As soon as Su He walked to Lingyun Hall, he heard Li Zhisheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Su Wuniu, the Minister of the Ministry of Works, arguing fiercely.
"You must pay in cash, not even a copper coin is missing. Our Ministry of Industry has no possibility of credit."
Su Wuniu spoke firmly and refused Li Zhisheng's request for credit.
Nowadays, every government office is short of money. The products of the Ministry of Industry Management Company do not need to be sold, and cash is what matters.
Li Zhisheng spread his hands and said: "The Ministry of Revenue has no money now, and Commander Su told us that we must purchase this batch of materials.
When farmers pay taxes, our Ministry of Household Affairs will have enough money.
Our household department purchases large amounts, and Su Shilang directly gives us credit for two months. Why not?
The way you do business is such a disgrace to your character."
Su Wuniu did not give in and sternly refused: "We will never give in without the slightest possibility.
Commander Su wants you to purchase supplies. Since your household department has no money, go to Commander Su for money.
Our factories affiliated with the Ministry of Industry will never send out a single product without receiving full payment."
When Li Zhisheng heard this, he was also angered.
They are all colleagues. The current situation is difficult and all the yamen in the governor's office have no money.
Su Wuniu didn't even give in, he was so incompetent.
It's not that you won't pay, it's just that you'll give me a free note first.
Li Zhisheng threatened: "Shilang Su, if you still persist to the end, I will ask Commander Su to transfer the factories under the name of the Ministry of Works to the name of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Now even small workshops outside have established companies and pay taxes on time.
Private companies are managed by our household department.
The companies under the command of the Commander-in-Chief should not be managed by the Ministry of Industry, but should be managed by our Ministry of Accounts."
"How dare you!" Su Wuniu widened his eyes and said angrily: "If the factory is under the management of our Ministry of Industry for one day, you must pay first and then deliver the goods.
We will never ship the goods without seeing the money."
Su He knows what the two people are arguing about?
The main reason for their quarrel was that the governor's office was short of money.
Raising an army is expensive, and Suhe provides cheap primary education.
The tuition fee of one or two silver coins per year can only cover the teacher's salary and room and board expenses.
The cost of building a school must be paid in advance by the commander-in-chief.
Similar to building schools, we also build ancestral temples and rural health clinics.
Construct cement roads directly to every township and build reservoirs on major rivers.
These were built by mobilizing villagers through work-for-relief methods.
This allows villagers to earn a meager salary to support their families during their off-season farming time.
Most of the silver coins taken out by the governor's office were money obtained by the gentry from ransacking their homes.
Now, except for emergency funds that cannot be easily accessed, all liquid money has been spent.
Nowadays, officials mainly rely on commercial tax revenue to pay their salaries.
It's August now, and there are still two months left before the grain harvest.
According to a survey by the Tongcheng Office, many villagers still use stone or wooden agricultural tools.
The weather is changeable and the time to harvest food is very short.
If the farm tools are not handy, it will have a great impact on grain production.
Su He asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to purchase a batch of agricultural tools manufactured by steel plants and provide them to farmers for use through loans.
He also asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to purchase a batch of simple agricultural machinery.
Suhe has improved the treatment of craftsmen and granted them titles, which has achieved some results.
There are craftsmen in the steel factory who develop simple agricultural machinery.
The threshing machine was developed.
It can be used for threshing rice, wheat, sorghum, soybeans and other crops.
The rice mill was developed to make it easier to shell rice and wheat without having to pound the rice.
Rice pounding is now a form of punishment. The labor intensity of rice pounding is very high, the efficiency is very low, and the shelling effect is not good.
These extremely efficient and functional machines are not expensive.
Suhe plans to equip each township with several sets of agricultural machinery to improve the efficiency of grain processing.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development’s expenditure on purchasing agricultural tools and the budget for the fourth quarter of this year are currently in a huge financial gap.
When Li Zhisheng and Su Wuniu saw Su He approaching, they both stopped arguing and pretended to chat normally.
"I heard your argument just now.
The Account Department is short of money, so I asked the bank to give the last loan amount to the Account Department."
When Li Zhisheng heard about the bank loan, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Banks also need to pay a lot of interest when lending money to accounts.
But this is money owed by the Ministry of Household Affairs. You can just pay it back when you are rich.
It is only important if the household department has money.
If he has money, he can achieve the assessment goals, and his and his subordinates' official positions will be stable.
Su He walked into Lingyun Hall. Today's Lingyun Hall meeting mainly discussed financial issues.
He felt that Li Zhisheng and Su Wuniu had a big quarrel in front of Lingyun Palace, which also meant they wanted to cry out to everyone about their poverty.
As the two wealthiest yamen, they are also afraid that other yamen will compete for their interests.
Today's Lingyun Palace meeting was particularly long. They discussed the budgets of various yamen from morning to afternoon.
Even lunch was in Lingyun Hall, where we had some simple snacks.
Suhe cut most of the non-essential budget.
Most of the remaining budget is necessary hard expenses.
Cutting off these budgets will cause big trouble.
There are still two million taels of silver coins in the account of the household department.
This was the money saved by the governor's office from auctioning off the gentry's assets and confiscating their property.
Most of it has been spent, and the two million taels of silver coins cannot be touched.
It is the military expenditure used for the army to fight in Shu.
Su He thought about the revenue and expenditure issues of various yamen.
The Sanfa Department and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have almost no income, and they don't spend much money.
The Ministry of Industry is in charge of the large companies established by the government. They are not short of money, but they have not saved any money.
The Ministry of Industry used the money earned by the company to build a large number of cement roads, reservoirs and canals.
Anyone can walk on the cement road, and there are no tolls.
Farmers are not charged for reservoirs and canals, which is something the government must do.
The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education are big spenders and have almost no income.
The Ministry of Education spent money to build primary schools throughout the countryside.
Teachers' salaries and the cost of printing books are also extremely huge.
The number of teachers in the Ministry of Education is almost the same as the number of officials in other government agencies.
The Ministry of Education needs to pay a huge amount of expenses every month.
The expenditure of the Ministry of Health is mainly to establish health clinics in all townships.
Each health center needs to be equipped with at least one doctor and one nurse.
Now, the official title of the Tongcheng Mansion has officially changed the title for those with medical skills to doctors.
According to folk custom, people are still called daifu or doctor.
The health center treats villagers and charges only enough money for medicine.
The household revenue is not much, and most of the money spent is mainly used for people's livelihood.
Things that farmers borrow must be purchased in advance by the Ministry of Revenue, which requires a huge amount of funds.
Banks are now mainly responsible for currency exchange and transfers.
Due to credibility issues, personal deposit business has not been launched yet.
There are very few loans that banks can provide.
In charge of all yamen in the government, calculate the budget for the fourth quarter of this year.
The agricultural tax collected in the fourth quarter has been taken into account.
The book deficit was as high as 250,000 taels of silver coins.
What to do if you are short of money?
We can only increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
There is absolutely no way to cut off the traffic now, these are indispensable hard expenditures.
Every amount of money is carefully considered, and any money that should not be spent will never be spent.
Wu Donglin said in a low voice: "No, let's add some tax.
I read in "Hanzhong Weekly" that in some places in northern Shaanxi, officials in the Ming Dynasty collected tax revenue from Chongzhen for thirty years.
We don’t have to add thirty years to Chongzhen, and we will not have to worry about money anymore if we add one more year of tax.
We import grain without tax. I read in the newspaper that we import a large amount of grain every month.
If the tax exemption on food is cancelled, the tax money can easily meet the fiscal gap."
Su He slammed his hand on the table and said in a stern tone: "Raising taxes is absolutely not allowed.
Our current taxes are already very heavy for the people.
If taxes are added, many people will sell their sons and daughters.
Taxes must not be added.
The people's lives were too miserable and they couldn't make much money.
Taxes cannot be increased on grain imports. Wool comes from sheep. If taxes are raised on grains, grain prices will inevitably skyrocket.
The tax-free policy for importing grain and salt will not be shaken."
Now the tax burden on the people of the governor's office is very heavy, and no more taxes can be added.
Su Yan said confidently: "The tax bureau is now collecting taxes every month, which is increasing slightly.
Excluding the agricultural tax, our tax bureau will have about 50,000 taels of tax money in the fourth quarter."
Li Zhisheng suggested: "Commander Su, we still have a shortfall of 200,000 taels.
We can't raise taxes, we can't increase revenue, we can only try to reduce expenditures.
I discovered that the farm in Hanzhong raises a large number of chickens, ducks and pigs.
These animals need to eat a lot of food.
The reason why I rarely eat meat is because I know that meat is obtained in exchange for grain.
If you kill some of these beasts, you can still sell them for a lot of money."
Su He didn't expect that Li Zhisheng had been planning for a long time and actually targeted the chickens, ducks and big fat pigs raised on the farm.
"These animals cannot be moved. Whoever raises them now would be willing to feed them precious grains.
Chickens, ducks and pigs are fed mostly rice bran on the farm.
They mainly eat rice bran and wild vegetables.
I know that rice bran is still used as food in many places.
I have often eaten rice bran since I was a child. It can be said that I grew up eating rice bran.
But rice bran can only survive, it is really not delicious.
With grain available, who would want to eat rice bran?
The sweet potato harvest is about to be bumper, and we have also purchased a large amount of grain from Huguang.
Now the people under the rule are satisfied with having two meals a day, and there is still no problem.
It’s impossible for people not to eat meat.
Especially for the army, I require them to eat an egg every two days and one meal of pork every seven days.
Why are the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty now inferior to the army of the slaves?
In addition to the corruption of the army, the biggest reason was the lack of meat for the Ming army.
Nomads eat a lot of mutton and beef, which makes them stronger.
We don't have so much mutton and beef to eat, but eggs and pork must be satisfied.
There is no doubt about this. As long as it does not starve people to death, these chickens, ducks and pigs cannot be killed.
Another point is that every time there is a severe drought, there will be a locust plague.
I believe everyone has not forgotten the large-scale locust plague in Shaanxi last year.
Chickens and ducks are the natural enemies of locusts. They are very efficient in catching locusts and can effectively reduce the damage of locust plagues."
When Wang Zhongce heard the news, he was shocked and said: "Chickens and ducks still have this effect, why haven't they been promoted?"
Wang Wenjun, who had been silent until now, explained: "I think it is difficult to raise chickens and ducks on a large scale.
Our Ministry of Health has specially trained a group of veterinarians to prevent livestock from getting sick.
The results achieved are very good and a lot of experience has been accumulated.
To deal with large-scale locusts, we need large-scale chickens and ducks."
Su He confirmed: "It is indeed the case. Without veterinarians to control the development of the disease, large-scale chicken and duck breeding can easily lead to mass deaths."
He then looked at the many officials and said confidently: "Leave the matter of lack of money to me, so you don't have to think about cutting costs.
We have saved and saved, and there is nowhere to save.
Our officials are very honest and efficient.
Two million taels of silver coins were enough to launch a large-scale war.
In the Ming Dynasty, half of the two million taels of silver would be lost before leaving the capital.
Two million and twenty thousand silver were distributed to military households, but not even two hundred thousand taels.
We can only open source and leave the matter of making money to me.
After a while, I don’t think you will worry about money anymore.”
Su He directly took the lucrative job.
Raising taxes is the most time-saving and labor-saving solution, but it is completely unfeasible.
Su He's method was to sell industrial products, and he kept promoting industrialization.
In this era, industry is the most profitable industry.
How many goods are produced, how many goods can be digested by society.
During this time, Su He has been busy writing elementary school textbooks.
At present, only basic heavy industry has been established, and no profitable light industry has been established.
As long as he makes a few profitable industrial products, he can solve the current financial crisis of the governor's office.
Many officials heard that Su He took over the matter.
They all breathed a sigh of relief.
Having worked together for so long, they all know that Su He does not make promises easily.
Once Su He makes a promise, he will definitely fulfill it.
But they all had some doubts in their hearts. The gap of two hundred thousand taels of silver coins was really too big.
They couldn't think of anything else they could do to raise 200,000 taels of silver coins in a short time besides raising taxes.
"Before I implement the plan, there is a policy that needs to be discussed with everyone.
That's patent policy.
I found that there are many old masters who master the unique skills passed down from their ancestors.
But I am afraid that others will easily learn from me and my interests will be lost.
If there is no son to pass on, they would rather bring these skills to the coffin than give them to their apprentices."
Wang Zhongce agreed: "That's true. My father is a doctor who doesn't care about family differences. He teaches anyone who wants to learn medicine.
In the entire Hanzhong City, my father has been the only one born in these years.
It is the case that traditional craftsmen pass down their skills by cherishing their own brooms.
Many precious technologies in ancient times were lost in this way.
Not to mention craftsmen, we scholars are also like this.
Many single books collected by families are generally not lent to outsiders for viewing.
Human nature is like this, everyone wants their offspring to be more capable than others."
Su He also agreed with what Wang Zhongce said.
“When I proposed the patent policy, I took human nature into consideration.
When the benefits gained from disclosing technology are far greater than keeping the technology privately.
Everyone will carefully consider whether to make the technology public or not."
Su He and the officials present began to discuss patent policy.
Su He mainly talked about the patent policy he designed, and other officials made some additions based on the current situation.
They quickly reached an agreement.
Patents are divided into collective patents and individual patents.
Collective patents are mainly declared by companies and other institutions, and the benefits brought by the company's patent acquisition.
An individual patent is declared by an individual, and the applicant obtains benefits, and many people can share the benefits of a patent.
Applying for a patent for a technology is equivalent to making the technology public.
The patent protection period is fifty years, and you can apply for an extension of the protection period based on circumstances.
During the patent protection period, others must obtain authorization to use the patent.
If you use it without authorization, you will be punished with a fine of ten times the amount of the benefit obtained.
The Ministry of Revenue will confiscate 80% of the patent and 20% will be given to the patent beneficiary.
Li Zhisheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Zhang Dezhi, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, had been arguing for a long time about which yamen the patent application belonged to.
This is a revenue-generating yamen, and they all want to manage it themselves.
Su He believed that the company's declaration was filed with the Ministry of Household Affairs and the patent was handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
He asked Li Zhisheng to redeploy manpower and establish a Patent Department in the Ministry of Household Affairs.
It only takes one hundred pennies to apply for a patent.
For new patents, inventors are strictly reviewed.
For old patents, patents will be registered on a first-come, first-served basis.
If there is a dispute, let them go to Dali Temple to file a lawsuit.
After they finished the meeting, other officials left Lingyun Palace.
Su He asked his wife Wang Wenjun to apply for patents on all the family's prescriptions and publicize the benefits of patenting among doctors.
He also asked Lingyin to publicize the patent policy of the traditional government in detail and accurately in Hanzhong Weekly.
The newspaper found a few examples and publicized the benefits they obtained by applying for patents.
"Hanzhong Weekly" has made a series of special topics based on patent policies.
As the editor-in-chief of Hanzhong Newspaper, Lingyin has been observing and recording the meeting.
When Su He wrote textbooks, especially Chinese language books, he specifically focused on punctuation and vernacular grammar as the key content of the Chinese language.
Nowadays, the notices issued by the Tongcheng Mansion are written in traditional Chinese characters and in simplified Chinese.
Except for special content, the entire page of "Hanzhong Weekly" is written in simplified Chinese characters, with pinyin also marked on it.
It is convenient for officials and ordinary people who buy "Hanzhong Weekly" to learn simplified Chinese characters.
Nowadays, storytellers in major restaurants read newspapers to their guests.
The contents of "Hanzhong Weekly" will be read repeatedly and analyzed word for word.
…
Su He summoned a group of craftsmen and came to an empty factory.
In front of them was Huang Daopo's improved spinning machine.
It can spin three spindles at a time and is the most advanced spinning machine in the world.
It was not until more than a hundred years later that the Manchu Qing Dynasty vigorously strengthened its policy of corrupting Confucianism and obscuring the people.
China's technological development has stagnated, while in the West, technology has flourished due to great navigation.
It would be surpassed by the Jenny spinning machine invented by British workers.
Next to the spinning machine is the current mainstream loom.
If Suhe wants to make a lot of money, other than raising taxes, he can only develop industry.
The primary industry that can be developed now is heavy industry represented by metal smelting.
There is also light industry represented by the textile industry.
Su He only remembered the basic principles of the Jenny loom and the flying shuttle.
These two key technologies can enable the textile industry to get rid of the development of handicraft industry and officially enter the era of industrialization.
Ask Su He to imitate the spinning jenny and flying shuttle loom, but he has no such ability.
But these craftsmen in front of him are all the most outstanding craftsmen.
Some craftsmen have been manufacturing spinning machines and looms for more than 40 years.
Their understanding of spinning machines and looms is much better than that of Suhe.
In previous societies, craftsmen had no incentive to improve technology.
Even if they work hard to improve technology, they will not be accepted by the rest of society.
Once improvements are made, they are quickly copied and no benefits can be gained.
Confucianism also tried its best to suppress the technological progress of society.
The more static a society is, the more conducive it is to Confucian rule.
Su He looked at the craftsmen in front of him. Some of them were very old and had gray hair.
Some have young faces and have just become apprentices.
But on their faces, they all have the desire for titles and money.
Su He pointed to the spinning machine and loom and said:
"I'm here to give you a task today. Whoever can develop a textile machine and a flying shuttle loom that can spin more than ten spindles.
I will grant him the title of ninth-class lord and reward him with five hundred taels of silver coins.
There are many people making them, choose the machine that works best.
When the first qualified machine is manufactured, I will only wait three days before announcing the results.
A maximum of five people in each team can receive titles, and the bonus amount is five hundred taels of silver coins.
You can form your own team to build these two machines.
The Ministry of Industry will provide you with all help, and wages will be paid as normal when making machines."
When all the craftsmen heard this reward, their breathing became heavier.
Su He continued: "I have some suggestions for you.
Nowadays, the spindles of spinning machines are placed horizontally. If they are placed vertically, many spindles can be placed and more yarn can be produced.
Nowadays, two people are required to operate the shuttle of the loom.
If a chute is added, a pulley is added to the shuttle, and a spring is added so that it can reciprocate.
This should allow one person to weave cloth."
Su He explained the principles of the spinning jenny and the flying shuttle.
The rest depends on how the craftsmen combine their experience to develop new machines.
Su He went to the nearby factory to get soap out. This thing is simple to make and consumes a lot of money.
Glass is not produced now, otherwise glass and mirrors would solve the financial crisis.
…
Wei Dayong looked at his master Lu Fangyuan and saw that the spinning machine had not been adjusted yet.
This is already the eighth spinning machine they have produced.
These spinning machines all have twelve spindles, but their spinning effect is so poor that they simply cannot meet the requirements.
He said anxiously: "Master, you have to hurry up, the loom was made by Mr. Wu Erzhi the day before yesterday.
We only have one day left.
Wu Erzhi has been granted the title of ninth-level lord, and he has also received five hundred taels of silver coins.
His son took so much money to buy a rice mill directly from the factory and opened a grain processing factory.
If Wu Er hadn't pointed out that the uncle was too old, he could have married another wife.
Master, you are over thirty and have not yet married a wife.
If you don't take this opportunity to get a title, city girls, who will marry us scumbags?
Nowadays, the women in the villages near Hanzhong City have high standards.
We can only marry women from remote places."
Lu Fangyuan stretched out his hand and hit his apprentice on the head.
His apprentice is very smart in his work and very respectful to him.
The only drawback is that he is too loose-mouthed.
Wei Dayong touched his head and said aggrievedly: "Master, why did you hit me?
I asked you to find a few people to cooperate, but you refused, saying that you can do it yourself.
Now other teams are almost ready to get their machines ready.
If the machine runs correctly, they apply for verification.
Some teams did not develop spinning machines at the beginning. They developed silk reeling machines based on Su Tongling's ideas.
It can complete the spinning of multiple cocoons at one time, and the quality of the processed silk threads is very good.
The speed is five or six times that of the previous reeling machine, and it can also be driven by water power.
We are simply not good at this, so we can’t let it spin flax.”
Lu Fangyuan did not cooperate with other people, but these people did not allow him to bring his apprentice to join the team.
When he heard his apprentice say this, he was stunned for a moment, then suddenly stood up and hugged his apprentice.
"My good disciple, you are really the master's good disciple, you can wake up the dreamer with just one word.
We directly took the machine just now to verify it.
Commander Su needs all the machines for reeling silk.
We don't grow cotton here, but there is a lot of flax.
The spinning machine we make is a machine for spinning flax."
Lu Fangyuan and his apprentice Wei Dayong carried the machine to officials from the Ministry of Industry for preliminary verification.
