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

Chapter 642, Legalist Model

Chen Lei looked at Tie Zhu sternly and said, "Since you feel that you should have a position where you can better utilize your talents, then go and learn your skills. I will take him to a technical school. I will pay for his tuition. He will not be allowed to leave until he becomes an intermediate blacksmith."

Lin Yu said: "Yes!"

Tiezhu didn't dare to resist and was taken away by Lin Yu and the others.

Chen Lei said a little ashamedly: "Your Majesty, I'm sorry to make you laugh."

Xu Aimin smiled calmly and said, "There are hundreds of people of all kinds, not to mention that Chen County has millions of craftsmen. It is normal for a few unsuccessful craftsmen to emerge among so many craftsmen. You don't need to feel ashamed."

Then he said to the prosperous Chen County: "If all the counties in the Han Dynasty could be as prosperous as Chen County, the affluent society I expect would have been achieved long ago."

The Han philosophers and other members of the Datong Society from all over the country spent three days in Chen County observing the lives of ordinary craftsmen from factories to ordinary craftsmen. They watched football matches and the Chen County cycling race with these craftsmen, and watched them engage in scientific research and literary creation in various interest groups. These craftsmen not only have a rich material life, but also a rich spiritual life.

They had to admit that if there really was a world of great harmony, Chen County should be the closest to it.

Especially for many members of the Datong Society in Daqinzhou, the life of the people in Chen County can be said to be aristocratic. It is hard for them to imagine that productivity can be improved to such a level, but this unimaginable life is within reach here.

While these members of the Datong Society were excited, they also strengthened their faith in their hearts, knowing that they were not on the wrong path. They took Chen County as an example and planned to build their own country like Chen County.

Later, Jia Yi of the Legalist school led the various schools of thought and members of the Datong Society to the Shangji office in Chen County.

The first thing that caught their eyes was a huge machine. This machine was more complicated than any other machine they had ever seen. It was more than ten feet high and took up half of the house. Countless clerks were carrying documents in and out of it.

You can hear the rumbling sound of the steam engine. Driven by the steam engine, thousands of parts on the machine are operating according to a certain pattern, and the whole picture is full of a mechanical beauty.

Everyone was shocked to see this scene. After the wave of industrialization set off by the Han Dynasty, various complex machines began to become more and more numerous. An automatically operated machine would not be too surprising, but the machine in front of them was different. When it was running, it seemed that there were thousands or hundreds of machines operating. Such a complex machine was something they had never heard of or seen before. In the words of later generations, this was a kind of shock of seeing steampunk.

Jia Yi smiled and said, "This is a mechanical computer. Its main function is to replace the abacus for complex calculations. This machine is equivalent to thousands of abacuses. It can also do some relatively simple data statistics with other machines. When combined with the punching machine, it can quickly count the registered population of Chen County."

After saying this, Jia Yi led everyone to a hole punching machine, and Han officials kept stuffing prepared forms into it.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Then the machine spit out forms with holes punched in them.

The scholars of the Hundred Schools of Thought looked at these perforated forms in surprise. These forms were very small and densely covered with holes. Each of them took a form and observed it, but they did not understand what information was recorded on these forms.
Kong Zhong suddenly understood and asked, "Is this binary?"

Jia Yi smiled and said, "Yes, this is the use of the binary principle of telegraph. I can't understand these tables, but specialized editors can. This table may look insignificant, but it may record the basic information of a craftsman."

"Since Chen County is government-run, it has extremely high requirements for the household registration of the people and the data of all walks of life. Only by mastering this data can we arrange the production of each factory in Chen County. At the same time, we can collect data from other counties in the Han Dynasty and overseas data so that we can arrange the expansion of production capacity."

"It can be said that the Shangji Office is the brain of the entire Chen County. Hundreds of large factories and tens of thousands of small and medium-sized factories in Chen County are all controlled by this brain, forming a powerful economic organization and strong external competitiveness."

Jia Yi looked at the computer with a hint of enthusiasm. Chen County's management system was unprecedentedly strict, all thanks to this machine. This represented a new future for the Legalists. If this machine was more advanced and could calculate data for the entire Han Dynasty and even the entire world, his Legalists could manage the entire world.

And this is very likely to be achieved. This mechanical computer has been developed for more than 10 years, but its computing power has increased by dozens of times. If the R&D personnel are given a few more decades to increase the computing power by a hundred times, then all the data of the Han Dynasty can be counted by this mechanical computer.

Jia Yi took out a table with statistics and said with a smile: "For example, take the population of Chen County as an example. It records that the population of Chen County last year was 603 million. The per capita consumption of Chen County was 1000 catties of grain, 100 catties of meat and meat products, 50 catties of fish, 300 poultry eggs, 150 catties of dairy products, 200 catties of vegetables, and catties of fruit."

"With this data, multiplied by the population of Chen County, we can produce this food in a more efficient way."

Cornelius whispered enviously: "Although I already knew that the craftsmen in Chen County had a good life, I didn't expect the actual data to be so exaggerated. In our Rome, the living conditions of ordinary nobles are not so good."

Not to mention food, even meat, eggs, milk, fruits, and vegetables were rarely eaten by ordinary Roman citizens, let alone consuming hundreds of kilograms a year. His living conditions were comparable, but his family was the top aristocratic family in Rome. There were only a few thousand families in Rome with conditions like his.

His deputy Polo said: "So Rome cannot continue to be governed by those insect elders. They have no way to change the current situation of Rome's poverty and weakness. Only our Datong Society can lead Rome forward."

After visiting the two richest counties of the Han Dynasty, members of the Roman Pax Romana became more determined that Rome must change.

Rome did not intend to become as wealthy as the Han Dynasty immediately, but it could not struggle in the mud like it was now.

Zhang Mu said: "But what if your prediction is wrong? Tens of thousands of factories in Chen County will suffer a devastating disaster."

For some reason, he felt a sense of fear when he saw this scene. The constantly running computer seemed to him like a living evil god. Especially when he heard that through these machines, tens of thousands of companies in Chenjun could be connected into a whole, he felt a little scared.

The other scholars of the Hundred Schools of Thought had similar feelings. During the Warring States Period, the Legalists were known for their strict laws and cruel officials. They imagined the machine in front of them to be a net woven by the Legalists. This net covered the entire Chen County, and no one could escape. What a terrifying scene. The scholars of the Hundred Schools of Thought felt suffocated. They themselves disliked this world of strict laws. At this time, Zhang Ou, the accountant of Chen County, said: "The more data our superiors collect, the more accurate our grasp of the market will be. Things like what you said rarely happen."

Kong Zhong said: "It rarely happens, does that mean it has happened?"

Zhang Ou said: "We have an internal risk assessment system. Even if there is a misjudgment, we can absorb these losses through the size of the entire Chenjun. For example, grain production capacity is the most uncontrollable. Grain production capacity in a good year and a bad year may differ by twice. Let me take this as an example. Suppose Chenjun has a bumper harvest this year, and there are 1 million catties of grain on the market. This grain can be sold to the outside world or distributed as welfare to the 600 million people in Chenjun. Each person in Chenjun only needs to get a dozen catties of grain, and this excess production capacity can be absorbed internally. There is no need to worry about overcapacity in the government-run system."

The Hundred Schools of Thought were speechless. The Han Dynasty regarded industry as the foundation of the country, and the crisis of overcapacity was always around. The various ideas and models proposed by the Hundred Schools of Thought were difficult to solve this problem. The Taoist policy of inaction would make an industry prosperous, and countless people would flock to open factories, and within a few years a capacity crisis would erupt.

On the contrary, the Legalist concept of state-run business solved this problem very well. How could there be such a thing as overcapacity? If more was produced, the problem could be solved by distributing it as welfare to the people of the world.

The government affairs of the court in recent years have mainly revolved around two things. One is to promote village communities in rural areas to improve agricultural efficiency and increase farmers' income. This has been going smoothly. Farmer communities in various counties and prefectures of the Han Dynasty are in full swing, and the number of communities has increased over the years. Farmers' income has increased significantly, and the prosperity of small workshops in rural areas also requires a large number of talents and labor. In recent years, the number of farmers working outside the Han Dynasty has decreased significantly. Farmers do not have to leave their wives, sons, and parents to work outside the Han Dynasty, which is also a great merit.

The second is to strengthen centralization in industry. The imperial court supervised large and medium-sized factories in various places through the Shaofu system. Although there was no mandatory government-run system, as long as the factory was of a certain scale, it had basically been reported to the Shaofu of the Han Dynasty and accepted guidance from the Shangji.

The imperial court would provide these factories with some data on the economic development of the Han Dynasty and price data from around the world every year, and at the same time guide these factories to expand their production capacity and development direction. Sometimes, it would give several factories in the same industry the task of tackling tough problems. If they can produce such products, the imperial court of the Han Dynasty would place orders with them.

This model is a mixture of pain and joy for the large and medium-sized factory owners in the Han Dynasty. With the market data provided by the court, they no longer have to rely on their own experience to explore the market situation, but can understand the market trends more accurately and efficiently, just like a general clearing the fog on the battlefield. He knows the enemy's actions very well, and the two armies will naturally be invincible in the battle.

At the same time, although the research and development tasks issued by the court are difficult, if they are really accomplished, the benefits are also extremely considerable, especially those factories that have completed the tasks are basically included in the court's protection list and can be protected by the court. This is like a life-saving talisman for the development of the factories. Even if they encounter a crisis, the court will save their factories.

However, the guidance from above is also a heavy yoke for these businessmen, preventing them from developing factories as they wish. This is extremely uncomfortable for many factory owners who have made their own fortunes.

At the same time, the imperial court also had very strict supervision over them. For example, the equipment in the factory was clearly still usable, but the imperial court forced them to eliminate it on the grounds that it was old and outdated. In order to make money from the imperial court, they had no choice but to buy new equipment.

What they find most unbearable is that the imperial court controls their employment. Factories that dare to violate the craftsman laws or treat craftsmen too harshly will basically be eliminated from the imperial court's industrial chain.

In order to stay among the court's suppliers, they treated the craftsmen like their ancestors and the huge sum of money flowed away in this way as welfare.

The Mohists of the Shaofu inspected their factories like lackeys, and would pounce on them fiercely if they were not careful, saying that they were not qualified industrial suppliers and kicking them out of the court's industrial chain. The fate of those factories was extremely tragic, with unsalable products and declining income. They would generally go bankrupt within a year or two. Even if they could barely hold on, they could only struggle to survive because of the sharp decline in the scale of their enterprises.

The wealthy merchants in the Han Dynasty really had no status at all. This made these people a little envious of the merchants in other vassal states, and even the Xiongnu State, who did not have so many restrictions and had a much higher political status.

If the Han Dynasty was not so wealthy, the market was not so prosperous, and it was not the place where the most money could be made, without these advantages, they would have opened factories elsewhere long ago.

As for the local county governors of the Han Dynasty, the flat management and vertical management promoted by the imperial court in recent years are nothing more than the Prime Minister's Office encroaching on their rights. Factories are managed beyond their control, and local affairs are also managed beyond their control, such as building canals and roads. The imperial court does not communicate with these county governors, but directly commands their subordinates. These prefects and county magistrates are only left with the right of supervision. This is like treating them as sages. This is simply outrageous!

The reforms of the Han Dynasty in recent years have intensified the conflicts between local counties and the Prime Minister's Office. The governors of dozens of counties in the Han Dynasty have fiercely resisted the Prime Minister's Office's infringements on them.

Chen Rui's reputation has deteriorated over the years. From a respected veteran official, he has become a person who is hated by everyone in the local area.

However, the Prime Minister's Office, which holds the hegemony of public opinion, is also fighting back. The most powerful weapon of the Prime Minister's Office is that the Han Dynasty has not experienced an economic crisis in the past decade or so. This is all thanks to the Prime Minister's Office's control over the economy.

With the reminder from the Prime Minister's Office, people from all walks of life in the Han Dynasty discovered that the economic crisis that they used to be so afraid of had not broken out in the past ten years. Compared with the crisis that was sure to come in the previous ten years, the golden years of development in the past ten years were too rare. Therefore, the older people in the Han Dynasty recognized the achievements of the Prime Minister's Office very much, because they had experienced economic crises and knew how terrible they were.

Therefore, although the flat management of the Prime Minister's Office is difficult to implement, it is advancing step by step. The control of the Han central court over the industry has increased rapidly, the planning of the industry has become clearer and more reasonable, and the development of the industry has become stable. It will no longer be like the situation in the past where an industry can only prosper for ten years before a production capacity crisis breaks out.

Jia Yi stroked the huge mechanical computer and sighed, "It's a pity that the data generated every day in the world is too huge. Even with such advanced machinery, the computer still can't calculate it. The court can only control medium-sized and above factories, and is powerless for those small micro-family workshops. As a result, the law is so wide that there are loopholes."

When the Legalists first implemented the official reform in Chen County, they did not think that far ahead. They just wanted to get rid of the burden of the Former Qin Dynasty so that the Legalists could continue to survive in the new era of the Han Dynasty.

But as the Legalists built a new system in Chen County, they were surprised to find that this new system was more powerful and complete than the farming and warfare system they had in the Former Qin Dynasty. Industrialization was obviously a brand new thing, a new social system brought by the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, but the farming and warfare system built by the Legalists only needed to be modified, and those overly harsh laws that would easily punish the people were deleted, and their system was surprisingly compatible with the industrialization system of the Han Dynasty.

After several years of secret research in Chen County, the old masters of the Legalists discovered to their great joy and sorrow that the huge bureaucratic system under the farming-warfare model was extremely consuming and could not invade other wealthy countries. This system could not work. The reason why the Qin Dynasty collapsed was that the bureaucracy under the farming-warfare system was too large. The entire Qin State could not afford such a large bureaucratic system. The Qin officials could only constantly beat ordinary people into prisoners as free labor to support this system.

But the First Emperor was unwilling to dismantle this war machine, so he chose to conquer the Baiyue in the south and the Xiongnu in the north in order to continue to maintain this war machine. However, the Baiyue and the Xiongnu were both cold and poor places, and the Qin Dynasty's conquests of these two places were a losing business. The Qin Dynasty was like a gluttonous snake, which, after eating all the food, began to eat itself. Ultimately, the huge bureaucratic system led to the collapse of the entire empire.

But after entering the industrialized society, the world's ability to create wealth was dozens of times that of the agricultural era. At the same time, the complexity and contradictions of the industrial society were also dozens of times that of the agricultural society. This led to the need for more officials in the industrialized society. The huge and bloated Qin official system in the Qin Dynasty actually became suitable for the Han Dynasty.

After these Legalist giants figured this out, they felt mixed emotions. All schools of thought looked down on merchants, and the Legalists looked down on them the most. But what they could never have imagined was that what would save them was actually related to merchants, the way of industry and commerce.

However, for a new-age legalist like Jia Yi, the destruction of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty was the end. Without the destruction of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, there would be no more powerful Han Dynasty. The model of Chen County was their ideal society. There was a strong organization that could control everything. The birth, aging, illness and death of the 600 million people in Chen County were all arranged properly in this system. Although this system was very precise, it was still not precise enough for the disciples of the legalists. It could not control small factories, family workshops and individuals.

(End of this chapter)