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

Chapter 588: Pension Crisis and Complex Financial System

On October 35, the 10rd year of the Han calendar, in Chang'an City, the Assembly of Sages.

Xu Aimin discussed with Zhang Pijiang and others for a day and read out his ideal of governing the country in front of all the princes, prefects and sages of the Han Dynasty.

All the wise men present felt relieved that the emperor's policies were consistent with those of the retired emperor.

Moreover, the emperor said that this is a 30-year development goal, which means that the political propositions of the Han Dynasty will not change in the next 30 years, and the political structure of the Han Dynasty will remain the same. This is the best good news for the sages who are still in a panic stage, which makes all the sages feel reassured.

The economy of the Han Dynasty benefited from the Age of Discovery, the Age of Development, and the First Industrial Revolution. The wealth created over 300 years of history was created by the Han Dynasty in more than years. The total amount of wealth created was far more than that of the British Empire. In addition, the distribution system of the Han Dynasty was more than ten times more efficient than that of the British Empire. This is why the Han Dynasty could support far more rulers than the British Empire.

But the Han Dynasty also has its own problems. It has been more than 30 years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, and the world has been peaceful for 30 years. There have been no large-scale natural disasters or man-made disasters in these 30 years. In addition, with the advancement of medical care, the population has increased dramatically. Most of the young people of the founding generation of the Han Dynasty have entered the aging stage, and the number of this group of people will far exceed the 3000-year history of China, which can even be said to be a proof of prosperity. But these elderly people have also brought a heavy burden to the pension of the Han Dynasty.

When the Han Dynasty was first founded, there were only about 30,000 people over the age of 60 in the entire country. This was because most people did not live to this age due to the war, and also because the medical environment was poor in the feudal era. When people were old, a minor illness could take them away. There were also various local customs that were inconvenient to talk about, such as disappearing in the dark.

Just know one thing: the more you lack something, the more you should emphasize it. The feudal era always emphasized governing the world with filial piety, which means that there were very few filial sons and most of the elderly did not live well.

After the founding of the Han Dynasty, every sixty-year-old man could get two stone of grain, one catty of sugar, one catty of salt, and one catty of cooking oil every month. Of course, due to different wealth levels in different places, the pensions of the elderly would also be different, but there was no shortage of basic grain and salt. This part was paid directly by the Han court. There were even many elderly people who could wear red armbands and earn a salary of 100 or 200 coins every month. The elderly in the Han Dynasty not only had a guaranteed income, but could also earn a lot of money, so the economic attributes directly changed the fate of the vast majority of the elderly.

The economy determines the superstructure, and this also applies to the common people. Instead of being a burden to the family, the elderly can create wealth for the family. All the customs of hiding from the public have disappeared in various parts of the Han Dynasty.

There are more filial sons and grandchildren, and they take better care of their parents, hoping that their parents will live a hundred years. They receive pensions for many years. Although the money is not much, it can cover the family's food expenses. With the support of many aspects, the number of retired elderly people in Han Dynasty increases very fast every year.

Especially after Li Shang became the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, the critical point was reached. The number of retired elderly people in the Han Dynasty increased by 15% to 20% every year, and this year it officially exceeded one million.

Now, the basic pension for an old man in the Han Dynasty is 500 coins worth of food and daily necessities. Rich counties will also receive local subsidies. The Han Dynasty court will spend 6000 coins a year on an old man. One million retired old people means 60 billion coins, which is twice the fiscal expenditure of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty.

What is more crucial is that according to the statistical data, this number will exceed 5 million in less than 200 years. This also means that even if the welfare benefits for the elderly are not increased, the Han Dynasty's pension expenses alone will exceed billion yuan, which will even exceed the salary expenses of Han officials and become the largest expenditure of the court.

If the emperor continues to increase welfare benefits, the growth of this expenditure will exceed the growth of the Han Dynasty's finances, which will trigger a financial crisis for the Han Dynasty.

But now Li Shang was speechless. The new emperor was reading his political declaration to the princes, sages, governors and even all the people of the Han Dynasty. If he interrupted the emperor at this time, it would be equivalent to making a mortal enemy with the emperor. Li Shang could only think about finding a private opportunity to report this matter to the emperor.

At this time, the wise men of the Han Dynasty were excited about Xu Aimin's affluent society. They said in unison: "We will definitely work hard for a prosperous society. Let the Han Dynasty realize a prosperous society as soon as possible."

Xu Aimin breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his political declaration had been recognized by the wise men of the Han Dynasty. With this foundation, he could push the Han Dynasty to realize its political ideas.

The Han Dynasty's Conference of Sages came to a successful conclusion with Xu Aimin's political declaration of a prosperous society.

For now, all classes of the Han Dynasty are relatively satisfied with Xu Aimin, the heir.

Afterwards, Dahan's "Dahan Weekly", "Legal Weekly" and "Mozi Weekly" all introduced various standards and measures of a wealthy society on the front page headlines, so as to understand what a wealthy society is and what standards each place must meet to be considered a wealthy society.

The people of Chang'an were the first group of people to receive this information. They thought that the strategy was almost the same as that proposed by the retired emperor, and it was also very feasible. The new emperor wanted to reduce their educational support and medical expenses. This made the people of Chang'an feel familiar and favorable. This was exactly the same as the policy of the first 30 years of the Han Dynasty. The emperor proposed a goal, and they moved towards this goal.

The people of Chang'an immediately felt relieved. The emperor was still on their side. Their lives would not change much, and the prosperity of the Han Dynasty would not change much either.

The meeting of princes was also extremely smooth. The fifth prince Xu Aijun was canonized as the King of Tianzhu by the emperor, and his fiefdom was in Tianzhu. The management authority of Tianzhu Trading Company was transferred to the new King of Tianzhu. The basic agricultural facilities such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery under the jurisdiction of Tianzhu Trading Company will belong to Tianzhu. The various factories of Tianzhu Trading Company will be distributed to various shareholders according to their shares, among which the royal shares belong to the King of Tianzhu, and the huge Tianzhu Trading Company was split up in this way.

The Han Dynasty had actually anticipated this. Even after entering the industrial age, these Han merchants were not as powerful as their Western counterparts. Their political status was still relatively low and they were suppressed by the mainstream Han society. The mainstream Han society did not approve of the use of trading companies to control a country.

Most people have been estimating when the Tianzhu Trading Company will be split up, and even the way the Tianzhu Trading Company will be split up is pretty much what everyone expected. The royal family will use the princes to suppress Tianzhu and strip the Tianzhu Trading Company of its ruling power, and this huge trading company will just disappear into thin air.

Then came the matter of the relocation of the princes of the desert. In fact, this was basically an open secret. Long before the princes' meeting, these princes ran to the retired emperor and asked him to find them a wealthier fiefdom.

The entire Han Dynasty knew that the emperor was a famous Midas Touch. He knew where there were gold and silver mines and where there were rich places in the world. In order to make their families richer, these princes simply put their old faces aside and came to the emperor for help.

Xu Fan couldn't refuse. First, these old brothers had been living in the desert for 20 years, and they were indeed pitiful compared to other princes of the Han Dynasty. Second, relocating the princes was also a good thing for the Han Dynasty to consolidate its foundation. After 20 years of education by these princes, the desert had already recognized the rule of the Han Dynasty and the identity of the Han people. The Han Dynasty court could set up counties to directly rule this area. Third, it was a model for relocating princes in other regions. In Xu Fan's mind, the complete territory of the Han Dynasty, including Jiangnan and Liaodong, would definitely be taken back later.

Compared with the desolate desert, it was extremely difficult for the princes in Liaodong and Jiangnan to transfer their fiefdoms. But after this precedent, the imperial court had legal legitimacy in transferring these fiefdoms. Legitimacy is very important in politics. There are many lame dynasties in Chinese history that lacked these four words.

Even if the Han Dynasty wants to take back these wealthy vassal states in the future, it can still gain the upper hand in political propaganda. It doesn't make sense that you vassal states can only migrate from poor places to rich places, but not from rich places to poor places.

Xu Fan simply pointed out the most famous gold mines in later generations and asked these princes to go and dig for gold. Anyway, the only industrial center in the world now is the Han Dynasty, and the gold mines dug by these princes will also flow to the Han Dynasty, not to mention that the Han court can get half of it. The blessing of these golds is beneficial to the economy of the Han Dynasty.

At this time, the currency of the Han Dynasty was extremely complex, a mixed standard system of gold and silver standard, commodity standard, and credit standard. Among them, grain, cloth, spices, sugar, and iron ingots, which could have served as the currency standard, had gradually withdrawn from the currency system and became ordinary commodities because of their increasing production capacity and even oversupply.

However, the gold and silver standard was strengthening. Originally, the Han Dynasty was rapidly industrializing, and the amount of gold and silver could not keep up with the needs of its industrial development. But Xu Fan used a plug-in, and the gold mines in Sanfan City were dug out in advance, and the gold and silver mines in Zhongyinzhou were also dug out in advance. The income from these operations greatly strengthened the gold and silver standard.

Finally, there is credit currency, which is the paper currency of the Han Dynasty. With the growth of the industrial strength of the Han Dynasty and the increase in the amount of gold and silver, the trust in credit currency has deepened. Even though Xu Fan knew that the world of credit currency would belong to him in the future, he alone could not change the minds of the entire world.

The entire Han Dynasty, from top to bottom, recognized credit currency as a supplement to gold and silver, rather than the other way around. Moreover, the Han Dynasty did not experience a crisis due to lack of gold and silver, and there was no motivation to promote credit currency from top to bottom.

When the economy of the Han Dynasty grows further, and the gold and silver in the world cannot meet the needs of the Han Dynasty's economy, someone will naturally find a way to promote credit currency.

Xu Fan also had some concerns. There was a satirical joke about the bald eagle in later generations. The credibility of the US dollar was not as good as that of the treasure banknotes. It depreciated by 30% in 98 years. Zhu Yuanzhang became an honest man compared to them. He didn't know whether it was true or not, but depreciation was certain.

Credit money has been publicized for its many benefits, as if it is the inevitable result of economic development. But they never mention the flaws of credit money, even if the flaws are there in broad daylight, but they are not publicized, discussed, or explained.

Gold Yuan notes that were difficult to buy steamed buns, bread worth 50 marks, and numbers that could not be written even on paper money for the dead. All of these things had either happened in the past or were happening now.

This thing is a financial nuclear bomb, no stock market harvester can compare to it, once it is launched, nothing will grow. Xu Fan doubted that the Han officials of the Han Dynasty or even his descendants could resist this greedy desire.

Instead, gold and silver were used as currency. The prices of goods in the Han Dynasty were extremely stable in the past few decades, and there was almost no difference between the money 30 years ago and the money today.

The Han Dynasty court is not short of money now, so Xu Fan will just regard it as preserving the foundation for the Han Dynasty. When the Han Dynasty encounters a crisis in the future, it will have an additional financial means to solve the crisis. Therefore, Xu Fan did not force the promotion of credit currency, but only regarded it as a supplement.

In this conference of princes, ten princes were enfeoffed in Tianzhu, ten princes were enfeoffed in Yanzhou, and ten princes were enfeoffed in Nanzhou. These vassal states will become a stronghold for the Han Dynasty in maritime trade, improving the Han Dynasty's maritime trade system. These princes of the Han Dynasty can escape from the cold desert area and find a vassal state with a mild climate and fertile land to start over. It can be said that this relocation is a win-win choice for both parties.

In order to support them in developing their own vassal states, the imperial court would support them with goods worth 1000 million yuan each year, and the Development Bank would give them an interest-free loan of 10 million yuan each year for a total of 3000 years. At the same time, they would be delivered a -ton sailing ship and a -ton steamship to allow them to transport personnel and goods.

And these territories of the desert princes will be integrated by the Han Dynasty into three counties: Shuofang County, Yunzhong County, and Dingxiang County. These three counties will expand the area directly under the jurisdiction of the Han Dynasty by more than a thousand miles to the desert. Now the area directly governed by the Han Dynasty is becoming more and more like that of the Western Han Dynasty in later generations, and there has even been a breakthrough. After all, the enemy, the Huns, is no longer around the Han Dynasty.

At this point, the conference of princes came to a successful conclusion and the handover ceremony between the new and old emperors of the Han Dynasty was successfully completed.

Then Xu Aimin began to exercise his rights as the Emperor of Han.

First, he appointed Jia Yi as Shangshu Youling and ordered him to expand the number of Han officials in the Shangshu Tai to assist him in handling government affairs.

The Shangshutai is an official office that helps Xu Fan handle government affairs. The Shangshuling is a representative, and the official of two thousand stones is Xu Fan's confidant. The Shangshuling belongs to the kind of official office with low position but great power. There are not many Han officials inside, there are nearly a hundred people, these people are mainly divided into two parts, one part is responsible for processing the information reported to the emperor by the princes of the Han Dynasty, and reporting to the emperor according to the importance.

Another major task was to classify the memorials submitted by the Prime Minister's Office into different categories, and then hand them over to the emperor for processing according to their severity. At the same time, under the emperor's order, they would supervise and track the execution of government orders by the three dukes and nine ministers of the court, and report to the emperor.

Because he handed over all the main tasks to the prime minister, Xu Fan supervised the execution of government orders by the three dukes and nine ministers headed by the prime minister's office, and did a good job of assigning positions and responsibilities.

If the Han Dynasty made mistakes in any aspect of government, Xu Fan would reprimand the Prime Minister's Office mercilessly, ordering it to improve, or reprimand the government office that was specifically responsible for that matter. The people who carried out specific government affairs were the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty. As an emperor, Xu Fan naturally had less government affairs to do. This allowed Xu Fan to spend more time on important things such as the laboratory and the development of the technology tree, and to give lectures in the academy to spread knowledge to future generations.

The three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty also liked this model. They could make decisions on matters in their respective fields. Although the emperor gave them responsibilities, he also gave them corresponding rights. It was not unusual for them to be reprimanded by the emperor if they did not do their work well. They also liked the emperor's model of ruling by letting others rule.

Now that Xu Aimin has become the new emperor of the Han Dynasty, he naturally has to place his confidants in such an important department. However, Chen Lie was a veteran of the Han Dynasty. He had just succeeded to the throne and he replaced the confidants of the retired emperor. It would not look good if it got out. So he simply let Jia Yi be the Right Minister of the Secretariat, take over the Secretariat, and assist him in handling government affairs. When the time is right, he will promote Chen Lie to be one of the Nine Ministers.

Then, Chen Mai, the chief of the Internal History Office, was promoted to the position of Internal History Order. This was the first time since the founding of the Han Dynasty that a high-ranking official in his 30s appeared among the Nine Ministers.

But few people were dissatisfied. Chen Mai had just started his career in a remote place like Jincheng. The policy of the Han Dynasty was to give priority to the promotion of Han officials who went deep into the poor frontier areas. Then Chen Mai went to the New World to serve as an official for ten years. He built the Yinzhou Governor's Office, which increased the wealth of the Han Dynasty by tens of billions every year. It was not an exaggeration to be awarded a title of nobility for this merit. Moreover, he served for two full terms before being transferred back to Chang'an City. In addition, he was the son of the founding prime minister of the Han Dynasty and a close confidant of the emperor. Judging from Chen Mai's resume, he had the merits, status, and qualifications, so naturally not many people would be dissatisfied.

Liu Heng was promoted to the position of the 2,000-stone official, and he would be responsible for building the Construction Cao into a common government office in local counties. This was also Xu Aimin's preparation to solve the housing problem of the Han people.

Then Yuan Ang and others entered the Grand Minister of Agriculture as clerks, Liu Yun and others entered the Grand Marshal's Office, Zhang Yang and others entered the Junior Minister's Office as clerks, Zhang Shizhi entered the Supreme Court, Chao Cuo entered the Imperial Censor's Office. Xu Aimin's princes' servants entered the offices of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty.

Originally, Xu Aimin wanted to make Zhang Pijiang the first diplomatic envoy of the Han Dynasty, but Zhang Pijiang refused, believing that the appointment of two high-ranking officials at the level of the Nine Ministers just after the emperor ascended the throne would easily cause dissatisfaction among the old officials in the court.

He also believed that the consulate general in Daqinzhou had just been established, the Yanzhou Governor's Office of the imperial court, and the Suez Canal were still in their infancy, and these places needed him more.

Xu Aimin agreed with Zhang Pijiang's opinion and did not promote him, but continued to appoint him as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Daqinzhou.

(End of this chapter)