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

Chapter 711: Different Development Models and the Spirit of Practicality

Liu Ruyi also felt a headache after listening to the requests made by these old friends. He also knew the situation in Rome. Compared with other countries ruled by the Datong Party in Daqinzhou, their treatment of citizens was the worst.

He and the Roman Datong would have a heated discussion. Liu Ruyi could accept the lack of welfare benefits for craftsmen. After all, the Qinzhou was generally poorer than the Han Dynasty. In addition, they had a history of slavery for thousands of years, and their farming technology was not very advanced, so they could feed too few citizens.

Given their current productivity, it would be a step too far to fully learn the Han Dynasty's welfare benefits. However, Liu Ruyi was opposed to the cruel exploitation of craftsmen. He believed that craftsmen should be given income to support their families and time to make continuous progress.

So what he learned in the Seleucid Empire was the policy of the Han Dynasty. All the factories in the Seleucid Empire were managed by the Shaofu. At the same time, each industry was concentrated as much as possible, with the main factory as the core, connecting the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. In this way, costs were lowered instead of reducing costs by increasing working hours. Therefore, the eight-hour workday could also be implemented in the Seleucid Empire.

In the Seleucid Empire, craftsmen were considered an upper-middle class profession. In a Seleucid village, as long as there was a craftsman, he would be envied by the whole village.

But the Roman Pax Romana did not see it that way. They believed that Rome was poor in resources, technologically backward, and could only rely on manpower. Developing an advanced industrial system would require extremely huge investments. Investing too much wealth in welfare would affect industrial accumulation. If Rome wanted to catch up with the mainstream of the world's industry, it must carry out high accumulation and high investment, and invest social wealth in industrial production. For the development of the Roman state, Roman citizens must suppress their consumption of materials.

As a result, Roman craftsmen bore the pressure of the entire country and lived the hardest life. Many Roman craftsmen would rather go to the north and be neighbors with the barbarians than stay in the flesh and blood factories of Rome.

As a result, a very strange phenomenon appeared in Rome. On the one hand, factory owners went to the Senate every day shouting that their factories were short of people and the manufacturing industry was short of craftsmen. On the other hand, factory owners were unwilling to increase their income, but instead required overtime work. Existing craftsmen fled the factories in large numbers, and Rome was ridiculed by various countries in Daqinzhou because of this.

Because of different policies, the Datong Party in Daqinzhou has split into two factions. One faction is the Romans and Carthaginians who focus on investment and accumulation. They believe that only when everything is industrialized can industrialized countries survive in the world. Craftsmen must suffer first and then enjoy. They should carry out industrialization first and then promote welfare. If productivity cannot be achieved, it is tantamount to covering up the problem and rashly changing the production relations.

However, the Seleucid Empire and the Asiatic city-states headed by Liu Ruyi believed that the idea of ​​their Great Unity Party was that citizens were the masters of the country, and there was no reason to let the masters suffer. If under the governance of their Great Unity Party, citizens lived the same life as when the nobles were in power, then what qualifications did they have to call themselves revolutionaries?

In this way, the two sides quarreled over the issue of industrial development methods. The Greek Panagiotines ridiculed Rome, and Carthage was the new senator under the name of Panagiotines.

The Roman and Carthaginian Pan-Colonials satirized the Pan-Colonials in Asia, saying that they did not have the fate of a great man but had his diseases, and were a group of fools who were trying to find a sword by carving a mark on the boat.

The two sides developed for nearly ten years with this different concept. Although Liu Ruyi did not approve of the development model of Rome and Carthage, he had to admit that the industrial development of Rome and Carthage was the fastest in the entire Qin Continent. The two countries' steel production capacity not only exceeded 500 million tons, but the textile industry not only drove out Han cloth and Xiongnu cloth, but now it has counterattacked the Han Dynasty. However, he never expected that Rome was not only involuntarily, but now it was also involved abroad.

In the past, it was easy to deal with when it was just a dispute of ideas. At most, everyone just had a war of words in the newspapers.

But now it is difficult to deal with the issue of interests. Greece and other countries have borrowed billions from the Han Dynasty. If this money becomes a bad debt, it will be an extremely heavy economic loss for the Han Dynasty. At the same time, Greece and other countries govern their countries in accordance with the Han Dynasty's concept of Datong. Their failure is a heavy political blow to the Han Dynasty. This shows that the Han Dynasty's governance policies can only be implemented in its own country, and will not be suitable for other parts of the world. This will greatly weaken the influence of Datong.

So Liu Ruyi could only send what happened here to Chang'an City in the form of a telegram and let the emperor deal with it.

October 62, 5st year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City, Imperial Palace.

Shangshu Ling Zhou Jian held up a copy of the Kuaiji Daily and read the important political news inside, saying: "After investigation by the Kuaiji County Censor, the engineering problems reported by Ma Mou did exist. Kuaiji County Construction Cao Zhuangyan was demoted, and Xingwang Construction Company used substandard products and was fined 2 million coins~~~~~."

Xu Aimin was somewhat dissatisfied and asked, "What happened to Ma Yu in the end? Was he rewarded or demoted?"

Xu Aimin's identity as an emperor made it easy for him to distort the information he received from the outside world. Even if he often went deep into the people, it was difficult to change this situation. Fortunately, the newspaper industry in the Han Dynasty was well developed, and he could obtain information from the people through newspapers. Although this information might be one-sided, it was more real than the information in the memorials.

Therefore, Xu Aimin subscribed to almost all mainstream newspapers and periodicals in the Han Dynasty. One of the most important tasks of the Shangshutai was to summarize the information he wanted from these newspapers.

Ma Yu was originally a minor official in Kuaiji County. He was reported in the Kuaiji County Daily for reporting his superior. Xu Aimin was also very concerned about the news and instructed the Secretariat to tell him immediately if there was any follow-up to the matter.

The outcome of this incident barely satisfied Xu Aimin. After all, someone had paid the price. Having been emperor for more than 20 years, Xu Aimin now had very low requirements for Han officials. As long as they did not harm the people and could take responsibility when something happened, they would be qualified Han officials.

If he was dissatisfied with all the injustices in the Han Dynasty, he might have to become the Imperial Censor. But the newspaper did not mention the dissatisfaction he had with Ma Yu's situation.

Zhou Jian said: "I don't know."

However, the Shangshu Pushe Gongsun Hong immediately said: "Ma Yu has resigned and is no longer a Han official."

Xu Aimin was dissatisfied and said, "Let the academy issue an order to recruit Ma Yu as a student of the Political Affairs College. Such upright Han officials are the most precious wealth of our Han Dynasty. When the officialdom of the Han Dynasty cannot retain such Han officials, it means that our Han Dynasty has lost its ideals."

Zhou Jian said: "Yes!"

Zhou Jian returned a copy of the Great Han Daily and read: "During his visit to the Xiongnu Kingdom, Doctor Xia Houlin asked the Xiongnu High Priest how the Xiongnu Kingdom managed to make the graduating bachelors obey the arrangements of the court at ease. He said that the young bachelors of the Great Han Dynasty were always very naughty and unwilling to obey the arrangements of the court. Even if you advised him for his own good, he would not listen at all, ~~~~."

"The Xiongnu High Priest said, don't force young students to do things they don't like to do, don't make choices for them, let them develop freely, and Xiongnu is a country that abides by the rule of law, which can bring better development to young scholars. Most of our country's oil revenue is taken from the people and used for the people~~."

When Xu Aimin heard the official jargon that followed, he stopped Zhou Jian from reading the newspaper.

Xu Aimin shook his head and said, "Another bookworm who has stayed in the academy for too long. He does not go deep into the young scholars, experience their lives, observe their lives, and understand their difficulties and sufferings. Instead, he went to the Xiongnu country to ask the high priest. This is like asking the blind for advice."

Xu Aimin was helpless. Even though he kept promoting pragmatic Han officials and rewarding hard-working Han people, the trend of empty talk in the Han court continued to rise. Doctors like Xia Houlin were not just a few exceptions in the Han Dynasty, but a very common phenomenon.

Then Gongsun Hong took out a report from Rulin Daily: "Capital does not necessarily exploit. Let me give you an example. Mr. Li ran a business that made a loss. Who was he exploiting? Did he exploit the craftsmen? He ran the business for three years and made no profit. He made a huge loss. He invested 500 million yuan. After three years, he did not earn back the 500 million yuan. He gave all the money to the craftsmen as salaries. Who was he exploiting? This logic does not make sense.

So it is not exploitative, let alone class-based. It is just a factor in creating wealth. What is the only characteristic of capital? Profit-seeking. Where can you make money? Capital has the most sensitive sense of where to go. Capital can be attached to the country, the people, or the enterprise. It is a neutral concept. It should be neutral no matter what subject it is attached to. "

"Stop, this stinks. Whose article is this?" Xu Aimin said with some disgust.

Gongsun Hong said: "The great scholar Meng Gu gave a speech at the academy. He is the eighth-generation descendant of Mencius. He founded the Si-Meng School, which advocated 'benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and kindness'. He emphasized the sincerity in learning. He believed that as long as one is sincere, one will naturally do well in learning. If one does well in learning, one will naturally be a gentleman, and a gentleman can rule the world."

Xu Aimin shook his head and said, "Such a pedantic school of thought can still exist. They can't even distinguish between capital and capitalists, let alone understand that the means by which capital pursues profits is to exploit surplus value. They can do academic research with such little ability. The academic world of our Han Dynasty is rotten."

Just based on this disgusting remark, Xu Aimin knew that this eighth-generation direct descendant of Mencius had no real ability and was just a second-generation academic.

Gongsun Hong picked up a copy of the Legal Daily and reported, "Nanjun farmer Zhao was fined 30,000 coins because he needed to buy gasoline for his farm tools." Xu Aimin was dissatisfied after hearing this and said, "When I went to the Guanzhong countryside a few days ago, three elders complained that their tractors could not go on the road, which brought great inconvenience to the farmers. At that time, the Railway Department replied that tractors could easily damage the roads, and I agreed with this statement.

But you have made a law not allowing tractors to be on the road, but you don't allow people to buy gasoline on their own. Why are you making a law that people will definitely break? Are you forcing people to violate it?
When the Imperial Censorate formulates laws, it should seek the opinions of local people more often, and not always sit in the palace and formulate laws on its own accord. The Imperial Censor should go deep into the countryside, into the lives of farmers, and get their feet on the ground and get in touch with the ground. "

Thinking of the two news stories just now, Xu Aimin said, "Tell Chao Cuo my opinion and ask him to formulate a system. The censors should go to the villages and the market regularly to understand the lives of the Han people. Only by understanding their lives can the laws we formulate not embarrass the Han people. Laws that everyone is willing to abide by are good laws."

Zhou Jian said: "Yes!"

Later, Xu Aimin listened to news from more than a dozen counties. Although there were a few happy things, such as the successful construction of a dam in some place and the good news that a power plant in a certain county had been powered on, these news made Xu Aimin feel that the Han Dynasty was still on the rise.

But Xu Aimin's main concern was the newspaper reports of Han officials' violations of laws and disciplines, breaking the law knowingly, inaction, and arbitrary actions.

Every time he heard of such an incident, Xu Aimin's anger would increase, and the Shangshu who was reading the newspaper would become more nervous.

"Ding ding ding!" The clock rang. At 10 o'clock, Zhou Jian immediately said, "Your Majesty, today's newspaper reading time is over."

Xu Aimin waved his hand and asked the minister who was reading the newspaper to leave.

Then he sighed a little tiredly and said: "Even after so many years, Han officials still need education, and the court cannot relax."

Even though the Han Dynasty court had very strict supervision, the problem of corruption among Han officials still could not be solved, perhaps because the court's supervision was too strict.

They simply enforced the law mechanically and deliberately made things difficult for the people of the Han Dynasty. Just like the incident just now, they could not go on the road, nor could they buy things privately. In short, if the court made things difficult for them, they would make things difficult for the people.

However, relatively speaking, Xu Aimin was still quite satisfied with the counties and prefectures where these incidents were reported. No matter what, the local Han officials dared to report such incidents, and they were considered Han officials who could seek truth from facts.

Unlike the counties of Jiuyuan and Yanmen, where newspapers were all about "hello, me, and everyone". These areas were poor and relatively closed, and the local Han officials were in collusion with them. Even the local newspapers were in cahoots with them, forming a big network between them, isolating the upper and lower levels.

But these were superficial efforts and could not resolve local conflicts. Instead, they only made the conflicts worse. As a result, in the northern counties, there were frequent incidents of herdsmen besieging the county government offices and farmers beating grassroots Han officials to death. The local people then ran to Chang'an to file complaints.

Therefore, Xu Aimin seldom read newspapers from various places, and he often sent the Imperial Censorate and the Supreme Court Justices to the north to collect folk customs and understand the real local folk conditions.

When he first became emperor, Xu Aimin believed that with the resources and advanced technology possessed by the Han Dynasty, the realization of the Great Harmony was just around the corner, and it might even be achieved during his reign. But after so many years in power, he realized that the Han officials were the biggest obstacle to the Han Dynasty's realization of the Great Harmony.

After Xu Aimin had a short rest, Zhou Jian read the memorials from various places to Xu Aimin. These memorials were basically about some difficult matters at the local level, and the local county governors asked the court to make the final decision.

Xu Aimin himself had limited energy, so he divided the memorials into a 20% and 80% categories. The 80% that were complicated and matters he considered unimportant were forwarded by the Secretariat to the Prime Minister's Office and handed over to Prime Minister Zhang Pijiang for handling. The 20% that he considered to be important matters were approved after careful consideration.

"The Secretary of the Interior wrote to the emperor that the audience has reached the standard of affluent life, and the people generally have a high school education or above and are politically conscious. I request that a local democratic model be piloted. Local governments should open up decision-making power and allow local people to participate more in the construction and management of the country.

After listening to Liu Heng's memorial, Xu Aimin frowned. This was a difficult political goal to achieve, and it was not the first time that the Han court had done this.

But reality told Xu Aimin that this idea was good, but he should not think about it. He was always angry about the corruption of Han officials but he could do nothing about it.

He also thought about using the common people to supervise the Han officials, but the reality was very bad. As a result of his several pilot projects, the common people not only failed to supervise the Han officials, but also led to the rise of local village tyrants and township tyrants. They colluded with the Han officials and caused worse effects. He had no choice but to cancel these failed pilot projects. Obviously, the productivity of the Han Dynasty was not developed enough to support such a system.

But now Liu Heng still wants to give it a try. Xu Aimin thought for a moment and said, "Let the Internal History Officer submit a detailed plan."

"promise."

Not long after, he saw Liu Ruyi's memorial. When he learned that what happened in Daqinzhou might even affect the banner of Datong Governance, it attracted Xu Aimin's great attention.

The political foundation of the Han Dynasty is different from that of previous dynasties. His father has been promoting the idea that the Han Dynasty belongs to everyone in the world for decades, and this concept has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The reason why Xu Aimin was able to become emperor was because they upheld the ideal of Datong Governance, and the people supported him to be emperor. To some extent, Datong Governance had become the political foundation of the Xu family, so Xu Aimin attached great importance to anything related to Datong Governance.

He ordered: "Shangshu Pushe, go and invite the three prime ministers!"

"promise!"

Not long after, Zhang Pijiang, Chen Mai and Yuan Ang arrived at the palace.

"Your Highness, I, Zhang Pijiang, Chen Mai, and Yuan Ang, pay my respects to you."

Xu Aimin said, "Stand up."

After the three of them sat down, Xu Aimin asked Gongsun Hong to show them Liu Ruyi's memorial.

After they finished reading, he asked, "This matter concerns the banner of our Great Harmony. We cannot take it lightly. How do you think the court should deal with it?"

After Zhang Pijiang and the other two pondered for a moment, Yuan Ang said, "Greece and other countries are small countries with few people, with a population of only a few hundred thousand people, and Asia has only a million people. The court should simply give them one or two industries, which will be enough to solve their debt crisis. Now the court is promoting four-season school uniforms for primary and secondary school students, so why not just give the orders to Greece and other countries."

Xu Aimin shook his head and said, "This is a policy of treating the symptoms rather than the root cause. It violates the law of economics and will make it difficult for the Han Dynasty to keep the Asian countries in captivity for long."

Chen Maidao said, "The technology in the Asian countries is backward and the industries are not prosperous. We can just let them go to the Second Prince's Xiyan Kingdom to work as laborers. Xiyan Kingdom has discovered a large gold mine. The Second Prince used the money to build a large-scale construction. There is a lack of labor force. Xiyan Kingdom and the Asian countries complement each other."

(End of this chapter)