The World Online

Chapter 1003 Financial Court Discussion

Among the three cabinet elders, Jiang Shang, the chief assistant of the cabinet, is in charge of the overall situation, which is equivalent to the prime minister's minister of state affairs;

The three of them cooperated with each other to make the huge state machine of Daxia run smoothly. Ouyang Shuo, the lord, was at the top of the cabinet, controlling the entire court situation.

…………

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Qinzheng Palace.

Three court elders, Jiang Shang, Kou Zhun, and Yan Song, and four ministers in charge of the court, Xiao He, Wei Yang, Fan Li, and Du Ruhui, gathered together to finalize the five-year annual budget of Gaia of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Also present at the court meeting were Chen Bingguang, director of industry, and Meng Zhida, chief executive of the Four Seas Bank.

Since the founding of the dynasty and the founding of the country, the financial revenue and expenditure management of the Great Xia Dynasty has become more and more formal. Throughout the year, how much money the imperial court will have in surplus, what big expenditures will be made next year, and how much fiscal revenue is expected to be generated must be finalized one by one before the end of the year, and it is no longer possible to arbitrarily control the finances as before.

At the end of the year, the financial budget formulated at the beginning of the year must be calculated to clarify responsibilities.

Whoever overruns will be punished.

"let's start!"

Ouyang Shuo sat on the throne and said calmly.

Since becoming the throne, Ouyang Shuo has seldom been in charge of the planning of the territory like when he was the lord. He carefully planned everything and let the ministers implement it.

Up until now, Ouyang Shuo only had an overview of the overall situation, and indeed he said less and less.

A lot of things don't need to be said by him. His own officials understand the intention and follow the rules. The second is that Ouyang Shuo is now an emperor, and he speaks well. A casual sentence may affect the fate of thousands of people, so he is naturally cautious.

Seeing this, Jiang Shang stepped forward and said, "Lord Fan, the Finance Academy will report last year's expenditure to the king first, and then discuss next year's expenditure."

"promise!"

Fan Li followed suit and reported: "King Lai Shang Hongfu, the imperial court's fiscal revenue last year reached 65 million gold coins, mainly from taxation and group income, of which tax revenue was 51 million gold coins, and group income was 8.5 million gold coins."

The group's income includes not only the financial income of Universal Bank, but also the profits of [Shushan Iron and Steel Group], [Huaxia Shipping Group] and other enterprises.

A few days ago, under the leadership of Ouyang Shuo, following the [Shushan Iron and Steel Group], the Department of Industry integrated artillery, warships, armor, mimetic aircraft, firearms and other military factories to jointly establish [Canglong Military Industry Group], which has become the largest and most profitable in the dynasty. The strongest group.

The group restructuring of the Great Xia Dynasty is in full swing, and it has gradually become the economic pillar of the court.

"The annual financial expenditure is 61 million gold coins, including 21 million gold coins for public utilities, 18.5 million gold coins for military expenditures, 12 million gold coins for administrative expenditures, 5 million gold coins for subsidized expenditures, and 4.5 million gold coins for other expenditures."

Public utility expenditures, including basic welfare, education, medical care, infrastructure construction, agriculture, forestry and water, etc., account for the bulk of fiscal expenditures.

One of the other expenditures is quite special, that is, the royal family expenditure.

There is a complete account book for the maintenance costs of the Summer Palace, the salaries and expenses of the female officials and maids, and the daily expenses of Ouyang Shuo, Song Jia, Binger and other royal family members.

Including the royal family's expenses means that Ouyang Shuo is not planning to set up a private treasury other than the state treasury.

The royal private treasury and the state treasury in the past dynasties were separated. The revenue of the treasury is generally agricultural and commercial taxes, etc., and the royal private treasury is generally monopoly industry taxes such as silk, tea, salt, and iron.

In contrast, Daxia has long since released its monopoly on silk, tea and salt. With the signing of an iron ore import agreement with Australia, the supervision of iron ore is gradually loosening.

There is no way to talk about these industrial taxes.

The royal private treasury has to support the emperor's relatives and build palaces, etc. Generally, there will be surplus, and when the treasury is insufficient, it will be used to enrich the treasury.

Of course, there are times when it is not enough.

Especially in the middle and late stages of the dynasty, there was a huge lineup of royal relatives, tens of thousands, and they were like a group of moths eroding the foundation of the dynasty.

Every overhaul of the palace also consumes a huge amount of money.

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a fire in the palace. Just to repair the palace, it cost seven million taels of silver, which accounted for a small half of the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue that year.

The national treasury is generally used to distribute salaries, build roads, build bridges, repair water conservancy, etc., and provide disaster relief in disaster years. Of course, there are also extravagant emperors who transfer money from the treasury to private treasuries for personal enjoyment.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, this evil trend prevailed, and the emperor was arrogant and extravagant, allowing eunuchs to collect money everywhere under the banner of the emperor, exploiting the people, and embezzling the treasury.

Some emperors even collude with corrupt officials to share the stolen money, or directly take the stolen money as their own by ransacking their homes.

So fattening the royal family, suffering the common people, breaking the foundation of the dynasty,

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had to put an end to this disadvantage from the very beginning.

In addition to the expenses allocated by the Ministry of Finance budget, the royal family actually has other sources of income.

One is that when Ouyang Shuo went out to explore, some of the gold, silver and jewels he seized would be distributed to the internal treasury. Second, [Mountain and Sea Entertainment Holdings Group], which Song Jia is in charge of, can generate considerable profits every year.

With these two incomes and only three members of the royal family, Ouyang Shuo naturally didn't need to embezzle the treasury. What's more, Ouyang Shuo has always advocated frugality in the royal family, and never extravagant and wasteful except for necessary occasions.

As the saying goes: up and down.

The royal family headed by Ouyang Shuo advocated thrift, so the princes and nobles naturally did not dare to be too extravagant.

...

Balance of income and expenditure, after a year, the imperial court only saved 4 million gold coins.

Of course, in the eyes of the outside world, it is already a very remarkable achievement for Great Xia to have millions of troops, launch three or four major wars within a year, and achieve financial savings.

On a global scale, more than half of the territories have long been unable to make ends meet, and can only continue to increase taxes, issue national debt and other methods to maintain the operation of the territory with difficulty.

After the fifth system update, the slower construction speed, more realistic disaster system, smarter people, and fiercer global competition will make it even more difficult for these territories to live in Gaia for five years.

A bad one may even annoy the disaster of overthrowing the nest.

【Yanhuang League】has been defeated several times in a row, and their foundation is almost wiped out. Fortunately, with the opening of 【Yanhuang League】with the North American ocean shipping route, relying on their business talents, they will soon be able to come back to life.

The four million gold coins that Fan Dichen spent at the auction were probably paid for by the family. Given the financial situation of Handan City, it is impossible to get this money.

After talking about last year's revenue and expenditure, Fan Li went on to say: "According to the analysis of the Finance Academy, Gaia has four major benefits in five years. First, the integration of the four new provinces will greatly increase the court's tax revenue. Second,【 Canglong Military Industry Group] and other groups have gradually moved on the right track after internal integration, and will contribute more considerable profits."

"Thirdly, industrialization has just emerged, and the production efficiency of private workshops has been greatly improved, which in turn stimulates the growth of commercial taxes. Fourthly, the implementation of the "Trans-Mediterranean Trade Partnership Agreement" and "Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement" will further Stimulate ocean trade and increase tariffs."

"Based on the above benefits, the Financial Council has initially calculated that next year's fiscal revenue will reach a new level, which is expected to reach 95 million gold coins, or even break through 100 million, achieving a growth rate of more than 46%."

After hearing this, Ouyang Shuo was noncommittal. The growth rate of 46% seemed astonishing, but it was based on the continuous expansion of the dynasty's territory, rather than the internal driving force of growth, and it would never last.

Thinking of the several wars in Gaia's five years, the imperial court's finances will not be so easy.

Seeing this, Jiang Shang narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, "Although the estimates of the Finance Institute are very optimistic, next year's expenditure will also go up to a higher level. Let's discuss the big expenditure plans of the four major institutes!"

Every move of the king is naturally under the attention of the chief minister of the cabinet.

After Jiang Shang finished speaking, the Minister of Administration, Xiao He, was the first to come out.

Among public utility expenditures, except for the basic welfare expenditures under the jurisdiction of the Civil Affairs Administration, the remaining public expenditures are mostly dominated by the Executive Yuan. In addition to the administrative expenditures that account for the majority, the Executive Yuan accounts for the largest proportion of fiscal expenditures among the four courts. Even more than the Privy Council, which spends money like water.

On the bright side, the Executive Yuan has no direct financial contribution.

So it is not difficult to understand what kind of pressure Xiao He is under, but what should be said has to be said, "Next year, the Department of Science, Education, Culture and Health will promote basic education and basic medical care in the four major provinces, and the Department of Agriculture will dredge water conservancy and build The government wants to expand the road network, and public expenditure is expected to increase by another 4 million gold coins on the basis of this year."

Ouyang Shuo asked: "Will the Executive Yuan send someone to investigate the situation of public construction in the four major provinces?"

"Yes. Overall, the foundations of the four major provinces are relatively good, but because they were not under the control of each other before and were not organized into a system, they needed unified planning, and some of the construction standards also had to be in line with the imperial court."

"Tell Jia Sixie, before the beginning of spring, seize the time to organize the people to dredge the water conservancy, and the counties and counties with conditions can reclaim as much farmland as possible, and don't let the land go to waste."

"No!" Xiao He quickly agreed.

The matter entrusted by the king himself, I am afraid that there are other deep meanings, no matter how important it is, it cannot be overemphasized.

However, Ouyang Shuo thought of Gaia's updated "natural disaster system" to make the Agriculture Department prepare early.

As the dynastic industrialization accelerated, commerce flourished, and the number of people engaged in handicrafts continued to increase, which created a very serious problem, the population engaged in agricultural production was weakened.

With the relatively backward farming technology in ancient times, if you want to ensure a sufficient food supply, you must have a corresponding amount of farmland, and you must have enough farmers to cultivate it.

Agriculture without the assistance of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and hybrid rice is simply impossible to produce any miracles, and the yield per mu can be greatly increased, and only a large number of farmers can only be invested in farming.

Therefore, in the three major sectors of agriculture, commerce and industry, there must be a comprehensive consideration.

Chapter 1003/1361
73.70%
The World OnlineCh.1003/1361 [73.70%]