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

Chapter 513: Respective Plans and Rapid Development

These second-generation people breathed a sigh of relief when they learned that the biggest danger of going to the New World was the sea.

Zhou Ce smiled and said, "We are already prepared. After Brother Liu came back, we ordered the latest sea ship of the Han Dynasty. It has a volume of 24 dan, a keel forged with % tempered steel, and watertight compartments. It is the strongest sea ship of the Han Dynasty. With such a strong sea ship, the New World is not a dangerous place."

With the discovery of India in recent years, the shipbuilding industry of the Han Dynasty has once again entered a period of rapid development. Because India is more than twice as far away as the former South China Sea, merchants need larger ships to carry more supplies, and also need larger ships to withstand wind and waves. Originally, a ship with a capacity of 5000 dan was the best for going to the South China Sea, but to go to India, a ship with a capacity of at least tens of thousands dan was required.

Moreover, this time the Han Dynasty's maritime merchants did not need anyone to remind them. They crossed the border of India and wanted to find a new country and a new world. They directly found the powerful country called Parthia in later generations, and several batches of ships had already made huge profits. This led to the Han Dynasty's maritime merchants requiring larger and larger ships.

A few years ago, the 5-shi seagoing ship was already the largest seagoing ship in the Han Dynasty. In less than five years, the shipyards of the Han Dynasty have begun to manufacture 5-shi seagoing ships. Of course, the shipbuilding industry has such a big breakthrough, and demand is one aspect. Solving the material problem is another aspect. The most important thing for a ship is the keel and mast. Other raw materials can be spliced, but the keel and mast must be made of a complete piece of wood. The larger the ship, the harder it is to find such wood. Now, the shipyards in Jiangnan have replaced wood with steel keels. The keel problem, which was originally the biggest limitation on seagoing ships, has been eliminated. The seagoing ships of the Han Dynasty are moving towards 3-shi, 5-shi, and even -shi.

At this time, Cao Qiu asked, "It is rumored that there are many gold and silver mines in the New World. Brother is the only one who has been to the New World. I wonder if this rumor is true?"

At this time, the others also looked at Liu Bi. This was the ultimate purpose of their invitation to Liu Bi. The New World was 20,000 miles away from the Han Dynasty, and it was not safe along the way. It was almost difficult to return to the Han Dynasty after going to the New World. If there were not enough benefits, why didn't they stay in Chang'an? If there were gold and silver mines in the New World, it would be necessary to occupy such a good place and establish a vassal state.

Liu Bi thought for a moment and said, "I dare not say anything nonsense about this matter. I just saw a lot of gold and silver in Maya. I have not seen with my own eyes whether there are gold and silver mines in the area."

Cao Qiu said happily, "Then there must be something. The savages in the New World can't even refine bronze, which shows that their smelting technology is poor. But there are gold and silver, which means that there must be very rich gold and silver mines in the local area, so that these savages can refine them."

Xiao Ce said: "We still need more information on this matter, otherwise we will go to the New World and fail to find gold and silver mines, and then we will be in tears."

Cao Qiu said: "If all the news is confirmed, I'm afraid we won't be able to get any good position."

The argument between the two also divided the second generations present. They wanted to occupy the good territories first and gain the most benefits, but they were also worried that going to the New World would be a false alarm. In the end, the banquet ended with everyone heavy in thought.

"Father, you are finally back!" After the banquet, Cao Qiu just returned home, only to find that his father, who had disappeared for almost two years, was back, and his father's mental state was obviously much better than when he left.

This made Cao Qiu feel relieved. He had been against his father's travel with Uncle Liu. His father was already in poor health, and the long journey would be life-threatening. The Cao family was completely different with and without his father.

He even blamed Liu Bang, and wanted to keep Cao Shen by saying that the Cao family could not do without his father.

But Cao Shen said directly: "The Cao family will be managed by you in the future. Your father will ask the emperor to let you inherit your father's title in advance and become the head of the Cao family."

Cao Qiu was secretly happy in his heart, thinking that without his father's supervision, he could display his talents. However, he never expected that his father would arrange for him to become a Han official before he left, and also let his family generals inform him that this was to give him experience. If he really died overseas, the Cao family would be moved overseas to establish a vassal state, and he was told that the emperor did not like too many feudal lords in the Han Dynasty.

"Sure enough, my father still treats him like a child." Cao Qiu had no choice but to work as a minor official for two years.

Cao Shen said: "Such a big thing has happened in the Han Dynasty, of course I have to come back."

Cao Shen and Liu Bang were originally traveling in India, but they heard from sea merchants that the imperial expedition team had returned and had actually discovered a new world. They immediately decided to return to Chang'an and make some plans for their families.

Cao Shen continued: "Tell me everything you know about the New World."

Cao Qiu immediately told Cao Shen all the news he knew.

After hearing this, Cao Shen laughed and said, "You can now prepare to go to the New World to establish a vassal state."

Cao Qiu looked at his father in astonishment. How could you be so careless? You didn't even investigate it properly. That was a new continent more than 2 miles away from the Han mainland. It would be difficult to come back once you went there. Although I am your only son, I am the eldest son.

Cao Shen saw what Cao Qiu was thinking and said, "I have a piece of news for you. Two years ago, when I retired, the emperor told me to stay in the Han Dynasty and find a good place for me to go after we discover the New World."

Cao Qiu said in disbelief: "Brother Liu Bi only returned to Chang'an this year. How did the emperor know about the New World two years ago?"

Cao Shen said, "The emperor knows a lot of things. Does he need to let you know first? Although the emperor has promised us a good place, he promised it to dozens of elders at the same time. The good places are naturally first come first served. At the meeting of princes this year, you should ask the emperor for permission to be transferred to the new continent."

Cao Qiu said, "I understand."

On the other hand, Liu Bang was also enjoying his family life. He first asked about Liu Fei's work and learned that he was living quite well in Chang'an City.

Liu Bang nodded and said, "Fei'er, you are an honest child. You have your father as your backer. You don't need to fight or compete. Just do your job peacefully. You will get your share of credit. Don't learn from those second-generations who take crooked paths. If you do so, you will be wronged and offend the emperor. Even your father cannot save you."

Liu Fei nodded and said, "I understand, kid."

Then Liu Ruyi said dissatisfiedly: "The child has graduated this year, but my brother wants the child to stay in Chang'an City, but the child wants to make a living."

Liu Bang asked with a smile: "Where do you want to go?"

Liu Ruyi said firmly: "Of course it is a place where I can make achievements."

Liu Bang said: "Now the place where the Han Dynasty can achieve great success is in the New World. Can you bear this hardship?"

Liu Ruyi said: "You are not afraid of hardship."

Liu Bang nodded and said, "Remember what you said today."

Then Liu Bang looked at Liu Bi and smiled, "Today, uncle can finally say that you are better than your teacher. My Liu family will be proud of you in the future. The Adventures of Liu Bi, from Tianzhu to Chang'an."

Liu Bi was a little embarrassed. Then Liu Bang asked seriously: "Think about your future development direction. With your merits this time, you will definitely be granted a title of nobility. In my Han Dynasty, there are only two choices for the title of marquis: the title of lord and the title of vassal. The two choices are different. If you choose the title of lord, you can develop in the Han Dynasty's military. With your age and merits, after another 20 years, when all the elders of the Han Dynasty have retired, you will definitely become a general of an important town. If you want to become a vassal king, now is the best time. The Han Dynasty has two new lands. I have also looked at the map. It is equivalent to the area of ​​two Han Dynasties. Such a huge continent must have many good places. The first batch of vassal kings who are granted titles in the new continent will definitely occupy the best vassal territories."

Liu Bi is not even thirty years old this year, and he is really torn when faced with such a choice. He wants to become a general of an important city in the Han Dynasty and lead the army to fight on the battlefield, but he also feels that establishing a vassal state, starting a clan, making himself a founding vassal, and enjoying incense and sacrifices seems to be the best option.

Seeing Liu Bi in a dilemma, Liu Bang said, "Uncle will tell you a piece of news I heard in Tianzhu. Do you know about the Xiongnu prince Junchen?"

Liu Bi asked, "The Xiongnu prince who learned blast furnace technology from our Han Dynasty?"

This incident was a hot topic in the Han Dynasty a few years ago. At that time, Liu Bi was still stationed on the Wo Island. However, I saw this news in the Han Monthly Report. Because it was reported a lot, I still have some impression of it.

Liu Bang said: "Yes, it is him. After Junchen returned to the Xiongnu Kingdom, he recruited a large number of craftsmen from our Han Dynasty and began to carry out Han-style reforms in the Xiongnu Kingdom, which was very effective. A year ago, he led an army of 3 Xiongnu people to attack a country called Parthia, annihilated an army of 5, and used artillery to capture a Parthian city with a population of , occupying hundreds of miles of land."

Liu Bi was surprised and asked, "How come the Xiongnu have artillery?"

Not all the people and countries Liu Bi met during his voyage around the world were kind. After arriving in Daqinzhou, there were pirates who wanted to rob them along the way, but they were all sunk by the fleet's cannons. They sank dozens of pirate ships along the way, but no one on their side was killed in the battle. This is the weapon suppression effect brought by artillery.

Liu Bang rolled his eyes and said, "Even the pirates of the Han Dynasty have cannons. Do you think the prince of the Xiongnu can't get cannons?"

Liu Bang did not take this matter seriously. The Han Dynasty had already produced thousands of cannons. All the major vassal states and maritime merchants had a few cannons. The Han Dynasty had hundreds of mines, and all of them used gunpowder. With such a large amount of gunpowder used, it would be very easy for anyone with ulterior motives to get it.

Liu Bang continued, "I heard in Tianzhu that Parthia was the dominant country there, more powerful than all the small countries in Tianzhu combined. But such a powerful country could not withstand the attack of the Huns, and the Huns were vulnerable in front of our Han Dynasty. It can be seen that the military power of our Han Dynasty is still invincible. If you want to stay in the Han Dynasty, I am afraid that all you can do is to accumulate some hard work like Peng Yue. It is very difficult to accumulate merits like the founding of the Han Dynasty. In the end, you will work hard for decades. The emperor will see your decades of hard work and promote you a little, but you still want to establish a vassal state. Why not go to the New World to establish a vassal state thirty years in advance?"

"Don't think it's easy to establish a vassal state. My uncle had the support of the emperor, but it took him more than ten years to barely build a few cities. You are sent to the New World, which is tens of thousands of miles away. The imperial court can't support you even if they want to. If you rely on your own strength to establish a vassal state, it will take decades before you can reach the scale of the current Han vassal states."

Liu Bang went through several countries in Tianzhu and found that these countries were far inferior to the current Han Dynasty, even to the Chu State during the war. According to Cao Shen, Tianzhu was still in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties of Chinese civilization, which was roughly equivalent to the Shang Dynasty, because whether it was human sacrifice or sacrificial power, it was similar to the Shang Dynasty. The only thing that was better than the Shang Dynasty was that the climate here was hot and the land was fertile, and the local land could feed more people.

At the same time, he had heard of some Western civilization in India, but there was still a big gap between it and the Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu Kingdom, which was driven thousands of miles away by the Han Dynasty, actually became one of the local overlords. Seeing that the Han Dynasty was more powerful than any known civilized country, it was very difficult for Liu Bang to continue to make achievements by staying in the Han military. He felt that it would be better to let his nephew establish a vassal state thirty years in advance.

Liu Bi frowned and said, "Uncle, let me think about it myself."

On October 13, the 22nd year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City, Zhangtai Palace.

All fifty-four two thousand stone county governors of the entire Han Dynasty gathered together, and all the governors who were on good terms with each other gathered together. The most discussed topic was the New World.

"What is the New World like? Is it as rich as advertised in the monthly report?" Deng asked. For more than half a year, the hot topic of public opinion in the Han Dynasty has always been the New World. The publicity has been overwhelming, and the county magistrates in the local areas are all itching to listen.

Chai Wu smiled and said, "You ask me, but how would I know? The only two expedition teams that have really been to the New World are the northern and southern expedition teams, but they just visited the area in a hurry and stayed along the coast for a few days. They have never been deep into the New World."

Guan Ying smiled and said, "But the emperor wants to develop the New World. In recent years, all the good places in Nanyang have been occupied by the princes. Now the nobles of the Han Dynasty no longer want to go to Nanyang to establish princely states. And this time the court's propaganda offensive is so strong, it is obvious that the emperor wants the nobles of the Han Dynasty to explore the New World."

Xiahou Ying hesitated and said, "The New World is still too far away. It's 20,000 miles across the sea. It's too dangerous."

Guan Ying laughed and said, "If there really is a gold and silver mine, then twenty thousand miles is nothing."

At this time, the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty, led by Zhou Bo, came to the meeting place.

Deng said hesitantly, "Your Majesty didn't come this year?"

Zhou Bo said: "The emperor is hosting a banquet for the great princes and elders of the Han Dynasty in the Yan Palace. This year's meeting will be hosted by someone."

All the county governors sat in their seats and stopped talking.

Although Zhou Bo served as prime minister for only two years, he had accumulated a lot of prestige. Last year, Zhou Bo made his first report as prime minister, and the fiscal revenue of the entire Han Dynasty increased by 60 billion yuan to 430 billion yuan, an increase of %, which shocked the entire Han Dynasty. You should know that the fiscal revenue of the Han Dynasty has been increasing. It is very difficult to increase it by % in the past ten years, and Zhou Bo's performance is unprecedentedly good. More importantly, the court increased the luxury tax, and their local fiscal revenue also increased. Zhou Bo was very generous, and the luxury tax in the first year was basically left in the local area. Zhou Bo's reforms also benefited them, and the governors of the Han Dynasty naturally supported Zhou Bo.

Zhou Bo said solemnly: "This year's plan will start from now on, and Neishi County will step down."

The Internal Secretary Zhou Chang stepped out with the account book.

Zhou Bo and others began to check and found that the tax revenue of the Internal History Department had increased even more this year, almost reaching 20%, while the income of other counties was also increasing rapidly. After the Han Dynasty got rid of the last economic crisis, a large number of old water-powered spinning wheels and water-powered textile machines were eliminated from the market. In addition, the Han court had plans to eliminate those unscrupulous businessmen who did not abide by the "Craftsman Law", and a large market share began to be obtained by factory owners who mastered steam textile machines.

There is one point that later propaganda ignored. The workshop owners would not take the initiative to improve the machines to increase production efficiency. Their core demand was to make profits to complete capital growth. When the steam engine could do this, even if the internal combustion engine had been invented, these workshop owners would not use it. This is why Hans the Cat would quickly surpass Niu Niu in later generations. Others were already using internal combustion engines, but Niu Niu's entrepreneurs, because of their vast land and resources, could only use slaves in the colonies, and were unwilling to replace their steam engines with more efficient internal combustion engines. As a result, they were surpassed by two countries that used internal combustion engines.

Isn't it the same with the Celestial Empire in later generations? They would rather increase the number of cattle and horses and the working hours. To say that they have new inventions and improvements would be a huge joke. Inventions and creations are very risky things, and they are no match for exploiting cattle and horses, or making money quickly with the financial sickle.

They are still using the sweatshops of the 19th century. If the craftsmen had not proved their abilities, what they would shed might not be their sweat but their flesh.

The same is true now for Dahan. Before the second economic crisis, although Dahan's steam engines had begun to become popular, a large number of textile factories were unwilling to eliminate the outdated water-powered textile machines. It was not until the second economic crisis that these outdated machines were completely eliminated.

After clearing out these backward production capacities, the number of steam engines in the Han Dynasty increased rapidly, driving up production efficiency. Production efficiency led to an increase in wealth, and the growth of wealth naturally led to an increase in tax revenues for the Han court. Coupled with the taxes brought by India and the wealth added by Indian laborers working as cattle and horses in Southeast Asia, the tax revenue growth of the Han Dynasty this year was unprecedented.

The more Zhou Bo and his people calculated, the more they smiled. After looking at the tax collection situation of all the counties, he made a rough calculation and found that the tax collection of the Han Dynasty this year exceeded 500 billion yuan, which was equivalent to increasing the fiscal revenue of the Han Dynasty by more than 100 billion yuan in the two years he was the prime minister. This was an unprecedented political achievement.

(End of this chapter)