Hearing the generals from the army laughing, the people from the navy were not convinced!
"Is it possible that the five-year plan will provide money in the first year and not use the money in the second year?" After saying that, he still looked contemptuous: "Do you think everyone is like your army, who just recruits some idiots when expanding the army?
Just keep it going for a few months!”
"Who do you think has a weak leg?"
"I'm talking about your army!"
"You navy thugs, how dare you insult our army officers, just look at the punches..."
"How dare you take action? Let me see if I don't beat you to death!"
Liu Bagou watched an army general and a navy admiral start a struggle in the conference room, but he didn't show any emotion at all.
This kind of scuffle is an inevitable part of the budget meeting every year. The only difference is that people from different departments are fighting each other.
It is normal for people from the army and navy to fight. Nowadays, it is just a scuffle. Mainly more than ten years ago, it was all done directly with knives and guns.
In fact, the other civil servants are not much better. On weekdays, all of them are ministers, ministers on duty in the royal study room or ministers on duty. However, at budget meetings, basically no one cares about their dignity.
Yes, you can earn it if you can, and you can earn it if you can't.
how to say!
Because the budget meeting of the Tang Empire was not a top-secret meeting, ordinary mid-level officials outside could also know a little bit about what happened inside.
For example, a certain minister got into a fight with someone, someone was injured while fighting for funds, or someone slapped the table to defeat the crowd.
And many middle and low-level officials also know that the bulk of the budget has basically been determined, and the budget space that can be competed by many people is still relatively limited, but even within this limited space, it would be good to have an extra percentage point.
Yes.
Because the Tang Empire's fiscal expenditure budget for the 22nd year of Xuanping's reign reached a total of 190 million yuan, which at any given percentage would be nearly 1.9 million yuan.
But in order to increase the proportion and budget, it depends on the ability of each department, especially the ability of the leaders of each department. No matter what method you use, as long as you can get the funds, then you are good.
of.
In fact, in this case, the ministers of various ministries quarreled, slapped the table or even fought, and most of the time they did it for outsiders to see, especially for their subordinates.
Regardless of whether the funds are finally received, you must let the officials or generals below know that you have worked hard and fought hard. In the end, the lack of funds is not because you did not work hard, but because the enemy is too dangerous.
How should I put it? In fact, what the people below value is not the actual results, but your attitude.
Of course, if you have a good attitude and can get funding, that would be even better.
Especially in today's era of economic explosion and taxation explosion, even if we strive for one percentage point more funding, it is still a huge number.
After all, the fiscal expenditure budget for next year is a full 190 million. In the 20th year of Xuanping, this number was only 150 million. This year, which is the 21st year of Xuanping,
But it turned into 175 million.
The reason why the fiscal expenditure budget has been increased by 50 million in just two years is naturally because fiscal revenue has also increased by so much.
The fundamental reason for all this is that the empire's economy has experienced explosive development in recent years.
On the one hand, the construction of water conservancy facilities across the country has been basically completed. These water conservancy facilities have not only prevented large-scale famine, but also allowed grain production across the country to steadily increase.
At the same time, due to the needs of industrial and commercial development, cash crops such as cotton and mulberry trees are commonly planted in some areas in the country. At the same time, the northern region has also begun to develop animal husbandry to meet the huge demand for wool in the domestic textile industry and to meet the domestic demand for horses and horses.
Requirements for common livestock.
The widespread development of typical primary industries such as agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, and fishery has led to a general increase in the tax revenue received by the empire in the primary industry.
Of course, the bulk of the development is in industry and commerce! Thanks to the widespread application of high-pressure steam engines in the past two years, it has brought about large-scale railway construction, large-scale ship construction, and a series of economic promotion effects, with manufacturing as the core
The secondary industry has developed even faster in the past two or three years than in the early days of unification.
For example, the textile industry is currently the field with the most private capital investment!
Thanks to the decline in transportation costs and manufacturing costs, the cost of cotton cloth has generally dropped, so that the price of cotton cloth appearing in retail terminals has dropped by at least 30%, and this decline has occurred in just three years.
achieved.
The price of cotton cloth continues to fall, which does not mean that the profits of textile companies have become less. On the contrary, the profits of textile companies have become more.
Because the price is lower, more people can afford to buy cotton cloth. People who originally bought a small amount of cotton cloth are buying more. At the same time, in foreign markets, the Tang Empire's cloth is also more competitive. Three years ago
, there are still a lot of homespun cloths surviving in various places in Nanyang, but after three years of continuous low-price dumping, there is basically no sign of large-scale homespun cloths. What appears on the market are all kinds of products from the Tang Empire.
cotton.
The cost is reduced, the selling price is reduced, and while the gross profit is maintained, the sales volume is larger, thereby obtaining more profits.
At the same time, as the scale of production increases, more costs can be shared equally, ultimately forming a virtuous cycle.
From the 18th year of Xuanping to the 21st of Xuanping, the cotton cloth output of the textile industry increased at least three times. All major textile companies are making every effort to expand production and try to seize more markets.
The primary and secondary industries are closely related to the tertiary industry, that is, the service industry, which has led to the rapid development of the service industry.
Finally, the above three industries complemented each other and finally resulted in the rapid growth of the empire's economy.
As the economy grows, tax revenue will naturally increase.
With this fiscal expenditure budget of 190 million, it is foreseeable that the funds received by each department will increase to a certain extent, but the amount of increase depends on the situation of each department.
For example, the Army's military expenditures. Based on the Army's current size and last year's Army military expenditures, this year's Army military expenditures will be guaranteed to be around 35 million, because last year, the Army's military expenditures reached 35 million.
, even if we maintain the same proportion of military spending this year as last year, it will exceed the figure of 35 million.
The Army's internal psychological bottom line for the total military expenditure next year is 38 million. It cannot be lower than this number. If it can reach about 40 million, that would be even better.
Although it is only an extra one or two million things, the extra one or two million is enough for the Army to do a lot of things. If you save some, you can even expand another division.
The fiscal expenditure budget meeting is still going on. As in previous years, Liu Balgou will be the chief minister of his cabinet and sit back and watch his colleagues quarrel. With his current status, Liu Balgou is no longer suitable to fight with his colleagues in person.
.
Especially last year, when Liu Bagou came to beg for his body, Li Xuan repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay, but in the end Liu Bagou insisted. In the end, Li Xuan only approved his resignation as Minister of Agriculture, but continued to retain his position as Jianji.
The title of Grand Master and the title of the Minister on Duty in the Imperial Study Room.
So today Liu Bagou continues to sit in the imperial study as the only current bachelor in the Tang Empire.
However, he rarely personally participates in any government affairs.
Liu Bagou has always been a person who understands propriety. He knows very clearly what should be done and what should not be done.
Liu Bagou didn't speak much at the budget expenditure meeting, as if he was an old monk in meditation. Even when people from the army and navy got into a scuffle, he couldn't even bat an eyelid.
Others have long been accustomed to Liu Bagou's attitude.
So those who deserve to be quarreled continue to quarrel, and those who deserve to be scolded continue to scold!
This group of people had been arguing for a long time. After all parties compromised and threatened, the final 60 million budget was divided up.
There is a budget of 190 million, and 130 million has already been spent. It is the most basic budget and cannot be touched. And what about the remaining 60 million budget? The Army in the military
As soon as they finished fighting with the Navy, they joined forces to put pressure on various cabinet departments. They even secretly supported the immigration plan of the Immigration and Reclamation Department through the military, gaining support from the Ministry of Agriculture in the cabinet, and finally succeeded in stealing a thousand dollars.
two millions.
Other departments divided up the remaining 48 million.
Don't think that the 12 million the military has stolen is less. You must know that before this, the military had already appropriated a total of 40 million in military expenditures!
Adding these twelve million to the total brings the total to fifty-two million.
After an internal quarrel between the Army and the Navy, the Army received 40 million and the Navy received 1,200.
The military has received enough military expenditures, and the civil servants in the cabinet also expressed satisfaction with this result, because even though the total military expenditures this year were more than last year, they once again succeeded in bringing down the military expenditure ratio by a hundred.
Less than twenty-eight points!
The ratio of 28% has almost become a red line that the cabinet and the military have been arguing over in recent years. The military has tried their best to bring the military expenditure ratio to more than 28%, while the cabinet
Just try every means to bring this ratio below 28%.
If we look at it purely in terms of proportion, the military has made concessions in this year’s budget allocation!
However, in order for the military to make concessions, the cabinet made compensation in other aspects, that is, it needed to invest massive funds in transportation construction, especially railway and ship construction.
In fact, the military cares more about transportation construction than the cabinet!
The Army wishes that the country had a railway network and high-level officials, and the Navy also wishes that all domestic merchant ships were steamships. In this way, it would be much easier for the Navy to recruit ships during wars, and it would also be able to better carry out its plans for the Americas.
.
The common interests in transportation construction are the key points for the military and the cabinet to make concessions to each other this year!
After the budget meeting ended and Li Xuan officially approved the fiscal expenditure budget for the 22nd year of Xuanping, the time also entered the 22nd year of Xuanping.
This year, a huge fleet of ships once again departed from Shanghai and prepared to go to Xinjinshan in the North American continent!
Different from the previous fleets heading to the Americas, this fleet is extremely large, with dozens of ships, and quite a few of them are steamers emitting thick smoke!
This fleet preparing to go to America is mainly composed of immigrant fleets organized by the Immigration and Reclamation Division of the Ministry of Agriculture. There are nearly twenty immigrant ships alone!
In addition, there are more than ten merchant ships. These merchant ships are the ships of the American Trading Company of the Tang Dynasty. They are loaded with various goods. In addition to various construction weapons and goods prepared to be transported to Honolulu Island and Xinjinshan, more
They were still preparing various goods to be shipped to America and Mexico for trade with the Spaniards.
There are still navy ships left!
The navy's ships are not only battleships, but also a large number of transport ships.
Among them are a 1,300-ton battleship, two 800-ton cruisers, and three frigates. In addition, there are four coal ships and three supply ships.
In addition to coal ships and supply ships, these warships are actually six warships filled with various supplies!
The above-mentioned immigration ships, merchant ships, and warships add up to a total of forty-three ships. The smallest one has a standard displacement of more than 400 tons, and the largest battleship has a standard displacement of more than 1,300 tons.
The standard tonnage of each ship in the entire fleet is added up, so that the total tonnage of the entire fleet reaches more than 23,000 tons!
Well, it is worth noting that almost every ship in the fleet is full and overloaded. Even the battleships, in addition to carrying supplies, also carry a considerable number of immigrants. To describe it in more practical terms: everywhere
It’s crowded!
This entire fleet carried a total of nearly tens of thousands of immigrants!
Such a large fleet, ready to sail across the ocean, has never appeared before even in the Tang Empire's overseas trade history of more than ten years!
Although in Li Xuan's opinion, this is only more than 20,000 tons, the tonnage of any cargo ship in future generations will be greater than that!
But in this era, more than 20,000 tons almost represent the top navigation force. Even the Spaniards or the Portuguese would find it difficult to organize such a large fleet during non-war periods.
This fleet is not only the largest fleet organized in the history of the Tang Dynasty, but also the immigration operation with the largest number of immigrants at one time. There are tens of thousands of immigrants in the fleet, about a thousand of whom will go to the Sandalwood Islands to enrich their lives.
local population, and carried out agricultural development and construction, building Sandalwood Island into a strategic transit supply station for the empire in the Pacific.
However, more people will continue to live in Xinjinshan in North America after taking a short rest in the Sandalwood Islands.
There were about 4,000 immigrants in the previous Honolulu Islands area, and about 2,000 immigrants in the Xinjinshan area.
If this trip is successful, the total number of immigrants from the Tang Empire on the Sandalwood Islands will exceed 5,000, and the number of immigrants in the Xinjinshan area will also reach more than 10,000!
And these populations will become the most solid foundation for the empire's expansion in the Americas!