Next year's focus will be on domestic construction and marine expansion.

Of course, making money is also the point.

Once the budget is set, it will soon be the end of the year.

At the end of the year, Zhao Yan's affairs naturally increased, and the busiest thing was to give bonuses to various departments, and the bonuses of the Ministry of Science and Technology of each department were the highest, followed by the Ministry of Military, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Administration.

The amount of bonuses in the departments with the highest bonuses is fluctuating, while the bonuses in other departments are more fixed.

In terms of individual rewards, the bonuses for engaging in scientific research are the highest.

At the end of the year, the scientific research department finally figured out a safe way to produce yellow explosives and yellow gunpowder, and the entire research team received a bonus of 100,000 silver dollars.

Zhao Yan was overjoyed, and 100,000 silver dollars were smashed out.

He believes that under the heavy money, more people will be encouraged to devote themselves to scientific research, so it can be said that no effort is spared in rewarding.

With the advent of yellow explosives and yellow gunpowder, the replacement of equipment in the army and navy was also put on the table, but only if the Ordnance Bureau came up with an artillery that could be installed.

In terms of next year's research tasks, the Ordnance Bureau will mainly study the Mauser rifle and formal artillery drawn by Zhao Yan, and if these two types of equipment can be produced in large quantities, Zhao Yan will be able to reduce the personnel of the corps.

In the case of a leap in combat effectiveness, a brigade of 10,000 people is too exaggerated, a division of 10,000 people is normal, and a brigade of so many people is too bloated to give full play to its strength.

At the end of the year, Zhaojiabao can be described as very lively, compared with last year, this year's Zhaojiabao has more people, there are more goods on the street, and the people are richer.

Today, Zhaojiabao has expanded to an area of 20 ordinary kilometers, which is already a very large city in this era.

Zhaojiabao has a permanent population of 830,000 and a floating population of more than 300,000.

The main departments under Zhao Yan were concentrated in Zhaojiapu, and at the same time, many workers lived in Zhaojiapu, many businessmen moved their homes outside Zhaojiapu, and most of the officers and officials settled in Zhaojiapu.

The street is full of goods.

The eyes of the cotton cloth in the market have become more vivid, these cotton cloths are dyed in Zhaojiabao, and they are all new dyes, Song Yingxing has really made a lot of money in this regard, and the patent fees have a lot of money every month. In addition to the cotton cloth dyed in Zhaojiabao, there are also a large number of blankets and woolen sweaters, and since Mongolia and Tufan were defeated, woolen fabrics have increased rapidly. There are many soft and bright fur coats, high-end fur coats include mink, otter skin, fox skin and other types, and low-grade ones include bear skin, sheepskin, deerskin and so on.

With the economic recovery of the Huguang area, a large number of cowhides in the Huguang area are supplied to Shandong, and many leather shoes, leather boots, belts and other commodities have also appeared in the market.

In addition to the use, there are also a lot of things to eat.

There were fruits and spices from the South Seas, and foreign goods such as turkey, coffee, cocoa, and a small amount of European wine from the Americas, which were not very popular.

At the same time, there are many dried fish in the market, in addition to the Bohai Bay fishing, there are also from the Zhoushan Fishing Ground, most of the fishing products in the Bohai Bay are sold fresh, the fishing products of the Zhoushan Fishing Ground are sold in the south of the Yangtze River, there are a small amount of dried fish supplied to Shandong, and the largest dry goods are the hairtail fish.

The production of Hokkaido fishing grounds is not very high, most of it is dry, and a considerable amount of dried fish from the American colonies is also shipped back to Shandong.

And the traditional New Year's goods of the Ming Dynasty are so dazzling that when the year is approaching, Shandong's commodity imports account for 1/5 of the year, most of which are finished goods, not raw materials.

To the delight of foreign businessmen, Shandong's import tax has been abolished on many goods.

The unique trade barriers of the territory controlled by Zhao Yan are disgusting for manufacturers and traffickers outside the scope, which has also allowed the rapid development of factories in Shandong, and for some industries that have achieved the ability to confront each other, the Ministry of Commerce directly canceled the import tax on some goods at the end of the year, and reduced the import tax on some goods.

But this is internal, that is, within the Ming Dynasty. For the likes of the Ben, the import tax is still very high.

Not a Zhaojiabao prosperous at the end of the year, the whole Shandong, and even the whole Ming Dynasty, are much more prosperous than in previous years, although the economy of the south has been affected by textiles, but Zhao Yan also provides many employment opportunities for the people in the south, whether it is direct or indirect, and in the absence of war, there are people who come out for disaster relief, and the local agriculture recovery is very fast.

The most valuable place is still in Shandong.

There are many people in Shandong who are working under the political axe in Shandong, and there are more workers, salary plus welfare, generally have 2~5 taels a month, and there is no education, medical care and housing troubles, everyone has money in their hands, and after working for a year, there are generally more than ten or twenty taels of silver.

And earning a few dozen taels of silver a year is also very common in Shandong, and most of those skilled workers, teachers, officials, and professional soldiers have this amount.

The number of these middle class is already relatively large, and those high-class are businessmen and scientific researchers, as a businessman with a little brain, they can all make money in Shandong, even if the profit is not so high, it is profitable to spend a little effort to do it.

At this time, Shandong's economic situation is very good, where is the reason not to make money. If you have capital and brains, then the speed of making money is very fast. There are businessmen who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

For scientific researchers, as long as they really have knowledge and know how to invent and create, it is very easy to make a few thousand taels a year.

The whole Shandong is so rich, this year has naturally become a huge cake, most people are used to saving money, usually more economical, and at the end of the year, it is a generous moment.

Ordinary people, both in rural and urban areas, flock to markets and shops at the end of the year to buy New Year's goods.

Shandong is almost all in a burst of laughter, this is the biggest carnival of the year, people who have a lot of money in the buy basically do not think much about the price, as long as it is not beyond the range of acceptance, as long as they like the basic will buy.

The market in Shandong's counties and towns is very hot.

Chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, pigs and other kinds of meat are in sufficient supply at the end of the year, but the problem is that the local government axes do not predict enough to the market, and as a result, in the first-tier cities of Shandong, all kinds of meat products have been swept away.

"Not enough meat!" Zhao Yan was surprised when he received the report: "Didn't I ask the meat supply to be prepared below?" ”

"Lord, the demand for meat at the end of this year is a little frighteningly high, I am asking the slaughterhouse to continue slaughtering, it will be fine in a few days, the reserves of the farm are still very large." Zhang Buyun wiped the sweat on his forehead and said.

"Close the gap as soon as possible." Zhao Yan commanded.

The gap is not too big, there is basically no gap at the rural and township level, after all, there are farms everywhere, and it is not enough to pull directly.

In the first-tier cities, the purchasing power of citizens is relatively high, and the demand is relatively high, so there are some gaps, and the aquaculture industry has been initially developed.

According to the statistics of the Bureau of Statistics, the per capita meat consumption in Shandong is 10 kg/person, and the consumption is still relatively low, and the aquaculture industry is not developed in a day or two.

The New Year's Pass is when the merchant makes a lot of money, and it is also the time when the tax collection is the strictest and the quality of the goods is the strictest.

Zhao Yan does not suppress businessmen, but requires businessmen to have higher wealth than laborers, and at the same time, they cannot be abducted and deceived, and must play a real positive role.

After the closure of the whole year, more than 600 traders were arrested in Zhao Yan's administrative area, most of them were small traders who could not get on the table, and very few of those big businessmen participated in it.

Most of these small traders have not been in Shandong for a long time and are not familiar with Shandong's laws. Most were sentenced to half a month's detention, a small number were sentenced to one to three years' imprisonment, and a few were sentenced to longer prison terms in serious cases.

The punishment for businessmen is very severe, if they are found to maliciously defraud consumers, and other things that violate some bottom line, they will be deprived of business qualifications, and some people who are found to lack good business ethics and the circumstances are extremely serious, will be deprived of business qualifications for life. At the same time, these punished people often face the danger of imprisonment.

The commercial foundation of the Ming Dynasty has been established for more than 200 years, and the businessmen who have been on the table all attach importance to credibility, and pay attention to the promise of a thousand gold, and the golden signboard.

Only those small traders who can't get on the table can make a hammer deal and be cheated everywhere. Businessmen are supportive of Shandong's punishment, and they are happy to see Shandong's political axe advocate business ethics, and it is very reassuring for a person with business ethics to do business with another person with business ethics. Even some businessmen are unhappy with Shandong's punishment, and no one dares to stand up against or question it.

Traders who come to Shandong to do business have to stand the test, and some consumers like to report it, after all, there is a bounty to be taken.

Outside of Shandong, this year in other provinces is not bad, even if it is a bitter place, at least there is no need to go hungry during the New Year.

There were basically no more people in those poor areas, and the most common thing the recruitment bureau did was to move the Han people from the poor areas to Shandong, and then move the people from Shandong overseas.

The time of the year is also the best-selling time of cotton cloth in the provinces, before the arrival of the year, the textile factories opened by the Ministry of Commerce in various places have been shipped.

Since the introduction of the steam engine, the cotton production of the textile mill has doubled, and this is still in the state of complete replacement of the steam engine.

After all, a textile mill with a steam engine can produce at night, just add an electric lamp, and a steam engine can drive thousands of spindles, which is far from being comparable to water power, which leads to a reduction in the production cost of cotton cloth.

Other provinces in the Ming Dynasty were staring at the market in Shandong, while merchants in Shandong were staring at the markets in the provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and Shandong goods began to flood the provinces.

On the whole, although the end of Chongzhen's eleventh year was not perfect, most of them felt much better than in previous years.

With the resumption of production, the price of food has come down, and so has the price of meat, which has moved away from the ridiculously high level it used to be. The variety of goods has increased, and the price of cotton cloth has fallen again.

After the Yellow River region was brought under control last year, there was no breach during the rainy season in autumn, let alone a diversion, and the Yellow River basin area was basically stabilized.

The Yangtze River basin also achieved certain results in harnessing last year, but there were still two floods that were said to be big and small.

The Yangtze River basin has become an important commercial and trade area, and Shandong's goods travel directly upstream from the Yangtze River and then transport the raw materials from the basin back to Shandong.

From Chinese New Year's Eve, various performances are organized everywhere.

Zhaojiabao has the most performance activities, after constantly gathering folk artists, digging out many excellent art projects, most of these outstanding folk artists are working in various universities in Shandong, and the Chinese New Year is naturally their busiest time.

Merchants from all over the country also organized various celebrations during the Chinese New Year, and the whole of Shandong was plunged into a carnival, and everyone was full of hope for the future.

Many people can't go back to Shandong for the New Year, but this is only a matter of a few years, and those conscripts are basically outside, and they can be discharged after a few years. The infantry brigade of the 1st Division, which is dominated by professional soldiers, returned to Shandong for repairs and went home on holiday during the Chinese New Year.

In the colony and the deserted places of Mobei, Monan, and Nuergandusi, the atmosphere of the Spring Festival is also not bad, and the local Han people have organized various activities.

…… The twelfth year of Chongzhen has arrived.

Last year, the Cabinet collected 35 million taels of silver, a record amount of revenue, mainly in the commercial and agricultural taxes.

Although the agricultural tax has been reduced by the exemption of several provinces, there is still an agricultural tax in the southern provinces. Coupled with the relatively large amount of commercial tax, it has reached the level of more than 3,500 taels.

To this end, the cabinet also returned 20 million taels to Denglai Bank, and there are still 15 million taels of finance to budget. Denlai Bank, which had recovered the money, greatly reduced its operating pressure and began to invest again.

The cabinet has not done much this year, basically no more projects, just using the money to keep the empire running.

However, this year, Zhao Yan's appetite is relatively large, and he intends to swallow the four provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Henan, and Huguang, so the cabinet is going to change governors and officials in these four provinces.

Shandong has already put out a list of officials, and the cabinet can implement it according to this list.

Zhao Yan was more targeted in choosing the administrative area to be annexed in the 12th year of Chongzhen, Shaanxi was the most affected by the disaster and the most prone to turmoil, so it was better to intervene as soon as possible, and move the Han people in northern Shaanxi out this year, so that the troops deployed in Shaanxi could be diverted.

Henan is an important cotton producing area, and because of its proximity to Shandong, Henan has recovered well this year, and it would have recovered even better if there had been no locust plague that came out from time to time to disturb it.

Huguang and Sichuan are grain production bases, and the Jianghuai region has high agricultural taxes, where land annexation is okay, and the rich generally do not buy much land, but the land annexation of Huguang and Sichuan is about to start governance.

Zhao Yan naturally couldn't do a loss-making business, so much silver was smashed down to build a water conservancy project, but those landlords picked peaches, how could he be happy?

These four provinces are bound to be swallowed by Zhao Yan within this year, and it is also the goal to kill Chongzhen from this year to next year, but Chongzhen will not have much impact now, but he is very unhappy when he keeps jumping there.

Recently, Yang Sichang has been contacting landlords and royal nobles and other old forces in various places, and Zhao Yan naturally noticed it.

As soon as the New Year was over, the cabinet began to vote, and it was no surprise that all the bills proposed by Zhao Yan were passed by the overwhelming majority of votes.

Zhao Yan's influence in the cabinet is becoming more and more huge, nearly eighty percent of the cabinet members are already in Zhao Yan's camp, Zhao Yan's current rights are no different from the emperor, but there is some supervision, but he stands on the moral high ground every time, and supervision has no effect on him.

Even if he is caught, at least it is not too big, for example, at the end of the year, Chongzhen began to make trouble again, he said that the salt tax was not paid.

Zhao Yan didn't pay a penny of salt tax last year, which was originally the emperor's private money, but it was swallowed by Zhao Yan, and Chongzhen naturally wanted to make trouble.

This incident was also widely rendered by Chongzhen in newspapers, and almost the entire Ming Dynasty knew about it.

After nearly half a month, Zhao Yan ignored him at all, and no one came out to give him an explanation...... It was a relentless blow.

On the first day of the cabinet's work, he directly put forward a salt tax reform bill, which intended to take back the salt tax from the emperor and use it for national infrastructure construction.

The country has no money! Naturally, you have to start with the salt tax, and the reason is very open, what do you want so much silver for an emperor who breaks food.

This bill was passed under Chongzhen's strong opposition, and the cabinet made another bill, and the content of this bill was to no longer allocate military funds to Chongzhen.

The reason is also very fair, the cabinet allocated military funds to the royal family, that is for the purpose of defending the territory, you Zhu Youzhen did a good job, and even reduced the troops in the provinces, since you are no longer responsible for traveling, why do you still allocate military funds.

Zhao Yan's blow to Chongzhen began.

It is necessary to kill him economically, and it is not clear whether he can be killed or not, but at least it must be rectified in this direction, so the salt tax is not given, and the military budget is not given.

"Next, it's time to cut off the henchmen of the old forces." After Zhao Yan learned that the two bills were passed, he had a follow-up plan in his heart.

Zhang Buyun was summoned and asked to hurry up and send officials to Shaanxi, Henan, Sichuan, and Huguang, and asked to make a strict administrative plan.

Before the Lantern Festival ended, Zhang Buyun sent officials to these four provinces, and the cabinet and Shandong's documents frequently came and went.

The officials of these four provinces have collectively 'fallen from power', nearly half of them have been transferred to idle posts, and nearly half have been touched, and the oil and water of these corrupt officials are also good.

Zhao Yan has been active in these four provinces for a long time, and each province has a large number of intelligence officers, and it is very clear which official is corrupt and which official is better.

In addition to this batch, a batch of them have also been disposed of before, mainly because some of them are exempt from taxes, and as a result, the local officials are still collecting taxes, and Zhao Yan's intelligence officers will be clear when they check it, and if they find it clear, they will naturally arrest people directly, and then send them to Dali Temple for trial.

And Chongzhen has been making trouble for half a month about the salt tax incident.

Basically, few people care, and what they care about is the old forces on Chongzhen's side, and they also belong to the type of unreasonable trouble.

Zhao Yan's budget for this year can be said to have put a lot of effort into infrastructure construction, and he has invested so much money into it, what is the salt tax without him Chongzhen?

(To be continued)