Chapter 1168: Confidence

Su Fan does not know exactly how many people currently live in Jiuzhou, but it is roughly no less than thirty billion.

Compared to the peak of the Great Qin, which reached nearly one hundred billion, this number is still far behind.

Back in the days of the Great Qin, after Su Fan provided agricultural knowledge, the population truly exploded; at that time, the only thing limiting the Great Qin's population was food.

Then, crop yields per mu increased significantly, and with the variety of agricultural tools, more land was reclaimed, naturally leading to a population explosion.

At its peak, the population of Jiuzhou reached one hundred billion.

Moreover, this number did not reach the limit of Jiuzhou's capacity; if the productivity reached the level of Su Fan's first life, given the area of Jiuzhou, it would absolutely be no problem to support a population ten times larger.

Of course, the premise is to develop all of Jiuzhou, and secondly, the level of productivity.

The productivity of later generations is far from comparable to that of the Great Qin.

Although the Great Qin's Mohist School technology was already very powerful, with the help of the Rune Dao, some things were even more formidable than the technology of later generations.

However, the Rune Dao is also a transcendent path and cannot be popularized.

This point cannot be compared to later generations; later machinery could be forged by ordinary people and could be mass-produced on assembly lines.

Even the Great Qin could not achieve this; for example, the Flying Boat is equivalent to the fighter jets of later generations, though of course, it is larger and has stronger combat power.

Even the strongest fighter jets of later generations cannot compare to a third-tier Flying Boat in this world.

Perhaps in terms of speed, they might be comparable, but in other aspects, whether it is defense or attack, they are far inferior.

But even with the Great Qin's capabilities, building a third-tier Flying Boat was not that simple.

At its peak, only a few hundred third-tier Flying Boats were built, and as for fifth-tier ones, there were only a few.

A third-tier Flying Boat is enough to threaten an Earth Immortal, and a fifth-tier one reaches the level of a Golden Immortal; that was truly peak technology.

And the current Liu Han Dynasty cannot even build a third-tier Flying Boat; one has to say that the gap between the two sides is truly too vast.

The Great Qin was definitely the strongest dynasty of the Human Race; even the tribal dynasties of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era likely could not compare to the Great Qin at its peak.

If the Great Qin had won the previous war between humans and gods, the immense Qi of Luck and Merit, even if Ying Zheng had not used it to break through to become a Saint, would certainly have allowed him to reach the level of a Sage of Humanity.

That would be equivalent to the current Heavenly Sovereign Fuxi.

It is a pity that the Great Qin failed.

Then there was a complete break in the lineage; the Liu Han did not inherit much of the Great Qin's Inheritance, and the gap between the two sides, not to mention the strength of individuals, was already too great in terms of technology alone.

And after the Liu Han dismissed the hundred schools and honored only Confucianism, the gap became even wider.

Confucianism is indeed very strong, but compared to the hundred schools, there is still a gap, especially after the Mohist School was suppressed and dissipated, causing technology to suddenly suffer a break.

One must know that during the Great Qin period, the Mohist School had the strongest craftsmen, but the other schools actually had their own technologies as well; the agricultural techniques of the Agricultural School were not bad either.

It is a pity that the Liu Han Dynasty did not have them; even if some noble clans possessed inherited knowledge, they completely monopolized it and even forbade its dissemination.

In such an era, how could productivity be improved? The original Great Qin was also beginning to develop toward the productivity of later generations, but unfortunately, a world-shaking war caused the Great Qin to perish, and then this productivity was never seen again.

The technology of the Liu Han Dynasty even regressed at one point to the level of the early Great Qin.

Those noble clans and powerful families desperately monopolized knowledge, and folk agriculture continuously regressed; clearly, those noble clans did not want the common people to have any good technology.

Su Fan naturally saw this situation, which is why he wanted to completely overthrow the Liu Han and thoroughly purge those noble clans and great families.

This is also the reason he chose Zhang Jiao, not only because of Zhang Jiao's ideals, but also because he stood with the grassroots, had no affection for the noble clans, and dared to take action against them.

It is true that the noble clans are very strong, but so what? When the end of a dynasty truly arrives, what can the noble clans do?

During the Han and Tang periods, especially the noble families of the Sui and Tang periods, they became terrifying; even an emperor as strong as Li Shimin, one of the top five in history, sometimes had no way to deal with those noble clans.

One must know who Li Shimin was—a ruthless man who won the empire on horseback and whose blood splattered the Xuanwu Gate—yet even he was helpless against those noble clans.

But what was the result? In the late Tang, they were all slaughtered clean by Huang Chao and his like; one must admit the ruthlessness of this scholar, Huang Chao.

It is said that scholars rebelling is a joke, but Huang Chao set a good precedent for those literati.

Huang Chao dared to take action against the noble clans, and as his predecessor, Zhang Jiao is naturally no worse.

Historically, many noble clans were wiped out during the Yellow Turban Rebellion; of course, those top-tier noble clans lived on just fine.

However, this world is different; Zhang Jiao has his support, and his strength is far greater than in history. Whether it is personal strength or resources, the Way of Peace will not be lacking.

Moreover, Zhang Jiao will not be without helpers in the future.

The Yanmen Zhang Clan has already been subdued by him, and next is Lv Bu of Jiuyuan.

This person's strength is even greater; although it is unknown who is stronger between him and Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, in Bingzhou, he is already the undisputed number one powerhouse.

After his cultivation reached the Refining Spirit stage, he was invincible galloping across the Caoyuan, and even a Sacrificial Priest of the Caoyuan who once attacked him let him escape.

The Sacrificial Priest of the Barbarian Race is a powerhouse at the level of an Immortal.

If even an Immortal cannot kill Lv Bu, one can imagine his strength; even if he has not reached the Earth Immortal Realm, he is close.

Such a fierce general, once subdued, can be said to be a great boost for the Way of Peace.

As for Lv Bu's personality, Su Fan is not worried; he believes that with the strength of the Zhang Clan, they can absolutely suppress the other party.

Su Fan is not worried about ambition; as long as there is sufficient strength, it is fine.

Do you not see that when Cao Cao was in power, Sima Yi was just a small cat, and even when Cao Pi and his son were in power, Sima Yi still dared not make any moves.

Therefore, the greater the ambition, the better it is for those in power.

Regarding Zhang Jiao's strength, Su Fan has great confidence in him; not long after Su Fan left, the latter sent word that he had already broken through to the Earth Immortal Realm.

He had passed the Thunder Tribulation.

At this time, Zhang Jiao founded the Way of Peace and has been saving the common people, so it can be said that his Qi of Luck is still very great.

Therefore, things like the Thunder Tribulation pose no threat to him at all.

Moreover, Zhang Jiao's Inheritance is not simple; it belongs to the True Disciple of the Taoist Sect, and in the future, when he leaves Jiuzhou and enters the Taoist Sect of the Three Realms, he will also be a True Disciple.

Although the Taoist Sect of the Human Race is inferior to the Three Teachings, it is at least inherited from Laozi.