Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Xu Jingcheng asked curiously: "What can you do? I heard that you collect money from foreigners at Yingkou Port. Do you want to use this money to build a navy?"

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "Actually, the construction of our navy can make money, and many people have not seen this."

Xu Jingcheng asked: "Can naval construction still make money? How to make money?"

Before Lin Yuan could speak, a person ran in from outside and said, "Master Xu, it's not good, the candidates outside are preparing to jointly sign a letter against the construction of the navy!"

Xu Jingcheng couldn't help showing panic when he heard this, and said: "Master Lin, I have to go and see. Tomorrow, the Holy Majesty will summon me and Mr. Weng Tonghe in the South Study Room to discuss the matter of the navy. Mr. Lin should go too. Persuade the Holy One."

After Xu Jingcheng finished speaking, he ran out in a hurry. Lin Yuan came to the palace and handed in Li Hongzhang's memorial. The next day, Lin Yuan came to the palace. As soon as he arrived at the South Study Room, the little eunuch at the door greeted him , said: "Greetings to Master Lin, why did Master Lin come alone?"

Lin Yuan never showed any pomp when he went out, that's why the little eunuch asked this question, Lin Yuan smiled and said, "It's okay, I'm used to it, are Master Weng and Master Xu here?"

The little eunuch smiled and said, "I've been here for a while, and I'm talking inside right now, Master Lin, if you want to go in, I'll let you know."

Lin Yuan said: "There's no need to report, I'll go up and listen to what they said." After Lin Yuan finished speaking, he stuffed a small piece of broken silver into the little eunuch's hand.

Lin Yuan approached the door, and heard Weng Tonghe laughingly said: "Master Xu, the Holy Majesty just received a joint letter from Juren today. Everyone said that building a navy is a waste of money. It seems that His Majesty does not plan to build a navy anymore."

Xu Jingcheng said: "Yesterday I met Mr. Lin. Mr. Lin said that building a navy can make money, so after building a navy, the household department will not have to worry about money."

Weng Tonghe said with a smile: "Master Lin must be joking with you. I already accounted for you yesterday. The construction of the navy costs thousands of dollars a day. How could Master Lin say that the construction of the navy can make money?"

Xu Jingcheng said: "Master Lin has the ability to comprehend the world, so what he said must have his reasons."

Weng Tonghe laughed and said, "Jing Tianwei and Di Di? It's hard to live up to the reputation!" Then the two of them chatted up some gossip, and Lin Yuan saw that there was nothing to listen to, so he said softly to the little eunuch, "You report it."

The little eunuch shouted at the top of his voice: "Master Lin Yuan, governor of the three provinces in Northeast China, is here!" Then he stretched out his hand and opened the door for Lin Yuan, and Weng Tonghe and Xu Jingcheng who were inside quickly got up to greet them. After a while, the eunuch shouted : "The emperor is here."

Before the words were finished, Emperor Guangxu rushed into the room, and he didn't care about the etiquette, and said directly: "Let's talk about things." As he spoke, he took a long memorial from the hand of the little eunuch next to him , Said: "This is the letter I received from Juren yesterday, saying that building a navy is a waste of money and people, and the gain outweighs the loss!"

After Emperor Guangxu finished speaking, he took out another memorial, glanced at Lin Yuan, and said, "This is the memorial that Lin Aiqing handed over to me, and it was also given to me by Li Aiqing when she was dying. The higher-ups urged the building of a navy." Li Hongzhang had passed away, and everyone felt sad for a while.

After a long while, Xu Jingcheng raised his head to look at Lin Yuan, thinking: "Didn't you say that naval construction can make money? Why are you silent at this time?"

Lin Yuan took a look at Xu Jingcheng, and then said: "Actually, building a navy can make money. Those people can't see this, so they jointly signed such a document."

Weng Tonghe asked with a smile: "If we want to build a fleet of ten warships, we will have to spend nearly 2000 million taels of silver just to buy warships, weapons and ammunition, and our fiscal revenue for one year in the Qing Dynasty is only More than 8000 million taels, how can we make money?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "If we buy warships from abroad, of course we can't make any money. What if we build warships ourselves?"

After hearing this, Xu Jingcheng couldn't help laughing, and said disappointedly: "Master Lin, this is the way you said to build a navy to make money! No, the battleship is too complicated, we can't build it."

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "What's so complicated about warships? I can tell you clearly that we can definitely build warships, and they are better than those made by the British and Germans!"

Weng Tonghe nodded and said, "Well, even if you can build the warship, what then? How do you make money? Could it be that you want to sell the warship to foreigners?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Your Excellency has been in charge of the household department for many years, so you should know where the household department's money comes from?"

Weng Tonghe said with a smile: "Of course I know that the annual income of the Qing treasury is mostly in land, lijin, and foreign taxes. These three items together account for more than [-]% of the annual income. In addition, there is also salt tax. Tariffs, etc. are also big items, which can account for about [-]%, and the rest of the items such as food discounts and consumption are too small to be worth mentioning."

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "Has Mr. Weng thought about the nature of these incomes?"

Weng Tonghe asked: "Essence? What essence can these incomes have?"

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "Land tax is land tax and population tax. The source of tax collection is land and agriculture; lijin did not exist in the early Qing Dynasty. It was established when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rebelled. The commercial tax collected; the foreign tax is also a commercial tax, but it is collected from Chinese and foreign merchants at the customs port; the salt tax is a tax levied on the production and sale of salt, don’t you see the common nature of these taxes?”

Weng Tonghe shook his head blankly, looked at Lin Yuan, and Lin Yuan went on to say: "If the country only has land, but no farmers to cultivate it, then how can we collect land tax? If no one trades in the port, how can we What about a commercial tax? How to collect a tax on salt if no one produces and sells it? So the essence of all income is—”

When Lin Yuan said this, he stared closely at Weng Tonghe, and said: "The essence is that you have to make people have something to do. Only when people in the country have something to do can the country collect taxes and have money. People The more things you can do, the more income you will earn, I wonder if Master Weng understands that?"

Weng Tonghe nodded and said, "I understand somewhat, but what does this have to do with the navy?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Does Master Weng understand the navy?"

Weng Tonghe was born as a Confucian scholar. He has only been exposed to various documents and classics in his life. He knows nothing about science and technology, and it is impossible to understand the navy. Lin Yuan looked at him in a daze, and then said: "The navy needs a lot of things. , For example, to build a battleship, you need steel to build a battleship, where does the steel come from?"

"Steel comes from ore, and steelmaking and ironmaking require a lot of coal. These coal and ore are located in the deep mountains, and they need to be mined by people. When they are mined, people need to be transported to the steel factory. These people have to eat, dress and house. Surely someone will provide them with these things, so money will flow? At that time, there will be more places to collect taxes, and the country’s income will also increase.”

"So I said that building a navy can make money, and in the construction of warships, steel is only one of the small items, and there are more items such as wood, electricity, etc. that can generate income, do you understand?"