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

Chapter 659: Luoyang Construction Collapse and Technology Family

June 51, 9th year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City.

After arriving in Chang'an, Fabius was busy buying second-hand equipment. He was overwhelmed by the amount of good things in Chang'an, all of which were the machinery Rome needed. Master Zhu Tie was right. Chang'an was the place with the highest level of machinery manufacturing in the entire Han Dynasty. Many large textile machines that were not available in Rome were obsolete in Chang'an.

He once asked the factory owners why they wanted to eliminate these machines that were not broken?
In his opinion, although these machines are not as advanced as the ones in Dahan, they have good performance and can continue to produce products, so they are not to be eliminated. In his opinion, Dahan's practice is a bit wasteful, as these are machines that can continuously create wealth.

As a result, the factory owners complained: "We don't want to discard the machines we bought at a high price. If we sell them to you second-hand, they will be less than 30% of the original price. I will lose more than 100,000 yuan for each machine. But the competition in Dahan is too fierce. If we don't buy more advanced machines and discard these backward machines, my factory will go bankrupt."

"Moreover, the court has wide jurisdiction. When we want to go to the bank to borrow money to expand production capacity, the bank manager not only requires us to have collateral, but also checks our production qualifications. The more backward the machinery is, the less money we can borrow. After the machine exceeds a certain age, the bank will not lend us money at all. In addition, if we want to enter the court's industrial chain, the management of the factory and the advancement of the machine are scored, and this machine is an important part of it. The worse the machine, the harder it is to get the court's supply qualification." Then the factory owner laughed at himself: "We are like a cow, being chased by the court with a whip. The factory manager's work is more tiring than that of a craftsman."

Fabius looked puzzled. He didn't understand why the big man made the craftsmen so tired?
September 51, the 9st year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City, Shaofu Mansion.

"Senator Fabius, is there anything else you want? Our Shaofu will do its best to meet Rome's needs." Liu Heng asked with a smile after reading the document.

It records the second-hand machines that Fabius bought in the Han Dynasty, with a total value of more than 70 billion coins. This is a big deal for the Shaofu, not to mention that the machines that Fabius bought were those that the Shaofu wanted to eliminate. Originally, they could only be sold as scrap metal, but now the Shaofu has recovered 30 billion losses. This money is the main expenditure of the Shaofu to place craftsmen. It is also with this money that the Shaofu can place craftsmen and eliminate backward production capacity so smoothly. After all, % of the things in this world can be solved with money. Moreover, Fabius still has an order of billion in his hand. Liu Heng will naturally pay attention to such a big customer.

Fabius said: "We still have 30 billion in our hands, and we want to use this money to buy some rails."

If you want to get rich, you have to build roads first. Fabius and others also knew this. They were building railways before the war. Now that the war is over, they are building railways even faster. However, Rome's steel production capacity is only 20 tons, of which only 10 tons can be allocated to building railways. This is naturally far from meeting the needs of the Romans. Although the Han Dynasty is far away from Rome, the price of Han iron is cheaper than that of Xiongnu iron and Indian iron. Therefore, he also has the mission of purchasing rails when he comes to the Han Dynasty this time.

Liu Heng said: "If you don't mind, we in the Han Dynasty have a batch of second-hand rails for replacement, and the price is only one-third of the new rails."

Fabius said happily: "If there is really only one-third of the new rails, we in Rome will order 30 billion coins of old rails."

The price of pig iron in Rome was 10 cents per pound, while in Han China it was roughly 3 cents. The old rails were only one-third of the price, that is, 1 cent per pound of pig iron, which was only one-tenth the price of Roman pig iron. The 30 billion coins he had could be used to buy Han Chinese rails to build ten times as many railways.

Liu Hengxi said happily: "We, the Shaofu, guarantee to provide enough rails for Senator Fabius."

Then he said, "My Han Dynasty is planning to hold an international exposition to bring together specialties from all over the world and find buyers and sellers. Senator Fabius can bring Roman specialties to the Han Dynasty for exhibition. Maybe there will be some unexpected gains."

Fabius was extremely surprised to hear the news. If Roman products could enter the Han market, Rome’s foreign exchange would not be so tight.

Build government offices and meeting rooms.

"Yuan Zaoyang, please save our Luoyang City." Sanchuan County Magistrate Zhuo Hong immediately saluted when he saw Yuan Ang.

Yuan Ang immediately helped Zhuo Hong up and said, "You are my senior, I don't deserve your gift."

Zhuo Hong, the governor of Sanchuan County, said: "You deserve it, you deserve it. The one who is more accomplished comes first. You are now my superior."

Then he said with a bitter face: "You also know the development of Sanchuan County in the past few years. It is far behind Kuaiji County and Chen County, let alone Neishi. Later, Linzi County also caught up. It was only in recent years, with the support of the former prime minister, that it finally showed some signs of revival. But with this cut from the court, the ten years of work of Sanchuan County will be destroyed in an instant."

This time, the Sanchuan County Magistrate Zhuo Hong was the most miserable. While other places in the Han Dynasty were still prosperous, a small-scale economic crisis broke out in Sanchuan County. This time he asked the court for help.

Yuan Ang shook his head and said, "The court's policy must be implemented. You are also a master craftsman, so you naturally understand that it is the court's fundamental national policy to allow craftsmen to receive salaries. The median house rental price in Sanchuan County in recent years has exceeded 4% of the craftsmen's salary. The house rental price in Luoyang is more expensive than that in Chang'an. A large number of craftsmen can only rent houses with 8 people. The people in Luoyang no longer rely on working to make a living, but have begun to become rentiers. Sanchuan County has gone astray. If you don't reform to meet the court's requirements, the court will not rescue Sanchuan County, and I cannot change this."

The development of Sanchuan County has not been very smooth in recent years. Its steel industry is not as good as that of Chen County, Guanzhong, and Nanyang County. Now it has been surpassed by emerging steel centers such as Kuaiji County and Linzi County. Sanchuan County was also affected by the trend of maritime transportation. The Han Dynasty began to replace sailing ships with steam ships. The number and speed of maritime trade were growing rapidly, and transportation costs were reduced exponentially.

The greatest impact has been on coastal counties such as Kuaiji and Linzi. In the past, these counties had to transport coal and steel from the Central Plains to smelt iron, which had high operating costs and naturally made it difficult for the steel industry to develop. But now steamships have reduced freight and time by more than ten times. High-quality iron ore from India and Southeast Asia can be transported to the coastal counties of the Han Dynasty at relatively low prices. South Korea also has high-quality anthracite, which not only reduces fuel costs, but also greatly improves the quality of steel.

As a result of this series of factors, the cost of iron-smelting in Kuaiji County and Linzi County dropped rapidly, and the scale of iron-smelting increased rapidly. In addition, the two local government offices made extensive use of new technologies to reduce the cost of iron-smelting. In more than ten years, the scale of steel production increased tenfold, making it the new steel center of the Han Dynasty.

However, due to the suppression of Kuaiji County and Linzi County, especially Linzi County, Sanchuan County's northern steel market was largely encroached upon, and profits fell sharply. As a result, although the past ten years were a period of great development for the Han Dynasty's steel industry, other steel centers expanded their production capacity by more than ten times. Sanchuan County's steel production capacity increased threefold, but profits increased by less than 30%. Sanchuan County's steel market was greatly compressed, and Sanchuan County's other pillar, the horse-drawn carriage market, also began to decline. The Han Dynasty began to mass-produce tractors, as well as other steam trucks and steam railcars. These machines began to replace old horse-drawn carriages in large numbers.

Now in Sanchuan County, only the textile and clothing industries are in the leading position in the Han Dynasty. Luoyang Fashion Week has become the business card of Sanchuan County, and high-end clothing has begun to become the pillar industry of Sanchuan County. However, it is difficult to support the current development of Sanchuan County by relying solely on the clothing industry.

Sanchuan County seemed to have difficulty in development, but in fact, these ten years were the fastest-growing ten years for it, because when Chen Rui was the prime minister, he had been the governor of Sanchuan County for ten years, and he had a deep friendship with Luoyang, so during the ten years as prime minister, Chen Rui approved a lot of land for Sanchuan County, and the first county in the Han Dynasty with real estate as its pillar industry was unexpectedly born. At that time, the land transfer tax was divided 50-50 according to the agreement between the court and the local government, and even the 50% divided by the court was mostly left for local construction, and a small part was transferred to other counties for infrastructure construction. Therefore, during the ten years when Chen Rui was the prime minister, although Sanchuan County had some problems in the manufacturing industry, because of the support of the construction industry, with Luoyang as the center, the entire Sanchuan County was demolished and rebuilt, and the backward city blocks were built into new communities, new schools, medical clinics, large football stadiums, large theaters, new department stores, pedestrian streets, and other infrastructure began to appear in Luoyang City.

Even because of Luoyang's cultural and political attributes, a large number of wealthy businessmen built mansions in Luoyang City. The Han officials of Sanchuan County even did not let go of the imperial palace in Luoyang City. They built a number of top-notch mansions around the Luoyang Imperial Palace, promoting the idea that they were neighbors with the emperor. Such mansions were very popular. Even though each of these mansions cost hundreds of millions, there were still wealthy businessmen willing to buy them.

Relying on the construction industry, Luoyang's furniture, decoration, cement, brick kiln, ceramics and other industries have developed rapidly. Relying on the construction industry, the economic development of Sanchuan County has developed rapidly like a chicken blood. The first ten years can even be said to be the golden development period of Sanchuan County. The momentum of development has quickly caught up with the four first-tier counties, and even opened up a huge gap with the second-tier evergreen Shu County. Sanchuan County is showing signs of becoming a first-tier county again.

But construction is both the cause of success and failure. All this happened with the retirement of Prime Minister Chen Rui. The court tried out property tax in Sanchuan County at the beginning of this year, and the construction industry in Sanchuan County began to collapse.

Because according to the property tax implemented by the court, the maximum value of the house is 100 square meters per capita. If it exceeds this number, a tax of 200/500 of the house value will be levied. If it exceeds square meters, a tax of % will be levied. If it exceeds square meters, a tax of % will be levied. If it exceeds square meters, a tax of % will be levied.

The property taxes collected by the court were used to supplement pensions. Originally, this was not specifically aimed at Sanchuan County. Xu Aimin just wanted to create a tax to fill the gap in the Han Dynasty's pension system. This was also the tradition of the Han Dynasty, to take from the rich and give to the poor, using the money of wealthy businessmen to make up for the shortfalls of the people.

But it accidentally hit the artery of Sanchuan County, because in the core area of ​​Luoyang, there was no house with an average area of ​​less than 1,000 square meters per person, and these houses were worth hundreds of millions, 200 million, or even 300 million yuan.

According to the new property tax of the Han Dynasty, they have to pay at least 300 million yuan a year, and at most more than million yuan. Although the wealthy businessmen of the Han Dynasty are rich, they are not fools. They can afford to pay this tax once, but if they pay it every year, this expensive house is their private property, but it is no different from renting it. Living in it for to years is equivalent to buying a new house. They might as well live in the Royal Hotel of the Han Dynasty, which is not only more luxurious, but also cheaper.

Therefore, under the influence of property tax, the prices of core residential houses in Luoyang collapsed, and then spread to high-end courtyard houses and medium-sized residential communities. In an instant, a construction collapse like that in Danzhou was born. The prices of core residential houses in Luoyang dropped by more than half, and the prices of other high-end courtyard houses and residential communities also generally dropped by 30%. Then, the furniture decoration, newly built residential communities, and even the most basic cement, porcelain, and brick industries in Luoyang City were affected. An unknown number of people went bankrupt, and a large number of laborers returned home, which led to the collapse of the rental market. In short, the economic order of the entire Sanchuan County collapsed completely.

Zhuo Hong, the governor of Sanchuan County, came to Chang'an this time to redeem all of this. He said unwillingly: "The property tax collected by the court in Sanchuan County is only a little over 800 million, but the impact on the construction industry in Sanchuan County has caused losses of more than billion yuan. The court is not picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons. Please suspend the implementation of the property tax."

Yuan Ang said calmly: "Mr. Zhuo, the emperor thinks that the property tax is very good. Next year, he plans to expand the pilot program to Neishi County, Linzi County, Chen County, and Kuaiji County. If the pilot program is successful in these four counties, it will be fully rolled out throughout the Han Dynasty."

If it weren't for the real estate crash, Xu Aimin wouldn't have known that the price of houses in Luoyang City was several times more expensive than that in Chang'an City, and the price of renting a house was twice as expensive as that in Chang'an City.

From the information obtained above, it can be seen that due to the high housing prices in Luoyang City, all industries except those related to real estate have withdrawn from the territory of Sanchuan County. The wealth created by craftsmen is concentrated in the hands of a few powerful people. The concept of technology and labor as the foundation that the Han Dynasty has advocated for fifty years has been completely corroded in Luoyang City. Materialism is rampant in Luoyang City, and the so-called landlords in Luoyang City have become the most respected people.

This scene made Xu Aimin extremely fearful. In his opinion, the city of Luoyang was already in chaos. If this situation happened everywhere in the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty would have no chance of building a harmonious world. The old world ruled by aristocrats and powerful people since the Xia, Shang, Zhou and Qin dynasties would reappear.

Therefore, the collapse of Sanchuan County's construction industry was something Xu Aimin was keen to see. As for the loss of 800 billion yuan, those were the losses of nobles and wealthy businessmen, and those rentier landlords. It had little to do with the Han Dynasty. Losses were losses. It was even because of the impact of property tax on these nobles and wealthy businessmen that Xu Aimin accelerated the expansion of pilot counties.

Yuan Ang had been the Minister of the Chancellery for several years, so he naturally understood the emperor's intentions. He knew that the emperor wanted to use Sanchuan County to make an example of someone to warn the nobles and powerful people of the Han Dynasty not to shake the Han Dynasty's fundamental national policy of industry. Anyone who dared to shake it would be attacked by the court.

Zhuo Hong could only leave disappointed.

After Zhuo Hong left, the two middle-aged men, who looked a little tired, bowed to Yuan Ang and said, "Your subordinates are here to see the construction."

Yuan Ang smiled and helped the two men up, saying, "Please stand up quickly. The Yangtze River Nanjun section of the embankment has been completed, and the new flood discharge area of ​​the Yellow River has been built. You can be said to be our great contributors. This year, half of the credit for the construction was established by you."

The great contributors Yuan Ang mentioned were Li Ze and Zheng Tao. They served as the Nandu Water Conservancy Supervisor and Beidu Water Conservancy Supervisor, both of whom were paid 2000 shi each. They came from famous water conservancy families in the Han Dynasty. One was from the Li family who presided over the construction of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, and the other was from the Zheng family who built the Zhengguo Canal. Their current responsibilities are, one is responsible for building the Yangtze River embankment, and the other is responsible for repairing the Yellow River embankment.

Although the two were Yuan Ang's subordinates, Yuan Ang did not dare to underestimate them and the families behind them, because in terms of family, Yuan Ang was far inferior to the families behind Li Ze and Zheng Tao. The Han Dynasty attached great importance to technology industries, and families with special skills had good development in the Han Dynasty.

In those days, the Han Dynasty purged all the families of the Former Qin Dynasty, but the Li family who built the Dujiangyan Irrigation System and the Zheng family who built the Zhengguo Canal were the only ones that were not purged. Instead, these two families developed better in the Han Dynasty. The children of the Li and Zheng families served as high-ranking officials in the Han Dynasty and built a large number of water conservancy facilities, bridges, canals and other infrastructure. Both families successively produced a false prime minister, and many of them served as high-ranking officials of the rank of two thousand stones. There were also several people who were awarded titles for their merits. The status of the Li and Zheng families in the Han Dynasty was even higher than that of ordinary founding heroes.

For example, Li Ze's uncle Li Kang was in charge of repairing the Yangtze River waterway and developed the gunpowder blasting method. During the dry season, he blew up several huge rocks in the middle of the river in Jiangzhou, making the entire Jiangzhou waterway safe and the number of ship capsizing rapidly reduced. Li Kang was therefore awarded the title of Viscount.

Zheng Tao's father, Zheng Feng, presided over the construction of the Northern Canal, which connected the entire Central Plains, Jianghuai, and Yangtze River regions, benefiting the entire Central Plains economy and driving the development of the entire northern economy. Zheng Feng died of overwork during his term of office, so the court posthumously conferred the title of Earl on Zheng Feng, and the emperor also conferred the title of Yingshui River Earl on Zheng Feng.

This incident caused a sensation in the entire Han Dynasty. People of that era were more fond of fame. The identity of He Bo would not only allow Zheng Feng to go down in history, but also allow him to enjoy incense and offerings, which for the Han people was more glorious than being conferred a title.

The Li family and the Zheng family are the horse bones of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty uses these two families as examples to tell the heroes of the world that if they want to be recorded in history and enjoy the worship of incense and offerings, they should learn the skills well. As long as they make achievements that benefit the world, they can not only gain fame and fortune, but also be recorded in history, become gods, and enjoy the worship of incense and offerings.

The Han nobles were indeed influenced by this trend. The princes and nobles sent their children to Mozi College, Agricultural College, Luban College and other institutions. They did not think that learning these skills was a sign of lack of ambition, but rather that it was the foundation of a family or even a clan. The Han nobles and officials were also willing to marry the master craftsmen, and even the master craftsmen themselves would be granted the title of nobility.

(End of this chapter)