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

Chapter 490, Bill Economy

Li Si asked Zhou Bo to apply to the Han court for 100 accounting clerks, and 300 senior students from the School of Mathematics came to Chenjun to form an accounting department belonging to Chenjun.

Zhou Bo was stunned and didn't understand why they did this.
Li Si said to Zhou Bo: "Although Chen County is depressed, it is completely different from the poverty of the Warring States Period. There are a large number of workshops throughout the city, and the machines are still well preserved. These machines can be turned on to produce goods. The private granaries are full, and the government granaries are also full. Even in this depressed state, Chen County is still ten times richer than during the Qin Dynasty."

Zhou Bo nodded and said, "The key is that the goods cannot be sold. Factories have no money to buy raw materials and no money to pay salaries to craftsmen. Machinery factories can't sell machines, and the demand for ore in mines has dropped sharply. That's why the world is so depressed."

Li Si said: "This is a new situation that will only appear in the Han Dynasty. All workshops can produce normally, but the goods cannot be sold. In the words of the emperor, this is because the people lack consumption power, that is, money. In the long run, wealth must flow into the hands of the people and let the people consume it, so as to maintain the healthy operation of this system.

Wealth cannot be intercepted by any class, otherwise there will be a crisis like today. Now Chen County is solving the crisis. In the long run, it is necessary to achieve fair and just wealth distribution. But if it is to be effective in the short term, if the people do not have consumption power, we must create consumption power, and at the same time, we must prevent Chen County’s consumption power from flowing to other places.”

Zhou Bo was stunned and said, "We know the essence of creating consumption power, which is the current work-for-relief policy of the imperial court. But how to prevent consumption power from flowing to other counties? Forbid the people to buy goods from other counties? I'm afraid other counties will be dissatisfied. You know, Chen County is an industrial county, and local goods are mostly sold to other places. If it causes retaliation from other counties, I'm afraid it will be more trouble than gain."

Li Si said: "So Chen County must also make a plan with the court. The 20 billion yuan in Chen County cannot be directly distributed to the people as salaries. Otherwise, given the cautious character of the people, they will definitely save all the money they earn to hedge against risks, rather than spending it on purchasing goods."

"But what if we tell the craftsmen in advance that their monthly salary is ten dan of grain, one piece of cloth, 10 jin of salt, five jin of sugar and other goods tickets that the people need, just like the grain tickets issued by the emperor in the past."

Zhou Bo hesitated and said, "Isn't this too complicated? It would be the same if the people were asked to buy it with their own money."

"It's different. This way, the 20 billion will all flow into the government-run workshops of the imperial court. The money can be circulated more efficiently in Chen County, pulling Chen County out of the crisis quickly. The effect of distributing money is not even half as good as distributing materials. What Chen County lacks now is consumption power."

So this time when we recruit craftsmen, we have to tell them that the court will give them food coupons, cloth coupons, salt coupons, and sugar coupons, and they can go to the warehouse to withdraw the corresponding materials, but they will not be paid. "

It is completely different from the historical bill system. The Celestial Empire in history had no choice because the country was too backward and needed to try its best to catch up with those developed countries. Therefore, it could only provide the minimum guarantee and then invest all the wealth into industrialization.

But the external environment of the Han Dynasty was completely different. While other ancient civilizations were still in slavery societies, the Han Dynasty had already entered an industrialized society because of Xu Fan's plug-in. Naturally, there was no need to invest every bit of society's wealth into industrialization construction. The Legalist bill system focused on guiding consumption and restarting the entire Chen County's industrial production.

Zhou Bo understood now that, to some extent, this was compulsory consumption. The most important thing was that these bills were issued by Chen County and could not be used in other places. Naturally, the purchasing power would not flow out of Chen County. This was a trick of harming others and benefiting oneself. As expected of a legalist, his ability to solve problems was first-rate, and his ability to leave problems was also first-rate.

He worriedly said: "I am afraid that this approach will cause dissatisfaction among the people."

Li Si said calmly: "In the current situation, if there is a job that can support one's family, the people will endure any dissatisfaction. This is just an emergency measure. When the economy returns to normal operation, these bills will naturally be cleared. The most important thing is that with this method, the 2 billion yuan in the hands of the prime minister can play the role of tens of billions of yuan. The population of the entire Chen County is only one million. It will take only half a year at most to get Chen County out of this crisis by investing tens of billions of yuan. Chen County is the heart of the Han Dynasty's industry. If Chen County gets out of the crisis, it can drive the entire Han Dynasty out of the crisis quickly."

Zhou Bo was silent. He was attracted by the prospect that Li Si mentioned. For him, the sooner this crisis ended, the better it would be for him. If it ended in his hands, he would be a hero of the Han Dynasty.

"We'll do as you say, but after we're out of the crisis, this bill system should be abolished. Such a complicated system is not only difficult for the people to understand, but it also easily breeds corruption," Zhou Bo said.

Li Si nodded and said, "This system was originally created to deal with the economic crisis. Once the economic crisis is resolved, the system will naturally complete its mission."

The destruction of the Qin Dynasty was also a great lesson for the Legalists like Li Si. According to the emperor, Shang Yang turned the Qin Dynasty into a war machine after the reform. The social state of the Qin Dynasty was a state of total war, which could unleash the most powerful combat power and drive all social resources towards war.

That is why the First Emperor was able to rely on this war system to unify the six kingdoms and establish the first great unified dynasty in China.

But once the war was over, the war system had completed its mission, and the First Emperor should have disbanded the system and rested with the people. But the biggest mistake of the First Emperor's Legalism was that he still refused to stop the war chariot of the Qin Empire after the war was over. This eventually led to the collapse of the entire Qin Empire.

The most profound lesson that the Legalists learned is that the prescription for curing the world cannot be used as a meal. The Legalists must also act according to the times and constantly reform. If they cannot keep up with the development of the times, even they will be abandoned by the times.

On February 17th, the 20th year of the Han calendar, Chen County.

Li Feng, the Minister of Accounting, led 100 accounting clerks and 300 senior students from the School of Mathematics to Chen County and began to build the accounting department of Chen County.

As soon as Li Feng and others arrived at Shangjin, they started working to investigate the family income of some people in the city, the prices of daily consumer goods, and the monthly consumption.
After obtaining sufficient information, we can use big data to calculate how much Chen County will issue each month, including the amount of food rations, meat, salt, and fuel for daily life.

Then Chenjun’s large-scale recruitment began.

"The court has started recruiting. If you are unemployed, you can go to the county governor's office to sign up."

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the streets of the entire Chen County were in an uproar. The local people had already known that the court was preparing to resolve this crisis, and a few days ago, a merchants' meeting was held. Now everyone was waiting for the court's next move. Many people who planned to settle in the south decided to wait and see for a while after the merchants' meeting before deciding whether to leave.

After all, in the Han Dynasty, craftsmen's income is higher than that of farmers, and the various welfare benefits and infrastructure in cities are better than those in rural areas, not to mention a place like Chen County where the dragon's head is rising. It is one of the regions with the best welfare facilities in the entire Han Dynasty. No one would be willing to leave here.

Now these craftsmen finally got their first hope, and they flocked to the county governor's office.

Soon, several long queues formed outside the county magistrate's mansion.

"Can you accept a salary of 800 coins?" the Han official asked quickly.

"Okay!" The young man nodded and agreed immediately. Although this salary was only 60% to 70% of his original salary, it was a great fortune for him to find a job that could support his family in his current situation. How could he care about other things?

"Let me make it clear to you first. The county governor's office is short of money right now. For this 800-coin salary, the county governor's office can only issue cloth coupons, grain coupons, meat coupons, salt coupons, and sugar coupons."

"No money?" the young man was stunned.

"I gave you money to buy these goods. Now the court directly gives you food to feed your family. What's wrong with that?"

"What if a family member is sick? How do we solve the tuition problem for our children's education?" The young man was obviously a little unhappy. It was obviously more convenient to distribute supplies than to distribute money.

"Don't worry, there are also medical tickets and maintenance tickets. I guarantee that you will save more money than before. The court will not let you suffer any loss."

The young man was still thinking about whether to sign the contract. The clerk said impatiently: "If you can't accept it, go to the side and think about it. Don't affect others to sign the contract."

The young man immediately said, "Sign a contract."

Unable to find a job, his family really had no choice but to go to Jiangnan. Although the newspapers were now full of rumors that Jiangnan was a land of fish and rice, and one acre of land was equivalent to three acres of land in the Central Plains, going to Jiangnan was equivalent to becoming a local landlord. But if they could stay in Chen County, who would be willing to go to Jiangnan to become a so-called landlord?

The clerk said, "Go to the construction site outside the East City Gate tomorrow to report."

"promise!"

This kind of scene was everywhere in the square of the county governor's mansion. Many people were naturally dissatisfied with the behavior of distributing materials without spending money, but they did not dare to show their dissatisfaction, for fear that they would not be given a share of the job. In addition, the imperial bills covered everything, and except for being a little cumbersome when using them, there seemed to be no flaws. The people of Chen County could only reluctantly accept it.

In Xiliushifang, Zhaoyun led his craftsmen to clean for three consecutive days, clearing the dust from the textile factory, wiping the textile machinery and equipment, and cleaning the dust inside. Soon the workshop was completely renewed.

Zhao Yun was filled with emotion. He thought he would never recover from this and would never come here again. He never expected that there would be a day when he could return. However, this workshop no longer belonged to him, and he became a worker. For a moment, he didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

"Everyone listen, the court has placed an order for 1 pieces of cloth and requires it to be completed within one month. Can you do it?" the court supervisor asked loudly.

"Yes!" Zhao Yun and the others all cheered. They had not expected that the order from the court would be placed so quickly. With this order, their workshop was revived.

Zhao Yun was even more excited and said, "There are 3000 pieces of cloth in the workshop's warehouse, which can be transported to the government warehouse immediately."

Is this the benefit of having the imperial court? He can buy 1 horses without any prior notice. He can only meet such a big customer once every two years, and now the first order from the imperial court is of this number.

Now that he has become a member of the imperial court, the imperial court's business will probably be allocated to his workshop in the future. It seems that he can earn more working for the imperial court than working alone. At least he has a huge clientele that he can hardly imagine. With this thought, it seems that there is nothing wrong in clinging to the imperial court.

The court supervisor said, "Instead of transporting the cloth to the court's official warehouse, transport it to Hongxiu Clothing Workshop. They will weave the cloth into work clothes for the craftsmen. If you can produce quickly and weave the remaining cloth within a month, I can apply for a second order from the court, and I guarantee that it will not be less than this one."

Zhao Yun said excitedly: "If the supervisor can really do this, I will work like a slave for the court in the future without any complaints."

Chenjun Steel Industrial Park

In this economic crisis, the steel industry was the least affected industry. Even when the crisis broke out, none of the six steel mills in Chenjun laid off employees or reduced production, and the remaining dozen small steel mills gritted their teeth and suffered losses rather than lay off employees or reduce production.

The market for the steel industry is too vast. Whether it is the various tools and farm implements needed by the Han princes to develop their own territories, or the demand for steel to replace wood in the major machinery factories of the Han Dynasty, not to mention the demand for steel for the Han Dynasty's annual increase of two to three thousand miles of wooden tracks. Whether it is iron nails or iron sheets for wrapping wood, the annual quantity required is hundreds of millions, and the rate of consumption of these iron sheets is also very fast. With the increase of wooden tracks, the demand for steel is also increasing rapidly.

In the past two years, there has been a craze for railroad tracks. Although most of them are experimental tracks of a few miles or more than ten miles, one mile of track consumes millions of kilograms of track. Therefore, everyone in the steel industry is full of confidence in the future. Even if an economic crisis breaks out, they will not lay off employees or reduce production. Reducing production at this time will not give the market to their competitors.

When Zhou Bo came to inspect the Chenjun Steel Plant, he looked at the busy steel workers and said, "This time, the County Governor's Office has given you the largest share of 300 million coins of steel. You must make some good iron for the court."

Chen Lei said, "Railroad tracks and wooden tracks are completely different. Three hundred million coins can only build 80 miles of railroad tracks at most. What use can such a small amount of money have? Prime Minister, you should invest all two billion coins in the railroad project and build a small railroad network in Chen County. This will drive many jobs in road construction, steelmaking, and mining."

"You think I'm your father, in charge of hundreds of billions of assets in the Shaofu. The 2 billion yuan is given by the court in consideration of the pilot project in Chen County. If all is given to your steel plant, what will happen to the others? Although 80 miles of rails are few, as long as they can make money, even if the court is unwilling to continue the construction, those merchants will push the court to continue the construction."

Building a complete rail network is extremely expensive, so the Han Dynasty court usually built a section of track as a pilot project. Wealthy businessmen saw that the track could make money and accelerate the development of local business, allowing them to make more money. These businessmen would then jointly invest with the court to build a local rail network.

Eighty percent of the funds for the Han Dynasty's rail network now come from these merchants. So Zhou Bo's idea is very simple, first build a demonstration railway, and those merchants will naturally invest in it when they see that the railway is profitable. Chen County is the industrial center of the entire Han Dynasty. Zhou Bo has no doubt that this railway can make money, it's just a matter of how much.

Chen Lei thought for a moment and whispered, "Prime Minister, you are so close to the Legalists now, be careful not to be implicated by them. Look at the bill system they have created, it is extremely complicated, and ordinary people cannot understand it clearly. This is not the same as the Qin law before. The Legalists like to do things in a hurry. Although the effect seems to be very good in the early stage, it will cause great trouble in the future."

Zhou Bo laughed and scolded, "Even you can see it, how could I not see it? Even Your Majesty has said that Qin Law has made great contributions to ending wars and unifying the world. It's just that the First Emperor didn't know how to act according to the current situation, which made Qin Law a law that harms the people. Now is an extraordinary time, of course, we must use extraordinary measures. When the crisis is resolved, I will naturally abandon this bill system."

Chen Lei heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Zhou Bo say this. After all, the examples of the Legalists harming the world in the past were too terrifying. It has been less than 20 years since the fall of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty. Most of the people who were persecuted by the Legalists back then are still alive. It is still difficult for these people to accept the Legalists' resurgence.

February 18th, Chen County, East City Gate, asphalt road construction site.

Hundreds of unemployed young people from Chen County gathered here.

At this time, a Han official stood on a carriage and said, "Here are your work clothes, two sets for each person. Now start choosing the clothes that suit you and get ready to work."

"Yes!" said the craftsman.

Then the craftsmen began to change their clothes, picked up their tools and went to the construction site, but there were many strange-shaped vehicles on the site.

The foreman, who had been prepared, saw that each person in the crowd had a dozen subordinates. Some of these people were burning asphalt, some were transporting gravel, and some were mixing gravel and asphalt together. Everyone had their own responsibilities. After the first truckload of asphalt was laid, the craftsmen continued to compact the asphalt with gravel.

Zhou Bo recruited 60,000 craftsmen throughout the Chen County. There were more than a dozen such construction sites. Inside Chen County, those old and dilapidated town buildings also began to be demolished. Everyone was busy with the infrastructure projects for Chen County.

These infrastructure projects have in turn driven the development of a series of industries in Chen County, including mines, steel mills, machinery factories, textile factories, and garment factories.

With the reopening of these factories, the entire city finally started to operate again. Even some infrastructure factories such as steel mills and ore mills began to recruit craftsmen again due to shortage of manpower.

The court paid salaries to the craftsmen with various bills, which directly brought a large market of more than 100,000 people to these workshops. This was almost all a newly created market. In addition, Zhou Bo's previous production capacity to the profiteers maintained the stability of the entire market, and finally more and more factories began to be activated. The industrial engine of Chenjun, the Han Dynasty, started again.

(End of this chapter)