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

Chapter 562: The Spiritual Statue of Confucius and the Rapidly Industrializing Xiongnu State
"The Master said: When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher. I will choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones."

Jin Ridi, the governor of Sha County, brought Zhang Pijiang to the largest primary school in Quanzhou. As soon as Zhang Pijiang and his friends arrived outside the primary school, they could hear the sound of students reading.

Jin Ridi said proudly: "This is the primary school with the best facilities and the most students in the entire Sha County. It was built according to the standards of Chang'an Primary School, and the students who go to school here don't have to pay tuition."

Zhang Pijiang and his companions entered the primary school and found that the layout inside was indeed similar to that of the primary school in Dahan. There was a three-story teaching building and a wide football field. The kitchen for students to eat and the library were all the same as those in Dahan Primary School.

But he saw a strange sculpture on the playground. The sculpture was a burly man, but his appearance was a bit similar to the local Sai people. However, he was dressed in Confucian style. There was a circle of flames around the figure, and he looked a bit like a god? The person in the sculpture was standing on a chariot, holding a long arrow in his hand and shooting at a certain place.

This statue looks a bit like a strange creature, so Zhang Pijiang couldn't tell whether it was a statue of a person or a god, or a local Sai person or a Han Chinese.
Jin Ridi said: "This is a statue of Confucius!"

"Statue of Confucius?" Zhang Pijiang was stunned. Although Confucius did not have such a high status in the Han Dynasty as in later generations, he was also one of the sages of the Han Dynasty. There were statues of him in many schools. The template of the statue of Confucius was made by the Kong family. It already looked like a backward view, highlighting the temperament of Confucius as a scholar. At this time, most of the statues were of Confucius in his prime, and he looked high-spirited.

But the statue in front of him doesn't look like him, let's not talk about that for now. The key point is that it looks like a warrior. He can even see the bulging muscles in Confucius' arms. Just from the appearance, he can tell that this is a rare warrior in the world.

Jin Ridi understood Zhang Pijiang's thoughts and explained, "There must be something wrong with the Han Dynasty's Confucius statue. Historical documents record that Confucius' father was a warrior who could lift a pass. Confucius himself was nine feet tall, proficient in archery and driving, and once commanded the army to repel the army of Qi. There were many brave people among Confucius' disciples, the most famous of whom was Zilu. He was known for his bravery and straightforward character. When Zilu first met Confucius, he showed his brave side. He drew his sword and chopped at Confucius, but was eventually convinced by Confucius's teachings of ritual and music and became Confucius' disciple."

"Although the literature says that he was convinced by Confucius, it must have been after Confucius convinced Zilu that Zilu willingly became Confucius' disciple."

Zhang Pijiang was speechless after hearing all these documents and reasonable inferences. Confucius was famous for his knowledge, so everyone had the impression that he was a scholar. In addition, Confucian scholars were generally not as good as other schools of thought in terms of martial arts, which made everyone think that Confucius was a relatively weak scholar.

After being deduced by Jin Ridi today, Zhang Pijiang suddenly remembered that Confucius was a giant with a height of nine feet. With such a physique, he was a natural warrior.

Zhou Yafu beside him mocked him, "Whether he is a fierce general or not is still unknown, but he is definitely not a warrior, and he won't get angry."

Jin Ridi said with disdain: "Our statues are about spirit and charm. How can a rough man like you understand the truth? The people of our Han Dynasty have always worshipped dragons, and even called the First Emperor the Ancestor Dragon. But where did dragons come from in this world? Aren't they all parts of the totems of various tribes combined by Emperor Xuanyuan Huangdi?"

"Confucius advocated education throughout his life. To educate these Sai people, what does it matter if we change our appearance a little? What is important is that Confucianism can be spread and the spirit of the predecessors of the school of education can be spread.

I am not saying this to the Han Dynasty. The imperial court has indeed despised Confucianism in recent years. Now my Xiongnu country has millions of Confucian scholars. The Analects can be heard in the streets. The teachings of the predecessors have penetrated into the daily life of my Xiongnu country. The inheritance of Confucianism is now in our Xiongnu country. "

Jin Ridi knew the gap between the Xiongnu Kingdom and the Han Dynasty, which was a comprehensive gap in politics, economy, culture, and military. Confucianism became his only point of pride, because in this respect, his Xiongnu Kingdom was superior to the Han Dynasty.

"Yes, that's why you Xiongnu people look for Confucius when you get rich, when you get sick, and when you go on tour. Confucius is in charge of everything in your Xiongnu country except academic matters."

Jin Ridi's words made Zhou Yafu furious, and he immediately refuted Jin Ridi's words.

Although he was not a Confucian scholar, he could feel that the Confucianism of the Xiongnu Kingdom had obviously gone astray. The style of painting here in the school was okay, but the Three Saints Temple in Quanzhou, where statues of Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi were placed, was filled with smoke, and people were everywhere praying to Confucius to bless their people. This was not treating Confucius as a master of knowledge, but worshipping him as a god, and playing the game of sorcerers. The Han Dynasty had been cracking down on alchemists, witches and sorcerers in the past few decades, and the Han government was the most disdainful of this policy of keeping the people ignorant.

"The envoy, please don't lie with your eyes open. Isn't the sound of reading aloud in the school spreading Confucius's thoughts? Our Xiongnu country has established Confucianism as the main ideology of our country in the name of law. These are what the Han Dynasty can do."

Zhou Yafu wanted to refute, but was stopped by Zhang Pijiang. They came here to explore the military strength of the Huns, not to argue about who is the orthodox Confucianist.

Moreover, in his view, the way of education should be adapted to local conditions and teaching should be tailored to the students' aptitude. Now the people of the Xiongnu Kingdom read "The Analects of Confucius" and speak Chinese, which is the best education in itself. As for the changes in Confucianism, they are nothing to the entire Han civilization.

Because the top leaders of the Xiongnu Kingdom wanted him to delay the Han envoys, Jin Ridi took Zhang Pijiang and others to visit the textile industrial zone in Quanzhou.

This loom was extremely backward in Zhang Pijiang's opinion. It used the steam spinning loom from the Han Dynasty more than 10 or 20 years ago, which was completely obsolete in the Han Dynasty. However, it was considered the most advanced machine in the Xiongnu Kingdom. It was second-hand goods transported by the Han Dynasty's sea merchants. Although it was not as good as the current steam engine of the Han Dynasty, it was still usable and efficient.

The textile workshops in the Xiongnu Kingdom were extremely small, with only a few machines and dozens of craftsmen. However, there were many textile factories in this industrial zone, numbering hundreds in total.

Although Zhou Yafu and others looked down on these machines, these textile machines were unique. Quanzhou happened to be at the center of the global shipping line, which was extremely convenient for both import and export. The Xiongnu Kingdom could provide part of the raw materials such as cotton needed by the textile industry, and could also purchase part from India. These raw materials were then spun into cotton and linen cloth, which were then exported to various countries in the center of the world island. Relying on the gap in production technology, Quanzhou became the textile center of the Xiongnu Kingdom, producing tens of millions of pieces of cloth every year, more than half of which were used by the Xiongnu themselves, and the other half were used to earn foreign exchange.

The textile industry became one of the pillar industries of the Xiongnu people, and even posed a certain threat to the textile industry of the Han Dynasty. Although the technology of the Xiongnu Kingdom was not as good as that of the Han Dynasty, at least there was no generation gap in technology. In terms of labor costs, the Xiongnu Kingdom had an absolute advantage. The salary of female textile workers in the Han Dynasty was more than 10 times that of the Xiongnu. The textile industry was an industry dominated by labor costs, not to mention the transportation costs along the way. With these two factors combined, the cotton cloth of the Han Dynasty had no advantage at all. The textile area of ​​the Xiongnu basically drove the cotton cloth of the Han Dynasty out of this land, and only silk could maintain profits.

The most technologically advanced facility in Quanzhou and even in the entire Xiongnu Kingdom is the oil refinery. The entire set of oil refining equipment is all high-end goods imported from Chen County of the Han Dynasty. Junchen specially went to the Han Dynasty to hire master craftsmen at high prices to be responsible for the installation and training of craftsmen. The Xiongnu Kingdom paid 1 billion coins for this one oil refinery.

In order to build this oil refinery, Junchen emptied the treasury of the Xiongnu Kingdom, leaving it so empty that rats could starve to death. As a result, the Xiongnu Kingdom increased its tax rate by 10%, causing everyone from the nobles to the common people to curse the refinery, believing that this project would crush the Xiongnu Kingdom.

At the same time, they also felt that the Han Dynasty was bullying the Xiongnu people. The salary of a master craftsman was 5000 coins, but when it came to the Xiongnu, it became 5 coins. This price was higher than the income of the county magistrate in their Xiongnu country.

Moreover, an iron can costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and cans made of gold and silver are no more than that. The Xiongnu people affectionately called this can the black gold can, meaning that the Han people were too ruthless to sell them this can, and secondly, the price of this can is comparable to gold. Junchen also has the title of the prodigal prince. The Xiongnu nobles believe that Junchen was fooled by the Han people and spent a huge amount of wealth to buy a bunch of useless cans. There are even many Xiongnu nobles who think that Junchen has been in the Great Han for several years and has been assimilated by the Han people. He always puts the interests of the Han people first. Such a prince is not suitable to lead the Xiongnu people to prosperity, because the succession position of Junchen, the Xiongnu Chanyu, is shaky.

But when the refinery started operating, the situation immediately reversed. This refinery refined 20 tons of oil every year, providing kerosene not only for the entire Xiongnu Kingdom, but also for more than 10 million people around the Xiongnu Kingdom. The kerosene of India, Segura, Parthia, and even Carthage and Rome all used the Xiongnu's kerosene, which created enormous wealth for the Xiongnu Kingdom. The annual output exceeded 2 billion coins, of which the profit was 3 to million coins. The income of a refinery was more than that of to Xiongnu counties.

The oil industry has become the most important pillar industry of the Xiongnu Kingdom, creating Quanzhou, the most prosperous city in the Xiongnu Kingdom and providing valuable funds for the subsequent industrial development of the Xiongnu Kingdom.

Junchen also became famous, and no one in the entire Xiongnu Kingdom dared to oppose Junchen's industrial development plan, and no one could challenge Junchen's position as the successor to the Xiongnu Khan.

After Zhang Pijiang and his men had been stuck in Quanzhou for half a month, they were finally able to take a train to Xin Qufu, the capital of the Xiongnu Kingdom.

Although the Xiongnu did not want their railway to be connected to the Han Dynasty, it did not mean that the Xiongnu did not have railways. Sha County was the economic center of the Xiongnu, and half of the Xiongnu's fiscal revenue came from this county. In order to control Sha County, Xin Qufu and Quanzhou were connected by a 500-li railway, and there were light broadcast stations along the railway, which could allow any information from the Xiongnu to be transmitted to the capital within one day. The railway system and light broadcast network were the core of maintaining the Xiongnu's rule.

Although the Xiongnu could not build a railway network, they had a very complete rail network. For the Xiongnu, wooden rails were more suitable. On the one hand, wooden rails were cheaper, only a few tenths of the price of iron rails. On the other hand, most of the Xiongnu territory was dry and rainless, so wooden rails could be used for a longer period of time. With the current cargo transportation volume of the Xiongnu, wooden rails could meet the demand.

Sitting on the train, Zhang Pijiang looked at the railway, the Guangbao station, and the open fields along the way. Among them were fields planted with wheat and fields planted with cotton. The fields looked lush and green, with no end in sight. Every few steps between each field, you could see open-air wells. The farmers of the Xiongnu Kingdom used gyroscopes produced in their country to pump water from the wells to irrigate their land.

Apparently, somewhere invisible beneath this vast land, there is a huge network of karez that nourishes the land.

Zhang Pijiang said to Zhou Yafu: "When I came to the Xiongnu Kingdom a few years ago, they did not have this railway, nor did they have so many fields along the way, not to mention the karez that were connected in all directions and the gyro that ordinary people could afford to use to pump water.

Although the development of the Xiongnu people is far behind that of our Han people, we can see from the inspections over the past half month that they are at least on the road to industrialization, their national strength is growing, and their country is becoming richer and richer. This is an industrialized country in its rising stage. "

"And the Parthian Kingdom." Zhang Pijiang shook his head. Through the communication with Jin Zhe, he knew that the Parthian Kingdom had made great changes in military affairs. They learned the military system of the Han Dynasty, established the Taiwei Mansion, established a standing army commanded by the state, and purchased artillery and muskets on a large scale. The army quickly became firearms. It seemed that the military strength had skyrocketed, and the army was not much worse than that of the Xiongnu Kingdom. The population of the Parthian Kingdom was not worse than that of the Xiongnu Kingdom, and there were even countries of the same ethnic group supporting them. From these aspects, the Parthian Kingdom had the advantage.

But in Zhang Pijiang's view, the Parthian Empire was a slave-based aristocratic state, and the gap between the two in industry was even greater than that between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu.

The Parthians also had oil, but they did not think of developing the oil industry. Instead, they sold the oil directly to the Xiongnu Kingdom, and the Xiongnu people then refined it into kerosene and sold it back to them.

As far as Zhang Pijiang was concerned, the Xiongnu had made much more progress than the Parthians. Their military officials had learned the essence of the Han Dynasty's industrialization. Heavy industry armed the army, and light industry created wealth. The Xiongnu Kingdom was following the path that the Han Dynasty had once taken.

The Parthian Empire did not even take this route. The military gap between the two sides was even greater than the gap in their military strength.

Zhou Yafu said: "If the court really wants to restrict the development of the Xiongnu, it is not difficult. They can let Duke Ji and his men gather troops in the Western Regions. This will at least distract the Xiongnu from their efforts. If the Xiongnu do not obey, they can be severely punished by seizing their horse breeding lands. This will be enough to make the Xiongnu feel heartbroken for years."

When the Xiongnu founded their kingdom, they occupied Dayuan, which was the legendary hometown of the Ferghana horses. After the Xiongnu surrendered to the Han Dynasty, they offered ten Ferghana horses as tribute every year.

At the same time, every time they came to Chang'an City, they would bring dozens or even hundreds of Ferghana horses. These Ferghana horses would cause the entire Chang'an City's nobles and wealthy businessmen to go crazy. Each horse could be sold for more than a thousand gold. The most outrageous thing these Huns did was that in order to maintain the profits of their Ferghana horses, most of the Ferghana horses they sold to the Han Dynasty were castrated, and there were almost no mares.

Zhou Bo also had a Ferghana horse at home, which was a reward from the emperor to his father. His father treasured it very much and would not let him touch it. Once, Zhou Yafu secretly rode it around Chang'an City. Zhou Bo directly pulled out a piece of cloth belt and gave Zhou Yafu a loving lesson.

Because of this incident, Zhou Yafu bore a grudge against the Xiongnu for several years. In his opinion, if the Xiongnu had not castrated the Ferghana horses, the Han Dynasty would have bred its own Ferghana horses long ago, the price of Ferghana horses would not have been so high, and he would not have received the love of his father.

Zhang Pijiang said, "This will make the Han Dynasty look bad. More than a decade ago, the emperor officially supported the Xiongnu. If you do this now, where can you put your majesty's face?"

Zhou Yafu disagreed and said: "The emperor supported the Xiongnu, but that was decades ago. Now the situation has changed, and the policy of our Han Dynasty must change. After all, no one knows what the world was like when the emperor supported the Xiongnu.

Now that our Han Dynasty has found out what the world looks like and knows how many civilizations and countries there are in this world, we naturally cannot continue to allow the Huns to expand. Instead, I think the court should find a way to establish the Yanzhou Governor's Office in Egypt. The location of this delta is too important and can affect the political structure of the three continents.

The imperial court has 2 to 3 elite troops stationed here, and the granary in the center of the World Island is in Yanzhou. By controlling the Yanzhou area, we can effectively prevent the emergence of a country in this area that can threaten the hegemony of the Han Dynasty.

Then, the Han Dynasty should support the secondary countries in this area, such as Carthage, Rome, Segurus, and Parthia, to fight against the Huns. After the Huns are defeated, we should provoke these secondary powers and attack the powers after the Huns. In short, we should fragment and weaken this area, making it difficult for a powerful empire to form here. "

Zhang Pijiang hesitated and said, "Isn't it too immoral to be so fickle? Isn't this a bit like the teachings of the strategists?"

Zhou Yafu smiled and said, "This is not only the knowledge of the diplomats, it is also the strategic vision of a soldier. Moreover, what is the morality between countries? Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all the countries that emphasized morality have been destroyed. The job of a soldier is to defend the country. Talking about morality is the job of scholars."

(End of this chapter)