My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 618 Good, good, good

As the old saying goes, saying "I'm going to do this" a hundred times is not as good as actually doing one real thing.

Liu Rong's grand goals cannot be achieved simply by shouting slogans and setting targets.

—Indicators can be set by hand.

—A slogan can be shouted as long as you have a mouth.

However, for the ancient Chinese feudal dynasties, most of the time, what they lacked was not someone to tell everyone 'what should be their goal';
Rather, he is someone who tells everyone: how we should achieve this goal.

Let me give you a very simple example.

In the present Han Dynasty, there are no fewer than a hundred people qualified to attend and participate in national decision-making, including the Three Dukes, Nine Ministers, and officials with salaries of two thousand piculs.
On the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, the morning court sessions, along with the presence of dukes, marquises, and nobles, would typically involve three to five hundred people!
With so many people—so many top elites—doesn't anyone understand the importance of population?
Haven't the lessons learned from the past hundred years taught these people at the top of the Han Dynasty's pyramid that population is the most valuable asset of a nation?

of course not.

It's no exaggeration to say that, not to mention the imperial court, these officials who have been navigating the treacherous waters of officialdom for decades are practically seasoned veterans.

Even in local counties and prefectures, and even among the disciples of various academic cliques and academies in Guandong, there are many talented young people who can see through this essence.

Population is the most valuable asset of a nation, bar none!

As long as the population can be supported and stabilized, population growth will always be a great thing for the country, bringing only benefits and no harm.

Therefore, whether it's local counties, the central government, or even young students, no one needs to remind everyone: Hey, everyone, we need to pay attention to population!

We need population growth!

As long as the population grows, the country will become more and more prosperous and powerful!
Because everyone knows.

Just as everyone knows that one plus one equals two, and that you need to eat when you're hungry and drink when you're thirsty—any politician with a modicum of civility would know the importance of population.

The key question is: how to achieve population growth?

How can we encourage and guide people to have children?
How can we ensure the survival rate of infants so that a higher proportion of the population's birth rate can be converted into population growth?
How to balance social contradictions and curb land annexation after rapid population growth;

How can we ensure that we can support and maintain a high population growth rate?
With a larger population, the costs of governance and administration will also increase accordingly. How to solve these 'costs' – where will the money come from, and where will the officials come from?
Money is easy to deal with, but with a larger population, taxes will be higher.

But the need for more officials means the need for more scholars.
Where do scholars come from?

How can we increase the number of readers without lowering their quality?
How can we transform intellectuals into officials, and how can we build a bridge between intellectuals and the bureaucratic class?
……

Liu Rong could list similar questions all night, writing hundreds of bamboo slips, and none of the questions were the same.

This is a very complex problem.

A large 'population problem' can be broken down into countless smaller problems that need to be solved.

Moreover, these are not small problems that can be tackled one by one; rather, they are extremely complex systemic problems where taking care of one aspect affects another, and solving one aspect disrupts the other.

Faced with such a complex and enormous problem, the bureaucrats' innate 'inertia' will naturally make them want to give up.

—It doesn't have to be done this way, does it?

—Is it really so bad if the population doesn't grow?

—If we leave it alone, natural growth is like freebies; if it doesn't grow, it's no big deal!

— Governing by non-action, allowing the people of the world to rest and recuperate, is not laziness or inaction, but rather the authentic Huang-Lao philosophy of non-action!
Even those with lofty ambitions who are not afraid of the grand scale, complexity, difficulty, and danger, and are willing to rise to the challenge, would find it difficult to solve such a complex systemic national problem by their own efforts.

At times like these, it is time for time travelers like Liu Rong to step forward and formulate national policies.

First, the feudal autocracy and power allowed Liu Rong to disregard all obstacles—the laziness and resistance of the bureaucracy—and forcibly mobilize the enthusiasm of the entire country.

Secondly, the time traveler's foresight—or rather, his historical experience spanning two thousand years—could help Liu Rong point out a solution for the Han dynasty that, while not necessarily correct, had never been proven 'unfeasible' in the original history.

To put it bluntly, it can help the Han people and Chinese civilization avoid some detours.

Finally, and most importantly, compared to the local emperors who were hesitant and uncertain about success or failure, Liu Rong, with two thousand years of history as his "lessons learned," was often more confident and assured.

For example, porcelain;

If it were an indigenous emperor, upon hearing that his craftsmen were going to make such a thing, he would most likely say: "Isn't this thing that has never been made before going to be a useless thing in the end?"
Investing resources in research only to produce something useless in the end is a waste of resources.

Instead of pursuing porcelain with uncertain effects—or even uncertain success—it's better to focus on making pottery that is certain to be produced and useful.

But Liu Rong would say: Let's do it!

We can definitely make it happen!

I guarantee it!

If you have any problems that you can't solve, just come and ask me. I'll give you the Heavenly Eye cheat code!

Once it's finished, I'll tell you what this thing is for!

I guarantee this thing will work!
Porcelain is ultimately a luxury item, and this example may not be enough to give people a deep understanding of its value.

So, let's change to something else that's terrifying.

—Steam engine!

It was not a mature steam engine for mechanical use, but rather a prototype or even a conceptual sample that was more conceptual and focused on principle research.

For example, a circular bladder with an angled hole, which can be driven to rotate by steam.

If such a thing were placed in front of the native emperor, it would at most make the native emperor think in surprise: Hey, this thing is interesting!
But that's all it is: interesting.

Similar to acrobatics, opera, magic, song and dance, it is 'interesting'.

When I'm bored and have nothing to do, I might remember it, take a look, and marvel at it a few times—that's about it.

But if Liu Rong saw that a craftsman from the Imperial Household Department had created such a theoretical 'steam engine model', he would surely be thrilled and tremble with excitement!
Then, Liu Rong would suppress his excitement and try to guide the craftsman as naturally as possible: "Hey, this thing can spin around, you know?"
Wheels also need to turn.

So what if this thing could make the wheels turn while it's spinning on its own?

Doesn't this mean that horse-drawn carriages no longer need horses, oxcarts no longer need vehicles, and all that's needed is this thing with wheels turning, so that it can keep moving forward indefinitely?
—If Liu Rong were to utter these words and they were to be heard by that imaginative craftsman from the Imperial Household Department, then barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Han dynasty would soon be able to possess steam trains.

At the very least, they would have steam cars.

Even a steam-powered wheelbarrow is undoubtedly an exciting revolution! Then, Liu Rong could further remind these revolutionaries: Hey, waterwheels also need to turn in circles, right?
The stone mill also has to turn.

And then there are boats—if you replace the single oar propelled by man with a propeller made up of multiple single oars, you can also make the boat move forward by turning it in circles.

Eh?
There are so many things in this world that go around in circles...

What will happen next is something that future generations will surely understand.

This is the greatest help that time travelers can offer to feudal dynasties.

This is the correct way for time travelers to explore the ancient feudal dynasties of China.

—Not a system cheat or an old man, but a Gundam appearing out of nowhere;

Rather, it is to provide firm support and point out the future direction when a backward era shows signs of breaking through the shackles of civilization.

Specifically, when gunpowder was invented and the ancients intended to use it to make firecrackers and fireworks, they were properly guided to use it for industrial blasting and even military applications.

The same principle applies to the issue of population.

For indigenous politicians of this era—and indeed of every era—the population issue is a problem that everyone knows should be taken seriously and promoted, but no one knows where to start or how to ensure that everything is done perfectly without any mistakes.

Focusing solely on population growth will lead to resource scarcity, resulting in land consolidation and exacerbated social conflicts.
Unrestrained expansion in pursuit of more resources and land can, in turn, inhibit population growth or even cause population to grow in the opposite direction.

If the population increases but the number of bureaucrats cannot keep up, public order will be disrupted, administrative efficiency will be low, and the foundation of rule will be shaken.
However, if we only focus on increasing the number of bureaucrats, it will lead to uneven quality among them.

In order to ensure the quality of bureaucrats, the large-scale "expansion" of the intellectual class would lead to uncontrolled public opinion.

To control public opinion, it is necessary to unify ideology.

For ancient China, where communication methods were underdeveloped, this was another major problem...

Understanding all this makes it easy to see that the population problem in ancient China was like that of a pufferfish.

—Everyone knows that pufferfish are rampant and readily available. If we can turn them into food, we can solve many problems.

But nobody knows how to eat pufferfish without poisoning someone.

The significance of Liu Rong, this time traveler, lies in stepping forward at times like these to tell everyone: where the pufferfish's poison glands are, how to remove them, how to cook and use the pufferfish after the poison glands are removed, and what precautions to take...

When applied to the issue of population, the answer is obvious.

For the indigenous ruling class of this era, the first challenge facing population growth was the scarcity of resources and land, which led to land consolidation.

People in this era may have some ideas, but they all feel uncertain.

As a time traveler, Liu Rong could tell them with absolute certainty that public ownership of land was almost the only long-term and effective solution for land annexation.

Of course, advanced experiences from later generations cannot be directly applied to this backward era.

Liu Rong could cleverly embellish the concepts of public and state ownership of land as imperial ownership of land, depending on the historical context.

In any case, land consolidation will occur;

In any case, the land owned by ordinary people will inevitably and slowly flow to landlords, powerful officials, and wealthy people.

Since it was inevitable for the people to lose their land, Liu Rong could start by asking, "Who will get the land that the people have lost?"

Ordinary people sell their land out of necessity.

Selling to anyone is selling, buying is buying;

Why can't it be Liu Rong who buys it?
Whenever farmers were forced to sell their land due to poverty, Liu Rong could always buy it from the imperial treasury with his own money.

If this continues, Liu Rong will eventually become the largest landowner in the Han Dynasty, a position that will be precipitous.

In fact, even without doing so, the Han emperors, including Liu Rong, were already the largest landowners in the land.

In the Shanglin Garden, the Han emperors possessed tens of thousands of hectares of 'imperial land' that were hereditary and perpetually increasing.
In various local counties and prefectures—especially in the Guandong region—whenever landlords, powerful families, or nobles had their properties confiscated and their land seized, Liu Rong would acquire an additional 'imperial land' thousands of miles away.

The imperial fields mentioned here do not refer to state-owned farmland belonging to the Han dynasty's administrative system, but rather to the personal land of the Han emperor—similar to the imperial treasury's private funds.

Following this line of thought—the Han emperor was already the biggest landowner in the world;
So, as the largest landowner in the world, is it really a big deal for the Han emperor to spend his own money to buy more land for himself?
it is good.

As is well known, the Han emperor's wealth—at least for the current Han emperor—was incredibly substantial.

In addition, with the annual poll tax as a stable source of income, the Han emperor could buy several thousand hectares—that is, hundreds of thousands of acres—every year if he wanted to.

With a steady, gradual accumulation, sooner or later every inch of arable land in the Han Dynasty's empire will become the private property of the Han emperor.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, almost all the land in the Han Dynasty belonged to Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang. However, Emperor Gaozu chose to give away the farmland for free in order to restore production as quickly as possible.

And in the future, when Liu Rong buys up all the farmland in the world again, can he tell the world: Emperor Gao gave you the land, but you couldn't accept it?
Even if I were to give them to you now, you still wouldn't be able to hold onto them, and you would have to sell them off sooner or later.

Therefore, I do not intend to give you the farmland for free—I will lend you the land to cultivate.

Each household owns 100 mu (approximately 6.7 hectares), and the eldest son inherits the right to 'borrow seeds'.

No need to thank me, it's just a loan.

As a result, farmers who do not own the land but only have the 'right to use' or 'right to cultivate' it are no longer able to cope with the crisis by selling their land.

If the land in the hands of farmers does not belong to the farmers and cannot be sold, then there is naturally no land consolidation.

—When peasants owned land, powerful landlords and local officials colluded to set up schemes to seize land;

But the land no longer belonged to the peasants, but to the emperor. Could it be that the landlords could collude with officials to 'steal' Liu Rong's imperial land?

This possibility cannot be ruled out.

But it is obvious that, compared to the peasants who were submissive and had almost no countermeasures, Liu Rong, this feudal emperor, was quite 'not to be trifled with'.

When farmers are tricked into taking away their farmland, they can only sigh and say, "I can't blame others. I'll be more careful next time."

But if it were Liu Rong, whose imperial land was 'stolen' by a scheme orchestrated by landlords and officials, he would most likely sigh and say: No wonder I had to be more careful in my next life...

(End of this chapter)