On the 30th of April, it was time to sell sea salt again. The Northern Sunset Saltworks earned 3,600 gold coins a month.
The Wolf Mountain Mine, another pillar of the territory, earned 8,500 gold coins a month because the number of miners increased to 5,000 in April, far surpassing the Northern Sunset Saltworks and becoming the territory's primary industry.
In addition to the remaining 900 gold coins, Ouyang Shuo had 13000 gold coins in cash. This amount of money seemed huge, but after deducting the daily expenses, it wasn't that much that could be used.
Ouyang Shuo directly allocated 5,000 gold coins to the finance department for the territory's financial expenses.
First was the military expenses. With the expansion of the army, the military expenses increased rapidly. Just the monthly salary alone was a huge expense.
Since the territory's economy became prosperous, Ouyang Shuo's soldiers' monthly allowance was increased tenfold. A rank 1 soldier could receive 10 silver coins a month, and so on. A rank 9 soldier could receive 90 silver coins a month. A squad leader received 1 gold coin a month, a platoon leader received 5 gold coins a month, and a battalion commander received 20 gold coins a month.
Taking the cavalry battalion as an example, the average rank of a soldier was rank 4, and the salary of an ordinary soldier was 180 gold coins a month. With the addition of 50 squad leaders, five platoon leaders, and a battalion commander, the cavalry battalion's salary was 275 gold coins a month. The four regular battalions' salary was 1100 gold coins a month. In addition to the consumption of provisions, weapons, and equipment, the military expenditure was close to 1400 gold coins a month.
Second was the government's expenses. With the replenishment of the government staff, the government's expenses were also considerable. The government staff received 1 gold coin a month, the division chief received 10 gold coins a month, and the division chief received 25 gold coins a month. In addition to the office supplies and other expenses, the government's expenses were close to 500 gold coins a month.
Then there was the public financial expenses. Due to the need to raise funds for the system auction, the construction department hadn't paid the workers for the four major infrastructure projects, which were the city wall and moat project, the territory project, the Friendship Town project, and the road project. On average, a craftsman's salary was 100 copper coins a day, and the labor expenses of the four major infrastructure projects alone amounted to 1000 gold coins.
Of course, the project expenses were one-time expenses, and not every month.
Apart from that, there were also lumberyards, quarries, and mines, military industries such as the Armor Workshop, Bow and Crossbow Workshop, and military industries such as the Archery Workshop, as well as brick kilns, pottery factories, shipyards, pastures, and other industries that belonged to the territory. With the rapid expansion of the scale, the monthly wage expenditure had already reached more than 1,500 gold coins.
This was especially so for a military industry like the Jia Workshop. The people they recruited were all precious and skilled people. They could not afford to pay them too low. Apprentices received 30 silver coins per month, Beginner Skilled Talents received 1 gold coin per month, Intermediate Skilled Talents received 5 gold coins per month, and Advanced Skilled Talents received 10 gold coins per month.
Finally, there was another big item, and that was basic welfare expenses. The basic benefits included 100 units of food coupons, 20 units of meat coupons, a piece of fur, a set of ordinary linen clothes, and a voucher worth 20 Silver Coins, which was around 32 Silver Coins. Even though a large portion of the funds came out of the treasury's left hand and came in with the right, each refugee still cost around 15 silver coins. The base spawned 75 refugees every day, which was 1,125 silver coins. That was around 340 gold coins per month. With the addition of the three subsidiary territories, it would be an investment of over 1,000 gold coins per month.
These were only the five main expenses. This did not include education, public health, and other financial expenses. In April, the treasury's revenue was less than 1,000 gold coins. If not for the support of the North Twilight Salt Works and the Wolf Mountain Mine, the treasury would have collapsed long ago.
Since the privatization was implemented in February, these financial expenses had been vague. Not to mention February, when the privatization had just started. At that time, the scale of the privatization wasn't as large as it was now. In March, the financial crisis was slowly becoming apparent. However, in order to raise funds for the auction, Ouyang Shuo had been suppressing this matter.
In April, the territory's financial situation started to improve, and there weren't any large additional expenses. Only then did Ouyang Shuo start to gradually formalize these expenses. At the same time, he made up for the arrears of the previous two months.
It could be said that the privatization of Shanhai Town would only be completed in April. In the first two months, there were many traces of the planned economy. Without the support of the Wolf Mountain Mine, Ouyang Shuo wouldn't have the confidence to push this matter forward with just the North Twilight Salt Works.
Now, the salary level of the various personnel in Shanhai Town was relatively close to the salary level of the royal city. What was a foundation? This was a foundation. While the other territories were still eating from the same pot, Shanhai Town had already begun to implement the privatization strategy. When more than 80% of the territory could only afford to eat, the income of the residents of Shanhai Town was already on par with that of the royal city.
Of course, Ouyang Shuo didn't do this just to hide wealth from the people. His deeper purpose was to use the huge advantages of Shanhai Town in the early stage to increase the income of the residents and the consumption level of the territory. This would stimulate the rapid development of the territory's economy. Only when everyone had spare money would they be willing to buy meat to eat, new clothes to wear, go to restaurants to eat, and buy jewelry for the women at home.
All of these complemented each other. The huge investment today was for a greater return tomorrow. Only by making the cake bigger could he really raise the territory's tax revenue. Ouyang Shuo's ultimate goal was to rely on the territory's tax revenue to support a huge financial expenditure and support a huge army in the future even without the North Twilight Salt Works and the Wolf Mountain Mine.
In any case, no matter how good a golden hen was, there would be a day when it would dry up. The Wolf Mountain Mine would be emptied one day, and the income of the North Twilight Salt Works would become insignificant in the future. People who didn't think far ahead would have immediate worries. Ouyang Shuo didn't want to be a short-sighted lord who only knew how to lie on a mountain of gold and count money.
After deducting the money that he had transferred to the finance bureau, Ouyang Shuo still had 0 gold coins in his hands, which was still a huge sum. Of course, he wasn't going to let this money sit idle.
Ouyang Shuo rushed to the intermediate market and spent 200 gold coins to buy an advanced market building blueprint. He was going to upgrade the market to the advanced level and open the cooperation platform. Only by opening this cooperation platform could Shanhai Town trade weapons and equipment with White Birch and other allies.
Next, Ouyang Shuo clicked on the special item column and searched for secret manuals. Other than the 3000 gold coins he kept as a reserve, he planned to use the remaining 4 gold coins to stock up on authentic secret manuals.
There were countless secret manuals below King Grade on the market. Regardless of whether they were real or fake, a Bronze Grade secret manual cost 50 Silver Coins, a Black Iron Grade secret manual cost 2 Gold Coins, a Silver Grade secret manual cost 10 Gold Coins, and a Gold Grade secret manual cost 50 Gold Coins. The Yue Maiden Swordsmanship that Ouyang Shuo had given Song Jia was an authentic gold secret manual.
As for secret manuals that were gold and above, they were very rare. King-level secret manuals would occasionally appear, but Emperor-level secret manuals were basically nonexistent. As for god-level and saint-level secret manuals, they couldn't be bought through the market.
Ouyang Shuo was hoarding authentic secret manuals, so he was naturally going for the premium route. Therefore, he only paid attention to gold-level secret manuals. To his surprise, when he was looking for authentic gold-level secret manuals, he was lucky enough to find an Emperor-level spear technique secret manual, the Yang Family Spear Technique, which was priced at 1000 gold coins.
Ouyang Shuo bought it without hesitation and checked the secret manual's attributes.
[Name]: Yang Family Spear Scripture (Emperor-level technique)
[Routine]: Big Drunken Spear/Flower War Spear/Seventeen War Spear/Army War Spear/Pear Blossom Eight Mother Spear/Chen War Spear/Little Drunken Spear
[Moves]: White Snake Spitting Tongue/Swallow Snatching Nest/Flood Dragon Emerging from Water/Azure Dragon Landing/Black Dragon Swinging Its Tail/Carp Escaping from Hook/Yaksha Exploring the Sea/Evil Tiger Pouncing on Deer/Little Boy Embracing Heart/Flame Piercing Cloud/Black Dragon Entering Hole/Evil Wolf Ripping Heart/Iron Ox Plowing Field etc.
[Ultimate Move]: Throat-locking Spear/Back Thrust
[Weapon]: Yang Family Pear Blossom Spear
[Evaluation]: Yang Family Spear, full name Yang Family Pear Blossom Spear. It is said to be a spear technique created by Yang Miaozhen, the wife of Li Quan, the leader of the Red Coat Army in the late Southern Song Dynasty. The Yang family's spear techniques were renowned in the world. The front hand was straight and the back hand was hard. Go like an arrow, return like a thread, quick hands and quick eyes. He brandished his spear, dazzling everyone's eyes. The Throat-locking Spear was unstoppable. A sudden thrust was hard to guard against. The strange mantis flips over, the pear blossoms cover the top, the oolong overturns the river on the beach. The embroidered girl shuttles back and forth to the sun and moon, the golden gate opens and the stone opens to snatch Zhongwan. If you want to know the name and surname of this spear, the seven sons and eight tigers guard the border.
The Yang family's spear technique was considered the number one spear technique in the martial arts world. Because it swayed like a pear blossom when it was brandished, it was also called the Pear Blossom Spear. In the Ming Dynasty, Qi Jiguang pointed out in the Ji Xiao New Book that the Yang family's spear technique was unpredictable and infinitely divine. After obtaining this secret manual, Ouyang Shuo finally had a spear technique secret manual that he would specialize in.
Emperor-level secret manuals were extremely rare. In his previous life, there were only a few god-level secret manuals. As for saint-level secret manuals, they were even more of a legend. No one had ever seen them.
It was not an easy task to master a genuine Emperor-level secret manual. The ancient people who practiced spear techniques had to start from a young age. After years of hardship and guidance from a famous teacher, they were able to master it. Players were just using the virtual network technology to get by. If Ouyang Shuo hadn't practiced the great spear stance for nearly four months, he probably wouldn't even be able to get started.
Apart from the Yang Family Spear Technique, which was the only Emperor-level secret manual, Ouyang Shuo hadn't encountered any other satisfactory genuine secret manuals. He hadn't even found a king-level secret manual.
Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to use his remaining 3 gold coins to buy 76 genuine gold-level secret manuals. He had almost wiped out all the genuine secret manuals on the market.
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