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

Chapter 697: The Problem of Relocation and the Tobacco War

Liu Heng looked at his Liu Qi seriously and asked, "What do you think?"

Liu Qi said: "Rather than wasting time in the Han Dynasty, I want to go to India to develop my career."

The second generation all knew the unspoken rules of the Han Dynasty. If their fathers did not retire, they would not be able to break through the two thousand stone mark. He had been a county magistrate for five years, but even with outstanding political achievements, he could only be a factory director, a professor in an academy, or continue to be a county magistrate in another place. If he wanted to become a prefect, his father had to retire.

But his father was preparing to attack the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, and it was impossible for him to do such an unfilial thing for his future. He had originally planned to seek a position as a factory director.

But an incident three months ago changed his mind. His superior, Xihai prefect Shi Fen, wrote to the court to retire and return home, and the court agreed. Less than half a month later, his roommate Shi Jian was transferred to Sanchuan County as the Luoyang magistrate with a salary of 2,000 stones.

This incident changed his mind. When Dong Zhongshu came to the Academy of Political Science to recruit them to go to India, Liu Qi decided to go to India.

Liu Heng nodded and said, "Going to Tianzhu is not bad either. They need young people like you to build a harmonious world."

Liu Heng approved of the unspoken rules of the Han court, even if it affected the development of the Liu family. If the descendants of meritorious officials were not prevented from entering the Han officialdom, how could those outstanding representatives from the people come to power? And if the court did not have the common people at the bottom to become Han officials, how could the citizens of the Han Dynasty protect their rights? What qualifications did the Han Dynasty have to say that it was building a world of great harmony?

After talking about Liu Qi, Chen Wu asked with a hint of nervousness on his face, "The court has suddenly increased the punishment on us princes. Is it going to reduce the power of the vassal states?"

Chen Wu was terrified for a whole day. The imperial court eliminated three kingdoms at once, which was an unprecedented move. Especially since the content of Jia Yi's memorial had begun to spread, all the princes of the Han Dynasty knew about it.

Chen Wu and other princes all hated Jia Yi to the core. Their current wealthy life depended on their own vassal states and aristocratic status in the Han Dynasty. If the imperial court was ready to point the knife at them, with the current strength of the court, Chen Wu would not dare to rebel. But if he did nothing, he would be waiting to die. He could only ask his father-in-law, the emperor, what he thought.

Liu Heng frowned and said sternly, even with a hint of scolding, "This matter has nothing to do with your Tangyi Marquisate. Just focus on developing your shipping company."

Liu Heng was the Minister of the Imperial Household, and he had a better understanding of the economic situation in all parts of the Han Dynasty. To be honest, he had never thought that the potential of Jiangnan was so huge. The speed of development in recent years had even exceeded that of the Central Plains. Even in the Han Dynasty, only Guanzhong and Jianghuai were richer than Jiangnan. So he understood that the emperor had the idea of ​​transferring the fiefs of the princes in Jiangnan, turning Jiangnan into the Han Dynasty, consolidating the foundation and strengthening the power of the court.

He also approved of the court's act of absorbing Jiangnan as the Han homeland. Now the Han Dynasty's system of princes is built on the basis of the strength of the local area. Faced with increasingly powerful vassal states, the Han homeland also consolidates its foundation and prunes some overly powerful branches.

However, the matter of relocating fiefs cannot be accomplished solely by the imperial court; the consent of the princes is also required. Although according to the "Princes' Etiquette" agreed upon by the imperial court and the princes, the Han Dynasty can also forcibly relocate fiefs, and in the past few decades, the Han Dynasty has also had examples of princes in the desert being relocated to the New World and the South Pacific Islands.

But the reality is that the transfer of princes requires mutual consent. If the princes disagree, even the Han court would not dare to transfer them easily, because for the Han Dynasty, maintaining the existing system of princes is the most important fundamental pillar of the Han Dynasty and the most important interest of the Han Dynasty.

Without the huge system of feudal lords to help the Han Dynasty expand its territory and develop new commodity markets and raw material production areas, the current prosperity of the Han Dynasty would not be possible, and industrialization would not be able to develop so rapidly. The Han Dynasty's current hegemony is based on the huge system of feudal lords, and the court dare not easily shake this system.

If the Han Dynasty forced the relocation of the princes in the south of the Yangtze River, the princes overseas would be in danger, thinking that their developed and wealthy princely states would not be taken away by the court, and they would be afraid of or even hostile to the court. Then the system that the Han Dynasty had built over decades would collapse due to the crisis of trust. This is something that neither the emperor nor the court wants to see. The collapse of the Zhou Dynasty's "Zhou Li" system hundreds of years ago directly led to hundreds of years of chaos, a price that even the emperor dared not bear.

Liu Heng even knew that a few years ago, the emperor had tried to test the Duke of Ying and wanted to transfer him to a wealthy vassal state. The emperor even negotiated with them and was willing to give up the new Jinshan City to show his sincerity, indicating that the court did not want to covet the wealthy vassal states in the south of the Yangtze River, but just wanted to consolidate its foundation.

The Duke of Yingguo was the emperor's childhood friend, so logically speaking, he had the highest chance of success. However, the emperor was rejected by the Duke of Yingguo before he could even finish his words. This showed how difficult it was to transfer the fiefdoms of the princes. The emperor could only change his strategy and cut off the territory of the south of the Yangtze River, bit by bit, in order to incorporate the land of the south of the Yangtze River into the court's homeland.

As for the princes of Liaodong, Mobei, Western Regions and Nanzhong, the imperial court had no idea of ​​incorporating them into its territory. Although these four places were not poor, they were not wealthy either. Incorporating them into the imperial court would only increase the burden, especially in Nanzhong. Even the imperial court was a little intimidated by the terrain. The cost of building infrastructure in such a place was so high that it was unimaginable. For the imperial court, the current economic and trade system was very good.

Liu Heng was a little annoyed at Jia Yi's random memorial. The imperial court had already been gradually annexing the south of the Yangtze River through the method of extending favors. Although this took a longer time, it would not shake the Han Dynasty's system of feudal lords.

But his petition made it clear that the court wanted to annex Jiangnan. After dealing with three vassal states, it caused panic among the vassal states. Even he, the son-in-law with no ambition, began to panic. It can be seen that the vassal states of the Han Dynasty were still very disgusted with the transfer of fiefdoms.

"I understand." After being scolded by his father-in-law, Chen Wu felt relieved.

It seems that the court only wants to take action against the princes in the south of the Yangtze River and looks down on Liaodong. It's not a bad thing that the Tangyi Marquisate can still be retained. Even though Chen Wu now has a huge shipping company, and its income is almost more than the annual income of the Tangyi Marquisate, he also understands that he is not an outstanding business genius. Three points of his current achievements are due to the prestige of the Tangyi Marquisate, four points are due to the prestige of his father-in-law, and the rest is the result of his own efforts. Without the identity of the son of Tangyi Marquis, the shipping company might not even be able to reach half of its current scale.

Liu Heng looked at his son-in-law and said, "Tangyi Marquisate and the Han Dynasty share the same fate. Before you do anything, you should first think about whether it is beneficial to the court and the people of the Han Dynasty. As long as you can do these two things, the court will not treat you unfairly."

"I will follow your instructions!"

June 55, 10th year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City.

Chen Lei returned to his residence in a new car, looking tired.

The Han Dynasty's system of princes is becoming increasingly large. Prime Minister Chen Lei now not only has to manage the affairs of hundreds of counties in the Han Dynasty, but also has to manage the affairs between five hundred princes, deal with conflicts between princes, manage economic exchanges, and balance the trade system. One can imagine the huge amount of government affairs involved.

In the past, the connection between the Han Dynasty and the princes was very simple. The Han Dynasty sold industrial products, and the princes' territories sold their local specialties, spices, sandalwood and even special fruits from Southeast Asia, and gold, silver and rubber from the New World.

However, with the in-depth development of the territory, the number of people exporting overseas increased, the market became larger, and the volume of trade became larger. The princes of the Han Dynasty needed more and more industrial products, so they needed to trade more agricultural and sideline products. Therefore, cash crops such as soybeans and cotton began to appear, and the competition among the vassal states became fierce. Except for local specialties, most of the goods of the vassal states were agricultural products with serious homogeneity. The New World wanted the court to order New World silk, and India wanted the court to order their tea, which was a reversal of the Tiangang.

During the meeting of princes, Chen Lei, Chen Mai, and Zhang Pijiang were the busiest. Chen Mai led the accountants to calculate the amount of cash crops needed by the Han Dynasty in a year in order to determine the trade quota. Zhang Pijiang allocated the quota to the various princes and the countries of Daqinzhou according to this demand. Then Chen Lei, the top leader, signed purchase contracts with various countries. For example, in the past few days, Chen Lei signed a contract with the various princes in Mobei to build the Mobei Railway. The court provided money and materials, and the various princes in Mobei provided people and land to build a Mobei railway network connecting the various princes. The first phase of the project is tens of thousands of miles and the construction period is ten years.

Then he signed a livestock purchase agreement with the major vassal states in Mobei. The Han court had to increase the number of cattle and sheep purchased from Mobei from 2000 million to 2700 million per year within five years. The grain purchased at low prices by the vassal states in Mobei increased from 200 million tons to 300 million tons.

These were just the princes in Mobei. He also had to sign a contract with the Liaodong princes to purchase 500 million tons of Liaodong rice per year and a contract to order 1000 million cubic meters of timber.

After that, he had to sign tobacco ordering contracts with the princes in the South. Because the people below were not arranged properly, he also arranged for the princes from the New World to come over.

These new Han officials had no political awareness at all and did not even understand the saying that competitors are enemies. As a result, a vicious incident occurred in which hundreds of representatives of princes fought each other in the Prime Minister's Mansion.

If we were to say which group the Southern Princes hated the most, it would definitely be the Princes of the New World. The two sides were originally far apart, and except for the relationship between the meritorious officials, most people would not even meet each other at the princes' meeting.

But the hatred between the two sides was caused by the alien species, tobacco. The princes of Nanzhong were also the earliest batch of princes of the Han Dynasty, but they were also among the worst-performing princes.

In the early years, Nanzhong was prosperous for a period of time because of the sugar bonus and special products such as tea and tung oil. However, as more and more areas in the Han Dynasty planted sugar, especially with the advancement of the development of Jiangnan, the price of sugar fell to cabbage, and tea gardens were built in the hills of the entire Jiangnan. These two luxury goods quickly became daily consumer goods.

This disrupted the pillar industries of the princes in Nanzhong. Nanzhong is surrounded by mountains, and it is said that there is never three days of clear sky and three feet of flat land. The high cost of building roads is unaffordable even for the Han people. They also want to build some water conservancy facilities, but their landform is karst and it is difficult to store water.

They complained to the court for a long time and even wanted to move their fiefdom to Nanyang and return Nanzhong to the court. However, the cost of ruling Nanzhong was too high, and the Han court was not willing to accept this land surrounded by mountains.

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Later, Xu Fan gave them the license to grow and sell tobacco, and the tobacco grown in Nanzhong was the best. With tobacco as a pillar industry, Nanzhong finally became rich again, especially since the imperial court gave them the license to grow and sell tobacco. Since the Jiangnan region could not grow tobacco, it could not steal their business, which finally made them proud for a few years. The profit of tobacco can be imagined. It is said that it can feed a hegemonic army. This money is enough to feed the princes of Nanzhong, and allow these princes to build infrastructure in Nanzhong.

But they never expected that the princes of the New World were not abiding by the moral code of war. They actually began to import tobacco into the Han Dynasty. At first, there were only a few thousand tons of tobacco, but the amount increased more than ten times in ten years. The tobacco imported into the Han Dynasty exceeded 30 stones. This was not stealing their business.

These princes in the South had all lived a hard life, and they did not want to return to their previous predicament, so they hated tobacco from the New World extremely. They wanted the court to ban the import of tobacco from the New World through their relationships with the court, but they were unsuccessful. As they were all princes of the Han Dynasty, the court had to treat them equally.

Even in terms of importance, the status of the princes in the New World in the imperial court was more than 10 times higher than that of the princes in the South. In the New World, there was the gold and silver needed by the imperial court, fertilizers, industrial raw material rubber, and a wealthy market with a population of 3000 million.

The court's trade with the New World was truly mutually beneficial trade, while the princes in the South could be said to be princes who were supported by the Han Dynasty's opium populists. There is no comparison at all.

But the princes of South China could not bear to see their financial path cut off by the princes of the New World, so they spread rumors that the tobacco of the New World was not grown in the Han native land and was not suitable for the physique of the Han people. Smoking this kind of tobacco could easily cause illness. However, their South China tobacco was grown in the Han native land and was suitable for the physique of the Han people. The princes of South China also advertised in overseas markets such as Southeast Asia, India, and Daqinzhou, saying that if you smoke South China tobacco, you will be a Han Chinese.

It's true that the effect is very significant. These days, the moon in Han is rounder than that outside. Han tobacco is naturally more mellow than that in the New World. Anyone with a little money likes to smoke Nanzhong tobacco, while those who smoke New World tobacco are easily despised. As a result, New World tobacco has been hit not only in Han China, but also in other global markets.

But the merchants in the New World are not without a solution. How can ordinary smokers tell the difference between tobacco from the New World and tobacco from South China? I just say that these tobaccos are produced in South China. I don’t need a reputation, but I must make money.

However, this made the New World princes even more hostile to the South Central princes, and the two sides took the lawsuit directly to the Censor's House. Finally, the then Censor Zhang Hui ruled that the New World princes had damaged the interests of the South Central princes with counterfeit and shoddy tobacco, and they should compensate the South Central princes for the 1 billion losses, and at the same time they were not allowed to counterfeit South Central tobacco.

The New World princes were not satisfied with this judgment. Tobacco clearly came from the New World, but in the end it became a counterfeit product. There were such unreasonable things in the world.

Among the various princes of the Han Dynasty, only the princes of Jiangnan can compete with the princes of the New World in terms of financial strength. The New World has everything, including gold, silver, rubber, fertilizer, and Golden Chicken Cream, which is the best medicine in the world for treating malaria. It is more valuable than gold, and in terms of wealth, the princes of Nanzhong can be said to be beggars. In terms of land area, the princes of Nanzhong are also younger brothers in front of the princes of the New World.

In order to win the tobacco war, the princes of the New World united. They used money to pave the way, placed advertisements in newspapers, bribed writers to justify the reputation of New World tobacco, and bribed scholars to study tobacco history to prove that New World tobacco was the authentic tobacco.

The most fatal blow to Nanzhong Tobacco was the price war among the New World lords. The price of Nanzhong Tobacco was 1000, while that of New World Tobacco was only 500. Most parts of the world are still relatively poor, and the poor always make up the majority. The tobacco in the New World is really only half the price of that in Nanzhong. Everyone sees that the moon in the Han Dynasty doesn't seem to be that round anymore.

The New World lords began to use their size to suppress others. How big is the South China? How many areas can be used to grow tobacco? My New World has two continents, the north and the south, and the area is no smaller than that of the Han mainland. If we take out half of the continent to grow tobacco, it will be enough to crush the South China tobacco.

Thus, a world war began. There were wars between the New World tobacco wars in Daqinzhou and Nanzhong tobacco wars, wars in the Xiongnu Kingdom, wars in India, wars in the Nanyang region, and even more wars in the Han homeland.

Business wars are all about size and money, and in this regard, the princes of the New World can completely despise the princes of South China. So after a fierce business war, South China Tobacco was defeated in the global market. In ten years, almost all overseas markets were seized by New World Tobacco. The fierce competition in the Han market even caused the price of tobacco to drop to cabbage price, and no money was made at all.

The princes of the New World do not have to make money from tobacco, they still have other industries to make money, even if they sell grain or beef they can make money, but the princes of South China have only tobacco as their pillar industry. If they can't make money from tobacco, they will have to eat dirt.

This war also attracted the attention of the imperial court. Although the New World was important to the imperial court, the princes of Nanzhong were also the main force in the development of the southwest direction of the Han Dynasty. The imperial court allowed them to monopolize tobacco in order to develop this barren land. Naturally, it was impossible for the imperial court to watch the princes of the New World really kill the tobacco industry in Nanzhong.

So the then Prime Minister Chen Rui summoned the princes of both sides, and under the persuasion of the Han court, the two sides ceased fighting, with Nanzhong giving up its tobacco share in Youzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou and other places, and New World Tobacco not engaging in price wars in other parts of the world. The two sides agreed on the annual tobacco sales price and divided the territories of both sides. Although neither side was satisfied, the war finally subsided.

Of course, the relationship between the two parties has never eased since then. As a result, the Han official of the Prime Minister's Office invited the two parties to meet in the same meeting room, which was just to make trouble for him. In order to calm this matter down, he was busy for a whole half day.

(End of this chapter)