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

Chapter 153, profits are exciting and the mobilization of the Qin army

Outside Chen County, sugar cane fields.

Xu Fan came to the sugar cane field. The sugar cane in the field was still growing lush and green, but it was much shorter and smaller than the sugar cane in his memory. It was a bit like the green sugar cane in Xu Fan's childhood memory.

Xu Fan broke off a sugar cane and then removed the outer leaves.

"Where do these madmen come from? They dare to touch the things belonging to the King of Han!" an old man shouted loudly.

But soon he saw that the one who broke the sugar cane was the King of Han. Because Xu Fan came here often, he naturally knew Xu Fan. The old man immediately slapped himself in the face to apologize and said with a smile: "Old man, you are talking nonsense. Don't be offended, King Han."

Xu Fan said: "There is nothing to be surprised about. Lao Zhao is also loyal to his duty."

Xu Fan also knew this old man and knew that his name was Zhao Xiang and that his son was also a member of the rebel army. The merchants helped Xu Fan get thousands of acres of sugar cane, but he couldn't stay here forever, so he found some The old farmers around asked them to help take care of the sugar cane fields for the price of 2 shi of grain.

Zhao Xiang said: "Old man, help you clean it up!"

He found a ditch to clean it, then cut off the head and tail with a short knife and handed it to Xu Fan.

Xu Fan broke it into several short pieces and gave them to Zhang Liang, Zhao Xiang and the guards following him.

Then Zhao Xiang chatted with him for a long time about things in the village. For example, Zhao Xiang's family bought a cattle with ramie money, and sold some grain to buy cheap iron farm tools. There was still a little leftover, so Zhao Xiang saved it, planning to build a new tile-roofed house after next autumn's harvest, and then find a wife for his son.

Zhao Xiang also scolded Bao Qin when he heard it: "The King of Han said it well, Qin's officials are all bullshit. They don't see us common people living a good life, so they love to torment people."

Xu Fan immediately stopped Zhao Xiang from kneeling down and said: "This is not brought by me, but the income of your own labor. It's just that the violent Qin plundered the fruits of your labor in the past. The good life you now have is actually what you should have lived long ago."

The First Emperor massacred thousands of people because of a meteorite engraved with Hu, the man who destroyed Qin, and no Qin officials with the spirit of rule of law came to stop him. Thinking about the arrogance and domineering of temporary workers, one can think of the majesty of Bailihou in this era. The prefect who wiped out his family and the county magistrate who destroyed his family are the summary of the common people's wisdom over thousands of years.

After Zhang Liang learned to bite it, he suddenly realized: "It turns out that zhe pulp is made from sugar cane juice."

Xu Fan smiled and bit into the sugar cane. The juice was sweet and he enjoyed the feeling extremely. He felt that this sugar cane was much sweeter than the sugar cane he had eaten before.

Zhang Liang looked at the sugar cane in his hand with some confusion. The logistics cost in this era was extremely high. Even a top nobleman like Zhang Liang had never seen sugar cane, so naturally he didn't know how to eat it.

But it's not all good things. Zhao Xiang also complained to Xu Fan: "Every young man today likes to play with spears. After the autumn harvest, they go to winter training every day, shouting and killing every day, and stabbing each other with a spear. It makes people frightened, and they don’t know how to live a stable life. They can go to the city to find a job and earn more than ten dollars a day.”

Zhao Xiang was not polite to Xu Fan and picked up the sugar cane and ate it.

Zhang Liang said angrily: "If they don't train to fight and kill, we won't have a good life. Old man, do you think the Qin officials left on their own? It was the King of Han who led everyone to beat them away without the protection of the army. The Qin officials will come to squeeze us again, and your good days will disappear."

However, according to Zhao Xiang, the villagers are also full of confidence in the future, because their land this year has also increased to 100 acres. Next year, as long as they spend twice as much effort and double their food production capacity, their families will be better off. It is better that this kind of foreseeable expectation can become the real hope for farmers.

In this era, there should be no cash crop more profitable than growing sugar cane. As long as sugar is squeezed out, the value of thousands of acres of sugar cane can be worth hundreds of thousands of acres of grain production capacity.

After all, there are only a few wealthy households like Zhao Xiang. Most villagers only have 50 acres of land. The problem of food and clothing is solved, but as long as they buy plows, sickles and other farm tools, their families will not have much surplus. These villagers can only buy from their homes. There is no food left, and the family is reduced to four walls.

Xu Fan smiled and said: "Zifang, you only see this piece of sugar cane, but I see a lot of money pouring into our Han country."

Many people have seen the record on Qin slips that even stealing a leaf from another person is still considered stealing and will be punished as theft. They praise the person's spirit of rule of law. But he never thought about whether the Qin official threw the leaf over himself, just to have an excuse to arrest the prisoner.

Then Xu Fan asked Zhao Xiang: "How is the harvest this year?"

Zhao Xiang said happily: "Thanks to the kindness of the King of Han, you have reduced our taxes and exempted us from corvee service. In addition, Shang County Magistrate is a good official and got us such good things as a plow and a waterwheel. This year My family’s 100 acres of land, after deducting taxes, still has 90 shi of rice, and 4 kilograms of ramie was sold for several thousand dollars. To tell you the truth, I have never seen so much money in my life, and I haven’t even had enough to eat this year. A lot."

Xu Fan stopped Zhang Liang and said: "Everyone wants to live a good life, but if you want to live a good life, you must have something in your hands. The purpose of practicing spears now is to drive away Qin officials. In the future, when Bao Qin is destroyed by us, the spears still cannot be released." Come down and if the corrupt officials come to exploit you again, you guys will pick up the spears in your hands and drive them away."

Zhao Xiangcancan was speechless.

Although Zhang Liang had never eaten sugar cane, he had drank zhe pulp. But Zhang Liang still felt strange. No matter how sweet sugar cane is, it can only satisfy the appetite. In this era of great strife, it is not worth wasting thousands of acres of fields and a large number of manpower to grow sugar cane. It is not like the king of Han at all. things that will be done.

Speaking of the excitement, Zhao Xiang knelt down to Xu Fan and said: "Old man has lived for most of his life, and this year is the only time he has lived like a human being. This is all brought by you, the King of Han."

"I have seen the king!" Xu Fan, who had almost finished his sugar cane and had a deep understanding of Zhao Xiang's village, rushed here in a hurry.

Xu Fan smiled and said: "No need to be polite, I know you are a busy man."

The merchant farmer is also a celebrity in Chen County. As the county magistrate of the capital of the Han Dynasty, he does not like to stay in the government office. Instead, he likes to appear in the countryside and communicate with farmers. He will be extremely happy when he gains something, and then he will take it. record it.

And he really likes farming. When inspecting the autumn harvest, he didn't just watch the farmers harvesting and point at them, and he didn't let the farmers pave the ground with loess (naturally, he couldn't put on linen to prevent his official boots from being stained with loess. This This era does not have such conditions).

The commercial farmer went directly to the farmland to help the farmers harvest. The harvest lasted all day without getting tired. After helping the farmers harvest, he came back happily after having a farmer's meal.

He is a true agricultural master, and his various farming techniques are better than those of old farmers. He relies on these farming techniques to guide the agriculture of the entire county. The people of Chen County have great admiration for merchants and farmers. Among dozens of county magistrates in Han Dynasty, merchants and farmers are the most popular farmers. With the highest prestige, farmers all believe in merchant farmers.

Relying on this prestige and the strong handicraft area of ​​Chen County, merchant farmers vigorously promoted curved-column plows and waterwheels throughout Chen County. This is what merchant farmers have the conditions to do, because farmers all believe in a person who is willing to work in the fields for them. The county magistrate.

Farmers were willing to believe what he vigorously promoted, so Chen County had the most plows and waterwheels in the entire Han Dynasty. This year, Chen County's total grain production capacity increased by 2%, which is a very remarkable thing.

Facing such a doer, Xu Fan admired him immensely, and of course he had to give him preferential treatment. Therefore, even if Xu Fan waited for a long time, he would not be angry.

Xu Fan said: "I think this sugar cane is mature, can it be harvested now?

The merchant nodded and said, "Okay."

After thinking about it, the merchant still advised him: "Your Majesty, with such a fertile land, two thousand dan can be harvested from growing grain, but it is a waste to use it to grow wild fruits like sugar cane. If your Majesty really likes to eat sugar cane, the wild land of Chen County There is also sugar cane here, I can cut it for you."

Xu Fan smiled and said: "To satisfy my appetite, planting one acre of sugar cane is enough, but this can enrich the country and strengthen the army. Let's see what I do with this sugar cane, magistrate Shang. You go hire 200 people to harvest it." These sugar canes.”

The merchant said: "No!"

During the slack period after the autumn harvest, and there was no corvee system in the Han Dynasty, cutting sugar cane was a profitable activity for farmers, and merchants would not object.

Then Xu Fan said to Zhang Liang: "You go to Gongshu and ask him to get ten sets of sugar cane crushing equipment."

Then he pointed at Zhang Liang and said, "Let's build a sugar workshop near this sugar cane field."

People in this era have not yet mastered the technology of making sugar from sugar cane. All they eat is slurry. Xu Fan can only figure out the sucrose industry chain from beginning to end.

Fortunately, there were not many technical problems in sugar making. Under Zhang Liang's command, a sugar making workshop was set up in two days, and 10 juicers manufactured by Gongshuqiu were manufactured on the third day.

Xu Fan then hired 20 people to clean the sugar cane and press the sugar cane into juice. The workers then boiled the sugar in an iron pot and then used the yellow mud water decolorization method. Xu Fan got the white sugar after a few experiments.

Zhang Liang tried the white particles and asked in surprise: "Is this a kind of honey?" Xu Fan said proudly: "You can call it white sugar or sucrose."

Facing Baitang, the merchant had to bow his hands and say, "I am short-sighted."

In this era, the price of honey is extremely high. Price compared to gold is not an adjective. Ancient books record that Lingqiu's father-in-law was good at beekeeping and harvested hundreds of dendrobiums of honey every year, which he called wax. As a result, he was richer than the feudal kings. From this description, we can know that the value of honey was very high at that time. One hive was enough His wealth is equivalent to that of a feudal lord who controls tens of thousands of acres of land.

Then the businessman calculated: "One acre of sugar cane field can harvest 3000 kilograms of sugar cane, and 2000 kilograms of branches, leaves, heads and tails can be removed, and 100 kilograms of sugar can be boiled. Now one kilogram of honey is worth 5000 yuan, and one acre of land can earn 50 yuan. Money, these 1000 acres are 5 gold!!!”

Even if Shang Nong calculated this number by himself, he couldn't believe it was true and looked at Xu Fan in astonishment. You must know that all workshops and business taxes in Han this year are only 12 gold. His 1000 acres of sugar cane fields are almost equal to the wealth created by Han's 10 craftsmen in half a year.

Zhang Liang was also deeply shocked. He knew that when the prime minister complained about the King of Han's lavish spending, the King of Han created the sugar cane field. Although he had expected that the sugar cane could make money, he did not expect that it could be so profitable. This small sugar cane field could actually make money. He was as rich as a country, and all kinds of taxes in South Korea at that time were only about 5 gold.

Xu Fan said with a smile: "Things are rare, so honey is more expensive than gold. But if we produce more than 1000 kilograms of sugar, the price of sugar will plummet. yuan per kilogram is a lot." , and the more we plant, the faster the price drops.”

Only then did Zhang Liang regain his senses and said with a smile: "Ten thousand gold is quite impressive."

Xu Fan said: "Magistrate Shang will expand the sugar cane field to 1 acres next year and hire farmers from nearby as servants in the Shaofu. They will be responsible for taking care of these sugar cane fields in the future, with a monthly salary of 300 yuan. You also have a sugar cane order, specifically responsible for it." For the cultivation and production of cane sugar, we will recruit a group of workers for refining cane sugar, and their salary will be set at one thousand qian.”

Although cane sugar production is simple, it is a labor-intensive industry that requires a large amount of labor to cut down sugar cane and boil the cane juice. The labor intensity is extremely high. If the salary is not set high, not many people are willing to do this. These people can be regarded as the first batch of agricultural workers in Han Dynasty.

The merchant said: "No!"

Zhang Liang thought for a while and said: "White sugar is of great benefit to our country of Han, but the production of white sugar is relatively simple and it is easy to leak secrets."

Xu Fan said nonchalantly: "If it's leaked, it's leaked."

He understood that this was an attractive benefit, with hundreds of times the benefits, and could not stop prying eyes. Back then, the Venetians placed mirror workshops on the island, but they still could not stop the spread of mirror technology.

Zhang Liang said: "King of Han, even if you block our country for more than a year, it will be worth tens of thousands of gold. I suggest that heavy troops be sent to guard the sugar factory, and all sugar craftsmen must be monitored."

Xu Fan smiled and said: "If I am a merchant, I will definitely listen to you Zifang, but I am the King of Han. Setting the price of sugar high to make money is just a transfer of wealth. Apart from making me rich, I have nothing to do with the world. Change. Producing more white sugar will lower the price of white sugar, but it will actually increase wealth. This is something that is beneficial to the entire world. And if the price of white sugar is as low as a certain level, ordinary people can also eat it. If I can afford it, rather than white sugar that only a few people can afford, I want everyone in the world to be able to afford white sugar."

Zhang Liang admired him and said, "The King of Han has a broad mind, and Liang admires him."

Xu Fan thought for a while and said: "Forget about sending soldiers, let's just let some older soldiers retire and become technical craftsmen in the sugar factory. Let them master the core technology of sugar making and set their salaries higher. At the same time, Sign a confidentiality agreement with them. As long as there is no sugar factory elsewhere, their monthly salary will be 5000 yuan. But if a sugar factory appears elsewhere, their salary will only be 1000 yuan. In this way, for their own benefit, they I will also keep the secret of sugar production to the death.”

The price of food in Chen County under Xu Fan was only 200 qian per dan, and the salary of 5000 qian was equivalent to the income of 300 dan for each of them. This was the official-level salary, only slightly worse than the county magistrate. It was a gold collar in this era. In order to ensure Xu Fan believed that the craftsmen in the sugar factory would be more interested in this job than he was.

What Xu Fan disdains the most is the so-called bosses in later generations who don't think about how to improve their remuneration and retain their own backbone to maintain competitiveness. Instead, some Western companies have come up with non-compete agreements to prevent them from leaving their jobs. But I didn’t learn everything, and I couldn’t afford to spend money. This kind of both wanting and not wanting seems very smart, but in fact it is completely stupid. It's no wonder that Western businessmen look down on them. They are just landlords in modern skins and disdain to associate with them.

Later generations of landlords learned from the systems of other countries, only learning what was beneficial to them and not what was harmful to them. They took shortcuts in everything they did, and the result was a lot of bad things, so some people still saw it clearly. Moreover, it was said decades ago that they cannot learn from the West. Without the ability, they can only restore the landlords. The development of later generations is indeed on the right track.

Zhang Liang said: "No!"

In the next few days, with the addition of skilled workers, there were more and more workers in the sugar factory, and thousands of kilograms of sucrose could be produced every day.

Later, merchants who came to Chen County found a piece of white sugar as sweet as honey, but the price was only 3000 yuan, only half of honey. This immediately caused a sensation among all the merchants in Chen County.

These people took out all the gold in their hands, just wanting to buy enough sugar. All merchants understood that in this business, only by seizing the opportunity can they get the most profits.

Zhou Zhang was also shocked by the huge profits from sugar. He could earn hundreds of gold every day, which was unprecedented. He immediately came to the sugar factory and watched the entire sugar making process.

Then he bowed his hands to Xu Fan and said, "I am convinced, the profits from sugar production are too high, and it can solve many problems in Han Dynasty."

Money is extremely important to both individuals and countries. Xu Fanhao said angrily that he would recruit 30 troops, but this was a huge pressure on Zhou Zhang. The weapons and equipment needed by the 30-strong army cost money, and their respective equipment also cost money. The land officials who distributed the land to the soldiers also cost money. The army had not yet been assembled, but the treasury of the newly born Han State was almost empty. The tens of thousands of gold brought by Bai Tang finally solved Zhou Zhang's big trouble.

Zhou Zhang called Shang Nong and said: "We need to grow a variety of sugar cane and look after the sugar workshops to avoid accidents."

The merchant raised his hands and saluted, "No!"

The words are divided into two parts.

Fan Zeng returned to Pengcheng to report on the results of his mission. The King of Han agreed to form an alliance and was just waiting for them to discuss the specific details.

Xiang Liang said excitedly: "Brother Fan is really the greatest contributor to our army.

He had been worried that Xu Fan would restrict his development and was unwilling to form an alliance with him. Now not only was this worry eliminated, but he could also get the support of the Han army to conquer Qi. This really made Xiang Liang overjoyed. Feng Jie, who was supported by Guanzhong, It is completely different from Feng Jie who has no support from Guanzhong.

Xiang Yu asked enthusiastically, "Mr. Fan, what kind of person is the King of Han? Is he as brave as the legend says?"

Fan Zeng thought about the process of meeting Xu Fan and said: "The King of Han is not like a reckless man, but like a master. Moreover, he is extremely broad-minded and can express his emotions and anger. Not only did the King of Han not take offense to what Qin and Jia did, but he also Their heads have been properly placed. This is the first time I have seen such a big-hearted person. There is no need for such people and they should not be enemies."

Xiang Liang was stunned for a moment. He did not expect that the arrogant Fan Zeng admired Xu Fan so much, but he soon smiled and said: "The more powerful Xu Fan is, the tyrant Ying Zheng should have a headache."

As soon as the First Emperor arrived in the 37th year, Ji Xin brought bad news to Xu Fan.

Meng Tian led 20 Northern Generals to defeat Yan's capital Jidu, and then defeated Zhang Er's 5 Zhao army at Yunshan outside Jidu.

After Meng Tian annihilated the Yan State, he left 5 troops to suppress the Yan State. He personally led 15 troops south to the Zhao State. At the same time, the First Emperor mobilized another 15 troops in Guanzhong. Although this army has not left Guanzhong, it is obviously Go towards the State of Zhao. The total number of these two armies is 30, and the Qin army in the entire Central Plains region already has 50 troops.

However, it rained continuously all night, and news came from Wu Rui, the anti-Qin fanjun in Changsha County, saying that the Qin army in southern Xinjiang was also in a state of mobilization.

Various counties and counties in southern Xinjiang were also collecting grain and grass. Wu Rui was worried that the Qin State's 50 troops in southern Xinjiang would be transferred back to the Central Plains by the First Emperor to destroy his rebellious monarch, so he asked Xu Fan for support.

When this news came, all the senior officials of the newly born Han Kingdom were extremely solemn. Xu Fan immediately convened all the senior officials of the Han army to discuss how to face the encirclement and suppression of Qin's million-strong army.

"Feng Jie has 15 troops in Qi, and Meng Tian has 20 Northern Xinjiang troops. These are all elites. Among them, 5 troops are left in Yan. He can also mobilize 15. There is also a large army assembled in Guanzhong, and the number will definitely not be Few, and now there is a possibility of mobilizing the 50-strong army in southern Xinjiang. The Qin State wants to mobilize a million-strong army to encircle and suppress the anti-Qin forces in the world." Ji Xin said with a little fright. It is a lie to say that he is not worried about the mobilization of Qin's millions of troops.

Other Han officers were equally silent. Now Qin is mobilizing armies in the four directions of southeast, northwest and northwest. It is not impossible to mobilize Qin's troops in the border areas back to the Central Plains. With Qin's strength, it is not impossible to mobilize millions of troops. This number Everyone's heart felt heavy, and no one dared to speak for a while.

But not long after, Zhang Liang said loudly: "The State of Qin will never be able to mobilize an army of millions. Don't be frightened by Qin's movements. Just say that the army of 50 in southern Xinjiang was mobilized by the people of the six countries. Among them, Chu Civilians make up the majority. They have been in southern Xinjiang for more than ten years. During this period, they experienced two southern expeditions. The acclimatization and various diseases caused heavy losses to the southern Xinjiang army. It is impossible to have 50 troops now. , 30 is impossible.

Wu Rui was frightened by the Qin army. As long as he thought about it, he knew that it was impossible for Qin to do such a thing. Southern Xinjiang is no better than the Central Plains. It is a primitive land with not much fertile farmland and no way to store grain and grass.

The Southern Expedition was supported by the entire Central Plains in order to support these two wars. The Qin Dynasty occupied the vast Baiyue land, which has not been developed until now. It also needs to continue to support the Baiyue land with food and grass. Where can Baiyue come from? of food and fodder to support an army of 50. "

"So Baiyue doesn't want to talk about 50 people. Even if it gathers 10 people, I'm afraid they won't be able to gather enough food and grass. So you don't need to be frightened by Baiyue's actions."

(End of this chapter)