At the end of the year, the weather in Beijing was bitingly cold. Melting snow makes the wet ground even more mottled.

There are more and more pedestrians, cars and horses on the streets, and Beijing is recovering the vitality of the imperial capital at the fastest speed, and the most distinctive of them is that it has become an army of bicycles like a 'sea torrent'!

Especially in winter, when it snows, watching others wrestle on bicycles in the morning and afternoon when commuting becomes a great pleasure for many people.

On the street where the snow had just melted, a four-wheeled carriage with a small red flag drove over, turned the street, and drove onto West Chang'an Street, escorted by several cavalrymen. This is one of the rules that Daqin has always had. Because Liu Xian was really afraid of assassins.

Now the ministers of the court, none of the positions seem to be irreplaceable.

Yan Jingming leaned on the soft seat in the carriage and closed his eyes to rest. He is now going to the palace to see Liu Xian and report to the emperor on the current financial work.

But to be honest, Yan Jingming really doesn't want to enter the palace now.

The basket of the Ministry of Finance is getting bigger and bigger, Yan Jingming is very 'eating the king's fortune, loyal to the king', he is now full of the huge financial deficit, the Qin army's 'spoils' are getting less and less, in another two years, after all the 'loot' is sold, how can the deficit be made up?

Yan Jingming doesn't think that in three to five years, China's fiscal revenue can quadruple!

The size of the Qin army's army is constantly expanding, and Liu Xian's goal is to ensure that the country's army is one million, and the scale of immigration work in the northeast, Inner Mongolia, and even northwest and Lanfang will also become larger and larger. Huge expenditure on education, construction of railways, highways, and waterways, and management of the Huanghuai and Yangtze River projects. and many state-owned construction ......

The fiscal deficit next year and the year after will only get bigger and bigger, and will not become less with the recovery of agricultural taxes. Compared to the huge expenses. How much is the basic plate of agricultural tax? Moreover, the peasant gentry could not only pay the agricultural tax in Chinese dollars, but also pay in kind by themselves, and they were free to do as they pleased. There is no way to solve the problem with a high deficit.

Yan Jingming was just thinking about financial issues for a while, and he didn't care about other things. The specifics of the Treasury are the responsibility of his officials, and only the final result is handed to him.

There is no way to talk about the reduction of central finance. Yan Jingming feels that the current Great Qin government is the standard 'sitting and eating empty', and he is really 'a clever woman who can't cook without rice'.

China has too many big things to do. As the Minister of Finance, he is a high-ranking bigwig in the cabinet. Yan Jingming had no way not to worry.

Yan Jingming was helpless about this situation, and the only two ways he could come up with to deal with it were to borrow money from foreign consortia and banks internationally. This was a common move used by the Manchus; The second is the issuance of treasury bonds.

Treasury bonds, a very popular word in Europe. European and American countries, especially the great powers, rarely have freaks who have not issued national bonds. But Yan Jingming is very unfamiliar with 'national debt'. During the Manchu Dynasty, the word 'national debt' was completely absent from the minds of the courtiers. That day, everyone in the world loved Xinjue Luo. What is a 'debt' to repay a 'debt'?

And to tell the truth, the credibility of the Qing court at that time had long been bankrupt. You can hear the sound of throwing silver into the water, but when you use it to buy the treasury bonds of the Qing court, it is a meat bun beating a dog -- gone forever! Not even a single sound could be heard.

So. This visit to the Imperial Palace, the work report of the Ministry of Finance, this year's fiscal growth and budget, deficit, etc. are all secondary issues. The main issue is 'international borrowing' vs. 'national debt'.

China now has the best relations with Germany, and it is okay with Britain and France. France is a usury empire, even if the estrangement between China and Great Qin will not really be bridged. As long as there are interests, France will not lose a big one because of a small one.

For the 'usurers', who lose their own interests because of the problems of the state, that is the standard 'small loss of big'.

And then there's the United States. Now Uncle Sam is holding back his internal strength, and it won't be too easy to borrow from them. At this time, the United States was not the world economic hegemon after World War I.

So theoretically, borrowing from Germany is the wisest option. It would also strengthen the close relationship between the two central governments, and the international loan would be more acceptable to the people, and it would be less likely to be attacked by political opponents and the press.

The "Press Law" has already been promulgated by Daqin, but there is no provision in it prohibiting attacks on government officials. Yan Jingming attaches great importance to his reputation.

Yan Jingming is emotionally inclined to treasury bonds, but he has no idea in his heart, and he doesn't know whether treasury bonds are not easy to sell. China's businessmen and traditional gentry have already begun to invest in industry, and it is questionable whether they will be willing to use their funds to buy public bonds. With borrowing, things are much simpler.

"The wind and rain are shaking, and the state affairs are so difficult!"

There were too many pulls down before. Now China's strength is increasing by leaps and bounds, but it makes people feel very unremarkable. It's too fast, there's no reflection target, it's very unsteady.

At the gate of the palace, Yan Jingming saw Li Hongzhang's carriage and asked the guards, Li Hongzhang arrived half an hour earlier than him, and he hadn't come out yet.

When Yan Jingming entered the palace, someone immediately greeted him and took him to Shuqing Courtyard.

Shuqing Temple, located in the northeast corner of the South China Sea, is a small garden built during the Qianlong period, and the style is similar to that of Beihai Jingxinzhai. In the park, there are buildings such as Liushui Sound Pavilion, Baoguang Room, Pengying in the Wangdian, Cloud Painting Building, Qingyin Pavilion, Rizhi Pavilion, Wanzi Gallery, Shuanghuan Wanshou Pavilion and so on.

Today, Liu Xian met Li Hongzhang here.

"Lord Yan." Yan Jingming waited for half an hour, and Li Hongzhang Shi Ran walked out of it. The two looked at each other, so they naturally wanted to say hello.

Yan Jingming doesn't fight with Li Hongzhang for anything. First, he didn't have this heart, and second, Li Hongzhang inspected Mongolia this summer, and he handled things effectively and steadily. Yan Jingming didn't dare to press Li Hongzhang. Third, what qualifications does Li Hongzhang have? Yan Jingming's own status is much lower than Li Hongzhang's, and now according to the ranking of officials, he is not inferior to Li Hongzhang, but as soon as he argues, Yan Jingming will inevitably be criticized.

"Look at Lord Li's face full of red light. It's a happy event again. ”

"Haha, it's a matter of salt administration. Now Sichuan salt has been rectified. The salt administration company's eyes are set on the salt lake in Qinghai, and it needs to negotiate with the local Mongolian and Tibetan tribes and chiefs to solve the problem. After half a year, the results finally came out. "A real 'salt trust' is about to emerge in China. The salt lake was also taken over by the Salt Administration Company, and all the places that produce salt in the whole of China will belong to the Salt Administration Company.

Yan Jingming knew about this. And Liu Xian asked Li Hongzhang to preside over this matter. It is naturally a great thing to be able to report good news at the end of the year.

"That's a great thing. Next year, the old man will definitely keep a firm eye on the salt company. The central finance also needs to be supported by large profit-makers such as the Salt Administration Company. ”

"Master Li, this salt money must be placed in Huaxia Bank."

"Hahaha......"

The two made a slight acquaintance, Li Hongzhang hurriedly walked out, and Yan Jingming saw Liu Xian in civilian clothes.

As for borrowing money or issuing treasury bonds, Liu Xian did not accept the information prepared by Yan Jingming. You can grasp both of these things with both hands, and both hands should be hard.

Early borrowing from European and American countries. But see who gives the most favorable conditions. Liu Xian is not resistant to borrowing, although in the modern history of China, every famous large-scale borrowing by China has been accompanied by a large loss of national interests and sovereignty. But this is the responsibility of those in power, and it has nothing to do with 'borrowing' itself!

And the issuance of treasury bonds is also completely digestible for Liu Xian. A modern country, where there is no 'national debt'? If you can owe debts to the point of Lao Mei, it will be a bull fork!

The establishment of China's first stock exchange, the 'Shanghai Stock Exchange,' in Shanghai next year, will also provide the greatest convenience for the issuance of treasury bonds.

"The amount of treasury bonds issued may wish to be larger, and a part of it should be set aside as long-term treasury bonds." Liu Xian felt that there was still a lot of potential for the Chinese people. Don't look at the fact that so many modern enterprises have been added in the past two years, it is really compared with China's private wealth. That's just a drop in the bucket!

Liu Xian hopes that he can continue to absorb real money from the private sector with 'national bonds'. China seems to have always been a 'family in the world', and all the wealth in the world belongs to the emperor alone. There has never been a word for a 'national debt'.

Liu Xian will introduce the "Constitution" next year, and the sanctity of personal legitimate wealth will certainly stimulate the issuance of treasury bonds.

"Is this year's fiscal deficit counted? How much more than last year? ”

They talked for more than an hour about borrowing money and issuing government bonds. Liu Xian asked Yan Jingming to go back and prepare well. Then I asked about the fiscal deficit. In the first three quarters of this year, the fiscal deficit reached 20 billion Chinese yuan, and he does not know if it will reach 25 billion Chinese yuan by the end of the year.

And as for the specific amount of 'loot' left, Liu Xian is a little unclear. That's too big, too fragmentary. He also needed to ask Yan Jingming about it. I don't know if next year's fiscal deficit will be able to survive.

"Your Majesty, the financial statistics are not over yet. The final deficit is expected to be around $26 billion. As for local real estate and land properties......"

In the past two years, with the advent of the great unification of the country, real estate, shops and land properties in various places have been purchased by local tycoons very quickly. Huaxia Bank received a large amount of gold and silver, and although a part of it was allocated to the Development Bank and the China Construction Bank, the main body was still stored in the treasury of Huaxia Bank. It's a pity that Hua Yuan is not a reserve of gold and silver, otherwise Liu Xian could have issued additional banknotes to smooth out the deficit.

Liu Xian, who knew little about modern finance, did not dare to do so lightly.

It has always allowed Huaxia Bank to maintain the amount of income and the amount of gold and silver issued by Huayuan, and maintain a ratio of 1:1 to maintain the total wealth of the society. He was very afraid of touching Huayuan's storage system and impacting Huayuan's 'value'.

The lessons of the Japanese are the lessons of China's future.

Another thing is that China's current finances can still support it, relying on the profits from the sale of 'war spoils', and up to now, the Ministry of Finance still has more than 2 billion surplus funds on its books.

Liu Xian's reference in this matter is the price of grain in various places, and China's production is rapidly recovering, and if the social flow of money decreases, and grain and other qiē materials increase, the corresponding price will inevitably decrease. Only when he sees the real number of jù will Liu Xian decide whether to issue more banknotes! (To be continued......)