In the winter of the 20th year of Longwu, on the 27th of December, in the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
The joint conference of the ministers and cabinet assistants was being held.
The First Secretary of the Cabinet, Xu Guangqi, presided over the meeting.
Huang Yuan, the current Minister of Works, was giving his annual work report.
"Since the construction of the Dazhi Road was completed in the 13th year of Longwu, the official roads connecting to the Dazhi Road have been constantly repaired. Now, the official roads in the entire southeast, Liaodong, Northern Zhili, Shandong, and Guanzhong have all been repaired.
It is estimated that in the middle of next year, the official road from Sichuan to Jiangxi will be mostly repaired, and the official road from Northern Zhili to the northwest will also be mostly completed. The next step is to go further into the Western Region and the grassland. On the basis of the Dazhi Road, the official roads will be used to connect the various counties. According to His Majesty's policy of starting from the east and then the west, this plan is being carried out smoothly.
The repair work of the Yunnan-Burma Road is progressing smoothly. Now half of it has been completed. It is estimated that it will be completely completed in the 22nd year of Longwu. After that, there will be a large road from Yunnan to Myanmar.
In the future, if the goods from Sichuan want to go out to sea, there is no need to make a big detour. They can go straight to Myanmar along the Dazhi Road, and go straight to Genoa and France through the port of Yangon. This will save one to two months of time, and Sichuan's trade can also be greatly promoted and developed. "
After Huang Yuan finished speaking, he sat down by himself. Xu Guangqi nodded and said, "Next is the Ministry of Finance."
"Yes."
Xu Jinguang, the Minister of Finance, stood up and opened his report document.
"The total revenue of the four quarters of the 20th year of Longwu is more than 63,710,000 taels of silver. The proportion of agricultural tax has been reduced to 21%. The factory tax has increased by 5% compared to the 19th year of Longwu, reaching 15%. The construction of wool and cotton textile factories is very fast.
Among the commercial taxes, the proportion of revenue from ocean trade has reached 33%, and the proportion of domestic trade has reached 23%. Daqin's foreign trade accounts for a large proportion, mainly to the countries of Southeast Asia, Europe, and Russia in the northwest.
The total annual expenditure was 51.76 million taels of silver. The highest expenditures were for education subsidies, medical subsidies, road repairs, military expenditures, and city construction. The total annual balance was 11.95 million taels of silver. The financial surplus was relatively large, meeting His Majesty's expectations.
In addition, according to His Majesty's request, starting from next year, Mengxue School in the northwest and southwest regions will be given special subsidies for education. The subsidies will be used to purchase study tables, chairs, and the four treasures of the study. There will also be educational subsidies for needy families to ensure that at least one child will be able to go to school and learn to read.
The secondary schools that His Majesty had requested to be built had already been built in the southeastern region and Northern Zhili. In order to achieve the goal of having one secondary school per county, the follow-up plan was to invest three million taels of silver. In the follow-up plan, there were 116 primary schools and 372 secondary schools in the planning stage.
Since the eleventh year of Longwu, the university has been officially opened in twelve cities: Nanjing, Beijing, Kaifeng, Ningbo, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yangon, Shenyang, Xi'an, Chengdu, Wuchang, and Kunming. There are still six more universities under construction. "
Xu Guangqi nodded again. "Okay."
Xu Jinguang had just sat down when Minister of Personnel Chen Yuan suddenly stood up. He turned to Emperor Xiao Ruxun, who was seated at the highest seat of honor.
"Your Majesty, regarding the construction of the university, because the number of graduates from the university is relatively small, the demand for graduates from the universities is very high. As a result, the number of officials in the various regions is also increasing, especially in the northwest and Ü-Tsang.
These regions that have been under the rule of the Daqin for less than five years are especially lacking in officials. In consideration of the problem of Your Majesty's grassroots policies, could Your Majesty consider building more universities?
Otherwise, if this situation continues, Ü-Tsang will have a shortfall of 137 officials this year, more than 200 next year, and more than 300 the year after that. "
Before Xiao Ruxun could respond, Xu Jinguang retorted, "Chen Butang, it's irresponsible of you to say such things. Do you think that we can build universities just because we say so?"
"Your finance ministry has an annual surplus of more than ten million taels of silver, and it's been growing every year for several years now. At the moment, the treasury probably has so much silver that it can't even be stored away, right? What are you keeping all that silver for? Is it to give birth to small silver? "
Chen Yuan retorted back at Xu Jinguang.
"The finance ministry has a plan for the expenditure of silver! Spending a large amount of money in one go may not achieve good results. Gradual spending is the right thing to do. The national treasury should always keep some silver for war preparations. Some silver for disaster preparations may seem like a lot, but it's like flowing water, a bottomless pit! "
"Then what about the officials I lack? The Ü-Tsang Protector-General sends a memorial to the Ministry of Officials every month, saying that the Tibetans aren't easy to tame and that a large number of officials are needed to guide them. But where do I have more officials on hand? What do you want me to do? "
Chen Yuan looked at Xu Jinguang with an unfriendly expression.
Xu Jinguang pointed a finger at Minister of Education Cai Kang.
"Then if you want to ask why the Ministry of Education can't groom more outstanding students, why are you asking my finance ministry? My finance ministry's expenditure is completely in place, and it's not choking your neck. "
Cai Kang was caught off guard by Chen Yuan's move. Even though he was lying down, he was still hit by the arrow.
"Education is an important matter for a country. As the saying goes, it takes ten years to grow a tree, and a hundred years to nurture a person. Is educating a person an easy task? My Ministry of Education isn't a department that does nothing. In the first year of Longwu, there were only 400,000 scholars in the country. Now, the number of children enrolled in school has reached 10,640,000, and the number of secondary school students has reached 1.7 million! "
Cai Kang hurriedly retorted.
"These are all matters for the future. Right now, there are so many official vacancies. This isn't the first time I've heard that the secondary school entrance examination organized by the Ministry of Education is too difficult. Ninety percent of secondary school graduates are unable to pass the examination, and there are only so many people every year. Where did all the money go?"
Chen Yuan retorted, "The expenditure on education is even higher than the expenditure on the military. Don't tell me that you lack money!"
"Summer insects cannot speak of ice!"
Cai Kang's chest heaved violently. He wanted to lash out at Chen Yuan, but he felt that it was better to express his grievances to the emperor.
So he stood up and complained to Xiao Ruxun.
"Your Majesty, ever since I became the Minister of Education, I have been trembling with fear. I have worked hard without complaint, and I did not dare to slack off. I was afraid that I would fail to live up to Your Majesty's trust. However, the construction of the Great Hall is really not that easy. If it was just a building, it would be much easier."
The officials looked at the emperor, Xiao Ruxun, who had been sitting in the seat of honor without saying a word.
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