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

Chapter 421: Land Replacement and Countermeasures
Xu Fan could accept their greed, but it was hard for him to accept that the Han officials were so stupid that they stole 5 dan of grain with only 10 coins. How did he calculate that he could take away two dan of grain with only one coin?

If all the Han officials were such idiots, Xu Fan would be worried about how much supplies were left in his granary.

Xiao He explained: "The unscrupulous merchant promised the warehouse keeper that the grain would only be circulated and the profits would be shared equally between them. If the court checked the accounts, he would ship the grain back."

"But in fact, the profit from the sale of grain was used to build a textile workshop. As a result, the workshop went bankrupt during the economic crisis and had no money to buy back the grain. In the end, they took the risk and wanted to burn down the granary."

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "The imperial examination system of our Han Dynasty still needs to be improved. Even a fool like this can pass the exam. I am very worried about the quality of those Han officials."

Xiao He ignored Xu Fan's complaints and continued, "Your Majesty, from these things we can see that our Han Dynasty's storage system should be rectified and some of these rats should be killed."

Xu Fan said: "Order the Imperial Censor Wu Guang to form a patrol imperial censor group to investigate the Han Dynasty's storage system. Don't let any of these rats go, and all their families will be exiled to Southeast Asia."

Xiao He said: "As ordered."

On October 16, the twelfth year of the Han calendar, a meeting of wise men was held in Jianzhang Palace.

Prime Minister Xiao He sorted out the content and data of their conversation yesterday, and wrote a proposal for military reclamation overnight. It talked about the crisis that the Han Dynasty was facing now, why military reclamation was needed, the significance of military reclamation to the Han Dynasty's industry, the newly established military reclamation order, the court's decree for compulsory military reclamation, the source of military reclamation expenses and the asset tax law, and then gave a detailed introduction to the class-based asset tax collection method.

This caused a sensation in the entire Sages' Council. How did this Sages' Council turn into a meeting to increase taxes?

Ying Bu was surprised and asked, "Your Majesty, do we, the princes, also have to pay this tax?"

You have to know that Ying Bu's property is not small. Even if the asset tax is levied from next year, it will be nearly 100 million a year. Even though he is a prince, he cannot bear such a huge loss.

Xu Fan said: "You have already paid one-tenth of the feudal tax. This asset tax has nothing to do with you, the princes."

The Han princes who were listening in on the meeting of sages breathed a sigh of relief. It was no wonder that they were so nervous. If they really collected taxes in this way, most of them would have to pay one-third of the taxes. Add to that the one-tenth feudal tax collected by the court before, and a small half of the taxes of each of their vassal states would be taken by the court. Even if they were loyal to the emperor, they could not withstand such taxation.

Ge Ying asked: "Your Majesty, do nobles who have fiefs or even nominal fiefs in the Han Dynasty also have to pay this asset tax?"

Xu Fan said: "As long as the profits earned by operating in the territory of the Han Dynasty are taxed, including me, but you don't have to pay the annual pension given by the court."

This loophole must not be allowed for the nobles in the Han Dynasty. Otherwise, if the Ming Dynasty's affiliation is understood, the workshop owners in the Han Dynasty will probably be transformed into aristocratic workshop owners.

Hearing the emperor's words, the nobles of the Han Dynasty looked extremely ugly. One third of their earnings were taken away. If they had known this would happen, they would have been better off dividing the overseas vassal states. However, the emperor shut them up with his own actions. Even the emperor of the Han Dynasty had to pay this tax, so how could these vassal states be more noble than the emperor?

When Kuai Che heard the emperor's words, he saw stars. Although he had suffered a loss of 5000 million yuan this year due to the economic crisis and the fact that their textile workshops had to replace a large number of steam spinning wheels and textile machines, he was shocked.

But the crisis has passed. His income before the crisis reached 5000 million coins. According to the court's tax rate, the taxes he paid alone exceeded million coins. This was still his workshop. He was basically working for the court.

He instinctively wanted to object, but he quickly calmed down. Although the original source of this decree was Qin Bo, it was obviously made by the emperor. After all, only the emperor dared to make a decree that offended everyone in the world. The sage seven years ago had already set an example for them of the consequences of vetoing the emperor's opinion.

Kuai Che said solemnly, "Your Majesty's decree on reclamation concerns the entire Han people. We need to think carefully before making a decision. I suggest that we adjourn the meeting first and let us discuss and then vote. Is that ok?"

Xu Fan said: "Yes!"

So the meeting of sages on the 16th ended when Xiao He read out a legislative proposal.

As soon as the Sages' Meeting was over, Ying Bu and other princes came to Xu Fan and said, "Your Majesty, the asset tax is too high. Isn't this equivalent to adding another land tax? How many people can bear such a high tax all of a sudden?"

Ying Bu felt fortunate at this time. If this tax were really levied on them, although they would not dare to rebel, they would definitely be in a mess.

Xu Fan said unhappily, "Are those who earn more than one million yuan a year considered civilians? Our Han Dynasty is based on the people, so we naturally have to take care of the profits of ordinary people. If we don't tax those property owners who earn tens of millions of yuan a year, should we tax those farmers who don't even earn 3000 yuan a year?
I have taught you so many times that the court should be like the way of heaven, taking away the surplus and giving to the deficit. Only in this way can the country run stably. The way of man is to use the deficit to serve the surplus. If the entire vassal state is left with only those tigers and leopards, how can such a country last long? "

Ying Bu and others nodded in approval. As rulers of a country, they agreed with Xu Fan's idea even more.

Of course, they are also Xu Fan's subordinates. When faced with policies of the court that are not favorable to them, they will rebel. They are in a state of fluctuation between being a monarch and a subject.

"Moreover, the imperial court's order to cultivate land is also beneficial to you princes. The people of the Han Dynasty have always stayed in the Central Plains. When will the territories of you princes become the same as those of the Han Dynasty?"

Ge Ying said with a bitter face: "But isn't this a bit unfair to us brothers who remain in the Han territory?"

"Brothers have worked hard for many years to reclaim the land and build the industry, but after only a few years of making money, the imperial court is going to cut it down."

Xu Fan said, "What's unfair? The princes from all over the country have helped to open up their homes for the Han Dynasty. You nobles who stayed in the Han Dynasty are treated better than the princes outside the country in all aspects. They worked hard and you paid. I think it's fair."

Ying Bu laughed and said, "Look, I have become as black as a coal ball in order to develop Qianzhong. During the busy farming season, I even work as an ox to cultivate the fields. Do you think it is so easy to build a vassal state?"

Chen Xiao said solemnly, "I have to go out to fight dozens of times a year to open up the homeland for the Han Dynasty, to wipe out the wild tribes in Nanzhong, and to fight in the wild forests in Nanzhong. Thousands of my soldiers have died. They were all swallowed up by the deep forests in Nanzhong. The hardships of opening up the homeland are beyond the imagination of you nobles who stay in the territory of the Han Dynasty."

Lu Chen said: "If you feel dissatisfied, why don't you just give up your fiefdom and ask the court for a piece of vassal territory? I think the emperor should agree."

Xu Fan looked at Ge Ying and said, "The imperial court has tens of thousands of islands in the South Seas, but because there are too few people going out to sea to cultivate the islands, these islands are either uninhabited or inhabited by savages, and the imperial court has no way to control them.

If you have this idea, the court can match your fiefdoms at a ratio of 1 to 10. In order to encourage you to expand, the court can not take your fiefdoms for the first ten years, and let you use the income from the land to open up new vassal states. "

The world in the twelfth year of the Han calendar was completely different from the world in the third year of the Han calendar. After many rounds of purges, only one tenth of the original Warring States nobles and powerful people remained, and the new system of powerful people in the Han calendar was growing rapidly.

Originally, the nobles suppressed the world, but now these nobles of the Han Dynasty have become the new local bosses. Through the influence of the noble system, they have begun to interfere with the governance of local Han officials.

It is a bit of an exaggeration to say that these nobles of the Han Dynasty are a cancer, but it is not an exaggeration to say that they are local vested interests. For the Han Dynasty court, these people will definitely grow up and will eventually have an impact on the local government offices of the Han Dynasty, and most of them are bad impacts.

The nobles of the Han Dynasty are our own people after all. They were the ones who conquered the country, and these benefits are what they deserve.

But if he gave up his position, it would be more conducive to class mobility within the Han Dynasty, which is extremely important for the development of the entire world.

Therefore, Xu Fan was also happy to see these nobles of the Han Dynasty invest the wealth they had accumulated over the past decade into the development of new territories. The land they vacated could start a new round of equal distribution of land and create thousands or tens of thousands of middle-class families that could pay taxes and consume for the Han Dynasty.

Cracking down on the powerful and creating a middle class has always been Xu Fan's philosophy in governing for the past decade.

Chen Xiao was surprised and said, "The country is in Southeast Asia? You really made a fortune. If you are lucky, you can find minerals that can feed your descendants for hundreds of years. Even if you are unlucky and don't have these minerals, you can still become rich by planting some palm oil and getting some coconuts back to the Han Dynasty."

With silver mines, spices, copper mines, and precious woods, Nanyang is seen by people all over the world as a land of endless treasures.

Not to mention these precious specialties, even growing cash crops is lucrative.

For example, in the past two years, iron pan cooking has become popular in the Han Dynasty, and whale oil, soybean oil, and peanut oil have begun to enter the dining tables of the Han people. In the past two years, palm oil has begun to emerge as a new force. Due to its low price and large output, it has become the main edible oil for people in coastal areas such as Kuaiji County. The people of the Han Dynasty have discovered that as long as they eat more oil, they can reduce their grain intake, and eating oil is more cost-effective than eating grain.

Palm oil has become the most important economic specialty of the princes of the South Sea Islands. More than half of their income comes from palm oil. The economic value of palm trees has surpassed that of sugarcane, becoming the first economic crop of the Han Dynasty, earning huge profits for the princes of the South Seas.

Ge Ying thought for a moment and said with a wry smile: "I'm afraid none of my brothers are willing to endure this hardship."

Most of the nobles who remained in the Han Dynasty did not have the ambition to establish a vassal state, otherwise they would not have wanted to stay in the Han Dynasty in the first place.

Now, after another ten years in the Han Dynasty, the ambition developed during the war has been eliminated by more than half, and he is even less willing to explore new areas.

Chen Xiao said: "Then there is nothing we can do. If you are not willing to take the initiative to develop, then you can pay more money to those who are willing to develop."

Xu Fan looked at Ge Ying and said, "Are you willing to go to Southeast Asia?" Ge Ying said, "If the emperor wants me to go, I will go to Southeast Asia."

Xu Fan said: "I hope you can go to Nanyang and set an example for your brothers. They are still young and should not stay in the Han Dynasty and waste time. Instead, they should develop their own careers."

Although Xu Fan has already prepared to use money to redeem the fiefs of the Han nobles, after all, the reason why those nobles were overthrown by the propertied class in later generations was that they first used money to indulge in extravagance, so that they could not make ends meet and owed huge debts. In the end, these nobles could only use their own fiefs to repay their debts. Xu Fan is now just waiting for the second generation to grow up.

But if these nobles are willing to exchange territories, he would also be happy to see it. The developed lands within the Han Dynasty could be distributed to ordinary people, and these princes could then develop new territories outside the Han Dynasty. This could be said to be a win-win situation.

Ge Ying nodded and said, "Since Your Majesty agrees, I will exchange fiefdoms with the court right away."

Ge Ying's fief was in Lu County, Xue County. Almost two million acres of land belonged to him alone. These lands were not all fields, but also included lakes, woods, and hills.

But such a huge fiefdom is already a huge fortune. There are more than 10,000 people in Xue County who earn wealth for Ge Ying. If Ge Ying is granted the Nanyang fiefdom, Xue County can have thousands more farmers.

The words are divided into two parts.

The faces of big workshop owners like Kuai Che were so heavy that water could drip out of them, even though the decree was proposed by the prime minister.

But they all understood that this was the decree made by the emperor based on Qin Bo's petition. This was the most difficult part for them. With the emperor's endorsement, who would dare to object?

Wang Zhe, the head of the Wang family, said angrily: "The court has already collected 30% tax from us when we sell goods, and now it wants to collect 30% asset tax. We might as well sell our workshop to the court and save ourselves from working for the court."

For ordinary people, a million dollars is an unattainable figure, but for the big workshop owners of the Mo Nan Trading Company, this is just a few days' income.

Linghu Li said: "Let's contact other sages to veto this decree."

Kuai Che said angrily: "Have you forgotten what happened seven years ago? We stopped the sages from denying the emperor's decree. In order to maintain the prestige of the Sages Association, the emperor will indeed recognize this result.

But this does not mean that the emperor will not use other means to fight back. Do you think we are capable of resisting the emperor's counterattack? That is just asking for trouble. Don't do such a stupid thing. "

The people present thought of the riot seven years ago. If the emperor had the intention to kill, those sages would surely lose their lives. They didn't dare to gamble whether the emperor had the intention to kill this time.

Linghu Li said dejectedly, "What can I do? Can I just be a prey to the fish? If I had known this would happen, I would have obeyed Qin Bo and not reduced the wages of the craftsmen. Now we are losing more than we gain."

How much is a craftsman’s salary?
The 35% asset tax is a life-threatening thing. The people present have to pay a minimum of several million, and the highest is tens of millions. They are all top merchants in the Han Dynasty, and they are the ones with assets worth billions.

Wang Zhe said angrily: "Qin Bo is too abominable. He has been leading the Mohists to oppress us by relying on the emperor as his backer. Qin Bo, just wait. Things change over time. One day, the Nai Guild will ask you to pay back the principal with interest.

Kuai Che thought for a moment and said, "The emperor's prestige is too high, and the power of the court is too strong. I simply cannot resist it."

Although the wealthy people in the Han Dynasty have earned huge wealth, they are not yet the mainstream of the Han Dynasty. Their status is even lower than that of the Han officials. They have not completed the integration of the two and cannot resist the court's policies by influencing the Han officials.

To describe the property owners like Kuai Che using the ecological future of the animal kingdom, they are small predators such as wild boars and foxes. They can eat meat, but they will also be eaten by tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves.

Wang Zhe said: "We won't say we will overturn this law, but is there no way to resist? The Qin Dynasty has made so many laws, but we can't still live well."

Kuai Che thought for a long time and said, "It's not that there is no solution. The property tax levied by the court is based on our profits. This year, each of us has lost hundreds of millions or tens of millions. In this case, the court will not levy taxes."

Wang Li hesitated and said, "President, do you mean that we should lose money to oppose the imperial court's policy?"

Kuai Che nodded and said, "We can secretly reduce profits or even make losses."

Linghu Li hesitated and said, "I'm afraid this method cannot be concealed from the court. The court has accountants who can calculate our property, and there are also vicious tax inspectors who collect taxes. Anyone who dares to evade taxes will be fined tenfold. Many families have been fined to the point of bankruptcy and forced to go into exile in Southeast Asia."

At this stage, the execution ability of the Han Dynasty is still very strong. The tax supervision department is the greatest weapon for the Han Dynasty to supervise these powerful people. These wealthy people in the Han Dynasty can do like their counterparts in the Ming Dynasty, beat the tax collectors to death, and intimidate the emperor to make the tax collection action come to nothing. They even dare to write the epitaph of the five people.

But the Han Dynasty would not accept this. Any workshop owner who dared to evade taxes would be suppressed by Zhou Bo's iron fist. If they dared to resist, Zhou Bo would make the iron rod thicker and lead the troops to surround the family of the tax evaders and exile the whole family.

As for the current situation of the Han Dynasty, Zhou Bo's tax army can run rampant in the territory of the Han Dynasty. The later Jinyiwei and Dongchang are far inferior to Zhou Bo's tax army.

Zhou Bo was a high-ranking workshop owner in the Han Dynasty. Children would not cry at night upon hearing his name.

Kuai Che sneered and said, "Why do you want to hide this from the court? We can use the profits to buy machines. Does the court not allow us to expand production and want to interfere with our business?"

"It just so happens that the number of steam engines in our workshop is less than one-tenth. The money we earned in the past two years is enough to replace all the old machines. We haven't made any money yet, so the court can't collect asset taxes from us."

Wang Zhe said: "But this is just a temporary solution. It won't last for a few years. Besides, we can't forget about this capacity crisis. The workshop can't expand indefinitely."

Kuai Che said: "Then invest in other industries. The court wants to cultivate land and open up new lands, so iron farm tools are indispensable. To build new cities and new houses, cement kilns, brick and stone factories are indispensable, as well as oxen and other large livestock. We can even build a steam machinery factory and develop steam looms and spinning machines without the court."

“As long as you want, you can always find a way to spend money. Making money may be difficult, but spending money is not easy.”

Kuai Che's words made everyone think a lot. Yes, at worst, the profits could be converted into industries. It would cost 20 million yuan to buy a 10,000-ton ocean-going ship, and the profits for the past six months could be used to cover that.

Wang Zhe smiled and said, "In this case, this settlement in France is still beneficial to us. The Han people have opened up a new market, and the goods we produce can be sold."

As long as it does not involve their own interests, they can still see the benefits of this decree.

The next day, at the Sage Han meeting, the reclamation law proposed by Xiao He was passed with a high vote.

There wasn’t much explosive news in the subsequent Sages Conference.

Changfeng Shusun Tong proposed a law for educational equity. He believed that the Han Dynasty's schools were too concentrated in Guanzhong, which was not conducive to the balance of local counties.

At the same time, with the development of the Han Dynasty's industry and the development of the princes' territories, the demand for talents is getting higher and higher. The existing number of institutions of higher learning can no longer meet the world's demand for talents. The Han Dynasty's institutions of higher learning should be expanded.

Shusun Tong proposed that within three years, 15 universities should be built in Hebei, Central Plains, Jianghuai regions to meet the world's demand for talents.

Shusun Tong's proposal was warmly welcomed by the princes, local governors and wise men of the Han Dynasty.

The reason why the princes of the Han Dynasty agreed was very simple. They were in urgent need of talents in all aspects. You must know that the vassal states they opened up were all wild lands that needed to be developed bit by bit. They needed talents in agriculture and animal husbandry, talents in water conservancy, talents who understood various tools, talents in construction, talents who understood the law, and talents in education. This required building a complete ruling system from scratch.

There were probably hundreds of vassal states like this. Their desire for talent can be imagined. Even if the Han Dynasty continued to expand its academic system, it was still difficult to meet their needs.

Therefore, they were extremely welcoming of the Han Dynasty's expansion of its academic system, as it was intended to train talents for themselves.

Similarly, local governors also hope to have a university in their own territory. In recent years, local governors have also seen the role of universities in promoting the economy. Guanzhong has 15 universities, and a large number of talents pour into Guanzhong every year. These talents are all drawn from their places.

If the university was located in their local area, the talents could be retained there. If these people could also develop one or two things like steam engines and water-powered spinning machines, wouldn't this be a huge industry worth billions? Such an industry might not matter in a place like the audience, but the emergence of such an industry in a small county is enough to change their destiny.

The thing that the county governors of the Han Dynasty were jealous of about Guanzhong was that all new things came out of Guanzhong first, and they could only gnaw on the bones and drink the soup, but after gnawing on the bones too much, they also wanted to eat meat.

As for the wise men, they fully support the expansion of the schools. If the schools expand their enrollment, it will be easier for their children to get admitted. They are already extremely wealthy, and now they just lack a noble to protect their property.

Among the upward paths in the Han Dynasty, the only options were the imperial examinations and the entrance examinations to academies. This benefited everyone, so it was naturally passed with a high vote.

(End of this chapter)