I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 672 Large-scale construction projects
cabinet.

Zhu Chengxun took out the fiscal revenue report compiled by the Ministry of Household Affairs: "In the past five years, the national treasury revenue has been steadily increasing every year. Until last year, the national fiscal revenue had exceeded 80 million taels. This still excludes provinces such as southwestern Sichuan and local administrative After the interception, in addition to the official integration of Chittagong into the Governor-General of Bangladesh in the past few years, many port towns along the Yangtze River have started to open cotton spinning factories in recent years.

Wang Yuan said: "The opening of private cotton spinning factories is still beneficial to the country. In the past five years, most of the increased fiscal revenue has come from industry, commerce and customs taxes. If this had been the case in the past, I am afraid that I would have thought I dare not even think about it!”

Wu Sidao also said: "Your Majesty knows well that wealth lies in the people. Only when the people are rich can the country be stable and strong."

"This is reasonable." Chen Ji nodded and said: "When cotton spinning factories are opened among the people, the people can always benefit. Fujian is the place where we were prosperous in the Ming Dynasty. Now many women have begun to show their faces and go to businessmen to open businesses. The money you can earn by working in a factory is no less than working in the fields. Moreover, this is also a job that women can do, and it is based on the "Women's Commandments" written by the Queen. There is nothing to say. Only when the people become richer can this silver coin be promoted. "

Silver yuan has been issued in coastal areas for several years. In the early stage, in conjunction with bank account interest rate increases, and with the policy support of silver yuan and silver ingot exchange ratios, the implementation of silver yuan in coastal areas was relatively smooth.

Chen Ji originally only used the silver coins as the emperor's preparation for the war in Mobei. The expedient measure he adopted was just like the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes originally issued by Lao Zhu, which only went out but not in.

It's just that the silver yuan is made of silver, so it will definitely not be like a piece of waste paper like the Ming Dynasty treasure banknote.

However, as silver coins gradually circulated in coastal cities, the transaction volume in the private market rapidly increased in a short period of time, further stimulating private consumption in coastal cities.

This allowed Chen Ji to relax his thinking. It seemed that silver yuan instead of silver ingot was not really a bad thing.

After all, the silver dollar itself is, to put it bluntly, just silver that has changed its shape. In other words, it is still money, not waste paper like Ming Dynasty banknotes.

Strictly speaking, the paper money of later generations is actually useless paper (metaphory), or currency. It cannot be regarded as money in the real sense.

Money in the true sense can only always be gold stored in the national treasury, which is the "gold standard" that provides the basis for currency. (No need to argue, just find out by yourself)
Zhu Chengxun said: "While promoting the silver dollar, we must also find ways to spend money. Now that Mobei and Beihai have been recovered, there are no big battles to fight in the north. The next step is to continue to absorb excess silver from the people, in southwestern Sichuan, Kangzang In places like Xueyu, the Eight Hundred Army Prefecture, and Heilongjiang, many post stations and official roads will be built to connect the mountainous valleys. This will be beneficial to the imperial court's use of troops to fight in the future and the development of border military towns. "

Lin Jingyu said: "We can also build more water conservancy and irrigation facilities. If we take it from the people and use it for the people, the people will be richer, which will also be good for the national finance."

Everyone nodded and brainstormed how to better get the court to spend money.

It is no longer the case in the past few years. The cabinet believes that the emperor will not hesitate to absorb private silver and also want to conquer Mobei. Although it is beneficial in the future, it still cannot escape the intention of going militarily.

But now, after the First World War, millions of taels of silver have been lost, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been mobilized. On the contrary, the country has not been severely affected.

The increase in private food prices has even decreased slightly.

Moreover, the financial economy of the Northern Territory has actually developed to a certain extent, and many merchants have been attracted to Northern Xinjiang to open up trade routes.

The cabinet ministers were confused at first, and then gradually understood the emperor's methods.

It turns out that money can still be used in this way. Not only did the money be spent to win battles and expand the territory, it also alleviated the problem of rising food prices and further developed the people's livelihood economy in northern Xinjiang.

Now that money is being spent on infrastructure construction across the country, the cabinet is imitating the emperor.

Moreover, what they did was more meticulous than the previous Mobei War. Although they spent money like water, every penny was not spent indiscriminately.

In the first few years after the emperor abolished corvée labor, local officials would occasionally submit memorials to the emperor, saying that although corvée labor seemed harsh on the people, many of it was taken from the people and used for the people, and should not be easily abandoned.

As of now, no officials have come forward to report it, and some will be criticized by the cabinet as unrealistic but feasible.

The purpose of corvee service was to save money for the court, and it was actually harmful to the people. But now that the court had a lot of money, it could spend money to recruit people to work in infrastructure construction.

If corvee is reinstated, the money will not be spent, which will further push the national finances to the verge of collapse due to excessive money.

Chen Ji added: "We must also pay more attention and not waste too much money and people. After all, the previous Mobei War has just ended. In the future, the imperial court will spend money to establish Mobei and Beihai Dusi."

Wu Sidao smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, His Majesty has said before that as long as it is related to people's livelihood and not personal enjoyment, even if it is a large-scale construction project, it will not waste too much money and waste people." Wang Yuan also took advantage of the opportunity and said: "In addition to building water conservancy projects, , building official roads for various post stations, it is time for the salaries of officials to increase. Now the inflow of overseas silver is increasing every year, and the impact has spread to several provinces in the mainland. The price of food in Nanjing alone has increased compared with the previous year. Almost half a percent.”

The cabinet ministers discussed repeatedly and continuously improved the details. They built water conservancy and irrigation projects across the country and built official roads for mountainous stations. All of them were infrastructure projects that were beneficial to local civil affairs.

With water conservancy and irrigation, more new fields can be cultivated, grain production can be increased, and official roads in mountainous areas can be built, which can also facilitate the government's governance of the people and allow people in mountainous areas to better communicate with the outside world.

Including the emperor's concubine who was born in Badai Yao, the Liannan Mountain District where her hometown Badai Yao is located has been continuously building official roads in recent years to connect Lianshan with outside counties.

The manpower, money and food for the construction of official roads were basically raised by Bapaiyao themselves, and the Guangdong government also allocated some funds.

This kind of private infrastructure construction has actually been carried out all over the country.

It's just that it used to be a government corvee organization. Now there is no corvee. It all depends on the people's own efforts. The government coordinates and allocates some funds.

After all, the people are not stupid. They will do things that can bring them real benefits even if the government does not ask for them.

However, because there are no corvees, this kind of private infrastructure projects are limited to villages and towns, and it is often difficult to build those difficult mountain roads.

Not only is it difficult to repair, but also because there is no money, and water conservancy and irrigation facilities are also small-scale excavation of water diversion canals in each village. Large-scale river projects, the local government does not have that much financial budget to carry out.

Now, the plan proposed by the cabinet is for the imperial court to allocate a sum of money every year to all parts of the country, especially in mountainous areas such as southwest Sichuan, to build official roads in mountainous areas and maintain river water conservancy works.

After reading it, Zhu Yijiong raised his pen and said: "Yes."

The cabinet also mentioned the issue of raising salaries for officials across the country, and the emperor did not refute it, but it was also approved.

Officials also need to eat!
The Ming Dynasty's steam industrial revolution had just begun, and the development of various provinces across the country had already become extremely uneven.

From the poor in the north to the rich in the south, to the rich in the south of the Yangtze River, the poorer and poorer you go to the southwest, to the rich and smoky coastal areas, and to the inland, there are fewer factories and workshops.

The social contradictions brought about by this will only become more acute and prominent in the future.

By the way, this year Emperor Zhu took in three more foreign concubines.

They are the princesses of Brunei, Sulu and Kazakhstan respectively, which gave Zhu Yijiong a rare experience of exotic customs and Nanyang charm.

Taking in three foreign concubines at once, the emperor also took a rare two days off.

Wait until the third day before returning to daily work.

At the same time, a group of canonization envoys also carried the imperial edict of the Ming Emperor and officially set off from Nanjing, preparing to go to Zhongyuzi, Kazakhstan.

Zhu Yijiong could naturally see Semek Khan's political intentions, but it didn't matter. The other party wanted to unify Kazakhstan, which was in the interests of Ming Dynasty.

According to the estimates of the Cabinet and the Privy Council, the farthest expansion limit of the Ming Dynasty in the west can only reach Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan at most.

Further west, it will be difficult to expand, not only because it is difficult to govern, but also because of the terrain. Kazakhstan is a flat area, and even if it is completely occupied, there is no danger to defend.

It is easy for the Ming army to defeat them, but as long as the army withdraws a little, the Kazakhs will definitely rebel and fight back.

In comparison, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are much easier to manage. The mountainous valleys here are natural barriers, which can exclude the Kazakhs from the outside and connect with the Kashgar region in the Western Region internally.

(End of this chapter)