Financial reports, a new term brought to the imperial court by Liang Xiao, differed from those in his homeland.
In terms of administrative management, civil and military officials were responsible, and Liang Xiao did not need to worry about it. Liang Xiao and Xiao Qing primarily reviewed fiscal revenues and expenditures.
After reviewing the consolidated financial report, the couple smiled and fell into deep thought.
Excluding the recently recovered Jiaozhou, Nanzhong, and Daliang, the tax revenues and official income from across the country were denominated in silver...
Amounting to 197 million taels of silver, an increase of 60 million taels compared to last year!
Fiscal expenditures were 120 million taels, an increase of 20 million taels compared to last year.
However, actual military expenditures had significantly decreased compared to last year. At least 40 million taels were used for the production of steam engines, spinning machines, machine tools, locomotives, railways, and the salaries and bonuses of engineering personnel, as well as the repurchase of textile factories across the country!
The large-scale production of new machinery had greatly reduced the manufacturing costs of arrows, armor, and weapons, while efficiency had greatly improved.
This resulted in a fiscal surplus of 77 million taels. They could almost sit on a mountain of gold and silver…
Xiao Qing's beautiful eyes lit up, and she was overjoyed.
A financial report from each region was sent monthly, and finally reviewed by the Ministry of Revenue and the Prime Minister's Office before being sent to her.
Even though she had anticipated this year's fiscal surplus, she couldn't help but order the officials present to turn around and then gave Liang Xiao a fierce kiss as a reward.
The cost of producing these new machines was high, but the benefits they brought were enough to recover the costs and achieve large-scale profits. Most of the spinning machines had started production the year before!
The combination of steam engines and spinning machines alone made the official textile factories extremely profitable.
Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation were essential for people. The demand for clothing among the common people was not limited to cotton clothes.
Because the clothes sold by the government were more affordable and of better quality than before, and with the reduction of tax burdens, coupled with many workers and craftsmen working for the court, they had accumulated a large amount of spare money, enough for them to buy several sets of clothes for the whole family.
In addition to steam-powered spinning machines, there were also manually operated spinning machines, ensuring that surplus workers were not easily eliminated.
With a population of over 100 million in the Great Gan dynasty, and the full support and gratitude of the people towards the court, it was not surprising that the income of the official textile factories surpassed that of the salt administration…
"This kind of finance is unhealthy."
Just as everyone was joyful, Liang Xiao unexpectedly uttered a sentence that surprised them all.
"Brother Xiao?" Xiao Qing looked at Liang Xiao, her joy turning to concern, and then she understood.
Liang Xiao pouted, "The surplus is too large, exceeding the conservative estimates of the Ministry of Revenue. At least half of it should be used to increase production and improve people's livelihoods."
Xiao Qing chided, "I knew you would scare me again! Besides water conservancy projects, we also need to expand granaries, build more schools, hire more workers, and add more new machines!"
Liang Xiao was then satisfied. Embracing Xiao Qing, he happily continued to review the finances.
The court acquired textile factories from various regions at a price that included a premium equivalent to about five years of their income. The owners were naturally extremely pleased, and there was no forced purchase.
It was said that when the owners saw the low prices of the clothes produced by the textile factories, they also felt fortunate that they had sold early and did not compete with the court. Otherwise, forget about getting five years of profit for free; they would have considered themselves lucky to not have lost all their capital.
He was confident that next year's financial report would be even more impressive!
The construction of railways was extremely costly, but under the current circumstances, the significance of strengthening ties with the western regions was immeasurable and could not be quantified by money!
Even if it cost another twenty to thirty million taels, Great Gan had to win the war against the coalition forces of the Guishuang Dynasty and the Xiongnu Empire.
Railways from Yanzhou to Liaodong and from Jiangnan to Jiaozhou were also under construction.
Currently, his and Xiao Qing's primary task was to focus on the people's sentiments, pacify them, and prevent excessive exploitation.
He already had a clear plan for future development. With the history of his former world as a reference, he wanted to avoid the various drawbacks that came with development as much as possible and achieve a more stable transition.
Industries related to people's livelihoods must be gradually nationalized to prevent monopolization by capital. Even if monopolized, it must be by the central government, while increasing supervision of official personnel to ensure sufficient transparency.
One of the new laws perfected by Hong Jie for him was that officials who committed crimes would be punished doubly. Corrupt officials would be severely punished, with the highest penalty being death, confiscation of the entire family's property, and even affecting the political careers of their descendants.
The entire court, facing this strict law that Liang Xiao insisted on, was initially somewhat confused, but afterward, no one objected.
This was a law that benefited the country and the people. If one's conscience was clear and they did not deceive superiors or oppress inferiors, why would they need to object?
The bird that sticks its head out gets shot. No official dared to defy the common will at this time.
At Xiao Qing's instruction, the court publicly announced this year's fiscal revenue.
The common people discovered the mutual promise of Xiao Qing and Liang Xiao to use at least sixty million taels of silver to improve people's livelihoods and protect
Liang Xiao specifically went to the Ministry of Works and found Zhang Yang to inquire about talent cultivation.
Huang Xing's grandson, eighteen-year-old Huang Ping, was presented to Liang Xiao by Zhang Yang.
"The 'chemistry' taught by His Majesty is more difficult to learn, but Huang Ping has excelled, grasping almost all the knowledge."
Liang Xiao immediately took out a chemistry textbook and questioned him one by one. Huang Ping answered fluently, which surprised and delighted Liang Xiao.
The chemistry in the Great Gan dynasty was promoted along with subjects like "mechanics" and other physics, but for the people of this land, the difficulty of absorbing such knowledge was self-evident.
Huang Ping was like an excellent middle school student, capable of understanding various chemical reactions and their principles, even understanding the periodic table and having an eidetic memory?
Liang Xiao immediately decided, "Talents like Huang Ping are welcome in any number. Even if they cannot invent and create in the future, they can teach more students!"
Huang Xing, standing beside him, was so excited that his white beard trembled.
Apart from Zhang Yang, few people could make Liang Xiao so pleased!
This meant that the achievements his grandson could achieve in the future… might be limitless!
At this time, among the Qian people, only the researchers in the Ministry of Works truly understood the importance of chemistry.
"Zhang Yang, if pure oxygen is difficult to produce, then try normal air blowing for now… Regardless, the steel output must be increased!" Liang Xiao instructed.
Zhang Yang solemnly agreed and arranged for everyone to diligently study the blast furnace iron-making method provided by Liang Xiao.
Great Gan already had ample iron ore to spare, and steel production was the grain of industry, its importance self-evident.
In comparison, the demand for steel from the Great Gan soldiers' weaponry was far less than the insane demand from railways and various machines.
"How many talents like Huang Ping, or those slightly inferior to him, can the Ministry of Works gather right now? I have an urgent need!" Liang Xiao added.
Huang Xing immediately sent people to fetch over a hundred individuals. Each of them held a test paper, with scores mostly between eighty and ninety.
Huang Ping was too embarrassed to produce his perfect score, fearing that others might suspect Huang Xing of cheating, even though Liang Xiao had personally examined him.