Shu's expenditure is indeed very large, far beyond the scope of Tianfu's production, but Sima Yi didn't know that Shu still had two major economic sources. One is the output of the "Ministry of Industry". The scale of the "Ministry of Industry" has been repeatedly expanded in the past few years, and now it has more than 100,000 personnel, and the scope of the "Ministry of Industry" is comparable to that of a medium and large city.

In addition to firearms, which burned money, the "Ministry of Industry" produced a wide variety of civilian goods, such as all kinds of paper, books, fine wine, alcohol, cement, horse-drawn carriages, glass and its products, and so on. These products are sold in various countries and have gained a lot.

To Liu Hou's surprise, the most profitable products turned out to be a variety of glass products. The glass mirror that can illuminate people very clearly is naturally favored by female compatriots all over the world, and various glass crafts have been collected by nobles from all over the world. After the glassblowing method was relayed and taught by Zuo Ci, many craftsmen have now mastered this skill.

In particular, those glass handicrafts that are shiny or colorful are even liked by the nobles of the ethnic minorities in southern Shunan, western Shu and Tibet, and they even think that these are gems given by God, and are regarded as priceless treasures, and even willing to take out half of the cattle and sheep of the tribe to exchange for a glass handicraft.

This is also the reason why even ordinary soldiers in the Shu army can guarantee that they can eat a small piece of meat almost every day, there are many ethnic minority tribes scattered in western and southern Shu, and Tibet has not yet established the Tubo State, only some Tibetan ~ ancestors and Qiang people are active.

Most of these tribes are scattered in the form of tribes in the vast dense forests and plateaus, and live in poverty, with almost nothing but cattle and sheep. Most of them have not formed a state, and even if they are like the Ugo country of the vultures, they are actually just a larger tribe, and they cannot be regarded as a country in the real sense of the word.

The Han people of Shu are willing to make a deal with these poor clans, they agree with 10,000, they lack everything, they want everything, not to mention these glass products, even if it is an iron pot, a stone of rice, and a bag of salt, they can exchange a lot of cattle and sheep with them.

Of course, most of the tribes do not have many cattle and sheep, and the number of cattle and sheep needed by Shu is very large, so it can only contact countless such large and small tribes, this tribe trades dozens, that tribe trades hundreds, and obtains a lot of meat and leather by gathering sand into a tower.

Some of these cattle and sheep were transported back to Chengdu, where they were transported to Jingzhou by water, and then turned north to supply the rations of the Northern Expeditionary Army. However, it was not easy to transport live livestock over long distances, so Liu Hou set up a large meat processing factory and a tannery in western and southern Shu. Cattle and sheep are slaughtered here in a centralized manner, skinned and deboned, and the skins are sent to the tannery, where they are tanned and made into various leather goods.

However, most of the leather is used as a raw material for the production of hot air balloons and angry birds, and very little leather enters the private sector. The large amount of meat obtained after slaughter is made into air-dried beef or air-dried mutton, which is then transported to the front as military rations.

Beef jerky originated from the war food of the Mongolian iron cavalry, which is easy to carry and rich in nutrition. It is known as "Genghis Khan's marching food".

The method of making these jerky is very simple, first marinated with oil, salt, vinegar, sugar and other seasonings, then air-dried for about 10 days to make it only about 40% of its weight, and then baked in the oven for three hours to complete the production. This kind of jerky is not only simple to make, but also delicious, hunger-resistant, nutritious, and easy to transport, and is simply a first-class military ration. No wonder the Mongol armies used it for military rations.

In addition to the huge profits brought by the various commodities produced by the "Ministry of Industry", Liu Hou also had a "killer feature" that could quickly amass wealth, that is, the treasury of the occupied areas. The Shu army attacked the city and plundered the land all the way, occupying countless cities, and every time it occupied a city, the Shu army almost emptied the money and grain in the treasury. Generally speaking, each city had some grain to deal with the famine, and as soon as the Shu army came, all of this grain was cheaper for them.

Of course, there are also some defenders of the city who will resist stubbornly and burn the grain when the city is broken, but after all, it is a minority. The offensive of the Shu army has always been fierce, often able to quickly break through the city, and there are hot air balloons to detect the location of the granary in advance, and even airborne special forces to protect the granary. Therefore, the Shu army was often able to send a force to guard the granary before the enemy set fire, so that the enemy's plan to burn grain failed.

In this case, the magistrate will naturally consciously protect the treasury, especially after Cao Pi moved the capital, many cities on the north bank of the Yangtze River have chosen anyway under Liu Hou's edict. The treasury in these cities is well preserved, and their grain storage makes the supply of grain and grass for the Shu army completely unpressed.

Sima Yi obviously didn't know all the financial sources of the Shu army, so he was so confused. He thought that Shu's finances were bankrupt. That's why he came forward to put forward these two strategies, in order to share the emperor's worries. Who knew that things would go in that direction, and now Deng Zhi and Guo Youzhi both thought that he was a minister, and he was here to harm the people, the Han court, and the world, so they joined forces to suppress Sima Yi with all their might.

Liu Hou finally came to his senses at this time, Sima Yi's move was really a big evil trick and a stupid move. The State of Shu started with Liu Bei, and has always adhered to the benevolent style and lightly punished the poor, so it has also won the support of the people. Now Liu Hou's tax collection is only one in thirty, which is unprecedentedly low among previous dynasties.

Han Dynasty ~ At the beginning of the founding of the country, it was fifteen taxes and one one, and later it was changed to thirty taxes and one tax. Thirty tax one, that is, about three percent ~ point three three. The 15th tax is equal to about 6.67 percent. In later generations, invoices were issued casually, and the tax points paid were at least six or seven points.

Therefore, the tax rate of thirty taxes and one is even lower than the tax rate of later generations. However, please don't think that if the imperial court implements the tax rate of 30 taxes and 1, the people will be able to live well and be rich. The fact is that people are still living in dire straits, why is that?

Because there was more than one kind of tax in the old society. In addition to paying the land tax, you also have to pay the so-called "calculation tax" and "mouth tax", that is, "poll tax". In addition, young adults are subject to conscription and military service.

Therefore, in the old society, the lives of ordinary people were not good at all, and they had to face many oppressions and exploitations. However, Liu Hou's implementation of the 30 taxes is different from the past, this is really the 30 taxes 1, because Liu Hou abolished the "poll tax" and forced labor, and the people did not need to pay other taxes in addition to paying grain tax and commercial tax. Under such a policy, if the people are not able to live a happy life, then they can really only blame the incompetence of the magistrates and themselves for not working hard enough.