Chapter 2304 - 2044: Playing Around Can Get You Killed

"The methods we can choose now are either forced relocation or inducement. The former is quick but has hidden dangers, while the latter is too time-consuming and its effectiveness is uncertain. It might even create an illusion among the people, an illusion of restraining the government." A cold gleam flashed in Li Youu’s eyes. Li Youu’s intentions were already very clear; since you all won’t listen, I’m going to enforce migration!

"Village merging is necessary; only this way can we directly implement the policy to the grassroots level. As for forced relocation and inducement..." Chen Xi was somewhat headachy; this matter must be resolved.

Don’t mention making ancient people leave their homeland, even getting modern people to move houses leads to many nail houses with odd reasons; although some are due to the government, some surely are also due to the nail houses themselves.

"Forced relocation and then subsidy!" Li Youu sneered, saying. People like Li Youu never lack solutions; at most, it’s just whether the solutions are too simplistic and rough.

"What if after you relocate, they run away?" Chen Xi looked at Li Youu speechlessly and said.

At this time, Chen Xi actually had thought of some methods. After all, what he was doing was indeed legitimate work, and also indeed beneficial for the country and the people.

To put it more practically, Chen Xi calculated that as long as he migrated the willing populace away and arranged the large villages properly according to the plan, with the communication within the populace, it wouldn’t be long before those originally unwilling to migrate would voluntarily move to the large villages.

After all, the former is just nostalgia for the old home, while the latter is actual benefits. Over time, those who moved to large villages, utilizing the convenient transportation, might enjoy better conditions in food, clothing, and daily needs compared to those who were unwilling to relocate.

However, on one hand, Chen Xi felt it was a timesink; on the other hand, extending such a project over several years with constant patching up, Chen Xi couldn’t bear the expense. And if not repaired by then, he’d inevitably face accusations after doing rightful work.

Chen Xi felt this kind of thing was not worthwhile, so pondering is necessary.

"Forced relocation, then level the original villages and relocate directly to new village centers. I don’t believe they’ll run with food and drink available, and life being better." Li Youu glanced at Chen Xi, and Chen Xi confirmed the disdain seen in Li Youu’s eyes.

"In this case, they won’t run." Liu Ye nodded silently, his Spiritual Talent ensuring his prediction wouldn’t be wrong.

"Since they won’t run, what is there to fear?" Li Youu said disdainfully, "Forced relocation, then set fire to the original gathering place in front of them after migration, and move them entirely to the new gathering area. Compared to straw huts, we can uniformly construct adobe houses!"

"I..." Chen Xi expressed his desire to curse; Li Youu was truly audacious. This move would cut off the retreat for those people. Of course, the method was indeed too harsh; it might provoke someone to fight desperately against the enforcers during relocation.

"Master Li, are you sure you want to do it this way!" Zhao Yun tilted his head, seemingly indifferent, inquiring, but given Zhao Yun’s character, opening his mouth meant he was on Li Youu’s opposing side.

"Enough, doing it this way is simply asking for trouble." Liu Ye said rather helplessly, "But modifying it is indeed a good idea; cancel the arson step, just forcibly relocate to the new residential site."

"Hmm, let me think, if we do this, first build the residential site and then migrate people within, the advantage is we can avoid much resource waste, and it’s easier to plan. The downside is some people need to move hundreds of miles away..." Chen Xi thought for a moment and said; isn’t this the kind of method of building resettlement housing first and enforcing relocation, creating a fait accompli?

"This method is good; if we first construct residential points, we can even integrate roads with the residential points, avoiding impact on future road construction and infrastructure development." Following Chen Xi for so many years, Li Youu had deeply understood what total planning means.

Previously, the idea was to relocate villages in a certain area together and then build settlements. The biggest problem is the low road utilization rate, and the village distribution is definitely unreasonable, potentially causing waste in other aspects.

Conversely, if we plan first and then enforce relocation, though it somewhat feels like making the foot fit the shoe’s size, considering the current situation, it’s most suitable. After all, since this wave will inevitably offend people, it’s better to do it right in one go.

"It feels like a model of planned economy." Chen Xi said speechlessly, though this has little to do with economics, its core is similarly resource allocation determined entirely by the upper layer, followed by planned advancement.

"Planned economy?" Hearing these four words, Zhang Fei, equating it to observing a Heavenly Book, quickly popped out to assert presence.

"It’s just the ones above, with brains, planning everything in advance, then the ones below follow it. The benefit is that under limited resources, the clever ones above can produce the greatest results possible from current resources; the drawback is complete reliance on the government, and even if those below make discoveries, they can’t implement them." Chen Xi said casually.

"This thing is powerful; using it temporarily can solve many significant problems. But long-term usage... frankly, at the current degree, if this method can be utilized, not to mention state Control Power, what can be done, previously all economic systems lag far behind this." Chen Xi pursed his lips.

Before the 17th century, any nation with substantial population could implement planned economy, and as long as its vision was reasonable, achieving rapid growth and laying a deep foundation for becoming a global overlord is without question, provided they can play it.

Though overall, this thing has pros and cons; the benefit is if the upper level’s standard is high enough, under limited resources, tackling big issues can quickly achieve astonishing outcomes. Then relying on that completed portion to ensure subsequent advancement, gradually completing the promotion of an entire system while avoiding loss.

Then using this point to quickly snowball, avoiding repetitive **expenses, vicious competition, and regional imbalance, when initially restoring national strength, the advantage of this method is massive; no other system can compare.

As for the Han Dynasty’s current economic system, come on, even with the various drawbacks of planned economy, compared to the Han Dynasty’s system, it is infinitely more advanced.

Listening to Chen Xi’s detailed explanation, Li Youu understood that compared to other economic systems, the core of planned economy is top-down directives, its obvious advantage is self-evident, plus it is the classical economic system embodying millennia of wisdom.

Especially in times of national hardship and post-war restoration stages, its effectiveness far exceeds normal economic systems. Furthermore, this system itself has undergone the test of semi-serfdom and semi-feudalism, and in terms of resistance, it is extremely strong compared to other economic systems.

After all, this system relies completely on government and political environment. As long as governmental execution is strong enough, unless other models dismantle its system from the top, it’s practically impossible to shake this system, even protected by national law; it’s an unsolvable method altogether.

Within such a nearly closed system, other systems are fundamentally unable to compete.

Li Youu and Liu Ye and the others listened with astonishment because Chen Xi’s explanation was so detailed, so they easily discerned how much stronger this system was compared to the Han Dynasty’s simplistic and rough ways.

"Hiss, this method, combined with our current situation, can resolve many issues." Liu Ye said after thinking for a long time; they truly did not lack execution power now.

"Enough, this kind of thing, just think about it." Chen Xi pursed his lips and said, "It’s indeed a very good thing, but how to use it, when to use it, still needs weighing, after village merging, managing agriculture semi-planned under this framework is fine, other areas you’d better ponder carefully, moreover, this thing isn’t that simple."

A lot of things, scaled and consolidated, can indeed save a great deal of manpower and resources, reducing management costs greatly. But played blindly, causing fatalities isn’t impossible.

Anyway, if truly following Li Youu’s approach, first standardizing residential constructions, and then enforcing relocation, followed by distributing various production resources, including lands repurchased permanently from great landlords and aristocratic families and rented to common people.

Isn’t this the Soviet Union’s agricultural collectivization? Chen Xi couldn’t help but wipe sweat; this isn’t a good omen. Truly, it should be modified, something about agricultural collectivization and etc. is only suitable for farming by-products. But given the current situation, turning farmers into specialized agricultural workers is indeed a good opportunity.

"Actually, I think it’s fine; with this situation, apart from a small amount of land, actually most are state-redeemed from great landlords and aristocratic families, this way most of the fifty mu supplemented to ordinary people is state-leased, so we decide what to plant." Li Youu quickly reacted.

"It’s correct if you say so, but it’s completely undermining enthusiasm, right?" Chen Xi said helplessly; Li Youu was indeed talented, quickly grasping the core.

"The drawbacks of planned economy and collectivization are just that; hence with such good conditions, the reason I firmly refuse to play collectivization is here. I would rather let them each plant their own, then guide them to cultivate cash crops instead of using this approach in this aspect." Chen Xi spread his hands indicating he doesn’t approve of this here.

"Are you saying this thing won’t work?" Li Youu frowned and said. Li Youu wasn’t stupid; as Chen Xi had already pointed out many drawbacks, but compared to the current Han Dynasty’s rough economic system, this is indeed ahead of its time!