In the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, in addition to the financial income of about 190 million taels obtained from overseas, the progress in the field of coinage machines and the development of silver mines in many places in Yunnan and other places have also increased the income of the coinage field a lot. After many years of frequent disasters, the year seems to have turned around to a large extent.

"This year, the king spent most of his time on expeditions, but he did not dare to slack off at home, and the income of agricultural tax this year finally reached the scale of about 50 million catties. Industrial and commercial tax revenues include the income of state-owned factories and mines from the price of 40 million catties of grain, and other private income from domestic and foreign trade is about 90 million catties of grain. In addition, together with the minting income, the domestic financial revenue of the entire 19 years of Chongzhen has also reached a scale close to 190,000 catties of grain. In addition to overseas income and internal and external debt income and reception, etc., the total internal and external fiscal revenue of the entire Chongzhen nineteen years has reached the equivalent of 400 million catties, about 370 million taels of silver, even if the expenditure in all aspects has increased a lot in this year, and the financial surplus has reached a scale of about 100 million taels, I don't know the investment in the next year... ”

Xiao Xuan pondered for a moment, originally planning to further increase investment in the field of culture, education and scientific research, after all, this industry is also the field that can bring the most social benefits. But at this time, this field is still a seedling that has not grown for the time being. If we expand blindly, it can lead to a series of problems such as the decline in the quality of education. Drawing on the lessons of the first 30 years of New China and even many lessons, and even the impression of the times after the 70s, Xiao Xuan still does not intend to blindly pursue the so-called fairness and popularization at the cost of reducing quality and effectiveness. However, after reading the new issue of the national situation report before the New Year, I began to have some understanding of the Ming Dynasty, which seems to be a little different now. In general, the sea is still too dependent on the commercial system with water transportation as the core to a large extent, and about 15 million of the country's urban population of about 25 million people are concentrated in the range of about 50 million people in the central governor's region, that is, in southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, making the urbanization level within this range reach about 30% of the scale. In other places, it is about 10% larger.

The size and even distribution of towns and cities are in fact the same as in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the proportions of towns themselves do not seem to have changed much. What has changed is only the connotation: many powerful and even military vassal interest groups have been transformed into productive cities in the process of the development of modern productive forces. A large number of people who had previously been engaged in inefficient domestic work were released at this time. Even so, of course, after a temporary period of large-scale coercive immigration policies abroad, population growth within towns can absorb a considerable part of the productive forces.

However, after the further expansion of the modern production technology system, the development space of the industrial and commercial economic system in the southeast region is close to saturation to a large extent, but the speed of development is difficult to be the same as before.

In the north and other vast regions, the development and demand for a new transportation system became urgent at this time. And Xiao Xuan also knew that compared to many other civilization areas. China, with its mountainous and hilly terrain, is actually an area with poor transportation conditions, and the construction cost of transportation is actually not low. If we rely on the people's spontaneous "bridge repair and paving", I am afraid that the original pattern will not be changed.

Therefore, the new focus of investment is also placed in the field of transportation: "The expedition of that year, and this expedition to the west, it is obvious that the biggest feeling is that land transportation is still a little too time-consuming and laborious. Both economically and strategically. The construction of new transportation arteries should be imminent. Now there is a kind of rail horse-drawn transportation in the city of Yingtian. Pig iron rails are still used, and I think the railroad tracks can be expanded to a wider range. Strive to build a special railway line from Beijing to Xi'an, but it seems that there was a plan not long ago, and the cost has been roughly calculated? If you don't count the cost of some terrain that is difficult to overcome... ”

"In this regard, there is also a preliminary estimate: according to our estimates, if it is mass-produced, according to the design scheme of the half-zhang rail, the cost of each mile of rail is probably much more expensive than five hundred sets of traditional armor, and it will cost about 25,000 taels. Two thousand miles is about 50 million taels, and 100 million catties of iron are needed, which is roughly converted... The scale of about 60,000 tons of iron... ”

There are some deviations from the original expectations, and Xiao Xuan originally felt that the cost of building railroad tracks under the existing conditions would be unimaginable. However, although the cost is also very high, it is not within the unimaginable range. If it is regarded as a key project like the construction of the Great Wall, with an annual investment of tens of millions of taels, there is still hope to catch up with the railway construction process in some years during the Republic of China. If it goes well, it should not take a generation to build a "Eurasian land bridge" in this era.

As for other transportation, it is obvious that the potential of water transport along the river, coastal water, and Beijing-Hangzhou water transport is still a lot of space in the near future, and those high-cost basic roads in the north and even in the central and western regions are not the most urgent for the time being.

With this in mind, the general idea of transportation investment has been determined. Of course, it is very intuitive to feel: the coal line from Beijing to Shanxi is not easy to walk in this era, and it needs to be very carefully surveyed, and there is no need for anyone to go to the Lanzhou line, and there will be a lot of cost investment on the road, but with the cost of "a set of armor per meter itself, it seems that it must not be regarded as a large part of the cost... ”

Of course, Xiao Xuan has thought about wooden rails, but whether it is wooden rails or stone rails, their demand for processing technology and even the drive of the entire industrial system are obviously not comparable to rails. Not to mention the cost of countering various risks and even the possible cost of maintenance. These factors also made Xiao Xuan unwilling to take any more risks in these aspects. Although the cost of railways in this era seems to be very expensive, Xiao Xuan believes that with the development of the entire industrial system, the cost can eventually be reduced.

At this time, the secret guard beside Xiao Xuan came with a piece of news that made Xiao Xuan feel a little worried.

"It seems that despite the delay, the problems to be faced will be faced after all. Fortunately, at this time, many hidden dangers at home and abroad have been eliminated to a certain extent, otherwise... At this time, Xiao Xuan also felt a trace of inexplicable heaviness.