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

Chapter 479: Kuai Che and On Enriching the People

After visiting the copper mining area, Hu Hai had a direct understanding of the production capacity of the Luzon copper mining area. The copper ore excavated every day was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and 30% of the shares was also worth hundreds of millions. He would not lose money in this deal.

October 29th, Luzon Palace.

Hu Hai recruited all the shopkeepers and clerks in Luzon and brought them to the Duke of Luzon's Mansion.

Afterwards, Duke Chen Sheng of Luzon, Prime Minister Zhao Gao, and Shaofu Zhao Hong discussed and drafted a draft of the loan.

"A loan of 20 billion yuan, with an interest rate of %. The Luzon Copper Mine will take % of its shares as collateral, and the repayment will be made in years."

Chen Sheng also took the draft to read. Hu Hai only mentioned the major clauses. Both parties also had some detailed clauses to protect their own interests.

"The main stores of your Feihai Bank are all in the major vassal states in Southeast Asia, and Luzon State wants to buy machinery, steel and other goods from the Han Dynasty. Will it take you too long to transfer the funds?"

Hu Hai said, "Please rest assured, Duke Luzon. Our Feihai Bank has business dealings with the four major banks of the imperial court. Feihai Bank can temporarily borrow funds from these banks. I guarantee that the funds you need can be transferred within one month. If you cannot do so, my Feihai Bank is willing to compensate you for your losses."

Chen Sheng nodded in approval.

Hu Hai said: "You can entrust me, Fei Hai Bank, to help you buy the goods you need."

Such a large purchase of 2 billion is also a huge profit, not to mention that Feihai Money House has many related workshops. Many workshops started out relying on Feihai Money House. Although more than half of them went bankrupt in the last economic crisis and the remaining workshops lost contact due to the bankruptcy of Feihai Money House, after Hu Hai re-erected the sign of Feihai Money House, these small workshops quickly got in touch with Hu Hai again.

The workshop owners all deposited their savings in Feihai Money House, and would turn to Feihai Money House when they encountered loan problems. Huhai would give them the lowest discount. Huhai even had shares in these workshops, and would find ways to connect them with related workshops to help them grow. Huhai and these workshop owners formed a community of interests, and all matters related to the purchase of goods by Feihai Money House were generally carried out by these workshops with related interests.

Chen Sheng asked, "What if you deliberately buy high-priced goods to harm my Luzon Kingdom?"

Hu Hai laughed and said, "How dare I harm the Duke? Can Fei Hai Bank stay in Luzon? I can assure the Duke that the products purchased by Fei Hai Bank are definitely the ones with the lowest profit among the same industry."

Chen Sheng thought for a moment and said, “Okay, Zhao Hong, you will be in charge of supervising my purchase of goods for Luzon Song this time.”

Zhao Hong said: "Yes!"

In this way, Hu Hai returned to the Han Dynasty with his fleet, bringing with him a large procurement order of 20 billion.

November 5, the 19th year of the Han calendar.

After the end of the Han Dynasty this year, the emperor ordered the acting prime minister Zhou Bo to pacify and inspect the Jiangnan, Jianghuai and other areas, and on behalf of the emperor, to comfort the ministers of the Baiyue areas in the south of the Yangtze River.

Zhou Bo inspected Guanzhong from Wugu Pass all the way to Nanyang County, where he inspected the steel industrial zone and the textile zone. He then continued southward and entered Nan County, arriving at the key area of ​​his inspection this time, the area of ​​the Jiangnan Reclamation Team.

Thirteen years after the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty invested huge manpower and material resources in the reclamation of the south of the Yangtze River. After six years, the Han Dynasty invested millions of gold, more than 30,000 officials, craftsmen, and scholars, and recruited two million young people from Jianghuai, Central Plains, Guanzhong, and Shuzhong to participate in this massive reclamation campaign. With the hard work of these two million young people, swamps were drained, wild beasts such as wolves, tigers, and leopards were driven away, cities rose from the ground, connected by highways, rivers were repaired, and ships carrying goods were docked at the docks.

It can be said that since the founding of the Han Dynasty, there has never been so much human, material, financial and time invested in a project. Zhou Bo is the first prime minister of the Han Dynasty to visit Jiangnan. If nothing unexpected happens, Zhou Bo will be the new prime minister of the Han Dynasty. His visit will determine the Han Dynasty's investment in the south in the next ten years.

After crossing the Yangtze River, Zhou Bo discovered that the Jiangnan region, which was supposed to be a wild land, was actually full of roads, water wheels, and wooden bridges. Water wheels were installed on both sides of the river, and the wilderness was crisscrossed with fields and roads. Between the villages, smoke from cooking was curling up, a scene of prosperity.

When Zhou Bo's convoy arrived at Anling Fort in Nanjun, he was greeted by the Left Colonization Commander Li De, the Right Colonization Commander Zhou Chang, and officials Jiang Zhi and Yin Qun.

"The left commander of the Colonization Office, Li De, and the right commander, Zhou Chang, lead all the officials of the Colonization Office to pay homage to the false prime minister." Li De took the lead in saluting Zhou Bo.

Zhou Bo laughed loudly and helped Li De and Zhou Chang up, saying with a smile: "No need to be polite. You two have been cultivating in the south for many years and are meritorious officials of our Han Dynasty. His Majesty has also specifically asked me to express my condolences to you. You are the pillars of the country."

Zhou Bo's words made Jiang Zhi and Yin Qun smile happily. The Colonization Commander was already a high-ranking official among the Nine Ministers, and His Majesty wanted to use their superiors. The replacement of the new Three Dukes of the Han Dynasty was imminent, and it was almost certain that the Colonization Commander would become the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. Then, naturally, their colonization officials would also rise in status.

Settlement work in the south was extremely hard and even life-threatening. During the six years of settlement, more than a hundred Han people died in this wild land due to various accidents. The officials in the settlement camps generally looked older due to years of hard work.

But these officials are not afraid of the hard work of the southerners. They are just afraid that their hard work will not be recognized by the court or even be forgotten by the court. This is the most desperate thing.

Li De said: "With the full support of His Majesty and the court, we have finally achieved some results and can meet the emperor."

Zhou Bo laughed and said, "You are too modest, Colonization Commander. In six years, you have reclaimed 30 million mu of farmland, tea gardens, and orchards, allowing millions of people to live a rich life with fish and meat. The reputation of Jiangnan as a land of fish and rice has spread to Guanzhong. Not only the emperor knows your contributions, but also the civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty and the people of the world know your contributions."

The core of the Han Dynasty's governance in the past ten years was the military reclamation in the south of the Yangtze River. The emperor would pay attention to the changes in household registration and land registration in the south almost every year. Prime Minister Xiao He and others were also very concerned about the military reclamation trends in Guanzhong and would inquire about the progress of the military reclamation almost every quarter.

Therefore, Zhou Bo also had some understanding of the core areas of military reclamation, Nanjun and Changsha. Judging from the places he had inspected so far, the prosperity of the south far exceeded the description in the memorials.

Zhou Bo had even more respect for Li De, who had an old face and looked like an old farmer. Not everyone could cultivate the wild land of Jiangnan for six years.

After Zhou Bo spent a day in Anling Fort, he continued to go south under the leadership of Li De to inspect the achievements of the reclamation office in the past few years. Along the way, there were many fields and no wilderness around the road. Villages were densely dotted in the fields, and there were wisps of smoke from cooking. Even in this cold winter season, Zhou Bo seemed to see a beautiful pastoral painting.

Zhou Bo said: "There are paddy fields all along this road. No wonder the grain production in the south of the Yangtze River has been growing rapidly all year round."

Zhou Bo had also farmed in the past, so he naturally understood that paddy fields were top-quality land. Moreover, the south could produce two crops a year, and the grain output was far greater than that of the fields in the Central Plains all year round. This matter initially caused a stir in the Han court.

As the progress of reclamation became faster and faster, the grain production in the counties and prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River also increased very quickly, so much so that even the Prime Minister Xiao He at the time felt strange. This was because the grain production in newly reclaimed land was not very high all year round, and it usually took the third year to mature the land. Although the south was undergoing reclamation, the local grain production capacity increased by 20% to 30% at any time. Xiao He was so scared that he thought the local officials were levying heavy taxes and persecuting the people, so he sent several waves of imperial censors to inspect the south.

However, the inspecting officials of the Imperial Censorate reported back that the fields in the south of the Yangtze River were all paddy fields. The fields were fertile and had high grain production capacity. They could grow two crops a year or even five crops in two years. No cases of excessive taxation were found. The reputation of the land of fish and rice then spread to Guanzhong.

Li De said: "The emperor has foresight and discovered early on that Jiangnan is a treasure land bestowed by God to our Han Dynasty. Jiangnan has a lot of rain, many rivers, and more sunshine. According to research by farmers, these are all factors that can increase grain production capacity. The land in Jiangnan can concentrate so many good conditions. As long as the channels are well built, the production of one acre is equivalent to the production capacity of three or four acres of land in the Central Plains. As the population of our Han Dynasty grows, we will definitely rely on the fertile Jiangnan to feed our descendants in the future."

"Although I have spent six years, I have only developed Yunmengze. I have not even completed one tenth of the development of Jiangnan. This is a century-long project of our Han Dynasty. It needs to be continued by the descendants of the Han Dynasty from generation to generation. The reclamation camp must be retained for at least 100 years. It can only be abolished after the development of Jiangnan is completed."

Zhou Bo nodded in agreement and said, "Don't worry, Colonization Commander. The court will not abandon the Colonization policy."

As the inspection team headed south, Li De suddenly pointed to the buildings at Xiangshan and said, "We in the south not only used our bodies to expand the south of the Yangtze River, but also used our culture to educate the four fields. This is the famous Xiangshan Academy in Changsha County."

Zhou Bo was surprised and asked, "Is this the Xiangshan Academy founded by Kuai Che?"

Kuai Che was also a great man who could take on responsibilities or let go. Ever since he discovered that his reputation as the richest businessman in the Han Dynasty made it difficult for him to develop in the business world, he transferred his industries to the south while also focusing on academics.

In Kuai Che's view, wealthy businessmen in the Han Dynasty did not have much political status. Even if he became the first in the business world, he could not do anything about the exploitation of Han officials. However, scholars of various schools of thought had very high political status, and ordinary Han officials did not dare to provoke them. So Kuai Che began to spend all his family wealth to establish Xiangshan Academy, and he practiced in Xiangshan for three years and wrote a book "On Enriching the People", which caused a sensation in the entire Han Dynasty.

The core argument is that the ancient system of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans is no longer suitable for the Han Dynasty. It denies the view that agriculture was emphasized and commerce was suppressed since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It believes that any industry that can create wealth is the foundation of the country, and the status of workshop owners should be politically improved to reduce the interference of Han officials in the industrial sector.

Workshops can produce wealth and absorb employment, and their importance has surpassed the agriculture of the Han Dynasty. He took the last financial crisis as an example. At that time, the grain production capacity of the Han Dynasty not only did not decrease, but increased by about 10%. However, because of the workshop crisis, the good prosperity of the Han Dynasty was almost destroyed. Since the last financial crisis, the importance of industry has surpassed agriculture.

Using this as his argument, he proposed to reduce taxes on workshops, reduce the burden and pressure on workshops, treat state-owned and private workshops fairly, and allow workshops to better accumulate capital and expand production capacity. With higher production capacity, workshops will hire more craftsmen and create more jobs. With more employed craftsmen, the Han Dynasty will become more prosperous.

Because of this conclusion, this book was welcomed by the workshop owners of the entire Han Dynasty. These workshop owners found that Kuai Che's words hit the nail on the head. In the nearly 20 years since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, they have been fleeced in every crisis. When the court was short of money, they had to borrow money from them. When they needed money for land reclamation, they had to raise taxes from them. They even specially set up a tax inspector to collect taxes by force. The court from ancient times to the present has never played this way. You can't just grab a sheep and fleece it to death.

Today, someone finally spoke up for them. Many workshop owners realized at this time that the craftsmen had the support of the Mohists and the farmers had the support of the farmers. Although these people were rich and powerful, there was no one to speak up for them. Although the Han Dynasty took industry as the foundation of the country, the masters of the various schools of thought despised their merchants. No one stood on their side at all. These merchants in the Han Dynasty were a mess. It was okay to be fat pigs before, after all, there were people who were worse off than them, but now he has become the foundation of the country, but he is still a fat pig. This foundation of the country is not in vain, so Kuai Che and his "On Enriching the People" appeared. Let these workshop owners see the savior, and they helped Kuai Che to print "On Enriching the People" at their own expense to promote the views in "On Enriching the People". The court should hide the wealth among the people, or compete with the people for profit.

Less than a year after the publication of "On Enriching the People", it became popular throughout the Han Dynasty thanks to the promotion of workshop owners everywhere. Kuai Che was also hailed as Kuai Zi, and became the new generation of academic master of the Han Dynasty, occupying hot spots and front-page headlines everywhere. Major newspapers and periodicals in the Han Dynasty reprinted his views. Students from major universities in the Han Dynasty and tea drinkers in folk teahouses also discussed the arguments in "On Enriching the People". Most people agreed with these remarks. After all, everyone wants to reduce taxes and everyone wants to get rich.

Zhou Bo wanted to see Kuai Che even after knowing that he was in Xiangshan, which shows how popular Kuai Che was. Of course, this does not mean that Zhou Bo agrees with Kuai Che's point of view. Hiding wealth among the people is not a new idea. The emperor has always said that he wants to hide wealth among the people. This is the emperor's definition of the people as ordinary people. And the people defined by Kuai Che, if you don't have a family fortune of millions, you probably don't meet the criteria.

Because he was a tax inspector, he thought the court was too permissive to these workshop owners, otherwise Kuai Che would not dare to say such nonsense as hiding wealth for the people. He also read Kuai Che's book. If it was just about enriching the people, he would not be too disgusted, but there were actually many ideas in it that the court had too many workshops, which was not conducive to the development of the industry and was competing with the people for profits. Zhou Bo disdained this view. It was already the emperor's kindness to let you compete with the court for food. Now you have just eaten a few days of full meals, but you actually dislike the court for eating too much and want to drive the court off the table. It really makes Tian Gang unable to distinguish who is the master and the servant.

It seems to Zhou Bo that many workshop owners actually have more wealth than the princes, and the court has not imposed any restrictions on them. This is the problem that the court needs to solve next, otherwise these merchants will really be too arrogant. Do they want to play the game of getting into debt in our Han Dynasty?

Li De said helplessly: "Kuai Che was too radical, which angered Li Si. He came to Changsha County despite his old age. If Li Si died in Chang'an County, I don't know what to do."

Kuai Che's view, which was most popular among workshop owners, was that wealth should be stored among the people. He believed that etiquette was born from abundance, while theft was born from poverty. Only when the people were prosperous would there be no unrest in the world. He also pulled out the extinct Qin Dynasty and whipped its corpse, saying: "The Qin Dynasty stored wealth within the country and exploited the people at will, causing the people to live in misery and the world to be in turmoil. If the First Emperor had changed his ways and stored wealth among the people after ending the war, the world would have been prosperous for decades, and the Qin Dynasty would not have perished."

Not only were Kuai Che's ideas contrary to those of the Legalists, he also used the Qin Dynasty as an excuse to whip its corpse. This was not just whipping the Qin Dynasty's corpse, it was clearly a slap in the face of the Legalists, which angered Li Si, who was still alive. Despite his nearly 90-year-old body, he came all the way from Guanzhong to Xiangshan to debate with Kuai Che.

Zhou Bo asked with great interest: "In other words, Li Si and others are still in Xiangshan Academy?"

Compared with Kuai Che, Zhou Bo recognized Li Si's abilities more.

Li De smiled bitterly and nodded.

Zhou Bo said, with an air of enjoying the excitement, "We have to watch this grand event."

Kuai Che's "On Enriching the People" was formed by integrating Yang Zhu's teachings with most of the views in "Lüshi Chunqiu", and it was originally in line with the interests of merchants and workshop owners in the Han Dynasty.

There is an old saying that economy determines the superstructure. The Han Dynasty took industry as its foundation and allowed merchant forces to develop unbridled for 20 years. During these 20 years, they caught up with the industrial revolution, the first industrial revolution, and the Age of Navigation, which came as a triple bonus. To use a saying that often appears in later generations, these people earned in 200 years the profits that the West took years to earn.

The wealth accumulated by these workshop owners has far exceeded the amount in the feudal era. They have a solid economic foundation and now want someone to speak for them and protect their interests in politics.

Although the Han Dynasty created this prosperous era, and even most of their wealth was accumulated during the Han Dynasty, these people were increasingly disgusted with this all-encompassing court in their hearts. They believed that it was unacceptable for the court to collect heavy taxes from them, and they found it even more unacceptable to protect the interests of craftsmen and continuously increase their salaries. They bore the heaviest tax responsibilities, but did not have much political status, and they could no longer tolerate their status.

Therefore, when Kuai Che's Xiangshan Academy was established, not only the local Han people and the Baiyue people, but also many children of merchants and workshop owners from the Han Dynasty became his disciples. For a time, Xiangshan Academy had 3,000 disciples and over 100 sages, becoming the academic center of the entire south.

(End of this chapter)