In 1912, the total output value of agriculture in the three provinces of East China was as high as 6 billion yuan, and in addition to planting, the total output value of aquaculture was not inferior at all.

The East China Autonomous Axe has earned nearly 500 million yuan in agricultural taxes and seed costs for high-yield crops, and the East China Autonomous Axe is ostensibly exempt from agricultural taxes, but if you want to grow high-yield crops, you have to pay money. For example, when you grow rice, you have to hand over 100 kilograms at harvest time.

It can be said that the agricultural tax in the three provinces of East China is very high, but because of the high yield of crops, farmers do not have any burden.

In terms of industry, the total industrial output value of the three provinces of East China Autonomous Region is about 2.5 billion yuan, but the industrial climb is too fast, from 800 million yuan to 2.5 billion yuan in one year, a soaring 321.5%, which can only be described as a miracle.

"We have collected 160 million yuan in industrial taxes, plus about 80 million yuan in circulation taxes, and the customs has reached 11 million, and our financial expenditure can reach 800 million yuan next year."

The newly appointed Minister of Finance Xu Shuguo made a financial summary of Xia Jun, who was previously the Minister of Finance Li Shijing, but she is about to give birth in the past few days.

"800 million yuan, very good." Xia Jun is very satisfied, and with this 800 million yuan income, it means that the finances of the three provinces of East China Autonomous Region will be very abundant.

"However, a large part of the 800 million yuan has not yet become cash, about 300 million yuan." Xu Shuguo reported to Xia Jun.

"Hmmm! There's no rush to this. Xia Jun thought for a while and said to Xu Shuguo: "A budget meeting will be held in a week to prepare all departments." ”

…… He continued to negotiate with the East China Autonomous Political Axe, but the East China Autonomous Political Axe began to play scoundrels, claiming that the East China Autonomous Political Axe had no money to pay compensation.

It is said that the political axe of this country angrily pointed out that the East China Autonomous Political Axe opened his eyes and said nonsense, and the East China Autonomous Political Axe obviously borrowed so much money.

No money is no money, and the loan is not a political axe loan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the East China Autonomous Government replied.

The cabinet did not want to have a military conflict with the East China Autonomous Government at this time, and it turned out that it was very easy for the navy to attack the ports of the three East China Autonomous Provinces.

As for the Army, Saionji Gongwang did not think that five divisions would be able to solve the problem.

However, Saionji Konobo, which did not want to be launched, soon collapsed with the death of Emperor Meiji and the formation of a new political party by Katsura Taro.

But that's what happened in December.

…… On October 13, Xia Jun was very nervous waiting outside the hospital, Li Shijing was going to be born today.

In order to deliver Li Shijing, Xia Jun spent more than 10 million points to exchange for advanced medical equipment, and the female doctor who delivered the baby also trained for nearly six months.

With the faint cry of a baby coming from the infirmary, Xia Jun suddenly turned around, and after a while, the closed door opened, and a female doctor came out and said to Xia Jun: "Chairman, I was born, it's a boy." ”

"How's my wife doing?" Xia Jun asked anxiously.

"Madame's condition is fine, nothing serious." The doctor replied.

"Okay, thank you, can I go in?" Xia Jun immediately relieved when he heard this, it's okay, as for giving birth to a boy or a girl, Xia Jun doesn't feel much.

Twenty-two-year-old Xia Jun doesn't have a sense of urgency to be a father.

"That's it."

Xia Jun got an answer, and immediately pushed open the door and entered the delivery room.

I saw Li Shijing lying on the bed, looking good from the complexion, but she sweated a lot, her hair was wet, and when she saw Xia Jun coming in, she showed a victorious smile to Xia Jun.

"Xiaojing, how do you feel?" Xia Jun sat on the edge of the bed and asked with concern.

"It's alright!" Li Shijing exhaled and said.

"Thank you for your hard work." Xia Jun held Li Shijing's hand with both hands and said, at this time Xia Jun looked up and asked, "Where is my son?" ”

"Chairman, we're bathing the baby." A little nurse replied.

"Oh, oh!" Xia Jun nodded, and Li Shijing smiled: "Look at you're in a hurry." ”

"Huh!" Xia Jun smiled embarrassedly, in fact, he was not in a hurry at all, he was still a little confused when he first became a father, and he didn't even know how to hold children.

Sure enough, when the head nurse came over with the baby in her arms after a while, Xia Jun was a little hurried when she reached out to hug it. When Xia Jun hugged his son, looking at his pink and tender appearance, a smile appeared on his face, it felt good to be a father, but what made Xia Jun feel more was the responsibility, and he had to educate this little thing well.

"Let me see." Li Shijing stretched out her hand to Xia Jun and said, Xia Jun hurriedly handed the little guy to Li Shijing, Li Shijing looked at the little guy, a happy smile bloomed on her face, and she reached out and teased the little guy's face a few times, so that the little guy kicked his legs.

"Huh!" Li Shijing laughed, looked up at Xia Jun and asked, "Husband, have you thought of the baby's name?" ”

"Yes, but it's not sure yet." Xia Jun said with some embarrassment, he has looked through the dictionary dozens of times in the past few days, but the name has still not been determined.

"Then don't you hurry up and be sure!" Li Shijing urged.

"Let me think about it." Xia Jun scratched his head.

"It's called...... It's called ...... Xia Pingqi! Xia Jun's mind was a little confused, and after thinking about it for a long time, he suddenly thought of this name, and then said it very irresponsibly.

"Why is that name?" Li Shijing asked puzzledly, "What is the meaning?" ”

"It's better." Xia Jun said: "The implication is there! Let him grow smoothly. ”

Li Shijing thought for a while, nodded and said, "Hmm! The name is indeed relatively smooth, and although the meaning is average, it is still good. ”

Xia Hirasaki!

The name of the little guy was so determined, Xia Jun became a father, and began to plan how to educate his son.

I heard that the IQ of the children brought by the father is relatively high, Xia Jun decided to educate the children himself in the future, and it is not unreasonable to say that a loving mother has many defeated children.

In Xia Jun's cranky thoughts, this day passed.

…… The news that the chairman's wife had given birth to a son spread quickly, and the newspapers immediately reported it, but no one was mentally retarded enough to send a reporter to the hospital to disturb the chairman's wife.

Xia Jun's first reaction when he left the hospital was to order all administrative staff of various departments not to give gifts. You Zhengbin conveyed the news as quickly as possible, and the military headquarters quickly notified the officers at all levels.

Those administrative personnel who were about to give gifts when they heard the news all dispelled their thoughts, saying that the chairman of the committee said that they were not allowed to give gifts, that is, they could not give gifts.

When many merchants learned of the news, they set off firecrackers, and the store put out a notice saying "In order to celebrate the chairman of the committee, the whole audience will be discounted".

When the press in Yanjing learned of the news, a newspaper commented: "As soon as this son comes out, there will be successors to the dictatorship of the three autonomous provinces in East China~!" ”

Such comments quickly attracted fierce criticism from the Hangzhou press, and the Hangzhou press completely fell to Xia Jun at this time, even if it was the [***] system, they were convinced.

On the one hand, the East China Autonomous Government is clean and efficient, and the people are gradually getting richer, and no one pays attention to these guys who call it Mingzhuo. Second, the three autonomous provinces of East China are to a large extent the territory of the Restoration Society, and the members of the Liberation Society do not exclude reading talents ideologically.

The fierce attack of the press attracted Yuan Shikai's attention.

Within two days, the newspaper that criticized Xia Jun for his dictatorship in the three autonomous provinces of East China was blocked by Yuan Shikai, and it didn't matter what he criticized, for Yuan Shikai, he couldn't criticize the dictatorship, he himself was also engaged in dictatorship.

In addition, the constitutionalists led by Liang Qichao were also advocating dictatorship at this time and serving Yuan Shikai. The political views of the constitutionalists are to make the core of a dictatorship under the cloak of boiling, but in history, even if the constitutionalists took refuge in Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai still felt that the Congress was in the way, and after expelling the Kuomintang from the National Assembly, he dissolved the constitutionalist Congress.

…… A week later, Xia Jun held a 13-year budget meeting.

After a week of preparation, each department came up with its own plan.

"The Army's plan is to continue to recruit 10 production corps next year, and to add an artillery division, bringing the professional army to three infantry divisions, two artillery divisions, plus five mixed brigades, five reading regiments, and a total of 110,000 professional soldiers. The number of conscripts reached 18 divisions and regiments, with a strength of 260,000. It would require $90 million in military expenditure, as well as a number of weapons imports from global arms companies. Chen Xuanyu first got up and read out the army's plan.

As far as army expenses are concerned, military salaries are only a small amount of money, and the military salaries of 100,000 professional soldiers are only 10 million yuan.

The East China Army was not the Beiyang Army, and the deduction of military salaries did not exist at all, because the military salaries did not go through the hands of any officers, but were directly sent to the soldiers' bank accounts by the War Department. Furthermore, the East China Army did not have the practice of handing out money before the war.

The main expenditure was also on the maintenance of equipment and the acquisition of equipment.

"Recruiting an artillery division, it's too expensive!" Xie Baozhang had an opinion, got up and said: "The army already has an artillery division and an artillery brigade, and I don't think there is any need to expand the artillery division." ”

"Of course it's necessary, we and Yue Ben are about to fight recently, so naturally we have to expand the army." Chen Xuanyu retorted confidently.

Xie Baozhang waved his hand and said: "Our navy is enough to block Yueben from the sea, and we will never land on the mainland, and the army's view is not valid." ”

"The Navy is just a few warships, and our Army is skeptical of that."

"Our navy has submarines, which are enough to blockade and compete with the navy, as long as more funds are allocated to our navy, our navy has built warships, and we will be more sure to deter the landing of the mainland at sea, and your army now has the most advanced equipment, are you still afraid that you will not be able to win?"

Xie Baozhang and Chen Xuanyu argued loudly, Xie Baozhang knew that if the army had allocated too much military spending, then the navy would have no money.

And in his opinion, the revitalization of the navy first is the first priority, and the army is already very strong now.

Chen Xuanyu was a little unsure of how to refute by Xie Baozhang, the strength of the army was indeed sure to fight a local war with Yueben.

After all, the current situation in the country is like this, and there must be enough military strength, so they can still understand that military construction should be put in the first place, and they just hope that more money will be left behind after the budget of the navy, land and air force.

"Okay, don't fight." Xia Jun raised his hand and pressed it, "You sit down and talk!" ”

"Yes." Chen Xuanyu sat down in response, and Xie Baozhang also nodded and sat down.

Xia Jun said at this time: "Don't fight, the total military expenditure this year is only one-tenth, that is, 80 million yuan, and there is no more." ”

"Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, I secretly think that China should do its best to build a navy as it did at present, and with our current fiscal revenue of 800 million yuan, it is already more than the capital, and as long as we do our best to build a navy, we will certainly be able to catch up with and surpass the navy within 10 years." Xie Baozhang got up again and said.

Xia Jun shook his head and said, "Now our navy is still very immature, even if we build a ship, we may not be able to have much combat effectiveness. And we don't have to spend money on other things, especially education and basic industry. When education and basic industry are improved, and at the same time we have stronger economic strength, the development of the navy will be natural. ”

"As for the navy, the most important thing now is to train personnel, first upgrade the soft facilities, and then we will upgrade the hardware." Xia Jun then explained to Xie Baozhang: "Besides, the construction of warships cannot be completed in one year, and after a year, European countries will have to fight, and at that time they will not have time to build their own ships, and our warships will not be able to arrive." ”

"Fighting ......a war" Xie Baozhang thought about it, Xia Jun did tell him before that the two camps in Europe were engaged in an arms race, and it was inevitable to fight, but Xie Baozhang was not too sure when he would be able to fight.

Xie Baozhang no longer mentioned his previous point, but said: "It's just that the number of our merchant ships has expanded, and the shipyards are also building merchant ships, and we must have enough naval strength to escort merchant ships." ”

"That's fine." Xia Jun nodded, looked at Chen Xuanyu, and said, "That's it!" Next year's military expenditure for the army will be 20 million yuan, and the military expenditure of the navy will be 70 million yuan. ”

"Chairman, what about the expansion of the army?" Chen Xuanyu opened his mouth and asked.

"Forget about the ten compulsory production corps and artillery divisions, let's let them go for now!" Xia Jun said that for military spending, one-tenth is already very large.

For every 100 francs spent on military expenditures in the years leading up to the First World War, the following was spent on the army and navy for every hundred francs of revenue:

2.44 francs for the United Kingdom, 3.82 francs for France, 2.79 francs for Germany, 4.13 francs for Italy, 0.92 francs for the United States, 7.71 francs for Russia, the highest in Russia, that is, 7.71%, and now the autonomous political axe in East China has reached one-tenth, and a lot of equipment can be purchased from the exchange platform, such a high military expenditure is already the upper limit of Xia Jun.

In the construction of the navy and army, Xia Jun has his own plans.

Now the possibility of a full-scale war breaking out with Yuben is equal to zero, and Yuben's finances are also very tight now, and there is no point in expanding the army again.

As for the navy, as long as you build enough warships to escort the escort, there is no spare money to smash into it for the time being, not to mention that there is no money to build, although it is said that now you can build warships, but it is only a relatively small one, and it is also a little backward in some aspects of technology, and there is no place to order it, and when the First World War broke out in 1914, those ships will definitely not be able to get their hands on it.

It is better to develop the economy first, and then say that the navy has so many submarines, and in this era when there are no effective anti-submarine means, it is enough to compete with the navy, and even if it can't win, it can't lose.

Moreover, there are not many chances of the First World War, so it is better to build more merchant ships, and there is no leisure to build more warships.

In addition, in terms of warship manufacturing technology, it is completely possible to use the First World War to exchange it from the Entente and the Central Powers, and when the time comes, it can be exchanged for materials.

When the economy develops, the technology matures, and there is money again, Xia Jun also has points in his hands, and the navy can build whatever it wants.

As for the army, Xiao Yueben's army equipment is very cheap, and the current equipment of the East China Army is enough to deal with it, even in the case of military inferiority.

So there is no need for Xia Jun to burn the money in vain.

The funds for the navy and the army were determined, and Xia Jun only allocated 5 million yuan for the air force, and the air force in this era did not have such complex machines, and the cost was relatively low.

Next year's military spending will be 85 million yuan, and there is still 715 million yuan to budget.

The various departments were obviously relieved to see this result, and their feelings were indeed very contradictory, that is, they wanted to spend less on the military, but the current situation made it necessary for China to revitalize its military.

Fortunately, the chairman has a bottom line.

"Let's report on next year's plan first!" Xia Jun said to Tao Chengzhang at this time.

Tao Chengzhang heard the roll call and saw that the budget was generous, so he hurriedly and secretly stuffed the top one of the stack of reports to the bottom, got up and read the second set of plans he prepared:

"Chairman, the Ministry of Education's plan for next year is to train 80,000 qualified teachers, and with our current 30,000 teachers, we can have 110,000 teachers, and the expenditure on salaries is 10 million yuan. In addition, it is planned that about 10 million children between the ages of 17 and 6 will be enrolled in primary schools next year. The monthly food cost of 10 million people is 1 yuan, that is, 90 million yuan. In addition, in terms of school buildings, the Ministry of Education can build them simply. Including the cost of textbooks, desks and chairs, it will cost about 30 million yuan. At the same time, plus the funds for secondary schools, universities, and technical schools, a total of about 30 million yuan is required. The Ministry of Education will need $160 million next year. ”

"Lao Tao, you're not crazy, are you!"

"160 million yuan, you can still send lottery tickets and coins!"

"Yes."

There was a lot of discussion in the conference room, and all departments were dissatisfied with Tao Chengzhang's lion opening, Tao Chengzhang didn't care, his eyes were unwavering, and he completely ignored the voices of other departments.

"This ......" Xia Jun thought for a while and asked, "There are so many teachers?" ”

"Enough, definitely enough." Tao Chengzhang hurriedly assured, in order to convince the chairman, continued: "Although the quality is not so good, it is still possible to train it." And the most important thing for us now is literacy, especially for those sixteen or seventeen-year-olds, who are about to enter society, and some of them have even entered society, and they must be pulled into schools to do literacy, and those who have jobs go to night schools with older ones. ”

(To be continued)