"No corvee?" A minister stood up and asked, "What does the family mean?"
"Of course all the labor is paid for!" Liu Che replied with a smile: "For example, a certain section of the project is contracted to someone at a certain price. After the completion, the Shaofu will send officials to inspect the quality and then pay..."
Hearing what Liu Che said, the eyes of the ministers in the hall suddenly shone.
There isn't a fool here.
They quickly understood what Liu Che meant.
Even the Emperor Liu Qi sat back on the imperial couch and chuckled in his heart: "It's interesting!"
Although it took a while, Liu Qi still couldn't understand Liu Che's thinking.
However, with a high degree of political acumen, Emperor Liu Qi immediately grasped the central idea of Liu Che's plan.
Obviously, this is a big picture.
The total budget was as high as one hundred thousand yuan, equivalent to a quarter of the Han Dynasty's fiscal revenue.
All the nobles in Guanzhong, even relatives, landlords, wealthy businessmen, and even big businessmen in Guandong will go crazy about this.
No one can give up such a good opportunity to make money openly.
Even Liu Qi himself couldn't help but feel a little moved, let alone others?
Sure enough, immediately a Chehou who had been silent all the time suddenly came out and asked: "My lord, I am stupid, please tell me in detail, what is the contracting method of this contract? Who can contract?"
Others, especially the ministers of the Marquis of Che who were just playing tricks, were also staring at Liu Che intently at this moment.
As for the chief officials of the yamen at the Jiuqing level, they also let go of their reserve at this time.
Everyone is short of money!
Everyone knows the benefits of having money!
At this moment, when Liu Che throws out a pie worth one hundred thousand yuan, even those who originally had opinions about Liu Che because of the protective price of grains, now they want to kneel down in front of Liu Che and want to hug this person tightly.
Thighs.
There is no other reason.
It is true that they are the protective umbrella and backer behind Guanzhong businessmen.
However, they are not businessmen and do not understand business. The reason why they have opinions about Liu Che is because they feel that the prince is blocking their way of making money.
But at this moment, when a big pie worth one hundred thousand dollars hits my head.
Anyone who is not a fool knows that as long as they operate it properly, they can make a fortune that they will never be able to spend all their life.
In this case, the small filial piety of the businessmen is insignificant.
Liu Che glanced at Marquis Che and the ministers.
He smiled slightly and explained: "Those with the title of Grand Duke or above can participate in the contracting. The price and qualification requirements for projects on different road sections are also different. For example, a project costing 30 million yuan will naturally have corresponding guarantees...
…For example, you must pay at least a security deposit equivalent to 10% of the project cost to the Shaofu, and at the same time, you must also have the guarantee of a Chehou or a minister of two thousand dan!"
In fact, Liu Che knew it very clearly from the beginning.
If the Baoxie Road project is to be excavated in this era, technical and financial difficulties are not a problem.
As long as you make up your mind, there is nothing the Han Dynasty cannot accomplish!
However, as a time traveler, Liu Che knew very well what the price of large-scale construction projects was in ancient China.
Because of the existence of the corvee system, every time the ruling class conscripted people on a large scale was actually an overdraft for its future.
For example, Qin Shihuang built the Afang Palace, built the imperial mausoleum, and built the Great Wall, which overdrawn the future of the entire Qin State and directly led to the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings.
Another example is that Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal and went on an expedition to Goguryeo, which overdrawn the future of the entire Sui Dynasty, leading to the rise of heroes and chaos in the world.
The reason for all this is that large-scale construction projects and wars will inevitably lead to increasing burdens on the people.
When the people can no longer afford it, a peasant uprising will definitely occur, and a change of government will naturally occur.
However, at a certain period in Chinese history, no matter how the rulers deployed large-scale troops or carried out large-scale construction projects, the people at the bottom honestly paid taxes according to regulations, obeyed the laws, obeyed orders, and worked hard without complaining.
This was the Warring States Period of more than two hundred years before Qin Shihuang unified the world.
Throughout the Warring States Period, since Shang Yang's reform, the Qin people used an extraordinary endurance and determination that would not be seen again for the next two thousand years to continue foreign wars and carry out large-scale water conservancy projects at home.
During the Changping War between Qin and Zhao, the entire Qin State and even the whole country were mobilized. From the 80-year-old man to the 18-year-old child, as long as they were able to move, everyone participated in the war.
Why can the people of Qin be patient?
Why, after reunification, could they not endure a more relaxed rule than the Changping War?
The answer is simple.
All the bustle in the world is for benefit, and all the hustle and bustle in the world is for benefit.
During the Warring States Period, before unification, the military merit system made every Qin citizen automatically a part of the Qin State's war machine.
If you perform meritorious service in war, you will definitely be rewarded.
As long as they make meritorious deeds and return alive, slaves can become freedmen, and yeoman farmers can become landlords.
After reunification, the entire country, from the ruling class to the people, lost its purpose. What's more serious is that because it can no longer rely on war to gain profits, the entire country is at a loss.
The system of military merit, land, and residence, which made the Qin people powerful and unrivaled in the world, eventually became the culprit of its destruction.
The lessons learned by the Qin people were indeed profound, but they also gave Liu Che and those who came after him a crucial revelation: whoever benefits the people, the people will follow.
As for corvee, especially the corvee in the Han Dynasty, from the perspective of a time traveler like Liu Che, from the perspective of the 21st century, there is no doubt that the vast majority of corvee in the Han Dynasty is basically public welfare.
For example, those two years of military service and half a year of guarding the border, from a modern perspective, are nothing more than an all-military service system. If in the future heaven, if you want to be a soldier, you have to give gifts and intercede?
Another example is building bridges, paving roads, and repairing city defenses. These are easy-to-understand projects for people's livelihood and national defense. Basically, in later generations, the common people in the Chinese dynasty liked such projects. Even some poor places were eager to have such projects.
However, at this time, most farmers were reluctant to serve. Anyone with a slightly better family would pay someone to do corvee service on their behalf.
Especially to guard the border. When normal farmers hear that they are going to guard the border, they cry and shout that if they can't help it, they will definitely not go!
Don't they know that if no one is guarding the border, the Huns will march straight in, ultimately endangering their originally peaceful life?
The answer is very simple. The people do not see the benefits, but have to pay the price. In this way, a fool will listen to your nonsense about nationalism, the country, and the defense of Huayi!
So what are the benefits if you serve?
For example, you can get paid for building bridges, and after you join the army and retire, you can enjoy priority in being selected as a rural tour leader, a pavilion chief, or even a county government servant?
Liu Che knew that the people would definitely break their heads over this!
Just like the celestial dynasty of later generations.
Of course, at present, the Han Dynasty's financial income at this time cannot support such large-scale expenditures and changes.
Liu Che used the Baoxie Road project just as a test.
As long as this method is proven to be feasible, he will gradually change the system of free service for service members in the future.
The reason is very simple. The free corvee system seems to mean that the rulers are taking advantage of the people, but in fact it is widening the gap between the rich and the poor, accelerating land annexation, and causing far more harm to the ruling class than the benefits gained!
Why has land annexation become more and more intense throughout the ages? Once it starts, it cannot be stopped. It can only cleanse everything and reset it to zero through a violent revolution.
The crux lies in the corvee system.
Corvee labor made it impossible for the people at the bottom to contend and compete with the landlords and wealthy merchants.
In the end, the embankment of a thousand miles was destroyed in an ant nest, and the huge political power collapsed overnight.
Liu Che naturally knew how to expand government revenue.
Right now, he has two ways to increase the Han Dynasty's fiscal revenue after he ascends the throne.
The right to mint coins was recovered and the government-operated monopoly of salt and iron was implemented.
These two new financial resources can basically ensure that Liu Che can steadily implement some policies in the first few years after he ascends the throne. However, if it involves the national issue of corvee, then the additional financial resources are completely insufficient!
He must develop new sources of income.
"In the first ten years after I ascended the throne, if I can avoid being at odds with the Huns, I will try my best not to be at odds with the Huns..." Liu Che thought to himself, he had already come to his senses.
Xiongnu and Han. There is no room for two tigers in one mountain, and there can only be one boss in this territory of East Asia!
However, he has not yet accumulated enough strength, and has not dealt with the domestic affairs well. Like Xiaozhu, he ran to fight the Huns to death despite the huge domestic conflicts. The final result was undoubtedly that the Huns were beaten.
Half dead, but the country has become a mess.
Therefore, before the internal affairs were sorted out and the country's power could not crush the Xiongnu, Liu Che would rather suffer temporarily.
Liu Che was confident that he could build a cavalry capable of crushing the Huns within ten years.
Then, defeat the Huns within ten years.
Of course, these are just ideas.
At this moment, all Liu Che's thoughts were on his pilot project.
The Baoxie Road project was implemented by Liu Che, just like the later dynasties implemented it in Shenzhen.
It can be said that Liu Che concentrated all his current political power in a desperate effort. To this end, he even sacrificed his accumulated prestige and popularity to promote it, and even spent a huge pie of one hundred thousand yuan!
Liu Che has calculated that the entire Baoxie Road, even if it adopts the plan of hiring migrant workers, calculated based on the most difficult cost, it will only cost a maximum of 30 million yuan, or even 10 to 20 million yuan.
But he still threw away the pie worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The reason is very simple. Without such heavy profits, it would not be enough for the bureaucrats and nobles in Guanzhong to support him.
In short, Liu Che is mentally prepared to sacrifice some of his rights and interests.
Later generations of the imperial dynasty used their whole country to support the construction of Shenzhen, and even used their own benefits and benefits to bribe and win over the entire bureaucratic group. Future generations who read history are all dumbfounded, but facts have proven that if it were not so
If we do, there will be no achievements in reform. Internal strife alone is enough to make everything go to waste, not to mention the future glory of the G2 Group!
The same is true for Liu Che.
If they don't feed the current relatives of Marquis Che and the bureaucracy, why should they support Liu Che?
Of course, Liu Che knew very well that feeding the bureaucrats and aristocratic groups was not enough. He also had to feed his emperor father and the empress dowager of the East Palace.
Therefore, the so-called 100,000 yuan and contract guarantee money were actually used by Liu Che to bribe his father!
Liu Che believes that his father should understand what he means today.
In fact, Liu Che's current behavior is tantamount to placing a big bomb on a volcano that was already about to erupt.
Regarding his father, Liu Che naturally knew that the emperor Liu Qi's entire energy and attention was now focused on how to defeat Wu Chu and make the Kwantung princes obedient and cut the vassal policy.
And to cut down the vassal state, one must have enough strength.
In terms of military strength, the Central Committee of the Han Dynasty was still very confident.
But once the army moves, the financial resources consumed...
At present, the central finance of the Han Dynasty may not be able to support it.
The reason is that Emperor Taizong Xiaowen died two years ago and the Empress Dowager died this summer. The funerals and the wealth brought underground by these two people almost emptied the treasury of the Han Dynasty! - Even if the two of them
The funeral and burial objects have been reduced again and again in accordance with the last wishes of the two supreme beings...
But just in the process of burying Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, nearly 60,000 troops were mobilized, three generals were appointed, and tens of thousands of people were recruited... This expenditure alone was already shockingly huge, not to mention,
The emperor was buried with even the most basic requirements - various necessities that conformed to the emperor's ritual system, such as yellow intestines, jade clothes with gold threads, and the emperor's thin ceremonial guard and terracotta warriors and horses.
Otherwise, in his previous life, he would not have been so poor that he asked the generals and Lord Che to go to merchants for loans at usury!
At least half of Liu Che's 100,000 yuan will definitely become military expenses for the army.
Embezzling special funds is an innate skill that the ruling class does not need to learn!
The Chehous and most of the ministers looked at each other.
They are naturally smart people, and of course they know that this one hundred thousand yuan may be a piece of cake, but as long as half of the funds can be put into practice, or even one-third, they may make a lot of money.
So, a Chehou came out and asked: "My family, if we contract..." He was obviously not used to the word contract, so he thought about it for a while. Then he continued: "Who should I go to?"
Liu Che chuckled and replied: "I still need to discuss with my father. Please ask my father for permission, and then I will decide who will preside over this matter!"
After speaking, Liu Che looked back at his father and found that his father looked calm and not angry, so he put his heart back in his stomach.
In fact, what Liu Che fears most is that this incident will arouse his father's resentment.
Then the gain outweighs the loss.
Now it seems that the emperor's father does not object, at least he acquiesces to it.
This made Liu Che feel inspired.
But at this moment, Emperor Liu Qi had other thoughts in his heart.
"This brat..." Emperor Liu Qi shook his head. Regarding Liu Che's plan, he listened to Yan Yi's report this morning. At that time, he didn't pay much attention. After all, Yan Yi only said that Liu Che had obtained a sum of 100,000 yuan.
I want to use the huge sum of 10,000 yuan to repair the Baoxian Road.
And combined with other information, Emperor Liu Qi just thought he was Liu Che and had some wild ideas.
Just like when he was young, he always had many naive and unrealistic ideas in his mind.
But looking at it now, Liu Che’s idea is very likely to come true!
The reason is very simple, it is a contracting method, although I don’t know how it will be implemented in detail.
But the Emperor Liu Qi knew that those who could be contracted would definitely be the families of Chehou and the chief officials of various yamen, as well as those related to the palace.
With such a big cake mix, and the alliance of interests, the Baoxie Road project can basically be completed.
It's just that the prince established his power so blatantly to win over the government and the opposition.
For some reason, Emperor Liu Qi felt very uncomfortable.
There is a sense of relief that my son has grown up, but also some strange emotions mixed in.
It made him feel a little angry and a little sad...
Especially when he saw Liu Che's young and handsome face and his calm and calm attitude when dealing with the ministers, he actually became jealous.
However, Emperor Liu Qi's forbearance skills were very good.
On the surface, he still maintained the look of a loving father and a strict monarch, sitting on the royal couch with his eyes half closed.
"Prince, come with me..." Emperor Liu Qi suddenly stood up, and then he said to the ministers: "Please leave the court!"
That is to say, he did not express his position on Liu Che's Baoxie Road project, let alone the one hundred thousand yuan.
It was as if he didn't hear these things.
When Liu Che saw this scene, he suddenly felt a knot in his heart and secretly screamed: "I am so proud, why did I forget this?!"
This period of smooth sailing made Liu Che so proud.
So much so that he actually forgot that this was in the feudal dynasty, this was the Western Han Dynasty, and he was facing an emperor father!
The emperor is the most elusive creature!
Especially his father who is famous for being sensitive and suspicious!
Fortunately, it was the Western Han Dynasty, not Li Tang and not Zhu Ming. Otherwise, just his complacent performance just now would have been enough for him to drink a pot.
The relationship between the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty and his prince was much more harmonious than that of later dynasties.
Even Liu Bang, no matter how much he disliked Liu Ying, at least he still saw her as his son and heir, not his enemy.
Despite this, this incident still served as a reminder to Liu Che.
"I am still just a prince. I am a newly crowned prince. My status is unstable and my foundation is not solid. From now on, I will leave matters like this to Zhang Tang, Yan Yi and Ji An!" Liu Che warned himself in his heart.
This is indeed a profound lesson!
To be fair, if he could leave this matter to Yan Yi and Zhang Tang, and complete it in the above situation, the effect would be the same, but it would avoid conflict with his father, let alone let his father have any ideas.
"I'm still too young..." Liu Che said to himself in his heart: "Thankfully I'm still young, only sixteen years old, otherwise, the consequences would be really disastrous!"
Liu Che followed in the footsteps of his father, and at the same time he began to deduce in his mind, how could he calm down the suspicion in his father's heart and do it naturally, so as not to make his father have more bad thoughts?
This is undoubtedly the biggest test since his rebirth! (To be continued)
ps: Well, normal updates are starting to resume~
Ah, this month is so decadent. In the remaining 17 days, I will try my best not to leave any debt in 2014!
