about by the development of the Han Dynasty must be borne by all the people of the Han Dynasty. The craftsmen and farmers have already contributed people, and the workshop owners have enjoyed the dividends of the development of the times and have a responsibility to give back to the whole world. They will contribute money, which is a relatively fair solution."

Qin Bo had nothing to say this time.

Xiao He frowned and said, "Your Majesty hastily imposed such a high tax, I'm afraid it will be difficult for people in the world to accept it."

It is extremely difficult to introduce a new type of tax and have people accept it. Just look at the countries in later generations, they all caused chaos.

To some extent, the Western Han Dynasty was also a court that was quite extravagant. Property tax was a new type of tax that they invented. Xu Fan has forgotten what this tax was called, but it was probably a tax of 120 coins for every coins of property. The emperors of the first few generations of the Western Han Dynasty were quite extravagant with this tax. Basically, they would levy it once whenever they were short of money.

It is a pity that they did not form a system and did not realize the importance of this tax. After Emperor Wu, the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty no longer had the prestige to levy this tax. After the demise of the Western Han Dynasty, later dynasties no longer had the ability to levy this tax, so this property tax disappeared for 2000 years.

Xu Fan said, "You have to accept it even if you can't. After the Sages' Meeting, the court will begin to announce the property tax to the world. It will be officially collected from January next year. Past property will not be punished. The official calculation will begin in January of the 1th year of the Han calendar. I will set an example first. The court can calculate the property tax to be collected this year based on the profits earned by the inner treasury last year. I will be the first to take the lead in paying it."

“I have paid this tax, and then I will force the noble officials of the Han Dynasty to pay it. Those who resist will be dismissed first and sent to study in the Government Affairs Academy for a year.

If his family still refuses to pay the tax, he will be dismissed from his post. If he is not of the same mind as me, then he should not receive my salary."

"I and the noble officials of the Han Dynasty have all paid this tax. It will be much easier for the Prime Minister to ask those workshop owners to pay this tax."

Ye Teng said worriedly: "Taking away people's money is like killing their parents. Even if Your Majesty sets an example, I'm afraid not many people will be willing to pay this tax. I'm only worried that it will cause chaos in the country and affect the normal operation of the court."

Xu Fan sneered, "When each policy is implemented, we need to get more supporters and fewer opponents. How many people can we have with a monthly salary of 5000?"

"If there were 5% or % of such people, this economic crisis would not have occurred. Even if there were % or %, the government's finances would not be so tight. According to my estimation, there are less than half of the people who can earn yuan a month. It would be considered a lot if there were more than people."

"All government affairs cost money, especially the imperial court's reclamation, which is extremely expensive. The imperial court should choose to let the more than 4000 million people of the Han Dynasty bear this expense together, or let these hundreds of thousands of wealthy people bear it. This is not a choice that can be made easily."

Shang Nong said: "I think this makes sense. If they don't want to pay the money, then they can take their families to the border to cultivate the land."

Xiao He said with a sullen face, "Your Majesty, if you do this, the people of the country will be affected by the reclamation. The court will be under great pressure. The country has not continued to divide households for 10 years. If you force this policy to be implemented, the people will find it difficult to understand."

The emperor's division was indeed very fair and just. Those with talent provided their people, and those with money provided their money. But on the other hand, it made people all over the world dissatisfied with the military reclamation.

Xiao He was really worried that doing so would cause problems. Back then, the Qin Dynasty attacked the Baiyue in the south and the Xiongnu in the north, which was not a bad thing, but in the end it caused the world to fall apart.

Xu Fan said: "It is difficult to understand but we must carry it out. The Prime Minister must order the opera troupe to prepare for publicity. I will also write an article in the Great Han Daily to encourage the aspiring young people of the Great Han to fight in the most difficult areas. You must let the workshop owners understand that the court's reclamation is to open up new markets for them. This is the price they must pay.

In short, the court must work together to guide the people to go out and build new homes. Although staying in their homes is good, it will only cause everyone to fall into endless internal competition, and everyone will live an extremely hard and difficult life. "

It is obvious that Xu Fan is extremely determined and he will implement this policy even if it will make people all over the world dissatisfied.

Xiao He thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, we can't just rush to expand the settlement and reclamation. Let's start with 10 people this year and see how it goes. Then we can make the next plan."

Xu Fan said: "Okay, let's do a pilot project in Nanjun first, recruiting young men from the six counties of Jianghuai to settle in Nanjun."

Ye Teng thought for a moment and said, "If Your Majesty really wants to make reclamation a hundred-year national policy of our Han Dynasty, then there must be a special reclamation department to supervise the implementation of the policy. It would be best if this person is a general of our Han Dynasty who can suppress opposing opinions with a strong hand."

Xu Fan looked at everyone and asked, "Who do you think is suitable for this position?"

Xiao He said: "Zhou Chang, the prime minister of Liang, once captured the Qin general Meng Yi in Dongwuyang County. He has outstanding military achievements, is upright, and has a high reputation. He has also made remarkable achievements in Liang over the years and can be regarded as the commander of the reclamation."

Ye Teng said: "Li De, the water conservancy commander, has built thousands of miles of water conservancy projects for our Han Dynasty over the years. He has made great contributions. At the same time, water conservancy projects are also indispensable facilities for reclamation. I once thought that Li De could be called the reclamation commander."

Shang Nong shook his head and said, "I don't have anyone to recommend, but I think it would be better for someone who knows about water conservancy to be in charge of the reclamation."

Xu Fan said: "Then appoint Li De as the new Colonization Commander, with a rank of 4,000 stones. He will set up the Colonization Department, and all departments of the court will cooperate with the Colonization Commander in government affairs."

Xiao He and others said, "As ordered."

Qin Bo asked, "Didn't the court say that it wanted to reduce staff and save 6 gold a year? Now they are setting up a new Nine Ministers Department. Isn't this contrary to the court's current policy?"

Xu Fan said: "The court cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater. The departments should be well-managed and executed, and the Department of Reclamation should also be established."

Xiao He said: "This time the imperial court built fortifications, but the logistics provided by the local government have repeatedly made mistakes. Either they provided old grain, or there was a scene of fire dragon burning the warehouse.

According to the intelligence I have obtained, in a granary in Handan County, the warehouse clerks and unscrupulous merchants colluded with each other and stole 10 dan of grain.

When the imperial court needed grain, the warehouse clerk actually wanted to burn the granary to cover up his crime. After being arrested and interrogated, it was discovered that the illegal grain merchant had only spent 5 yuan to steal the entire warehouse.

Xu Fan was speechless and said, "How did this guy become a warehouse clerk when he is so bad at math? He doesn't even know elementary school arithmetic."

Daqin already had a relatively complete warehousing system. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Xu Fan further strengthened it. He set up four major reserve granaries on the basis of Aocang and established Changping Warehouse in the local area.

At the same time, the scope of reserve materials was expanded, and the storage of silk, woolen cloth, cotton cloth, and linen was increased. Sugar warehouses, salt warehouses and other materials were also built. With pride, the materials stored in the Han Dynasty's storage system were enough to feed all the people for half a year.

In the first 10 years after the founding of the country, the Han Dynasty spent 5 gold each year to store these supplies, and the cost of maintaining these warehouses was as high as gold.

Xu Fan also knew that such a huge amount of supplies would attract many rats.

But the imperial court had to do these things. These materials were like fat on the human body. They seemed to be a burden at normal times, but they could really save lives at critical moments.

(End of this chapter)