The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

No wonder some of the ministers present at the meeting were worried.

As far as Yang Tinglin and other ministers from the former Ming Dynasty know, the highest annual revenue for the treasury of the former Ming Dynasty was more than ten years after Zhang Juzheng initially implemented a series of reform policies.

That is, from the sixth year of Wanli to the twentieth year of Wanli.

Although Emperor Wanli launched various revenge on Zhang Juzheng after his death, and even overturned some of the policies he left behind, this did not happen overnight.

The whole process takes ten to twenty years, or even longer.

Moreover, until the Chongzhen period, some policies reformed by Zhang Juzheng were still retained.

The fiscal year of the Ming Dynasty took the sixth year of Wanli as an example.

The summer tax and autumn tax (agricultural tax) that year were approximately 2080 million taels of silver.

The commercial tax is approximately 224 million taels of silver.

Miscellaneous income (various taxes other than agricultural taxes and orthodox commercial taxes) is approximately 349 million taels of silver.

Even including some of the collected rice, wheat and other physical goods, it only converted into 1644 million taels of silver.

That is to say.

The total financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the sixth year of Wanli was approximately 4297 million taels.

In the opinion of Zhu Dadian and others, the income for this fiscal year is already quite large.

But even if all the fiscal revenue from the Wanli six years of the previous Ming Dynasty were taken, it would still not be enough to pay the standing army, navy, and garrison.

Damei was founded only a few years ago. Even though it implemented various fiscal and taxation policies that were better than those of Ming Dynasty, and opened many state-owned and government-run factories, even if its fiscal revenue was more than that of Wanli in six years, how much more could it be?

Can it really support such a large military expenditure?
Moreover, in addition to the Guards, the Standing Army, and the Guards, local civilians also have a small amount of military expenditures.

The main benefit for Da'ei Minyong was to reduce the land tax of 10%.

However, if the imperial court recruits civilian warriors to participate in the war, subsidies will be provided.

If the civilian brave is used as a civilian husband, a subsidy will be given based on the recruitment price of the civilian husband.

If civilian bravery is used as a garrison, a subsidy will be given according to the monthly salary of the garrison.

Pensions and rewards are not much lower than those of the garrison.

Coupled with the large number of civilian warriors, the annual military expenditure will not be too small.

No, Li Banghua then talked about this year’s military expenditures for the People’s Liberation Army——

"This year, we carried out two major battles to eliminate the traitors and the Ming Dynasty, and mobilized a total of more than 100,000 civilians."

"These civilian warriors basically serve as civilian laborers, assisting our army with logistics and transportation. Therefore, based on the recruitment price of civilian laborers, they will be given a monthly subsidy of two yuan."

"Coupled with the training costs of local civilian warriors and other expenses, the military expenditure of the civilian warriors last year was approximately 106 million yuan..."

Hear this.

Many military ministers breathed a sigh of relief.

The annual military expenditure of 106 million yuan is a large number compared with the previous Ming Dynasty, but it is nothing to Damei.

In other words, if you have too many debts, you don’t have to worry about them, and if you have too many lice, you don’t have to itch.

Later, Li Banghua reported on this year’s military expenditures in addition to military salaries.

The amount of this expenditure is related to the size of Da'ei's army, whether a campaign was conducted that year, and how many troops were replaced with equipment.

last year.

Da'ei mainly fought two battles to destroy the Puppet Shun and the Ming Dynasty, and then the battle of Longmenchuan in response to the invasion of the Qing Dynasty.

A total of more than 300,000 troops were mobilized before and after (not counting civilian bravery).

As for replacing equipment, it mainly involves replacing flintlock guns, artillery guns, and grenades for the Guards.

Each division of the standing army has also been equipped with a certain number of mortars, new grenades, and artillery shells.

However, the largest portion of military expenditure is the ordering of more than a dozen battleships and hundreds of other types of large and small warships from Longjiang Shipyard.

"... This year's military expenditures for the eight divisions of the Standing Army, other than military salaries, are 550 million 2455 yuan."

"The Navy's military expenditures this year, excluding military salaries, are 1025 million yuan."

"Military expenditures other than military pay for the garrison are NT$259."

"To sum up, the total military expenditure of our standing army, garrison army, and navy this year is approximately 7511 yuan!"

The total military expenditure for a year was as high as more than 75 million silver dollars!

Many ministers couldn't help but exclaimed in their hearts when they heard Li Banghua say the last number.

Moreover, this is because the standing army and garrison army did not undergo large-scale equipment changes this year, and the expenditure on armaments was relatively small.

If there is a large-scale change of uniforms, the military expenditure will probably be several million yuan higher!
'Military expenditures are the largest expenditure of the imperial court every year, but the imperial court's expenditures on other aspects, such as official salaries, water conservancy repairs, road construction, disaster relief, etc., add up to a lot. '

'I wonder if the imperial court's fiscal revenue is sufficient this year? '

'It's probably not enough, but I don't know how much less it is, and whether the money left in the treasury is enough to fill the hole. '

As a member of the Military Pay Division of the Military Academy, Yang Tinglin didn't know anything about the Ministry of Finance, so he could only make guesses based on past experience.

Thinking that the imperial court needed to use the national treasury reserves to fill the financial hole, it was not even enough.

His heart felt heavy.

Then he couldn't help but look up at Liu Sheng.

However, Liu Sheng looked calm and seemed not worried about this matter at all.

'Your Majesty's qi-nurturing skills are really good. '

Yang Tinglin could only sigh like this.

However, when Li Banghua finished his report and left, Yang Tinglin noticed that Li Banghua's expression seemed quite indifferent and he was not worried about the military expenditure of 70 to 80 million silver dollars.

'Could it be that the fiscal revenue is enough for expenditure? '

Yang Tinglin couldn't help but guess this.

But it feels incredible.

If Da'ei's total fiscal revenue is enough to cover total expenses, wouldn't it cost 100 million to tens of millions of silver dollars?
···
On the throne.

Liu Sheng was also thinking about Da'ei's finances.

Military expenditures are the largest financial expenditure. If you include the approximately 2000 million military expenditures of the Guards this year, Da'ei's total military expenditures this year will be as high as more than million silver dollars!
Nearly 100 million!

Even based on the cost of casting silver coins in Da'ei (one silver dollar is about seven coins of real silver), that is more than 70 million taels of silver!
To say that there is no financial pressure is absolutely false.

Although the country is not financially unable to make ends meet, some military expenditures are no longer necessary and should indeed be reduced.

Therefore, after the ministers of other ministries of the Military Academy finished their reports, Liu Sheng asked: "Do you have any ideas about military expenditures?"

Yang Tinglin immediately stood up after hearing this, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, our army's military expenditure is too high. We must find ways to reduce it, otherwise we may not be able to support our finances!"

Liu Sheng asked, "How to reduce it?"

Yang Tinglin said nothing for a while, but he hadn't thought about it yet.

In fact, if it had been revealed earlier, Yang Tinglin would have spoken out some general thoughts in his mind.

But he knew that in Dawei, any suggestions must be meaningful.

What Liu Sheng dislikes the most is talking in general terms.

When Yang Tinglin was silent, Li Banghua stood up again.

"Your Majesty, I have summarized this year's military expenditures and found that the guard force accounts for the largest proportion of military expenditures."

"Nowadays, except for some wars in the northwest, Liaodi, and southwest, our country is basically at peace in the interior."

"The bandits left over from the previous Ming Dynasty have been basically wiped out by the local security forces in the past two years."

"Therefore, I believe that except for the Southern and Northern Zhili Provinces and the border provinces, other provinces no longer need too many garrison forces and should streamline them again."

Hearing this, many ministers in the palace nodded and thought it made sense.

Even Liu Sheng is no exception.

Today, there are 850,000 garrison troops in Da'ei. On average, each of the eighteen provinces can be allocated three brigades of troops.

The South and North Zhili Provinces each have seven brigades of garrison troops.

That's a lot true.

He then asked, "Then how does Li Qing think the garrison should be streamlined?"

Li Banghua was able to show his talents in the officialdom environment of the late Ming Dynasty and rectify the South Beijing Camp. Now he serves as the left minister of the Military and Political Department in Da'ei, and is hidden as the Grand Sima of Da'ei, so he is very concerned about military affairs.

He has thought a lot about how to streamline the garrison and does have some ideas.

"I believe that only one brigade of garrison troops can be left in the seven major provinces of Henan, Shandong, Huainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang."

"Fujian and Guangdong are adjacent to the South China Sea and are easily invaded by barbarians along the coast; Guizhou chieftains are powerful. These three provinces can retain two brigades of garrison troops."

"Among the border provinces, Shaanxi and Shanxi can retain three brigades of garrison troops; Sichuan and Yunnan are both vast and border provinces, so they need to retain four brigades of garrison troops."

"As for the southern and northern Zhili provinces, the seven brigades of garrison troops can be retained unchanged."

"In this way, we only need to retain 41 brigades with a total of 48 garrison troops."

"If it can be implemented, we will save at least 13 million yuan in military expenses a year!"

After hearing this, Liu Sheng nodded first, then frowned.

"As Li Qing said, it is indeed possible to save more than 10 million yuan in military expenses, but how to arrange the extra 300,000 soldiers and soldiers of the garrison?"

Li Banghua hesitated for a moment.

He felt that Liu Sheng knew how to arrange it and just wanted to use his mouth to tell it.

However, as a minister, you should take the blame for your superiors.

Thinking of this, Li Banghua gritted his teeth and said, "I will give him a severance package and let him return to work."

"Besides, there are still a lot of wastelands in the world. These retired garrison troops can be allocated some fields and become permanent property owners."

Those who have perseverance will not cause trouble or even rebel against the court.

Liu Sheng smiled after hearing this and said, "It's feasible."

But what he was thinking about was that these guard troops were basically veterans who had fought in the troubled times of the late Ming Dynasty. It would be a pity to just let them go to farm.

Perhaps some policies can be introduced to allow them to go to North America for military reclamation, or to Southeast Asia in the future.

Regarding this aspect, Liu Sheng only has a rough idea for the time being. If he wants to implement it, he needs to think carefully and wait for the opportunity...

The next day.

That is the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month.

After Liu Sheng convened the financial report of the Military Academy, he then convened the ministers of the Ministry of Finance to listen to Da'ei's annual financial report.

Although yesterday he approved Li Banghua's decision to streamline the garrison again, he still wants to retain a few more brigades of garrison if finances permit.

For example, Henan is the place where he started, and there are important places such as Tianmu Mountain and Ruyang. It is not an exaggeration to have one or two more brigades of guard troops.

Another example is Shandong and Zhejiang, which are both coastal provinces. They may also be attacked by barbarians and pirates. They only have one brigade of garrison troops stationed, so their strength is really weak.

While Liu Sheng was thinking, Qian Yunsheng stood up with a prepared document and began to report.

"Our current fiscal revenue is mainly divided into three major aspects: taxation, government-owned assets, and confiscation of plagiarism and suppression."

“Taxation is divided into four major areas: agricultural tax, commercial tax, customs duty, and miscellaneous tax.”

"Because Shaanxi and Yunnan were just pacified this year, agricultural taxes were actually collected in the sixteen provinces last year."

"The sum of summer taxes and autumn taxes totals 1856 yuan in silver."

Hearing this, Liu Sheng couldn't help but frown slightly.

Because compared with the agricultural tax in Wanli six years, this data is obviously far behind.

It should be noted that one tael of silver in the Wanli period was definitely worth more than one silver dollar in Da'ei at this time.

If we really compare, the difference between the two is probably more than five million taels.

But Liu Sheng was not surprised by this.

In the sixth year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty was still quite powerful, with Gansu, western Liaoning, and eastern Liaoning in its hands, and it enjoyed peace for several decades.

Da'ei's land area was not as large as that of Ming Dynasty at that time, and its population also dropped sharply by tens of millions after the war in the late Ming Dynasty.

In addition, natural disasters were not as frequent in the early years of Wanli as they are now.

It can be said that the large amount of agricultural tax revenue this year is the result of Daye's officials' effective governance and active promotion of new high-yielding crops such as corn and sweet potatoes.

Otherwise, agricultural tax revenue will be even less.

Of course, another major reason for low agricultural taxes is that the land has not yet been cleared, and the tax exemption rights of privileged classes such as the gentry have not been completely abolished...
Qian Yunsheng then talked about commercial tax income.

“Currently, the main commercial taxes in Da’ei are salt tax, tea tax, and mining tax. In addition, there are residence tax, deed tax, tooth tax, wine and vinegar tax, landing tax, door stall tax, and collapsed house tax...”

Dayei was founded only three years ago.

Until this year, the focus was still on conquering the world, and on government affairs, stability was the focus.

Even if Liu Sheng is determined to reform, he cannot achieve it overnight in more than two years.

Not to mention, he himself does not have a deep understanding of some important reforms and lacks relevant talents under his command.

If you change it according to your own assumptions, it is very likely that the relevant system will not be as good as before.

Therefore, although many changes have been made in the current fiscal and taxation aspects, a considerable part still continues the previous Ming system.

For example, customs duties were originally included in commercial taxes, but in Da'ei they were taken out separately and a department was established to manage them.

However, other aspects of commercial taxes, including salt tax, tea tax, mineral tax and other important items, are still collected according to the previous Ming system, and there has not been time to change it.

"This year, a total of 668 million taels of salt tax, 235 million taels of tea tax, and 316 million tael of mining tax were collected..."

When Qian Yunsheng reported all the business tax items for this year one by one, Liu Sheng couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

As far as he knows.

The highest salt tax in the Qing Dynasty was more than 3 million taels, and the lowest was only more than 1 million taels.

When Damei was just founded, the salt tax basically inherited the system of the previous Ming Dynasty without any major changes.

The main purpose is to remove restrictions on the status of kitchen households and improve the salary and benefits of kitchen households.

Then there is the official administration, which is clearer and clearer than before.

The last step is to promote the salt field sun-drying method.

Just like this, in just two or three years, Da'ei's salt tax revenue exceeded twice what it was during the peak period of the previous Ming Dynasty!
Logically speaking, Liu Sheng should be happy.

But he looked obviously unhappy now.

Because he knew that in later history, the Qing Dynasty's salt tax was once as high as more than 40 million taels of silver!

Da'ei's current salt tax revenue is nothing compared to the Qing Dynasty.

It is true that the high income from the salt tax in the Qing Dynasty also made it difficult for people to eat salt and increased the burden on people's daily lives, which was not entirely desirable.

But comparing the salt tax in the Ming Dynasty, we know that salt merchants and private salt dealers must have eroded a large amount of the national salt tax.

In other words, there is still a lot of room for improvement in Da'ei's salt tax and even the entire salt industry.

'Salt merchant? '

"Two years before the founding of Da'ei, the country focused on military affairs and internal affairs on stability, so I pretended not to have seen this group of people. '

'Now that the world is basically at peace, Da'ei's rule over various places is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and becomes more and more stable. '

'It's time to investigate this group of people, kill those who should be killed, and confiscate the homes of those who should be, so as to rectify the Damei Salt Industry. '

'Well, let them have another New Year. '

While Liu Sheng was thinking about rectifying the salt industry and rectifying unscrupulous salt merchants, Qian Yunsheng had already reported all annual income from commercial taxes.

He paused and said, "To sum up, our total commercial tax revenue this year is 2188 yuan!"

When all the finance ministers in the Wenhua Hall heard this, they were obviously in high spirits.

Some even had their cheeks flushed with excitement.

Because this commercial tax revenue is really extremely high in their opinion.

Taking the sixth year of Wanli as an example, the commercial tax including customs duties was only 223.8 million taels.

Even if customs duties are not included, the commercial tax in Dayei is nearly ten times that of the Wanli six years of the previous Ming Dynasty!
This naturally makes the finance ministers feel proud.

However, when someone looked at Liu Sheng, they found that Liu Sheng did not look happy at all, and even his eyes gave off a cold feeling.

Could it be.

Your Majesty is not satisfied with this year's commercial tax revenue? (End of chapter)