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

Chapter 660: The Rise of New Powers and Paradox Template

On September 51, the 9st year of the Han calendar, at the World Expo construction site outside Chang'an City.

The emperor ordered Chen Mai to inspect the construction site, accompanied by Zhang Yang, the magistrate of Chang'an, and Liu Yun, the magistrate of Chang'an County.

Chen Mai, wearing a rattan hat on his head, looked at the busy craftsmen and the construction site where the foundation had been built and said, "The project has not been delayed, right?"

Zhang Yang, the commander of Chang'an, replied: "The construction of the World Expo venues is proceeding according to the schedule. By this time next year, the Expo venues will be ready."

Chen Mai nodded with satisfaction and said, "This project is the top priority for Chang'an in the next year. You must supervise it at all times."

Chang'an County Magistrate Liu Yun said: "I will come here to inspect every day and will not delay the construction period."

The two were Chen Mai's confidants. Chen Mai explained to them clearly the causes and consequences of building the World Expo venue, so Zhang Yang and Liu Yun understood that this World Expo was the cornerstone for the Son of Heaven to become the emperor of the world. The Han Dynasty needed monarch envoys from all over the world who would submit to the Son of Heaven when they saw this building.

Therefore, Chen Mai's concept of designing the venue of the World Expo is to be extremely magnificent and unparalleled. The venue is not only extremely large in area, but also has 20 floors and a height of 99 meters. At the same time, all of the Han Dynasty's top technologies are used in this building. For example, the exterior of the Expo venue will adopt a full glass wall to enhance the lighting, and the interior will also be installed with the Han Dynasty's new electric lights, elevators, central air conditioning, heating and other high-tech technologies. It can be said that the venue of the World Expo is a spectacular building.

When Chen Mai showed Xu Aimin the design drawings of the World Expo, Xu Aimin really liked them. He just asked worriedly, "Can the Han Dynasty build such a tall building?"

Chen Mai said: "Your Majesty, rest assured. My Han Dynasty already has many ten-story buildings. Although the number of floors at the World Expo has doubled, the Mozi Academy developed a reinforced concrete structure more than a decade ago that can support such a tall building."

After the birth of cement, a relatively cheap building material (compared to the previous practice of felling centuries-old giant trees in the deep mountains and forests and transporting them to Chang'an City thousands of miles away, which required huge manpower and material resources, cement pillars are not only strong, but also hundreds of times cheaper), the Han Dynasty had more and more high-rise buildings, and the Han Dynasty's construction craftsmen had long developed bamboo reinforcement cement structures, so the Han Dynasty's high-rise buildings quickly climbed to a height of dozens of meters. The World Expo venue was the tallest building in the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty's engineers were worried about the building structure, so they thought of replacing bamboo reinforcement with steel bars.

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and said, "I also plan to repair and beautify Chang'an City's infrastructure, but the cost is a bit high and Chang'an City's finances are insufficient."

Chen Mai pondered and said, "I will help you fight for this year's budget, but you also have to spend the money on practical things. The construction team will go to the Mo family."

Zhang Yang said awkwardly: "I understand."

The engineering industry like this is very complicated and the profits are very high. In addition, it is a semi-gray and semi-white industry with high profits and low risks. It is generally a big cake for local giants.

It has been fifty years since the founding of the Han Dynasty. New aristocratic families and powerful families have been re-established. Because of the Han Dynasty's feudal system, hundreds of princes were enfeoffed overseas. Although the nobles have influence on the Han Dynasty, they are not strong.

However, the local powerful families of the Han Dynasty were re-established relying on the Han official system. These families had survived several rounds of purges during the founding of the Han Dynasty, and had roughly figured out the bottom line of the Han court. One was that they could not annex land. This was a red line. Even if the veteran families of the Han Dynasty dared to touch it, they would suffer the fate of purge.

Second, they must not oppress or harm the people. Han officials who dared to act so arrogantly were basically caught and beheaded by the court judge.

The establishment of the Han Dynasty was because those Qin officials were cruel and harmful to the people, and the officials forced the people to rebel, so this was another red line for the Han Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty's court judges and the Imperial Censorate conducted strict inspections of the local areas every year. There was even a suggestion box in Chang'an City that led directly to the emperor, and reporters from local daily newspapers investigated such matters. Every year, many Han officials were arrested for harming the people, and they were basically punished severely.

The three groups are very strict in cracking down on corruption. Once caught by the Imperial Censorate, the entire family will basically be exiled to the New World, Nanzhou Continent, and Yanzhou Continent.

Moreover, the Han officials discovered that the imperial court seemed to be planning to use them to fill the three continents, and was very strict in catching corrupt officials. Almost every year, tens of thousands of Han officials were arrested. This was because the Han Dynasty entered the industrial age, and the increase in the number of Han officials diluted everyone's feelings. If this were in the feudal era, it would be equivalent to the Han Dynasty creating one of the four major cases of the early Ming Dynasty every year.

Because so many corrupt officials were arrested, corruption among Han officials was much more covert and they did not dare to be as blatant as they were during the Qin Dynasty.

However, the court generally would not interfere in establishing factories and developing industries as long as they did not excessively harm the public interest for personal gain. This was mainly because the energy of the Supreme Court and the Imperial Censorate was limited, and 80% of their energy was used to target the Han officials who had a lower standard.

Over the past 50 years, new industries have continued to emerge in the Han Dynasty, from the initial textile industry to the later steel industry, and then to the machinery industry. Profitable industries have continued to rise, but these industries have certain technical and management thresholds, which are naturally dozens of times higher than the previous thresholds for collecting rent. The risks for emerging powerful families to move into these industries are relatively large. After all, even the factories of the Shaofu will go bankrupt, let alone the factories opened by their family members.

But soon these powerful families found an industry that suited them. That was the local infrastructure industry such as cement, brick kilns, and construction. The construction industry was closely connected with government offices, and many Han officials in charge could decide which engineering team and which infrastructure materials to use. This industry, which required a high level of relationships, became an industry with a high concentration of Han official families.

In the 50 years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the proportion of urban population has increased from less than 10% to nearly 50% today. During these 50 years, to million farmers have flocked to cities, which is almost tens of millions of families. These families need houses to live in, furniture for living and various daily necessities.

Therefore, the construction industry and sand and gravel mining industry of the Han Dynasty also prospered for the past fifty years. Although it could not be said to be extremely rich, the profits were always relatively high and stable, so these industries have always been controlled by local county tyrants.

Zhang Yang was originally a minor official. He missed the opportunity to make achievements during the founding period of the Han Dynasty and lost a chance for his family to advance. But he was lucky to have worked as a colleague with Xu Aimin for several years and also guided Xu Aimin in government affairs. As a result, he was able to make the leap and first followed Xu Aimin to the Yinzhou Governor's Office as a minor official for ten years. Then he was transferred back to the Han Dynasty to accumulate qualifications as a county magistrate. Five years ago, he was promoted to Chang'an Magistrate. Although he was a county magistrate, Zhang Yang officially stepped into the 2000-shi official position and became one of the high-ranking officials of the Han Dynasty.

For the Zhang family, Zhang Yang unexpectedly rose to become a high-ranking official with a salary of 2000 shi, which was like smoke rising from the ancestral tomb. Zhang clansmen all moved closer to Zhang Yang, and Zhang Yang also helped his clansmen within the scope allowed by the law, helping them to get some projects to make some money. One person getting all his family members to rise is also a feature of this era. Originally, even the poor family was not considered a Zhang family, but because of Zhang Yang's existence, they became new powerful families. But it does not mean that there are no hidden dangers. After all, doing so is a violation of power for personal gain.

Chen Mai continued, "You are now the governor of Chang'an with a salary of 2000 shi. We all suffered under the emperor in Yinzhou. The emperor knows you. As long as you work hard in Chang'an City and make remarkable achievements, it will not be difficult for you to become the governor of a large county or even a minister. But if your family continues to drag you down like this, I may have to go to the New World to see you in the future."

At this point Chen Mai even felt a little disappointed. To be a Han official in the Han Dynasty, the moral requirements were very high, not only higher than those of the Qin officials back then, but also higher than those of ordinary people in the Han Dynasty.

If it was an ordinary Han official with no future, and they tried to gain some benefits for their family, the court would generally turn a blind eye as long as it was not too excessive. However, for high-ranking officials like county magistrates and prefects, not only should they not do such things, they should even take the initiative to avoid suspicion. After all, such behavior itself is giving others a handle.

There were only more than seventy county governors in the Han Dynasty, and together with other high-ranking officials of the rank of two thousand stones, there were less than two hundred. However, there were fifteen hundred county magistrates of the rank of one thousand stones, and together with the high-ranking officials of the rank of one thousand stones, there might be close to ten thousand people. With dozens of people competing for one position, the competition would be even more intense when it came to the Nine Ministers.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Nine Ministers are the leadership of the Han Dynasty. For high-ranking officials of this level, the Han Dynasty not only values ​​political achievements but also moral character. The most important thing is that abusing power for personal gain is a major stain.

Zhang Yang and his men thought they were being covert in this matter, but the imperial court knew it clearly. All they had to do was check which local powerful families had risen and who among them was serving as an official in the imperial court to understand their background.

Zhang Yang said with a hint of fear: "I understand Chen Shangji's teachings. I will ask the family members to do things honestly and be down-to-earth."

When Chen Mai was inspecting the construction site, a Han official approached him and said, "Shangji Ling, the emperor has come to the Shangji Office. Please return to the office as soon as possible."

Chen Mai immediately rode back to the accounting office. At this time, all the Han officials in the accounting office were extremely busy. They had to jog to save time. They even recruited temporary workers from Chang'an Mathematics College, Mozi College, Agricultural College and other schools to help with statistics. They had to work overtime until ten o'clock and could only sleep in the accounting office at night. There was no other way. Every year, the accounting period was their busiest time. Faced with the massive amount of data from the entire Han Dynasty, they could only barely count it with one person working as three people.

During the Qin Dynasty, successive Qin kings attached great importance to household registration and land registration. The Qin Dynasty established the most complete household registration, land registration, arsenal data, data on the number of soldiers that could be recruited, and other data in the feudal era. In order to conduct a total war, it was necessary to have a very accurate grasp of these data. The Qin Dynasty can be said to be the dynasty that attached the most importance to data in the 2000 years of feudal era.

After the founding of the Han Dynasty, Xu Fan paid more attention to household registration and other data. After all, he came from the era of big data, and almost all data was counted in Xu Fan's era. So Xu Fan established the Shangji Department, and at the same time expanded the data that the Han Dynasty needed to count. This not only expanded the Shangji Department to local counties, but also increased the statistical data items, from household registration population and fields to statistics of staple crops such as wheat, rice, sorghum, and soybeans, cash crops such as mulberry, sugarcane, and tobacco, as well as coal, steel, machinery factories, craftsmen, master craftsmen, etc. It can be said to be all-encompassing, and as the Han Dynasty's calculation ability increased, the data to be counted by the Shangji Department also increased.

Even when the emperor came to the accounting office, the Han officials here did not entertain him too much, but were busy with their own affairs.

Chen Mai arrived at the Shangji Hall and bowed, saying, "Shangji ordered Chen Mai to see Your Majesty."

Xu Aimin said casually: "No need to be so polite."

Then he looked at the giant sand table inside with great interest. Dozens of counties and towns under the Han Dynasty were marked on it. Above these counties, there were their own models, including gold coin models representing taxes, small human models representing the population, and factory models representing industrial zones. It was quite a bit like the style of later Paradox.

Following the emperor came Zhang Pijiang and a hero that surprised Chen Mai a little, as heroes rarely came to Chang'an City nowadays.

Xu Aimin looked at the sand table and smiled, "Looking at this sand table can give me a more intuitive understanding of the Han situation than listening to the memorials."

The hero looked at the model of the little man in Chang'an City curiously and asked, "What does this little man represent?"

Chen Maidao said: "One villain represents 100 million people, and three villains in Chang'an City represent 300 million people."

The hero was surprised and said, "Then I don't even have two villains in Britain."

Then he saw a model of an iron block and said, "This represents steel. Judging from the scale, Chen County has the highest steel production capacity."

Chen Mai nodded and said, "The large iron block model represents 100 million tons, the medium-sized model represents 10 tons, and the small model represents 1 tons. Chen County's steel production capacity reached 583 million tons last year, which is close to 3% of Dahan's annual production capacity."

Yingxiong looked at a white cloth model and said, "Is this the cotton cloth production capacity? Chang'an actually has the highest production capacity?"

Chen Maidao said: "Chang'an City now produces more than 1000 million pieces of cotton cloth a year."

The hero saw that Chang'an City was piled with models representing various substances, and he said admiringly: "Pijiang, you are really amazing. This Neishi County has almost all the specialties, and they are all top-notch."

Zhang Pijiang immediately said, "This is a good foundation laid by Amai. I have been the Minister of Internal Affairs for only a little over a year."

Zhang Pijiang could sense a hint of hostility from Chen Mai towards him, and he quickly understood where this hostility came from. The competition between the two for the position of Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty had begun since the change of term last year, when he became the Minister of Internal Affairs. This made Zhang Pijiang very helpless, but he would not back down. After all, he also had his own political ambitions, and it would be difficult for him to refuse the position of ruling the world.

Then Chen Mai pointed in the direction of the Western Regions and said, "This is mainly due to the large-scale expansion of cotton fields in the Western Regions. Now the cotton fields in the vassal states of the Western Regions exceed tens of millions of acres, and 800 million bales of high-quality cotton are transported to the Han Dynasty every year. These cottons are processed into cotton cloth, cotton clothes, cotton quilts, cotton ropes and other cotton textiles."

After Chen Mai's one by one introduction, Yingxiong quickly understood how to understand the sand table data. He looked at the data representing crops such as rice, wheat, sugar, rubber, tobacco, and industrial products such as steel, tractors, steam engines, and other industrial products. The various specialties of the Han Dynasty were clearly visible.

Although these models may seem simple, they are the result of 50 years of data accumulation by Dahan, which has resulted in such simple and clear models today.

Xu Aimin smiled and said, "Every time I look at this sand table, I feel like I have the Han Dynasty under my control. Hero, you should also promote it in England. This will be of great help in governing the country."

The hero smiled and said, "My country is small, with few people and few cities. We don't need a magical tool like yours to govern the country."

Xu Aimin looked at Chen Mai and said, "Are you off work yet? It's not easy for the hero to come to Chang'an, so let's get together as brothers."

Chen Mai could only smile bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, you know that during this period, we are the busiest at the moment, and one person has to do the work of three people."

At this time, Zhang Pijiang felt the same way and said, "The affairs of the Nei Shi Mansion are also extremely complicated, but I was still pulled here by the emperor."

At this time every year, the Han Dynasty's meeting of plans, the meeting of sages, and the meeting of princes open, and this period is also the busiest time for the internal historians. They have to arrange the daily life of the county governors who come to Chang'an, the safety of the sages, and the security of the princes from all over the country.

Especially in recent years, there are more and more princes' children who like to join in the fun, and they also like to come to Chang'an City during the princes' conference. These princes' children are rampant in the local area, and they are not good at their behavior when they come to Chang'an City, often causing chaos, and the internal history office has to suppress these princes' children with force.

Xu Aimin said, "I'll give you a proposal to increase your budget. I'll let you buy four more computers next year. Government affairs are endless, but heroes rarely come to Chang'an City."

After saying that, Xu Aimin took Chen Mai away from the accounting office, and they went to the Jin Yu Man Tang restaurant, which they often went to when they were young. They ordered a table of wine and food, and then began to recall the funny things they did when they were young.

Chen Mai said, "When we went to the countryside of Shangjun, Yingxiong was the one who ate the most. He loved meat and almost ate all the chickens and ducks in the village. He also set his eyes on Master Wu's chickens and ducklings. His eyes lit up when he saw them. At that time, Master Wu specifically told me to keep an eye on Yingxiong."

Zhang Pijiang also laughed and said, "We suffered a lot under Master Wu's command. This is the first time I have seen such a poor place in the Han Dynasty."

Yingxiong looked at Xu Aimin and said, "Your Majesty, you look much older. To borrow a phrase you just said, there is no end to government affairs. You should take care of yourself."

The ages of Xu Aimin and the other three are not much different, but Xu Aimin looks the oldest, and seems to be a dozen years older than the youngest hero. Chen Mai and Zhang Pijiang are in good condition for their age, but in good spirits. Only the hero is in the best mental state. When they walk together, it can be obviously seen that the hero is younger.

Xu Aimin looked at the middle-aged hero and smiled bitterly: "I have no choice. My father handed over the prosperity of the Han Dynasty to me. I must continue this prosperity. My talent is not as good as my father's, so I can only work several times harder."

(End of this chapter)