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

Chapter 435: Initial Education and the Resignation of Merchants and Farmers
On October 25th, the 14th year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City, Government Affairs College.

While the Han princes were in full swing, the Han governors were ordered by the emperor to come to the Government Affairs College for a seven-day study week to keep in mind the ideal and mission of Datong.

The county magistrates were also very familiar with the teachers Xu Fan chose for them, namely the retired Zhou Zhang, Zhang Liang and Chen Ping.

After Zhou Zhang and the other two retired, they stayed in Chang'an City to teach the children of princes from all over the country. Sometimes they would also follow Xu Fan's example and go to various universities in Chang'an City to take classes with students. It can be said that their retirement life is very fulfilling.
Zhang Qiang and the others all complained when they saw Zhou Zhang: "Old Prime Minister, without you in the court, my life has been so difficult."

Wang Dao complained: "There are more and more items to be reported and assessed. Now even the increase in the salaries of craftsmen is our responsibility. We have more and more things to manage, but the court wants to reduce the number of Han officials. Once the court reduces the number of officials, people's hearts will be scattered. Isn't this just putting them on fire?"

He was just about to say that the people above him were crazy, which made them go crazy too.

Chen Rui also complained: "The court is getting stricter and stricter on us. They clearly told us not to get involved, but now they blame us for not upholding the dignity of Han law. Isn't this what we want?

Not to mention that the court did not have any punishment measures when it formulated the Han law. Even if there were punishment measures, they could not be punished. You know what happened in the past two years. At that time, half of the workshops in the country had closed down. If the other workshops were driven away, the craftsmen would have no food to eat. We cannot force them to increase their salaries. There has never been such a reason in ancient and modern times."

Wang Ling complained, "After Qin Bo stopped being the Shaofu Ling, he completely ignored our hard work. Don't we want farmers and craftsmen to live a better life? But everything in the world can only be done within one's ability. If the craftsmen's salary is doubled, how many workshops will close down and how many people will be out of work.

Everyone can say nice things and big words. I also want the world to be a harmonious society, but can it be achieved just by thinking about it? It can only be achieved by doing practical things. It is easy to accuse us from a moral high ground, but let Qin Bo lead hundreds of thousands of craftsmen to get rich by himself, and see if he can do it. "

The life of these prefects of the Han Dynasty has been very difficult in the past two years, which made these county governors feel aggrieved. Seeing Zhou Zhang now reminds them of the first ten years of the founding of the Han Dynasty. That period was truly the golden age of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was invincible in foreign wars and conquered every enemy. In ten years, the territory of the Han Dynasty increased tenfold.

The domestic economy was also growing continuously, the land tax increased by nearly one-fold, and the tax increased by nearly three-fold. The country was peaceful, the government was in good order, and the people were harmonious. This was the golden age. Such a strong contrast made them tell Zhou Zhang all their troubles.

Zhou Zhang smiled and said, "I know it's not easy for you either. The crisis has long passed and everything has returned to normal. The affairs of the court are so complicated. Let's be patient for the sake of the country."

To Zhou Zhang, the things that the Han Dynasty had experienced were not even a big deal. Ever since he was old enough to understand, the strength of the Chu State had been declining day by day, and there was no sign of improvement.

He was defeated repeatedly in foreign wars, repeatedly defeated by the Qin Dynasty. Even if he formed a coalition, he could not change his fate of failure. Internally, the nobles were scheming against each other. In less than 10 years, three kings came to power. His former master, Chunshen Jun, was killed in the fierce internal strife.

He watched the State of Chu being annexed by the tyrannical Qin. Even though he tried every possible means, he could not change the situation. He experienced the pain of losing his country and the feeling of powerlessness of wanting to kill the enemy but being unable to do anything about it. To Zhou Zhang, this little pain in the Han Dynasty was nothing.

After Zhou Zhang appeased the county governors for a long time, he said, "The emperor did this because he was worried that you would forget the ideal of great harmony. Without this ideal, is there any need for the Han Dynasty to exist?"

Wang Ling said: "We have not forgotten, but ideals must serve reality, otherwise why would the emperor divide it into four steps to achieve the rule of great harmony?"

Zhou Zhang held up the data collected by Qin Bo and said, "It's easy to know but hard to do. The ideal of great harmony cannot be expressed with words. Qin Bo was right about one thing. The wealth of the world has been increasing in recent years. We can feel it. This is not a fact that can be denied by those merchants who whine that they are not making money. Even the emperor's carriage sells for 50 yuan each, but thousands of them can be sold in a year. This shows that there are many wealthy people in our Han Dynasty."

"But the income of farmers and craftsmen has not increased. In other words, the wealth of the world has been taken by the princes and powerful workshop owners of our Han Dynasty, while the people at the bottom have not benefited at all. Do you think that if this situation continues, can the great harmony of our Han Dynasty be realized?"

"This is why the emperor is angry. The court should take away the surplus and give to the deficit just like God. However, your local governance is to follow the way of others and give to the surplus with the deficit, allowing them to exploit the people of the world unscrupulously and increase the power of the powerful workshop owners. What you do is completely contrary to the court's ideal of great harmony. That's why the emperor asked them to learn. Even when you are governing in your local areas, you must remember that our Han Dynasty is to build a great harmony world. This is the main line of your governance. Developing industries and collecting taxes are external manifestations. You can't be complacent because of the growth of industries and the increase of taxes. If the craftsmen don't benefit from it, then what good are these to the craftsmen of the world?"

"Wasn't the tyrannical Qin Dynasty powerful back then? But which common people would think that the power of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty had anything to do with them, and that they would also benefit from the country's strength? Aren't these things enough for you to learn from?"

Zhou Zhang's words made them feel ashamed. They could still be realistic. In the past few years when they were in charge of local government, everything was due to various factors and concerns. They did not think too much about the interests of the people, or rather, they put the interests of the people last, and regarded them as objects that could be sacrificed.

Zhang Liang smiled and said, "Please sit down and I will help you solve your doubts."

Zhang Qiang and the others sat down.

Zhang Liang said: "You are always worried that the increase in the wages of craftsmen will lead to the closure of workshops, but in fact this is groundless worry. If only a small number of workshops increase the wages of craftsmen, and the other part does not do so, then the workshops that increase the wages of craftsmen will go bankrupt, and those who do not do so will not only survive because of lower costs, but also swallow up the bankrupt workshops to expand their own market. This is the law of market competition, the survival of the fittest. In the words of the emperor, this is the cruel law of the jungle."

"But workshops can use the cruel law of the jungle, but the court cannot do so, because doing so will only lead to cruel internal competition. The workshop owners will continue to lower the salaries of the craftsmen until the craftsmen can no longer support their families or even themselves. At that time, this set of extreme exploitation methods will collapse, and the craftsmen who can't stand the cruel oppression will gather together and kill the workshop owners who oppress them. Isn't it the same when we revolted at the end of the Qin Dynasty? That's why the emperor formulated the "Craftsmen's Decree" in order to use the power of the court to limit the disorderly competition of workshop owners."

"If you look at the policies of the first 10 years of the Han Dynasty, you will see that the emperor kept moving nobles and powerful people out of the Han mainland because he was worried that these nobles and powerful people would infringe on the interests of the people and eventually lead to the people of the world living in misery."

Zhang Qiang said: "Of course we know this. If the workshop owners of the Han Dynasty dare to squeeze our people into slavery, we will not let them go. But now their salaries are not low, they can support their families. If the salary is doubled, we are worried that the workshop owners will not want to work and will directly give up the workshop."

Because there are workshops in the local area, prefects like Zhang Qiang can better take on the role of workshop owners. Although they do not exploit the people as unscrupulously as Qin Li, it is difficult for them to stand on the side of the people. The saying that the head follows the butt is applicable to any side.

Zhang Liang smiled and said, “If only some people enforce the Craftsmen’s Law, the situation you described might happen. Those who enforce it will go bankrupt, and those who don’t will live well. But now the court is enforcing it, and all workshop owners are suffering.

It is equivalent to putting all workshops at the same competitive level, which is not disadvantageous for the competitiveness of the workshops, and there will no longer be unethical workshop owners driving out ethical workshop owners. This is not a confrontation between individual craftsmen and workshop owners, but a group of craftsmen taking back a part of the fruits of their labor from the group of workshop owners. "

"Just as Qin Bo said, the wealth of the world has increased two or three times, and the wealth of these workshop owners has increased more than ten times. These people say that the workshops are not profitable, but they are just lying. It is very reasonable to take some money out of their pockets and give it to the craftsmen."

"The situation of our Han Dynasty is different from that of other dynasties. Since the emperor formulated a national policy based on industry, coupled with high-efficiency machines such as water looms and steam looms, one steam loom can be comparable to more than a dozen old looms. The territory of the Han Dynasty has expanded, and the per-acre yield of farmland has also increased from one stone at the end of the Qin Dynasty to more than two stones, and is now developing towards three stones."

"So the price of grain in our Han Dynasty has remained stable at 6000 coins per stone for more than a decade. In the past two years, there has even been a problem of overcapacity. In the words of the emperor, the productivity of our Han Dynasty has far exceeded that of the Qin Dynasty. If production is liberalized, our Han Dynasty can produce more than 5000 million pieces of cloth a year, but our Han Dynasty has a population of only million. Now our Han Dynasty is not short of goods, but short of people to consume."

"The total salary of producers determines the consumer market of the entire world, and the consumer market of the world is related to the development of all industries in the Han Dynasty. Let's use cloth as an example. Now most of the salaries of our Han Dynasty's craftsmen are around 500 coins, so craftsmen can only consume one piece of cloth a year. But if the craftsmen's salary is thousands of coins, then the salary in their hands is enough for them to consume two pieces of cloth. It's not like before, new for three years, old for three years, mended for another three years, and the clothes are all too torn. Craftsmen will directly replace new cloth to make new clothes, and the total consumer market in the world will expand to hundreds of millions of pieces of cloth. For the entire world, this is the simplest and most effective way to increase the market."

"So increasing the salaries of craftsmen can not only increase the market of the Han Dynasty, but also allow ordinary people to enjoy the fruits of the development of the Han Dynasty over the years. This is also a necessary measure for the world to enter a well-off society and even a world of great harmony."

Guan Ying said: "This doesn't make sense. According to what you said, if the income doubles, the market will double. Then we can simply make the wages of craftsmen more than ten thousand coins and increase the market twenty-fold. Then everyone in the world can make more money.

But how is this possible? As the old saying goes, frugality makes a family rich, while extravagance ruins it. The emperor was most dissatisfied with the First Emperor because after he unified the world, he lost his ideals and indulged in extravagance, seeking immortality and asking for the way. As a result, the Qin officials below followed suit and wantonly exploited the people of the world. This led to the emperor leading us to overthrow the tyrannical Qin Dynasty. "

Zhang Liang smiled and said, "The fact that you can ask such a question shows that you have thought about it. It's a question of degree."

"Like in the pre-Qin period, the people of the world could only eat one bowl of rice, which was not enough to fill their stomachs. They wanted to eat two or three bowls of rice. These people wanted to marry a wife to carry on the family line. Who can say that they were extravagant?"

"But if this problem were placed on the First Emperor, he would prepare 81 dishes a day and keep beauties in his harem. This is extravagance beyond measure."

"Just like Guan Ying said, if the way to achieve universal peace was so simple, just by increasing salaries, then universal peace would have been achieved long ago."

"But the reality is very difficult. The emperor cared about the farmers. The taxes in the Han Dynasty were reduced by half compared to the Qin Dynasty, and corvée was completely exempted. At the same time, the nobles and powerful people of the six countries were moved out of the Han Dynasty and the land was distributed equally to the farmers. In terms of grain alone, the farmers' production increased four or five times. According to the emperor's idea at the time, farmers handed in 30 dan of grain, 70 dan of grain could feed the whole family, and the remaining 100 dan of grain could be sold to earn 1 yuan, so every farmer lived a prosperous life."

"But because of the equal distribution of land, farmers were very motivated to produce, and the grain production capacity of the world increased dramatically. The price of grain quickly dropped from 30 coins per stone to coins per stone, so a farmer's annual income was only about coins."

"There is a supply-demand relationship between goods and money. If giving money can really achieve the rule of great harmony, why doesn't the emperor give farmers 1 yuan every year?" "The consumption of the whole world can actually be divided into three parts. The consumption of all people in the world will definitely reduce production, because production must also ensure the depreciation rate of machinery. A water-powered textile machine will be almost scrapped after 5 years of use, so this part will consume wealth. New research and development will also consume wealth, just like the emperor's research and development of steam engines, which costs more than million yuan every year. These are also expenses."

Therefore, if the world's wealth is to maintain a steady growth, it is necessary to set aside wealth for the depreciation of machinery and the research and development of new machinery. The remaining wealth is the wealth for people all over the world to consume.

"But this part of wealth is not distributed evenly. Workshop owners and nobles occupy most of the wealth, which leads to a huge gap between consumption and production. The level of consumption can never buy all the goods produced, and an economic crisis breaks out. This is why the emperor supports equal distribution of wealth, because it can delay the outbreak of an economic crisis."

After listening to Zhang Liang's lecture, Zhang Qiang and his friends all felt as if they had suddenly realized something.

"Prime Minister Zhang's knowledge is becoming more and more profound, which makes us feel enlightened."

Zhou Zhang said: "The world is changing so fast now, it can be said that it is changing with each passing day. You should also study frequently in your local areas, otherwise you will not be able to keep up with the times, and what you do will go against the emperor's ideas."

Wang Ling asked: "What kind of knowledge is this, Prime Minister? I want to take a copy home and study it day and night."

Zhang Liang said: "This is a new book written by someone called "Political Economy". In recent years, someone has been studying new knowledge and has found that government and economy are inseparable, so this book was written, but it has not yet been completed."

Wang Ling said: "It is enough for us to benefit greatly now. When the book is completed, we will definitely buy it."

The others also suddenly realized and said, "This is enough for us to learn now. When the book is finished, please ask Prime Minister Zhang to tell us."

In this way, the prefects of the Han Dynasty began to study at the Government Academy. It was not until seven days later that they left Chang'an City and returned to their counties with the first draft of Zhang Liang's "Political Economy".

At the same time, the meeting of princes also ended, and the princes of the Han Dynasty began to disperse.

Of course, before leaving, these princes were also working hard to promote their own vassal states, hoping to attract a group of high-quality talents from Chang'an City to their vassal states.

Among them, Ji Bu had the greatest demand for talents. There was no shortage of population or land in the Western Regions, but there was a great shortage of trustworthy talents. However, the Western Regions were too far away from the Han mainland. The Hexi Corridor, which was more than 3000 miles long, cut off the idea of ​​most people who wanted to go to the Western Regions to make a fortune.

Therefore, every year when the princes of the Western Regions came to Chang'an, they would vigorously recruit talents, even ordinary farmers. After all, in the Western Regions, even farming was considered a skill.

Outside the suburbs of Chang'an City, Ji Bu's army was very long. Among all the princes, Ji Bu's army was the largest. After all, it was very difficult for Ji Bu and his men to come to Chang'an City now. They came to Chang'an City to meet the emperor, and they were also a huge caravan.

This time, Ji Bu transported thousands of carts of specialties from the Western Regions. During the month of the Princes' Conference, all of these specialties were sold out. He then further purchased precious goods such as silk, sugar, and tea from Chang'an City. Such a trade trip every year could bring Ji Bu hundreds of millions of dollars in income.

At the end of this huge team, several young people sat in the carriage, looking at the Chang'an City which was getting farther and farther away with complicated expressions.

Wan Yu said anxiously, "If we leave without saying goodbye, my family will probably be worried."

Chen Cheng said with a bitter face: "With my father's temper, he will definitely beat me to death with a cloth belt."

Jia Sheng encouraged the two men and said, "A real man should have the ambition to achieve great things. How can we be confined to this small city of Chang'an? The vast Western Regions is where we can make great achievements."

After Jia Sheng had a quarrel with his father, he vowed not to go home until he made a name for himself, so he first ran to the home of his classmate Chen Cheng.

The time when Jia Sheng ran away from home happened to be the time of the meeting of princes. Princes from all walks of life gathered in Chang'an City. They opened their mansions and recruited talents from all walks of life.

Jia Sheng led his two classmates, Chen Cheng and Wan Yu, to Ji Bu's residence. All three of them had high school diplomas and were considered high-quality talents in the Western Regions. They were immediately hired by Ji Bu's men, so they joined the team.

Wan Yu said: "The Western Regions are so far away, can we really achieve great things?"

Jia Sheng said: "Of course, in Chang'an City we are just middle school students and can only work as accountants, but in the Western Regions we are talented people. As the old saying goes, wealth and honor are sought in danger. In Chang'an City, I will definitely not be able to make a name for myself."

After this conversation, the three of them strengthened their confidence and watched Chang'an City disappear from their sight.

Take over the steel plant.

Zhang Yuan looked at the dusty steel plant and asked worriedly, "Do you really want to be an apprentice here?"

Junchen said firmly: "The Han Emperor has finally allowed me to study here. This is the only chance for my Xiongnu country to learn about blast furnaces. I will not give up. When you join the army, tell my father that I will definitely learn blast furnace technology so that the Xiongnu country can also build blast furnaces."

Zhang Yuan had no choice but to hand over all the banknotes he had on him to the military official and said, "This is the heartland of the Han Dynasty. You'd better be careful, take care of yourself, and don't worry about the Han people's affairs."

Junchen nodded and said, "I know."

Then Junchen walked into the gate of Bashang Steel Factory and said, "I am a new apprentice."

At this time, a middle-aged craftsman covered in dust said, "My name is Zhao Yu, and I will be your master from now on. The steel mill is very dangerous. Hundreds of craftsmen have been scalded to death by molten iron over the years. So you have to do whatever I tell you to do. If you don't listen and lose limbs or get scalded to death, I will not be responsible."

Junchen immediately bowed and said, "Meet Master Zhao."

Chang'an City, Yan Palace
Shang Nong found Xu Fan and said, "Your Majesty, I want to resign from the position of Prime Minister."

Xu Fan was surprised and asked, "Why do you have such thoughts? Are you not satisfied with your position as Prime Minister?"

Shang Nong said, "When I was the Minister of Agriculture, I could still touch the fields, but since I became the Prime Minister, my affairs have been extremely busy. I haven't been to the fields for three months."

"What Qin Bo did this time has greatly shocked me. In recent years, only the Mohist School has truly protected the interests of craftsmen. If the court's policy of equalizing wealth is completed, the income of the craftsmen of the Han Dynasty can really be doubled. Qin Bo's contribution can be called saintly. Now think about it, what have I done in the past few years?"

Xu Fan said: "You have also made great contributions to the prosperity of the Han Dynasty over the years. During the Qin Dynasty, the yield of grain per mu in the world was only a little over one stone, but in recent years, thanks to the efforts of you and the farmers, the yield per mu in the world has exceeded 2 stones, which is also an amazing achievement."

The merchant farmer shook his head and said, "This only makes the court increase taxes and let the citizens eat cheap food, but has the income of farmers in the Han Dynasty increased? Not at all. Just like Qin Bo said, the income of farmers in the Han Dynasty has not increased at all in the past ten years. They could eat enough ten years ago, and they can still only eat enough ten years later."

Now even Xu Fan didn't know what to say. The huge increase in grain production capacity has led to low grain prices hurting farmers. The Han court has also thought about changing this situation, such as promoting poultry and livestock farming, building a large number of wineries, selling strong liquor to the Western Regions, the desert, Liaodong and other places, and vigorously promoting medical alcohol.

But how can I put it? The prosperity of the Han Dynasty's industry brought a huge amount of wealth. The talents cultivated by the Han Dynasty in these years either went to the vassal states or the Han Dynasty court and various workshops. Few were willing to stay in the countryside. The industrial and commercial industries absorbed a large number of talents from the countryside, so naturally there were not many talents to develop in the countryside.

(End of this chapter)