The winter of the first year of the Apocalypse came, and the towns in Beijing and Beizhili have undergone a lot of changes in a short period of time, and the urban infrastructure has built public toilets, public baths, and urban drainage systems, and there are affordable housing projects, nursing homes, and orphanage construction projects.

At the same time, the establishment of the Sanitation Bureau also made a group of sanitation workers wearing the word "sanitation" printed on them appear in various towns in Beizhili, cleaning the streets and alleys.

The city has become much cleaner and tidy, and the public toilets have made it easier for the common people. Public bathhouses also make it much more convenient for people to take a bath, especially the bath ticket is very cheap, and you can often get a free bath ticket after a day's work on the construction site.

Ordinary people who get bath tickets can go to the bathhouse to take a bath. Of course, the bathhouse is divided into men and women, because the crowd is concentrated, and the cost is naturally low.

The cost of a bathhouse is nothing more than water and coal. The main thing is the cost of coal, and the cost is not high. The main thing is that it may not be convenient for ordinary people to take a bath at home. It's cold in winter, so I have to go to work. It's more convenient to get to the bathhouse, and you can go in and wash it directly.

The price of the bath ticket is two pennies, and the child is half the price, the price is very cheap, and the operation can still be slightly profitable, but it is not for the purpose of profit, after all, it is a public facility.

The repair, construction, and transformation of the urban drainage system have also ensured the drainage of various towns in Beizhili, and under normal circumstances, it will not flood Jinshan. If there is any heavy rain, it can only be said to be a special case.

Although it has entered winter, the hearts of the people of Beizhili are warm.

Because not long ago, the emperor issued a policy of subsistence allowance for families who lack the ability to work.

At the same time, the emperor also launched 'parity grain' for the common people, and the common people could go to the Jimin grain store to buy parity grain, and the price per stone was only 1 tael of silver, equivalent to 1.2 silver dollars. The standard for buying affordable grain is also very simple, that is, only plainly dressed people can buy it, and the purchase limit is 5 catties each time.

The price of grain at 1.5 taels per stone is indeed inflated. Such a high price is mainly the result of the monopoly of the grain retail market by private capital, the formation of a price alliance, and the reduction of grain production.

For those grain banks, grain is never to be sold. If you can't sell it, it's a big deal to save it. It's really not good, it's always okay to use it to make wine, right? If there is any disaster year, you will get rich directly.

The formation of a cartel monopoly model by private capital is indeed the main culprit in raising food prices.

The price of grain dropped to 1 tael per stone, although this price was not profitable, but it accumulated a good reputation for Zhu Youxiao, and at the same time ensured that the poor people could better survive the winter.

These infrastructure activities, as well as safeguard measures, quickly spread throughout Beizhili this winter. However, Zhu Youxiao also spends money like running water, and a large amount of silver dollars are being sprinkled out.

After spending tens of millions of yuan, there were soon more than 10 million yuan. This is the income from taxes, salt administration, coinage, etc. However, because the scale of infrastructure is 'relatively large', it is simply a waste of money. Or rather, there is still too little money.

The mint is currently the most profitable, and the silver that was transported from all over the country by Shanxi ticket numbers can be said to be in a steady stream, being transported to the capital by carts, and then exchanged for carts of silver dollars and transported out of the capital.

Before the end of the year, Shun Lì minted 120 million silver dollars, achieving a profit of 10 million yuan, and at the same time, the minting of copper dollars and copper coins also made a profit of about 3 million yuan.

"There should be more than 800 million taels of silver in the whole country, and the silver dollar minting will still produce huge profits next year." Yang Guorui predicted.

Daming does have a lot of silver, and it is estimated that more than 500 million taels of silver will flow into the Americas. It is not so much that the Ming indirectly plundered the people of the Americas, but that the Spaniards plundered the wealth of the Ming. The Spaniards exchanged inedible silver for a large number of commodities from the Ming Dynasty, which caused the Ming Dynasty to have a strict gap between the rich and the poor.

Silver dollar minting can make almost one-tenth of the profit, which is definitely a big source of money. After all the silver has been minted into silver dollars and a sum of money has been made, the next step is to make paper money!

It doesn't matter if there is a financial hole in Daming Bank now, as long as paper money is made, a large amount of precious metals can be grabbed.

"Where's the copper coin? Will production be expanded next year? Zhu Youxiao asked, copper coins are also a very good source of money! Yang Guorui said: "The mining company has been expanding the scale of mining at the fastest speed, and it is expected to produce more than 12 million catties of copper next year and mint 2 billion copper coins." Coupled with the purchase from private mines, it is not a problem to mint 5 billion copper coins. Yang Guorui reported.

Zhu Youxiao immediately said: "You don't need to buy copper from private mines, you should mine it yourself!" It can increase employment. ”

Mining can indeed increase a lot of employment, and it is necessary to have grain in advance. It is thought that mining is more grain-intensive, and the population who open the mine does not participate in grain production, and at the same time, there is some loss in the process of transporting grain into the mining area.

"It's okay, but the amount of minting is less." Yang Guorui said, Zhu Youxiao doesn't care very much, and there is no need to be in such a hurry to make too many copper coins in one go, and issue them slowly, and the long stream of water is the king. 12 million catties of copper, equivalent to 7,200 tons of copper, such an output is indeed a bit unable to keep up with the demand, so we can continue to expand the scale of copper mining.

Grain is obviously not a problem, the first batch of grain by sea of shipping companies has been transported to Dagukou, the grain transportation organized more than 3,000 large ships nearly 30 ships, transported 150,000 stone of grain, during the transportation process, Denglai sailors escorted. However, there were no pirates encountered along the way.

The first batch of grain transported belonged to the grain of Jimin Grain Bank, not the grain transported by Cao. The 2 million stones that were transported will be transported next, mainly because the ships are still being built. Most of the more than 30 ships organized this time are hired civilian ships. Because of the large tonnage, it dares to go to sea in winter.

The speed is also relatively fast, this time from the Yangtze River estuary to the sea, sailing to Dagukou, it only took ten days, or because of the headwind, the ship is in a zigzag.

If the wind is right, it will be there in about three or four days.

This is the advantage of large ships, before the Ming Dynasty used small boats to transport grain, when taking the sea route, you must stick to the coast, the result is a lot of detours, the distance is far away. After all, if you go around the Shandong Peninsula, the distance will become two or three thousand highways. If there is no detour, the nearest route from Songjiang to Dagukou is only about 1,200 kilometers. The specific number of days to arrive depends on the direction of the wind.

The only problem now is the lack of ships, and nothing else.

The manufacturing cycle of large ships is relatively long, so Yuan Keli plans to use small boats for transportation for the time being, after all, small boats are easy to build and the cost is low.

It won't be long before more and more grain will be brought in from the south, and Zhu Youxiao doesn't have to worry about the shortage of grain at all.

At the end of the year, Zhu Youxiao made a simple financial budget.

Next year's military expenditure will cost 30 million yuan, to say the least, first, the navy will be set up, second, the border army will be reorganized, and third, the artillery will be cast in large quantities.

Without 30 million military spending, we won't be able to play next year.

In terms of coinage, it is not a big problem to get 20 million yuan next year, and the rest is that the salt administration and taxes belong to a relatively large amount of fiscal revenue, and next year it is not a big problem to thoroughly figure out the tax and salt policies of Beizhili, and it is not a big problem to get tens of millions of yuan in a year.

In this way, military spending is almost there.

Other companies still owe a lot of debts to the bank to repay, and there is still a surplus on the whole, but they have to invest in expanding production, so there is not much money that can be mobilized. In particular, a large amount of funds have been withdrawn this year, and so many funds will be withdrawn next year, and the royal capital will not need to expand.

Repairing water conservancy, disaster relief, and so on all costs silver! The imperial court's financial revenue of four or five million taels was obviously not enough for Zhu Youxiao to toss.

"Still short of money! The gap is still relatively large. "Zhu Youxiao feels that there is really a long way to go! In order to fill next year's financial gap, Zhu Youxiao quickly set his sights on the remaining Donglin Party bigwigs.

Ye Xianggao, Liu Yixian, Han Yi, all of them are big guys! All of them have more than one million dollars, and if these guys are copied, next year's finances will be stable.

If you give these Donglin Party bigwigs a pot at one time, it will be a bit of a big trouble, if there is no particularly good reason, it is obviously not easy to start!

"Wei Zhongxian, what is my image in the minds of the people in the capital now?" Zhu Youxiao called Wei Zhongxian over at this time and asked Wei Zhongxian.

"Your Majesty, after some publicity, the people already love you very much." Wei Zhongxian replied. Zhu Youxiao asked again: "What about the Donglin Party?" ”

"Now the reputation of the Donglin Party has become stinky, and even the children in the capital know that the Donglin Party is the scum of the people who suck the bones and marrow." When Wei Zhongxian talked about this, he couldn't help but be very proud. After the joint propaganda of the factory guards, the Donglin Party is indeed famous at this time.

However, the propaganda can have such a huge effect, and it has something to do with Zhu Youxiao's spending of tens of millions of yuan, and this money is not spent in vain. This is the best evidence of Emperor Shengming! Since the emperor is a saint, those who oppose the emperor must be traitorous ministers.

"Okay, the people's hearts are available! In this case, tomorrow I will go to the court to discuss the collection of commercial taxes. If the Donglin Party does not agree, it will be reported immediately. At the same time, the factory guard immediately organized the people to jointly write to the court to severely punish the traitors of the Donglin Party. Zhu Youxiao came up with a bad stomach again.

"Your Majesty is wise." Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but praise sincerely, no one could have thought of this idea. As the saying goes, the sky and the earth are big, and the people's hearts are the biggest.

If there is a large group of people in the capital who demand severe punishment of the Donglin Party, and even a posture of wanting to make a civil uprising, this black pot will be deducted from the head of the Donglin Party, and the Donglin Party will be able to stand it? When the time comes, for the sake of the people's indignation, it is a justifiable thing to push the boat down the river to arrest and ask for the guilty.

"The premise is that the momentum is loud enough." Zhu You said to Wei Zhongxian.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the slaves and maids will definitely make a big splash when the time comes." Wei Zhongxian patted his chest and reassured. (To be continued.) )