1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 960 Finance
On November 1679, 11, the Sultanate of Morocco, with four Qi warships as the main force and dozens of incorporated pirate ships along the Atlantic coast, raided the Spanish port of Araish in the territory of Mamura, Morocco (now La Laish, Morocco). Rash Harbor).

Under the cover of Qi Guo's naval guns, 60 elite black slave imperial troops bravely launched a landing operation.After a day of fierce fighting, the Atlantic port, which had been occupied by the Spanish for more than [-] years, was successfully recovered.

Afterwards, the four Qi warships left Morocco and headed south. On November 11, it entered the Spanish Canary Islands, sank two Spanish fishing boats near Gran Canaria, captured a merchant ship, and bombarded the port of Las Palmas.

On November 11, the attacking fleet sailed to the Gulf of Guinea. After replenishing food and fresh water at Elmina Castle in the Netherlands, they changed their course and prepared to use the equatorial warm current to cross the Atlantic Ocean and head for Portuguese Brazil. Qi State's American territory - Gyeongju, to support the local military and civilians to meet the attack of the Spanish expeditionary fleet.

Just when the Qi squadron launched an attack on Spain’s overseas territories, four escort warships and two supply transport ships carrying members of Qi’s mission to Europe and special envoys from various countries set sail from Amsterdam, preparing to return to Hanzhou.

At the same time, accompanied by a fleet of more than [-] merchant ships under the Dutch East India Company, the entire ocean was full of sails, stretching for more than ten miles, sailing in the Atlantic mightily.

When the fleet entered the Bay of Biscay, two Spanish scout clippers appeared nearby and followed them all the way.A few days later, after confirming that this huge fleet left the European continent, and then stopped for a while at the Portuguese island of Madras, and then went straight south to the east, the Spaniards let their hearts hang high and let go again. back to the original position.

The financially distressed Spanish royal family, because of several bankruptcies in their credit, failed to raise enough war funds after they contacted many bankers in Florence, Venice, Naples and other places in succession, which made the planned expedition fleet delayed. Too late to form.This made the extremely sensitive King Carlos II very worried and angry, and fell ill on the bed again, which caused another burst of panic among the royal family, nobles and officials.
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January 1680, 1, Hanzhou, Chang'an (now Toowoomba, Australia).

Compared with the cash-strapped Kingdom of Spain, in the past 1679, the fiscal revenue of the Daqi Empire reached a new record high.

"8000 million yuan?" Chen Yu'an, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was surprised and delighted when he heard the estimated figure given by the right servant of the Ministry of Finance and Su Renfu, Director of Taxation. "Is this figure not too much water? You know, this year A detailed plan must be made based on the budget for various domestic affairs.”

"Da Sinong, according to the data reported by the General Taxation Department and dozens of large commercial companies that are controlled and invested by the government, our household department roughly estimated that in the last fiscal year, the entire fiscal revenue will most likely exceed 8000 million Hanzhou silver dollars. Last year's GDP should have a growth rate of 8%-10%, and the total scale will reach about 1000 million. Therefore, based on the ratio of fiscal revenue to GDP over the years, this figure should be [-]% Sure." Su Renfu said with confidence: "You need to know that in the past few years, because of the successive opening of the Japanese and Mughal markets, as well as the transit trade with Europe through the South African territory, domestic industry and commerce have entered a stage of rapid development. , the annual growth rate far exceeds that of agriculture and animal husbandry, and the government's fiscal revenue is naturally rising, rising year after year."

The proportion of fiscal revenue in GDP is not only directly related to the country's industrial structure, ownership structure, and economic operation quality, but also is affected by various factors such as national fiscal and taxation policies and the intensity of tax collection and management.Generally speaking, when the quality of economic operation is high, the proportion of the primary industry (agriculture and animal husbandry) is low, and the proportion of industry and commerce, resource-based industries and high value-added industries is large, the fiscal revenue is relatively high.

At present, in the overall fiscal revenue of Qi State, agricultural tax (including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline fishery) accounted for 40% of the total fiscal revenue 70 years ago, and by 1678, it had dropped to 12%. 15% goes up to 60%.

In addition, the profits handed over by the large-scale trading companies and key industrial and mining enterprises controlled and participated by the government are also increasing year by year, which makes Qi's fiscal revenue grow extremely fast, and it has become the most affluent in the world today after the Mughal Empire. government.

You must know that the current population of Qi has not yet reached 1000 million, and it is probably between 950 million and 970 million (the census period has been extended to ten years).But with such a large population, Qi State has created wealth far exceeding that produced by any other country in the world.

Although the economic data in 1679 has not yet been calculated, as of 1678, Qi's iron and steel output had exceeded 130 million tons, reaching 132 million tons, of which steel output was 67 tons, exceeding the total steel production of all countries in the world (The total European steel production reached 1700 tons in 15).

You must know that during this period, Sweden, the "big country" of European iron production, had an annual output of only [-] tons.As for the output of steel, the combined output of the whole of Europe is only a meager [-] tons.Most of the steel is only used to make weapons, and is rarely used for civil or industrial purposes.In European countries, the steel smelting process is very complicated, and the technology is relatively backward, even less than that of the Song and Yuan Dynasties in the mainland of China hundreds of years ago, and it takes a lot of time and money.In addition, the low quality of steel in Europe was simply not enough for basic industrial purposes at the time.

This also allowed the Dutch East India Company to bring a large amount of steel produced in Qi State back to Europe as ballast, and its profits were no less than that of spice products.

The continuous expansion of steel production scale has resulted in a sharp drop in its price.In October last year, the latest steel price was 10 Hanzhou silver dollars per ton of wrought iron, and the price of steel was 22 Hanzhou silver dollars per ton, which were nearly 38% and 12% lower than three years ago.

With huge steel production and sufficient fiscal revenue, the Ministry of Railways of Qi State (separated from the transportation department three years ago) will naturally set off a wave of large-scale railway construction.

At the end of last year, the domestic railway mileage exceeded 400 kilometers, an increase of more than [-] kilometers compared with three years ago. Today's Adelaide, Australia) and other places have achieved land-based interconnection with the densely populated areas of southeast Linzi Prefecture (now Sydney, Australia).

The Ministry of Railways has also made an ambitious railway plan, that is, in the next 20 years, in addition to gradually double-tracking the eastern coastal railway and the southern railway, a central railway from Jianyefu to Nan'anfu will be built respectively. The southern coastal railway from the state capital (now Perth, Australia) to Nan'an, the northwest railway from Jianyefu to Linhaifu (now Port Hedland, Australia), and the western coastal railway from Linhaifu to Guizhoufu, finally realized the ring road. Hanzhou Railway Network.

Railway construction costs a lot, and the capital recovery cycle is long, which accounts for a considerable proportion of government expenditure, and the pressure on finances is not ordinary.But the railway is the basic, strategic, leading and key industry of the national economy, the main artery of the national economy, and occupies an important position in economic and social development.

Since the birth of the railway in Qi State more than ten years ago, it has become the most important transportation facility in the country in a very short period of time. It is also the main artery of local economic development and a popular means of transportation. become closely related.

Compared with sea and road transportation, the safety factor of railway transportation is greatly improved.Railway transportation is very little affected by the climate, and it can carry out regular and regular operations all year round, day and night, and has become an indispensable and important vehicle in the entire logistics transportation.Accelerating the development of railways has become the consensus of all aspects of society, and it also determines that railways will become the backbone of Qi's economic construction and development, and will become the mainstay of the transportation industry.

Therefore, although the government feels great pressure on the increasing financial expenditure for railway construction, it still tries to meet it. After all, railway construction can also drive the development of related upstream and downstream industries, which is of great benefit to the overall national economic construction.

However, all cabinet departments, including the Ministry of Household Affairs, "absolutely hate" the military's yearly increase in military spending.

"Sinong, I heard that the military budget proposed by the military this year will increase by another 20% on the basis of last year, making the total military expenditure exceed 3000 million." Su Renfu hesitated for a while, then said softly.

"3000 million?" Chen Yu'an was stunned for a moment, and then sneered, "Why do they? With the military power that Daqi currently possesses, it is invincible in the entire Indian Ocean region, not to mention the entire South Sea. What do they rely on? Reasons to continue to increase military expenditures? The newly established South African Governor’s District still needs to establish a management agency and carry out some necessary infrastructure construction. Increase control over the area. Oh, yes, there are also the Hawaiian Islands, North American immigrants, and the indigenous cleanup on Kaihua Island (now Java Island), and the renovation and renewal of infrastructure in various local cities. Your Majesty will Ten Christmas celebrations..., which of these affairs does not cost a lot of money?"

"..." Seeing Chen Yu'an's panic-stricken look, Su Renfu also looked helpless, "According to the rumors from the military, in addition to the new addition and replacement of warships, they are preparing to build a capable marine corps to cooperate with the navy. The fleet carried out small-scale offensive battles. In addition, they planned to form a task force to go to Gyeongju (now Patagonia) on the grounds that our Daqi American possessions were in conflict with Spain to respond to the Spaniards' attack. Aggressively."

"Absurd!" Chen Yu'an sternly reprimanded: "If the navy launches a small-scale attack, can't it use the battalion and company-level combat units of the army, and have to form a marine corps by itself? As for the military's desire to intervene in the armed forces of the American territories Conflict, what are you planning? That place is said to be my Daqi territory, but it is a colony under the control of the American Trading Company, and it has not yet created any value for the mainland!"

"Da Si Nong, His Royal Highness King Qing established the feudal domain in Qingzhou." Su Renfu reminded in a low voice: "Although the American territories have nothing to do with my cabinet government, they have a lot to do with the royal family.  … We will never , let the royal family, or even His Majesty, fight the Naxi people at his own expense?"

"...the royal family is not short of money, and it can fully support a limited-scale war." The corners of Chen Yu'an's mouth twitched a few times, and he whispered: "Your Majesty is not trying to say, the world is not a world of one person, but the people of the world. Is it possible that the American territories of the royal family still need the full support of the cabinet government?"

"Da Sinong..." Su Renfu was a little dumbfounded when he heard this.The Minister of the Ministry of Finance, who controls the money bag of Qi State, always likes to compare pennies and pennies on any matter that spends money. For this reason, in the annual budget allocation process, he almost beats all cabinet affairs departments.Now, he even blatantly attacked the royal family again.

In fact, not all the cabinet government, including the Ministry of Household Affairs, opposed the military operations planned and launched by the military.They are also in favor of those military operations with relatively large input and output.

For example, the war against Japan in the four years of Hanxing (1674) not only opened up the Japanese market in one fell swoop, but also demanded 500 million taels of silver for war reparations. It can be said that after fully covering all the costs of the war, It also earned a large amount of "windfall money" for the government.

In the sixth year of Hanxing (1676), the war against the Mughal Empire was launched, and the results were even more brilliant. It successively defeated more than [-] troops of the Mughal Empire, and killed the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, making this huge empire Fell into a leaderless situation.

In order to gain the understanding and support of Qi State, and to obtain more than [-] captured Mughal soldiers, Shah Alam I, the successor emperor of the Mughal Empire, has agreed to most of the truce conditions proposed by Qi State, Hong Kong and its surrounding affiliated islands and land, Jiangling Fort (India's present-day Kolkata City) and the coastal territory of the estuary, as well as the entire Kathiawa Peninsula, war indemnities of [-] million Hanzhou silver dollars, and the full opening of the domestic market and other harsh conditions.

Through this war, Qi State has fully established its absolute dominance in the Indian Ocean region, and with the huge market of the Mughal Empire, it is enough for Qi State to digest and absorb tens of hundreds of years, which is very important for the development and take-off of domestic industry and commerce. , will play a powerful pulling role.Some people even exaggeratedly said that this battle is enough to lay the foundation for Qi's destiny to become a strong country in the next century.

However, what is there in the American territories currently occupied by the Qi State-Gyeongju and Polar Island (Fiere Island)?Endless ice and snow, deserts, plateaus, saline-alkali land... Even if there are many fisheries, seal skins, forests and other resources there, how can these things be rare in the local area.Not to mention, the distance makes it impossible for the mainland to completely control it.Maybe in the end, it will become King Qing's private vassal, so that the cabinet government can't get anything.

Of course, Qi's occupation of a piece of territory in the Americas is not without benefits. At the very least, it has blocked the main waterway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, expanding its influence on global affairs.Well, there is also a large piece of future "living space" for my Chinese people.

However, the substantial increase in fiscal revenue every year seems to never be able to meet the growing government expenditure, let alone the military's "militarism" and unrestrained "chaos".

(End of this chapter)