Chapter 884: 880【Financial Deficit】

Yingmin Hall.

The ministers of the cabinet and ministries are gathered, and the imperial meeting is being held.

Song Yingxing, who is already 68 years old, is still in good spirits: "Counting the silver taels deported overseas, last year's national revenue exceeded 40 million taels of silver. But excluding local deposits and royal withdrawals, the annual net loss was 830,000 taels. For the first time since the founding of the country."

As soon as this remark came out, nearly half of the ministers felt inconceivable. Why did they spend 40 million yuan and pay off the fiscal deficit?

Song Yingxing then explained the reason:

"First, the establishment of the three capital guards in the north, the expansion of the army, the establishment of post stations, immigration, road construction, and city construction require a large amount of materials to be transported north..."

"The second is culture and education. There are more and more school-age children, and schools in various places are constantly expanding. Although local tax reserves have been increased, many provinces are still not enough to spend, and the central court needs to allocate money..."

"Third, overseas development. The number of overseas territories is increasing day by day. It is necessary to set up a governor, dispatch officials, and deploy troops to garrison. Except for Luzon and Malacca, the rest of the overseas territories are still losing money, and Palembang is barely making ends meet..."

"Fourth, the conquest of Burma. The war has been prepared for several years. Temporary patrol inspectors, casting artillery, building fleets, and dispatching supplies...all of which cost money. From the beginning of preparations to the withdrawal of troops, it cost more than 3 million taels. Just at the beginning, those newly occupied lands still need to send officials, garrison troops to immigrate, lay official roads, build post stations, and build cities..."

To put it bluntly, education funds and expansion expenditures have swallowed up too much finance.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "Don't worry, gentlemen, the three major guards are newly opened, and everything has to be spent. Naturally, there will be a lot of expenses. Overseas territories, don't look at losing money now. Isn't Luzon a good example? If we develop for a few more years, the overseas territories can be profitable. As for the newly occupied land in the Southwest, it should be able to pay back its capital in 20 years, and it will be able to send money to the court after 20 years."

The dynasties of the past dynasties expanded their borders and expanded their territories. In addition to recovering the core territory, the border areas lost money most of the time.

Because you have to maintain the bureaucratic and military system, and you have to do a lot of infrastructure construction (post stations, post roads, cities). After the death of Zhu Di in the Ming Dynasty, the entire border was shrunk, mainly because it could not bear the financial pressure, and it had nothing to do with the military.

As for those overseas territories, why did the European colonists make money, but the Datong court lost money for several years?

First, China's colonial policy does not squeeze the indigenous people hard, which is quite embarrassing. They even keep opening schools, using the power of culture and education, trying to absorb and assimilate the local aborigines.

Second, the newly occupied colonies in Europe also had to lose money in the beginning. Take the Dutch occupation of Tainan as an example. Even though the aborigines were squeezed to death, they suffered a full six years of losses, and finally turned around with the help of the Han people (this so-called profit does not include the initial military and infrastructure expenditures).

"Your Majesty," Fei Chun put forward his suggestion, "Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Sichuan provinces have a large surplus in tax revenue every year. I feel that some of the tax revenue should be deducted from the savings to help the poor. provinces, we cannot all rely on the allocation of the central court.”

This is tantamount to letting the east support the west and the south support the north.

It's not a new thing, the Ming Dynasty often did this, but it was very random and did not really form a system.

In the Qing Dynasty in history, this model formed a system.

The Qing Dynasty's finances were highly centralized, even without distinction between the central and local governments, so the annual revenue was very high.

For all the taxes in the Qing Dynasty, what the prefectures and counties could keep was not even enough for their own expenses, and the chief secretary collected the money and food in the province. The provinces reported the situation to the central government, and the central government asked the emperor to make a decision to allocate the finances of the provinces. Some of them stay in the province (retention), and some are deported outside the province (shipment). The money and food shipped to the central government are called Jingjiao, and those that support other provinces are called Xiejiao.

In this way, it can ensure that the Qing government has money, and the provincial government offices also have money. However, the prefectures and counties are so poor that if the local officials don't exploit the people, let alone how much they are greedy, they will even have a shortfall in normal expenditure.

This forced the state and county officials to levy exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes crazily, and peeled off the skin of the common people layer by layer.

In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, almost all the state and county positions with the most lucrative oil and water were in Sichuan. Because the regular taxes in other provinces are too heavy, state and county officials can't take much away. However, because Sichuan was killed in the late Ming Dynasty, it used low tax policies to encourage immigrants, but it has not been adjusted. As a result, the people in Sichuan are relatively wealthy, and they can save up their energy to search the dead, and make exorbitant taxes several times, even ten times, dozens of times the regular tax!

When the people of Sichuan immigrated, they had to form a group to fight against wild animals and natural disasters. Later, they had to work together to deal with corrupt officials and warlords. During more than two hundred years of struggle, the Gelaohui, the largest social organization in the world, was formed. In the Republic of China, 70% of the people in Sichuan were Paoge, and even the big girls and daughter-in-laws in the countryside were very likely to be members of the Gelaohui.

The current finances of the Datong New Dynasty are directly handed over to the central government in proportion, and at the same time remain in the local government in proportion. As a result, the rich provinces have a large surplus, but the poor provinces cannot make ends meet, and the central government has to continue to invest money to relieve the poor provinces.

"Who is against this idea?" Zhao Han asked.

No one spoke.

Many cabinet and ministry officials are from these six provinces. But they dare not fight for the interests of their hometown, because if one is not good, it is easy to self-defeating.

Daming's lessons learned from the past made everyone feel lingering fear.

It is said that there was a Jiangnan gentry group in the Ming Dynasty, and officials and businessmen colluded with left and right policies to entrap the people in the north and make Jiangnan pay less tax. But the real situation is that the taxes in Jiangnan are the heaviest, and the direct cause of Zhang Juzheng's reform is that the people in Jiangnan can't afford it.

If these officials dare to talk nonsense, what if the emperor is forced to collect heavy taxes in the south again?

Zhao Han glanced at all the ministers: "Since there is no objection, then you all go down and discuss how much you should take from the tax reserves of these six provinces every year."

"Yes!" Song Yingxing led the order on behalf of the ministers.

After this matter was over, Lu Xiangsheng cupped his hands suddenly and said: "Your Majesty, except for Liaodong, I suggest that there should be no more wars in the borders of the north and south for five years. Even if we do, we can't fight big ones."

"I know." Zhao Han expressed his understanding.

In the past few years, the expansion has been too rapid. Not only has military expenditure and related investment surged, but the newly occupied land has not been stabilized. Now that the land is being expanded in the southwest, the follow-up financial pressure will be extremely high, and various hidden dangers will have to be gradually erased.

Only Liaodong still had to fight, because the remnants of the Manchu Qing still entrenched there with Ninggu Pagoda as the center. Hu Dinggui was busy with increasing the population of Jianzhou, reclaiming wasteland, and building post stations, but he couldn't spare his hands. In the next year or two, he would plan to recover Ninggu Pagoda.

Except for not setting up military households and military settlements, and not allowing the prince to guard the border, Zhao Han's idea of ​​expansion is similar to that of Zhu Yuanzhang.

It is to relocate the army and people, enrich the population of the frontier, lay a firm foundation, and push it out step by step.

The border strategy of the Ming Dynasty failed, and the military household system and the prince's defense of the border had to be blamed.

The prince guarding the frontier triggered the battle of Jingnan. After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he had to wipe Zhu Yuanzhang's ass and get all the princes on the frontier back. In addition, the battle of Jingnan took away the frontier army. After such a toss, the court was short of money, food and soldiers, and the Horqin Grassland was directly sent to Duoyan Sanwei. The military household guard system also gradually decayed in Zhu Di's later years, and many frontier guards could no longer be self-sufficient. The finances are ruined!

Zhao Han learned from the good policies of the Ming Dynasty with an open mind. Zhao Han cautiously bypassed the pit stepped on by the Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Han said: "North Sandu Protectorate, as well as Pingnan Army and Civil Division, will definitely not be able to fight again in the short term. But the Annan Ruan clan, and the Tartars of Ninggu Pagoda, must be wiped out within three years! , the King of Korea is getting more and more rude, and he must send an envoy to admonish him!"

King Lee Ho of Joseon was like a grandson at first, and even sent his younger sister, who was less than ten years old, to Nanjing.

It hasn't been many years, Li Hao actually cheered up.

One is that without external pressure, North Korea ushered in a ten-year period of peaceful development.

The second is that North Korea's reforms have been very successful, the treasury has been filled day by day, and the army has also been trained. Historically, Li Hao's idea was even more powerful, because he had money in his hand, clamoring to expand the army by 100,000, and wanted to fight Shunzhi.

Although it was not so outrageous at this time, Li Hao, who had soldiers and money, sent envoys to Nanjing many times to ask China to return the territory of Baozhou.

Baozhou is south of the Yalu River, across the river from Dandong.

In order to prevent the Manchus from going south, North Korea agreed to temporarily lend it to the Datong Army for garrison, but how could Zhao Han spit it out? Many years later, China has sent officials to set up Baoxian directly in Baozhou, and there are tens of thousands of Korean people under the rule.

Seeing that Baozhou is becoming more and more prosperous, Li Hao couldn't help it anyway. He condemned envoys every year to ask for its return, and occasionally kidnapped the Korean border people, so he almost didn't directly mobilize troops.

These abnormal actions have long attracted the attention of Nanjing.

Zhao Han sent a spy two years ago to inquire, and obtained information easily. North Korea really played too much.

Hanyang (Seoul)'s imperial guards expanded from one guard to three guards, and its strength has reached 21,000. The royal court's forbidden army expanded from 600 to 1,500, half of which were cavalry. In addition, a new firearms battalion was established, with a total of 1,800 firearms and artillery soldiers.

These are only the capital troops in North Korea, and the local troops are also increasing. What exactly does Li Hao want to do?

Since last year, Zhao Han has been forced to make adjustments, increasing the number of Datong troops stationed in Baozhou to 1,000. At the same time, on the original city wall, a bastion structure was built at the four corners to prevent the Korean king from having a seizure at any time.

It is impossible to fight, and China will not take the initiative to attack.

North Korea, which is as big as a palm, has been ravaged by the Manchus and Japan for decades, with a sharp drop in population and poor livelihood. Even if the reform is successful, how much money can you save? Such crazy military expansion is difficult to sustain for a long time. Either the finances will be dragged down, or the treatment of the army will be reduced.

As long as China spends a few years quietly, North Korea's reform dividends will all be buried in the army.

In addition, Jin Yu, who presided over the reform, this "North Korean Jang Juzheng" is 75 years old. Although the successful implementation of "spread into the mu" in North Korea has also allowed Chinese currency to be popularized in North Korea, and North Korean gentry are secretly accumulating power. Once Jin Yu died, the North Korean gentry would counterattack, and the achievements of reform would be in vain.

Slowly delaying time, Zhao Han has already killed Huang Taiji and Dorgon, the most capable governor of Batavia, and King Thalong, the hero of Burma. Gushi Khan, who was entrenched in Qinghai and Tibet, was about to be boiled to death, not to mention a mere Jinyu.

Boil the enemy heroes to death before making military plans, which is the most cost-effective and trouble-free.

If King Long was still alive, Zhao Han would never send troops to Burma, because the difficulty would increase exponentially.

Gushi Khan is alive, Zhao Han will not send troops to Qinghai and Tibet. Whenever the old man died, Zhao Han would do it.

After all the officials dispersed, Zhao Han said, "Call the envoys from each country in turn."