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

Chapter 615: The Producer's Country and the Middle-aged Dandy

Xu Fan heard his eldest son sighing and said slowly: "There are contradictions at all times and in all matters. If a society has no contradictions, or a contradiction is not resolved and the same contradictions always occur, then this is a static and stagnant society. This is the most terrible thing. Just like Tianzhu was the same as it is now more than 2000 years ago, and it is still the same as it is now more than 2000 years later."

"Dahan will face various problems, and even more and more problems will occur, but we are not afraid of problems. As long as we solve these problems seriously and push Dahan forward, Dahan will have vitality.

If you don’t want to be blinded and deafened by Han officials, you must stand with the people of the Han Dynasty. You must remember that a group of people can deceive one person, but a group of people cannot deceive a larger group of people. "

Xu Aimin took out Chao Cuo's "20-Year Investigation Report on Chenjun Officials" and handed it to his father, saying: "Chenjun Official Camp has always been the path for our Han Dynasty to explore the world of great harmony, but I never expected that this road has become increasingly rugged and difficult to walk on in just 20 years."

He was extremely surprised when he saw Chao Cuo's investigation report. He still remembered that the Chen County he saw more than ten years ago was so prosperous, with thriving industry, orderly society, and people living a rich and healthy life. It was completely different from the prosperity of Chang'an, which was supported by the whole country. He always believed that this model was the future of the Han Dynasty, but he did not expect that this model had only been in operation for 20 years and had begun to show problems.

He didn't believe it at first. After all, factories all over the Han Dynasty were thriving. But when he checked the information from his superiors, he found that the scale of these government-run factories had indeed expanded and the number of craftsmen had increased rapidly, but the profits had gradually decreased. At a time when the steel industry was so prosperous, many provincial steel mills had a profit of only a little more than 10%.

When he looked for data on private steel mills, he discovered that even though these steel mills were not as large as Shaofu Steel Mill, their profits were generally more than 20% to 30%. These private steel mills also had fewer management staff, generally several times less.

This made Xu Aimin extremely disappointed. He had worked in the Shaofu before, so he naturally understood that the development cycle of an industry has its ups and downs. With this profit level, when the industry reaches a downward period, these factories will all be in danger of bankruptcy.

The steel industry is booming now because the whole world is building new railways, with more than tens of thousands of miles of railways being built every year. But the world cannot continue to build tens of thousands of miles of railways every year. There will always be a time when it is saturated, and at that time, the fittest will survive, and all these factories will lose their chance to survive.

After Xu Fan received the report, he read its contents carefully. What was said in it surprisingly gave him a sense of familiarity. There were too many bosses above the government-run factories, the factory director was incapable of managing things, the management had its cronies in place, the workers were overstaffed, the factory's efficiency declined, and profits also decreased.

He even felt a little emotional in his heart. It was not easy for the Han Dynasty. At least they caught up with the 1970s and 1980s in their previous life. What's better about the Han Dynasty is that there is no pension crisis, or rather, the pension crisis is evenly distributed among all the factories of the Han Dynasty. At the same time, the part with the highest profit margin in the manufacturing industry is controlled by the Han Dynasty. There is a complete difference between occupying 70% or 80% of the profit and occupying 20% ​​or 3% of the profit. The pressure that the Han Dynasty endured was not even one-tenth of that in later generations.

It can even be said that if the population base of the Han Dynasty was not so large and the population of other parts of the world was so small, even if it only relied on the scissors gap between industry and agriculture, the living standards of the Han Dynasty could catch up with those of developed countries in later generations, and the life of a per capita landlord would not be a problem.

"This is a reflection of the ever-changing contradictions. The Han Dynasty's industry has been developing for more than 40 years, and the government-run reform has been going on for years. It is normal for some problems to accumulate over such a long period of time. The productivity of the Han Dynasty has developed, the contradictions have changed, and the corresponding governance strategies should also change. Reforms to solve these problems are that the Han Dynasty does not have a set of ancestral systems to solve all problems. We should be cautious and continue to reform."

"Things in the world have their pros and cons. Although the government-run enterprises have some shortcomings, such as people being idle and declining profits, they have at least solved the economic crisis. Without the government-run enterprises to control the orderly expansion of the Han steel industry chain, you should now be worrying about how to solve the economic crisis of the Han Dynasty."

Xu Aiming felt even more troubled after hearing this. What if the economic crisis was not solved by the government?
"Chao Cuo believed that if we wanted to change the current situation, we had to implement the factory director responsibility system and try to reduce the influence of outsiders on the factory."

"Factory director responsibility system!" Xu Fan said slowly.

He is familiar with this. Even if he has never had a stable job, he knows from watching TV dramas that craftsmen in the past dared to bang on the factory director's desk, but later they were reduced to slaves.

That was when it all started. Everyone had stripped the identity of the Zhao masters. Xu Fan didn't have much of an opinion on this matter. His father's generation was from the countryside, and they had never been Zhao masters. That little bit of inheritance was gone.

To some extent, it was a good thing for people like Xu Fan who came from a farming family, because he had to support Master Zhao who was worth tens of millions less. Everyone became like cattle and horses, with fewer masters and more cattle and horses, and his burden was lighter.

"This will inevitably lead to the factory director having too much power to suppress the craftsmen. Such a one-man rule will inevitably lead to the breeding of corruption, and even the court's workshops and the craftsmen's workshops will become private."

Xu Aimin said: "The court can only choose the lesser of two evils and save the factory first. The Imperial Censorate will take action first to clean out a group of parasites. Five or six people are doing the work of one person. We can't let these parasites continue to suck blood from the factory."

"As for the problem of corruption, it is easier to solve. If they dare to be corrupt, the court will catch them. The money will eventually return to the court and will not flow out. On the contrary, the current situation is more difficult for the court to deal with."

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "After all, productivity is insufficient and it is difficult to match this system."

Xu Fan knew that he was not a great man. All the systems he established in the Han Dynasty were just standing on the shoulders of giants. Nothing he had was innovative.

However, two countries with different environments have entered the same river, which made him a little shaken. He wondered if the Han Dynasty would be like later generations, unable to support too many Master Zhao due to insufficient resources and would have to abandon some of them in the end.

Xu Fan thought for a moment and said, "You have to remember that the Han Dynasty is a country made up of producers. All policies should be centered around benefiting producers, reducing their costs of becoming producers, and cracking down on those rentiers who deprive producers of their interests, so that more benefits can remain in the hands of producers. As long as you remember this when you reform, you won't deviate too much. When the Han Dynasty's reform abandons this, it will be the moment when the Han Dynasty loses its ideals and dies."

Xu Aimin nodded and said, "I understand, kid."

Xu Aiguo and Xu Aijun were speechless. To them, the problems the big man encountered were too advanced and they could not even reach their goal.

After finishing this rather serious conversation, Xu Aiguo said, "Brother, we are going to build a railway network in the New World, and you must give us your support."

Xu Aimin smiled and said, "Don't worry, my second brother. The court will fully support you in building the railway."

This is great news for the steel industry in Dahan, which adds billions of market share every year.

Xu Aijun said: "Brother, please support me, Tianzhu."

Xu Aimin said angrily: "It's not enough that you build 300 miles of railway every year in Tianzhu. Now you still owe the Development Bank billion. If you continue to increase the debt, can you afford the interest?"

Xu Aijun was not convinced and said, "My country is as big as Tianzhu, with a population of tens of millions. I am afraid that I can't pay back this little money. At worst, I can plant more cotton and mortgage the iron ore in Xijun to the court. That is an iron ore with a quality of 60%. The Han people don't have such high-quality iron ore."

A few years ago, a large iron mine was discovered in Tianzhu. The quality of this iron ore is very high, and sea transportation can greatly reduce costs. Now the steel mills along the coast of the Han Dynasty are very fond of the Tianzhu iron mine. Although the price of these iron ores is high, the cost of refining steel is lower because of its high quality.

The steel industry in Kuaiji County has also grown by leaps and bounds in the past two years, almost doubling in size in three years. The reason why they have been able to grow so fast is that, on the one hand, high-quality iron ore was discovered in India, and on the other hand, high-quality coal mines were discovered in South Korea. In addition, the Han Dynasty's ships were getting bigger and bigger, and now even sailing transport ships of tens of thousands of tons have been produced, which greatly reduced the cost of sea transportation.

After various conditions are ripe, the cost of transporting ore from overseas has gradually dropped to a price close to that of rail transportation.

Now Tianzhu transports hundreds of thousands of tons of iron ore to the Han Dynasty every year, and iron ore trade has quickly become one of Tianzhu's pillar industries.

Moreover, with the development of the Han Dynasty's industry, more and more minerals are needed. The Nanyang Tianzhu region is the first beneficiary. In addition to building plantations, the princes in these regions are now also providing iron ore, copper mines, coal mines, chalcanthite, manganese ore, etc. for the Han Dynasty's industry.

South Korea was the biggest beneficiary. Zhang Buyi discovered the largest anthracite mine in the South Central region. It should be noted that there are more coal mines in the north than in the south. There is no county in the south that does not lack coal. The railway transports coal mines to the south, and it is common for the price to double or triple. After Zhang Buyi discovered the high-quality coal mines in South Central, he quickly occupied the entire southern market, beating Shangdang coal and Taiyuan coal. Now the counties along the coast of Jiangnan and Dahan use Korean coal.

South Korea imports three million tons of coal to Dahan every year, and the value of coal output exceeds 10 billion yuan, becoming one of South Korea's most important pillar industries.

Xu Fan said: "It is better to live within your means. With Tianzhu's economy, building 300 miles of railway every year is already very fast. If you continue to increase it, be careful of the fate of the Xiongnu. By then, Tianzhu's debt will collapse, and the railway you built will only be a wedding dress for others."

Xu Aijun was shocked when he thought about the fact that the Huns had spent hundreds of billions to build the railway, and now the merchants from the Han Dynasty were buying it at one tenth of the original price. He suddenly felt that building 300 miles of railway every year was not too slow.

The words are divided into two parts.

After Zhou Ce, Cao Qiu and other New World princes returned to Chang'an, they immediately gathered together their good friends who played well together in Chang'an City.

Outside Chang'an City
Cao Qiu looked like a country bumpkin entering the city. He looked at a large palace plaque and said, "Penglai Palace. Whose meritorious official's property is this? How could it be built next to the Afang Palace?"

Afang Palace was the royal property, and this piece of land also belonged to the royal family, so Cao Qiu believed that it was some meritorious official who asked the retired emperor for a favor and got this piece of land.

Xiao Tong smiled and said, "This is not the property of a meritorious official, but the property of the Xiong family. After all, his family used to be the King of Chu. They are more familiar with this kind of luxury industry. A few years ago, they built this hotel next to the Afang Palace, saying that it was to rival the Emperor's Afang Palace. This can be regarded as a continuation of the Qin-Chu dispute. But it is really luxurious inside. I will bring a few brothers to have a look. There are many things here that have never existed before."

A group of second-generation dandies entered the Penglai Palace and found that the level of luxury inside was no less than that of the imperial palace. The waiters and waitresses were dressed like palace maids, each of them was young and beautiful, and there were also a large number of beauties from the Western Regions and India among them.

As they walked into a huge palace, a dozen scantily clad singing girls were dancing in the center.

Inside the palace, a group of middle-aged dandies were enjoying the singing and dancing performances.

When they saw Zhou Ce, Cao Qiu, Ye Zhao and others coming in, they all stood up and said, "Brother is here."

Zhou Ce looked at the group of younger brothers who followed him back then and pointed at the group of singing girls and said, "After not seeing you for a few years, you have become even bolder. You actually dared to do such extravagant things next to the royal property."

"The Emperor rarely comes to Afang Palace, and in recent years he has even rarely left Chang'an. He usually stays in the academy to attend classes, or goes to the laboratory to do research with the masters, and he won't come here."

Cao Qiu said: "You are doing these things openly. If even a little bit of the news reaches the ears of the emperor, being banished to the New World would be the least of your punishment. You might even be banished directly to Yanzhou."

"That's great. We can go directly to Yanzhou to dig for gold. The court is always so lucky. Gold and silver mines are discovered all the time. Yanzhou is such a desolate place. There was nothing there except Kunlun slaves. But we didn't expect to discover the largest gold mine in the world. Last year alone, they transported back 150 tons of gold." Zhou Yang said enviously.

He was Zhou Bo's second son. His elder brother inherited the title, and his younger brother had a successful career. For the development of the Zhou family, he had to stay in the Han Dynasty and do some business.

The big families in the Han Dynasty all had this development model: the eldest son inherited the vassal state, the promising children stayed in the Han Dynasty to join the army and politics, the next best one became a scholar, and those who couldn't even become scholars could only become merchants to make money for the family.

Xiao Tongdao said, "Brother, don't worry. This is a regular hotel in the Han Dynasty. We pay taxes according to the law. What's wrong with us watching the singing and dancing? Even if there is a problem, it is the Xiong family's problem. What does it have to do with us? Brother, don't worry. Such singing and dancing performances are very common in the Han Dynasty. There are no less than a hundred of them in Chang'an City. Singers from all over the world are flocking to Chang'an City. Even the emperor can't stop it."

Zhou Ce and others then sat down.

Cao Qiu devoured the food viciously, and then said, "You have suffered a lot in the New World for the past ten years, but I didn't expect that you all live so luxuriously in Chang'an City."

Ye Zhao looked at the singing and dancing and smiled, "There are still many beauties in Chang'an, and each has its own characteristics, unlike the New World, which only has some dark beauties. Now that I think about it, I really regret going to the New World to establish a vassal state."

Xiao Tong rolled his eyes and said, "Brother, you are showing off to us. No matter how well we live in Chang'an City, we are just birds in a cage. We are nothing like you, brother, who can roam freely in the vast world of the New World and dominate one side. No matter how good the singing and dancing performances are, or how beautiful the beauties are, they can't compare to commanding tens of millions of troops to establish a vassal state and start a family."

"You brothers will be the ancestors in the future. You will enjoy the incense and worship of the vassal states for hundreds of years to come, and even your names will be recorded in history. But we, the younger brothers, will not be able to survive for three generations. I am afraid that we will disappear into thin air, and the entire Han Dynasty will not even know that we exist." Zhou Ce's younger brothers at that time looked at them with resentment.

Among the second generation, there were the eldest son and the second son. Zhou Ce and his people went to establish vassal states, while they stayed in Chang'an City.

If they really had a choice, the group of people who stayed in Chang'an City also wanted to establish a vassal state, but unfortunately the Han Dynasty only gave them one vassal state.

Ye Zhao eased the atmosphere and said, "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's all come and watch the singing and dancing. Such beauties can only be seen in Chang'an City."

The atmosphere became lively for a while. After having enough food and drink and watching the singing and dancing, Cao Qiu and his companions each hugged two beauties, then looked at the people around them and sighed, "More than half of the brothers are not here. Things have really changed. I don't know if we can get together again in the future."

Xiao Tongdao said: "They either became county governors or military commanders of the imperial court. How can they have the time to come here? How can they dare to come here? The imperial court may not care about us, but they are still very strict in arresting Han officials."

Zhou Yang said: "My younger brother and others are different. We have no future and can only take over some of the family's businesses."

Cao Qiu said, "Doing business is not bad. We, the Han Dynasty, do not discriminate against merchants. Brother, I am eager for you to do business in my Cao State. The bigger your business, the better."

Zhou Yang followed suit and said, "We are looking for you, brother, for a big deal."

Zhou Ce said: "The New World Railway Network."

Xiao Tong smiled and said, "Brother, you have become more generous after going to the New World. Even the imperial court has never done a 500 billion dollar project. Please let my men follow you and just make some soup and water."

Cao Qiu was surprised and said, "You can build railways."

Cao Qiu, who came from a wealthy family, knew his group best. It would be a bit of an exaggeration to say that they were more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything. But they would definitely not be willing to do hard work, and building railways was something that could not be false; it could be considered one of the most difficult jobs.

If this was the court's property, then he would give it away and even do it as a favor, but this was to build a railway for his own family, and when it was really handed over to them, he was a little afraid to take the train.

(End of this chapter)