Half an hour later, Bai Fan stopped the mountain drilling machine and nodded with satisfaction. This shield machine (the shield tunnel boring machine, which has appeared in history since 1840) is simple in structure and convenient to operate. Although it is not big, it is really a waste of time to try to build a useful shield machine for the first time in this era.

Bai Fan’s philosophy is that as long as this thing can be worth hundreds of people digging rocks together, it is worth spending a month on it’s steel and labor.

Li Jiancheng was puzzled when he saw Bai Fan stop work and get off the car and scheduling at the mountain beast. He stepped forward and asked, "Jian Zhi, didn't you say that the first batch of steel mills focused on producing iron cows? Why did he get a mountain beast? What did the Tang Dynasty want to do? Do you want to drill through Zhongnan Mountain?"

Bai Fan shook his head and said, "What do I want? It's your treasured third son Li Chengxun. His teacher Li Chun is determined to build a bridge, but Chengxun is determined to build a road. He wants to build a straight road to Bashu, open a road across mountains and build a bridge across water.

I saw the mountain beast in the academy. I pestered me to ask for one all day long, saying that I wanted to drill through the Qinling Mountains. I had no choice but to agree to him."

Li Jiancheng was speechless, why was the reason still lies with his son?

But Li Er was not that easy to fool and asked, "Jian Zhi, you are a master and a disciple. How dare he disrespect his teacher's orders? You said you can't help being tangled, but I don't believe it."

Bai Fan was speechless, seeing through but not telling it thoroughly, and he was still a good friend. Li Er deliberately exposed this.

"Chengxun is twenty years old this year. He is at the age of marriage, but he has never gone on blind dates. Ping'er and I have advised each other, but it has never worked. What else did the boy say that if the Shu Road is not clear, how can he get married?

My mother-in-law found out about this and put it all on my head. She blamed me for slandering my disciples. Therefore, for my brother-in-law, I could only speed up the Shu Road.

Besides, it is urgent to connect the Shu Road, which is also a national plan. It connects Ba, Shu, and Wu and Yue in the west. Only in this way can the Tang Dynasty truly rise. These two things depend on Master Li Chun and Chengxu."

Li Er nodded and said, "Okay, this is a great thing. The west connects Bashu and Wu and Yue in the south. If this happens, I can foresee that the Tang Dynasty will flourish at least three times as much as it is today."

"Since that's the case, isn't this mountain-drilling beast a little less?" Li Jiancheng asked tentatively.

Bai Fan: “…”

Everyone laughed. When the King of Jin heard that his son's marriage was blocked, his position instantly became different. A beast that drilled the mountain thought the road was slow to build.

After Bai Fan's explanation, he found out that ten units of the mountain beasts had been made, and for nothing else, it was to open up the Qinling Mountains.

"Jianzhi, how much iron cattle can be produced in a year? Xian Grain has been successfully bred this year and will be widely promoted and planted in Chang'an next year." Li Er asked.

Since weapons and armor are hopeless, it would be nice to get more iron cows.

"Iron Niu can produce about 100 units in a month. Of course, it is used by ordinary farmers, not the big guy we use by hand.

From now to next year, there are about eight months left, so we can only produce 800 units. I am afraid that our grain growth promotion will still require manpower.

Moreover, the seeds obtained by Chang'an County were successfully bred and could not be eaten in Chang'an. My expectation was that it could cover two state roads. We could promote them in Hedong Road and Luoyang. In addition, the three places in Chang'an are secondary breeding sites for fairy grains, and they should cover the whole country in the next year."

"Okay, that's it." Li Er was overjoyed.

Who knew that Fang Xuanling frowned when he heard this, pondered for a moment, and decided to remind him: "Your Majesty, there may be a problem with this plan. Hedong and Luoyang are all a place of nobles. If we are the first to hand over the immortal grain to them, we may not go back."

Bai Fan said inexplicably: "Why is this? Who dares to greed for my fairy food? I am impatient?"

"No, they dare not, but they have the land in both places of Luoyang, Hedong and Luoyang. We give them seeds and land, but they will not hand it over to the country after harvesting them. Because the Tang Dynasty ruled that scholars were tax-free, and nobles were scholars, so..."

this……

Li Er pondered, and Bai Fan realized that the privileges of nobles in ancient times were simply unimaginable. There is a saying that 90% of the people in the world, 10% of the nobles, and 90% of the wealth in the world were occupied by those nobles.

It was not until Fang Xuanling mentioned that Bai Fan understood that his ancestral home is a commoner in Baijiazhuang, so he kept paying taxes for years.

Later, I had the Marquis of Lantian and never took care of these things again. I thought that my power was too strong and no one dared to provoke them. Now I realized that it was a noble privilege. No wonder many people in the world were trying to enter the aristocratic circle.

There are many landlords in the countryside, but if they are not nobles, they are just a larger and wealthy farmer. When it comes to paying rent and taxes, they are still unavoidable.

Du Ruhui sighed, "This is difficult. Fairy grain is of great importance. If it is planted in other places, it is too far from the capital. So I chose Hedong and Luoyang, but if it is only distributed to ordinary people, then these nobles who have been jealous of fairy grain for a long time will definitely not want it, so this matter is quite difficult!"

Bai Fan said with a firm look: "Since that's the case, then change the rules. The sects will never be exempted from taxes. From the Emperor to the butcher of the people, they all have to pay taxes. Isn't that enough?"

Li Jiancheng shook his head and said, "How is it so easy? There has been a duty-free period since ancient times. The rules of eternal silence can be broken by saying that? Don't look at your kid who is invincible and suppresses the five surnames and seven families at one time, but if you provoke all the nobles in the world and destroy their jobs, you can't stand it no matter how many of you are the best in the world."

"Hmph, can't bear it? If you can't, just compare who has more people? Let's see if there are more nobles or more civilians? At worst, there will be a land revolution to fight against local tyrants and divide the land, and collect the land of the world for the people of the world to share. Let's see who dares not pay taxes?" Bai Fan snorted coldly.

Li Er patted his shoulder and shouted, "Don't be reckless. The land is of great importance. If you don't have any good luck, it will cause civil strife. Go back to the Political Consultative Palace to discuss. You must come up with a plan as soon as possible. It is only eight months before the next farming time."

Everyone rushed back to Chang'an Palace from Yaozhou Iron and Steel Factory without stopping. Li Er immediately summoned all his confidant civil officials to the Political Consultative Hall to break the monopoly of aristocratic land. This was something that the emperor had never dared to do for many years, because the royal power came from the support of all the nobles. Now the Tang Dynasty may also face this problem.

I remember that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was because the nobles in the world were too greedy and still were not satisfied with their wealth. They merged and collected land in large quantities, leaving many people displaced without land to plant and food to eat. At the same time, the emperor appointed treacherous fish and meat to the people, and repeatedly plundered and increased taxes, resulting in a great chaos in the world, and the Han Dynasty had the tragedy of prosperity and death.

Later, the rise of the royal family relies on the balance of interests of the nobles, so unless it is absolutely necessary, the royal family will not easily stand against all the nobles.

Even with Bai Fan, a traitor who is a traitor, the great nobles cannot raise their heads and dare not resist, but in fact, most people endure it not because of fear, but because Bai Fan is a talented person, a talent worth investing in, and can take a ride with Bai Fan. The Tang Dynasty was prosperous because of Bai Fan, so the waters rose, so naturally everyone became richer and stronger with the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, as long as Bai Fan did not take the initiative to provoke, no one wanted to provoke Bai Fan, and even showed some fear was nothing.
Chapter completed!