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

Chapter 498: Huge Infrastructure Market and Unemployment Benefits

The renewal of the Han Dynasty this time obviously exceeded everyone's imagination. Not only the three dukes were replaced, but most of the nine ministers were also replaced. Among them, the Minister of the Household was replaced by the Mohist master Yang Xiong, the Minister of the Imperial Household was replaced by the Nanyang County Governor Chen Rui, the Minister of the General Affairs was replaced by the Longxi County Governor Lu Jia, and the newly established Railway Department was replaced by the Kuaiji County Governor Wang Ling, who coordinated the entire Han Dynasty's railway affairs. The former Yuyang County Governor Chen Chen was appointed as the Minister of Accounts, the former Internal History Minister Li Shang was transferred to the Minister of Agriculture, the former Tunken Right Minister Zhou Chang was appointed as the Minister of Internal History, the former Minister of Agriculture Zhang Qiang was transferred to the Minister of Justice, and the former Capital Water Conservancy Supervisor Zheng Qu was promoted to the Tunken Minister.

Even the military has undergone a major reshuffle. The two generals guarding the Taiwei Mansion have retired, three of the four town generals have retired, and more than a dozen generals in the General's Mansion will no longer hold military posts. They will retire and establish vassal states in Southeast Asia.

Among them, the former General Zhenhai Peng Yue served as the General of the Taiwei Mansion, the former General Zhenbei Ji Xin served as the General of the Taiwei Mansion, the Han Navy was upgraded to the Ministry of the Navy, and Luan Bu, the commander of the South China Sea Fleet, served as the Minister of the Navy.

The former Jincheng prefect Tian Zang was promoted to General Zhenbei, the former Guangyang prefect Chai Wu was promoted to General Zhendong, the former Shu prefect Guan Ying was promoted to General Zhenxi, and the former Taiyuan prefect Deng Shuo was promoted to General Zhennan.

At the same time, the imperial court established two new counties in the south, Wuling and Lingling, and the prefects of the two counties were the reclamation officials Jiang Zhi and Yin Qun respectively.

Such a big change shocked everyone. The Sage Conference ended early and everyone had to digest this information.

Chang'an City, Yan Palace.

Ying Bu complained to Xu Fan: "The court is occupied by those people from Pei County. Your Majesty, you trust them too much."

It is no wonder that Ying Bu complained like this. Zhou Bo was the prime minister. Among the nine ministers, Wang Ling and Zhou Chang were also from Pei County. Among the four generals, there was also a person from Pei County. Four out of the dozens of senior positions in the Han Dynasty were from Pei County.

As soon as this appointment came out, the gossip party in Chang'an quickly discovered the Pei County party, and vowed that the Pei County party would rule the Han Dynasty for the next 10 years, and that the Pei County faction would gradually replace the Chen County faction.

Xu Fan said unhappily, "What do you mean by Pei County Party? They are all officials of the Han Dynasty. They have achieved their current status step by step. Moreover, positions in the court are not for showing off. They are all for serving the people of the world. This is a heavy responsibility."

Of course, Xu Fan did not deny that the famous generals in Pei County did have an advantage. There were nearly 2000 officials with 300 dan in the Han Dynasty, and it was difficult for Xu Fan to remember all of them. Cao Shen and Zhou Bo were ranked outside the top when the Han Dynasty was founded, but because of their reputation in history, Xu Fan always paid more attention to them and was willing to give them some difficult tasks. The Han Dynasty was still in its founding period, and there would not be such a thing as more mistakes and less mistakes. Instead, those officials who were capable of doing things were most likely to stand out. Cao Shen and Zhou Bo did more things, so they naturally stood out.

Ji Bu also said: "Your Majesty also appoints positions based on merit and ability. If you really want to follow this arrangement, you should also set up a settlement system, a prime minister, a nine ministers, and two governors. You are a vassal of the Han Dynasty, not a gossiper in Chang'an."

Chen Xiao said: "Your Majesty has always been fair and just. This list of the three dukes and nine ministers was naturally drawn up after your Majesty's deep thinking. How can a reckless man like you understand it?"

To be honest, after this appointment list came out, Ji Bu and others were relieved. Among the Three Dukes, the Grand Censor Wu Jun was an old brother of Chen Jun, three of the Nine Ministers were their old brothers, the Inspector General was Ji Xin, and two of the Four Generals were also their old brothers.

Even though His Majesty was dissatisfied with these old brothers, he did not want to purge them as rumored. The elders of Chen County were still the largest faction in the Han Dynasty.

The reason why these princes outside the Han Dynasty can have such a comfortable life now is that the Han court is controlled by the elders of Chen County. This allows them to focus on developing the vassal states while still getting support from the court. Everyone's energy is focused on external expansion.

If the Han Dynasty's court was occupied by people from other factions, it would be unknown whether it would still support these princes in reclaiming land.

Therefore, the current situation is already a pleasant surprise for people like Ji Bu. Even one of the descendants of these elders has ascended to the throne of Nine Ministers. He is Chen Chen, the eldest son of the former Grand Coachman Chen Gang. This obviously breaks the unspoken rules set by the emperor himself.

Those who can get by in the court of the Han Dynasty do not know how to guess people's hearts, and their subordinates also know how to guess people's hearts. Chen Chen's promotion is a signal to them. Although the emperor suppressed the elders of Chen County, he still gave them compensation. The most important thing is that after this unspoken rule is broken, their descendants will not have any restrictions on the official careers of the Han Dynasty. This is of vital importance to them.

Many elders of the Han Dynasty have decided to reinvest resources into the Han court, striving to have several of their descendants become ministers and continue their family's political resources.

After the bad debt of the bank this year, Xu Fan also figured it out. Everything in the world has its pros and cons. The position of the bank in the Han Dynasty will become more and more important. If these second-generation people are really concentrated in the bank system, the harm caused may not be less than that caused by them in the court. The lessons learned by later generations can be said to be extremely profound.

But if these second generations are not allowed to enter the money house system, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among these meritorious officials. Even Zhao Da knows that the premise of releasing military power with a cup of wine is to give the brothers wealth and glory, and power and money must always be given the same.

Xu Fan thought about it and decided to just release their restrictions and let them compete with the poor families in the world. Xu Fan didn't believe that with the current education system of the Han Dynasty, they could still create the kind of super-powerful family in history with three generations of officials. Even if they really did, Xu Fan would accept it. He had tried his best to level the starting line, but this situation still occurred. This was the inevitability of history. No matter how many restrictions he put in, it would be useless.

Xu Fan looked at Ji Bu and asked, "Can you sell millions of pieces of cloth you ordered at one time? Don't let it affect your development in the Western Regions."

Ji Bu smiled and said, "Last year, the court made us earn more than 20 billion yuan, and this year the number is still increasing. I heard that the court is planning to pave the road with asphalt, and Ji's income will be even higher. A million pieces of cloth are nothing. It just so happens that I plan to build an irrigation system in the empire, and these pieces of cloth will be regarded as salaries for the people."

The cloth production capacity in the Western Regions was poor, and almost all of it had to be imported from the Han Dynasty. In the past, because there was no railway, even the cheapest linen was expensive when it arrived in the Western Regions. In addition, the people in the Western Regions were so poor that they had to eat sand, so naturally they had no possibility of buying cloth from the Han Dynasty. But after the discovery of oil, the finances of the Ji Kingdom skyrocketed, and the local people also benefited from the oil industry. They cannot be said to have become rich overnight, but their lives were indeed much better than before, and they had certain private property. At the same time, after the Chang'an-Western Region railway was connected, the transportation cost was reduced by more than ten times, and the price of linen to the Western Regions was at most doubled, and many people already had the ability to consume cloth.

Xu Fan said: "Without food, there is no stability. If you want to gain a firm foothold in the Western Region, you must find a way to reclaim land. However, the environment in the region is too fragile. Large-scale reclamation of land will accelerate desertification. Therefore, you must pay attention to environmental issues. You can't just cut down trees on a large scale and cultivate grassland just to reclaim land."

Ji Bu was a little scratching his head. He was well aware of the horror of the sandstorms in the Western Regions. A strong sandstorm could cover the sky and the sun, as if the entire world would be covered in sand. Among the various legends in the Western Regions, the most common one was the rumor that a sandstorm would bury a city or a country. However, it was inevitable for a country to develop and open up wasteland.

Xu Fan thought for a moment and said, "The Han Dynasty has many tree planters in Shangjun. They are very experienced in how to manage deserts. You can go to Shangjun, Jiuyuanjun and other places to recruit a group of tree planters."

Influenced by later generations, Xu Fan attached great importance to environmental protection, especially in Shangjun and other counties in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. The Han court specially hired tree planters to plant trees and control desertification.

The climatic conditions of this era were much better than those of later generations. In addition, the population was small and the per capita resource possession was high. The results of the Han Dynasty's governance over the past decade were extremely remarkable. At least the Jing River was no longer like the Yellow River, and the clear division of the Jing River and the Wei River would no longer appear on the land of the Han Dynasty.

The sand content of the Yellow River has been gradually decreasing over the years, and it is much clearer than before the founding of the Han Dynasty.

For many things, as long as the average person has more resources, difficult things will no longer be difficult.

The Han Dynasty invested very few resources in the management of the Yellow River, but the results were higher than those of later generations, but people in later generations could not learn from them.

Because Xu Fan had designated the entire 10-li radius of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River as a floodplain, land could not be reclaimed for farming in these areas and only trees could be planted. The five-li radius near the upper reaches of the Yellow River was converted from farmland to forest and trees were planted on a large scale.

After more than ten years of governance, the Yellow River has become a river surrounded by trees. At the same time, the Four Duks in the Yellow River in history were swamps formed during the flood period of the Yellow River. Xu Fan also moved the people around and preserved these places as flood discharge areas. The people around can raise fish in them, but they cannot cultivate land. Therefore, the way the Han Dynasty dealt with floods was also very simple. There was too much water in the Yellow River, so it was directly discharged to the Four Duks.

Ji Bu thought for a while and said, "I want to recruit some farmers. It would be best if the court could send some water conservancy officials. Ji State is not short of money now. I plan to learn from the court and build a water conservancy project like the Zhengguo Canal to completely solve the problem of food for the people in the Western Regions."

Xu Fan said: "After the meeting of princes, you go to discuss with Zhou Bo."

At this time, Ying Bu immediately took out his own album, threw himself in front of Xu Fan and said with a flattering smile: "Your Majesty, I also have a large factory that needs the support of the court. With your Majesty's support over the years, I have also accumulated some money. Now that the carpenter is old, it is time for him to retire and enjoy life. I plan to build a capital city modeled after Chang'an City."

Xu Fan was a little surprised and said, "It seems that the capital above can accommodate more than 100,000 people. Does your country of England have so many people?"

After more than ten years of reclamation and immigration, Britain has a population of about 50, but most of these people are scattered in the countryside. Because Britain's pillar industry is agriculture, farmers account for the vast majority of Britain's population. There are not many people in cities. The population of Britain's capital is only 3.

Ying Bu smiled and said, "I have to design it with a developmental perspective. The population of Britain has been increasing over the years. I can't let the capital I just built not be big enough for the people to live in."

"Sewers, water towers, asphalt roads, industrial areas, residential areas, parks, lakes. You are really planning to build the city according to the standards of Chang'an. The cost will not be low." Xu Fan said in surprise.

Ying Bu said: "I dare not compete with Chang'an. My wish to build a small Chang'an is enough. I have also accumulated some money, but I can still recruit ordinary craftsmen. I will look at those skilled craftsmen who can plan and build the city. These people are not what I can recruit, so I want to ask the emperor to support the master craftsmen who build the city."

Xu Fan roughly estimated that it would be impossible to complete the construction of Yingbu's Little Chang'an City with high standards without 20 to 30 billion.

The start of this project is huge good news for infrastructure industries such as cement kilns. It also requires a large number of craftsmen to build it and can accommodate a large number of employed people, which will have a significant boost to the current Han economy.

Xu Fan said, "I will talk to Yang Xiong and ask him to send the master craftsman of the Shaofu to support you. At the same time, the Mohist School has many construction teams in Chang'an City. They have built asphalt roads, docks and tracks. They are experienced and the price is low. You can go to Qin Bo."

Ying Bu smiled and said, "Thank you very much for your support, Your Majesty."

Xu Fan looked at Chen Xiao, Lu Cheng and others and said with a smile: "Your vassal states have been established for more than ten years. The population has grown over the years. I think the city is not big enough to accommodate all the people. Don't you want to use Chang'an City as a template, a capital city with complete infrastructure and a good living environment?"

Ying Bu's capital plan reminded Xu Fan that in recent years, the rich people in the Han Dynasty were the princes, apart from the merchants. The luxury tax formulated by Zhou Bo could plunder those wealthy businessmen. If the princes of the Han Dynasty were also plundered through infrastructure projects, the economy of the Han Dynasty would quickly get back on track and the impact of the economic crisis would completely disappear.

It seems that we really need to build a garden capital for Ying Bu with high standards. With this model, there is no need to worry that other princes of the Han Dynasty will not follow suit. The infrastructure projects of hundreds of princes of the Han Dynasty can drive hundreds of billions of economic development. At least the Han Dynasty will not have to worry about economic crisis in the next 10 years.

Chen Xiao and Lu Chen had not had such an idea at first, but now seeing that His Majesty seemed to be very supportive of Ying Bu's plan, they were a little tempted. It is not easy to open up a vassal state. They could be said to have been fighting against the wilderness for half their lives. Now that they are old and are beginning to suffer from various diseases, they also want to enjoy life.

Chen Xiao said: "If your majesty is willing to support us, I will find someone to make the plan."

The 20th year of the Han calendar, October 4th, Chang'an City, Beigong.

This was Zhou Bo's first time presiding over the Assembly of Sages as Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty.

At the meeting, he read out his ideological and political program for the next 10 years. The first was to carry out tax reform, increase luxury goods tax, balance the tax systems of the court and local governments, and allow local governments to have some autonomy to build infrastructure.

The second is to strengthen the counties by reducing the number of townships, adding small officials from the townships to the county towns, strengthening the existing management capabilities, and better serving industrialization.

The third is to reduce or exempt agricultural taxes, increase farmers' income, and balance the income gap between farmers and craftsmen.

After he finished speaking, the whole audience burst into applause. Zhou Bo's policy program was recognized by most of the wise men. After the wise men expanded it, most of them were farmers and craftsmen. Zhou Bo's policy was beneficial to them, so they naturally welcomed such a good policy.

Only big merchants and wise men like Kuai Che were dissatisfied, but they did not show it.

Kuai Che was also a very capable person. Within a few years of settling in the south, he was awarded the title of Changsha County Sage.

Before he came to Chang'an, he knew that the court would definitely target their merchants again. After all, the Han court had such a routine. Whenever there was a crisis, the butcher knife would be pointed at them. The merchants would be slaughtered to provide supplies to the ordinary people.

Sure enough, the first thing Zhou Bo, the new prime minister, said was to increase taxes, and he wanted to impose them on them.

This world is full of people who bully the weak and fear the strong. They say that we merchants are rich, but we don’t have as much money as those princes. If you have the ability, Zhou Bo, you can increase the feudal taxes of the princes. They only pay one tenth of the tax, but we have to pay three tenths. Even so, the court is still not satisfied and continues to increase taxes. If it continues like this, we merchants will be working for the court.

Of course, Kuai Che could only complain secretly. For the sake of face, he had to applaud and welcome the court's tax increase, because he knew that with the power of their merchants, they had no ability to resist the emperor or the prime minister of the Han Dynasty. They could only accept the court's butcher knife with a smile.

The next meeting of the wise men was for the other three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty to read out their own policy guidelines for the next 10 years.

After the official finished reading his ideological and political program, Qin Bo stood up and said, "The economic crisis that broke out this year is even bigger than the last one. There are probably millions of craftsmen who have lost their jobs throughout the Han Dynasty. The current policy of the court is very unfavorable to craftsmen. Farmers have fields. When the crisis breaks out, they can return to their hometowns and rely on the fields to support their families.

But the craftsmen have nothing. They can only rely on their own savings to get by. When their savings are gone, their whole family will have to endure the cold and hunger. This is extremely unfair to the craftsmen. I suggest that the court increase unemployment benefits so that craftsmen can temporarily lose their jobs and still have a way to support themselves and their families. "

Kuai Che stood up suddenly like a cat whose tail was stepped on and said, "Master Qin, unemployment benefits are just to support lazy people. If there really is such a benefit, craftsmen will simply not work. Then the court will have to support them all the time. Where does the court's tax money come from? Isn't it accumulated by hard-working people and handed over to the court? The people must want these taxes to serve themselves better, not to support some lazy people."

(End of this chapter)