Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 304: Old Zhu actually compared his fiscal revenue with later generations? [Please subscribe]

Although Zhu Biao didn't know how many times he had seen this annual grain revenue data, he couldn't help but smile every time he saw it.

The Ming Dynasty's current tax burden was not heavy, and the fact that the court received so much grain indicated that the people in most places had a good harvest this year. He was happy to think that the people could have enough food and clothing, and even had a lot of grain stored.

He went on to say, "In addition to grain, another part of this year's fiscal revenue is treasure notes, which mainly come from commercial taxes, customs duties, and various government offices."

It must be said that in recent years, in order to promote trade, Zhu has taken many actions on taxation.

Now, except for the summer and autumn taxes which still need to be paid in the form of grain, the commercial and customs taxes can basically be paid in the form of banknotes.

Although doing so would require the imperial court and local governments to have an additional procedure of using treasure notes to purchase from the public, it seemed to be a roundabout way than levying taxes in kind, and even gave officials more opportunities for corruption.

Baochao could be used to pay commercial taxes and customs duties, and the court and government could use it to purchase supplies from the public, which greatly promoted trade.

If Zhu Yuanzhang had not been inspired by the various videos played by Liu Kuan and the various stories about later generations that changed his thinking, he would not have had this idea of ​​improving the national economy.

In history, the various policies left by Zhu Yuanzhang that were criticized by later generations were, on the one hand, due to the need to rebuild the country in the early Ming Dynasty and to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce; on the other hand, it was also because he was indeed limited by his small peasant background and lacked economic knowledge.

In this time and space, this has completely changed.

Zhu Biao paused, then continued, "Among them, commercial taxes and customs duties totaled over 16.35 million strings of banknotes; and the profits of the various government offices totaled over 23.78 million strings of banknotes!"

"Therefore, the total amount of treasure notes in this year's fiscal revenue is 40.13 million strings of cash!"

"This year, the price of grain has dropped to two dan (stone) for one guan (a coin), so grain can be converted into 19.59 million guan (a banknote). Therefore, the total fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty this year is approximately 59.72 million guan (a banknote)."

Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted at first after hearing this.

Then he couldn't help but sigh, "I never thought that after only a few years of implementing a series of reforms, grain tax revenue only accounts for about one-third of the total fiscal revenue of our Ming Dynasty."

"Commercial taxes, customs duties, and government profits account for two-thirds, twice the grain tax. It's truly incredible."

Zhu Biao smiled upon hearing this and said, "Father, our grain tax hasn't decreased. Before Liu Kuan came, it was only over 20 million dan a year, but now it's almost 40 million dan."

"Even if some of the commercial and customs taxes are deducted from the in-kind taxes in the past, it still means that the total fiscal revenue of our Ming Dynasty has tripled or quadrupled compared to five years ago!"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and stroked his beard, thinking, "I wonder how the total fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty compares to that of the Xin Dynasty in the future."

When Zhu Biao saw it, he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was again thinking of comparing himself with the later Xin Dynasty.

He didn't want to see Zhu Yuanzhang suffer a blow, and was just thinking about how to persuade him when he saw a eunuch coming in from outside the hall and said, "Your Majesty, the Earl of Science and Technology requests an audience."

Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted when he heard this. "Speak of Cao Cao, and he'll be here! Hurry up and announce him!"

Liu Kuan didn't know that he had just become "Cao Cao" in Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth. If he knew, he would probably be shocked.

After entering, he saluted Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao in turn, then took out a memorial and said, "Your Majesty, Wang Guangqin and others from the Rubber Application Research Institute have developed a usable rubber wire, and it is already ready for mass production."

"I have come here to firstly ask for merit for the Rubber Application Research Institute, and secondly, to install electric lights in the Imperial Palace before the New Year as a New Year's gift!"

Although Old Zhu had some knowledge of many things about the Tiangong Academy through the Jinyiwei, he didn't know the details. So when he heard Liu Kuan's words, he was stunned at first, and then he said in surprise: "Can we use electric lights like in later generations?"

Liu Kuan was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations were too high, so he had to give him a warning. "Your Majesty, the current carbon filament single lamp is definitely not as bright as the electric lamps of later generations. Of course, it is definitely brighter than oil lamps and candles."

Old Zhu became cheerful and then asked, "How long will it take to install this light? Will it require major construction?"

"It doesn't require a major construction project. It should be completed before the New Year." Liu Kuan said, "It will mainly involve laying out electrical wires in the palace, and then building an animal-powered power station."

Old Zhu nodded first, then thought of something and asked, "Is there any danger in laying out electrical wires in the palace?"

Liu Kuan asked, "Your Majesty, do you think it's dangerous to light candles in the palace at night?"

Old Zhu was not displeased, but said seriously: "The candlelight in the palace is a source of danger. We need to send people to strictly guard it to prevent fires caused by accidents or by someone with ulterior motives."

Hearing this, Liu Kuan remembered that since the Hongwu Dynasty, there were records of fires in the palace during the reigns of almost every emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but there seemed to be no such records during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang.

This clearly shows that Zhu Yuanzhang had extremely strong control over the palace during his reign, but this was not the case for the subsequent emperors, especially after Zhu Di.

The emperor couldn't even maintain absolute control over the palace, so the decline of his power was inevitable. After coming to his senses, Liu Kuan said, "Using wires and electric lights certainly has its risks, but compared to candlelight, the risks are much lower."

Old Zhu finally felt relieved and said, "In that case, I'll leave this matter to your Tiangong Academy. If you do a good job, I won't hesitate to reward you."

"As for the reward for the Rubber Research Institute, you will submit the memorial to the cabinet for processing. The court will give you a generous reward."

"Yes."

After saying this, Liu Kuan prepared to leave.

It’s the end of the year and Tiangong Institute is also very busy.

But then Lao Zhu said, "Liu Kuan, I want to ask you something."

Liu Kuan thought to himself, how could I not answer whatever you want to ask?
He said, "Your Majesty, just ask. I will tell you everything I know."

"Before you traveled through time, what was the total annual fiscal revenue of the Xin Dynasty in the future?"

Liu Kuan didn't expect Old Zhu to ask this. After a slight surprise, he searched his memory and said, "I don't know the total fiscal revenue of the year I traveled through time. As for the year before, it was probably over 20 trillion yuan."

"How does this 20 trillion yuan compare to 60 million guan of treasure notes?" Old Zhu asked again, and then reminded him, "You can convert it using the price of rice."

After hearing what Lao Zhu said, Liu Kuan was speechless.

I thought to myself, no matter what conversion method I use, the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty should not be compared with that of the later dynasties. Isn't this uncomfortable?

But the emperor's order was difficult to disobey, so he could only answer truthfully.

He couldn't control whether Old Zhu was uncomfortable or not.

"Your Majesty, before I traveled through time, the average price of various types of rice could be estimated to be 3.5 yuan per catty. Therefore, the total annual fiscal revenue of the Xin Dynasty in the future could be converted to trillion catties of rice."

Even though Old Zhu's math skills were average, when he heard Liu Kuan report the figure of 5.7 trillion jin, he knew that he had made a fool of himself today.

Fortunately, he was thick-skinned and it was not the first time he was embarrassed in front of Liu Kuan, so he quickly adjusted his mentality.

Liu Kuan continued to calculate, "One stone in the Ming Dynasty is roughly equivalent to 180 catties in later times, so trillion catties of rice is approximately..."

Liu Kuan's mental arithmetic skills were quite average. He was just about to do a vertical equation on the ground with his feet when Zhu Biao replied, "About 31.7 billion shi."

Perhaps fearing that if Liu Kuan continued to speak, Zhu Yuanzhang would lose face and get angry at Liu Kuan, Zhu Biao continued, "Based on the current prices of rice, flour, and other grains, 60 million strings of treasure notes can be converted into 120 million dan of grain."

"That is to say, the total fiscal revenue of the Xin Dynasty in the future would be about three hundred times that of 60 million guan of treasure notes."

At the end of his speech, Zhu Biao looked at Old Zhu with an extremely helpless expression.

Old Zhu coughed unnaturally and said, "Three hundred times as much? It's worthy of this technologically advanced future."

When Liu Kuan saw this, how could he not guess that these 60 million strings of cash were most likely the total fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty this year?
Although he knew that Lao Zhu must have regretted asking this question by now, he still couldn't help but explain it again.

"Your Majesty, using the price of rice as a medium of exchange to compare the total fiscal revenue of the Xin Dynasty and the value of 60 million guan of treasure notes is actually quite disadvantageous to the Xin Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang was puzzled, "Why do you say that?"

Liu Kuan said, "It's very simple. Whatever the Ming Dynasty treasure notes can buy, almost everything the Xin Dynasty paper money can buy in the future. However, many things that the Xin Dynasty can buy, cannot be bought with the Ming Dynasty treasure notes."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then he understood what Liu Kuan meant.

The national strength of the Ming Dynasty was not at the same level as that of the later Xin Dynasty, and was actually not comparable.

After coming back to his senses, Lao Zhu suddenly shook his head and laughed, "You kid, I just asked casually, but you actually took it so seriously."

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)