"If you are so sure, then I won't say anything else. Let me hear what you think." Hearing Chen Xi say that he was sure of controlling the Western Regions, Cao Cao also became interested. Back then, the Han Dynasty controlled the Western Regions.
We conquered more than once, but in the end we inevitably lost every time. The reason is, five words, the sky is high and the emperor is far away.
"The method is very simple. Build roads, garrison troops, and relocate and assimilate. And don't play the same trick as before. Just seal it directly. You all know the criminal law of exile. We can make it happen. Some people who have great achievements and great faults are not easy to deal with.
They will be exiled there." Chen Xi said with a calm expression.
"That's not enough. Just one year of exile. How many people can be exiled? One or two hundred people will die. There can't be more." Cao Cao shook his head and was not very optimistic about Chen Xi's proposal.
"Our method of exile allows us to bring family members, friends, servants, and slaves with us." Chen Xi said with a hint of sarcasm on his face, "With the current framework of the empire, it won't be long before those border people are
It’s no longer a borderland, the so-called exile is more of a fooling around.]
"Is this still called exile?" Cao Cao asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Chiyang Marquis and Meiyang Marquis must have been exiled." Chen Xi looked at Cao Cao calmly. Cao Cao frowned. He somewhat understood why Liu Bei said that the most incredible thing about Chen Xi was his way of thinking.
"If you say it like this, it's not wrong." Cao Cao nodded and said, "It's just that if you say it like this, I'm afraid it will attract criticism."
"Forget it, let's use the normal method, which is what I said before to garrison troops, and then move the people from those places back and let our people move there." Chen Xi spread his hands and said, "Anyway, we are close to five
There are tens of millions of people, and the society and culture are very stable in all aspects, and these people can be digested casually."
"Of course, if they are unwilling to move to the Central Plains, I will be happy to send them out of the country as gifts." Chen Xi said with a touch of frivolity. To be honest, he needed those unyielding people to fight against the evil of the Han Dynasty with so-called justice.
Of course, as for who is the real evil, we can only say that the hero is the hero and the devil is me. The ones who write history must be the people who survived. Morality and other things also need to be packaged. At least Chen Xi does not think they are evil.
"In this case, it is not impossible for people to leave and stay, and then let us develop. However, there is also the problem of how to rule. Even if they are of the same culture and race, it is inevitable that they will have to compete." Cao Cao seemed to have already.
I agree with Chen Xi's approach, but I am still a little worried about the hidden dangers caused by this approach.
"That's why we need to build the road. I think Duke Cao also knows that if a twelve-car straight road connects Chang'an to Yecheng, how much time will be saved on the two sides." Chen Xi replied calmly.
"Just building a road to the Western Regions like this, I have to think about whether it is cost-effective. It is not less than ten thousand miles from Chang'an to the Western Regions. The benefits that can be obtained by building such a road in the Central Plains are completely different from the benefits that can be obtained by building such a road to the Western Regions.
To a certain extent." Cao Cao shook his head and said, not interested in Chen Xi's suggestion.
Even Cao Cao could not deny that a lot of the prosperity under Liu Bei's rule was due to the wide county roads that ran through most counties and cities. Those roads actually connected Liu Bei's rule and allowed the exchange of supplies from various regions.
Soldier scheduling has become much simpler.
Similarly, it also makes government orders and governance much simpler, which is of great benefit to stabilizing forces. These are places that Cao Cao is very eye-catching about. Unfortunately, even under Liu Bei's rule, cement plants only exist in a few places.
It's not that Liu Bei didn't sell cement. Even if it was a strategic material, Chen Xi would occasionally get mad and start selling it. But as for the cement Cao Cao obtained, he built two pipelines from Chang'an to Nanyang and to Hanoi.
road.
As for other places, Cao Cao could only get so little cement. He didn't even dare to build two particularly important roads according to the standards of national roads and county roads. In Chen Xi's eyes, the roads for four-wheelers traveling together were just county roads. Even if
In this way, Cao Cao also clearly felt the convenience of the road, but unfortunately he had no choice but to build it more.
Although Xun Yu later thought about using Qin Shihuang's method of building straight roads to build roads in other places as much as possible, it is a pity that if you want to make that kind of road smooth and prevent it from being eroded by mud and water, it will be too difficult to build, and the cost will be higher than before.
It’s still expensive to buy cement from Chen Xi.
Of course, the terrible construction level of the Qin people, if it is built according to the highest requirements of the Qin Dynasty, it is actually worth it in terms of service life.
At that time, the Qin Dynasty built the Three Bridges on the Weihe River. From the Qin Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, they were not damaged. If Dong Zhuo had not destroyed them, there is no telling when the bridge would have problems.
Of course, Dong Zhuo destroyed the bridge deck, but the bridge foundation was not damaged, so when Cao Cao came to Chang'an and repaired it, the bridge was usable again. After that, successive dynasties repaired the bridge deck until the end of the Five Dynasties, seven hundred years after the end of the Han Dynasty.
This bridge was really destroyed.
Therefore, it must be built in accordance with the standards of Qin's laws, standard wood and stone buildings, and if it is not deliberately damaged and maintained as required, the building's service life will be a thousand years...
Of course, that's nonsense. The Qin Dynasty's construction method was not scientific at all. In the end, Xun Yu could only consolidate the roads under Cao Cao's rule as much as possible. If he wanted to compare with Chen Xi's inferior cement roads, he had to
, no matter how inferior it is, it is still much better than a dirt road.
Therefore, in Cao Cao's opinion, it would be better to leave it to him to build the road under his rule than to build a national highway that is thousands of miles long and reach the Western Regions.
"If we cultivate at home, there are indeed many benefits, but if we cultivate in the Western Regions, we will leave a piece of land for future generations." Chen Xi did not show a special expression in response to Cao Cao's question and asked another question.
Let Cao Cao answer.
"Having said that, I just feel it's not worth it. The Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions do have their rich side. Building such a road has great benefits, but if it is built domestically, it will be even more valuable." Cao Cao went around and around and finally
It still falls on whether it is worth it or not.
Chen Xi pressed his temples, and he suddenly remembered the price of his cement. It seemed to be the same price as food, which meant it was about dozens of times more expensive than the cost.
In this way, in Cao Cao's opinion, the actual price of paving a road from Chang'an to the Western Regions is basically a hundred times what Chen Xi thought.
Chen Xi's burning of this thing is actually one of Chen Xi's main plans for providing work for relief. However, because Chen Xi dismantled it, the workers didn't know what they were doing. Anyway, without machines, they relied on people.
Come and do it, it can also become a labor-intensive industry.
In addition, Chen Xi is integrating these parts, basically involving upstream and downstream. In the end, he can get back all the money he spends. In terms of cost, if the upstream and downstream are added up, Chen Xi, who has low costs, may even feel embarrassed.
explain.
As for labor costs, is this considered a cost? The country calls them human resources. Anyway, in the end, these people either saved the money or spent it under Chen Xi’s rule. As far as the results are concerned, as long as the value of production capacity is greater than wages, there will be no excess
The value of the country's production capacity has its place, and for Chen Xi, it means that the country's industries are prospering and people's lives are moving towards a well-off society.
As for the so-called overcapacity, just go to sleep. If we don’t enter the industrial revolution, there won’t even be an economic crisis. To be honest, economic crisis is a dream that will never come for countries that have not entered the industrial revolution.
In other words, from Chen Xi's point of view, Cao Cao's so-called high costs are a bit high in the short term. In the long term, Chen Xi will not do loss-making business if he can make a profit without losing money.
"Ahem, cough, cough, Mr. Xuande, I can say no." Chen Xi turned to look at Liu Bei.
"That is one of your family's industries." Liu Bei said calmly.
"Well, only a few of them belong to my family, and the others are controlled by the state bank. Although they are also managed by me, they are still different in nature." Chen Xi explained casually.
Liu Bei shook his head and said nothing. Whether Chen Xi controlled or managed Chen Xi would have great significance to future generations, but it would have no meaning to Liu Bei.
"What kind of riddle are you two talking about?" Cao Cao frowned and looked at Chen Xi and Liu Bei. These two guys could communicate a lot of things with just simple words.
"Actually, let's put it this way, the cost, if you really want to say it, is very low, very low, so low that it can be ignored, just like how I was able to lower the price of salt to one hundred yuan per stone in Chang'an. In fact, it only takes
I'm willing, I can make a small profit for ten bucks per stone." Chen Xi said with a slightly proud expression.
"What?" Cao Cao was shocked. With such an analogy, Cao Cao instantly understood what Chen Xi was going to say.
"Then how much can you lower the price?" Cao Cao took a deep breath and asked.
"If calculated on a national basis, these data can be flattened out. If we talk directly about money, it is actually a bit exaggerated to say single digits. It is actually profitable to say two digits. As for the current three digits, it is a bit of a money grab.
"Chen Xi scratched his cheek and said.
Cao Cao was stunned. What Chen Xi said was true, so he was really going to vomit blood. Looking at Chen Xi's face, he knew that the other party did not mean to joke. That is to say, what Chen Xi said was true. Cao Cao's face was obviously bulging.
one period.
"How much do the white porcelain and glass mirrors cost?" Cao Cao was a hero after all. He swallowed it in one gulp and looked at Chen Xi and said.
Chen Xi hesitated for a moment, raised his index finger, and then put his hand flat. Cao Cao immediately spit out a mouthful of blood. It was actually the same as before. In other words, the cost was so low that it fell below the bottom line of normal people. What is this?
How did you do it.
Cao Cao turned to look at Liu Bei. Liu Bei sighed and made an expression that made me dumbfounded at the time. Then he turned his head silently. Cao Cao was completely speechless.