Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7136 Various Methods
It's no wonder Xun Chen's face turned green; the data Chen Xi provided was enough to leave people of this era speechless. In the Han Dynasty, no, in the feudal era, no, before a certain bug appeared, steel production was always a symbol of national strength.

A country like the Han Dynasty, with an annual steel production of 100,000 tons, is something that was unthinkable before. You should know that before Chen Xi came, the Han Dynasty and Rome, the two beacons of the era, had an annual steel production of only 10,000 tons, and Rome had not even reached 10,000 tons.

Now that figure has increased tenfold, and you're telling me the shortage is actually bigger than the production volume?

What does this mean? It means that the Yuan family in Eastern Europe, the Sun family in Southern China, and the prominent families in Central Asia will all have to face this issue in the future.

Because of the path Chen Xi took, everyone would continue to follow it, since it was a proven correct path. Therefore, as long as they weren't stupid, they would definitely continue along this path. However, now Chen Xi is telling them that if they continue along this path, they will all encounter this problem, a problem that would make the heads of people in the feudal era explode just by thinking about it.

"We will continue to invest in steel smelting technologies, and we have already made progress. Steel production capacity is expected to grow explosively in the future." Chen Xi briefly glossed over the question, but this was not to fool the people present. He had indeed found a suitable path.

The inverted triangular cone steel furnace that Sun Ce developed was actually a very good idea in terms of concept. However, it had excessively high quality requirements for the cone bottom, and the high temperature would destroy the curing process. In theory, it could only be used to build refractory and high-temperature resistant materials, and curing itself was not very meaningful in this regard.

Therefore, the route that Sun Ce had experimented with at great personal risk was put aside until this year when the Han Dynasty developed tungsten steel, making it possible to verify this route. Although the current production of tungsten steel is actually very low, if it is only used for verification, it should not be a big problem to accumulate a lot of time.

According to Chen Xi's estimate, if the design is sound and the technology meets the standards, the Han Dynasty should be able to produce steel furnaces with a capacity of 200 to 500 cubic meters, which means they can produce 300 to 1,000 tons of steel per day and night. Considering this smelting capacity, Chen Xi felt that they could try it out in three to five years. If it succeeded, even if they had to pay extra for some tungsten steel, it would be acceptable, because this would truly be a leap forward.

"Then there's animal husbandry. Currently, animal husbandry in the northern border region is developing well. With the investment of professional animal husbandry personnel, animal husbandry has entered a stage of rapid and refined development. At present, the Han Dynasty has stockpiled 32 million sheep, 2.7 million cattle, and 5.3 million pigs in the northern border region, which is theoretically sufficient to supply the country. However, due to road and logistics issues, it is impossible to supply the whole country." Chen Xi's gaze naturally fell on Sun Qian, Jian Yong, and others. When this data was read out, he could feel the atmosphere suddenly become more enthusiastic.

"Currently, animal husbandry is mainly based on grass feeding. Silage technology has undergone several rounds of innovation and is now quite advanced. The actual carrying capacity of the northern frontier should be able to reach 200 million sheep, 20 million cattle, and 40 million pigs. However, considering the combined costs of labor and domestication, the Han Dynasty's animal husbandry will shift from grass feeding to grain feeding in the future." Chen Xi's calm voice was like a missile thrown into Weiyang Palace, leaving everyone speechless.

What does it mean to have an actual carrying capacity of 200 million sheep, 20 million cattle, and 40 million pigs? Lord Chen, we know you're awesome, but isn't this a bit too much? If it really reached that level, it seems like everyone in the world could have meat to eat every day.

However, after remembering this, the group suddenly recalled Chen Xi's previous boast about wanting all the people of the Han Dynasty to be able to eat meat. So, all that talk about the scriptures back then was actually true! Meat is just a condiment; how could ordinary people eat it every day?

"Silage technology will continue to be developed as a supplement to grain feed, while the Tiannan region will be responsible for providing bone meal and starch to the northern livestock industry. In addition, the Han Dynasty will provide the Tiannan region with complete livestock technology and related personnel." Chen Xi glanced at Zhou Yu, his expression very calm. Some things are completely different when mentioned in the grand court assembly compared to when mentioned in private. Obviously, Chen Xi had formally mentioned this in the grand court assembly, and everyone in the Jiangdong forces was very excited.

Similarly, the Central Asian aristocratic families all had a green glint in their eyes as they looked at the Jiangdong forces. Damn, this is really good. It's really good to have a big shot taking the lead and shouldering the responsibility. They actually managed to get a huge fortune. They had heard before that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were the first to rush up and present the memorial, which brought them huge fortune. They never expected it to be this kind of fortune. Large-scale commercial purchases and future livestock exports. It's practically a guaranteed job.

"The relevant departments will discuss the details with Mr. Wu later," Chen Xi said irritably after glancing at him. "Furthermore, stabilizing grain prices is a crucial task that must be guaranteed at this stage. No one can compromise on this aspect. It is a different matter for people to be killed by bandits than for them to starve to death."

When Chen Xi said this, there was a clear warning in his eyes. It was a serious matter if ordinary people were killed on the road, but it was nothing to the country. The country was so big that such accidental deaths would happen every day. But if ordinary people starved to death, then damn it, no matter what the reason, we would investigate from the bottom up and punish whoever was found!
Perhaps there was no difference between the two in the previous Han Dynasty, but under Chen Xi's rule, starvation is not allowed. All levels of government have a fund to prevent people from starving to death. No matter what the reason is, even if the other party has ruined himself and become useless and unable to work, you cannot let him starve to death. Even if he is lazy, it is wrong to let him starve to death!

The members of the noble families remained calm upon hearing this. The governors of the fifteen prefectures exchanged glances and expressed their understanding. After all, Confucian scholars still valued their reputation in this era. In the past, people starved to death because of a genuine food shortage. But now, with no food shortage, if people were to starve to death, then Chen Xi's ruthless measures were indeed understandable.

“Starting from the eleventh year of Yuanfeng, the funds used by governments at all levels for local poverty alleviation will be adjusted. The requirement for poverty alleviation is just one thing: no matter what, people must be fed.” As he spoke, Chen Xi looked at Chen Deng, the governor of Yizhou, Zhang Song, the governor of Yangzhou, Zhang Ji, the governor of Zangzhou, and Sima Lang, the governor of Xinzhou. These four bastards, forget it, I won’t curse them anymore, it’s pointless, this is a matter of geography.

Faced with Chen Xi's gaze, the four of them could only look away helplessly. They had no choice; it wasn't that they didn't want to help the poor, but rather that their own circumstances were complicated.

The other areas of Yangzhou were manageable for Zhang Song, but the location of Fujian in later generations was full of hills. Even though two villages were only ten miles apart, there were more than a dozen mountains in between, and the two villages even had different customs and habits. What could Zhang Song do? The fact that no one starved to death was already a testament to the fact that Zhang Song still remembered the people in those remote mountain valleys.

Similarly, there's Chen Deng, who was even more direct. The reason the people in the Ten Thousand Mountains didn't starve to death was purely because Chen Deng sent the Commandant of Shu County to the mountains from time to time to supervise poverty alleviation. Otherwise, given the local conditions, they would have starved to death long ago. At this point, Chen Deng even considered suggesting that they stop collecting taxes from those areas.

The situation in Tibet is also chaotic. Some of the habits of the Qiang people, such as the Qingqiang and Faqiang, have not changed. They still have the habit of the strong preying on the weak. In addition, the environment is not conducive to Tibet learning from Liangzhou and implementing a completely unified management system. This has led to a great deal of problems in Tibet. Even with the methods left behind by Ma Xinde, the place with the most severe hunger problem at present is definitely Tibet.

This is already under Chen Xi's management. In the past, people would have starved to death every year in Tibet, and other places would have starved to death every year too.

The situation in Xinzhou is more complicated. Sima Lang is capable and has the ability to manage, but Xinzhou is a collection of various kingdoms in the Western Regions. Can you guess why that place can be divided into so many countries? To put it bluntly, it's because of the complex geography.

To be honest, the reason why Sima Lang hasn't been taken down despite committing so many crimes is not only because of his connection with Chen Xi, but also because Xinzhou is indeed a complicated place. It's a typical example of a place where it's best not to change if possible. At least Sima Lang hasn't caused widespread famine in Xinzhou, so the system can still function.

In short, there's not much to say about this garbage feudal era. What Chen Xi needs to do next is to see if there are any better ways to deal with the situation of these four guys, at least to solve the hunger problem. Otherwise, these places will become the starting point of turmoil sooner or later.

Of course, the other governors were not without their problems, but compared to the problems faced by these four, they were much less serious. And the ones who were truly without problems in this regard were Zang Hong and Shi Xie.

Zang Hong, the governor of Bingzhou, was considered the conscience of the Bingzhou faction and one of its two main civil officials. Bingzhou had a very complex geography, but by the eighth year of the Yuanfeng era, Zang Hong could confidently say that he had completely solved the problem of food, and that the people of Bingzhou were among the first to eat meat.

The problem is that Zang Hong was one of the most severely impeached governors in the early period. This guy forcibly relocated and demolished houses, forcibly relocating all the people living in less desirable areas, and he even led troops to do so.

Compared to Chen Xi's forced relocation, Zang Hong was truly daring to lay down his guns. As a result, all the residential areas in Bingzhou were located in places suitable for development and with accessible roads, because any residential areas not in these locations were leveled by Zang Hong.

That incident finally made Chen Xi understand why Zang Hong was considered a leader among the Iron-Blooded Cultists. It was because he was truly ruthless. It was precisely because of this kind of behavior that a normal governor would never dare to do that Zang Hong successfully placed all the people of Bingzhou in suitable positions and successfully made a living by taking advantage of the large pastures and logistics in the northern frontier. Now the Bingzhou region is extremely stable.

As for the sins of the past, such as forced demolitions, forced relocations, arson, and shooting to death those who incited the people to resist forced relocations, these sins have been completely wiped out after three years of having enough to eat. In other words, Zang Hong can now sit comfortably in the governor's mansion and carry out development in peace.

Moreover, there might be forces in other states and counties that resist the development of the assassination. Zang Hong has already demonstrated his courage with his iron fist. Generally speaking, as long as the route is correct, his execution is extremely strong.

Pure authoritarianism is utterly outrageous.

As for Shi Xie, in short, he was a pig in the wind. The Eastern Wu forces were working hard for Shi Xie, which was ridiculous. There weren't many people in Jiaozhou to begin with, so Shi Xie practically put everyone into the factory. Once inside the factory, with semi-military management, of course, they wouldn't starve to death. Not only would they not starve to death, but their children would be looked after, and if they got sick, doctors would come to treat them quickly.

In short, Shih-hsieh's rise was purely due to the strong presence of Southeast Asia. The current environment meant that no other place could support a factory of this scale, and they wanted to cram everyone into the factory.

To put it simply, Jiaozhou is still relatively isolated. If everyone knew the situation in Jiaozhou, many people would definitely be hostile to Shi Xie, because his geographical advantages are too obvious. It's really too exaggerated to think that he can drain all the local people dry.

While ordinary people in other places were still thinking about how to get into state-owned factories, in Jiaozhou, as long as you were a person with hands and feet and could work, you would basically be forcibly put into a state-owned factory to work.

The processing plants needed to support the nation's consumption of coconuts and other tropical fruit products alone would be enough to drain the population of Jiaozhou. Therefore, in addition to the issue of Lei Jitai, Shih-hsieh's visit from Jiaozhou was also aimed at attracting people from other places to fill the population gap in his own region.

"As for education, by the tenth year of Yuanfeng, the Han Dynasty's educational institutions and the educational institutions of the major aristocratic families had cultivated approximately 800 million young people who could read and write and possessed basic arithmetic skills. This is a tremendous improvement." Chen Xi flipped through the contents in his hand and glanced at the group of aristocratic family leaders below who were looking excited and waiting for his praise.

To be fair, the fact that there are eight million literate young men is indeed thanks to the great families. Without their generous assistance, the literacy rate of the Han Dynasty would never have reached its current level. Therefore, Chen Xi can understand why these people view him this way.

But for Chen Xi, that's far too few. It's been ten years, and he's only managed to raise eight million literate and arithmetic-skilled young adults. That's not nearly enough for Chen Xi. Even with eight million people plus those who were literate before, the Han Dynasty's literacy rate is probably still below the 20% level of the early days of literacy in the People's Republic of China. It's just that the base number is too small, and Chen Xi doesn't have any good solutions.

"To date, universities have trained approximately 40,000 professional and technical personnel, with about 13,000 more each year thereafter. Currently, university education is severely limited by the size of the teaching staff and the students' self-study level. The number of people who can enter university and are willing to pursue advanced studies in related technologies does not exceed 30,000 per year," Chen Xi said with a hint of helplessness.

When the high-ranking officials in the imperial court and the heads of powerful families heard about this scale, they were all eager to participate. In their view, a scale of 13,000 per year was truly astonishing.

These are professional technicians; they're the kind of people you can grab and use right away.

In Chen Xi's view, with 13,000 graduates annually and a large number of other students failing their studies and self-study exams, it would be better to look for other problems than to look for problems among the students.

After all, these students were selected by the Han Dynasty from tens of millions of eligible people, and the result was still less than one in a hundred, so it certainly couldn't be a problem with the students.

"Excuse me, why would someone get into university and not pursue further technical studies? Is it because they lack money?" Zhou Yu asked, puzzled. Of the 30,000 people who got in, only 13,000 went on to study, and the majority of the rest just left. What kind of madness is this?

"Lack of money is only one aspect; most people have formal jobs by this time and have gone to work," Chen Xi said with a hint of helplessness, as there was nothing he could do about it.

By the time these people take the college entrance exam, they are at least fifteen or sixteen years old, which is the age when most of them are getting married. In addition, those who can take the exam are quite capable and can support a family on their own. Therefore, most of the students who pass the exam use it as proof to get a high-paying job.

From a certain perspective, this is a certificate that everyone recognizes.

"Are all the powerful families mentally challenged? Places that can hire people like this probably don't care about spending more money. Why don't they make a deal, send them to school, and then use them after they graduate?" Zhou Yu was very sharp, directly attacking everyone.

Jia Xu glanced sideways at Zhou Yu, then Sun Qian followed suit, and then Jian Yong, Liu Yan, and others followed suit. After being rebuked by Zhou Yu, the major clans naturally looked at Jia Xu and the others.

Why? Do I even need to explain why? You, Zhou Yu, are a scoundrel, and those people led by Jia Xu wouldn't dare to skin you alive. But if we sponsor your education, they have plenty of ways to make the students legitimately become citizens of the country. Why is the animal husbandry industry in the northern frontier thriving? Why is the Bingzhou Smelting Bureau constantly developing new technologies? Why is the Donglai Ocean Fisheries Bureau constantly producing new products? They're all our people, our people!

That's right. Jia Xu and Sun Qian had plenty of ways to cut costs before college students even graduated. In their words, no matter what the reason, as long as they graduated, I would take 70% of their money. When asked, they said that it was agreed that the government would take 70% of the college students' money, and the remaining 30% would be up to the students to decide.

"What's going on?" Zhou Yu asked, noticing the strange looks he was receiving.

"Lord Chen, 70% of the people we trained under the signed agreement have already been conscripted before they even graduated from university!" A group of people winked at Chen Ji, who gritted his teeth and stepped forward to say.

"Ah, it's been taken away?" Chen Xi was stunned for a moment. He hadn't been involved in this matter, and he couldn't know the details, but the fact that it was taken away directly was indeed quite surprising!

"Yes, they've taken it!" A group of old men from powerful families stood up and said. They had wanted to complain for a long time, but they weren't sure what role Chen Xi played in this!
Yes, this has happened before.