It takes time, of course, it's just a feeling, after all, time is fair for everyone, it can be earned, but not created.

If you need money, it is a real request, to do new policies, to do foreign affairs, none of which can be separated from money, and the current China, the most lacking is money.

Guan Zhuofan is not an economic expert, but as a student of history, of course, he has at least a superficial understanding of economic issues in history. If he is asked to build a rigorous economic model for the current China, he will not be able to do it, but he can still explain some truth by simply "making irresponsible remarks".

There is a widely circulated saying that the current "Great Qing Kingdom" still ranks first in Shijie in terms of GDP, and even accounts for 30% of the entire Shijie GDP. Guan Zhuofan disagrees with such a statement, because there is no accurate data to support it. Similarly, if China is ranked second or third, there is no rigorous statistical evidence to prove it.

However, since such a comparison can be made, it at least shows one problem, that is, in terms of "GDP - gross national product" alone, China can still rank on the shijie, and at least it is qualified to "compete with the powers".

This is very good, because this at least has a foundation for starting, only when the mountain is high can tigers come out, when the pond is big, can more fish be raised, and 400 million people can take out one or two silver each, and they can stone the foreign devils to death.

The problem is that I can't get these two pieces of silver - GDP is not small, but surplus wealth, or free wealth, is still a scarce thing, and a large number of people are struggling with food and clothing or even life and death.

For such a situation, Guan Zhuofan has a simple analogy, take China and the United Kingdom. Liken it to two villages.

There are 100 people in the Chinese village. One loaf of bread can be produced per person per day. In this way, the GDP of the Chinese village is a hundred loaves of bread.

There are only 50 people in the English village, but each person can produce two loaves of bread per day, so that the GDP of the English village is the same as that of the Chinese village, which is 100 loaves of bread.

On the other hand, each person needs to eat one loaf of bread every day in order to have enough food. As a result, the bread produced every day in the Chinese village is basically eaten by itself. But the English village has a storehouse full of bread to be saved.

One day, the Chinese village was going to war with the English village, but the villagers tightened their belts and could only take out ten loaves of bread a day to support the war—any more, and the people in charge of the bread production would starve to death.

The English Village, on the other hand, not only has inventory, but can also take out another fifty pieces of surplus bread every day to hire soldiers and add equipment. And the people in the village can still live a good life.

Thereupon. The English Village, which has only 50 people, can not only defeat the Chinese Village, which has 100 people, but also go to the Chinese Village and take away some of their bread that they don't have.

As a result, the English village became stronger and the Chinese village became weaker and weaker.

As for whether the people in the Chinese village will starve to death because of this, that is not the concern of the British village.

Guan Zhuofan sighed, stroked his forehead and thought, where is the bread I want?

To find bread, you have to figure out the overall financial situation. He did not dare to forget the country, Guan Futai planned to look at Jiangsu, with the world in mind, he had already passed Qian Yunqiu of the Yamen of the Domain, Shanghai Daoyangfang, Jin Yulin of the General Administration of Donations, plus Qian Dingming, who had been the head of the household department in his own scene, to the governor of the Yamen to discuss the income and branch of the imperial court.

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This time, because it was not a formal meeting, it did not have to be as grand as before. Guan Zhuofan instructed several people to bring clothes and bags, and after the salute was completed in official clothes, they were waited by their respective messengers, changed into light robes in the side hall, and then sat in the bright and shady flower hall, and the heat was reduced by three points.

These people are all very capable people, not only familiar with local affairs, but also have a rough idea of the finances of the imperial court. However, in comparison, it is natural that Qian Dingming, who has been in the household department for six years, is the most proficient.

"Brother Dingfang, I'll listen to you first." Qian Yunqiu, who participated in politics, said with a smile.

"Then I'll throw bricks and lead the jade," Qian Dingming was not pretending to be polite, "I have been eating vegetarian meals in the corpse position in Beijing for a few years, and I still remember the number clearly." ”

Because he wanted to say it to Guan Zhuofan, he had to say it in detail, so Qian Dingming talked about the household department first.

"The one in charge of the world's wealth and expenditure is naturally the household department. Now in charge of the department, Man Shangshu is Lord Baojunbao, and Han Shangshu is Lord Luo Xuanyanluo. However, Luo Jiaoshan is a gentle person, and he wants nothing to do in everything, plus Lord Bao is now a big military machine, so it is still Lord Bao who speaks in the ministry. ”

"Well," Guan Zhuofan weighed in his heart and asked, "Speaking of which, I went to Beijing this time, and I plan to make a donation of the military expenses of the Xuan army in the two years from October of the eleventh year of Xianfeng to the present. It's okay to say it's okay to say it, but I've heard a saying that it's a place where Tobe is good, and the little ghost is difficult......"

"The marshal is very familiar! It's just a little talent, and I've done this little ghost. ”

Qian Dingming's words made everyone laugh, and they listened to him continue.

"There are two stalls in the north and south of the household department, and there are fourteen officials in the name of the province. For example, if the marshal wants to apply for reimbursement this time, then he will have to find the 'Jiangxi Division' and the 'Guizhou Division'——"

Although the departments of the Ministry of Household Affairs are named after the provinces, their functions have little to do with the provinces. The Jiangxi Division is in charge of auditing the provincial salaries, and the Guizhou Division is in charge of auditing customs taxes, so Qian Dingming said that in handling the reimbursement of military expenses, it is necessary to deal with these two departments.

However, the topic of today's discussion is the finance of the imperial court, so we can't fail to mention the most important department in the household department - the North Stall.

"The general ledger and sub-accounts of the household department are all in the hands of the north stall room, and the country's annual income and expenditure are only grasped by the officials of the north stall room. There are also two officials, one for each of the Manchu and Han dynasties, but the real secretaries and officials who are in charge of the accounts are all Han Chinese, this is because...... Because ......"

Speaking of this, remembering the identity of the owner, he stopped slightly embarrassed.

"It's okay, Mr. Qian said." Guan Zhuofan shook his head and said, "The mediocrity of the full crew is useless, everyone knows it, and there is nothing to avoid." ”

"They can't compare to the knights." Qian Dingming took this sentence to round the scene before continuing.

"I've been in the North Stall, so I've been in the Bun over the years. I can remember it clearly. I am towards the endowment. Inherited from the previous Ming. During the Shunzhi period, the annual income was about 25 million taels, and by the time of Gaozong, the highest was 48 million taels. When Daoguang Ye was a man, he let the British devils come in once, and the income in the future has been around 40 million taels. In the last decade, although there has been a lot of hair. However, there are more ways to collect money than in the past, so the annual income has reached 45 million. ”

There are many ways to collect money, mainly in the new tariffs, centi, donations, and distributions, and the four words "never add endowments" that we were once proud of have already fallen into a thick layer of dust and are no longer worthy of the name.

"Forty-five million taels, that's a lot." Guan Zhuofan corroborated Qian Dingming's words with his own historical knowledge, and said quietly. He knows that in this day and age, compensation for foreign military expenses is an item. It has not yet become a burden on the imperial court's finances - the reparations for the two Opium Wars add up to only 20 million. It is apportioned from year to year, and the number does not look large.

After that, it's not right. After the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the indemnity was 230 million taels, and the Eight-Nation Coalition entered Beijing and the indemnity was 450 million taels, plus the interest amortized in installments, the total reached 1.6 billion taels.

1.6 billion taels, I'll fuck your sister!

Thinking of this number, Guan Daren involuntarily clenched his fists.

There are 1.6 billion taels, Lao Tzu will do all kinds of Western and Oriental girls one by one, don't want the old, don't want the small, don't want the ugly, give ten taels for one, then there are 160 million, one a day, enough to do it...... How many years?

He was still gritting his teeth and counting in his heart, but Qian Dingming could no longer guess Master Guan's dirty thoughts, so he continued to talk to himself.

"I look at a lot, but there are not many people who can really enter the warehouse of the household department." He shook his head and said, "From the second year of Xianfeng to the ninth year of Xianfeng, in a total of eight years, the household received only 76.56 million taels of silver, an average of less than 10 million per year. but there were 83,340,000 taels of silver, and a net loss of 7,000,000 taels inside and out. Therefore, the warehouse was empty, and at the most embarrassing time, there were only 110,000 taels of silver in the treasury, and everyone called the book of the management department 'Sikong'. ”

It's another ridiculous allusion, but it's true. The reason for this situation is the diversion of taxes.

In the early days, whenever there was a sword or soldier, the imperial court appointed a general and allocated it to the army, and the money and food were also raised by the household department. Correspondingly, the local money and grain should also be all relieved of Beijing and handed over to the warehouse, and the household department should support the world. However, when the Hongyang Rebellion arose, the imperial court finally couldn't hold on, and the flag camp and the green camp were no longer able to pacify, so they had to rely on the local governor to find a way to organize a large group training, creating many local troops similar to the Hunan army.

If you let someone else run a regiment and have no money to allocate to others, you can only allow the local government to raise its own military expenses. As a result, the money and grain that should be released from Beijing became less and less, and most of it was withheld by the local government and self-financed. However, the authority of the imperial court has not been completely lost, no matter how much money the local officials spend, they must keep clear the accounts, and when it is time to handle the reimbursement, they still have to go through the household department, but the income and expenditure of the physical silver in previous years have now become the income and expenditure on the account.

"In other words, the real silver that the household can receive in a year is only 10 million?" Guan Zhuofan was disappointed and asked tentatively. The household department has no money, so the benefits he can get are becoming more and more limited, and in other words, he can only grasp the anointed land of Jiangsu.

"It's this number now, but Jiang Ning is broken, and when you see the chaos, you can be leveled." Qian Dingming stroked his beard and said with a smile, "The land of taxation is reopened, and the military expenditure can be saved again. ”

Regarding Qian Dingming's optimistic view, Guan Zhuofan did not dare to agree - although the remnants of the Taiping Army are no longer a big harm, but not to mention the turmoil, the rebellion in the northwest has gradually risen, and it is still very early if you want to release Nanshan.

"Well, well, I hope so." He said perfunctorily, "Only in this way can we have the spare money to invest in foreign affairs." ”

Unexpectedly, Qian Dingming did not agree with his statement.

"Sir, no matter how much income the household department has, if you want to say that there is extra money, it may not be." Qian Dingming shook his head, "I have been suffering for several years, this time, the household department can't take more money out and raise ......."

Speaking of this, he suddenly realized that he once again closed his mouth in embarrassment, not knowing how to continue.

"Mr. Dingfang, you know me." Guan Zhuofan said calmly, "In my place, you have always known everything, and you don't need to avoid anything now." ”

"Yes," Qian Dingming smiled awkwardly, hesitated slightly, and said anyway.

"Will raise ...... Eight flags will be raised. ”

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(On Monday, ask everyone for a referral ticket.) ）

*(To be continued......)