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

Chapter 583: The Emperor About to Abdicate and the Young People in the Mediterranean
Although the world is dominated by countries like Ptolemy that are hopeless, there are still some countries with executive power that are willing to change the face of their own countries. Zhang Pijiang soon received news that Rome wanted to spend 5 million to build steel mills and arsenals in its country, and also wanted to send Han envoys to study in the Han Dynasty. The Seleucid Kingdom also planned to spend 4 million to build steel mills and arsenals. These news were finally gathered in Zhang Pijiang's hands. Zhang Pijiang promised to help them introduce the Han Shaofu to help them build factories and send students abroad.

As for other small countries like Greece, Macedonia, Armenia, Parma, etc., they did not have the ambition to establish industrial bases, but they also wanted to send students to study in the Han Dynasty. Zhang Pijiang believed that this was a good opportunity to expand the influence of the Han Dynasty and agreed to the requests of these countries.

June 35, 6rd year of the Han calendar.

Zhang Pijiang began to lead the overseas students who had traveled around the Mediterranean, boarded the ship to the Han Dynasty, and embarked on the journey back to the Han Dynasty. At the same time, the Yanzhou Governor's Office began to recruit people from the Ptolemy Kingdom to work and began to dig the Suez Canal.

On August 35th of the 8th year of the Han Dynasty, after more than two months of sailing, they arrived in Kuaiji County waiting for the Han Dynasty.

As soon as he entered the Han Dynasty, Zhang Pijiang learned from the Han Dynasty Monthly Report that the emperor was going to abdicate today and become the emperor emeritus. Now all counties and prefectures in the Han Dynasty are trying to dissuade the emperor from abdicating. However, judging from the above reports, the emperor's intention to abdicate is extremely firm. If nothing unexpected happens, the emperor will abdicate at this year's meeting of sages.

Zhang Pijiang knew that he felt a little uneasy. From the founding of the country to the present, Xu Fan had led the Han Dynasty into an unprecedented period of prosperity. His prestige was even higher than that of the First Emperor who unified the world. The abdication of such an emperor would cause a huge shock to the Han Dynasty and its princes. Without the leadership of His Majesty, what direction would the world go?
Compared to the various classes of the Han Dynasty who were still in panic, the international students from Daqinzhou were curious to see everything about the Han Dynasty. Among this group of international students, the students from the Seleucid Empire and the Roman Empire were the largest, with hundreds of people. At the same time, they were also two major powers, and their respective international students also gathered in the two countries to form two powerful groups.

These international students ranged from teenagers to those in their thirties and forties. They were all from upper-class aristocratic families, but they envied the Han people’s food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Young Dmitri looked at the fertile fields on both sides of the train and said, "If we want to avoid decline, we need to learn from the Han Dynasty and carry out an all-round social revolution. At the very least, slavery cannot be retained. In the Han Dynasty, there is no slave. There are only wealthy free people and master craftsmen like the nobles. They are even richer than us."

The Seleucids and other noble students from other countries looked at each other in dismay. There was no other reason. There were almost no families without slaves here. It was always very difficult to revolutionize themselves. They liked the wealth of the Han Dynasty, but they did not like the equal distribution of land in the Han Dynasty. In the Seleucid Kingdom, both land and slaves belonged to their families. If the land was distributed equally, how could they maintain their families' lives?
A nobleman named Diodotus Seleucus said: "This has nothing to do with slaves. We should learn from the industrial system of the Han Dynasty, build textile mills, steel mills, and railways to connect the country and promote commercial development. These infrastructure constructions require manpower. Without slaves, how can we build railways? I have inquired about it. The cost of steel alone for building a railway is more than 500 million coins per mile, which is equivalent to one talent of gold. If it is a transportation rail, the cost of our country's construction will be even higher.

We are not as good as the Han Dynasty in the steel industry. If we cannot reduce the cost of labor, how can we build the railway and develop the country? I think slaves are the only advantage of the Seleucid Empire over the Han Dynasty. I have inquired that even if we hire the cheapest farmers in the Han Dynasty, we have to pay 1500 coins in wages. Therefore, half of the cost of building railways in the Han Dynasty is also paid for wages. But if we use slaves to build railways, the higher cost of transporting steel can be offset by the cost of slaves. "

Many nobles still agree with this statement, as their country has a tradition of using slaves to carry out infrastructure construction.

Dmitri said: "I have only heard of the weak learning from the strong, but I have never heard of the strong learning from the weak. The Han Dynasty is so powerful, can they defeat the enemy and plunder slaves? Of course they can. According to the records in the Han Dynasty Travel Notes, the Han Dynasty has destroyed hundreds of countries in the past few decades, but the Han Dynasty did not reduce the people of these countries to slaves, but assimilated them into Han people, making them free people and creating wealth for the Han Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty's Mozi Monthly Report said that the wealth created by a farmer is more than ten times that of a slave, and the wealth created by a craftsman is more than ten times that of a farmer. The reason why the Han Dynasty is so prosperous today is that they trained the original slaves into farmers and craftsmen, allowing them to create dozens or hundreds of times more wealth. On the contrary, in our countries, the most people have become slaves, but slaves have no freedom at all. They don't understand innovation at all, and they are unwilling to work hard. As a result, our country has fewer machines, less steel, less cloth, and less food. The merchants of the Han Dynasty came to our country but looked down on everything. They only took away gold, silver and slaves. Isn't this worth our shame? Our Seleucid Empire is also a big country, but facing the Han Dynasty, it can only export slaves. Many people are complacent about the income brought by the slave trade, but I just feel that this is a great shame.

Slavery has no future. We need to train more farmers and more craftsmen so that our country can become as prosperous as the Han Dynasty. Regardless of whether you release the slaves or not, I will release the slaves after returning to my country and distribute the land to them, so that they can become free farmers and create wealth for the country. "

Diodotus said: "There is nothing wrong with learning from the strong, but you don't have to learn everything. You have to choose the right learning according to the characteristics of your own country. The Han Dynasty is dozens of times larger than our country. You said you want to free the slaves and distribute the land equally. I don't even mention that the king and nobles are opposed. Have you ever thought that our country has so much land to divide?"

"Yes, there is not enough land to be divided, and those slaves are not working under the guidance of the nobles, so I am afraid they don't even know how to farm."

"I think you just can't bear to part with your own slaves." For a moment, those who supported and abolished slavery split into two groups and started arguing with each other.

People always admire the strong and naturally believe that everything the strong do is right. Although these young people are of aristocratic origin, they are also young people. After suffering a severe shock here in the Han Dynasty, the idea of ​​enriching the country and strengthening the army is the most intense in their hearts. As long as the country can be prosperous and strong, they are willing to do it even if their own class interests are harmed.

The argument was getting more and more intense. Another overseas student said, "I think there is no rush to develop railways. The price of railways is too high. Without any savings, it is difficult for our country to build them. We can't be in a hurry to abolish slavery. This is a fundamental change for the country. It is best to let the country have a certain amount of accumulation before slowly developing it. The emperor of the Han Dynasty said that the most fundamental thing for a country is finance. If our country has money, it is not difficult to solve the slavery system. The country can buy these slaves with money and then release them as free people. The same is true for land. The state can redeem the land in the hands of the nobles and then distribute it to the farmers. This contradiction will be solved.

We should find a way to develop the shipbuilding industry. Look at the Han Dynasty's ships. The smallest one is over 300 tons, and the largest one is over 5000 tons, just like the warships in mythology. The Han Dynasty relied on these ships to travel around the world and earn wealth from the world. If our country can also build these large shipyards, our sea merchants can also come to the Han Dynasty. As long as we can sell the goods that the Han Dynasty needs, our country can make money from the Han Dynasty. Look at how wealthy the people of the Han Dynasty are. Ordinary farmers can wear silk, drink tea, and use pastries and cakes made from white sugar. As long as our country can find a specialty to make money in the Han Dynasty, the problem of reform can be easily solved. "

The centrist remarks immediately gained support from many people. They did not need to be so radical or conservative. Taking the middle road and being impartial was in their best interest.

Demetrius shook his head and said, "It's difficult. Although the Han are rich, they have too many goods. We in the Seleucid Empire have almost no special products to sell to the Han."

This was also a difficult situation for the Seleucid nobles. They had port cities in the Persian Gulf area, which were the closest to the Han Dynasty in the entire Mediterranean countries. However, they encountered the same dilemma as all slave states. Apart from slaves, they had almost no goods that the Han Dynasty needed.

The Seleucid officials standing by were pleased to hear these people discussing how to make the country rich and the army strong. To be honest, although he had read the Travels of the Han Dynasty and knew that the Han Dynasty was rich, the shock he saw in the books was completely different from what he actually saw in the Han Dynasty. Even after he came to the Han Dynasty, he was amazed by the huge ships, large ports, giant gantry cranes, railways connecting the empire, endless fields, and wealthy people. Everything in the Han Dynasty shocked and awed him. Even he wanted to learn all the systems of the Han Dynasty, not to mention these young people.

In another carriage, international students from Rome were also discussing how to learn about the Han Dynasty.

The young Claudius said, "I read the Chronicles of the Han Dynasty. The first decree implemented by the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty was the equal-field system. However, the nobles of our Rome began to annex land on a large scale, which resulted in a decrease in the number of citizens available for war. In recent years, Rome has conquered many countries, but these lands were occupied by the Roman senators and nobles, and the citizens of Rome did not benefit much. In my opinion, what we Romans should learn most is the equal-field system of the Han Dynasty, distributing land to citizens in lots of 100 mu, and then building steel mills and textile machines to allow these citizens to trade grain for farm tools and cloth, thereby promoting the development of industry. This is how the first industrial county of the Han Dynasty, Chen County, developed."

Due to the development of Roman slave ownership, land annexation and years of war, small farmers went bankrupt and the foundation of the citizen militia system was destroyed. Of course, this situation is only a certain extent now, which is serious but not yet a crisis of survival. After all, this is also the time when Rome expanded. But after a few decades of development, the accumulated problems will be difficult to reverse, and then a consul named Marius will carry out military reforms. There are many contents, but the core change is to change the Roman citizen militia to a volunteer system. This reform directly created soil for warlords such as Caesar and Octavian, and laid the foundation for the transformation of Rome's republic into an empire.

In fact, this period of history also occurred in the Tang Dynasty, where the government soldiers were changed to recruited soldiers. Soon, the Anshi Rebellion broke out and warlords were everywhere. However, it took the Tang Dynasty hundreds of years of chaos before the Song Dynasty managed to unify most of the Central Plains.

Rome was completely divided. After thousands of years of the Middle Ages, only a bunch of filial sons and grandsons were left who missed Rome and wanted to obtain the orthodox status of Rome. This was the consequence of taking shortcuts in the reform, and the hidden dangers became even greater, forcing future generations to pay off the debts of their ancestors.

It can be seen that reforming the land system is a major event. If it is done well, there will be a prosperous era like the Sui and Tang dynasties. If it is done poorly, the future generations will have to repay the debt for hundreds of years if they are better, and thousands of years like the Romans.

Cornelius shook his head and said, "I cannot do this policy of equal distribution of land that you are talking about. Which of the Roman senator families does not have vast tracts of land? The Han Dynasty was able to achieve equal distribution of land because the emperor of the Han Dynasty destroyed the Qin Empire, which had millions of soldiers. You cannot be an enemy of 300 senators."

As the craze for the Han Dynasty arose in the Mediterranean, the history of the Han Dynasty was studied by the children of these Mediterranean nobles. Among them, the history of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were the most popular among these nobles, because these two periods of history were times of drastic changes, and studying these two periods of history could reflect the current situation of their country.

Claudius said angrily, "Compared with the history of the Han Dynasty, we in Rome are still in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Han Dynasty. There are a large number of slaves in the country, low productivity, nobles holding power, and class solidification. From this, we can see that we in Rome are 300 years behind the Han Dynasty. Isn't 300 years worth your urgency? If we don't catch up, you want Rome to lag behind the Han Dynasty for 400, 500 or even a thousand years. You are willing to do so, but I am not. After I return to Rome, I will smash all of this. Rome will either prosper in reform or perish directly. I don't want Rome to become like those natives assimilated by the Han Dynasty."

In Claudius's view, the reason why the Han Dynasty could be prosperous today was that it completed the land reform, distributed the land originally belonging to the Qin nobles to the farmers, and after gaining their support, overthrew the Qin Empire. Later, the emperor of the Han Dynasty relied on the support of these farmers to create the current prosperous Han Dynasty, and expanded the area of ​​the Han Dynasty dozens of times.

Cornelius rolled his eyes and said, "You think what we in Rome lack is a great emperor like the Emperor of Han. In fact, what we in Rome lack more is a reformer like Shang Yang. Does Rome lack land? Not at all. Across the Alps is the territory of the Gauls, where there are countless wastelands that can be reclaimed. But do the elders, nobles, and citizens in the country have such an idea? Everyone wants to conquer the rich Greece and Macedonia, but what did the Emperor of Han do? He conquered the land of the barbarians and distributed these lands fairly to the princes and people of the Han Dynasty. Who in Rome can do this? Who dares to offend the elders of Rome?"

Once the issue of the political system came up, it was difficult for all the noble children present to continue the conversation. They were all vested interests in their own country and they definitely wanted to make the country rich and strong, because this was also in their interest.

But if the price of the country's prosperity is the reduction of their property, they will not be willing to do so. As the saying goes, those who can revolutionize themselves are all heroes. There are too few such people, especially those who are not forced into desperate situations. At least Rome has not yet reached the point of national destruction.

"I am willing to be the Shang Yang of Rome," Claudius said firmly.

Fabius said, "Let's put agricultural reform aside for now. I think we can first learn industrial technology, build industrial zones, steel mills, textile mills, and then build railways. Rome's strength can be increased several times. The Roman roads are more than a hundred times worse than railways. If all Roman territories are connected by railways, then our army will be invincible, and even if there is a slave uprising, it can be quickly suppressed."

Slavery will inevitably lead to slave uprisings. It is just a matter of number and size. The largest slave uprising in the Roman Empire was the Spartan slave uprising that was included in our textbooks a hundred years later. This is the same as the feudal dynasty's inability to prevent peasant uprisings.

Aemilius said: "We can also learn from the political system of the Han Dynasty. The political system of the Han Dynasty is too stable. Their prime minister serves a five-year term. If he does a good job in these five years, he can serve another term as prime minister. With ten years, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty can manage the Han Dynasty well without too much unrest. However, our Roman consuls can only serve one year and cannot be re-elected unless there is a crisis. This has led to us using too much energy on internal struggles. We should also learn from the Han Dynasty. The consul serves a five-year term. If he does a good job, he can serve another term. With ten years, the Roman consuls will not do something short-sighted."

Manlius smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid the elders would not be willing to be consuls for ten years. They are extremely worried about just one year."

The Roman consuls had great power, which made the Roman elders extremely worried. They placed many restrictions on the consuls' power. Normally, there would be two consuls in Rome to divide the power, with one in charge of domestic affairs and commanding the army to fight. Of course, this dual-chief system also had flaws. In the Second Punic War, the Romans suffered from the disagreement between the two consuls, and 24 Roman troops were annihilated by Hannibal. Rome almost perished. Since then, Rome has set up a dictator (also known as Dictator) to replace the two consuls in extraordinary times. The term of office was only half a year. The dictator had followers and a bunch of battle axes on his shoulders. This symbol of power was the origin of fascism.

The dictatorship system made great contributions to Rome's victory over Carthage, but after the victory over Hannibal, Rome has never had a dictator again.

(End of this chapter)