Chapter 217: The End of an Era (VII)
In the 21st century, private bosses used the rhetoric of state-owned enterprises to deceive employees, which was very funny to Huo Chong. As someone said, if you want to build an atomic bomb to defend the country against foreign enemies, you have to do it even if you don't get paid. Because it is for the country and for everyone.
Are employees crazy for doing anything for their private boss's villa and luxury cars?
With such experience, Huo Chong couldn't help laughing when he heard Hu Yue's argument of "replacing the gentry". Even though he knew it was very rude to Hu Yue, Huo Chong couldn't help laughing!
After struggling to hold back his laughter, Huo Chong could only say "Sorry, I'm not targeting you" to Hu Yue twice, and then he burst into laughter again.
Even though Hu Yue was not a petty person, his face turned red with embarrassment.
When Huo Chong finally calmed down, the first thing he said was, "Hu Yue, the people have sharp eyes!"
While Huo Chong was gasping for breath to calm down, Hu Yue asked loudly with hurt emotions: "Sir, what I said is just what everyone thinks."
"I know, I know." Huo Chong immediately expressed his agreement with Hu Yue.
After the emotions calmed down, Huo Chong explained the inevitability of class to the comrades attending the meeting.
"...I have participated in a meeting hosted by a county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty. The county magistrate said clearly that the core of implementing the land tax is eight words. If there is no rent, where will the tax come from? If I want to kill the landlords, I don't need to use other means. If the land tax is implemented, as long as no one becomes a tenant for the landlords, all the landlords in Shandong will go bankrupt in three years!"
After saying that, Huo Chong wrote the four words "capital growth" in large letters and then began to talk about the essence of capital operation.
The industrial capitalist system is sufficient for capital to make huge profits as long as the price of capital is kept high in capital markets such as the stock market.
With such high capital prices, product prices will of course rise all the way. The less supply, the higher the price.
The same was true of the gentry rule during the Qing Dynasty. They needed to monopolize land to a great extent and reduce the amount of land rented out.
As the amount of cultivated land decreased, the price of grain naturally rose. As long as the price of grain went up, the rent would of course increase. It was also possible to transfer all the burdens of the landlords to the tenants through various government means.
Gao Pang was sweating profusely as he listened to Huo Chong's cold and clear account of the methods of the gentry class. The faces of the other people attending the meeting were also extremely grim.
Huo Chong felt that his thoughts were clear at this moment, and he turned around and wrote a line of words, "The state is a tool of class rule, and the ruling class realizes the will of the ruling class through laws."
After writing it, Huo Chong did not feel any deep hatred for the landlord gentry class, but instead felt admiration for how "China's social system is so advanced."
Because in the feudal system of Europe and America, the lords had ownership of all the people in the territory. Even in the most backward Qing Dynasty, at least the land could be regarded as a means of production. With the change of power, the ownership of land is also constantly changing.
Although both are feudal systems, China has undoubtedly reached the peak , while the feudal systems in Europe and the United States, even in the 21st century, have not reached the point where they can stand shoulder to shoulder with the feudal system of the Qing Dynasty.
However, it was not yet time to comment on it from a historical perspective. Huo Chong asked Hu Yue, "Hu Yue, do you still want to replace the gentry?"
Hu Yue looked confused, and tried to think of an excuse, "Sir, if that's what you mean. How come we have become so strong after planting the seeds of good fortune?"
"Good question!" Huo Chong praised loudly. The previous laughter was too much of a blow to Hu Yue, so he had to save some face for Hu Yue now.
Gao Pang didn't think Hu Yue said anything wrong. He listened attentively to what Huo Chong was going to say next.
Huo Chong's rise was so amazing. How did a man who was not even a gentry become so powerful? Gao Pang had no idea what was similar in history books. Although Huo Chong had cultivated a fortune, he was not one of Zhang Jue's Yellow Turbans. Gao Pang felt that he could at least tell the difference.
Whether you burn incense or cut off the chicken head, you can't fool others.
Seeing Huo Chong helping him, Hu Yue quickly said, "Sir, when I said to replace the gentry, I just thought that the gentry could be officials. Now we have to make this official position one in which we have the final say!"
"Hu Yue, and comrades. I haven't actually done much in these years. I'm just really engaged in business. For every inch of land, I've worked with everyone to find ways to manage it. Those gentry want to exploit, so they try every way to increase the rent and make money from the people. Think about it, when have we ever done this? As long as you are affiliated with our Zhongfu platform, we will find ways to reduce the burden on the people and do our best to help them produce more. What's the difference between us and the landlords and gentry? It's that all our strength is used in land management! We are developing productivity!"
After saying this, Huo Chong felt that all the depression in his chest was completely released.
It's really funny to say. In these years, when Huo Chong faced the government and gentry, what he had to avoid was to hide this idea that was absolutely correct in the 21st century from others.
Even in capitalist countries like the United States and Europe, getting something for nothing is not a positive description.
However, in the Qing Dynasty, the landlords and gentry would never listen to any criticism about "getting something for nothing". If you criticize getting something for nothing, it will undoubtedly hit the sore spot of the landlords and gentry, and they will immediately jump up and fight with the person who said it.
After the topic was pointed out, Huo Chong's subordinates began to think. As the discussion progressed, the cadres who followed Huo Chong to kill people everywhere finally discovered why they were different and why they were able to walk upright and fast in this broken world.
Gao Pang listened carefully and felt that his original view of the world seemed to be completely overturned.
Unearned gains and exploitation of uniforms were really unacceptable among the literati and gentry of the Qing Dynasty.
In order to explain why people lived in such misery, the literati and gentry created various theories about "human nature".
Although Gao Pang felt that there were some indescribable internal problems, he felt that too many statements were specious and he could not find a completely correct explanation.
Just as Huo Chong can construct a most basic logical system by using the correctness of simple logical forms and the correctness of propositional forms.
Class division, capital ownership, and surplus value exploitation clearly explain the current state of the world.
Gao Pang had already felt that the so-called "human nature" standard was unacceptable, and at that time Gao Pang felt that the judgment of "human nature" could no longer cause him trouble. However, he did not expect that through new learning at this time, he completely understood from a deeper level "why some classes must create the concept of human nature."
Just as Huo Chong said before, anyone who talks about human nature without considering the specific facts is a truly inhumane person!
Human nature is just an explanation created by these exploiting classes in order to consolidate their rule. The purpose has nothing to do with human nature, but is just to make all the explanations beneficial to the exploiting classes.
Huo Chong saw that his comrades had begun to understand how the Blessing Platform had come to where it was. He struck while the iron was hot and told everyone, "We want to take over the world, so we can't make a mistake! We are completely different from those landlords and gentry. The landlords and gentry have only one goal, which is to exploit, exploit, and exploit! What we want to do is to produce, produce, and produce. Only through labor can the people obtain more materials. These materials can first ensure that everyone is well fed and clothed, and then support everyone to have the opportunity to learn! Through learning and mastering more abilities, we can solve all the problems we face. ...Uh, no, most of the problems..."
The meeting ended in a heated atmosphere. Huo Chong didn't know how much these guys really understood. At least they seemed to understand many issues.
Since there has been progress here, Huo Chong continued with the work he had arranged for several days.
The purpose of making everyone understand these issues theoretically is not to cultivate a group of theorists. Huo Chong's purpose is to make everyone understand why the new land policy should be implemented from the beginning of spring.
The policy of allocating the poll tax to the land must be implemented. If we ignore the Qing Dynasty model of "no rent, no tax" during its implementation, the simple policy of allocating the poll tax to the land itself completely solved the poll tax problem.
Huo Chong had no interest in collecting poll taxes. It was not until the 21st century that Huo Chong learned that poll taxes still existed in Europe and the United States.
If he had not looked up the information, Huo Chong could only judge what the poll tax was from the three words "poll tax" based on the literal meaning, and he had no idea that the poll tax was a type of tax with such a long history.
The core group of the Han regime already knew the purpose of the land tax system, and no one asked stupid questions. The dumbest question was the impact of the land tax system on ordinary farmers.
In addition to allocating the land tax based on the amount of land, we must also crack down on the problem of "the lessor is not allowed to collect rent in advance or deposit" in any land lease.
"Everyone, remember that the landlords originally wanted to control the rent price by reducing the rent. We don't have to worry about the landlords succeeding. We have enough land to obtain food. These grains will not let the landless people starve to death. There are many industries to do in the countryside. Farmers who have no livelihood can go to those workshops and farms to work. We must let the people see that we will never be troubled by the landlords to the point that we can't continue our business!"
Staring at the cadres who were not particularly excited, Huo Chong slammed the table vigorously, "This is the key battle for whether we can solve the landlord gentry! People say that if we are willing to sacrifice our lives to bring down the emperor, we can kill the emperor without losing a few hairs! You must not let our comrades ruin the reputation we have established for us!"
After saying this, Huo Chong glanced at Qian Qing, and saw Qian Qing stood up, waving his arms and shouting: "Liberate the people! Get rid of the landlords!"
Some cadres had been told to follow the slogans, and some people immediately followed suit. To Huo Chong's surprise, there were many more people who followed the slogans than he had imagined.
While the political training of the Han regime was going on in full swing, the landlords and gentry had already learned from the large number of memorial activities held by the Han regime in various places that Huo Chong had actually broken into the capital and killed the current emperor Yongzheng.
Shandong is a place with a very strong reading culture. The literati only heard that Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Coal Hill, but they did not remember how many emperors were killed directly in history books.
When the scholars met each other in horror, they racked their brains to think of the same case. After thinking about it, they only remembered the incident when the three families returned to Jin and the Sima family usurped the Cao family.
Jia Chong was seen riding a horse in military uniform, with Cheng Ji on his left and Cheng Ji on his right, leading thousands of armored guards, shouting and charging. Cao Mao drew his sword and shouted, "I am the Son of Heaven! Are you rushing into the palace to kill me?"
When the imperial guards saw Cao Mao, they dared not move. Jia Chong called Cheng Ji and said, "Why did Sima Gong raise you? It was for today's matter!"
Ji then raised his halberd in his hand, looked back at Chong and asked, "Should I kill you? Should I tie you up?"
Chong said: "Sima Gong has issued an order: only the dead are wanted."
Cheng Ji rushed to the front of the chariot with his halberd in hand. Mao shouted, "How dare you be so rude!"
Before he could finish his words, Cheng Ji stabbed him in the chest with his halberd and he was knocked off the sedan chair. Another halberd pierced his back and he died beside the sedan chair.
Imagining such a tragic scene in history, the faces of the gentry turned pale. They heard that Huo Chong had entered the palace and captured Yongzheng. They were afraid that hundreds of people would shoot Yongzheng at the same time, which would completely blow up Yongzheng's body, so that the Qing Dynasty did not know that Yongzheng was dead.
They used the white-brown rope produced in the base to wrap around Yongzheng's neck, and two hundred people grabbed the two ends of the rope and pulled together. Because the rope was not long enough, many of the murderous commandos directly grabbed the waists of their comrades next to them and pulled together.
Because the force was too great, the rope directly broke Yongzheng's neck. When Yongzheng's head fell, the wound was so small that almost no blood flowed out.
This was so tragic, even more tragic than Cheng Ji killing Cao Mao.
The head of the Gao family in Qingzhou looked pale, and said to the other gentry who came to the secret meeting: "Everyone, my family has no current officials. Now that the situation has come to this point, I can only wait for the government troops to retake Shandong. As for me, I can only protect myself."
The other gentry knew that the Gao family would never come out to fight against the traitor Huo Chong. Huo Chong even dared to kill the emperor, and before that, he had dealt with so many families of Shandong Jinshi and families with current officials, and confiscated countless lands.
As a gentry, he has an instinctive desire to own more land. All the gentry believed that Huo Chong only wanted to plunder more land. After killing the emperor, Huo Chong had no room to maneuver with the Qing Dynasty. Being loyal to the Qing Dynasty was undoubtedly Huo Chong's biggest excuse and reason.
The gentry only wanted to protect themselves at this time. Seeing that the Gao family had no intention of standing up and being killed, they did not waste words. Not to mention that the Gao family publicly stated that they would not resist, even if the Gao family said they wanted to resist, these gentry would not follow them.
"Mr. Gao, what do you think Huo Chong will do next?" a gentleman asked.
The head of the Gao family took off his melon-shaped hat, adjusted the rat tail on the back of his head, and sighed: "Do you need to ask more questions? Since Huo Chong has come to this point, how can he let people keep this thing?"
Sure enough, not long after, Huo Chong brought the latest orders to the countryside through the troops sent to the village to establish militia .
The governor of the Han Dynasty, Huo Chong, issued an order that all the people in the areas under his jurisdiction must cut off their pigtails and return to the Han clothing.
Many gentry actually thought of this, but what surprised them was that Huo Chong mentioned another thing in this almost purely political declaration.
China has always been inclusive and progressive, and its technology is extremely advanced. It has long been known that the earth under our feet is a sphere, the earth. And the earth revolves around the sun, so there are technical means to predict solar and lunar eclipses.
As early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it had reached Fuso Province in the far east.
In order to keep the people ignorant, the Qing Dynasty banned foreign trade and imposed a total ban on sea trade, which was completely against Chinese tradition.
The governor of the Han Dynasty, Huo Chong, ordered the resumption of navigation. The Han Dynasty also wanted to open shipyards, build ships, and resume trade with all countries on the earth.
Anyone who wants to do so can report to the Han regime. Whether they join the newly established "Ministry of Revenue and Foreign Trade Bureau" of the Han regime or build their own ships for foreign trade, they can all be protected by the Han regime.
The gentry were all puzzled. Huo Chong actually regarded going out to sea for trade as a political move that had the same status as cutting off his braids. Huo Chong's behavior was really strange.
All these declarations were posted in Jinan without exception. The people who went to post the notices were completely open, and they posted the notices outside the city gates and on the streets of Jinan City.
The officials and defenders of Jinan City pretended not to notice it. No one even dared to tear down the notice immediately.
The news of Yongzheng's murder had spread throughout Jinan City at this time, and the governor of Shandong Province did not necessarily have deep feelings for Yongzheng. At this time, he only cared about who would become the new emperor after Yongzheng's death.
Although Yongzheng was dead, the Qing Dynasty was not without a ruler. The Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty, who advocated the rule of filial piety, was still alive. Even if Yongzheng was still alive, he had to give some respect to the Empress Dowager's decree. Not to mention that Yongzheng was dead.
Yongzheng died, and the Queen Mother became the queen of the Qing Dynasty. All officials who were not fools knew that the Queen Mother's love for Yongzheng was basically thin, and the Fourteenth Prince was the son that the Queen Mother truly loved. As long as the Queen Mother issued an order, even if many people opposed it, the Fourteenth Prince might succeed to the throne.
There is no need to fight to the death with Huo Chong at this time.
Everyone in Shandong officialdom knew how Huo Chong had gotten an official position. It was the Fourteenth Master who came from the capital in person and gave Huo Chong a provincial official position. What if the Fourteenth Master wanted to recruit Huo Chong? This was undoubtedly Huo Chong's only chance to get rid of his identity as a traitor.
Since the notice was not torn off, Feng Yukuan saw it immediately. The old man couldn't help laughing, and the officials who came to Feng Yukuan to inquire about the news were at a loss.
When Feng Yukuan stopped laughing, the official asked in confusion, "Master Feng, why are you laughing?"
Feng Yukuan sighed, "I have never thought about becoming an official in my life. I just thought that it would be great if I could set up a fleet one day to travel between Japan and Shandong. I didn't expect Brother Huo to issue such a notice. Everyone, do you trust me? If you do, why not invest some money in me. When my fleet reaches Japan and makes money, I will share the profits with you!"
