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

Chapter 533, Xu Aimin’s Doubts and Journey to the West

July 7, the 29th year of the Han calendar.

Li Yu, the former lieutenant of the General Zhennan's Office, succeeded Xu Aimin as the governor of Beiyinzhou.

October 12, the 29th year of the Han calendar.

The eldest prince Xu Aimin led his wife and children back to Linzi City, and then Xu Aimin took the train back to Chang'an.

"Dad, is this the train? It's really fast!" Xu Shaoyou said excitedly.

In the 22nd year of the Han Dynasty, the major princes of the Han Dynasty arranged for their daughters of marriageable age to go on blind dates with Xu Aimin. Finally, Xu Aimin fell in love with Lu Chen's youngest daughter Lu Su and Ji Xin's daughter Ji Qian. The three got married before Xu Aimin became the governor of Beiyinzhou, and then Xu Aimin took office with his two wives.

The next year, Lu Su gave birth to Xu Aiming's eldest son Xu Shao. Two months later, Ji Qian gave birth to Xu Aiming's eldest daughter Xu Ling. At this point, he had both a son and a daughter.

But the gap between the New World and the Han Dynasty was huge. On weekdays, Lu Su and Ji Xian would teach them some picture books with pictures of Chang'an City, trains, steam engines, etc., to let them understand the situation of the Han Dynasty. This was the first time they saw a train in reality.

Xu Aimin said: "Yes, this is the train. I didn't expect it to run so fast after not seeing it for a few years."

Today's trains are completely different from the ones Xu Aimin saw at the beginning. The train Xu Aimin took had a very limited carrying capacity due to insufficient horsepower. Moreover, it was an iron-clad wooden track, so the train did not dare to move too fast, and most of the tracks were even occupied by horse-drawn carriages.

But now, six years later, when he saw the Han Dynasty's train again, it was completely different. The locomotive had been lengthened and become bigger, with a horsepower of over 6, and could pull more than a dozen carriages. The speed had become faster, having caught up with a horse running at full speed. The tracks had all been turned into iron tracks. He remembered that one mile of iron tracks cost 500 million coins, and that was when the price of wrought iron was pushed down to an extremely low level. The cost of building the -mile iron tracks from Linzi to Chang'an alone exceeded billion coins. The Han Dynasty's wealth was greater than before.

Xu Ling asked, "What does Chang'an look like?"

Xu Aimin sighed: "Chang'an is the most prosperous and richest city in the world, and it is also our home."

Xu Aimin and his group stayed on the train for two days. During these two days, he saw countless fields in the Central Plains and concrete bridges across the rivers along the way. The cities in the railway counties became more prosperous, which even made Xu Aimin a little uncomfortable.

On October 14, Xu Aimin and his party got off the train and arrived at Chang'an West Station.

Soon Xu Aimin saw his mother standing at the train station looking at the crowd anxiously.

"Mother!" Xu Aimin shouted excitedly.

Chen Xiu immediately came over, held her son's hand and cried, "Ai Min, you are finally back."

Lu Su and Ji Qian bowed and said, "Mother!"

Xu Aimin immediately pulled Xu Shao and Xu Ling over and said, "Call grandma quickly."

The two little ones said in a baby voice: "Grandma!"

Chen Xiu said excitedly: "You are Shao'er and Ling'er."

Chen Xiu excitedly hugged them both.

Then the family got on the carriage and happily headed towards Yan Palace.

Xu Aimin asked, "What is father doing?"

Chen Xiu said dissatisfiedly: "Your father knew you were coming back, but he still went to the laboratory. He said that if I went to the train station by myself, it would easily cause congestion, and he also told me to try not to affect the order of the train station."

Xu Aimin said: "Blocking the train station will indeed have a bad impact."

Then Xu Aimin asked, "Third sister, fourth sister and the others didn't come either?"

Chen Xiu said, "Your third sister married Duke Ji's eldest son Ji Li two years ago, and your fourth sister married Yingxiong last year. Now Xu Aijun is the only one left in the family."

Speaking of this, Chen Xiuyou felt sad. Her children all went their separate ways and it was very difficult for her to see them.

Then she looked at the two little men and complained, "I found you two wives, but in six years you only had a pair of children."

Lu Su and Ji Qian looked embarrassed.

Xu Aimin explained: "Children have to start everything from scratch in the New World, and things are very busy."

Chen Xiu said: "No matter how busy he is, he is in charge of the Han Dynasty, but he doesn't seem to be very busy. He can still do what he likes. In the past few years, your father has been almost immersed in the laboratory and the school. He has spent more time teaching those students than you brothers."

In this way, the group returned to the Yan Palace, and then Xu Aimin told his mother about his experiences in the New World in the past few years, mainly about some novel things, but for Chen Xiu, she couldn't help complaining about Xu Fan about the hardships her son had in that harsh environment. Xu Aimin should not have been allowed to go to the New World, and Xu Aiguo should not have been allowed to go to the New World to be a vassal.

Xu Fan finally returned home when it was dark.

Xu Aimin immediately stood up and said, "Father!"

Xu Fan and Xu Aimin hugged each other and said with a smile: "Although you are darker, your body is stronger."

Xu Aimin said to his two children, "Call me grandpa quickly."

"grandfather!"

Xu Fan picked up his grandson, and his granddaughter smiled and said, "With these two little ones here, the house can be lively."

After Xu Aimin and his family became adults, the Yan Palace gradually became deserted, and one by one the children left their side. This was also the reason why Chen Xiu was dissatisfied with Xu Fan.

Xu Aimin said: "I want to report to you about the situation in the New World."

Xu Fan said: "Go to the study."

Then Chen Xiu took Lu Su, Ji Qian and the two children to another place. After arriving at the study, Xu Aimin roughly talked about the development of the Starting City in the past six years and the development of the vassal states in various parts of the New World, focusing on the invasion of the Mayan Kingdom by the New World.

Finally, Xu Aimin said with some concern: "The power of the imperial court in the New World is extremely limited. If the princes of the Han Dynasty continue to develop, I am afraid that the imperial court will find it difficult to control the New World."

Xu Fan said calmly: "This is inevitable. The reason why the court granted fiefs outside the mainland of Shenzhou is because it was too difficult to manage. The purpose of relocating the princes was to expand the borders of Han civilization. For Han, the market brought by the New World is the most important. However, judging from the development of the New World, this should happen in a few hundred years."

In history, the Han Dynasty enfeoffed all the descendants of Liu Bang, but less than 60 years later, the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion occurred. The British Empire controlled the world, and their hegemony still collapsed. So Xu Fan was very open-minded. It was enough for his own people to occupy this continent, and it was not necessary for the Han Dynasty to control it.

Xu Aimin said tiredly, "Father, what the Han princes did in the New World is not to be described in detail, but it is also lawless. Can this really be considered as spreading the civilization of our Han Dynasty?"

Xu Aimin is not yet 30 years old this year. When he went to the New World to serve as the governor, he truly believed that spreading Han civilization was the manifest destiny of every Han Chinese. They, the Han people, went to the New World to spread advanced productivity and civilization.

But the reality was obviously different from what he thought. Instead of spreading civilization and educating the Mayans, the princes of the Han Dynasty preferred to throw the Mayans into mines to dig for gold and silver. This could not be said to be a civilized act in any way. Even the black kilns in the Han Dynasty were the target of criticism, and what the princes of the Han Dynasty did was even more excessive than the black kilns.

This made him doubt in his heart. If the Han people had not discovered the New World, would the Mayans have lived happily in their homeland, waiting for heroes and sages to appear in their civilization and lead them to a more glorious future? Did the appearance of the Han people interrupt the civilization process of the Mayans?

Xu Fan smiled and said, "Of course, civilization needs communication to progress. The Mayans have lived in the New World for thousands of years, and their civilization has stagnated for thousands of years. It has been less than ten years since our Han entered the New World, and we have promoted the rapid development of the New World. How can this not be considered the spread of civilization? If our Han had not gone to the New World, would the Mayans have lived well?
Because their civilization was obviously stagnant, they could not feed too many people, so they could only use bloody blood sacrifices to consume this part of the population. This is no more cruel than the princes of my Han Dynasty. With social progress, the New World can feed more people, and there will be no massacres for sacrificing to the gods. No matter how good a primitive country is, it is not as good as a feudal country, and no matter how good a feudal country is, it is not as good as an industrial country. This is the progress of civilization. "

Xu Fan was not too excited. Compared with the Spaniards, the Mayans at least survived. The princes of the Han Dynasty would not think of killing them all. When the gold and silver mines were exhausted, these princes would find ways to educate the indigenous people of the New World and make them their people to cultivate the land. Compared with their endings in history, the Han Dynasty at least allowed 90% of the Mayans to survive, and their civilization would be integrated into the Han Dynasty. Isn't this also a continuation of civilization?

It's better than all humans being slaughtered, leaving behind a pile of pyramids and antiques as display items in museums, becoming the corpse of civilization.

Xu Aimin asked: "Father, what kind of country is the Han Dynasty? In other words, what do you want the Han Dynasty to become?"

After all, Xu Aimin is a bit idealistic and thinks that the Han Dynasty can do better, but Xu Fan is more realistic. He knows that it is difficult for perfect things to appear in the real world. Everything has some good sides and some bad sides. As long as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, it is advanced.

After thinking for a long time, Xu Fan said, "Father has always wanted to make the Han Dynasty an industrialized country, so he has been promoting the development of industry. As long as the scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans can promote the development of industry and technology, he will use them. On the contrary, if that class hinders the development of industry and technology, he will clean them up without mercy."

"The second is my deepest thought. I worked like a slave and was bullied. After I founded the Han Dynasty, I wanted to build a country of producers so that producers can live with dignity. That's why I have been suppressing nobles, powerful people, and merchants over the years. You must remember that the tens of millions of producers in the Han Dynasty are the foundation of the country. To harm their interests is to harm the foundation of the Han Dynasty. When one day the producers of the world no longer recognize the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty will inevitably collapse."

"So my father wanted to build a world of great harmony." Xu Aimin thought Xu Fan was talking about his time in Chen County, but he didn't know he was talking about things in the future.

Xu Fan said: "If a country wants to avoid degeneration, it must give everyone in the Han Dynasty an ideal goal and let them take steps to achieve it. In fact, whether we can achieve a harmonious world, father does not know, but father wants to lead the people of the Han Dynasty to get closer to this goal. You see, the goal of not starving to death was achieved by our Han Dynasty, and we also achieved food and clothing. Although we have not yet achieved a well-off society, the Han Dynasty is moving towards this goal step by step."

Xu Aimin was stunned and said, "Then according to what father said, the world of great harmony will never be realized."

Xu Fan thought for a while and said, "Father will tell you a story. After Shang Yang's reform, the kings of Qin set a grand goal of unifying the world. Then, for hundreds of years, the six generations of kings of Qin, the knowledgeable people of the world, hundreds of thousands of Qin officials and hundreds of thousands of Qin soldiers have been moving towards this goal. At that time, Qin was the most advanced country. The six states in Shandong were still in a state of hereditary nobility, but Qin gave the people a way to advance by military merit. At the same time, it distributed the land of the world to the self-cultivating farmers of Qin. The kings of Qin of each generation could also provide a way for outstanding talents to advance. During these 100 years, most of the time, the prime ministers of Qin were outstanding scholars from Guandong. At that time, the Qin officials were so wise and honest that even Xunzi had to sigh that they were like ancient gentlemen. The six generations of Qin kings were wise monarchs from generation to generation. It was precisely because of the goal of unifying the world that all the people in Qin worked together."

"Then we waited for the First Emperor. He used the strength of six generations to unify the world. Don't think that our Han Dynasty has always said that the Qin Dynasty was tyrannical and called the First Emperor a tyrant, but without the First Emperor, China would have been difficult to unify. He unified not six countries but six civilizations that were about to take shape. He stopped China's division that had lasted for hundreds of years and found a new path for the people of the world."

"But such a powerful empire with a wise monarch, honest officials, and brave soldiers collapsed after unifying the world for more than ten years, and was eventually overthrown by my father. This is because the Qin Dynasty, from the First Emperor to the Qin officials, had lost their ideals. After unifying the world, they began to indulge themselves. The First Emperor sought immortality, and the Qin officials in various places were corrupt. In the end, a powerful empire perished just like that."

Then Xu Fan patted Xu Aimin on the shoulder and said, "If the emperor of the Han Dynasty said that the Han Dynasty had achieved the Great Harmony, that might be the beginning of the decline of the Han Dynasty."

Xu Aimin nodded and said, "I understand, my son. We in the Han Dynasty must persist in the ideal of governing in harmony and make sure that everyone in the Han Dynasty has a common goal."

Then Xu Fan continued: "Father asked you to come back this time because he wanted to make you the crown prince."

"I will never let my father down!" Xu Aimin predicted this.

"In the next two years, you will go to the tax bureau and gain experience as a tax inspector. Your father plans to retire at the age of 60. By then, it will be your turn to take over the Han Dynasty."

Xu Aimin said in astonishment, "Father, you absolutely cannot do that. All the people in the world cannot do without your guidance."

Xu Fan said with a smile: "Don't say such flattering words. The world will function just as well without anyone. Emperor is just a job. Besides, Emperor is not the job that father wants to do. Father is tired of it. After retirement, father can also do something he likes to do."

October 16th, Mozi Academy.

Xu Aimin looked at Zhang Pijiang, who was wearing a teacher's uniform, and said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to return to the academy to be a teacher."

Xu Fan gave Xu Aimin a month to rest and familiarize himself with the environment of Chang'an City, and then he would become the Right Inspector of Taxation. This was a temporary position with no power. Xu Fan's main purpose was to let Xu Aimin know how the tax system of the Han Dynasty worked.

After Xu Aimin returned to Chang'an City, he discovered that his childhood playmate Zhang Pijiang had become the most famous novelist in the entire Han Dynasty.

The "Journey to the West" he wrote was sought after by thousands of people and was in great demand.

After reading Journey to the West, Xu Aimin was also amazed at Zhang Pijiang's experiences in recent years. He almost circled India and visited more than a dozen countries in Tianzu. This made Xu Aimin realize for the first time the corruption of theocracy.

Later, Zhang Pijiang met the old rogue Liu Bang, and the two of them went to the Parthian Empire together.

Liu Bang was worthy of being a master of communication. When he went to the Parthian Empire, he relied on his status as a vassal of the Han Dynasty and actually got along very well in the Parthian Empire. He was warmly welcomed in all major city-states along the way and finally became a guest of honor of the Parthian king.

The King of Parthia treated Liu Bang the same way as Guan Yu in later generations, with a small banquet every three days and a big banquet every five days. Liu Bang, a great vassal of the Han Dynasty, became the hot spot of the upper class of the entire Parthia. Liu Bang was forced to stay in the land of Parthia for two years.

However, this stay also caused trouble. The Parthian king entertained Liu Bang so politely because he actually had something to ask of him, which was the cannons on Liu Bang's warships. According to the historical timeline, the Parthian Empire was at the peak of its civilization at that time, the most prosperous period in Roman history. Rome fought three wars with the Parthian Empire but still failed to conquer this powerful country.

But unfortunately, in the world that Xu Fan broke into, the enemies faced by Parthia were far more powerful than the Roman Empire in history.

The strategic direction of the Xiongnu's attack was the Parthian Empire. Ji Zhou planned to annex the Parthian Empire, and Junchen also planned to establish his own military merits in the Parthian Empire. After all, the Xiongnu was a military empire, and no matter how high the status of a craftsman was, it could not compare to that of a general.

Junchen spent 10 years building a small but complete military system for the Xiongnu. He was able to manufacture basic weapons such as swords, spears, and halberds. His iron armor could meet the equipment needs of an army of 10. He could even make small artillery pieces. If the weight was not counted, he also made a breakthrough in the development of muskets, and developed a heavy musket that required two people to carry. This military-industrial system cost the Xiongnu billions of dollars, so naturally the Xiongnu would use it to gain the most territory.

A few years ago, Junchen tried his hand at war and occupied hundreds of miles of land of the Parthian Empire. Three years later, he launched another war and captured five cities of the Parthian Empire.

But when the Parthians and the Huns fought for the third time, something unexpected happened. The Parthians suddenly launched artillery fire, which caught the Huns off guard and caused the Huns' third attack to fail.

(End of this chapter)