Chapter 767 The Tang Dynasty who borrowed money to live
The puzzled Qin Zhifu even wondered whether he was really lucky, or maybe he was really a talented and famous general. He didn't know it yet, but the Eternal Saint King knew about it and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility?
Qin Zhifu naturally didn't know that Li Xuan had his own reasons for doing this, and this reason was definitely not because of Qin Zhifu's ability, but because of the need for political propaganda.
Since Li Xuan, through the Tang Dynasty Newspaper, had promoted Qin Zhifu on a high level and molded Qin Zhifu into a fighter who abandoned the Ming Dynasty and joined the Tang Dynasty and fought against the Ming Dynasty, he had to follow suit in other aspects.
Military ranks and titles are necessary, and the actual positions cannot be empty. After all, they are meant to be seen by others, especially the generals of the Ming Army. Naturally, they must see that Qin Zhifu has surrendered anyway.
How good their life is, so that they will follow suit and surrender. Now Li Xuan really hopes that a few more generals of the Ming army, guerrilla generals and the like will lead their troops to surrender.
Therefore, Qin Zhifu's position cannot be a false position, nor can it be too low. After all, no one is stupid. The Ming army probably knows a little bit about which positions are real and which are false in the Tang Dynasty.
But then again, it is impossible for Li Xuan to really arrange a high-level position with real power for Qin Zhifu. In that case, a large number of officers in the military who have worked hard to gain seniority and accumulated military exploits will be disappointed.
So after much deliberation, Li Xuan arranged for Qin Zhifu to be the deputy commander of the 7th Infantry Division.
The key here does not lie with the deputy division commander, but with the 7th Infantry Division.
Why, because the 7th Infantry Division has not been established yet and is in the process of being formed.
Moreover, Li Xuan actually did not plan to serve Qin Zhifu as the deputy commander of the 7th Infantry Division for how long. During the few months of preparations for its formation, he was the deputy commander of the 7th Infantry Division, but after a few months, Li Xuan would let him
He was transferred out, because by then the impact of this matter would have faded, and there would be no need to publicize Qin Zhifu in a big way. At that time, Qin Zhifu could be assigned to any idle position he wanted.
Speaking of the 7th Infantry Division, it is naturally the most important part of the Army's expansion plan in the four years of Xuanping, because in this expansion, the Army will expand one main infantry division and two mixed regiments, and will also
A new supplementary brigade will be formed.
This time's military expansion is similar to the previous ones. A part of the organic units from each main force will be transferred to serve as the core, and then new recruits will be added.
In other words, it is to split the existing main force and then supplement each one to expand it into a new full force.
The 7th Infantry Division is expected to draw certain troops from each of the 5th Infantry Division, the 4th Mixed Regiment, and the 5th Mixed Regiment to form an army in Jiangxi.
The newly formed Ninth Mixed Regiment will be formed by drawing troops from the First Mixed Regiment, the Second Mixed Regiment, and several fortress garrison regiments. The Ninth Mixed Regiment will form an army in eastern Guangdong, and the Tenth Mixed Regiment will be formed.
Troops will be drawn from various units of the First Army stationed in Huguang and formed into an army in Changsha, Hunan.
Hunan, this is also a ranking that has only appeared recently. A few days ago, Li Xuan felt that the jurisdiction of Huguang was too large, so he ordered Hunan to be divided into two, and most of the areas south of the Yangtze River were divided into Hunan and north of the Yangtze River.
However, including Wuchang, it is divided into Hubei.
The original governor of Huguang was changed to the governor of Hunan, and a new governor of Hubei was established. Although most of the current Huguang area was still under the Ming Dynasty, and there was only one Wuchang Prefecture in Hubei under the control of the Tang Dynasty, this did not hinder the
The Tang Dynasty appointed a governor of Hubei.
Nowadays, the Tang Dynasty controls more and more areas, and local officials at the governor level have been set up one after another, including the governor of Guizhou, the governor of Guangxi, the governor of Guangdong, the governor of Jiangxi, the governor of Hunan, the governor of Hubei, and the governor of Yunnan.
In addition, due to their special nature, the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Trade Zone and Lianzhou Trade Zone falls directly under the cabinet and does not belong to the local governor.
At the same time, the Tang Dynasty also divided some prefectures within its jurisdiction. For example, several prefectures in Guangdong were relatively large, so they carried out certain subdivisions. For example, Guangzhou Prefecture and Huizhou Prefecture each divided a certain amount.
In the area, the new Dongguan Prefecture was established, Zhaoqing Prefecture was divided into two, and the southern coastal area was established as Yangjiang Prefecture.
This is because the level of communication and transportation is backward. If the prefecture-level jurisdiction is too large, it will be difficult for the prefect to effectively govern the remote states and counties within the jurisdiction. Since it cannot be managed, it is simply divided directly.
Such measures also increased the number of prefectures, prefectures, and counties under the Tang Dynasty. Of course, the increase was not much, because many counties were directly upgraded to prefectures, and prefectures were upgraded to prefectures.
.
The adjustment of the jurisdiction may have a greater impact on ordinary people, but for the entire Tang Dynasty, this is just an inconspicuous and trivial matter among its many reforms.
What really attracted the attention of Li Xuan and many important ministers was the military expansion, because it was related to the subsequent war between the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, and the victory or defeat of the war was truly related to the foundation of the Tang Dynasty for all time.
Therefore, many cabinet officials clearly knew that continuing to expand the military would seriously squeeze their funds, but all of them expressed their approval.
Because they all know that the army is the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the basis for whether they can continue to enjoy glory and wealth in the future.
But in this way, their hard life will have to continue. Even the Ministry of Taxation has made very optimistic estimates. Taxes in the second half of the fourth year of Xuanping are expected to be significantly increased. In Hunan and Jiangxi,
After becoming a large agricultural province with a large population, the financial situation will be greatly improved. The fiscal budget revenue for the four years of Xuanping will likely increase to 15 million taels of silver.
But even this was far from enough to cover the expenses of the Tang Dynasty!
Due to the expansion of the army and shipbuilding, the size of the Tang Dynasty's army continued to expand. This year's military budget for the army, navy and guards combined was already more than 15 million taels of silver!
However, to maintain the operation of a political power, in addition to the army, there are also huge government agencies. Where do the funds for these agencies come from? Naturally, it is impossible to temporarily increase taxes or the like.
There are several main sources, such as the income from confiscating homes. Every time a place is captured, homes will be confiscated. There is not a small amount of floating wealth gained from this aspect. Although it is a one-time income, it also greatly relieves financial pressure, especially this year.
They successively captured the northern areas of Jiangxi and Hunan, and raided several vassal palaces of the Ming Dynasty, earning a lot of money.
On the other hand, in addition to other incomes such as taxes, for example, the Mint Bureau under the Ministry of Taxation is very profitable. Although the ruling area has expanded, the issuance of standard silver coins and copper coins has increased significantly.
The profit is over one million a year.
Then there is the Datang Salt Company. The salt tax paid by it is included in the tax, but the Salt Company itself still has a lot of profits, and these profits will also be turned over to the state treasury.
In addition, although most of the major factories under the Ministry of Industry are arsenals, some are for civilian use, such as several textile factories, Foshan Iron Smelting Factory, etc. These factories are also profitable, and the profits are all
It needs to be paid.
Another source of income is various miscellaneous fines. Some of these fines are retained by the local government, and some still have to be turned over to the national treasury.
Finally, a loan from Royal Bank!
Because the Tang Dynasty continued to fail to make ends meet and had a huge deficit, it had already started borrowing money from the Royal Bank not long after its establishment. At present, the various loans owed by the central government to the Royal Bank alone,
It already exceeds three million taels of silver. And sometimes when local governments are having a hard time, they will borrow money to survive. This adds up to a million taels.
Based on this calculation, the central and local governments of the Tang Dynasty already owed the Royal Bank more than four million taels of silver.
In short, for the operation of the Tang Dynasty's political power, the main taxes were basically spent on the army, while the operating expenses of other institutions were basically barely maintained by these messy methods.
But no matter how difficult it is, you still have to grit your teeth and persevere!
After defeating the Puppet Ming Dynasty and unifying China, the hard days would be over, and the Tang Dynasty's finances would be greatly improved.
If the battle was lost, there would be nothing to say. Everyone fled for their lives. As for the debt owed to the Royal Bank, the Tang Dynasty would be gone by then, so naturally no one would collect debts from the dead dynasty.
The army is expanding, and so is the navy. The battleship construction plan they proposed is one of them. In addition, the expansion of cruisers and frigates is continuing.
The navy's expansion goals and directions are actually more clear than those of the army, which is to expand the fleet size of capital ships to thirty, and various auxiliary warships, including armed merchant ships, transport ships, and more than a hundred ships.
.
The purpose of the navy is to completely control the sea along the coast, and at the same time to enter the Yangtze River estuary, and even go north to Beijing and Tianjin.
However, the navy's expansion is limited by factors such as technology, funding, and the number of slipways, so it can only proceed slowly. However, the army's expansion plan is different. The new recruits have been prepared for a long time and are waiting to be established.
Therefore, as soon as the army expansion plan was approved, the 7th Infantry Division, the 9th Mixed Regiment, and the 10th Mixed Regiment immediately set up the airs, and then entered the training and replenishment stage, allowing them to replenish themselves for a few months, and then they can reach full strength.
Have certain combat effectiveness.
As for equipment, take your time. The Army's method has always been to pull out the heads first, and then train while waiting for equipment.
However, even this has put great pressure on the major arsenals under the Ministry of Industry of Datang!