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

Chapter 716: Disadvantages of Globalization

January 63, 1rd year of the Han calendar, Jiuyuan County, Linwo County.

After the snow, the sky cleared up and the whole Linwo County was covered in silver. Zhu Maichen took Chen She, Xu Shao and others to the countryside.

On the way to the car, Zhu Maichen apologized in advance: "Linwo is a poor county in the Han Dynasty. There is no cement road in the countryside, and the road is difficult to travel. I hope the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Agriculture will forgive me.

Xu Shao was surprised and said, "I see that the buildings in Linwo County are not inferior to those in the rich areas of the Han Dynasty, and the people are not badly dressed either. Is Linwo really as poor as you say, the county magistrate?"

As he looked along the way, he found that although the streets of the county town were mostly occupied by horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts, there were also a large number of cars, trucks, and tractors, and bicycles formed long lines. The buildings on both sides of the road were mostly high-rise buildings. There were many facilities serving the citizens, such as gymnasiums, teahouses, hotels, theaters, etc. Although it was not wealthy compared to the heartland of the Han Dynasty, it did not look like a poor county at all. In his Wu Kingdom, it was only slightly worse than Lin'an.

Moreover, he had also followed Chen She to inspect the rural areas in Guanzhong. The Han officials in those places always showed their most glamorous side. This was the first time he had met someone like County Magistrate Zhu who exposed his shortcomings.

Zhu Maichen smiled bitterly and said, "This is just a superficial glitz. There are 6000 people in Linwo, 6000 of whom are on the emperor's payroll, nearly Han officials at the county and village levels, teachers, doctors, nurses, and the rest are rangers. These people support the prosperity of our economy, and with this railway, the county has such a beautiful scene."

Xu Fan is the most environmentally conscious person in the world. When the Han Dynasty was first established, the finances were not very abundant, but he allocated part of the money to set up a mountain patrol team in the north. Their main function was to plant trees and fix the desert with checkered grass.

The technology of the Han Dynasty in this era was naturally far inferior to that of later generations, but the Han Dynasty also had its advantages. First, the natural environment of this era was much better than that of later generations, and the area of ​​the Gobi Desert was much smaller. Second, the Han Dynasty had a vast land, and was able to relocate people on a large scale to the inland and overseas of the Han Dynasty. There were some degraded grasslands and Gobi in the desert. As long as people were moved away, no cattle or sheep were raised, and the land was not reclaimed, the natural environment would slowly restore the ecology of this area, not to mention that the Han Dynasty is now actively doing this.

Among these 5000 people who were dependent on the government, the rangers had their own fields and were part-time workers so their salary was only 3. The income of teachers and doctors was generally over , and the income of Han officials was about the same. The Han Dynasty had to pay about million coins to Linwo every year.

This is also a double benefit for poor counties in the north. On the one hand, they can improve their living environment, and on the other hand, they can find a job with a decent income in their hometown.

Relying on the income from this fiscal transfer, Linwo County is relatively prosperous.

Zhu Maichen continued, "But this is just a blood transfusion from the court. Linwo's own blood-making ability is limited. The county's pillar industries are animal husbandry and its supporting related industries. The source of income is not only single, but also not high."

This amount of money is not too much, but not too little either. It is enough to maintain Linwo's reputation, but it will be difficult to generate local fiscal revenue and build roads, canals and other infrastructure.

"In the past two years, the overseas vassal states have imported more and more grain, beef and mutton into our Han Dynasty. The local wool spinning industry has also become depressed due to the impact of the overseas departments. If it weren't for the support of the court, Linwo would not even be able to maintain its current reputation."

Globalization has both advantages and disadvantages for the Han Dynasty, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, the ones who benefit are the coastal counties, and the ones who suffer are naturally the inland counties such as Jiuyuan. Not only did they not get the benefits, they also had more competitors and their lives became more difficult.

Fortunately, Jiuyuan County was a poor county, and the Han Dynasty court transferred more than 3 billion coins to Jiuyuan County every year to maintain the local economic cycle.

This is also the reason why Zhu Maichen exposed his own weaknesses. The worse Linwo was, the more support he would receive from the imperial court.

Sure enough, just after their convoy was about ten miles out of Linwo County, the road turned into a gravel road with many potholes and half-solidified dirty snow water. Their cars were made dirty and the people were swaying from side to side. If they were not careful, they might even hit their heads.

This experience was too uncomfortable for Xu Shao. If he was not used to riding on a ship, he would definitely get carsick on such a road.

Hongri Township, Township Office Square.

Xu Shao squatted on the ground all of a sudden. He felt as if his internal organs were dislocated and his whole body was dizzy. It was the first time in his life that he felt so uncomfortable.

Half a day later, he recovered and said to Zhu Maichen: "This road really needs to be repaired. When I return to Chang'an City, I will go to the Railway Department to tell them. If this road is not repaired, how can this place be prosperous?"

Zhu Maichen said happily: "Thank you, Minister of Agriculture."

After several decades of economic development, some Han officials began to believe that if they wanted to get rich, they had to build roads first.

In those first-tier counties, roads have been built to connect every village. In the second-tier areas of Central Plains and Hebei, although the standard of connecting every village with roads cannot be achieved, roads can still be built to connect every township.

However, Jiuyuan County had low financial resources and a small population, and the county roads were built relying on transfer payments from the imperial court.

"Yang Yu, a man from Hongri Township, pays his respects to the Grand Minister of Agriculture and the Grand Minister of Agriculture." An old man with a broken hand saluted. The Han Dynasty's telephone network has been connected to the telegraph network, and even poor counties like Jiuyuan County in the north can have a telephone line in every village.

Zhu Maichen then explained: "Old Yang is a battle hero of Jiuyuan County. He followed the first Duke of Mobei to fight against the Xiongnu. If he hadn't lost one hand, he would have been a prefect with his qualifications."

Chen She and Xu Shao looked at Yang Yu and immediately showed some respect for him.

Yang Xiong said: "The county magistrate thinks highly of me. I only learned a few hundred characters in the military. With this level of education, I am not even considered a talent in the Han Dynasty. Being a husband is already the limit for me."

After exchanging pleasantries, the few of them entered the township and county office. Compared with Linwo County, Hongri Township was even more backward. The entire township had only two relatively prosperous streets, one in the south and one in the north. There were generally two-story buildings, and a small farmers' market on the side. Crops and livestock from the surrounding villages gathered here and were then transported to the county town for sale.

The layout of the township office also has the style of the 1930s of the Han Dynasty, with a two-story building and a small playground in the center. The outside of the building is covered with mosaic tiles, but due to years of disrepair, many places are dilapidated.

When Chen She and his companions entered the township office, the clerk of the Minister of Agriculture was already inspecting the agricultural data of Hongri Township.

Chen She chatted with Yang Xiong and asked him about the village's population, land, the economic situation of the rural farmers, and the possibilities of the village.

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"This is a good thing. Only by concentrating resources can the court provide you with water, electricity, telephones, and roads. If Hongri Township has roads, it will be easier to sell your grain and livestock, and your life will be better. If there are only a few dozen people in this village and a few dozen people in that village, even if the court has a mountain of gold, it will not be enough to build roads to connect you." Chen She said.

After reducing the agricultural land tax, the new way for the Han Dynasty to continue to increase farmers' income is to merge villages and towns and concentrate resources to improve rural infrastructure. The concentration of population can lead to better production, and it is also convenient for the Han Dynasty court to use the least resources to connect the Han Dynasty's villages to the national market. This policy was implemented well in Guanzhong and Central Plains. The court leveled the land, contacted engineering teams, and helped farmers build three-story buildings with courtyards and yards at the lowest price. They could even dry grain on the balcony to complete the four-way connection. At the same time, some welfare facilities can also be built in a centralized manner, such as primary schools, gymnasiums, medical clinics, and radio stations. Guanzhong and Central Plains have begun to rise in large numbers. Large villages with 300 to 500 households.

Yang Yu said: "But we are not in the Central Plains, the land is not as rich as in the Central Plains, this is the Hetao area, the terrain is complex, with both high mountains and valleys, where can we get such large fields for concentrated farming?

The most important thing is that herding is also our main business. With three to five hundred herdsmen living together, how much grassland and pasture would that require?

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Yang Yu complained a lot for a whole day. Chen She listened carefully and wrote down what Yang Yu said in his notebook from time to time.

Xu Shao and his team were checking the data of Hongri Township. After reading these data, he was really surprised. He didn't expect that there would be so many meetings in such a small village.

Except for the month of January, there was a spring ploughing preparation meeting in February, a spring ploughing mobilization meeting in March, a hygiene mobilization meeting in April, a civilization mobilization meeting in May, a summer harvest mobilization meeting in June, a knowledge going to the countryside meeting in July, and a rural sports meeting in August. There was an important meeting notice almost every month, requiring Hongri Township to hold a mobilization meeting and asking them to speak.

He randomly flipped through a few meeting minutes and found that the speeches were all based on the same template, which was obviously a routine.

In the next ten days, Chen She and his companions visited more than a dozen villages in succession. There were not even many crossroads on the roads in these villages, and most of them were mud roads. It is conceivable how difficult it is to walk in this snowy season. Sometimes Xu Shao and his companions had to get out of the car and push it.

After arriving at the village, Chen She and Xu Shao, on behalf of the court, delivered some physical clothes to the elders and poor households in the village, and also listened to their difficulties in life.

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January 63, 1rd year of the Han calendar, Jiuyuan County, Linwo County Railway Station.

Chen She and his team finished their inspection in Linwo and continued on their way to Yunzhong County.

Before leaving, Zhu Maichen gave them some braised duck and chicken and said, "This is the output of the farm I run in Linwo. These chickens are pure natural free-range chickens. When they are hungry, they eat grasshoppers, and when they are thirsty, they drink mountain spring water. They are first-class high-quality poultry, and are completely different from those chickens that are locked in cages and can only lay eggs. Grand Minister of Agriculture, you can have a taste."

There was really not much that Zhu Maichen could do in Linwo. He could not reclaim wasteland in agriculture, could not build factories in industry, the textile industry was also affected, and even the development of agricultural cooperatives was impossible for him to promote because there was not enough local talent.

Zhu Maicheng thought about it for a few months and found that he could only go back to his old business. He asked someone to fence off a few barren hills and set up a poultry farm. He served as the factory director and guided local farmers to build earthworm fields and hatcheries to raise chickens, ducks and geese. Although last year's locust plague caused heavy losses to Jiuyuan County, for the farm, this was feed given by God. Although adult locusts contain toxins, these toxins can be removed after high-temperature steaming and disinfection. Using these locusts as feed is high-protein feed, poultry grow meat faster and lay more eggs.

Zhu Maichen soon discovered that there was still great potential in the poultry farming industry, especially for high-quality poultry. The Han people were now wealthy and had very high requirements for the quality of all kinds of food. It was difficult for ordinary goods to enter the Guanzhong market, and this was a good opportunity for Jiuyuan. Although the local population was small, the area was not small, and they could rent several mountains to build farms. In addition, there were a large number of various insects on the grassland, and many times they did not even need feed, which could greatly reduce the cost of feeding.

Jiuyuan County has a railway that goes directly to Guanzhong, and the poultry produced there, such as chickens, ducks, geese, etc., can be quickly sold to Guanzhong, the richest market in the Han Dynasty.

Of course, he did encounter problems. Local poultry was a new force and it was difficult to open up the market in Guanzhong.

You should know that Guanzhong is the richest region in the entire Han Dynasty, and its market competition is also the most intense. All the goods of the entire Han Dynasty, and even all the goods in the world, flock to Guanzhong to compete with goods from all over the world. The pressure can be imagined.

The goods sold in other places are often decades-old brands, with industry associations as guarantees and decades-old customers. But they have nothing, so he thought of using the Danongling to help advertise.

In fact, in his heart, Zhu Maichen still felt very sorry that the Grand Minister of Agriculture and his men came at the wrong time. If they had come in the summer, he would definitely bring a cart of Jiuyuan melons.

The Jiuyuan area is windy and sandy, and the land is barren. It is either desert or Gobi. Even though the Han Dynasty has been afforesting the sand for many years, there are still large amounts of Gobi and desert land. Coupled with the large temperature difference between day and night and the drought, it is a place with relatively harsh conditions for people from other areas.

But even in such a harsh place, high-quality watermelons can be produced. Jiuyuan watermelons are large in size, sweet and delicious, and are the best among all the brands of watermelons in Dahan. The only pity is that there is no brand advantage, and most of them can only be sold locally. A large watermelon costs only about three or ten cents, and farmers can't make much money at all.

Zhu Maichen had seen the world. When he went to Chang'an to study, a watermelon sold for more than a thousand coins in winter. He was so scared that he didn't even dare to eat two more slices of watermelon.

But now that he was the county magistrate, he discovered that he had such high-quality and low-priced watermelons in his own area, so he naturally thought of selling these watermelons to Guanzhong. They would become the pillar industry of the local area, and his political achievements would come.

His watermelon demonstration field has just been established, and it is not the right season, so he did not bring any watermelons here. But this summer, Zhu Maichen has made up his mind to pull a cartload of watermelons to Chang'an City, even if he has to sell them himself to open up the market. Whether Linwo can achieve prosperity really depends on these watermelons.

Chen She took the poultry and said with a smile: "Then I will try it. If the taste is as good as you said, I will advertise you in Chang'an City. I hope your free-range chicken can also become a local specialty."

Chen She had a good impression of Zhu Maichen, a descendant of a farming family. People's hearts are more complicated now than in the founding period of the Han Dynasty. There are basically few county magistrates who run chicken farms and even take the lead in feeding chickens, ducks and geese. The last person from a farming family who did such a thing was his master Shang Nong.

Zhu Maichen was overjoyed, this was what he really wanted. Many specialties of the Han Dynasty were promoted by the upper echelons, such as the Huangshanghuang pressed duck that was so delicious that people would dismount from their horses to eat it, and the cordyceps sinensis that could prolong life. Because of Xu Fan's leadership, the upper echelons and literati of the Han Dynasty also liked to use their reputations to help the local areas promote their own specialties. This was a win-win situation for the Han Dynasty, as the local areas benefited and those high-ranking officials also gained fame.

After getting on the train, Xu Shao held up a salted duck egg and said, "This County Magistrate Zhu is quite simple and honest."

Xu Shao was quite amazed. It was the first time for him to see a county bringing a bunch of pressed duck and salted duck eggs as gifts.

Chen She smiled and said, "He is an advanced representative of the farming family. He has always been working in the countryside and has been an official for less than three years."

The agricultural family has been in decline in recent years, and the agricultural giants are very anxious. They support whoever they can see talented, and carry whoever they can. Zhu Maichen is obviously an outstanding junior.

Xu Shao said: "Father's advanced representative system is a first-class good law, which can select such honest Han officials."

Ji An ate a salted duck egg and gave a thumbs up, saying, "It tastes good and has a mellow flavor. It is indeed a first-class delicacy."

(End of this chapter)