Three Kingdoms

Regardless of whether Xu Huang and Wei Yan can understand Fei Qian's overall layout, or whether they can understand the infrastructure construction aspect, the preparatory projects for the vigorous infrastructure construction have already begun to be promoted, such as the large number of prisoners of war that Wei Yan escorted back. They will not be simply killed, nor will they be imprisoned without value, but basically sent to labor camps.

There are roughly three types of labor in the labor camp.

One is the surrounding poor and proletarian people.

There are not only farmers who have lost their land, but also nomadic herdsmen in the surrounding areas. These people have lost their original means of production due to natural disasters and man-made disasters. Rather than being slaves to others, it is better to work here in Feiqian where the wages are higher.

The second category is prisoners of war.

Like this time, a large number of prisoners of war were brought out from Sichuan, Shu and Hanzhong, and together with the Qiang people from Longyou and Longxi, they became cheap labor force, and then contributed to the infrastructure construction of the Han Dynasty.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, these Qiang and Di people were a quite powerful force. Looking at the local chronicles of these places, they often became a very important part of these counties. Since Emperor Heng of the Han Dynasty, it seems that these places have No year has been relatively peaceful, and riots and even rebellions break out among the local indigenous people every now and then. The conflicts are very fierce. .

Under such circumstances, the Han Dynasty's defense against these Qiang and Di people became an important task for local officials, and then turned into blind suppression. The Han people have never been able to penetrate into the core hinterland of the Qiang and Di people. Until the appearance of the hussar general Fei Qian.

Perhaps many noblemen would find it strange that the prefects sent by the Han Dynasty and Jia Xu sent by Fei Qian had two completely different results when they were both local governors.

In fact, it is very simple. How can a local official who only wants to make money as soon as possible and then run away from the beginning to the end make any contribution to this place, and how can he manage this area well?

These officials who were once corrupt in these lands are being gradually caught, tracked down, eliminated, and paid the corresponding price, not only themselves, but also their families.

Those who were guilty of minor crimes, perhaps just confused for a few times, paid three to five times the fine and almost lost all their money to restart their lives, while those who were corrupt and committed huge amounts of money were not only If you go bankrupt or commit suicide, you can be exempted from guilt. Even if you die, your family must bear joint and several liability.

These people have become another type of labor force in the labor camp. Of course, they are also a warning. In other words, the purpose of these people's existence is not to really make up for their previous sins, but to provide a warning and a deterrent effect.

This kind of joint effect makes the cost of corruption suddenly much higher, and also makes many officials can't help but consider whether it is worth it. After all, suicide is very painful. Even suicide cannot solve the problem, and it will also affect family members and even tribesmen. , then it’s a big problem. Otherwise, it would be like the kind in later generations, specially set up cells, living in small single rooms, eating a big pot of rice, playing music every night for the first half of their lives, not playing anything, not eating anything, and then they have high health and almost got cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Now, in the second half of my life, I can just change it. I can live a regular life, go to bed early and get up early, have a clear mind and eat porridge and side dishes. It’s hard to say that I will live longer. I can also participate in some special interviews, special lectures, and publish some books. Enjoy it in the front and enjoy your life in the back. It's beautiful. Is this a warning? Is it inspirational?

As for the ordinary Qiang and Di people, the situation is much better. It's not that the living conditions of these Qiang and Di prisoners of war are better than those of the families of corrupt officials, but that these Qiang and Di people are better able to adapt to heavy work. Even the tribal leaders of these Qiang and Di people are often Those who participate in labor personally, and some have some skills, such as knowing a little carpentry, or knowing some ways of domesticating livestock, while the families of corrupt officials often know nothing except writing and writing.

In labor camps, craftsmen are often singled out to form a team, responsible for repairing and making labor tools, while others are outright coolies. Especially under the corruption law, the family members of these corrupt officials are not allowed to hold any managerial positions within three generations, even low-level positions such as work points among laborers. The family members of these corrupt officials are Lost the last straw.

Especially when these newly appointed local officials of the Han Dynasty will see the family members of those previously severely corrupt officials doing hard labor, looking at those clumsy looks, and then gradually turning from fair-skinned fat people to black and thin, they will also see many corrupt officials. The family members could not stand the hard work and also chose to commit suicide. The result of the whole family's death carved a deep mark in the hearts of these newly appointed officials, which was more effective than hanging human skins inside the yamen.

Do you really want to risk your whole family's death by engaging in corruption?

Sometimes if you think about it one more time, the result may be different.

Under Fei Qian's rule, when corruption laws were strictly enforced, many officials could not help but think twice when looking at the third category of labor in these labor camps.

In the past, some officials could use their official skills to blackmail Fei Qian, but as more and more detailed matters were recorded by Zhiyin Yuan, they became reference examples, just like in a factory. operating specifications. After all, it is not difficult to train a worker, but it is difficult to produce a craftsman.

Most of the middle and low-level officials are not craftsmen at all, they are just workers in the officialdom. Some of these people do not have many ideas. If you can push and push, you can drag and drop. If you can fish in a day, you will definitely not only fish in half a day. What is the difficulty in replacing such an official?

A large number of students from poor families and poor children are watching eagerly, waiting for these people to move away. There are even some agricultural, bachelor, and engineering graduates who have grown up from the grassroots, and there are inspections, etc. If anyone really leaves their position, they can be found immediately. There are several replacement candidates. Under such circumstances, how can you threaten them?

Resigning from office has become an extremely troublesome choice after the Pei Yuan incident. If he is still in office and has not been found out for a while, he can secretly make up for the shortfall and then make good accounts. But once After he leaves, will his successor be willing to shoulder the shortfall left behind?

Then immediately bring in investigators

I can only tuck my tail between my legs and pinch my nose, not daring to act like a monster at all.

The labor camps in Guanzhong are mainly located near the Qinling Mountains.

During the process of organizing the labor camps, most of them would break up the establishment, that is, the Xianbei, Qiang and Di people, as well as other tribes, reform-through-labor prisoners, etc., all disrupted the mixed establishment. The purpose was naturally to create that kind of mutual restraint. The management system in place does not give these labor camps the opportunity to link up and cause trouble anyway. At the same time, among these workers, mainly the Qiang and Di people, some with relatively high obedience were selected as labor team leaders.

Strict hierarchical relationships, absolute power between upper and lower levels and the benefits generated through this power are all tempting in human communities. These labor team captains had extra straw hats and whipping sticks for whipping lazy and slow hands. These team captains immediately forgot that they were still prisoners of war and were ready to work hard to supervise the poor new arrivals.

Because there was a strong demand for roads and construction, newly arrived prisoners of war were essentially assigned to brick-making camps.

The buildings of later generations have gradually shifted from ordinary bricks and tiles to the use of reinforced concrete. However, in the Han Dynasty, this kind of fired bricks and tiles is still the most widely used and economical building material.

The process of making bricks and tiles is quite cumbersome. First, the raw soil must be mined out, that is, clay without organic matter. The raw soil is dried and crushed. After adding water, it is repeatedly crushed to make mature soil, and then made into bricks. adobe.

The bricks cannot be fired directly in the kiln. If there is too much moisture, they will crack and deform directly in the kiln. Therefore, they have to be dried in the shade for ten days and a half. During the drying period, they cannot see the sun, strong winds, and coldness. Otherwise, It will still crack. Only after drying in the shade can the bricks be fired in the kiln. When firing, the heat should not be too high, otherwise they will crack, and it must not be too small, or the fire will not penetrate through.

The original brick-burning process was very cumbersome, but since Fei Qian pioneered some technologies and lit up certain nodes of the technology tree, some matters have become relatively simple.

The first to appear was the brick-making machine, which simplified and standardized the simple work of making bricks by hand. The efficiency of making brick embryos was no longer limited by brick making, but depended on how much clay was mined.

Similarly, because they disliked the low efficiency of the original earth kiln for firing bricks, craftsmen, under the guidance of Fei Qian, developed a new brick kiln, somewhat like the wheel kiln of later generations.

In fact, similar structures have already been born in steel smelting. The principles of preheating, batch feeding, and continuous output are actually the same to some extent. This kind of wheel kiln similar to that of later generations is of course more advanced than those Modern brick kilns such as the Tundao kiln are very backward, but they are definitely an advanced thing nowadays.

This kind of continuous production of bricks and stones can load bricks, take out bricks, and clean them at the same time, which greatly improves the efficiency of brick and tile manufacturing. This kind of brick kiln is composed of many interconnected small brick kiln chambers, which are annular like a wheel, surrounded by many kiln doors. All flues are connected to the main flue in the center of the kiln, and fuel is fed from the feeding holes on the top of each kiln. added so that each small cave dwelling can be fired in batches.

According to the number of cave dwellings, they can be divided into four-kiln, six-kiln and eight-kiln ones. It is said that twelve-kiln ones are currently being developed.

The brick kiln is divided into four working stages: drying, preheating, calcination and cooling. To put it simply, the first kiln is producing bricks, then the fourth kiln is cleaning and drying the kiln body, and then the third kiln is producing bricks. After preheating, the second cave dwelling is calcined over high fire, thus rotating.

There are still some gaps between the four kilns, but the distance between the six kilns and the eight kilns has gradually shortened. It is said that after the completion of the twelve kilns, there will be twelve hours of continuous kiln production!

The throughput of brick kilns has increased, which in turn requires the number of cooked clay brick embryos to be dried in the shade. Then, due to the limitations of shade drying, more bricks and soil materials have been repeatedly tested. The proportions are constantly improving, and slag bricks have gradually begun to replace them. Those brick embryos that were supposed to be dried in the shade for about ten days have become a large quantity of brick-making raw materials.

In addition to technological improvements similar to bricks and tiles, there are other technological evolutions, such as soil and cement.

In later generations, most people's concept of cement was just a phone call, and at most they were calculating the price. But for the people of the Han Dynasty, all cement concepts came from Fei Qian.

It's just that Fei Qian didn't carry the system or an old man with him. Although he knew the names of soil and cement, he didn't know exactly how to do it well. He could only play its guiding role again. Let the craftsmen continue to explore on this road.

The initial version of soil cement was of extremely low quality. Even after it solidified, it would break if it received some heavy blows. In some cases, its hardness was not as good as that of rammed earth, but it only had the advantage of forming quickly.

Later, with the continuous discovery of cement raw materials, coupled with continuous repeated experiments, soil cement that combines slag, clay and limestone as raw materials has gradually become more suitable for some needs.

Fei Qian doesn't know why such a ratio can produce soil cement with relatively complex requirements. Perhaps it is because of some metal elements in the iron slag that cannot be extracted?

At the same time, the improvement of steel-making technology has in turn promoted the development of soil cement, because when firing soil cement, the raw materials need to be ground into powder.

The stone mills originally used for grinding were connected with wood. Obviously, the wood was lacking in durability and toughness. Even the relatively brittle pig iron was easy to break under stress until the connected parts were later removed. All replaced with steel. The use of bearings completely reduces the resistance during rotation, making mechanized grinding possible.

However, the initial feeding and sieving were done manually, which was not only inefficient but also prone to pneumoconiosis.

There are several such cases in the Baiyi Clinic. Although the doctors in the Baiyi Clinic still don't understand the onset of pneumoconiosis and can't find any good treatment methods, Fei Qian knows that this is caused by the harsh living environment. , especially in places with a lot of dust. After masks were issued, I found that these people didn’t use them at all!

These poor people will collect the masks or sell them directly, because the current masks are made of fine linen and gauze. Although it is only a small piece, it can still be sold for some money.

In other words, these people are not completely unaware that they will get sick sooner or later in such an environment, but these poor people choose to use their lives to earn more money to support their families.

Later, these more arduous and disease-prone positions were replaced by prisoners of war. But this still does not completely solve the problem, because from a certain perspective, prisoners of war are also labor forces, and continued output can also provide surplus value.

So now the craftsmen have a new task. They are developing a machine that can be attached to the grinding machine. It is driven by gears and is similar to an attached blower. It uses wind power to screen thick and fine materials, then collects the fine materials and sends the coarse materials again through the conveyor belt. Return to the feed inlet, and the entire grinding machine is closed, with only one feed inlet and outlet.

However, such a mechanism is quite complicated. Up to now, some people have proposed some plans and made prototypes, but they always get stuck during the specific operation process, and the closed shell makes it difficult for people to judge what is the mechanism. There is a problem in one link, so it is still being improved.

As for the steam engine, Fei Qian actually has this idea and is still researching it. After all, there is still a long way to go before the idea can be implemented into reality.

The main reason is that Fei Qian has no concept of the structure of a steam engine at all in his mind, but he generally knows that boiling water vapor is used as power. Boiling water vapor can be obtained by burning coal or even oil. This is not difficult, but from water vapor to high-pressure water vapor, there are cylinders and pistons, and power transmission and condensation of steam are also considered. It is by no means simple. It can be made with just three simple words.

These technological advances have changed a lot

Even the structure of society.

From a certain perspective, those who worked in labor camps and factories set up by Feiqian, including prisoners of war, can be regarded as the first batch of proletarians at this point in time, and at the moment perhaps the largest and most prosperous people in the world The despicable capitalist, the one who hangs the street lights, is Fei Qian himself.

Whenever Fei subconsciously realizes this problem, he can only smile bitterly. He now has multiple identities. On the one hand, he is a real big landowner. He controls a lot of land, shops and other real estate from the North to Guanzhong, and even Hanzhong and Sichuan. He also has a large number of tenant farmers who are dependent on him. Survive by farming the land in his name.

On the other hand, Fei Qian is also a big capitalist, owning many manufacturing camps and factories such as Qingyin Shop, mint, brick and tile factory, cement factory, textile factory, paper mill, printing factory, etc. He also controls gold mines, silver mines, Copper mines, coal mines and other important resources and minerals drove a large number of prisoners of war to work day and night.

At the same time, Feiqian was still a big warlord

The feudal lords who split the earth.

A powerful minister who is close to the peak of his authority.

Any single item is enough to be taken out and hung up.

But in the hearts of most people, Fei Qian is not only not a bad person, but also a very good person!

Even ordinary farmers' families are willing to do odd jobs in various industries under Fei Qian's name, and then earn some extra small money to improve their lives. It can be said that the industries under Fei Qian's name have raised the wages of the entire labor force of the Han Dynasty, allowing the same labor to be paid more. Then these people who have gained extra income have in turn had higher wages. Purchasing power promotes the prosperity and circulation of goods in the Feiqian market

So in the end, it was difficult for Fei Qian to make a clear positioning for himself.

Is it good or evil?