All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 389 Tax Reduction, Consumption and Paving the Way

“Such good food.”

When Ying Zheng came out of the Xianyang Palace to inspect, he saw baskets of soybeans being poured into the wooden mortise and tenon structure of the oil press and immediately thought it was a bit of a waste: "Wouldn't it be better to use it for cooking?"

Beans are one of the five grains, and eating boiled soybeans was one of the important food sources in ancient times.

Of course, let’s not even mention the taste.

"Your Majesty."

Chen Ran immediately responded, "Qin State is not short of food now, but what it lacks is to improve the quality of life. Oil is one of the important materials to ensure the quality of life."

"People can't live without oil or water, otherwise they rely entirely on carbohydrates, and they need at least one pound to start with."

"The source of edible oils and fats previously relied mainly on animal fats, but it is difficult to obtain. Oil extraction is the best option."

Don’t ask why we don’t produce advanced oil presses, but instead use this kind of oil press with wooden mortise and tenon structure.

If you ask, it’s because they are afraid of producing tanks for transporting oil!

"Your Majesty." Chen Ran said simply, "We need to expand the planting area and increase the yield. Corn, soybeans and potatoes, these three should be placed at the top of agricultural production. Don't plant corn everywhere, the yield will not be comparable."

Corn is millet, which is the main crop of this era.

But its production volume is really frustrating.

"Corn is delicious." Ying Zheng, who was about to go through the voice change period, still spoke with a male jay accent. "It tastes sweet. There are not many potatoes either. They can be used as food or vegetables. The important thing is that the yield is very high, but it is not easy to preserve."

"We can increase the promotion." Ying Zheng looked at the baskets of soybeans being poured into the oil press, "But these beans..."

The arable land and labor force in the Qin Dynasty were limited. If more beans were planted, then naturally less other things would be planted.

Seeing that Ying Zheng still had concerns, Chen Ran simply took him out of the workshop and said, "My king, let's eat first."

Although the power of Qin is now in the hands of Lu Buwei and Zhao Ji, Chen Ran understands that in a few years the empire will eventually return to the hands of Ying Zheng.

So whenever he had something to do, he would go to Ying Zheng, and then Ying Zheng would persuade Lu Buwei and Zhao Ji to push it forward.

This was a kind of respect that made the young Ying Zheng very satisfied.

When we got outside, the chef had already prepared the food and brought it over.

There is nothing much to say about the staple food of cornmeal. Corn has become very popular after its promotion, and Ying Zheng has also eaten it a long time ago.

What really surprised him was the main course of beef brisket stewed with potatoes and scrambled eggs with bamboo shoots.

The beef brisket stewed with potatoes was added with a lot of seasonings, and the flavor was rich and meaty, which made Ying Zheng very satisfied with the meal.

But scrambled eggs with bamboo shoots are different. It needs a lot of oil to be fried to be delicious.

The Qin State was not short of bamboo shoots. There were bamboo forests almost everywhere in the Qinling Mountains, so there were naturally as many bamboo shoots as possible.

But when cooking bamboo shoots, you must use a lot of oil. If there is not enough oil, they cannot be fried at all.

Ying Zheng picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and put it in his mouth. He chewed it for a while and nodded with satisfaction. "It tastes very good."

He was smart, and after eating, he simply asked, "Is it fried in soybean oil?"

"exactly."

Chen Ran nodded immediately. "After finishing this dish, do you feel full? Can you still eat the staple food?"

"Can't eat anymore."

After eating a pot of beef brisket stewed with potatoes and a plate of scrambled eggs with bamboo shoots, Ying Zheng had no appetite for the main course.

"I won't mention the fact that the nutrition is richer and more comprehensive." Chen Ran said with a smile, "If you eat more oil, you will naturally save food."

What is scientific diet? No one will understand even if I tell you. So I'll just say the most intuitive effect: it can save food.

Although grain production has increased significantly, the habit of saving food has been retained.

After all, many people have personally experienced the terrible scenes of famine.

"Row."

Ying Zheng was very decisive in his actions and made the decision on the spot, "I will consult with my mother and father-in-law about this matter."

At this time in history, Zhao Ji was busy with her affair with Lao Ai, and all power was in the hands of Lu Buwei.

Whatever ideals and ideas Ying Zheng had, they were all blocked by Lu Buwei.

As a king, he really has no dignity at all.

Not to mention that Ying Zheng was not the son of Lu Buwei as rumored. Even if he was really the son of Lu Buwei, this anger would inevitably burn Lu Buwei to ashes after he came to power.

The situation is different now.

Zhao Ji was very loyal to Chen Ran. Chen Ran asked her to respect the king, so Zhao Ji would unconditionally support anything Ying Zheng proposed.

Plus with the support of Chen Ran, the immortal master who could create an iron immortal city out of thin air, Lu Buwei was obviously too honest.

"correct."

Before Ying Zheng was sent back to Xianyang Palace, Chen Ran once again raised the issue of "The taxes on the people should be lowered further so that they can have enough savings to consume industrial products."

The essence of Shang Yang's reforms was to exploit the people's power to an extreme extent and to force and bribe the people of Qin to be busy with only two things in their lives.

Cultivating the land and fighting wars, that is, farming and fighting.

Because of this, the tax burden in Qin was very high, so high that the people could basically only survive.

If you want to live a good life, you have to go to the battlefield and earn merits.

In the era of classical monarchy, there was nothing wrong with doing so.

But Chen Ran produced so many industrial products, but the people of Qin were unable to afford them. Except for farm tools and seeds, which were given away for free, and Shire and Belgian horse farmland, which were leased, the people of Qin could not afford other industrial products.

To this end, under Chen Ran's suggestion, the tax burden has been lowered several times before, so that the people of Qin can take a breath and have more new Qin coins in their hands for consumption.

But in Chen Ran's opinion this was not enough, and he encouraged Ying Zheng to continue reducing taxes.

"More reduction?"

Ying Zheng was obviously unhappy that "the tax burden is getting less and less, and the court will not be able to make ends meet."

"rich."

Chen Ran said with a smile, "Just print money. Use the money to buy food and livestock from the people. The people will then use the money to buy industrial products, and the economic cycle will start running."

It was obvious that Ying Zheng was still a little hesitant.

"My lord, believe me." Chen Ran's eyes were full of sincerity. "Don't worry about not having money. Taxes can be collected at every stage of commodity circulation. Although the tax rate collected each time is not high, the number of times is large. The money will definitely not be small."

"Ok."

Out of trust in Chen Ran, Ying Zheng finally agreed.

After watching Ying Zheng's convoy leave, Chen Ran immediately went to the factory area of ​​the Daily Chemical Department Store Joint Enterprise.

Outside the gate here, there gathered many local people and a large number of new four-wheeled carriages.

Chen Ran entered the factory, turned on the control panel, and sent out the production residue.

The residue is mainly asphalt and slag after the factory's own refining.

The local people outside immediately rushed forward and used tools to load these things into oil drums, then tied them up on four-wheeled carts, and then drove the draft horses to drag them to the construction site.

These asphalt and slag are excellent building materials for paving roads.

In the era before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was no such thing as roads.

At that time, roads were formed naturally because many people walked on them.

By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, more roads had finally been built, but their quality was far inferior to that of later rural roads.

The most intuitive feeling is that, except for the roads inside and outside the palace which are paved with stone slabs, all other roads are dirt roads.

This is a real dirt road, a dirt road that is covered in dust on sunny days and muddy on rainy days.

After Ying Zheng unified the world, he did many great things that have been passed down to later generations, one of which was to standardize the wheel gauge.

The tracks here don’t refer to railroad tracks, but the ruts left by horse-drawn carriages running continuously on the dirt road!
The wheel distances in each country are different, and the width of the ruts created over the years on the dirt roads is naturally different.

What Ying Zheng unified was the width of the wheels on these dirt roads, that is, the distance between the ruts.

The dirt road has been squeezed into gullies, which shows how bad the traffic conditions are.

Chen Ran not only built railways, but also roads.

After all, railways are strategic, like bones, leading to important strategic locations everywhere.

Roads are the blood vessels, densely distributed throughout the country.

Asphalt and slag become the best raw materials for road construction.

These local people can receive a freight fee for transporting asphalt and slag to the construction site, which is considered a small profit.

Ying Zheng was by no means as cruel as the Confucian scholars slandered him as. In fact, people who worked in the Qin State were paid, and even had meals provided.

Later Confucian scholars made up stories about the cruelty of Emperor Ying Zheng, such as Meng Jiangnu crying down the Great Wall.
Confucian scholars are not good at doing serious work, but they are all experts in making up stories.

Asphalt and slag are suitable for paving roads, but Chen Ran prefers building materials such as cement and concrete.

There is no way around this, we can only wait for the opportunity and get the system's support.

"Immortal Master."

A group of military generals took the initiative to find Chen Ran.

The Qin cavalry's cavalry combat capability improved rapidly because they obtained unprecedented excellent horses and the three-piece horse set that they had never thought of: saddle, horseshoe and stirrup.

In daily training with the infantry, they demonstrated strong combat effectiveness.

Especially after the warhorse is covered with horse armor, the impact force is even more amazing.

However, as time goes by, some problems are gradually exposed.

"These Arabian horses are indeed very outstanding, but they are too delicate. Not only do they often get sick, they are also picky about what they eat and drink and have bad tempers, making them difficult to ride."

"Anything else?" Chen Ran was not angry, and turned into after-sales service to ask, "Are there any other shortcomings?"

"It's too difficult to raise them, and there aren't many foals."

"It's not good at carrying weight, especially when wearing horse armor."

"People lack endurance and often become exhausted after running for dozens of miles. Some even perspire and give up."

"It has high feed requirements and only eats bean cake."

"I see." After listening, Chen Ran simply said, "I didn't think it through."

The generals hurriedly said that it was no harm to have it, it was already very good to have it, it was just that they heard that the immortal master had something better, so they came to say a few words.

If not, that's okay.

"The biggest feature of the Ferghana horse is that it runs fast." Chen Ran thought for a moment and said, "But it also has too many disadvantages."

"Don't worry, I will make a careful choice next time."

(End of this chapter)