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

Chapter 652: The Third Generation
On April 49, the 9th year of the Han calendar, in Kuaiji County, Wu County’s first shipyard.

More than five months later, Liu Piao and her husband Chen Wu came to Wuxian No. 5 Shipyard again. At this time, the steam transport ship they ordered had its outer deck installed and the sea ship was almost completed. The 2-ton steam transport ship was an unprecedented steel behemoth. The two could feel their own insignificance when standing under the transport ship.

Chen Wu said enviously: "Your Wuxian Shipyard is amazing to be able to build such a huge ship in just half a year."

Now think back to his Tangyi Hou State, which only had some simple machinery factories and textile factories, and was covered with ice and snow half of the year. Compared with Kuaiji County, it was really a rural place.

The shipyard manager smiled calmly and said, "It's nothing. The emperor has repeatedly told our shipyard to be innovative and build bigger and better seagoing ships. Although a 20,000-ton transport ship is a behemoth now, it may not be in a few years."

At this moment, Liu Piao suddenly heard a huge cheer. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a giant steel beast slowly floating up from the dock. The cheering people were also beside the steel beast. This ship looked different from the one Liu Piao made. It looked smaller, but the ship was more slender and beautiful than her transport ship. On it, you could see layers of high-rise buildings, more like a high-rise building. She asked curiously, "What kind of ship is this? Why does it look different from other ships?"

The shipyard manager said, "That is the cruise ship that Zhou Jianyi, the second son of Jianghou State, ordered from our shipyard."

Then the steward said in an extremely envious tone: "This is a private cruise ship. According to Master Jianyi's design, the Marquis of Jiang's mansion is to be placed on the ship. The equipment on it is extremely luxurious. Although the ship is only 8000 tons, the cost is as high as million coins."

Liu Piao was pleasantly surprised and said, "It turns out to be Brother Jianyi. My husband, let's go over and pay our respects to him."

Needless to say, the relationship between Liu Bang and Zhou Bo was very close. Their descendants were very close. The current Marquis of Jiang, Zhou Sheng, would visit the Marquis of Pei's mansion when he went to Chang'an to attend the meeting of princes. Liu Piao and Zhou Bo's grandsons Zhou Jianren, Zhou Jianyi, and Zhou Jianli had a very good relationship. Because the princes of the Han Dynasty generally arranged their children to study abroad in Chang'an, Liu Piao and Zhou Jianyi grew up together. However, Zhou Bo died of illness later, and the prince of Jiang State, Zhou Sheng, succeeded as Marquis of Jiang. Zhou Jianyi and the other two followed him to the Nanyang Marquisate of Jiang.

Chen Wu said with envy and a hint of dissatisfaction: "Having money to waste like this, how is this different from being a nouveau riche."

He was a classmate of Zhou Jianyi back then, but they were in the same school, so their relationship was not as close as Liu Piao's. Although they were both marquises, Tangyi Marquis was obviously not as good as Jianghou State. Tangyi Marquis State only had some virgin forests, and its biggest specialty was a small gold mine, with an annual output of less than 100 million coins.

The specialty of Jianghou State is a large oil field, which not only produces a large amount of oil, but also has very high quality. It can produce high-quality kerosene and gasoline without too much refining. Jiang State's oil industry can earn more than ten billion yuan every year. It is the first-class wealthy vassal state in the entire Nanyang, and its fiscal revenue is comparable to those of the principalities.

All the princes of the Han Dynasty understood that it was the retired emperor who designated a good vassal state for the old Marquis of Jiang because of his great contributions to the Han Dynasty. This was also what made other princes of the Han Dynasty envious. It was good to have the retired emperor's guidance, which directly saved decades of development time. The ten years of construction of the Jiang State was equivalent to decades of construction of other vassal states. Now the kerosene and gasoline of the Jiang State occupied the entire southern and Nanyang regions of the Han Dynasty. At the same time, it was also competing fiercely with Tianzhu and Xiongnu for oil. Its level of wealth was comparable to that of the Chen State.

When Chen Wu and Liu Piao approached the dock, they found that there was not only Zhou Jianyi, but also Zhang Gao, the second son of Han Guogong, Ying Ming, the third son of Ying Guogong, Mei Shao, the third son of Baiyue Houguo, and many other third-generation nobles they were very familiar with, as well as many noble ladies and descendants of Han officials. They were both surprised. Was there a gathering of nobles in Kuaiji County? Why were there so many descendants of nobles?

At this time, Zhou Jianyi and his men also discovered Chen Wu and Liu Piao. He was surprised and said, "Brother-in-law, sister, why are you also in Kuaiji County?"

Liu Piao said: "We have ordered two steam transport ships from the Wuxian Shipyard. They are almost completed and we are here to receive them."

After saying this, Liu Piao pointed to the two ships she had made and showed them to Zhou Jianyi and others.

Zhou Jianyi smiled and said, "That's great. We are going to go out to sea for fun. Let's go together!"

Liu Piao said, "Okay."

In this way, Liu Piao boarded Zhou Jianyi's ship, and when these nobles got on board.

"Toot toot toot!" The ship sailed out of the shipyard and arrived near the sea of ​​Wuxian.

Chen Wu and Liu Piao took a brief tour of the ship and found that its interior decorations were all built according to the style of a palace. It was covered with all kinds of expensive sandalwood and was extremely luxurious. There was a small swimming pool outside the ship and the interior was like a palace. Inside the cruise ship there were a large number of Indian servants serving them with all kinds of wine, drinks and cakes. Being on the ship was really not much different from being in a palace.

Chen Wu enviously said, "No wonder such a small ship costs 2 million yuan. You get what you pay for. But Zhou Jianyi spends money so lavishly. Does his brother Zhou Jianren agree?"

Status may be the only thing that makes Chen Wu better than Zhou Jianyi. He is the legitimate son of Tangyi Marquisate and can inherit Tangyi Marquisate, while Zhou Jianyi has an older brother, so his status makes it impossible for him to inherit Jiang State.

Liu Piao looked at the luxurious ship with envy. It was too luxurious to own a palace of her own on the sea. Compared with this cruise ship, her crocodile bags, polar bear coats, Changan watches, and sandalwood carriages were nothing compared to it.

She suddenly said to Chen Wu, "Husband, let's build a cruise ship like this. We don't have to travel by boat to Chang'an City anymore. We can take a cruise directly to Luoyang City."

Chen Wu hesitated and said, "I'm afraid the master won't agree. He has always been frugal. If we buy such a luxurious cruise ship, I'm afraid he will be dissatisfied."

Liu Piao was now dissatisfied and said, "What do you mean the adults don't agree? It's you who don't want to."

Then she pointed at Zhou Jianyi who was surrounded by a group of people and said, "Look at Brother Jianyi. He is the second son of Jiang State, but he can own such a luxurious cruise ship. You, the eldest son of Tangyi, are not as good as the second son of Jiang State."

Chen Wu naturally didn't want to lose face, so he gritted his teeth and said, "When our transport ship makes money, we will also build a more luxurious cruise ship than this."

At this time Zhou Jianyi came to Liu Piao and said, "Brother-in-law, sisters, what do you think of this cruise ship?"

Liu Piao enviously said: "Brother is really amazing, he can think of building a palace on the sea."

Chen Wu said, "Brother Jianyi, you'd better not get close to the Han people with your cruise ship, otherwise it will bring trouble to your Jiang Kingdom."

The mainstream academic community of the Han Dynasty agrees that the First Emperor was too extravagant. As a result, the Qin officials also became extremely extravagant, which increased the burden on the people and led to the unrest at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, the Han Dynasty has always advocated frugality, especially with the retired emperor Xu Fan and the Han emperor Xu Aimin taking the lead, the mainstream trend of the Han Dynasty was still based on frugality.

It didn't matter if ordinary merchants were extravagant, but the officials and nobles of the Han Dynasty still had some concerns. After all, the royal family had taken the lead in frugality, and officials and nobles naturally had to follow suit. Of course, it also had practical significance for the nobles. If they wanted to develop the vassal states, they naturally had to invest every penny into construction so that they could build the vassal states as soon as possible. In this case, wasting money on meaningless things was not something these vassal states who had emerged from the battlefield would do.

Zhou Jianyi said nonchalantly, "It was my brother who went to Chang'an, not me. The Imperial Censorate has no control over me, the second son of Marquis Jiang." He then continued, "Brother-in-law and sister, you have come at the right time. We, the sons of the princes, have gathered in Kuaiji County to do some big business, and we can count you in as part of it."

"Big business?" Chen Wu hesitated. It was not an exaggeration to say that these people present were playboys. What big business could they do? These princes' sons were no match for the Han merchants in business when they left their princely states.

"What big business?" Liu Piao was obviously more interested in this big business. If it wasn't for making money, why would she build two steamships.

"Girls, you will know soon!" At this time Zhou Jianyi clapped his hands.

Those Indian servants left one after another.

"Now we have to talk business, everyone please take a seat."

After everyone was seated, Zhou Jianyi said with a smile: "Everyone, you all came here to make a fortune."

Ying Ming smiled and put down the sugarcane wine in his hand and said, "Do you want to give us Jiangguo's oil fields so that we can dig a well? If so, Jianyi is really the brother we are waiting for."

Zhang Gao, the second son of the Korean Duke, echoed, "Yingming, your family is already rich, so don't compete with us poor people for money. Brother Jianyi, my request is not high, just an oil well will satisfy me."

Although the other young masters knew this was impossible, they also started to make fun of him: "Brother, we also want an oil well."

An oil well in Jiang State can earn more than a million dollars a year, which is something that even these nobles would envy. Although the old Marquis of Jiang offended a large number of officials and nobles because of his support for the reform, the emperor was really kind to him. If they could go back a few decades, they would all want their father to take over the old Marquis of Jiang's mission.

Zhou Jianyi waved his hand and drove them away, "You all just want to make trouble. If I really have the power to distribute oil wells, how can I get rich? The money earned from the oil wells every day is already more than I can spend. But the family property belongs to my brothers and me, and has nothing to do with us."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone suddenly quieted down. Although they were princes' sons, they had older brothers who came to power. The vassal states with a population of millions and a radius of thousands of miles had nothing to do with them. Instead, they had to find ways to make their own way when they grew up, either by becoming officials in the Han Dynasty or by setting up an industry to support their lives. However, being an official in the Han Dynasty had too many restrictions and was also very strict. If they were really Han officials, it would be impossible for them to appear here.

A prince complained: "The emperor is good in everything except that he is too harsh. He likes to throw us into the wilderness or drive us into factories to work as operators. He calls it a tough environment to train people. Our fathers suffered hardships to build the Han Empire. Is it for us to suffer again?"

The Han Dynasty did not restrict the sons of the princes from entering the officialdom, but they liked to drive them to remote areas to hone them, and those who were honed naturally got promoted very quickly. Those who could not bear the hardship were naturally driven out, and most of these people did not want to suffer.

They relied on their fathers' connections to make some money. Now their fathers were still princes, and they could still rely on their fathers, but when their elder brothers ascended the throne, it would be basically impossible for them to maintain their current wealthy lives, which was why these people rushed over when they heard Zhou Jianyi say there was a profitable business.

Zhou Jianyi said: "You are short of money, I am short of money too, how to make money, this is the purpose of our coming here."

Mei Shao, the third son of Baiyuehou State, asked: "Brother, you have found a business that can make money. Let me make it clear first. Running a factory is too hard. I don't want to do it."

Developing industry has always been a very hard job, especially when opening factories in the Han Dynasty. Since Chao Cuo implemented the one-leader system, the Han Dynasty's management of craftsmen has become more and more strict. They also cooperated with the Mohists to establish the Mohist Patrol to supervise the craftsmen, but the factory directors and middle-level management of the factory are even stricter than the craftsmen. No matter whether they are factory directors or middle-level management, they have to go deep into the front line and spend one month every year to become an ordinary craftsman on the front line to feel the intensity of the craftsmen's work.

It is because of this system that when investing in and building a factory in Dahan, unless it is a wholly owned factory, the factory director and management must go deep into the front line. This system is very unfriendly to these young masters. They simply cannot stand the smell of engine oil in the factory. They want to vomit as soon as they smell this smell, let alone go deep into the factory to participate in front-line labor. They will die on the production line.

So although the young master also has some shares in Dahan, most of them are shareholders and do not have much ability to interfere with the factory, and sometimes they are even kicked out of the factory.

Zhou Jianyi smiled and said, "How much money can you make from opening a factory? The competition in the factories of our Han Dynasty is very fierce. Only those high-tech machinery factories and tractor factories can make more than 30% profit. Textile factories, cement factories, and brick kiln factories that can make 10% profit are already very impressive. But this little money is nothing to us. You can open a factory at home and make more money than this. If we want to play, we will play in the industry that makes money quickly and easily. Do you know the stock and futures markets?"

Ying Ming shook his head and said, "What kind of money-making business is this? The stock market of our Han Dynasty is so stagnant. I have invested hundreds of millions of dollars, but I only make a little pocket money every year."

When Liu Piao heard Ying Ming's words, she felt extremely envious and jealous. They were both descendants of princes, but Ying Ming had hundreds of millions of dollars as pocket money, while she had to go to her parents' home to buy a transport ship. The gap was too big. She looked at her husband angrily.

Chen Wu understood his thoughts and smiled bitterly: "He is the legitimate son of the Duke of Ying. His mother is the eldest princess of the Han Dynasty. He also owns the most profitable clothing brand in the Han Dynasty. He can make hundreds of millions of dollars a year. How can you compare with him, my husband? How about you also start a clothing brand?"

Liu Piao rolled her eyes at her husband. The eldest princess' clothing factory carried a royal name, and the eldest princess did have a talent for designing clothes. Every year, the spring, summer, autumn and winter clothes designed by the eldest princess were all popular trends in the Han Dynasty. Each piece of clothing was extremely beautiful. Every year, she would buy the newly designed clothes by the eldest princess. As a woman, she had to admit that the eldest princess was indeed a genius in making clothes.

Mei Shao also shook his head and said, "The money earned from the Han stock market is really not as much as the money earned from the rental market. A few years ago, I set up a construction team and built a community in Wu County, making 500 million yuan. Later, I also retained some houses, and I could make 200 million yuan a year from leasing and community properties. It's a pity that later, Governor Liu came and built a few artisan communities, which collapsed the rental market in Kuaiji County. Now I can only make between 300 million and million yuan a year."

The infrastructure industry of the Han Dynasty was inevitably the domain of local powerful people, and there were not many people in the Han Dynasty whose connections were more powerful than those of these young masters. The Han Dynasty itself was in a stage of rapid industrialization, and urban construction and housing construction were themselves a huge market. Even the emperor of the Han Dynasty could not exploit the people's demand for building houses.

But there are not many high housing prices in the Han Dynasty. The reason is very simple, that is, the Han Dynasty allows ordinary people to build their own houses. They only need to buy land in the city, and then they can build buildings of no more than 3 floors on this land. Now the population of the Han Dynasty is only over million, and with the resources of four continents, land is naturally not scarce. In many areas of the Han Dynasty, craftsmen build a house by themselves, and the cost of building the land and the house is only tens of thousands of coins.

Therefore, in ordinary counties of the Han Dynasty, the people preferred to build their own houses, and only in Kuaiji County, Chang'an City, Chen County, Linzi County, and Luoyang was there a certain real estate market, and these princes also formed construction teams with their own connections to build communities, and it was not a problem to make 30% to 50% a year. Moreover, this market has no technical difficulties, but it relies heavily on personal connections. Isn't this a natural industry for them to enter? But the princes of the Han Dynasty had just made money for a few years, and Liu Heng's rental tax directly destroyed the suitable industry they had found with great difficulty.

Several other princes also complained, "That's right. We finally found a suitable job, but the rental tax and the artisan community of Governor Liu caused us to lose half of our income. Uncle Liu is also a prince of Pei. Why is he specifically against us princes?"

At this time, Liu Piao stood up and said, "My father worked for the country and the people, what's wrong with that? On the contrary, you guys are all parasites who only know how to eat the big man. With your moral character, you are not worthy of complaining about my father."

Her father held a high position, but lived an extremely poor life. He was always kind and amiable to the common people. Over the years, he had never seen his father get angry with ordinary people. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was a saint. Although Liu Piao was a playboy, she admired and respected her father very much. She did not allow these playboys to speak ill of her father.

(End of this chapter)