Everyone pulled themselves down from the wall and felt as if their bones had fallen apart. They hated Ren Baqian to death, but they looked honest on the surface.
They naturally knew that they had been tricked by Ren Baqian, but they couldn't control their expressions.
If they could control their expressions, they wouldn't be aboriginals.
In fact, most of them had strange expressions on their faces at that time. Many of them tried their best to remain calm, but their faces were distorted.
"Do you think I'm ignorant and easy to bully?" the empress said with a murderous look. She squinted her phoenix eyes and scanned the people below.
"We don't dare!" everyone quickly said, but their expressions betrayed them.
Seeing this, the empress became even angrier. Her upper body swayed, and a series of bricks flew out and smashed into everyone's heads. Immediately, the hall was filled with broken pieces flying all over the place.
"Since you don't dare, then shut up." The empress was domineering.
Ren Baqian then continued, "Let's talk about your concerns first. The national treasury is empty. With the current situation, it's already good enough to maintain the status quo. If the money is used for other purposes, there will be a shortage somewhere."
Ren Baqian finally said something that everyone was willing to hear.
"However, everything is developing and changing. The Yun Nation is smaller than Dayao, but the annual revenue from the national treasury is 7.5 and a half times that of Dayao. It's 5,000 taels of silver, which is half of Great Xia's. This is under the circumstances where the warlords of the Yun Nation have their own armies and it's difficult for central orders to spread throughout the country. "
"Why? Why does the national treasury's revenue far exceed that of Dayao under such circumstances? "Ren Baqian asked.
Everyone was silent as this was a slap in the face.
"The Yun Nation is rich in minerals. However, as far as I know, a large portion of the minerals in the Yun Nation are also given to the warlords. Only some of the gold and silver mines are controlled by the imperial court.
In fact, you all know that the Yun Nation is prosperous and prosperous with commerce.
A large portion of the revenue from the Yun Nation's treasury comes from taxes. The cities of the Yun Nation only pay half of the taxes to the imperial court every year, which is a total of 30 million taels of silver. The tax revenue of the entire Yun Nation can reach at least 60 million taels of silver every year.
In fact, Dayao has also formulated taxes according to the Hao Nation's system. The annual revenue is about half of the national treasury's revenue, which is about five million taels of silver. Most of this five million taels of silver comes from the taxes paid by merchants from various countries.
Of course, one of the reasons was that the late emperor sympathized with the people and reduced taxes. Another reason was that Dayao didn't have any commerce! There is also a lack of commercial soil.
The fundamental reason for this was that the commoners did not have money. Most of the time, they were still at the stage of bartering and exchanging for survival necessities. Naturally, there was no commercial ground, and naturally, there was no tax.
Only when the common people became rich would they be able to form the soil for commerce. Only then would there be more taxes, and the national treasury would be more abundant. This was a virtuous cycle.
A country would only be prosperous if its people were prosperous. If the people are poor, the country can't be rich! "Ren Baqian began to lecture everyone.
Tu Wan and the other officials of the Ministry of Revenue were deep in thought. They had thought of many of these things. After all, they had been in this position for so many years, it was impossible for them to not think of anything. However, it was the first time he had heard of this saying that the country would only be prosperous if the people were prosperous. Thinking about it, it made some sense.
However, even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice. Even if they knew, they couldn't change the current situation.
Or rather, they didn't have the ability to change the current situation.
"If you want all the people to become rich, you must first develop the country. This is a contradiction.
Only when the country develops will the people be prosperous. When the people are prosperous, the country will have more taxes, the national treasury will have more wealth, and Dayao will be able to develop.
If you want to move forward step by step, you don't know how long it will take.
However, there is a shortcut now, and that is the Yun Nation. The resources and wealth of the Yun Nation are what we want. As long as the Yun Nation is incorporated into Dayao, first of all, the national treasury will be full. Secondly, we can use this wealth to accelerate the development of Dayao.
However, do we rely on robbing to obtain the wealth of the Yun Nation? Robbing without governance is a one-sided deal. It will only drag the Yun Nation into a quagmire and become what Dayao is now. "
This time, Ren Baqian didn't talk about the blueprint. Instead, he talked about how the country would develop and the source of its income.
After he finished speaking, he paused for a while and waited for everyone to digest his words.
What he said was very simple, and even an ordinary junior high school student could understand it. However, these Dayao officials took a long time to digest it, and they were all deep in thought.
It wasn't that the junior high school students on Earth were smarter than these Dayao officials, but that the information channels of both parties were completely different. What they learned and knew was also completely different.
Ren Baqian had something else to say, but he swallowed it back down. When a backward civilization ruled an advanced civilization, it would cause a regression of civilization and wealth in the early stages. This had been proven many times.
In Dayao, this situation was even more serious because the aboriginals believed too much in force and didn't know much about other things.
For example, the original Hao Nation was ruled by the aboriginals for 70 years. As a result, it was clear from the situation of the people in Tianjing Basin.
"Principal Ren, continue with your ideas." After a while, Shi Qing looked up and smiled at him.
"Therefore, we can't destroy the Yun Nation. Instead, we have to develop it peacefully and maintain its prosperity. The annual income is at least tens of millions of taels of silver, which is enough to fill the national treasury. With Her Majesty's ruling power, she definitely won't let the cities of the Yun Nation have their own armies like before. The annual income is at least 50 to 60 million taels of silver.
Then, the talents and wealth of the Yun Nation will be used to drive the development of Dayao. "
Ren Baqian's idea was China's national policy. On the one hand, the entire country should develop science and technology. On the other hand, the rich should drive the rich of the later generations.
"That's why I mentioned treating the captives well and paying them wages."
"Other things are fine, but not this!" Tu Wan exploded when she heard Ren Baqian mention money.
Even though Tu Wan was a woman, if he had a choice, he really wanted to kick her out of the family.
He didn't need to say anything. At this moment, the empress finally opened her mouth and shouted, "Tu Wan, shut up!"
Her aura was also released, pressing down on Tu Wan like a huge mountain.
"What we need to do now is to build three cement roads, strengthen the transportation force, and ensure that there are no obstacles. The first road leads to the Yun Nation, which is the most important. One leads to Ping City, and the other leads to the Sixty Thousand Mountains.
In addition to these three roads, there is also a lot of infrastructure construction. Therefore, the number of laborers required isn't a small number. We need millions of laborers.
This time, we want to bring the Yun Nation under Your Majesty's rule, so we can't blindly exploit them like before.
On the one hand, we have to deal with the public opinion of the Yun Nation. On the other hand, we have to give these people some hope and give them the hope of survival in order to maximize their effectiveness.
Therefore, these people will have to be released sooner or later. By then, these people will already be skilled craftsmen, so we have to think of a way to keep them here … "
Ren Baqian repeated what he had said to the empress before.
From the value of these craftsmen to the impact that millions of prisoners of war would have on society after returning to the Yun Nation, he explained the importance of keeping these people here.
By the time he finished speaking, it was already noon, and Ren Baqian's mouth was dry from talking.
He looked at Tu Wan, who was drenched from head to toe. The empress's aura was firmly locked onto her, making her feel like she was carrying a huge mountain. She couldn't even open her mouth.
"Your Majesty, let go of Minister Tu!" Ren Baqian turned to the empress.
Tu Wan then staggered and almost fell to the ground.
"After we occupy the Yun Nation, it may not be as Principal Ren said. I won't agree to pay them unless someone else takes this position, "Tu Wan said stubbornly as soon as she steadied herself.
Fortunately, apart from Tu Wan, everyone else was thinking about Ren Baqian's words.
"In fact, the Ministry of Revenue's situation will have greatly improved by then. However, if you are worried about the state treasury being empty, there is no need to pay real money. You can first issue vouchers to the captive camp to replace the use of silver. After that, you can settle the payment with the merchants who provide the supplies. "
After Ren Baqian finished speaking, someone immediately asked about the vouchers.
Ren Baqian explained the vouchers again. In fact, they were ordinary paper vouchers that could be exchanged for silver, but there was no need to take out the silver immediately.
Using the vouchers as an opportunity, Ren Baqian was also preparing to create banks and banknotes. These people would be the first users of banknotes. After they were released, it would be easy for them to accept banknotes.
He had long had enough of people carrying a bag of gold for him when he went out to buy things.
"Also, if the state treasury doesn't improve its tax collection, I will be responsible for paying for it," Ren Baqian finally said. "I have a glass factory and spices. You won't doubt my ability to pay for it, right?"
"What Principal Ren said makes sense." Shi Qing was the first to nod, and everyone else agreed.
Ren Baqian's words had indeed convinced them.
Not only did they not doubt Ren Baqian's ability to pay for it, but they were also envious of the income from the spices. It wasn't that they didn't know the amount of spices harvested this time. After all, many people were paying attention to this matter.
If Ren Baqian were to sell all the spices this time around, it could be said that he had earned ten years' worth of the imperial family's income.
Therefore, everyone had no doubt that this matter would be settled as long as the empress agreed.
In any case, those things belonged to the empress.
As for the empress, she naturally wouldn't object at this time.
This time, even Tu Wan didn't object. It was fine as long as the money wasn't taken out from the state treasury. If it was really as Ren Baqian said, there would be tens of millions of taels of silver every year. In that case, the money could be taken out from the state treasury.
Since Tu Wan didn't speak, the others wouldn't either.
Ren Baqian's mouth was dry from all the talking. When he returned to the empress's quarters, he drank a few big bowls of water.
In any case, he had finally convinced them to carry out this idea.
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