I want to be emperor

Chapter 306 Battle for Military Spending
In order to carry out the subsequent eastward campaign smoothly, Luo Zhixue organized three field armies, and partially mobilized high-level personnel, in order to be able to better integrate the combat effectiveness of each unit in the subsequent eastward campaign.

It's just that with the formation of the Seventh Division and the Eighth Division one after another, the pressure on the military expenditure of the Great Chu Empire is also increasing day by day.

As of late June, the Great Chu Empire already had eight main infantry divisions, four temporary mixed regiments, one cavalry brigade, six mortar regiments, and one guard division.

Even if many of these main forces are not at full strength, the total strength has reached 12. If they are to be full, this number will increase by about 4.

In addition to the main force, the Chu army currently has a total of dozens of garrison divisions. The strength of these garrison divisions is more or less, basically around 8000 to 8 people, which is another [-] to [-] troops.

Adding the two together, the current army strength of the Chu army is about 20.

With so many troops, the cost of maintaining so many troops is an incomparably huge amount.

Not to mention, the Chu army is still in the process of expanding its army, and the artillery and cavalry in many troops are seriously lacking in technical skills. The Chu army has also been trying to increase the number of technical arms in order to achieve as much as possible. .

And this one is also very expensive.

Finally, there is the cost of the war itself.

The expenses of troops staying in the camp and marching troops are completely different.

Not to mention other things, the expenses of people eating horse chews will rise rapidly, not to mention the expenses of ammunition and the loss of equipment for mules and horses.

In the previous Chunan battle, the Chu army spent a lot of money, and the follow-up will add a larger-scale and more expensive eastward campaign.

At the same time, on several other fronts, although there were no large-scale wars, the small and medium-scale wars had actually never stopped, and the cost was not small.

Adding up all these things, the military soon discovered that the planned 500 million military expenditures were not enough at all, and there was at least 500 million taels of silver shortfall.

Therefore, before the Eastward Campaign started, the military had written many times asking for an increase in war expenses.

In response to this problem, Luo Zhixue convened personnel from the Finance Department, Taxation Department and other departments to discuss.

Huang Chengxuan, Minister of the Finance Department who is in charge of the financial budget of the Great Chu Empire, is relatively relaxed: "This time we have gained a lot in South Chu. Although the follow-up restoration of local people's livelihood and work-for-work expenditures in various places are not small, we squeezed out 300 million taels. It’s not a big problem to give money to the military, but 500 million, that’s really nothing.”

But after finishing speaking, Huang Chengxuan added another sentence: "I heard that the military captured a lot in the Chunan battle this time. A large amount of military rations were captured, and there were also many mules, horses, and other spoils of war. Ah, it seems that they spent a lot of money going south this time, but this entry and exit can fill up some, even if there is a gap, but the gap should not be as much as 500 million taels."

After talking a lot, several civil servant leaders agreed that the finances are tight, and spending another 300 million in war expenses is already the limit.

Luo Zhixue listened to what Huang Chengxuan and the others said, and didn't say much. Recently, the military and civil officials had clashed several times because of military expenses. Luo Zhixue didn't intend to directly intervene in it...

In the Great Chu Empire, the military and government were strictly separated, and there were naturally irreconcilable contradictions between the civil service and the military. It could even be said that this contradiction was created by Luo Zhixue himself.

That day, Guo Quanshu, Chen Xingkai, the civil servants, and Xu Zhixian, Han Ziping, the senior military generals all looked like good brothers. Luo Zhixue was wondering if he had killed a few people...or he would feel insecure!
At the same time, he also knows that the current military expenditure contradiction exists objectively and is difficult to resolve.

Because after all, there are only so many financial funds, and the military has used them to fight, so the expenditure of the administrative system is naturally very troublesome.

At present, the military expenditure of the Great Chu Empire is very terrifying. If there is no income from the war, the normal tax income alone cannot afford to support such an expensive army.

This also makes many people, especially those in the civil service system, worry: once the external expansion is not smooth, or if you take a step back, even if you really have a smooth journey to unify China, when the time comes when foreign wars cannot continue to gain a lot of benefits , How to maintain such a huge military expenditure?

By normal taxes?
This is nonsense. With a military force of about 20, it is conservatively estimated that it will cost 2000 million military expenditures a year. If we continue to increase troops later, wouldn’t it cost 3000 million or even 4000 million a year?
The military expenditure of 4000 million taels a year, with the normal taxation level of the Great Chu Empire, even if the taxation department's taxation efficiency is very high, it is impossible to support it.

The Taxation Department made a simple estimate. They estimated that after taking over the Pan-Jiangnan region, that is, including central and northern Jiangxi, Jiangnan, and northern Zhejiang, the central fiscal revenue of the Great Chu Empire will probably increase to 4000 million taels of silver.

And don't think that there will be 4000 million after taking Jiangnan, and you can double it several times after unifying China.

That is impossible.

The 4000 million taels estimated by the Ministry of Taxation is based on the fact that the Great Chu Empire controlled the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

And these places, without exception, are all densely populated and productive areas, as well as areas with developed handicrafts.

Huguang, northern Jiangxi, Jiangnan, and northern Zhejiang, any one of these places taken alone, is a wealth-heavy place, and the taxes in these places are added together, which basically account for more than [-]% of the tax revenue of the entire China.

That is to say, if the Great Chu Empire’s eastward expansion strategy goes well, then the fiscal revenue can reach 4000 million taels a year. However, even if the whole of China is unified in the future, the fiscal revenue will not double again, at most more 2000 million silver.

However, with the expansion of the control area and the improvement of the rule, various administrative expenses have also increased.

After all, in an imperial court, you can’t just collect taxes and do nothing. All kinds of infrastructure construction, especially water conservancy construction, must be done, officials’ salaries must be paid, and natural disasters must be rescued.

In the first half of this year, the central treasury of the Great Chu Empire only spent 80 taels of work-for-work funds in northern Chu and Henan (Nanyang Prefecture).

This is just one of the expenditures!
After taking down Chunan, in order to restore the local people's livelihood, the central government conservatively estimates that it will allocate another 50 taels of special funds to support the restoration of people's livelihood in various places in southern Chu.

It is conservatively estimated that in order to restore the people's livelihood in Huguang and other existing control areas this year, the central treasury of the Great Chu Empire will have to spend at least 200 million taels of special funds.

Of course, the central finance of the Great Chu Empire can also refuse to pay, turn a blind eye or simply pass the pressure down, and let local officials deal with this problem.

But, the local governments of the Great Chu Empire also have limited financial funds. Without the support of the central government, it will be more difficult to restore people's livelihood.

At the same time, the situation in Shaanxi in the Ming court reminded Luo Zhixue, Guo Quanshu and others all the time: if you just collect money and do nothing, you will be stabbed...

If the Great Chu Empire wants to stabilize the base of Huguang, so that Huguang, an economic and production center, can play its due role, the initial investment is indispensable.

Just to restore the people's livelihood in Huguang, the special fund will be 200 million. If the quagmire-like Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Beizhili and other areas are taken down later... If the Great Chu Empire doesn't want to send strong troops to play every day If it is suppressed, then a huge amount of money needs to be allocated to restore people's livelihood.

And this is only part of the administrative expenses.

In addition to restoring people's livelihood, relief and infrastructure construction are also needed. Among other things, the salaries of officials are not a small sum.

Although the salaries of local officials in the Great Chu Empire are directly paid by the local finance, some poor places do not have so much money to pay wages, so they can only be supported by the higher-level finance. Financial subsidies.

After the unification of China, in order to effectively rule such a huge territory and keep these territories stable, the administrative expenditure of the Great Chu Empire will be a very scary figure, and 3000 million a year may not be enough.

Administrative expenses plus military expenses, plus some other expenses and emergency expenses, the Great Chu Empire conservatively estimated that it would cost 7000 to [-] million taels of silver a year.

But the financial revenue of the Great Chu Empire is definitely not so much. Even if the people are squeezed dry, even if the tax officials of the tax department are ruthless, they will not be able to collect so much tax.

Under such circumstances, in order to maintain the financial stability of the empire, according to Huang Chengxuan and other senior civil officials, there is only one way: to suppress the extremely high military expenditure.

To be precise, it is to suppress the growth momentum of military expenditure.

Civil servants can tolerate military expenditures of 2000 million taels a year, but they cannot tolerate endless increases in military expenditures.

In Huang Chengxuan's private words to Guo Quanshu: "It is impossible to reduce military expenditures now, but it is also impossible to let the military go too far."

"It costs 2000 million now, but won't it cost 3000 million after the Eastward Campaign? Will it cost 4000 million next year?"

"What will the empire support them by then?"

"From now on, we have to let them know that shells are so expensive so don't shoot them indiscriminately, and that there are still local garrison troops not to do nothing all day long. At least grow a vegetable and raise chickens and ducks to provide some food."

"Everything is supported by finances. Even if the empire has hundreds of millions of fiscal revenues, it is not enough for them to spend!"

Guo Quanshu thinks so: "The military's wanton waste is really outrageous. It is time to find a way to suppress their arrogance, otherwise the country will be ruined!"

(End of this chapter)