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

Chapter 543, Agricultural Entry Point and Tractor
As expected, the basis of all government affairs is still money. The reason why my father has such a high reputation in the Han Dynasty is because his ability to make money is the best in the world. When everyone else is helpless, he can get money. In particular, a lot of money is not divided from the interests of other classes, but is obtained from overseas. This is equivalent to getting an increase, which naturally brought my father great prestige.

When he was not in charge of government affairs, he felt that his father was doing nothing all day long. He liked to tinker with strange machines with those craftsmen in the laboratory and rarely dealt with government affairs. However, he could manage the Han Dynasty well, traveling thousands of miles.

Now that he was managing a county, he realized that his father's ability was the best in the world. All the problems in Neishi County were due to lack of money.

So he asked Jia Yi: "Mr. Jia, if Chang'an City wants to carry out government-run reforms, where do you think we should start?"

As expected, the main factor for all reforms is ultimately lack of money.

Jia Yi began to ponder after hearing this. In fact, he had been thinking about this question since he came into contact with the internal history data in the past few days. He found that the situation in Chang'an City was completely different from that in Chen County. The same model could not be applied to Chang'an City at all.

Apart from other things, there are a large number of royal factories in Chang'an City, as well as a large number of factories controlled by the Shaofu. It can even be said that these are the core industries of the entire Han Dynasty. Obviously, the internal historian has no way to control these industries. In addition, there are some industries of major vassal states, such as the stock exchange, which is also a place that the internal historian has no way to control.

In addition, the current situation does not support official reforms. The reforms in Chen County were originally due to the economic crisis. Those merchants who did not want to go bankrupt had to turn to the court for help. Jiujiang County and Hengshan County were because they were sucked dry by Chen County and Kuaiji County too much. The two counties had accumulated opportunities for reforms among the people and in the officialdom.

However, Chang'an was the richest city in the entire Han Dynasty. In Chang'an, both the common people and the businessmen and officials believed that their lives were the best and did not need to change at all. Even other places in the world should learn from their lifestyle.

After thinking it through, Jia Yi said, "Your Highness, everyone in Chang'an is satisfied with their current lives and there is no opportunity for reform. If Neishi County wants to complete the reform, it must start from agriculture."

The reform in Jiujiang County told the Legalists that reform should start from agriculture and develop industry and commerce based on agricultural accumulation.

Xu Aimin thought about the situation in Chang'an City and had to admit that the people of Chang'an did not want to change their current lives, and the Nei Shi had no way to control the local industrial chain. The Shaofu was the upstream of all industrial chains in Guanzhong.

“How do I get started with agriculture?”

Jia Yi said: "The key to the government-run reform is not the government-run one. The key is to integrate the entire industrial chain, produce goods in the most efficient way, and defeat other workshops with strong production advantages, so that they have to take the initiative to join the court's industry. Agriculture is the foundation of everything. My Legalists cooperated with the farmers in Jiujiang County and Hengshan County to integrate the farmers in the two counties. Everyone worked together and harvested together. This not only increased the income of the farmers in the two counties, but also provided a large amount of cheap raw materials for the industries in the two counties, which supported the development of the industries in the two places."

Zhang Pijiang immediately said, "You are only reporting good news. The agricultural reforms in the two counties also have many problems. A large number of farmers think they have suffered losses and want to form agricultural cooperatives, but they are stopped by you Legalists. Many conflicts have arisen because of this matter. Your Majesty personally issued an order to allow farmers to leave the agricultural cooperatives, which solved the conflict."

Compared with Xu Aimin in the New World, Zhang Pijiang has been teaching in the Han Dynasty for the past three years and knows more about the internal situation of the Han Dynasty. The reforms in Jiujiang County and Hengshan County have naturally achieved remarkable results, but they are not without hidden worries. Many wealthier farmers simply do not want to join the agricultural cooperatives, and the local Han officials have adopted a one-size-fits-all approach to stop this, which has caused a lot of conflicts. Many farmers even went directly to Chang'an City to complain.

Xu Aimin hesitated when he heard this. His father had always believed that self-cultivating farmers were the foundation of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty had learned many of the policies of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, but the land policy was almost entirely learned from Shang Yang. It attached great importance to protecting the land of farmers. In order to prevent the emergence of new tyrants, the Han Dynasty court issued a tough decree, stipulating that any land transactions were illegal and would be confiscated if discovered. If the landlords wanted to sell the land, only the Han Dynasty could do so. Land could not be bought or sold, but could only be allocated by the Han Dynasty court. This was also the reason why no new landlords and tyrants had appeared in the Han Dynasty in the past 30 years.

Of course, the corresponding thing is that those capable people in the countryside, unable to become local landlords, came to the city one after another and became factory owners. Xu Fan did not stop this situation. Compared with anti-capitalism, the main task of the Han Dynasty in the first 100 years was to do a good job in anti-feudalism.

Under the interference of Xu Fan's plug-in, the new Han Dynasty had various systems. Even Xu Fan himself was not sure which system would eventually become the mainstream of the Han Dynasty, but he knew that the worst was the feudal system, so he seized this major contradiction to prevent the Han Dynasty from slipping into the old path of history.

Therefore, he could allow the Legalists, Agriculturalists, and Mohists to conduct various social experiments to find new paths for the future of the Han Dynasty, but he would not allow the power of landlords and powerful people to grow again within the Han Dynasty.

Jia Yi's face turned serious. Any group would have some stronger individuals. In Jiujiang County and Hengshan County, there were some farmers who had worked on their own and were better. They were unwilling to join the agricultural cooperatives and became an obstacle under this system.

"Your Highness, it's nothing that farmers are unwilling to join the farmers' cooperative, but the key is that they want to use their wealth to become landlords and tyrants, which is also the focus of the court's crackdown. To a certain extent, they are also enemies of the court. My legal family and the farmers have found a way to improve this problem, which is to turn farmhouses into factories. Farmers use their land as equity to obtain shares. At the same time, they are also craftsmen in the factory. The land is concentrated and managed, and part of the profits are paid to farmers as equity, and part is the farmers' salary. Manage the land in the mode of a factory."

"This has many benefits. When land is pooled together, production efficiency will be higher. Farmers who join together can afford more efficient eight-ox plows. Under the leadership of the agricultural cooperative, they can build water conservancy projects and canals, and rationally plan their fields to gain greater returns.

I admit that there will be problems, but we cannot deny this path just because there are problems. The Han Dynasty's self-cultivating farmers have been developing for thirty years. This model has shown that it can only allow farmers to have enough food, but it is impossible for farmers to catch up with the living standards of craftsmen. In fact, due to population growth, the per capita land of farmers will be reduced, and their income will decline, from a life of subsistence to a state of hunger. "

Xu Aimin thought for a while and said, "Let's find a county to pilot it first. We still have to take it step by step."

"Beep, beep, beep!" At this time Xu Aimin and others suddenly heard the sound of a steam engine.

Some of the people were curious and found a steel machine emitting black smoke plowing the land in the field.

Xu Aimin hesitated and asked, "Is this a train?"

Aren't steam trains supposed to use rails? Why are they running through farmland?
Zhang Pijiang said, "This should be a steam car or a tractor made by the imperial court. I have seen it several times in Chang'an City. It is extremely unsafe and often breaks down."

Chang'an City gathers all kinds of elites from the entire Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty's promotion of invention and creation, various laboratories and various invention maniacs emerge one after another. Because Mozi College has technology and technical students, there are many such people in their college. Various steampunk machines often appear on the playground of Mozi College. Of course, most of them do not have much practical effect, and everyone just looks at the pictures for fun. Of course, there are also many useful inventions that are favored by angel investors and then start industrial production.

This steam engine driver is very famous. He cheated more than a dozen angel investors, including unknown merchants, big merchants like Hu Hai, and even Han nobles. It is said that he spent more than ten years researching and often encountered various problems when running. So Zhang Pijiang has seen too many such things.

A few people walked over to take a look, and found that the emperor was wearing a straw hat and a towel on his shoulders. He was happily looking at the steam tractor beside the field. Next to the steam tractor there was an eight-ox plow being pulled by eight oxen.

Xu Aimin said in surprise: "Father!"

Zhang Pijiang and Jia Yi also followed suit and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, I am Zhang Pijiang and Jia Yi."

Xu Fan said: "No need to be polite."

Xu Aimin asked, "Why are you here?"

Xu Fan smiled and said, "This is the steam tractor produced by the Xinnong Laboratory. It is used to reclaim land, harvest crops, and can also be used to transport crops. More importantly, this machine is not picky about the road. It can go on mountain roads and dirt roads. It can be said to be a multi-functional machine. Now we are testing the efficiency of the steam tractor. It seems that it is no problem to plow fifty or sixty acres a day." Xu Aimin saw that wherever the steam tractor went, the fields were turned over and the weeds were pressed down. Its efficiency was much faster than that of an eight-ox plow.

He said excitedly: "With this machine, farmers in my country can spend less time on farming and don't have to raise cattle. How much does this machine cost?"

Xu Fan smiled and said, "It's not expensive, only 30 yuan."

"Three hundred thousand~~money!" Xu Aimin almost couldn't say the following words. In Guanzhong, this amount of money could buy dozens of oxen. Adding such a complicated machine, it would definitely be extremely troublesome to repair. It would be better to use an eight-ox plow.

What's more important is that how many farmers can afford 30 coins? Even the richest farmers in Guanzhong can only earn around 3 coins a year. It takes 10 years of net income to buy such a machine. Which farmer can afford such a machine?

Xu Fan saw what Xu Aimin was thinking and said with a smile, "Steam tractors are new. Although they are expensive and not easy to use, they can be improved little by little, and their prices can continue to drop as the process is improved. Sooner or later, their cost will be lower than that of an eight-ox plow, and their maintenance costs will be extremely low. Your father has already planned to open a tractor factory, and we will pre-order 1000 tractors to be used on the court's farms, so that the cost can be reduced by half."

Xu Aimin whispered, "That's not cheap either."

At this time, an arrogant voice was heard.

"How can your eight-ox plow compare with my tractor? Yours only has the strength of eight oxen at most, while my tractor has 8 horsepower. It's equivalent to the strength of 60 horses. We are not on the same level at all."

When Xu Fan and the others looked over, they saw the tractor driver arrogantly mocking the cows that were working hard on the farm. The scene was a bit embarrassing.

Zhang Pijiang even turned his head away. Strictly speaking, this tractor driver was still his senior, but he was more than ten years older and more arrogant, so few people were willing to provoke him.

"Poof!" I don't know what went wrong and the car broke down.

Xu Fan ran over immediately, but the tractor driver complained: "Your Majesty, I said that I would follow the Yin-Yang Bagua ethical power system designed by me."

The master carpenter shook his head and said, "The eight gates are Kaimen, Xiumen, Shengmen, Shangmen, Dumen, Jingmen, Simen, and Jingmen. Each gate represents a different state of the machine. This is the power system that best conforms to the laws of nature. Your Majesty, you have reduced it to only four states. Yin and Yang are no longer Yin and Yang, and the Eight Diagrams are no longer Eight Diagrams. Naturally, this machine will have problems. Just give me another 100 million coins so that I can make further improvements. There will definitely be no more problems."

Xu Fan rolled his eyes and said, "You idiot, if you hadn't designed this steam engine power system so complicated, this tractor would have been successful long ago. You even made a dead end. Do you want to blow up this tractor directly?"

The craftsman who produced steam tractors had good skills but not much brains. Steam engines are originally clumsy and should be simple and practical. However, he kept designing them to be complicated. Most of the functions he designed were meaningless. It was a bit like designing an electric hair dryer and a razor for daily life. The main feature was that they had many functions but were not practical. It was this unrealistic approach that killed countless angel investors.

Later, his reputation in the investment community fell into disrepute, and no one wanted to invest money in his experiments anymore. With the idea of ​​giving it a try, he found Xu Fan's laboratory. Xu Fan saw that his steam car was almost completed, so he invested some money in him, but strictly restricted his imagination, removed all unrealistic functions, and simplified it into the shape of a tractor in later generations. If a plow was attached, it could be lowered, if a harvester was attached, it could harvest grain, and if a truck bed was attached, it could be used for transportation.

Although this master craftsman was not very smart, he was first-class capable. He instructed his apprentice to bring the parts over, then replaced them with good parts with a hammer a few times, and added some coal. "Beep, beep, beep!" The tractor started running again.

Since Xu Aimin had met his father, he told Xu Fan about the issue of agricultural industrialization that he had just discussed with Jia Yi and others.

Xu Fan said seriously: "Agriculture is indeed a big problem. To solve the problem of agriculture, we need to get rid of the countryside itself. The pioneering movement of the Han Dynasty in recent years is supposed to slow down this process."

"But this kind of development cannot continue forever, because there is no way this world can provide countless lands for the people of the Han Dynasty to develop. Secondly, development itself is an extremely difficult task, and there is even the risk of death. The people who have died the most in recent years in the Han Dynasty are the people who have developed in Jiangnan and the New World. After their enthusiasm for development has burned out, they will definitely hate such behavior and even refuse to develop. When the refusal to develop becomes a collective consciousness, the self-cultivating farmer model of the Han Dynasty will come to an end."

Xu Fan knew very well that Dahan's self-cultivating farmer model was itself a small farmer model, but Dahan had too many fields, and in one step, he turned small farmers into landlords. However, this model had its inherent flaws. While being self-sufficient, it was unable to build various infrastructures, and its impact on improving agricultural production capacity was very limited.

In particular, this model can easily become a model for landlords and tyrants. Some farmers are good at planting, but some are unlucky and encounter natural disasters and man-made disasters. If land transactions are liberalized, those with strong skills and strong capital will definitely become landlords and tyrants again. Logically, the landlords and tyrants have more land in their hands, so they should increase their investment in land, but the reality is often the opposite. The Han Dynasty has been a populous country for thousands of years. In the words of later generations, human resources are extremely abundant. Instead of increasing investment in land, it is better to squeeze human resources. After entering this model, some farmers will inevitably lose their land. Their labor pricing power begins to decline, and eventually they return to the old path of history.

Xu Aimin was surprised and asked, "Is our Han Dynasty on a path that will inevitably lead to its collapse?"

Xu Fan pointed to a tractor not far away and said, "It, fertilizers, and advanced agricultural technology are the core of solving rural problems."

The road of distribution has come to an end, so the only way to break the deadlock is to improve production efficiency. Various fertilizers and tractors are the best magic weapons to break the deadlock.

The reason why Xu Fan did not prohibit the exploration of the Legalists was because the rural economy of the self-cultivating farmer model of the Han Dynasty could not be maintained forever, and collapse was inevitable. There were two directions of collapse. If it became a large rural model, it would be fine, at least it was an industrial model, but if it went back to the landlord tenant model, then everything he had done would be in vain.

Xu Fan was worried that if the self-cultivating farmer model of the Han Dynasty really collapsed, it would most likely regress to the landlord-tenant model. Instead of this, it would be better to let the Legalists and farmers explore it. Maybe they could find a different path for the future.

Xu Aimin heard Xu Fan's words and asked with some concern: "Can the internal historian's reform of agriculture succeed?"

Xu Fan smiled and said, "No one can guarantee success or failure until you do something. But you should go ahead boldly. If anything goes wrong, your father will cover it for you."

Xu Aimin felt a little touched and relieved. He had the confidence to have his father supporting him.

Xu Aimin thought for a moment and said, "Father, you are the best at making money. Please show your child a way to make money."

Xu Fan thought for a moment and said, "In winter, the price of vegetables in Chang'an is several times more expensive than beef. The price has not dropped over the years. Your Neishi Vegetable Project can not only earn huge profits, but also solve the problem of Chang'an residents buying vegetables in winter."

(End of this chapter)