Among the three cabinet elders, Jiang Shang, the first assistant of the cabinet, is responsible for overseeing the overall situation, which is equivalent to the prime minister and the minister of state; The second assistant Kou Zhun mainly supervised the court, and the second assistant Yan Song focused on the local area.

The three of them cooperate with each other to make the huge state machine of Great Xia run smoothly. Ouyang Shuo, the sovereign, is high above the cabinet and controls the entire court situation remotely.

…………

On the afternoon of the 22nd, the Qinzheng Palace.

Jiang Shang, Kou Zhun and Yan Song, the three elders, Xiao He, Wei Ying, Fan Li and Du Ruhui, the four ministers in charge of the court, gathered together to finalize the annual budget of Gaia for five years in the Great Xia Dynasty.

Also present at the meeting were the director of the industry, Chan Bingguang, and the chief official of Sihai Money, Meng Zhida.

Since the founding of the dynasty, the financial revenue and expenditure management of the Great Xia Dynasty has become more and more formal. At the end of the year, the amount of funds left in the imperial court's finances, what major expenditures will be made next year, and how much fiscal revenue is expected to be made, must be finalized one by one before the year, and the finances can no longer be arbitrarily disposed of as before.

At the end of the year, it is necessary to account for the financial budget formulated at the beginning of the year to clarify responsibilities.

Whoever overspends will have to be beaten.

"Let's get started!"

Ouyang Shuo sat on the throne and said lightly.

Since ascending the throne, Ouyang Shuo has rarely taken care of the territory planning as he did when he was a lord, carefully planning everything, and letting the ministers implement it.

By now, Ouyang Shuo only had an overview of the overall situation, and he had indeed said less and less.

There is no need for him to say a lot of things, and his own courtiers understand the intention and handle it according to the rules. Second, Ouyang Shuo is now the emperor, and he is naturally cautious because a casual word may affect the fate of thousands of people.

Seeing this, Jiang Shang came out and said: "Lord Fan, the Finance Yuan will first report last year's expenditure to the king, and then discuss next year's expenditure." ”

"No!"

Fan Li followed the column and reported: "Lai Wang Shanghongfu, the imperial court's annual fiscal revenue last year reached 65 million gold coins, mainly taxes and group income, including 51 million gold coins in taxes and 8.5 million gold coins in group income. ”

The group's income includes not only the financial income of Sihai Qianzhuang, but also the profits of enterprises such as Shushan Iron and Steel Group and Huaxia Shipping Group.

A few days ago, under the leadership of Ouyang Shuo, the Industrial Department integrated artillery, warships, weapons and armor, mimic aircraft, muskets and other military factories after [Shushan Iron and Steel Group], and jointly established [Canglong Military Industry Group], which became the largest and most profitable group in the dynasty.

The group restructuring of the Great Xia Dynasty was in full swing, and it gradually became the economic pillar of the imperial court.

"The annual fiscal expenditure is 61 million gold coins, including 21 million gold coins for public utilities, 18.5 million gold coins for military expenditure, 12 million gold coins for administrative expenditure, 5 million gold coins for subsidy expenditures, and 4.5 million gold coins for other expenditures."

Expenditure on public utilities, including basic welfare, education, medical care, infrastructure construction, agriculture, forestry and water, etc., accounts for the majority of fiscal expenditure.

One of the other expenditures is more special, and that is the royal expenditure.

The maintenance costs of the summer palace, the salaries and expenses of female officials and palace maids, and the daily expenses of royal family members such as Ouyang Shuo, Song Jia, and Bing'er, etc., all have a complete account book, with a fixed amount, rather than being squandered at will.

Including the royal family's expenditures means that Ouyang Shuo is not ready to set up a private treasury outside the national treasury.

The royal private treasury and the state treasury were separated, and the treasury revenue was generally agricultural and commercial taxes, and the royal private treasury was generally monopoly industrial taxes such as silk, tea, salt, and iron.

In contrast, Great Xia had long since liberalized its monopoly on silk, tea, and salt. With the signing of an iron ore import agreement with Australia, the regulation of iron ore is gradually being relaxed.

There is no way to talk about these property taxes.

The royal private treasury has to support the emperor's relatives and relatives, and it is necessary to repair the palace, etc., and there is generally a surplus, and when the treasury is insufficient, it must be taken out to enrich the treasury.

Of course, there are times when it is not enough.

Especially in the middle and late stages of the dynasty, the imperial family has a huge lineup, tens of thousands, and they are like a group of moths corroding the foundation of the dynasty.

Every major renovation of the palace also costs a huge amount of silver.

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a fire in the palace, and just to complete the renovation of the palace, it cost seven million taels of silver, accounting for a small half of the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

The state treasury is generally used to distribute money, build roads, build bridges, repair water conservancy, etc., and provide disaster relief in disaster years. Of course, there were also extravagant emperors who transferred money from the treasury to private treasury for personal pleasure.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, this evil trend prevailed, and the emperor was arrogant and lascivious, conniving at the eunuchs who used the emperor's banner to collect wealth everywhere, exploit the people, and embezzle the treasury silver.

Some emperors even colluded with corrupt officials and corrupt officials, divided the stolen money, or directly took the stolen money as their own by raiding their homes.

So fattened the royal family, suffered the people, and broke the foundation of the dynasty,

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo must put an end to this drawback from the beginning.

In addition to the expenses allocated by the budget of the Treasury of the Royal Family, there are actually other sources of income.

First, when Ouyang Shuo went out on an expedition, some of the seized gold, silver and jewelry would be distributed to the inner treasury. Second, Song Jia's [Mountain and Sea Entertainment Holding Group] can generate considerable profits every year.

With these two incomes, and only three members of the royal family, Ouyang Shuo naturally does not need to embezzle the treasury. What's more, Ouyang Shuo has always advocated the frugality of the royal family, and he will never be extravagant and wasteful except for necessary occasions.

As the saying goes: upward and downward effect.

The royal family headed by Ouyang Shuo advocated frugality, and the princes and nobles naturally did not dare to be too extravagant.

……

The income and expenditure were offset, and after a year, the imperial court only saved 4 million gold coins.

Of course, in the eyes of the outside world, Great Xia has millions of troops, and it is already a very remarkable achievement to launch three or four major wars within a year, and to achieve financial surpluses.

More than half of the world's territories have long been unable to make ends meet, and they can only maintain their operations by increasing taxes and issuing government bonds.

After the fifth system update, a slower construction speed, a more realistic disaster system, smarter people, and more fierce global competition will make it even more difficult for these territories to survive in Gaia for five years.

One is not good, and it may even annoy the nest.

[Yanhuang League] has lost several battles in succession, and the foundation is about to be wiped out, but fortunately, with the opening of the [Yanhuang League] and the North American ocean route, with their business talent, they can still come back to life soon.

The four million gold coins that Emperor Chen spent at the auction before were estimated to be out of the family's pocket, and with the financial situation of Handan City, it was impossible to get this money.

After talking about last year's income and expenditure, Fan Li continued: "According to the analysis of the Finance Institute, Gaia has four major advantages in five years. First, the integration of the four new provinces can greatly increase the tax revenue of the imperial court. Second, [Canglong Military Industry Group] and other groups have gradually moved on the right track through internal integration, and will contribute more considerable profits. ”

Third, industrialization is beginning to emerge, and the production efficiency of private workshops has been greatly improved, which in turn stimulates the growth of commercial taxes. Fourth, the implementation of the Trans-Mediterranean Trade Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) will further stimulate ocean trade and increase tariffs. ”

"Based on the above benefits, the Finance Institute preliminarily estimates that next year's fiscal revenue will reach a new level, which is expected to reach 95 million gold coins, and even exceed 100 million, achieving a growth of more than 46%."

Ouyang Shuo listened to it and was noncommittal, the growth rate of 46% seemed amazing, but it was based on the continuous expansion of the dynasty, not the endogenous growth momentum, and it was difficult to last.

Thinking of the several major battles in Gaia in five years, the imperial court's finances will not be so easy.

Seeing this, Jiang Shang's eyes narrowed slightly, and said: "Although the calculation of the Finance Yuan is very optimistic, next year's expenditure will also go to a higher level. ”

The king's every move was naturally under the attention of the cabinet chief.

After Jiang Shang finished speaking, Xiao He, the Minister of Administration, was the first to come out.

In addition to the basic welfare expenditure under the jurisdiction of the Civic Affairs Bureau, most of the remaining public expenditure is led by the Executive Yuan, plus the administrative expenditure that accounts for the majority, the Executive Yuan accounts for the largest proportion of the fiscal expenditure of the four major courtyards, even exceeding the Privy Council, which spends money like water.

On the bright side, the Executive Yuan has no direct financial contribution.

In this way, it is not difficult to understand what kind of pressure Xiao He is under, but it should be said, "Next year, the Science, Education, Culture and Health Department will promote basic education and basic medical care in the four major provinces, the Agriculture Department will dredge water conservancy, the Construction Department will expand the road network, and public expenditure is expected to increase by another 4 million gold coins on the basis of this year." ”

Ouyang Shuo asked: "The public construction situation of the four major provinces, can the Executive Yuan send someone down to find out?" ”

"Yes. On the whole, the foundation of the four major provinces is still relatively good, but because they were not subordinate to each other before, they were not systematic, and unified planning was needed, and some of the construction standards should also be in line with the imperial court. ”

"Tell Jia Siqian that before the beginning of spring, seize the time to organize the people to dredge water conservancy, and reclaim as much farmland as possible in the counties and counties where conditions permit, and don't let the land go waste."

"No!" Xiao He hurriedly responded.

I am afraid that the things entrusted by the king himself have other profound meanings, and I can't pay too much attention to them.

Ouyang Shuo, however, thought of Gaia's updated "natural disaster system" and asked the Agriculture Department to prepare early.

With the acceleration of dynastic industrialization, the prosperity of commerce, and the increasing number of people engaged in handicrafts, this created a very serious problem, and the population engaged in agricultural production was weakened.

With the relatively backward farming technology of ancient times, if we want to ensure sufficient food supply, we must have a corresponding amount of farmland, and even more so, there must be enough farmers to cultivate it.

Without the assistance of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and hybrid rice, agriculture cannot produce any miracles at all, and a large number of peasants can only be invested in farming to greatly increase the yield per mu.

Therefore, in the three major sectors of agriculture, commerce and industry, there must be a holistic consideration.