Chapter 483 Kingdom Finance
After the establishment of the Kingdom of Harland, Richard successively established departments directly under the cabinet, such as diplomacy and finance. As time went by, the departments were gradually straightened out. In January of the 3282nd year of the Dawn Calendar, the financial situation of the Kingdom of Harland was delivered to Richard.
Now Richard has three territories under his name, distributed in different regions and even planes. The geographical location of the territories is separated in different regions, which is naturally very difficult to manage and obviously centrifugal.
Only a founding monarch like Richard has the prestige to suppress local forces and unify the three territories in one kingdom.
First is the homeland of the Kingdom of Harland, which covers an area of 1.26 million square kilometers. Including the vassals under his command, the total population is 17 million.
With a population of 17 million and 14.6 million freemen, the land tax alone can collect 4.9 million gold coins in taxes a year, which is equivalent to 80% of the level of the Grant royal family.
Harland only collects one-third of the agricultural tax, while the Grant royal family can collect 80% of the agricultural tax. In terms of the area of cultivated farmland, the Grant royal family controls more land than Harland.
However, Harland's agricultural income has exceeded that of the Grant royal family, which is equivalent to 1.5 times that of the royal family. A very important reason is that Harland's administration is clean and honest. Richard's deterrence on bureaucrats is far greater than that of Roger's Kingdom, and the corruption of tax collectors is far less serious than that of Grant's Kingdom.
Another important reason is that Harland's agricultural planting technology is higher, far exceeding the average level of Grant's Kingdom.
First, potash fertilizer mines are used on a large scale. Now Harland produces 150,000 tons of potash fertilizer every year, which can be used for fertilizing 10 million acres of land.
According to statistics from the agricultural department, one catty of fertilizer for wheat planting can increase production by four catties. The release of 150,000 tons of potash fertilizer can increase grain production by 600,000 tons.
Secondly, the large-scale use of farmyard manure has increased the average per mu yield of Harland from 140 catties to 240 catties, an increase of 100 catties per mu, and an increase of 500 catties per mu. If one person's land increases by 500 catties of grain, Harland can collect 160 catties of taxes. An increase of two silver coins in tax revenue for one person may seem small, but if it is magnified to 14.6 million freemen, it can increase tax revenue by 2.3 million gold coins, which plays a great role in finance.
In addition, Harland Territory also likes to build water conservancy projects and cultivate good varieties. The average yield per mu still has room for improvement. After a few years, the southern Rex Province will be incorporated into the headquarters finances, and agricultural taxes alone can collect tens of millions of gold coins.
With years of development, the local steel production has increased to 450,000 tons.
With the increase in steel supply, the price of iron has become lower and lower. Due to the construction of railways, the logistics costs have been greatly reduced. Relying on railway transportation, a large amount of steel has flowed into friendly countries such as Grant and Stannic. The iron mines and blacksmith shops operated by traditional nobles cannot compete with the large industries of the Kingdom of Harland. In recent years, they have basically all gone bankrupt, and the steel markets of the two countries have basically fallen into the control of Harland Territory.
Although the profit of smelting one ton of steel is only 15 silver coins, it does not seem high, but if it is magnified to a total of 450,000, it can still bring a profit of 560,000 gold coins to Harland Territory.
The reduction in the price of steel can not only limit inflation and improve the living standards of the people under the rule, but also reduce the cost of infrastructure construction, which is also a great boost to the development of industry.
If Richard monopolizes the supply of steel and increases the price of iron products, although he can earn a lot of gold coins, it will push up the cost of infrastructure and hinder industrial development. Even if he earns a lot of gold coins, he can only store them in the warehouse.
Although gold coins are good, they cannot be eaten or worn. If they are not circulated, they are useless for the development of the territory.
The output of brown sugar has also increased greatly, reaching 40,000 tons last year. With the increase in brown sugar production, Harland Territory once again reduced the retail price of brown sugar to four copper coins per kilogram. The price of grain in Harland Territory has been relatively stable for 30 years, and the price of wheat is still one copper coin per three kilograms this year. The price ratio of grain to brown sugar has been reduced to 12 to 1, which is equivalent to the level of Richard's previous life in the Ming Dynasty.
The price of brown sugar has been reduced to this ratio, and it has entered thousands of households. Even the contract slave department of Harland Territory will allocate some brown sugar to slaves.
Although the price of sugar has dropped a lot, producing one ton of brown sugar still has a net profit of more than seven gold coins, and 40,000 tons of brown sugar can bring Harland Territory a profit of 280,000 gold coins.
As of this year, Harland Territory has been operating the brown sugar industry for 30 years, and has reclaimed more than 500,000 mu of brown sugar plantations, with an acreage yield of about 80 kilograms of brown sugar. From Williamburg to the Fortress, Losa Basin, there are traces of brown sugar trees along the way. Today, the brown sugar planting industry has become a very important industry.
With the development of the economy, the price of sugar continues to fall, and the market is still expanding greatly.
Harland Territory has developed the brown sugar industry 30 years ahead of schedule, and no other nobles can compete with it. After careful consideration, Richard decided to give up all control of the brown sugar industry. After the brown sugar trees are ripened and bred in the magic plantation, they will be sold to the poor in the Eagle Mountains.
Through detailed calculations, the output value of planting brown sugar trees on one acre of land is eight times that of planting grain. The arable land in the mountainous area is barren, and it is difficult to develop industry successfully. Planting brown sugar trees can increase the income of mountain people, which is a good thing for economic development.
Although the brown sugar planting department strongly opposed it, Richard made up his mind and did not care about the interests of the department at all. The spread of brown sugar seedlings was inevitable.
In addition to steel and brown sugar, the major income of the Kingdom of Harland also comes from arms trade, coal and medicine. Especially the arms trade, which can bring millions of gold coins in profit to the Kingdom of Harland in a year.
Coal and medicine are also major industries, which can bring Harland a net profit of 600,000 gold coins in a year.
The two important industries of flour and textiles are larger than coal and medicine, and can bring Harland a profit of 700,000 gold coins in a year.
In addition to soap, soap, four-wheeled carriages, coinage income, bank income and other miscellaneous income, the fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Harland last year was as high as 9.3 million gold coins.
This fiscal revenue is 3.6 million gold coins more than the Kingdom of Grant, ranking first among the twenty or so kingdoms in the east.
The Harland Kingdom headquarters has a very high financial situation. The southern Rex Province is also a rich place. Last year, the land tax alone collected 1.6 million gold coins in taxes. This is because Richard pardoned rural farmers and herdsmen as contract slaves, reducing the proportion of taxes from rural areas. Otherwise, according to the old rules of the East Coast United Kingdom, the Duke of Rex could collect 2 million gold coins in agricultural taxes.
Rex Province has been under the Harland family for a year and a half. During this year and a half, Richard has successively transferred tens of thousands of bureaucrats to Rex Province.
With this team of tens of thousands of bureaucrats, Harland has completely taken control of Rex Province. A large number of prospectors began to enter Rex Province to explore mineral veins. Some manufacturing factories also moved to the Duke of Rex, such as shipyards, soap factories, textile factories. Brick kilns, etc.
It's just that in the first few years, industry needs investment and has not yet made a profit.
In addition, the railway department also sent prospectors to prepare to build railways in Rex Province to facilitate the deployment of troops.
The last territory is the Red Moon Plane. As the troops of the Harland Kingdom entered the Red Moon Plane, about 1.8 million square kilometers of land were granted to Richard. There are about 5.6 million people in this territory. This population density is far less than that of the three wealthy provinces of Black River, Central, and Rex. It can only be compared with desolate places such as the East Coast Province and the Prilan Province.
In addition, the people of the Red Moon Plane are not attached to the territory. Although the area is vast, the tax collection is not much. Last year, only less than 600,000 gold coins were collected, which was not enough to maintain the cost of 80,000 garrisons.
The only good news is that the Red Moon Plane can now provide a large amount of magic crystals for the Harland Territory. As the frequency of the plane channel opening decreases, the Red Moon Plane can provide the Harland Territory with 18,000 magic crystals of pure profit a year. With these 18,000 magic crystals, Richard can reduce some losses.
The three territories together have a total fiscal revenue of 11.5 million gold coins, which is about twice the level of the Grant Kingdom.
In addition, the three territories together can provide Richard with 130,000 magic crystals. Because the hidden danger of the princess's mausoleum has been solved, Harland Territory has added another large magic well. After adding the sunglasses charging array, it can charge 24,000 magic crystals within a year.
Now Harland Territory has the princess's mausoleum, two large magic wells at the bottom of the snow scene lake, the dragon's lair, two medium-sized magic wells in Kanas Magic Academy, the ogre's lair, the flame tower, the lightning tower, the petrified tower, and the dragon canyon plane channel. These magic wells can charge 80,000 magic crystals in a year.
Among the three territories, there are a total of nine magic crystal mines, which can mine 22,000 magic crystals a year. In the Red Moon plane, there is also a half plane rich in magic crystals, which can increase 10,000 magic crystals every year. In addition, the Harland Mage Association can also earn 18,000 magic crystals a year by selling potions and alchemy props.
Although the fiscal revenue of the Harland Kingdom has exceeded 10 million gold coins, the annual income and expenditure have also increased greatly in recent years.
Today, the Kingdom of Harland has 270,000 troops, including 80,000 troops stationed in the Red Moon Plane, 40,000 troops stationed in the Rex Province, and 100,000 troops stationed in the Harland Territory. The remaining 40,000 are guest troops stationed in the Earl Philip Territory of the Kingdom of Grant.
Richard plans to slowly transfer these 40,000 guest troops back to the Harland Territory. If it weren't for the strong request of the Kingdom of Roger, the 40,000 Harland Corps would have withdrawn last year.
With the demise of the East Coast United Kingdom, Delon and Ryan were also somewhat frightened.
The result of this war made it clear to Kings Anton and Thomas that the military strength of the alliance between Grant and Harland has surpassed the East Coast Three Kingdoms Alliance. Now that the East Coast has been destroyed and has lost 600,000 troops to contain it, Ryan and Delon can't beat the Grant and Harland Alliance at all.
Under the auspices of the Holy Glorious Empire, Delon and Ryan signed a peace agreement with the Kingdom of Grant. As long as the kings of the three countries are alive, they cannot take the initiative to provoke a war.
As for the Kingdom of Harland, Richard naturally does not need to sign his name because it does not border Delon and Ryan.
The number of troops increased to 270,000, and the military pay alone would cost nearly 3 million gold coins each year.
To support 270,000 troops, the logistics cost would be nearly 600,000 gold coins each year.
The maintenance cost of 270,000 troops alone would cost 3.6 million gold coins a year.
The army not only needs maintenance costs, but also needs to invest huge amounts of money to replenish equipment. It costs 2,000 gold coins to build a magic crystal cannon, 5,000 gold coins to build a magic airship, and 40,000 gold coins to refine a seventh-level steel golem. Even the cheapest individual armor would cost several gold coins.
On average, Harland's annual investment in equipment is about 1 million gold coins.
In the three territories, the total number of people who eat fiscal food is nearly 500,000, of which 80,000 are government civil servants and 420,000 are employees of official enterprises.
The salary of 500,000 people adds up to 2.8 million gold coins a year.
In addition, the education and medical departments need to spend 500,000 gold coins each year, and the scientific research institutes and magic research departments also need 800,000 gold coins each year.
Although the income of Harland Territory is as high as 11.5 million, in fact, there is only less than 2 million gold coins left in a year.
These 2.2 million gold coins have to be invested in a large number of infrastructure and industrial projects.
Last year, Harland Territory built more than 300 kilometers of railways, which cost more than 400,000 gold coins. It built more than 200 kilometers of roads, which cost 80,000 gold coins, and built more than a dozen small reservoirs, which cost more than 100,000 gold coins. In addition to some miscellaneous projects, the cost of infrastructure alone cost 870,000 gold coins, which is roughly equivalent to 7.5% of fiscal revenue.
Richard would not store the remaining more than one million gold coins in the vault, but invested them in industrial projects.
Richard only had about 600,000 gold coins in stock in the treasury of Fort William. Compared with the territories that like to store gold coins in the vault, Richard is more willing to let the money run and circulate in the territories.
The main reason why the finances of the Kingdom of Harland are so tight is the heavy cost of maintaining the army. The investment in military expenses alone is as high as 4.6 million gold coins a year, which is far beyond the standard of the Grant royal family.
The Grant royal family has a total of 11 legions of regular troops and 6 legions of auxiliary troops. The royal family directly supports 300,000 troops. Including logistical supplies, the cost is 3.4 million gold coins a year.
The huge cost of maintaining the army, although it makes the Kingdom of Harland look a little embarrassed, has also helped Richard establish a great reputation, helped him wear the crown, drive away the orcs, and win peace.
According to Richard's estimation, the territory of Harland will usher in a period of peace in the short term. As the technical equipment gradually fills up, the cost of weapons and equipment will gradually be reduced in recent years. Even if Richard is still preparing to expand the army by 30,000, the amount of military expenditure will not increase significantly. The province of Rex will also gradually pardon the indentured slaves, so that the domestic demand market will increase greatly.
With the increase of the domestic demand market, the local industry will naturally increase its production capacity, and the fiscal revenue will continue to grow. At that time, the fiscal pressure will gradually be reduced.