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

Chapter 496: Meeting Old Friends and Winning Supporters

On September 10th, the 20th year of the Han calendar, in Chang'an City, at the Jinyumantang Restaurant.

After touring the world for a year, Liu Bang returned to Chang'an again and found that many old friends had arrived in Chang'an in advance. He simply booked a floor of Jin Yumantang to entertain these old friends.

Cao Shen saw Liu Bang and laughed, "I am really pissed off. Last year you looked about the same age as me. This year, you are different. Although you are a little darker, you look more than ten years younger."

Liu Bang smiled and said, "I have done what I like this year. I first went to Liang State to visit the tomb of Lord Xinling, and then went back to his hometown to hold a three-day banquet. I boasted to the elders about my achievements in civil and military affairs. All the elders admired me and said that they saw that I was no ordinary person.

Finally, I went to Southeast Asia, first to Ryukyu Island, hoping to find the elixir of life, but ended up finding a group of savages. They said the elixir of life was a lie, but there was a place called Sun Moon Lake with nice scenery. Then I went to the Spice Island and picked a bag of spices myself. This year, I have done everything that Naigong wanted to do when he was young, so I look younger now. "

Cao Shen said with some envy: "After we retire this year, we can travel together."

Liu Bang smiled and said, "Okay, this will be more fun. After the Sages' Meeting is over, we will go to Guangyang County first and take a boat to Treasure Island to see if I can pick up a nugget of gold. Lao Cao, you can also go to Treasure Island to soak in the hot springs. It is said that the hot springs there can cure all diseases. Maybe they can make your body better."

Xiahou Ying said enviously: "Brother is so free and easy. I wish I could follow you."

Liu Bang said, "You are talking nonsense again. This year is the most critical year for you. If you can become one of the three highest officials in the court and leave your name in history, I will be jealous of you."

Xiahou Ying said, "There is too much competition for the positions of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers. If I don't have outstanding achievements, I'm afraid I'll just be a governor in this life."

Then he looked at Zhou Bo with envy and said, "I am not as capable as Brother Zhou Bo."

Zhou Bo said: "There are many opportunities this year. If you seize them, you can go further."

This year is the year when the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty are replaced. For the county governors of the Han Dynasty, this year is the most critical year. Whether they can rise to become the new Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the court or stay where they are, it all depends on this year.

At the same time, because of the outbreak of the money house incident, their descendants dragged down the families of many veterans. In addition, these veterans have been in the position of Nine Ministers for more than ten or twenty years. Many of the Nine Ministers will retire with the Three Dukes. This will lead to very big changes in the Han Dynasty court this year.

A month ago, the emperor issued a large number of edicts to inquire about the affairs of the local county governors, which was a rare occurrence in the past 20 years of the Han Dynasty. The emperor attached great importance to the opinions of the prime minister and generally did not interfere in the management of local affairs. Obviously, there would be great changes in the government this year, and there would be many vacancies in the three dukes and nine ministers, so the emperor had to assess these county governors in advance.

Therefore, local county magistrates came relatively early in order to find out earlier about the changes in the upper echelons of the imperial court, and at the same time to use their connections to try to get promoted to a higher level.

After a group of fellow villagers from Pei County sat down, they first surrounded Liu Bang and listened to his experiences in the past year.

Liu Bang said: "Nanyang is indeed the money bag of our Han Dynasty. Every island is extremely rich. Various fruits can be eaten as food. Canned fruits that cost thousands of coins in Chang'an grow everywhere in Nanyang. The wild beasts and natives in Nanyang eat fruits as food, but they have never eaten up all the fruits. Because before you finish eating the fruits here, they grow over there.

It was too rich. The natives could grow food just by sowing seeds. It was much richer than Pei State of Naigong. However, the natives were too lazy. It was difficult for the Han people to teach them how to farm. Recently, many Indians came to the islands of the Nanyang countries. They were better at farming and serving people than the natives. They were the best servants. Naigong brought 10 Indian servants with him when he returned to Chang'an this time.

If any of you want to establish a vassal state, you must go to Southeast Asia to establish a country, grow some valuable cash crops, build a few canning factories, and let the Tianzhu Trading Company sell you some Tianzhu servants. In less than 10 years, a wealthy vassal state can be established. "

Zhou Bo said: "If it weren't for Tianzhu this time, the Han Dynasty's economic crisis would not have been so easy to get out of."

In this world, the only market that can accommodate tens of millions of pieces of cloth at a time is the Han Dynasty and Tianzhu. If it were not too far away, Zhou Bo would have wanted to go to Tianzhu for an inspection. It is said that Tianzhu has tens of millions of people. If the amount of cloth consumed by the Han Dynasty is calculated, it can consume tens of millions of pieces of cloth every year. This is no less than an extra ten years of golden development time for the textile industry of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang sneered, "Hu Hai is indeed the descendant of the First Emperor. When he gets vicious, few people can compare to him. Do you think the Indians are willing to buy these tens of millions of pieces of cloth? Hu Hai destroyed a small and powerful country in India in order to sell the cloth. The Indians had no choice but to buy the cloth under the threat of Hu Hai's artillery. It is said that under the plunder of the Indian trading companies, a large amount of gold and silver was lost from India, and the economy was about to collapse. Now the Indians do not use gold and silver to trade, but use cloth as money to trade.

Not all places in the world are as wealthy as the Han Dynasty. India was not as wealthy as the Han Dynasty. Under Hu Hai's plundering in the past two years, a large amount of wealth has been lost. Now they have begun to sell their children. Why do you think there are so many Indians in Nanyang? It is because of Hu Hai and other sea merchants. After they could not plunder gold and silver in India, they directly sold the Indians to the major vassal states in Nanyang. "

After hearing Liu Bang's words, there was silence all around. The Han Dynasty had always abolished slavery internally, and even servants were restricted. Even the princes and nobles could only employ common people, and the rights of the common people were protected. Now they suddenly heard that Hu Hai sold the Indians to Southeast Asia, and it was difficult to digest this information for a while. Of course, they still admired Hu Hai in their hearts, and they would never dare to get involved in such a thing.

Zhou Bo said immediately: "After all, they are foreign people. As long as the princes of Nanyang do not oppress the people of the Han Dynasty, we will not care. After all, development requires bloodshed, and shedding the blood of foreigners is better than shedding the blood of our people."

Zhou Bo naturally could not sympathize with these so-called Indians. You have to know that he experienced the Warring States, Qin, and Han dynasties, and most of his life was in an era when slavery had not yet collapsed. If it were not for the 20 years of the Han Dynasty to forcibly abolish slavery, this model of Nanyang would be the norm recognized by Zhou Bo. He naturally could not sympathize with the so-called Indians.

Others had the same idea. After all, these Indians had no Chinese blood. Since they were not their own people, they naturally would not sympathize with the Indians' plight.

Then Guan Ying looked at Cao Shen and Zhou Bo and asked, "There are all kinds of rumors going around. Some say that the emperor plans to replace all the three dukes and nine ministers this year, some say that he only plans to replace the three dukes, and some say that even the generals in the Taiwei Mansion have been implicated in the money house incident. The generals who serve as military officers and the generals who supervise the army will have to step down. You two know the most in Chang'an. Tell us so that we can be prepared."

The other fellow villagers from Pei County looked at Cao Shen and Zhou Bo. At their level, they naturally knew that this was an incident involving the money house and that many people were implicated. However, there were too many rumors outside, and each one was very detailed and convincing. They at the local level were not clear about the inside story, so they wanted to find someone who knew more and explain it to them.

Cao Shen and Zhou Bo looked at each other, and Zhou Bo finally spoke up: "This time the transfer is indeed huge, not only the three dukes and nine ministers, but also the military transfer is very large. Some veterans will retire, and some will be sent to Southeast Asia."

Cao Shen said, "But you don't have to think too much. This is a normal transfer. My Han Dynasty has been established for 20 years. Some generals are old and need to retire. The emperor sympathizes with the merits of these generals and grants them a vassal state so that they can retire. This is to fulfill the relationship between the monarch and his subjects. Some generals have been in their positions for more than 10 years and also need to be transferred. It just happened to coincide with the time when the court replaced the three ministers."

"Oh!" Everyone nodded, which meant that the rumor was true and many meritorious families would be exiled to Southeast Asia.

Zhou Bo said: "Don't even think about using connections. The emperor has already examined you. Only the emperor can decide who will be promoted and who will be demoted. He may have already made the decision and is just waiting to announce it at the meeting of the wise men." Although Zhou Bo said this, few people were willing to listen to him. According to the retirement system of the Han Dynasty, 20 years ago, each of them was young and strong, in the golden age of a politician, but 20 years have passed, and the young and talented people of that year have also aged. Many of them cannot be promoted and will retire in a few years. Whether they can be promoted or not even concerns their political life, although few people are willing to leave it to fate.

At this time Zhou Bo said: "I think you have heard that the emperor has taken a fancy to someone and intends to let him take over the position of prime minister. At this meeting of wise men, the emperor intends to let someone read out the outline of his administration."

The fellow villagers from Pei County looked at Zhou Bo with envy. They still had to find a way to fight for the position of Nine Ministers, but Zhou Bo had already been appointed by the Emperor as the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty.

Of course, few people were dissatisfied. Zhou Bo had fought hard to gain his current position. Not to mention his military achievements, everyone surrendered to the emperor at the same time, with not much difference.

But after they became Han officials, the old brothers gradually widened the gap. However, Zhou Bo first carried out a pilot tax reform in Sanchuan County, which greatly increased the court's tax revenue and suppressed the power of landlords and powerful people.

After that, his successor as Tax Inspector collected hundreds of thousands of kilograms of taxes for the court every year. At the same time, he completed the tax reform again. That tax reform offended a lot of people, and even Zhou Bo himself almost couldn't bear it. Zhou Bo's position as prime minister was really earned through his political achievements, and he had to accept it.

"The Han Dynasty has been established for 20 years. The original tax system is no longer suitable for the current situation. I plan to continue the tax reform."

"Change it!" Wang Ling was surprised. "The tax system is the foundation of the country. How can such frequent changes in the tax system be a good thing?"

Others also frowned. They knew the emperor too well. No matter how the tax system was changed, the burden would not fall on the people, but only on the nobles and merchants of the Han Dynasty. They did not care about collecting more taxes from merchants. But His Majesty would definitely treat everyone equally and collect taxes from them as well.

It's a bit helpless to say that the wealth owned by these princes of the Han Dynasty is actually not as much as that of these merchants. These merchants have earned too much money in recent years. The annual bounty of a marquis of the Han Dynasty is only one million yuan, while in recent years, the merchants of the Han Dynasty have taken advantage of the industrial revolution and have a fortune of millions. There are one or two wealthy businessmen with assets of billions in almost every county, and in a place like Chang'an, they are not even among the top ten. It can be seen that these merchants are wealthy and the wealth they possess is not inferior to the top princes of the Han Dynasty.

Various rumors were circulating among the people that these merchants were richer than kings and princes. They bought carriages to buy the emperor's, and lived in houses that were richer than palaces. In order to have vegetables in the winter, they built a crystal palace vegetable garden directly at home. The inn they lived in daily had to be the imperial palace of the court, especially the Afang Palace Hotel built by the emperor. It was said that those who lived in it could enjoy the treatment of the First Emperor.

Of course, the cost is also extremely high, 50,000 coins a day, and some uneducated nouveau riche are willing to live there just because of the name.

Hearing the name of Afang Palace Restaurant, you can tell that this is Xu Fan’s trick.

The First Emperor was a construction maniac. He built a large number of palaces on the land of Qin, with the largest number in Guanzhong. The royal families of the six kingdoms also built a large number of palaces.

At first, Xu Fan’s idea was simple. He wanted to learn from future generations and build a museum or a library for everyone to see.

But it was easier to convert the palaces into libraries. There were more and more scholars in the Han Dynasty, and these palaces were used for their intended purpose.

But not many people are willing to visit the museum. The common people of Han Dynasty came there to try it out at first, but few people went there later.

The Han Dynasty court had to spend a lot of money to support the maids and eunuchs in these palaces. This made how to deal with these palaces a difficult problem for the Han Dynasty court.
If Xu Fan is willing to live in these palaces, the Han court will have to maintain the dignity of the emperor no matter how much it costs.

But Xu Fan, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, didn't care about these things at all. He just lived in the smallest Yan Palace and didn't let palace maids or eunuchs take care of his daily life. Instead, the emperor hired two cooks himself.

With such a strong contrast, these palaces became a waste of the Han Dynasty's finances. You must know that although the Han Dynasty's finances were high, the expenses were also high, and they had to spend within their means every year. When Xiao He discovered that these palaces would cost 2000 million yuan a year, which was enough to build hundreds of miles of tracks, he could hardly tolerate these palaces that consumed so much money. But it would be too wasteful to demolish them, and the eunuchs who maintained the palaces were getting older. If the palaces were demolished, where would these people live and how would they support themselves?
In the end, Xiao He asked the emperor what to do with these palaces.

After thinking about it, Xu Fan spent 500 million to buy all these palaces, and then transformed them into hotels, using a simple and clear name like Emperor Hotel to indicate his relationship with these restaurants. The palaces in the mountains were directly converted into holiday estates by Xu Fan.

Xu Fan's changes immediately caused a wave of enthusiasm. In this era, there was no concept of star-rated hotels, but because of the developed industry of the Han Dynasty, there was already a large residential market, and there were many wealthy people who needed to show off their status. The emergence of the Emperor Hotel chain became a way for these businessmen to show off their financial strength, because in the most upscale Emperor Hotel in the Central Plains, the cost of staying in such a hotel for one day was ten thousand coins, and people without sufficient financial resources could not stay in such a hotel at all.

As for the legendary Afang Palace, Xu Fan built this restaurant on the basis of the infrastructure of the First Emperor. Of course, the scale is much smaller, but just because of the reputation of the First Emperor, the nouveau riche are still willing to live there even if it costs 50,000 coins a day.

With these hotels, Xu Fan earned more than 1 billion yuan a year from these nouveau riche, all of which became scholarships for Han students.

Because it was so profitable, the manager of the Afang Palace Hotel, the above-mentioned emperor, requested to expand the hotel.

Then Xu Fan saw the 20-year development blueprint of the Afang Palace Hotel in a daze. This manager was very ambitious and inherited the will of the First Emperor. He planned to use 20 years to completely build the Afang Palace planned by the First Emperor. He actually planned to build a city-style hotel.

The nobles of the Han Dynasty were a little jealous of these merchants who dared to live in the Afang Palace, but they were unwilling to let these princes live in the Afang Palace Hotel, because the nobles of the Han Dynasty could not afford it. They really did not have the financial resources to do so. Although they had large families and businesses, they also had many people to support. They also had to consider the future. In the future, they would have to go overseas to establish a vassal state. Although they did not have to go, they did have to prepare.

The princes of the Han Dynasty had wealth that was not lacking in these merchants, but this wealth did not belong to the princes themselves, but to the vassal states, and was the fiscal revenue of a vassal state. The second-generation princes might not care about this, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for enjoyment was nothing, but the first-generation princes like Ying Bu conquered the world with their fists and feet, and then worked hard and spent half their lives to cultivate their own vassal states.

The wealth that the vassal states now possessed was also accumulated through their hard work, and every penny was earned with blood and sweat. These princes were unwilling to spend 5 pennies just to stay for one night. They would rather build a mansion in Chang'an City.

This is what the Han nobles and princes are most dissatisfied with about merchants. They are the masters of the world, but the best things are not enjoyed by them, but by those good merchants. Do they deserve it?
But for their own interests, they still don't want to change the current situation.

Zhou Bo smiled and said, "This tax reform is mainly aimed at merchants. When the crisis broke out, the court borrowed 200 billion from the four major banks to survive. But you know that the emperor hates this kind of thing the most. In the economic crisis, it was a last resort. But in order to repay the debt, the court must tighten its finances.

My reform is mainly to increase the luxury goods tax, and collect taxes on luxury goods with profits exceeding double. This can minimize the impact on the Han Dynasty and is in line with the principle of reducing the surplus and replenishing the deficiency. At the same time, I plan to reform the villages. Now, in addition to collecting land taxes, the villages do not actually need many petty officials. On the contrary, the county town has a large number of workshops, so the number of petty officials required has increased. I also plan to reduce the land tax to balance the income gap between workers and farmers. "

(End of this chapter)