43: Chapter 43 Can one farmer do the work of thirty-three? Li Si: Absolutely impossible!

The methods used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to diagnose a patient's illness are observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking.

After discussing the systems of the Great Qin Empire with Feng Quji and Li Si in simple terms, Zhao Fusu understood the reason why grain prices in the Great Qin Empire remained high.

He said, "We, the Great Qin Empire, should write into the supreme constitution that every citizen of the Great Qin Empire shall lead a prosperous life."

"Aha?"

Upon hearing Zhao Fusu say this, both Li Si and Feng Quji were stunned for a moment.

The two of them had wasted a great deal of breath, yet it seemed Zhao Fusu hadn't listened to a single word.

Judging by Zhao Fusu's meaning, he still wanted to develop industry and commerce.

"Head of State, you!"

Feng Quji's chest felt tight; he felt like spitting blood.

It felt like everything he had just spent so much time saying was in vain.

Zhao Fusu said with a smile, "Premier Feng Quji, do not be angry."

Do not be angry!

I'm about to be provoked to death by you.

Feng Quji was about to be driven mad by Zhao Fusu; it turned out all that talking he did was for nothing!

Don't you know how exhausting it is to talk that much!

Feng Quji's emotions were incredibly agitated.

"Come, have some tea."

"Have some tea."

Seeing the servant enter with tea, Zhao Fusu invited Feng Quji and Li Si to drink, hoping to ease the tense atmosphere.

Zhao Fusu said, "Our dispute lies in the idea that if we develop agriculture, we cannot develop industry and commerce."

"And if we develop industry and commerce, we cannot develop agriculture."

"Correct."

Feng Quji and Li Si nodded.

This was Shang Yang's view: when money thrives, grain perishes; when grain thrives, money perishes.

They were also loyal adherents to Shang Yang's views.

Because for the Great Qin, with its smallholder peasant economy, it was the truth!

Zhao Fusu understood that if he wanted to spark the first industrial revolution in the Great Qin Empire, he needed to gain the approval of Li Si and Feng Quji.

He had to convince Li Si and Feng Quji!

Before Zhao Fusu transmigrated, he was the president of the student union at Southeast University and a contestant in the national university debate competition.

He had been taking a high-speed train with other students to the capital for a debate, taking a nap on the train, only to open his eyes and find he had transmigrated to the Great Qin.

Being able to become the student union president of Southeast University and a national debater meant he possessed extremely high IQ, EQ, and extraordinary logical thinking skills.

He was confident he could convince Li Si and Feng Quji.

Since Feng Quji could explain Shang Yang's view to him in simple terms—that money thriving means grain perishes, and grain thriving means money perishes—

Then he could also explain the economy of industrial civilization to Feng Quji and Li Si in simple terms.

"In the current Great Qin Empire, on average, one farmer supports three people who do not engage in food production."

After the collapse of the well-field system and the rise of private land ownership, the burden on farmers became immense. They had to bear land taxes (rent), poll taxes (head taxes and adult male taxes), as well as miscellaneous levies and various additional taxes, including taxes and fees under various names.

The Great Qin took at least seventy percent of a farmer's grain each year.

The annual yield of millet per mu is one hundred and fifty jin. An adult man needs to farm twenty mu, for a total harvest of three thousand jin of millet. Two thousand one hundred jin are taken away, leaving nine hundred jin.

An adult man consumes at least 1.5 jin of millet a day, which is 540 jin a year.

One mu of land requires 2.7 jin of millet as seed; twenty mu requires fifty-four jin.

These fifty-four jin of seed grain cannot be eaten.

Now, only 306 jin of millet remain.

This has to support a wife, children, and the elderly.

It is clearly not enough to go around. This is why the First Emperor saw elderly people, in order to let the children live, having their sons send them into caves to be buried alive.

Therefore, lowering taxes was something Zhao Fusu would definitely do later.

Such heavy taxation had a devastating impact on peasant families; farmers didn't dare to have children, and even if they were born, they might be smothered to death.

To avoid taxes, many people would be forced to become bandits, disrupting the production of other farmers and further affecting grain production.

The drawbacks were too great!

The Qin State was called the Tyrannical Qin for a reason; it wasn't for nothing.

And the two thousand one hundred jin of millet taken by the Great Qin officials also had to feed warhorses. If a horse is also calculated to consume 540 jin of millet a year, then only 1560 jin of millet remain.

This is roughly the grain consumption of three non-producers.

"When money thrives, grain perishes; when grain thrives, money perishes."

Zhao Fusu pointed out incisively, "In essence, it's because the number of non-producers each farmer can support is too low."

"Therefore, we need a large number of farmers engaged in agricultural production."

"Once a large number of farmers engage in industry and commerce, our army of a million cannot be fed."

"Our Great Qin Empire would then cease to exist."

"Yes."

Feng Quji nodded with satisfaction.

He suddenly felt a bit relieved.

Since Zhao Fusu could state it so clearly, it was evident he realized that agriculture was the foundation of the Great Qin Empire.

Developing commerce would only shake the foundation of the state.

This was also the important reason the two of them had come to find Zhao Fusu together.

They wanted Zhao Fusu to understand not to become obsessed with material objects.

The Forging Workshop had a reason to exist, but he couldn't devote all his heart and mind to it.

Otherwise, it would inevitably shake the foundation of the Great Qin Empire!

Whether it was Feng Quji or Li Si, they had dedicated their life's work to the Great Qin.

That the Great Qin could develop to its current height was due to their significant contributions.

They did not want to see Zhao Fusu shake the foundation of the state, leading to the collapse of the Great Qin Empire.

Zhao Fusu said, "If one farmer could support one hundred people,"

"Then, while maintaining the same grain output, at least thirty farmers could be liberated from the land!"

"How is that possible!"

Both Li Si and Feng Quji questioned him.

They looked at each other, both feeling that Zhao Fusu was being somewhat idealistic.

One farmer supporting a hundred people meant one farmer doing the work of at least thirty-three people.

Unless that farmer turned into an immortal, it was absolutely impossible!

"Hahaha."

Hearing this, Zhao Fusu burst into laughter.

Feng Quji and Li Si looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what he meant.

"My two Premiers, it seems quite necessary to let you see the treasures I have forged in the Forging Workshop during this time."

Zhao Fusu said, "Did you bring bronze swords?"

Li Si and Feng Quji both shook their heads.

Normally when out, they might carry bronze swords.

But they were coming to see Zhao Fusu; carrying bronze swords would only result in them being confiscated. For convenience, they hadn't brought any.

"It doesn't matter."

Zhao Fusu had someone bring a bronze sword, and another person bring a steel saber.

"Come."

Zhao Fusu held the steel saber and gave the bronze sword to Feng Quji.

"If you're a brother, come and strike me."

Zhao Fusu's words almost made Feng Quji stumble.

What on earth!

"Strike."

Zhao Fusu pointed to the steel saber he was holding.

"Oh!"

Li Si also reacted; he gripped the bronze sword in his hand and struck toward the steel saber.

Clang!

The bronze sword snapped.

Clang, clang, clang...

The broken tip of the bronze sword fell to the ground.

Li Si looked at the steel saber in Zhao Fusu's hand, which didn't have a single mark on it.

He was stunned.

He didn't understand swords.

But that didn't mean he didn't understand how extraordinary the steel saber in Zhao Fusu's hand was.

The hardness of the steel saber far surpassed that of the bronze sword.

"Head of State,"

Li Si said, "Which famous swordsmith's hand did this steel saber come from? It must have been extremely difficult to forge."

"Indeed."

Feng Quji stroked the beard on his chin and said, "Such a solid, such a sharp steel saber must have been painstakingly crafted by a swordsmith who poured their life's blood and all their learning into it!"

"One furnace of steel can forge several thousand sabers like this."

Zhao Fusu said indifferently.

"Se-several thousand!"

Feng Quji's old face twitched, his hand shook, and several strands of his beard were plucked out by him.

A slap in the face.

What is called a slap in the face?

Zhao Fusu's behavior was exactly that!

He had just said this steel saber was extremely difficult to forge, and then Zhao Fusu said one furnace of steel could forge several thousand.

Since when did peerless divine blades become so worthless, so devalued, becoming common street goods!

Feng Quji's eyes were full of suspicion.

Li Si's eyes were similarly filled with doubt.

He had seen incredibly solid precious swords before.

In the early years, the First Emperor's primary guard, Ge Nie, held the precious sword Yuanhong, which was a peerless divine weapon that could cut through iron like butter.

The predecessor of the Yuanhong Sword was the Canhong held by Jing Ke, which was forged from meteorite fragments that fell from the sky, incredibly sharp and incredibly solid.

There was only one in the world.

Now Zhao Fusu said that peerless divine weapons of the same level could be produced by the thousands at once.

Li Si found it hard to believe this was true.