Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1414 War Dividend
In the 16th year of Kaiyuan, winter.

Ziwei Palace and Xuanzheng Palace in Luoyang.

"These are the budgets for next year's financial expenditures. The Zhengshitang has already signed the votes. We will wait for the academicians of the Imperial Academy to approve the awards, and then present them to the saints."

Fang Xuanling, the prime minister who was in charge of affairs, said.

The emperor sat at the top with a notebook in front of him. After listening to the budget plan for next year reported by Fang Xuanling on behalf of the Zhengshitang, he did not rush to make a statement, but asked first, "Is this year's budget more than last year's budget? How much is the excess? Is this year's fiscal revenue as budgeted, is it collected in full, or is there arrears?"

"Saint, the imperial court is now living within its means. This year's expenditure is based on the expenditure budget made last year based on the previous year's fiscal revenue. When we calculate the plan, we are more cautious, living within our means, and we all leave some room. Three provinces, six ministries and local provinces have set aside an emergency fund."

Shang Shu Zuo Pu She Wang Ziming said slowly, "In general, our financial income this year is very good. Not only have we collected taxes as expected, but this year's taxes have also increased, and the amount is not small, especially for foreign trade. This one has added a lot.”

"The financial expenditure budget we made last year has not exceeded this year, and there is still some surplus."

Kong Yingda, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, expressed his surprise, "Last year, there was a full-scale war against Silla, and several more wars were fought in the Western Regions, and the suppression of the barbarians in the Southwest has never stopped. The military expenditure has increased a lot. There is surplus? Does that mean that the budget is not rigorous enough?"

Prime Minister Sun Wuji stood up and explained, "We did fight a few big battles last year. The crown prince also traveled westward on behalf of the saint to join the alliance with Persia and Rome. He mobilized many soldiers, horses and guards to accompany him, which increased a lot of expenses. But this is only one aspect. We used troops against Silla. In the early stage, only the government soldiers and militiamen of Dongmyeong County in Baekje Province were dispatched. Later, Wang Junkuo led some troops from Baekje Province to reinforce Silla, but they also used troops nearby. The court They did not send troops long distances from the Central Plains, nor did they transport a grain of fodder or rice from the Central Plains. On the contrary, the war against Silla went smoothly. It took less than half a year before and after this battle against rebellion to complete the occupation and conquest of Silla militarily."

After capturing the entire territory of Silla, although many Silla people were still fighting guerrillas, the upper-class nobles in Silla had already surrendered. Therefore, the imperial court quickly set Silla as Jilin Road, and then attacked the royal family of Silla Kingdom. The court and the government's treasury were confiscated and confiscated, and many nobles who participated in the rebellion were prosecuted and punished casually, and they were punished by confiscating their fields and properties.

By confiscating the fields and properties of the royal government and noble landlords, the imperial court's military use in Silla was profitable. It didn't invest much in the war, but the harvest was huge.

For this alone, not only did the imperial court not send any money into the rebellion war in Silla, but instead it made a lot of money. In addition to taking out some as rewards for the rebel army and subsidies for casualties, and leaving it for Jilin Road as In addition to the local fiscal expenditures, which were used to immigrate Han people and station soldiers on the spot, a large amount of money was still handed over to the imperial court, not to mention that the imperial court’s household registration population has increased a lot, and the number of fields has also increased a lot.

Similarly, the prince's use of troops in the Western Regions did not cost much, but the benefits were huge.

After destroying Tuqishi and other three alliances, then destroying the Stone Kingdom, and then returning to Shule and Khotan, the imperial court obtained a large number of cattle, sheep and horses, as well as money, silk, gold and silver, etc., as well as many slaves and immigrants population.

The prince's trip to the Western Regions cost a lot, but after several victories, he gained even more.

The real money-losing wars were the wars in the Southwest against the barbarians in the mountains. Although these small-scale wars were small in scale, they were numerous. There were no large-scale battles, but they were pursued everywhere. , the casualties are not small, and the consumption of food and grass is also high.

There are high mountains and dense forests, and there are cottages and bunkers everywhere. In particular, some barbarians have fought guerrilla warfare, making it difficult for the local Weifu militiamen to encircle and suppress them.

Coupled with the increase in local basic expenditures such as new roads, additional military mansions, and post stations, the imperial court is now continuously subsidizing money for several roads in the southwest, like a bottomless pit.

Fang Xuanling said again at this time.

"Although the imperial court has often used troops abroad in the past few years, it basically does not lose money in the use of soldiers. On the contrary, it can increase a lot of income through fighting every year. Even our Sanya raises soldiers and manufactures armors, horses, horses, etc. The expenditures for building warships can also be basically covered. Our main financial investment, which only goes out but not in, is immigration.”

Since the founding of the Great Qin Dynasty, there has been continuous migration to the frontier, and it has never stopped, and the scale has even become larger and larger.

From immigrating to Daibei and Guanwai in the early years, it has moved almost everywhere.

The number of immigrants is increasing, and the scale is getting bigger and bigger. They even began to move the original local barbarians in many frontiers.

The imperial court's immigration policy is very complex, large-scale, and continuous.

Accompanied by the large-scale immigration is the large-scale development of the frontier areas, road construction, city building, military deployment, construction of water conservancy facilities, development of commercial roads, increase of post roads, and even appeasement of the local aborigines, all of which require a large sum of money. funds invested.

Fortunately, the current financial revenue of the imperial court is increasing year by year. It does not rely on the regular tax of the two taxes, let alone the land tax paid by those acres of land. The imperial court also increased a lot of income by lending loans to Rome and Persia.

"How much money is left in the imperial treasury?" the emperor asked a crucial question.

"Returning to the saint, there are 180 taels of silver in the treasury." Cui Junsu replied.

Daqin is currently implementing a parallel policy of silver and money, and even gold coins are used as currency in circulation. One silver coin weighs one, but it is not a pure silver coin. The actual silver content is about [-]%, and one silver coin is actually exchanged for two thousand copper coins.A Kaiyuan copper coin is still one coin, but the copper content is a little lower than when the country was founded, but the purchasing power of the coin is still relatively strong.

In the past, the high copper content caused the actual value of a copper coin to be much higher than that of a penny. Many people took risks and melted copper coins for profit. Later, the imperial court lowered the copper content slightly, so the exchange of silver coins has reached the current one tael of silver. Cash in two thousand copper coins.

And a gold coin can now be exchanged for 15 taels of silver, and gold is stronger.

"180 taels of silver, which is equivalent to more than 6000 million copper coins, not bad." Luo Cheng was somewhat surprised, but also very satisfied.It has been 16 years since the founding of the country, and the imperial court has fought wars almost every year, immigrated every year, and developed the frontiers every year, but under such circumstances, the imperial court still has a surplus every year. Up to now, it has saved more than 8000 million taels of silver I can't believe it.

This is not counting the emperor's internal treasury. The emperor's internal treasury has always been richer than the national treasury. How did so much money survive?It is not based on taxes, but mainly on trade, just like the gold and silver in the national treasury, they are actually earned back from all over the world through trade.

(End of this chapter)