It can be said that with the powerful Han Dynasty having an industrial system that was ahead of the entire era, both the emperor himself and the civil and military officials, as well as countless common people and soldiers, had greater ambitions.
This is not the fault of one person, but the driving force of the entire era.
The development of industry requires more manpower and material resources, cheaper labor and raw materials, and more capital.
Years of wars have left the Han Dynasty’s local capitals with little labor among young men. In addition, the Han armies need to expand every year and need to recruit more young people to join the army. Otherwise, there will be no way to form a complete advantage over the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, the young and middle-aged labor force in the Han Dynasty is naturally very precious.
Li Xingchen persuaded women to go out of the house, firstly to promote equality between men and women, and secondly to liberate more male labor force with cheap female labor force which may sound cruel but is the reality.
This can solve the current problem of lack of young and middle-aged labor in Dahan, and at the same time, it can also reduce the cost of industrial production and promote the rapid development of Dahan industry.
Historically, the rapid industrialization of European and American countries had a lot to do with the fact that women worked at home and men fought abroad.
Of course, in addition to women, big men also need more and cheaper labor, especially male labor. After all, women are still weak, and there are many physical jobs that women cannot do in place of men.
Therefore, a large number of slaves have entered the Han market in recent years. Of course, these slaves cannot be local Han people. If the government knows who dares to sell Han slaves openly, it will naturally not be spared. The main source of slaves is Annan, Nanyang and other places.
In other words, they were basically all arrested.
It was not only merchants who captured slaves, but also the full support of the Han army behind them. Even the Han army, such as naval warships, would personally go into battle. Otherwise, the thugs hired by several merchants would not necessarily be the opponents of the local indigenous people.
After all, there are still many people.
However, most of the people in these places are thin, their quantity is guaranteed, and their quality naturally varies. Therefore, the big Han now needs more and higher-quality slaves to meet the growing industrial and agricultural needs.
In addition, the big man also needs more money.
There is nothing more convenient and direct than obtaining gold and silver directly from overseas. Even if real gold and silver cannot be found, the huge profits brought by overseas trade are equally enviable.
Trade development and expansion of territory are the best choices.
Historically, the Southern Song Dynasty was relatively peaceful, but it was still able to become one of the few wealthy people in the world by relying on the Maritime Silk Road.
Nowadays, no one on the sea can compete with the Han Dynasty. The semi-civilized world is naturally eager for the goods from the Han Dynasty. They don’t mind exchanging precious gold and silver jewelry for actually cheap ceramics, tea and
Silk, and even more products produced on assembly lines.
The formation of trade deficit caused a large amount of money to flow into the hands of Han merchants, and then entered the Han financial system through them, and even entered the Han treasury.
Don't forget, these guys can go out without the escort of the Han Navy, so they have to pay a lot of taxes to the court. What's more, even if there is no tax, they are willing to hand over the money to the court
, in exchange for the imperial court's support as they move toward a broader world, and to help the imperial court stabilize its rear.
If the big man's own economy collapses, then they will become rootless outsiders.
So they supported the imperial court, and the imperial court supported them, ultimately forming a virtuous cycle.
No need for Li Xingchen’s persuasion, people in the entire society are tending to expand their territories.
Only by fighting it out will there be more gold and silver wealth and more labor force.
This is already a consensus, a consensus easily reached by everyone under the rapid development of capital, culture, and industry.
Even people like Bao Xing, who is in the court, hope that the banner of the Han Dynasty can cross thousands of mountains and rivers and reach every corner of the world.
It’s no secret that the world is a big place.
But China still wants to become the center of the world.
Li Xingchen stood up and stretched out his hand to draw on the map. The location he pointed at was Luoyang: "From here to the northwest, there is the Western Region and Congling. From here, pass through Bashu to the southwest, and beyond Nanzhong is Tianzhu, and
From Bashu to the west, there is Tubo on the mountains, and beyond the mountains there are big and small Bolu..."
These were all places that were not shown on the map, and Bao Xing was stunned for a moment.
However, he was not completely unfamiliar with these names.
The big man Baipao has not been doing anything for a living these years. Although he has not sent manpower to go deep into these places, whether it is on-site investigation or hearsay, a lot of relevant information has been compiled. Even for some places that are relatively close to each other.
, such as Annan, have begun to send people to start work. Baipao once made great contributions when the Han Dynasty entered Annan.
As the secretary-supervisor of a big man, Bao Xing had heard of this knowledge even if he had not read it.
The world is very big, and what they can see now is just the tip of the iceberg. This is the understanding that Baipao's long-term work has brought to people. Before this, in people's understanding, the land of China and Kyushu was almost the world.
All the desolate lands in the southeast, northwest, and no matter how big or small they are, cannot be compared to China.
Having this kind of understanding cannot be said to be short-sighted by the ancestors of China. Even if they can build such a large territory from generation to generation, it can no longer be said to be short-sighted. It’s just that no matter which direction the territory of China goes outwards,
They will face harsh climatic and geographical conditions. These climatic and geographical conditions are difficult to overcome with the medical and technical methods of the ancients, so the ancients have almost no way to establish effective rule in these places.
Li Xingchen didn't understand this truth, so before the Han Dynasty's technology was fully developed, and before the Han Dynasty had good ability to expand outward and establish a stable rule, he would not take rash actions. What I just said
Those thousands of lands are certainly tempting, but Li Xingchen still maintains his most basic sense.
What the powerful Han Dynasty needs now is to accumulate capital and develop technology. The surrounding Nanyang and other places are enough for the powerful Han Dynasty to make use of it.
It is better to do things well in front of you than to covet the land far away. In Li Xingchen's view, the expansion of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions was too fast, which caused a large part of the national power of the Tang Dynasty to be tilted to the northwest. Domestic local and central governments
The conflicts between them intensified and eventually evolved into the Anshi Rebellion. Li Xingchen did not believe that so many people responded just because An Lushan raised his voice. In the final analysis, it was because many grassroots officials were dissatisfied with the imperial policy.