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

Chapter 721: The choice of successor and the exploration of the path to great harmony
April 64, 4th year of the Han calendar, Guanzhong, Gaoling County.

An electric car was driving slowly on the main road of the county town. Xu Fan looked at the busy street.

Xu Aimin, who was sitting next to him, said, "Shao'er followed the Minister of Agriculture Chen She and visited the poorest villages in the Han Dynasty. He wrote a lot about what he saw and heard in the villages, which touched the child deeply. I thought that the Han Dynasty should have achieved comprehensive prosperity, but through Shao'er's observations, there are still many poor places in the Han Dynasty."

Xu Fan smiled and said, "It is ten times harder to make remote areas rich than Guanzhong. As long as the Han Dynasty is still making progress, the situation will be much better if cement roads are built in those villages in the future."

With the comparison of his own world, he thought that the work in Dahan's rural areas had been done very well. If the technology was not enough, resources would make up for it. With the increase of per capita resource possession, the difficulty of solving this problem would drop sharply. The poverty in these areas was temporary, just because the roads of Dahan had not been built there, and the local resources could not be developed.

At present, Dahan's cement production is still too low, barely breaking through 1 million tons. This production capacity is not enough to achieve the level of building roads connecting every village.

Xu Aimin smiled and said, "Shao'er has thought of a way to improve the rural economy. The court can order vegetables and fruits from these poor areas for daily consumption by Han officials. There are more than two million Han officials, plus doctors, nurses, teachers and other civil servants, and more than eight million craftsmen in the Shaofu. They are also relatively wealthy people. They are a huge consumer group. Their consumption of fruits and vegetables from poor areas can significantly improve the economy of poor areas. I think this method is good. Although the cost is higher, the court cannot count all costs."

Xu Fan said: "This is a method."

"Shao'er inspected several counties in Dahan and believed that Dahan was developing faster than the counties in the southeast. These areas were generally wealthy, especially the rural areas, which were richer than those in the north. It was not an exaggeration to say that they had fully realized a highly wealthy society.

The Northwest is relatively cold and miserable, the cities are small, the industries are not very prosperous, and the countryside is even colder.

Shaoer believed that although the north was cold and miserable, it was the foundation of the Han Dynasty, especially the northern counties deep inland, whose wealth was siphoned away by the southern coastal counties. The court should balance the gap between the north and the south.

"Some people also think that this is also an area that the court needs to improve next. The south has been developing faster and faster in recent years. Except for Chang'an City, the development of other counties in the northwest is indeed not as good as that in the south. If this problem is not handled properly, it will easily cause structural imbalance in the Han Dynasty's economy."

Xu Fan nodded. The North was indeed not as good as the South in economic development, especially in the industrialization era.

According to the most efficient ratio, Dahan's several major industrial zones should indeed be built in the south, but the country is not a factory. We cannot only talk about efficiency, but sometimes we also have to talk about fairness, which requires sacrificing certain benefits to make up for the differences in local development.

Craftsmen should be allowed to find jobs locally instead of being forced to work thousands of miles away, thus artificially causing family ethical tragedies.

Then Xu Aimin took out Xu Sheng's memorial, which described the impact of the development of the automobile industry on the infrastructure of the Han Dynasty. He believed that the construction of railways, roads and other infrastructure in the Han Dynasty should take into account the impact of science and technology and leave room for expansion.

Xu Sheng also saw the Han Dynasty's cleansing of the south. He believed that the imperial court had too little influence in the south, so that the local lords and powerful people were lawless and cruel to the people. He believed that a secondary capital should be established in the south to strengthen the management of the local powerful lords.

At the same time, the system of inspectors was strengthened and the power of the inspectors of the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty was enhanced, so that they could use severe laws and punishments to intimidate local Han officials, powerful people, princes and nobles.

Xu Aimin suppressed his anger and said, "We will catch these scoundrels whenever we find them. We Han people have plenty of places to exile them. Let them pay for their sins for the rest of their lives."

He also knew that the nobles and powerful people in the vassal states were greedy and tyrannical, but he did not expect that they would be so lawless. It was not enough for them to enjoy wealth and glory, but they also wanted to harm the people without restraint.

This is because Xu Aimin is limited in experience. The nobles and powerful people of the Han Dynasty are much better than the nobles and powerful people in another timeline.

The powerful people of the Western Han Dynasty in real history were truly arrogant and lawless. The emperors of the Western Han Dynasty could only use cruel force to crack down on these lawless nobles.

Guan Fu, a famous figure in history, had tens of millions of yuan in assets at home, and his guests ranged from dozens to nearly a hundred every day. In order to build dikes and ponds in the countryside and irrigate farmland, his clan and guests expanded their power, monopolized profits, and acted tyrannically in the Yingchuan area.

The whole Yingchuan County was in darkness, and the children of Yingchuan sang: "When the Ying River is clear, the Guan family is at peace; when the Ying River is turbid, the Guan family will be exterminated."

There was also Emperor Wu's uncle Tian Fen, who actually dug up the Yellow River embankment in order to protect his family's fields when the water level of the Yellow River was high.

This resulted in thousands of miles of swampland in the heart of the Central Plains. What's even more outrageous was that in order to prevent further flooding on his own farm, he actually prohibited local officials from repairing the Yellow River embankment.

This situation lasted for 13 years. No one in the Han Dynasty court dared to report this matter. It was not until Emperor Wu of Han learned about it during his local inspection that he sent the Yulin Army as the main force to plug the gap.

With this example, the team leader can be said to be serving the country and the people.

Xu Fan smiled bitterly and said, "It is so difficult to have a clean government."

The rats Xu Sheng mentioned are actually a group. Using Han officials to supervise Han officials will not last long. Instead, it will bloat the Han official system, causing the people of the Han Dynasty to waste money in vain and keep more officials in captivity.

The Ming Dynasty had the most stringent supervision over officials. Zhu Yuanzhang used spies to rule the country and established a huge Jinyiwei system. However, this system soon became corrupt with the Ming officials. Later, the East Factory was set up, but it was useless soon, so the West Factory was set up. It was still useless, so the Inner Factory was set up, one after another, and they became a nesting doll. The only positive effect of these so-called factories and guards may be that they provided material for later film and television dramas.

Then Xu Aimin read the homework of his two sons to Xu Fan. Basically, they were the conflicts they encountered with the big men along the way, and the solutions they came up with.

From their memorials, we can see the two people's personalities and their different choices in dealing with problems.

Xu Shao protected and helped the interests of the lower-class people. When encountering disagreements, both sides of the conflict were more inclined to the lower-class people.

Xu Sheng, relatively speaking, put himself in the position of a referee. He did not favor any party when dealing with conflicts. Instead, he wanted to establish a sound system to fundamentally resolve the conflicts encountered by the Han Dynasty in its development.

"Father, who do you think is more suitable to be the crown prince, Shao'er or Sheng'er?"

Xu Aimin felt embarrassed after reading these memorials. Both of his sons were outstanding, and for a moment he didn't know which one to choose as the crown prince.

He finally began to understand the inner thoughts of the ancient sage Emperor Yao. With such a vast country and such a prosperous era, how could he hand over the huge Han empire to someone without choosing a qualified successor?

Moreover, his troubles were even greater than those of Emperor Yao. Emperor Yao had only one successor, Yu the Great, but he had two outstanding sons.

That's why he read these memorials to Xu Fan, also intending to let his father make a decision for him.

Xu Fan smiled and said, "Both of them are very outstanding. Either one of them can inherit the Han Dynasty. But if you really can't come up with an idea, father does have a method for your reference."

"what way?"

"To become the emperor of the Han Dynasty, you need the approval of all the people of the Han Dynasty, and the wise men are the representatives of the people of the world. You can let the wise men vote to choose one of them as the crown prince of the Han Dynasty."

"Selection of wise men?" Xu Aimin was a little stunned, and still somewhat resisted such a method in his heart.

Although his father had always taught him that the world belonged to everyone in the world, and Xu Aimin also acknowledged this, he believed that the Xu family had made greater contributions to the world, and it was not an exaggeration to say that they were the masters of the world.

Now, letting the wise men select the crown prince is equivalent to acknowledging that the wise men have the right to select the future emperor.

"The general trend of the world is unstoppable. If you follow it, you will prosper; if you go against it, you will perish. The general trend of the world now is that industrial society is becoming more and more complex, and more and more managers are needed, so more people are needed to become the masters of the world. No one can go against this trend. Even if you and I stand in the way of this general trend, we are just like a mantis trying to stop a chariot."

Xu Aimin disagreed a little: "The system that father mentioned is just like the Great Harmony in the Book of Rites. It is just a conception of a perfect society. But in reality, the people have many character flaws, short-sightedness, greed, and ignorance. They still need someone to guide them."

"Just like Gaoling County, even though there was a leader like Liu Heng, an able official like Gongsun Hong, and elites from various schools of thought, they still made a mess because they were given too much power."

Two years ago, Liu Heng wrote a letter to the emperor proposing to carry out a pilot program of local democracy in Dahan. After thinking about it for a few days, Xu Aimin agreed.

When he ascended the throne, he promised the world that he would build the Han Dynasty into an advanced and prosperous society within 30 years, and now those 30 years are about to come.

The Han Dynasty has also developed very rapidly in the past thirty years. The wealth of the world has increased dozens of times, and the finances of the Han Dynasty have also increased more than ten times. It can be said that the Han Dynasty has maintained the rapid development momentum of the founding period. The high-end and wealthy life promised by Xu Aimin has basically been achieved, but where should the Han Dynasty go next? Xu Aimin felt confused.

He had no way forward, and Liu Heng's memorial was just right for him, as it allowed him to explore a new development path for the Han Dynasty, so he agreed to this pilot project.

Xu Aimin and the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty discussed for half a month and decided to divide nine counties from Neishi County to establish Gaoling County as a pilot area.

But over the past two years, the results of the pilot program are hard to describe.

At first, the people of Gaoling County did not believe it at all. It was Liu Heng who kept using the radio to educate the people of the county about the causes and consequences of the pilot project, as well as the rights they had.

Relying on the reputation Liu Heng had accumulated in the Han Dynasty over decades, the local people took the attitude of giving it a try.

In the midst of the disagreement, they sued the Han officials who bullied them. They said that there was a market in Gaoling County that cost 500 million yuan to build, saying that it was to solve the vegetable problem of the citizens in the western part of Gaoling County.

But in less than three years, the county government said that the market was too expensive, causing the county government to spend more than it earned, so it contracted it out to a private individual.

The new owner's solution to the problem was very simple. He tripled the stall fees and fired 300% of the market managers and cleaners. The company turned losses into profits that year and earned more than million. The so-called owner was the cousin of the chief clerk of Gaoling County.

Liu Heng and Gongsun Hong were not polite when they received reports from the people. As long as the people reported them to the Han officials, they would investigate immediately. If they found conclusive evidence, they would deal with it according to the law.

After seeing the effectiveness, local residents followed suit and conveyed their daily bullying and dissatisfaction with life to Liu Heng and others through the suggestion box.

Although Guanzhong was the place with the clearest administration in the entire Han Dynasty, there were also many corners that were not exposed to the sun. It was just that Liu Heng and other Han high-ranking officials were not aware of it.

After all, this kind of thing has always been kept secret from the superiors but not from the subordinates. The people below know exactly what they have done. After all, the common people are the ones who are bullied.

It's just that they had no choice but to report the grievances and bullying they had suffered to the higher-ups, and now Liu Heng gave them a chance.

The local people found that the higher authorities would really punish the Han officials who made mistakes, and their grievances could be redressed.

So they complained to Liu Heng and Gongsun Hong one after another, and the pilot project initially became a large-scale purge of Han officials in the nine counties of Gaoling.

After three months of purge, half of the Han officials in the nine pilot counties were dismissed, and 30% of them were directly exiled overseas for committing duty crimes.

Liu Heng established his credibility and was instantly recognized by the people in the pilot counties. For the first time, local people discovered that they had the right to dismiss Han officials, and their enthusiasm for participating in the management of their hometowns suddenly increased.

Liu Heng took the opportunity to establish a national cooperative, which was a variation of the agricultural cooperative in the city, with the community as the living unit and the factory as the production unit.

The policy of dividing Chen County into four parts was implemented, and the local people produced their own wealth, managed their own wealth, and managed their own lives.

A Hundred Industries Conference was established, which was composed of elites from all walks of life in Gaoling. It was responsible for reviewing the daily government affairs of Gaoling County, big and small.

At the same time, technological advances brought about greater efficiency in communication, and Dahan's radio quickly became popular, especially in areas where the audience could see radio in almost every county.

Liu Heng used the new broadcasting system to announce important government affairs to the people of the county through the broadcasting system, and at the appointed time, everyone voted to implement or reject them. He truly practiced the Way of Great Harmony.

But after more than two years of practice, I found a big conflict between theory and practice.

Take the simplest example of occupying the road for business. Originally, Gaoling County had inspectors who drove away these small vendors and kept the main roads open.

However, small vendors complained about the inspections, and local people also sided with the small vendors, believing that the inspections were too broad and too strict, and were not conducive to increasing people's income.

After a county-wide vote, 70% of the people in Gaoling County agreed to abolish the regulations that required patrol officers to drive away small vendors.

At the beginning, the people of the whole city cheered. This was the first time that they exercised their power to change the county regulations, and the concept of the master of the country was so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for the first time.

But soon they could no longer laugh. Without the patrols to drive them away, there were more and more small vendors on the streets, and they occupied more and more roads. A four-lane two-way road could be occupied by more than half of them, so that even the road was blocked.

This caused trouble for the city's middle class, as they were stuck in traffic on their way to get off work and when picking up their children.

Only then did they realize that patrols were still necessary to maintain order in this city.

So three months later, a citizen collected signatures from thousands of people and began to propose the restoration of the inspection system.

This time, the law was barely passed with a 54% support rate from the people, which means that after three busy months, everything is back to normal.

Later, everyone began to improve the welfare system, saying that the basic pension of 1000 coins was too little and should be increased to 3000 coins. There was also the education system. Guanzhong was the richest region in the Han Dynasty, and compulsory education had begun to be popularized in middle schools. However, because of the rapid development of science and technology in recent years, secondary education has also begun to be divided into middle schools and high schools.

But the people of Gaoling believed that education should be free, so more than 100 middle schools, more than 30 high schools, seven technical schools, and two universities in Gaoling County should all begin to implement compulsory education.

However, Liu Heng, Gongsun Hong and representatives of all industries had great differences of opinion. Liu Hong believed that it was okay to improve welfare benefits, but it must be done within one's means. Welfare benefits that exceeded productivity would be a heavy burden.

Before formulating any policy, you must first think about where the money will come from.

However, the representatives of various industries had no experience in government affairs. As the masters, they had to exercise their rights. If there was no change at all, their role as masters would have been in vain. After intense discussions, the two sides reached a compromise and decided to pilot these welfare policies for one year.

But problems soon arose. The pilot project of Gaoling allowed the county to control its own tax revenue, and although Gaoling’s income increased threefold, even with these taxes, it could never afford Gaoling County’s high welfare benefits.

That year, Gaoling County's fiscal expenditure increased by 500%, but its revenue only increased by less than %, and the fiscal revenue was directly insufficient to cover the expenditure.

At the Assembly of Sages, Liu Heng told all the sages and ordinary people who were listening to the meeting two ways to solve the financial crisis.

One is to increase taxes. The increased taxes will cover the welfare expenditures. The standard of property tax will be set directly at the lowest level. As long as you own a house, you have to pay 1% property tax. Then it will be divided into five levels based on the area, with property taxes of 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5% respectively. These taxes will be used to bear the pension expenses.

Then the personal income tax was increased, and the tax threshold was lowered to 1,000 coins. Anyone with an income of more than 10,000 coins had to pay half of their income, and the money would be used for education expenses.

Increase the property tax rate and use the money to cover medical welfare expenses.

There will be inheritance tax, consumption tax, and luxury tax later. In short, the taxes added at the beginning will increase revenue, cover fiscal expenditures, and achieve a balance between revenue and expenditure.

After hearing this, all the people's faces were almost slapped into buns. If the taxes continued to be increased like this, half of their earnings would have to be used to pay taxes. Is this still the Liu Qingtian they respected?

This is simply Liu Baopi, he has raised the sky three feet high.

If you don't want to raise taxes, that's very simple. Just restore all welfare benefits to reduce county spending.

The people of the county finally began to calm down after they realized that these welfare expenses were borne by themselves.

(End of this chapter)