Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 583 Adjusting the Sources of Fiscal Revenue
In a side hall of the Yunxiang Palace in the Imperial Palace, everyone was cracking melon seeds and peanuts and drinking tea. Upon hearing the total amount of revenue, they were all overjoyed.

Lu Jin then said, "This year, Marquis Bowang not only brought back more than eight million taels of gold and silver and seventy thousand catties of rubber from Lizhou, but also brought back seven large barrels of oil from Youtian County when he passed through Zhongquan Prefecture in Nanyang on his way back. Once these oils are developed, they will be a considerable source of income in the future, and the court's finances will become increasingly abundant."

Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts stirred. If the emperor considered it a considerable income, it must be at least several million taels of silver per year. Li Shanchang immediately asked, "Is this petroleum the same thing His Majesty mentioned that can be used to refine lamp oil and candles?"

“That’s right, but kerosene and paraffin only make up a small part of petroleum. In fact, gasoline and diesel are produced in much larger quantities, but we just don’t have easy access to them now.” Lu Jin said, then thought to himself, “To be honest, gasoline isn’t entirely useless now.”

Now that the Ming Dynasty has the ability to weld high-pressure gas tanks and has rubber high-pressure hoses, what do you think they can make if they also have gasoline and rubber?
After the military reform, each army has a directly subordinate chemical defense regiment, but the weapons for the chemical defense regiment are still not in place. After the chemical plant in Haimen County is built, they can indeed produce chlorine gas as a chemical warfare agent, but in fact, poison gas is not easy to use on the battlefield in this era.

The best use of poison gas is to attack fixed positions. In fact, trench warfare, like that of World War I, is where poison gas shines. However, the wars in the Ming Dynasty at that time were mainly field battles and sieges. Neither side would engage in trench warfare, which would greatly reduce the effectiveness of poison gas.

Furthermore, the release of poison gas depends on factors such as weather and wind direction, so the actual opportunities for its effective use in combat are actually quite few. So what should the chemical defense regiment use? Lu Jin, of course, chose the individual flamethrower.
With gasoline, at the very least, one could make a porcelain or glass bottle, fill it with gasoline, and use it as a Molotov cocktail. Of course, this is only the most basic use. The advanced use would be a flamethrower. The Ming Dynasty can now make metal oil tanks and high-pressure gas tanks. With a flamethrower and oil hose, it is still possible to replicate a flamethrower from World War I or II.

Dissolving rubber in gasoline can also create a simplified version of thickened gasoline. When used with a flamethrower, it can achieve a range of 20 to 30 meters against the wind and 50 meters with the wind. And he happens to have plenty of both rubber and gasoline.

Thinking of this, Lu Jin immediately asked, "Speaking of which, I'm quite curious, how did they find the precise location of the oil well?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dayuan immediately replied, "It's an oil cap, just like the iron cap in an iron mine and the coal cap in a coal mine. Some minerals naturally emerge from the ground on their own."

“When I was young, I went to sea and saw a place like this in Southeast Asia. The oil underground would seep to the surface on its own. The local natives would use the oil to make fires or to repair ships. This time it was the same. I heard that it was an oil cap that was discovered by immigrants from an oil field county when they were reclaiming land.”

"After the news was reported to Xinjin Prefecture, Li Bin of the Nanyang Intelligence Bureau immediately sent some craftsmen who were digging salt wells to the area. These craftsmen followed the method of digging salt wells and only dug down more than seventy meters before oil gushed out from the ground on its own. They even dug a pool to collect the oil, but it stopped gushing after only half an hour. If they wanted to collect it again, they would have to use bamboo tubes and a crane to pump the oil up from the ground, just like they used to dig salt wells."

"It's said that the well's output is quite high. If they were to extract oil at full capacity, it could easily produce several hundred barrels a day. However, they don't know what to do with the oil and don't have enough large wooden barrels, so for the time being, they've just had someone guard the well and haven't continued extracting oil."

"I see." Lu Jin nodded. He had already seen the barrels of oil that Wang Dayuan brought back when he returned. They were stored in large wooden barrels used for storing fresh water on the ship. To prevent oil leakage, the inner walls of the barrels were carbonized with fire beforehand to stop the oil from seeping out.

However, using such carbonized wooden barrels to store crude oil is still very troublesome, and it is not feasible to collect it on a large scale unless the imperial court can provide a large number of welded iron oil barrels or directly modify a special oil transport ship. Otherwise, it is not easy to store and transport the oil. That's why Wang Dayuan only brought back a few barrels of samples this time.

Thinking of this, Lu Jincai instructed Tao Guangyi, who was standing beside him, "Guangyi, make a note of this. After the New Year, don't forget to remind me to set up another oil refining team and a drilling team to be responsible for the extraction and refining of oil."

"Yes," Tao Guangyi replied, and immediately took out his notebook and wrote it down.

Kerosene and gasoline would both have their uses. As for diesel, it wouldn't be impossible to build a primitive single-cylinder internal combustion engine and place it in the fields to pump water for irrigation. Or it could be used as a fire-powered ramming machine for foundation work in infrastructure projects. That thing also burns oil and is actually a very simple single-cylinder internal combustion engine. If we could build such a thing, it would save a lot of effort in foundation work for engineering projects.

Given the current technology of the Ming Dynasty, its oil refining capacity is certainly not very high. For such "inferior" oil, the correct approach is to use an internal combustion engine with a large cylinder diameter, long stroke, and high compression ratio. This type of internal combustion engine is not picky about oil; it can burn any kind of petroleum, giving it a significant advantage in utilizing inferior oil.

While Lu Jin was thinking about the various uses of the oil after it was officially extracted, Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong, and others were calculating the more than eight million taels of gold and silver that Wang Dayuan had brought back from Lizhou this year.

At first, they thought that the more than ten million last year was an unexpected windfall, and that it might not be available this year. But this year, Wang Dayuan brought back so much more. Although it was less than last year, it was still a considerable sum in the overall budget. If this income could be stabilized in the future, the court's finances would look much better.

Thinking of this, he also said, "Your Majesty, I wonder if the gold and silver that Marquis Bowang brought back from Lizhou can be supplied stably in the future. If this income can be stabilized in the long term, then I suggest that the price of salt be lowered. The current price of salt is too high. If the price of salt can be lowered, it can also reduce the burden on the people."

Lu Jin nodded upon hearing this. Salt prices were indeed high at the moment, with the official price set at 70 wen per jin.

The price during the Han Dynasty ranged from 25 to 83 wen per catty. The price was most outrageous during the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, it was 20 wen per catty, but during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, it skyrocketed to 500 wen per catty.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of official salt was generally 50 to 70 wen per jin. During the Southern Song Dynasty, it rose to 200 wen per jin on a daily basis, and 400 wen per jin during times of war.

In the original history of the Ming Dynasty, during the reigns of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the lowest price was only 1.56 wen per jin in the early Ming Dynasty, 42 wen per jin during the Jiajing era, and 70 to 80 wen per jin during the wars at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Qing Dynasty, the price was 17 wen per catty during the Kangxi era, 23 wen per catty during the Jiaqing era, 38 wen per catty during the Guangxu era, and 51 wen per catty during the Xuantong era.

By examining the salt prices of various dynasties throughout history, it can be found that during periods of peace in each dynasty, the average price of salt was only around ten or twenty wen. Lu Jinding's price of seventy wen per jin was indeed quite high.

It was precisely because of the high price of salt, coupled with the fact that Lu Jin adopted a direct sales model of supply and marketing cooperatives, eliminating middlemen from profiting from the difference, that the Ming Dynasty was able to collect an astonishing 1400 million taels of salt tax annually.

However, this was a result of the fact that the Ming Dynasty had just been established and was already short of money, and had to wage war for many years. Now that the finances were showing signs of improvement, it was only natural to lower the price of salt and reduce the burden on the people.

Feng Guoyong also supported this suggestion, fearing that Lu Jin would not be willing to lower the price of salt, and echoed his sentiment.

"Your Majesty, now that the court has recovered Yunnan and Guizhou, apart from the northwest and Jiaozhi, there should be no large-scale military campaigns against other countries in the short term. In addition, the army will be reduced starting next year, which will save a large portion of military expenditure and reduce the pressure on the treasury. Therefore, I also suggest that the price of salt be reduced to ease the burden on the people."

"In addition, there is the customs revenue from the port authorities. Since this is the first year of going to sea, many merchants have not yet returned home. In order to encourage overseas trade, the imperial court set the export tax very low. Therefore, not much customs revenue was collected in the first year, but it was still around 42 taels."

"When this group of merchants returns next year, the customs revenue is estimated to be at least one or two million taels. As the imperial court's maritime trade gets back on track, the customs revenue will increase year by year and is expected to become a source of income no less than the salt tax."

"In that case, even if the salt tax is reduced, it won't have a significant impact."

Lu Jin nodded again upon hearing this. Currently, in order to encourage export trade, the Ming Dynasty has hardly collected any export taxes, and only implements controls on a few key materials.

First, the export of any form or type of books is prohibited to prevent technology leakage.

Second, impose high export taxes on paper, because there is not enough paper in the country, so it is natural to control exports.

Third, raw silk is not allowed to be exported abroad. China may export finished silk products, but raw silk is absolutely not allowed to be exported.

The purpose of this is to keep silk textile technology in China, extend the industrial chain, and increase the added value of products. This not only preserves jobs in the textile and silk industry but also allows companies to earn high added value from finished silk products. After all, exporting finished silk products is much more profitable than exporting raw materials like raw silk.

Fourth, cotton exports are not permitted, neither cotton nor cotton products, because China does not yet have enough for its own use. It is not too late to sell cotton abroad when there is a surplus.

Because of these bans, the main export commodities of the Ming Dynasty are now ironware, linen, silk, tea, and porcelain.

Linen is not subject to export restrictions, and it is also relatively cool, making it very popular in Southeast Asia and India.

In addition to the export bans mentioned above, there were also import incentive policies. If anyone could bring back a fine breeding horse from overseas, the imperial court would reward them with a certain quota for ironware exports, which was similar to a salt certificate.

Because the Ming Dynasty implemented a state monopoly on salt and iron, all ironware exports had to apply for a certain export quota from the state-run ironworks. Otherwise, they would not be able to obtain enough ironware for export, and collecting a few scattered pieces of ironware would not be worth going to sea.

If grain or cotton could be imported from overseas, there would be government rewards, but that's about it for now.

As for importing crops from overseas, Lu Jin didn't rely on those maritime merchants. He believed that such professional matters could be left to the imperial court to avoid those merchants importing crops haphazardly and causing biological invasions.

This is the current state of maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty. Based on the experience of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, as well as the Qing Dynasty, as long as maritime trade develops gradually, it is easy to collect several million taels of tax revenue every year. In addition, when the Ming Dynasty begins to dump industrial products abroad, it is estimated that export revenue will continue to surge several times, and it is possible to reach tens of millions of taels a year.

There's even tobacco; if finished cigarettes are exported overseas in large quantities, that would generate tens of millions of taels of revenue annually.

Therefore, with so many ways to make money, Lu Jin didn't mind lowering the price of salt. But since Li Shanchang asked about the gold and silver income in Lizhou, Lu Jin also asked about it.

"Does Mr. Huanzhang think that Lizhou's income might stabilize in the future?"

"Hmm," Wang Dayuan said after a moment's thought.

"I believe that the gold and silver income of Lizhou will rise once in a short period of time, but it will not last for more than a few years. After we have squeezed the gold and silver reserves of the three countries in the central part of Lizhou dry, if we want to have gold and silver income again, we can only send troops to attack India and then organize slaves to mine gold and silver there."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang immediately pressed for an answer, "What do you mean by 'rising in a short period of time'? In the eyes of Marquis Bowang, how many more years do you think Lizhou's income can be sustained?"

Wang Dayuan then explained, "I personally believe that next year's trade revenue in Lizhou may exceed ten million taels again, or even 1500 million taels, but it is hard to say how many years it can be maintained."

"So many?!" Everyone exclaimed in surprise.

Lu Jin also asked in confusion, "Why did it suddenly rise so much? Didn't they say it would decrease more and more?"

Wang Dayuan then said, “I misjudged the gold and silver reserves of the Maya and Aztecs. Although they did not use gold and silver as currency, they had accumulated a lot over thousands of years. How could we possibly exchange all their gold and silver at once?”

"Secondly, we are transporting more goods this year, since we have two large ships, the Yuanwang and the Luzhou. In addition, the natives of Lizhou were not prepared beforehand and did not know that we wanted gold and silver. They would not have expected that we would transport goods to them again in the second year. Now that we are fully prepared and have more goods traded, we can naturally exchange for more gold and silver."

"In addition, we have opened a new outpost in the central isthmus of Panama this year, which is equivalent to expanding the market. Therefore, it is normal for the trade volume to increase next year once this trading outpost is developed, and naturally more gold and silver will be brought back."

“Therefore, I conservatively estimate that the combined revenue from the two trading posts, converted into silver, might exceed 1500 million taels. After deducting the cost of domestic goods, that would be the net income.” Everyone nodded in agreement. According to Wang Dayuan’s analysis, it was indeed possible to receive that much next year.

As for how much gold and silver Native Americans had saved, that's hard to say.

According to historical records, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the total silver reserves in the country may have exceeded 400 million taels. Of these, 100 million taels came from Shanxi merchants, 100 million from Beijing, and 70 million taels from the cash that Li Zicheng extorted. Adding the reserves held by landlords and financial groups in Jiangnan, as well as those scattered throughout the country, the total definitely exceeded 400 million taels.

While the three Central American countries certainly cannot compare to the Ming Dynasty's more than two hundred years of accumulation, their gold and silver reserves accumulated over thousands of years could not possibly be easily squeezed dry with only ten or twenty million taels.

Lu Jin estimated that if they were squeezed dry, they could extract at least 50 million taels of silver. After that, if they wanted to continue plundering gold and silver, they would have no choice but to directly colonize the area, capture slaves, and mine the gold and silver.

However, Wang Dayuan's current trading points are mainly centered around the Aztec and Mayan countries, and he has not yet traded with the Inca. However, among the three Central American countries, the Inca has the richest silver reserves, so it is really hard to say how much gold and silver can be extracted.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Jin said, "The large amount of gold and silver income in Lizhou is definitely not the norm. If we continue to trade at the current scale of 10 to 8 million taels of silver per year, I estimate that it can only last for five or six years, or at most seven or eight years, before we will have squeezed the floating wealth of the three kingdoms of Lizhou dry."

"If we want to earn more than a million taels of silver again, we'll probably have to send troops to Inca. The Inca in Southern Lizhou has the world's largest silver mine. If we capture the local natives to mine it, we can still extract four or five hundred taels of silver a year."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent. On one hand, they were reluctant to part with the millions of taels of silver they earned each year; on the other hand, they felt that going to war across half the globe was a bit outrageous. After a long while, Feng Guoyong finally asked.

"Your Majesty, is it feasible to embark on a long sea expedition to the Inca Kingdom? Besides, if it's just for trade, why not just send an envoy to the Inca Kingdom, ask them to trade, and teach them mining and silver refining techniques? Wouldn't that be much simpler? Why go through the trouble of a long sea expedition and wasting military funds?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin said helplessly, "It's not that I'm warlike and unwilling to trade with the Inca Kingdom, but you don't know that the Inca Kingdom practices a system of one-man ownership by the king. All the land and minerals in the world belong to the Inca king alone. The people don't have private property at all, and a rationing system is implemented."

"The people's food and clothing were all distributed by the Inca king according to their needs. They didn't even have private property, and they didn't even belong to themselves. So where would merchants come from? If there were no merchants, how could there be trade?"

"This"

"There are actually countries that implement a rationing system, where the king alone distributes the necessities of life to the people?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, then fell silent. This thing truly overturned their understanding.

Lu Jin shrugged and continued, "That Inca king also pretended to be a god, claiming to be the sun god, immortal and indestructible. He also practiced incest, marrying his own siblings and not marrying any so-called mortals, only marrying within his own family."

"..." Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes were opened even wider.

Tao Guangyi then asked with even greater curiosity, "If they are truly human, how can they be immortal? If the king dies, wouldn't that expose their secret? Are their people all stupid enough not to see through this?"

Lu Jin immediately said, “After the Inca king died, he was not buried. Every day, servants would wash his body, change his clothes, feed him, and let him eat and sleep at the appointed time. The body was treated as if it were still alive. This is what is called immortality. As long as the mummified body is there, it is considered alive, and his descendants will convey his will.”

"..." Good heavens, everyone was stunned.

Feng Guoyong was even more surprised, "Isn't this a case of keeping the death a secret? But that doesn't seem right. If a new emperor doesn't ascend the throne, it can't be kept a secret for long, unless the people really believe that the king will never die. But that's too unbelievable."

Li Shanchang asked curiously, "I am even more puzzled about how their throne is passed down. If, as Your Majesty says, the Inca royal family has always practiced inbreeding, how can they possibly produce normal offspring? I'm afraid they will die out in just a few generations. What will they do then?"

Lu Jin immediately said, "Based on quantity and probability, even if close relatives are more likely to produce disabled offspring, as long as there are many offspring, with a hundred or eighty children per generation, there will always be one or two who are slightly normal."

Good heavens, everyone was dumbfounded. The more they listened to the Inca people, the more inhuman they seemed.

Feng Guoyong then asked, "How will their throne be inherited?"

"Use the Xuanwu Gate inheritance method."

"???!"

"It's just like you think. Whoever wins the fight between the offspring will be the next Inca king. However, the conflict won't be very intense. Think about it, it's not difficult for a normal person to fight a group of idiots and mentally challenged people. This way, we can ensure that the one who ultimately sits on the throne will be the one with the best and most normal brain."

"..." Everyone was speechless; this method was truly ingenious.

As the saying goes, one bug is a bug, but a bunch of bugs can work. The Inca Empire really did run on a bunch of bugs, which is quite something.

Seeing that no one spoke, Lu Jin then said, "So how can we treat such a country with common sense? The Aztecs and Mayans to the north of the Inca are foreign barbarians, but at least they can be considered human. I don't mind trading with them, but those idiots and morons in the Inca, do you think they can understand if you talk to them about trading?"

"But this Inca Kingdom happens to occupy the world's richest silver and copper mines. If the Ming Dynasty wants to bring in several million taels of revenue from Lizhou every year, it will have no choice but to send troops."

"However, this matter is not as difficult as you think. The Inca Kingdom does not have a court; all government orders are issued by the Inca King alone. As long as we can capture or kill the Inca King, the country will naturally collapse without a fight."

"Therefore, it is not necessary to send too many troops. At most, ten ships and three thousand soldiers will be enough. The provisions for the three thousand soldiers can be purchased from a stronghold in Xiangxun Port, which is backed by the Aztec and Mayan countries."

"What we need to do now is to spend a few years gathering information about the Inca Kingdom, find out where the king usually lives, and once we have a clear understanding of the country, we can send 3,000 troops and destroy the country in one or two years at most."

Upon hearing this, everyone seemed to ponder. If it was that easy, then it didn't seem like something so impossible to do.

Thinking of this, Feng Guoyong said, "Then I will trouble Marquis Bowang to first investigate the situation of the Inca Kingdom, and then see how the income of Lizhou has changed in the past few years. If the Inca Kingdom is really as Your Majesty said, and Lizhou really has no more gold and silver after a few years, it will not be too late to make a decision then. Three thousand soldiers and ten ships are nothing. If they can be exchanged for several million taels of income every year, then it is really nothing to the court."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Wang Dayuan also agreed. Lu Jin added, "Let's settle on this for now. As for the salt tax, it can indeed be reduced. How about this: starting next year, the price of salt will be reduced to 40 wen per jin. We'll discuss the rest later. Let's see if the finances improve. If they do, we can reduce it further. Alternatively, we can save it for when the Crown Prince ascends the throne and lowers the price for the people."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately stood up, cupped their hands, and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Although the price of 40 wen per catty was still high, it was nearly half the original price of 70 wen per catty, and even lower than during the Northern Song Dynasty, so it was not unaffordable for ordinary people.

Price reductions should be implemented gradually. The price can be halved after the Crown Prince ascends the throne, dropping to 20 wen per catty, which would be roughly the average level of various dynasties. It is estimated that by then, the court will have other sources of revenue and will no longer need to profit from salt prices.

In this case, the salt tax next year is estimated to plummet from over 14 million taels to around 8 million taels. The burden on the people will be reduced, but the court's fiscal revenue will also be cut by more than 6 million taels. If it weren't for this windfall from Lizhou, it's estimated that Li Shanchang and his people would not have been willing to lower the price.
After discussing the income of Lizhou and the price reduction of salt, Feng Guoyong asked another question.

"Your Majesty, now that almost all the provinces in the country have been pacified, shouldn't we start military reform next year? If we do begin military downsizing, which army group should we start with?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "The First Front Army in Hetao and Mobei, as well as the Third Front Army in Liaodong, all have defensive missions and cannot be moved in the short term. The Second Front Army in Yunnan is still fighting and should not be withdrawn."

"Therefore, only the Fourth Front Army in the Northwest and the Fifth Front Army in Guangdong and Guangxi are suitable for the current military reform. In addition, several Imperial Guard Divisions can be transferred back in batches to be re-equipped. There are exactly eight Imperial Guard Divisions. After the reduction of troops, they will be reduced to four, and two divisions will be merged into one."

"Here's what we'll do: next year, we'll finish reorganizing the Imperial Guard Divisions, then send one of them to the Northwest to garrison the area and replace the Fourth Front Army. After that, we'll reorganize the Fourth Front Army, and then we'll reorganize the Fifth Front Army in Guangdong and Guangxi. We'll do it one by one in rotation, and it should be done in five years at most."

At this point, Lu Jin looked at Tao Guangyi again, "The General Armaments Department's arsenal can supply weapons, right?"

Tao Guangyi immediately nodded and said, "The machines at the arsenal are almost ready for testing, and we are also stockpiling materials. We will definitely be able to supply rifles next year."

"As for hand grenades, in accordance with His Majesty's request, we have developed two new types of hand grenades: a pull-type hand grenade with a wooden handle and an egg-shaped flip-type firing pin hand grenade, which are not yet finalized."

"Moreover, the experimental results show that the new type of grenade is not as powerful as the original one. After all, in order to reduce weight, the volume and explosive charge have been reduced, and we do not have more powerful explosives at the moment. So although this new type of grenade is easier to use, its power has also been reduced considerably."

Lu Jin nodded upon hearing this. The pull tube for the grenade was a recent invention. It was made by mixing mercury fulminate, antimony sulfide, and sulfur in a certain proportion, then adding glass powder, and stuffing it into a cardboard tube. This was a result of finding antimony ore in Hunan. Besides being used to make lead type for printing, another major use of this thing was to make pull tubes.

However, although they had figured out the pull-out fuse, they lacked a large amount of nitric acid, making it difficult to synthesize more powerful explosives. The laboratory could make anything, even synthesize picric acid, but it couldn't be mass-produced. Moreover, picric acid was unstable, so the explosive charge for hand grenades still had to be black powder, which was unavoidable.

Thinking of this, Lu Jincai said, "We'll talk about the grenades later. For now, let's just supply the rifles and new artillery. Also, all new artillery, whether for the navy or the army, should be ignited by pulling the trigger."

"Yes."

Seeing that the order of military reforms had been agreed upon, Li Shanchang said, "Your Majesty, the newly arrived Goryeo envoy said that he only came to celebrate the New Year. He did not expect that our country would have such a great victory in recovering Yunnan and Guizhou, so he did not have time to prepare a congratulatory gift. He said that this congratulatory gift will definitely be made up for next year."

Lu Jin laughed upon hearing this, "That's good. Speaking of which, our pacification of Yunnan and Guizhou can be considered a blow to the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty. Since Goryeo is going to fight against the Yuan Dynasty together with the Ming Dynasty, and we spent so much money on this campaign against Yunnan and Guizhou, shouldn't they also give us something in return?"

"Uh..." Upon hearing this, everyone immediately guessed that His Majesty was about to trick Goryeo again.

(End of this chapter)