At the beginning of the second year of Yan Ping, Fei Qian finally relaxed a little, but in the short term, he still had to deal with some political affairs in Pingyang, and the rest of the time he could consider looking at some technological and technological development issues.

After all, the political index of Taishou in several large counties at hand is at least 80 or more, and many things are handled directly in the local area, and there is no need for Fei Qian to personally intervene, which saves a lot of cumbersome reciprocating documents, and also relieves a lot of potential administrative pressure on Fei Qian.

So Fei Qian also had some time to accompany Huang Yueying out of the house, take a look around the surroundings, and look at the landscape, which can be regarded as making up for what he has not been able to do for so many years. Speaking of women, the women of the Han Dynasty are still more reasonable, at least they will not forget that some days are like the sky falling, and even when accompanying them to go shopping, they also need to put on a brilliant appearance at all times, otherwise, hehe......

To be honest, Fei Qian really feels like time has passed now, if he starts to make a report on the work of General Zhengxi, the eight words "time passes" that can't be touched are really sincere.

Of course, more of the senses are directly felt, or the surrounding popularity is prosperous.

Economic prosperity brings more population, and the population in turn promotes the demand for goods, and then re-promotes further economic development, as long as this positive cycle is not constrained and broken, it is likely to continue for a considerable period of time, until one day Pingyang develops to the original Han Dynasty Chang'an or Luoyang under the state of the capital, will be subject to some unique production and living conditions.

Binh Duong is not actually suitable as the capital of a country.

After all, the surrounding grain-producing area is not very large, and the current climate is gradually bitterly cold, and the production cycle of Zhuanghe has been forced to compress to one season or one and a half seasons......

In other words, because there is always an upper limit on the weight of the grain produced, when the population reaches a certain level, it will be necessary to transfer grain and grass, and under such transportation conditions as the Han Dynasty, the cost of transportation is still very problematic.

"Lang Jun! I didn't expect this road to be built here! Huang Yueying jumped up and down, pulling Fei Qian's sleeve and said, very excited, just like Erha, who had finally been released from the house, she almost wagged her tail and called.

Human beings are supposed to belong to nature by nature, and in later generations they often castrate this natural attribute.

Fei Qian smiled slightly, rubbed Lou Huang Yueying's head dotingly and said, "Do you know who built this road?" "This is a road leading to the mountains west of Binh Duong, running through the valley, although most of the area is yellow earth, but it has been leveled over, and even paved with a layer of slag cement that is a specialty of Binh Duong workshop, well, people now call it "gray stone".

Although this kind of slag cement is not as hard and firm as the cement of later generations, it has the characteristics that the loess does not have, and it will not change much solidity because of water absorption, unlike the loess, when it is dry, it is naturally hard to say, but once it rains, the mud is like a small swamp, stepping on shoes and coming out barefoot......

"Who? Jujube engaged? If it weren't for the previous Du engagement? Huang Yueying guessed the names of a few people, then subconsciously pulled her fingers and said, "It costs a lot of money to build such a road, right?" This is a manpower and material resource...... Hmmm......"

"Neither. And this road, speaking of which, we have made money......" Fei Qian smiled, stepping on it with his foot to see how solid the road was, "You may not believe it when you say it, it's Baishi Qiang's people." ”

"White Stone Qiang?!" Huang Yueying's eyes widened, "How is this possible?" ”

In Huang Yueying's impression, the Qiang and Xiongnu were basically the same, wearing tattered leather robes, and then covered with fleas, and the folds on their faces and necks were covered with layers of gray-black mixture of human body fat and dust......

Can such a person still build roads?

Huang Yueying looked at Fei Qian in disbelief, and then lowered her head to look at the road.

Although the road is not completely straight, but mixed with yellow mud, gravel and slag cement mixture, but can generally provide a relatively stable support and travel area for the passing vehicles, although there are also marks of being run over by vehicles in the middle, but it is not like ordinary loess collapses, only cracks and a little crushing, if it is repaired, it is basically not very different from other road surfaces......

"Bai Shiqiang came to me before, and when I was chatting, I mentioned this trade route, saying that once it rains and snows, even if it is cut off, but sometimes some goods can't withstand the rain, and there are always some losses along the way...... Fei Qian said to Huang Yueying while walking, "Later, I gave Bai Shiqiang an idea...... Every time their caravan came, when they returned from Binh Duong, five carts came out of the Binh Duong workshop, loaded with gray stones, and followed them, each time they paved a section, Bai Shiqiang only needed to pay some material money and labor costs, and over time, it extended to this place......"

"Oh......" Huang Yueying nodded, "I didn't expect ......"

"What didn't you expect?" Fei Qian said with a smile, "I didn't expect the Hu people to be of some use, or I didn't expect the merchants to be able to build roads?" ”

Huang Yueying tilted her head slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "Hmm...... There should be ...... It's not Lang Jun who said it, I really didn't know there was such a thing...... However, Lang Jun, there are not clouds in the book, businessmen seek profits, east, west, north and south, each with wisdom. Good clothes and good food, there are twelve benefits for the year, and there is no rent tax......"

"What did Gong Shaoweng say?" Fei looked into the distance and said, "Gong Shaoweng also wrote that the officials who collect pearls, jade, gold and silver to mint money, and the taxes and taxes should be changed to grain and cloth...... Whoever believes in the book will ...... without the book."

Fei Qian didn't finish speaking, but looked left and right, pointed to the grassy slope on the side, and said, "Let's set up camp there, and then let Zichu go hunt some beasts......

"Okay!" Huang Yueying didn't mean to ask, anyway, what topics of businessmen were not as important to her as picnics, so she excitedly took Mo Tu and a few grandmothers to the grassy slope, and then beckoned someone to take down some utensils from the baggage truck and start to prepare.

Fei Qian, when he arrives in this position, he doesn't need to do it himself, he just waits to eat, but if he doesn't do it, he needs to use his brain, but Huang Yueying's words invisibly touched Fei Qian.

The status of merchants, at the end of the Han Dynasty, that is, at this point in time, seems to have gone down a bit, which is completely different from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period......

Fei Qian slowly walked up the hill and sat down on a rock.

This can be regarded as a kind of overkill, or rather, the history of China has always been overcorrected again and again......

Taking the Shang Dynasty Reform Law as the dividing line, the legal status of merchants in ancient China can be divided into two stages, from the period when China entered the period of civilization inheritance until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the legal status of merchants was not low, and there was even a peak period of merchants in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but since the Shang Dynasty Reform Law, especially after the Qin and Han dynasties, the legal status of merchants has been seriously degraded, and even suppressed at any cost.

Merchants were a special class in ancient Chinese society, but it is interesting to note that in ancient times, most of the words used for merchants were positive or neutral, but they only got worse and worse in the later period.

The Shang Dynasty originally referred to the group of people who did business in the Central Plains, so it was called Shang. There is a saying in the Book of Changes: "Ku Xi Shi did not, Shennong's made, listed in the country, Japan and China for the city, to the people of the world, gather the goods of the world, trade and retreat, each has its place." ”

Even in the Shangshu, there is a sentence that Shun used to "sell in Dunqiu and bear the summer" before being allowed by Yao Chan. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, due to the implementation of the system of "industrial and commercial food officials", the rulers did not have to implement the policy of suppressing merchants and lowly merchants. By the time of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the feudal landlord class had not yet fully established its dominant position, and there was even a golden age of ancient Chinese merchants at this time.

For example, Qi Huan Gong used Guan Zhong, who was born as a businessman, as the prime minister to rectify national politics.

Such as Fan Li, Zigong, Yidun, Bai Gui and so on.

And Lü Buwei.

Although the standard legal provisions of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period have not been handed down much because of the war, from the perspective of the status of these big merchants, the status of merchants in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was not inferior and enjoyed a wide range of rights.

Confucius's Zigong was also a big businessman, and it can be said that Confucius was able to establish Confucianism because Zigong made great efforts. "Tie the donkey and ride together, and bind the coin of silk, in order to hire the princes; As far as they went, the monarch was divided into chambers to fight against him. The husband made Confucius's name spread all over the world, and Zigong was also in succession. ”

But then, the status of the merchant gradually declined.

Tian and Lü Buwei's pot?

Maybe.

To what extent did merchants fall in the Han Dynasty?

There is a legal text in Qin Jian called "Wei Ben's Law of Life": "...... Tell the general: false door, reverse brigade, son-in-law, stepfather, or the people do not do it, do not govern the house, and the widow desires. And kill it, don't bear its clan, don't rat. The siege of the city is insufficient, and the general ...... with annihilation"

According to this law, merchants, travelers, sons-in-law, and stepfathers who were not engaged in farming and did not manage houses were sent to the army, and according to this law, merchants, travelers, sons-in-law, and stepfathers became persons without full personal rights. This law that discriminated against merchants continued into the Qin and Han dynasties, so much so that it affected the entire feudal society of China.

Qin Shi Huang regarded the merchants as sinners and sent them to the border counties as soldiers.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the "Seven Branches" law was established. Seven categories of people were deprived of some of their personal rights, and the state could send them to the army at any time, and of these seven categories, merchants ranked fourth.

Could it be that there were no wise people in the dynasties who could not see the role of merchants clearly?

Fei Qian shook his head, since he arrived in the Han Dynasty, he found that in fact, the wisdom of the ancients was not bad, and even surpassed the people of later generations within some ranges, so the policy of suppressing merchants was not a moment of confusion, but there should be a deeper reason.

Fei Qian felt that in addition to Lü Buwei's factors, the biggest reason was probably the natural antagonistic relationship between the feudal system of the small peasant economy adopted in Central China and the superstructure formed by the large landlord class, and the free economic system between the merchants.

If you are not in your position, you will not seek your own government.

Now Fei Qian is the leader of the entire Zhengxi group, and the whole of China seems to be reproducing the situation of the division and dispute between the princes in various places during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, so the status of merchants who can communicate with each other has been promoted again, because the geographical scope of the princes is always limited, and some materials cannot be produced locally, and they must go through the trade of merchants.

These caravans under Fei Qian's jurisdiction can get the tacit approval of the princes of various places, and trade and trade in their territories, of course, there is a part of Fei Qian's face as the general of Zhengxi, but more importantly, these princes also hope to obtain the materials they want through the caravans.

So at this point in time, no one has come up with any policies to discourage businessmen.

But once the division is returned to unity, the ruling class of the big landowners inevitably wants all the people in the world to be bound to the land, and the children and grandchildren will pay for the land, and then use the membership to restrict the movement of the population, and obtain all kinds of taxes paid from generation to generation......

It is not surprising that all dynasties and generations have continued to promote heavy agriculture and suppress business.

The purpose of restricting merchants, especially small and medium-sized businessmen who were peasants in one way or another, and belittling their social status, is precisely to "drive the people back to their acres" and at the same time to curb the merchants' competition with the state for profit, so as to increase the state's fiscal revenue.

After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion of "deposing the hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", Han Confucianism integrated the Legalist idea of emphasizing the original and suppressing the end during the Warring States Period, and also believed that only agriculture could produce wealth......

Merchants drive the flow of goods and promote regional communication, and at the same time, like Baishiqiang, they will indirectly develop the road network, and even promote the progress of science and technology to a certain extent, because the profits of novelty things will definitely be higher.

But how can we ensure that the status of businessmen is neither high nor low, so that they do not fall into overcorrection again after reunification?

Fei Qian suddenly felt that this problem was a bit stuck in a dead loop.

In the feudal dynasty, as long as there is great unification, the landlord class will inevitably raise its head, then the rising landlord class will naturally suppress all the enemies of the small peasant system that destroys the self-sufficient natural economy, and then the society will gradually enter a state of stagnant water, accumulating contradictions in silence, waiting for the next round to erupt......

Is there anything we can do to change this?

Decentralization?

No, the Chinese people, strictly speaking, are the general nature of human beings, but all the decentralization must involve the ubiquitous internal consumption, although there is also centralization, but it is relatively less.

Fei Qian closed his eyes, trying to recall as much as he could what he had seen or heard, searching for the memories that remained in his mind, and found that there seemed to be a way to try......