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

Chapter 427: Propaganda offensives from all sides and generation gap

On October 12, the 14th year of the Han calendar, in Chang'an City, the Second Craftsmen's Village.

Master craftsman Jia Yi arrived at the workshop early in the morning with a gloomy face and sighing.

The owner, Lu Jia, came to the workshop and saw Jia Yi's expression and asked, "What happened, old Jia? Why are you so sad?"

Jia Yi sighed and said, "My kid is not doing well. He failed to get into college in this year's high school entrance exam. His future is hopeless."

Lu Jia smiled and said, "I don't think it's a big deal. With your wealth, it's not a big deal to let Xiao Jia repeat a year. I remember that Xiao Jia's grades were not bad, he just had bad luck this year. And even if he didn't pass the exam, at most he could take over your class and find a job here."

Jia Yi said, "If the problem could be solved so easily, I wouldn't be groaning here. This year's high school entrance exam is already considered a relatively easy one. I have asked the school teacher and there will be more high school students graduating next year. Plus there will be students taking retakes, so it will be even harder to get into colleges, and it will get harder every year. If you fail this year, your chances will be even lower in the future."

Lu Jia thought of the crowded examination hall a few days ago and sighed: "There are too many scholars in the Han Dynasty now, and it is indeed difficult to get into a university, but the academic qualifications of Xiaojia Middle School are not bad, and I can find a good job."

Jia Yi said helplessly: "If he were so honest, I wouldn't have to sigh so much."

After saying that, he threw out a copy of the Han Dynasty Monthly Report and said, "It's all because of this. You don't know what's going on in the minds of kids these days. He doesn't want to stay in the imperial capital of Chang'an, but insists on going to settle down there."

“Let’s not even talk about whether the environment in southern Xinjiang is suitable for human habitation.
Even if he wanted to cultivate land, he had never cultivated this kind of land before. How could he, who couldn't even tell the difference between wheat and rice, cultivate land? He just believed whatever the higher-ups said. I tried to persuade him for three days, but he refused to listen.

Lu Jia flipped through the Han Monthly Report, which introduced the outstanding figures in the reclamation.

The reclamation has entered its second year. With the foundation and experience of last year, it has been rolled out across the board this year. 2 young people have poured in from Qianzhong County and Changsha County, and more than a dozen southward fortresses have been built in hundreds of villages. The reclaimed land has reached two million acres. They fought against nature and earth to turn the wilderness into fertile land.

In the past two years, the reclamation team has become a hot spot in the Han Dynasty, attracting the attention of the entire Han people, especially those families with two or three adult children but no place in the court.

At the same time, after seeing the power of the imperial court's propaganda, the princes of the Han Dynasty, who had previously been relying on the imperial court to import prisoners into their vassal states, now realized that this was too passive.

They could easily go deep into the Han Dynasty and actively promote their own vassal states. So at the vassal conference last year, the vassal states led by Ying Bu and Lu Chen petitioned the emperor to let their officials go deep into the villages of the Han Dynasty to publicize the advantages of their own vassal states in order to attract people to go to their vassal states.

The emperor agreed to the request.

Therefore, the various princes of the Han Dynasty sent their officials to the densely populated areas in the Central Plains to promote their own vassal states.

Most of the propaganda officials used extremely simple and crude methods. They would give away land as soon as you were willing to go to their vassal states. 100 or 200 acres of land was easy to negotiate, and 300 or 400 acres of land was not impossible. As long as you went to their vassal states, you could immediately become a small landlord.

In addition, they also learned the strategies of the Han Dynasty, using curtains to publicize the wealth of their own vassal states, and focusing on introducing the specialty of whale to the Liaodong princes. They painted a whale as big as a hill on the curtain, and then told the people of the Han Dynasty that as long as they went to Liaodong, they could eat as much meat as they wanted, even as a staple food.

This made the people of the Han Dynasty very envious. Although they had become richer in recent years, they could only eat as much as they wanted, and they could only eat meat during festivals and important occasions. They did not expect Liaodong to be so wealthy. Many people immediately decided to go to Liaodong with their families to let the local landlords eat whale meat.

This huge whale curtain can be said to have made great contributions to the princes of Liaodong.

The princes of Qianzhong were not willing to be outdone. Liaodong had its own specialties, so why didn’t they have some too?

They simply drew a picture of a sugarcane forest that looked like a towering forest and mountains of sugar, and then told the people of the Han Dynasty that sugar was just a snack in their vassal state and they could eat it as much as they wanted. In order to verify the authenticity, they also told the people of the Han Dynasty that as long as they were willing to immigrate, they would be given a pound of sugar each.

The princes of Southeast Asia, not to mention Japan, also learned the essence of publicity in this wave of trend. One focused on promoting their spices, such as sandalwood, which was more valuable than gold; another focused on promoting their silver mines, and even called Japan the Silver Mountain Island.

He also made up a short story about a poor boy who was fishing by the river and suddenly found a huge silver rock. He took it home and found that it was full of silver. He sold the silver to the court and immediately made hundreds of thousands of dollars. He then returned to his hometown, married the village beauty he had a crush on, and bought tens of thousands of acres of land on the Japanese island, becoming a large landowner.

In short, based on the facts, we should exaggerate the propaganda as much as possible to attract the people of the Han Dynasty.

In order to increase their influence and publicity, they also formed their own opera troupe and promoted it in the countryside of Central China.

Many princes also had great ideas and directly advertised in the Han Monthly to promote their own vassal states, hoping to attract a group of high-quality talents in this way.

Some princes simply sent some of the already prosperous people under their rule to return home after becoming rich and powerful, thus attracting the people of the Han Dynasty to go to their vassal states.

The people of the Central Plains had never seen such a propaganda offensive, and a large number of people fell.

How come outside the Han Dynasty, there are rich places everywhere, but after all this time, the Central Plains is the barren place?

This year's Han immigration has yielded extremely fruitful results, with millions of Han people bringing their families, young and old, to Liaodong, Qianzhong, Nanyang and other places. Xu Fan has always wanted to create something like a great pioneering era.

Of course, the Han court did not need to worry about the immigrants of the major vassal states. Its main focus was still on the reclamation of the southern border.

They were also the focus of publicity, and this year the Han court gave them the title of pioneers of the times.

These people would come to Chang'an City and not only receive rewards from the emperor, but they would also be able to go to the Yan Palace and dine with the emperor. This was simply a great honor, and even Lu Jia envied them.

"I would be confused if I saw this, let alone a young man like Xiao Jia. It's not bad to go to the settlement. Didn't the above say that one mu of land is equivalent to five mu of land in the Central Plains? If Xiao Jia goes there to cultivate hundreds of mu of land, he can even become a small landlord."

Lu Jia had a small fortune, but he had never been featured in a large newspaper or magazine like the Dahan Monthly, let alone a small newspaper or magazine.

Jia Yi said, "Let's not talk about whether what is written here is true or not. Even if Southern Xinjiang is really that rich, it can't compare to Chang'an City. In Chang'an City, as long as you have a skill, you can easily earn thousands of dollars, which is enough to support a large family. But working hard in the countryside for a lifetime can only earn a few cents. Otherwise, why would the court force people to settle in the countryside? It's because no one wants to go. It's easy to leave Chang'an now, but it's hard to return to Chang'an."

At this time, the craftsman Song Le came over and said with a smile: "Master Craftsman, that's not what you said. Although Chang'an is comfortable, it will only last a lifetime. Unless there are accidents, Master Craftsman, you will retire in this position.

But there are many opportunities out there. Look at the people who appear in the Dahan Monthly. They have suffered for more than a year and now the rewards are coming. By appearing in the Dahan Monthly, they will definitely be successful in the future.

There are also many people who go to the vassal states and become very rich and powerful. The monthly newspapers often report on such people. When they return home rich and powerful, they hold a grand banquet and feast with the elders of the whole village for three days. This is what a real man does. "

Another craftsman, Feng Di, enviously said, "To be able to appear in the Han Monthly Report and to go to the palace to meet the emperor, this life is worth it."

Jia Yi said disdainfully: "You youngsters are just fools. You only see the ten people above rise to prominence, but you don't see the tens of thousands of people suffering in southern Xinjiang. One general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers. Each of them has stepped on tens of thousands of people to get to their positions."

Song Leman said indifferently: "This is common sense in the world. If we want to become nobles, we have to risk our lives, not to mention that we are just suffering now."

Jia Yi said: "That sounds good, why don't you go?"

Song Le said: "My son is only five years old. If he hadn't been a burden to me, I would have died long ago."

"A few years ago, the Han Dynasty launched a northern expedition against the Xiongnu. Why didn't you go and make achievements?"

Song Le looked embarrassed, but quickly said, "Although I am afraid of death, I am not afraid of being tired."

Song Le's words made all the craftsmen present laugh. Although they also envied the nobles, they did not dare to go to the battlefield.

Yong'anli, Jia family.

After a day of hard work, Jia Yi returned to his home.

Jia Yi was a native of Chang'an, which was still called Xianyang City at that time. He was a craftsman in Xianyang City. According to later generations, nine generations of his family had served the Qin court. What made later generations even more envious was that his family's position was hereditary, and his son would take over after the father died.

If I were to write a short essay about this, I would definitely have to write about the perseverance of nine generations and the inheritance of the Qin military industry quality for three hundred years.

It's a pity that he didn't have such a good life. The status of craftsmen in the Qin Dynasty was not high. According to Shang Yang's arrangement, the whole Qin Dynasty was profited by one source. Shang Yang needed all the people in the Qin Dynasty to become farmers and soldiers and turn the Qin Dynasty into a powerful war machine. The status of craftsmen was only slightly higher than that of merchants, and there were endless corvee labor waiting for them to do.

His life became a little better after the founding of the Han Dynasty, and this time he finally didn't have to do free labor service for the court.

He first became a master craftsman in Lujia's workshop by relying on his skills. Later, after Lujia's workshop was connected with the Chang'an Coach and Horse Factory, Jia Yi's income as a master craftsman doubled. Now his monthly salary is as high as 1 coins. Even in Chang'an City with high prices, he is definitely a high-income earner.

Jia Yi's family is relatively happy. Although his father died early, he took his mother and wife to escape the chaos of the late Qin Dynasty. He is a resident of the imperial capital and has found a high-paying job. His life over the years has exceeded Jia Yi's imagination.

He is very satisfied with his current life. He only hopes that his three sons can have many children and raise big families in Chang'an City. If one or two of them can become successful, it would be like a great happiness coming out of his ancestral grave.

He now has three sons. The eldest son's high school entrance exam this year was the biggest setback for their family in recent years. Although the eldest son was useless, the other two boys, one in the fifth grade of elementary school and the other in the second grade of middle school, have good grades. The teacher said that they have hope of being admitted to a university. Now their family can only rely on the latter two boys to make a leap. "Master, why are you back so early?" Jia Yi's wife You Niang asked curiously.

The court implemented a four-hour work system, especially for workshops like theirs that supplied parts to the Shaofu. They were the most strict about this kind of thing, and even issued warnings for working overtime. This resulted in craftsmen like Jia Yi having some time to do what they liked.

She knew her husband's habits. At this time, Jia Yi was usually either listening to a play in the theater or having a drink with friends in the pub and listening to some news in the monthly newspaper.

Because the political atmosphere of the Han Dynasty is open, in the past two years he has also picked up some habits of the common people in the imperial capital and started to care about major events in the world. Normally, he will not return until dark.

Jia Yi did not answer, but asked instead: "Why aren't mother and Sheng'er at home?"

You Niang said, "He's working in the mother's workshop. Sheng'er went to the football field with his classmates and said he won't be back for dinner tonight."

The Jia family naturally had no shortage of money to support their mother, but Grandmother Jia still retained the sense of crisis of the pre-Qin period. The family must store enough food for half a year, and she also found a job for herself, which was to put on a red armband and supervise pedestrians in the market to prevent them from littering, or to ask them to shovel away the manure pulled by horses.

This kind of work is not tiring, but it takes a lot of time and requires hiring a lot of people. It would not be cost-effective for the court to hire young and strong people, but it is extremely cost-effective to hire the elderly in Chang'an City. They would give Lady Jia 100 coins every month and bring gifts back during festivals, and then they would patrol the streets conscientiously.

Jia Yi didn't want his mother to work hard, but his mother was happy to do such things and was unwilling to stay at home, so he could do nothing about it.

But when he heard that his eldest son was not at home, Jia Yi said angrily: "You didn't do well in the high school entrance examination, but you still have the mood to watch football. You are really useless. I think you will not be able to get into a university even if you repeat a year."

You Niang was a little worried about her son's future and asked, "If Sheng'er fails to get into the school, what will he do in the future?"

Jia Yi thought for a moment and said, "I plan to have him go to my boss's workshop to learn his craft. He has been studying for more than ten years. Once he masters my craft, it won't be a problem for him to become a master craftsman in the future."

In the Han Dynasty, master craftsmen were a profession with both high upper and lower limits. Even if Jia Yi was not very skilled among the master craftsmen, his salary could exceed ten thousand coins. If he was the top master craftsman, earning a million coins a year would not be a problem. There were even cases of the imperial court recruiting master craftsmen as officials. The Shaofu Ling, one of the nine ministers today, was originally a blacksmith.

You Niang said, "This child has been talking about signing up to go to the settlement, but I'm afraid he won't be willing to work in the master's workshop."

You Niang naturally didn't want her son to go to southern Xinjiang to settle and cultivate the land. The key point was that eighteen-year-olds were the most rebellious and would never listen to adults.

Jia Yi said: "It's not up to him. He has to go whether he wants to or not."

You Niang said worriedly, "I'm only worried that he will secretly sign up, and then we will be passive. The eldest son of the merchant in front of us signed up to go to the settlement without telling his parents, but it was not until the court officials came to his house with drums and gongs that they found out about it.

You, the head of the family, didn’t see the scene at that time. The Shangjia couple cried so miserably, and they refused to let go. But there was nothing they could do but watch them being taken away.”

You Niang also has her own social circle while staying in Yong'an. The Han Dynasty's land reclamation has been a hot topic in the past two years, so various stories related to land reclamation are often circulated in Chang'an City.

Many people with low incomes had this idea. According to the propaganda of the Han Dynasty, one mu of land could yield 10 dan of grain, and 100 mu of land could yield 1000 dan of grain. No matter how you calculate it, the annual income is 1 to 2 coins, which is more than the income of most craftsmen in Chang'an. The reason why no one signed up was that they were reluctant to give up the life in Chang'an and they were skeptical about this propaganda.

It has to be said here that the fields in the south of the Yangtze River were like a plug-in in the feudal era. The income from one acre of land was several times that of the north, especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the gap was the largest. Watching TV dramas, the villages in the north are villages made of tattered cotton jackets and loess, while when you come to the south, you will see the misty Jiangnan with pavilions and towers. It can be seen that there was a gap in per-acre yield between the two sides in the feudal era.

But the Jia family was also a high-income family in Chang'an City, so naturally they looked down on these 100 acres of land.

But You Niang's words made Jia Yi very worried. His eldest son was becoming more and more disobedient. If he also learned this trick, he would have no way to keep him.

Jia Yi thought for a moment and said, "Sheng'er is already 18 years old. It's time for him to start a family and establish a career. I think if I find him a wife, he will settle down."

You Niang said, "I will go find Wang Po and see if I can find a virtuous girl."

On the other hand, just when Jia's father and mother wanted their son to settle down, they gave up the idea of ​​going to the land for reclamation.

However, Jia Sheng followed his classmates to the Yunlai Opera Troupe near the school to watch a new opera.

Jia Sheng smiled and said, "This is the latest opera arranged by the court, called "Gao Family Courtyard". It is very popular, and the theater is full of people coming to watch it every day."

When Jia Sheng and his group entered the theater, they saw that it was already full of spectators.

At this time, a waiter asked, "Sir, do you want a private room or a seat?"

Jia Sheng generously took out a silver coin with the number 1 on it and said, "Give me a first-class private room and a few more snacks."

The waiter said happily, "Gentlemen, I will lead the way for you."

The waiter took them to a private room on the second floor of the theater.

Soon the opera began amid the cheers of the crowd, and everyone's attention was drawn to the stage.

The so-called "Gao Family Courtyard" is just an outline of the Spring and Autumn Annals of later generations copied by Xu Fan.

He had read this novel when he was in school, but he had basically forgotten the plot. It was about a young man in a family who rebelled against his feudal parents. He even forgot the name of the protagonist. The only thing he remembered was that the protagonist was an extremely cowardly young man who finally vented his anger because he could no longer bear it.

Xu Fan set the tone of the outline, which was naturally anti-feudal and anti-clan power, and then brought in some cool plots, and handed it over to his own people to write, and thus the current "Gao Family Courtyard" was created.

Xu Fan created this opera for the following reason: first, he wanted to sweep away the feudal habits of the Han Dynasty. There was no other way because the Han Dynasty inherited a feudal empire. To some extent, Xu Fan's enfeoffment actually strengthened the feudal power of the Han Dynasty.

One thing that goes against common sense is that although the Qin Dynasty is known as the beginning of the feudal dynasty, in fact, in the entire 2000 years of feudal history, the Qin Dynasty was the most anti-feudal dynasty. They destroyed the feudal aristocracy of hereditary nobility and used powerful military force to break up the feudal families and turned them into small self-cultivating farmers.

This is something that later feudal dynasties cannot compare to. It is also because of such a good foundation that Xu Fan's national policy based on industry can be smoothly implemented.

The power of workshop owners and craftsmen seems to be quite great even though they are in the Han Dynasty.

But they were still not considered the mainstream force of the Han Dynasty. The mainstream forces of the Han Dynasty were the upper-class aristocratic Han officials, and the lower class was mainly self-cultivating farmers and small landlords. Apart from anything else, even if the tax revenue of the Han Dynasty exceeded one million coins, the annual agricultural tax revenue from grain, hemp, silk, etc. was still the most important tax revenue of the Han Dynasty.

In essence, the Han Dynasty was still a feudal agricultural country. Although steam engines had appeared, it still took time to transform such a huge empire.

But in the past two years, Xu Fan was shocked to find that although the industry of the Han Dynasty was becoming more and more prosperous and the power of workshop owners was getting stronger and stronger, the entire Han Dynasty was becoming more conservative. Large families began to appear among the people, and even clan rules and laws began to appear to restrain their members.

This is something that Xu Fan finds hard to accept. Even if you capitalize, it is better than retreating.

The conservative feudalism among the people made Xu Fan realize that the Han Dynasty should not only develop industries but also enhance anti-feudal consciousness, so the opera of Gao Family Courtyard came into being.

Jia Sheng and his friends frowned after watching the opera for less than half a minute.

"This protagonist is such a coward. Why does he listen to his parents in everything and has no opinions of his own?"

Wan Yu, a classmate of Jia Sheng, said helplessly: "It's the same for us. No one dares to go against what my father decides. I wanted to apply to Mozi College, but he wouldn't let me register. He insisted that I apply to the School of Political Science and Law. I know what he thinks. Students of the School of Political Science and Law have a high probability of becoming court lawyers.

But I didn’t like those complicated legal provisions at all. I liked to study steam engines and wanted to make a machine that could run automatically like a train. But my father didn’t listen. He even helped me change my choice on the day of registration. ”

Another classmate of Jia Sheng, Chen Cheng, rolled his eyes and said, "You who passed the exam are complaining, so what about those of us who didn't pass? Are we all going to jump into the Wei River one by one?"

The wealth of the Han people was increasing, and more and more middle-class people were able to support high school students. This led to greater and greater competition in the high school entrance examination. According to the court, the number of students taking the exam this year reached 3. Even though the Han academies had expanded, they could only enroll students, with an admission rate of almost to . Although this was much higher than the imperial examinations in later generations, it was still a huge challenge.

Jia Sheng said, "How come we are suddenly talking about the high school entrance exam while watching the show? Don't mention it again."

Wan Yu and his friends watched the opera until the end, when the protagonist finally began to rebel against his parents. Only then did they cheer.

Jia Sheng said: "This play is well said. Parents are from the old times. Their knowledge is not as good as ours. Yet they like to dictate our lives. They don't know that the world has changed. Their experience is no longer useful."

Wan Yu said excitedly: "The term 'generation gap' is so well said. I feel that I can't communicate with my parents. It turns out that this is because of the generation gap. This opera has expressed all the thoughts in my heart."

Compared with the older generation, the new generation is obviously more adapted to the life of the Han people. They are unwilling to accept their elders' instructions on their lives, and their will to resist is stronger.

(End of this chapter)