Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 578 Philip's Administration
Richelieu's arrival was a great benefit to the Ming Dynasty: having a higher level of intelligence was only a minor aspect. The biggest benefit was that this person was a senior politician of Western civilization.
The civilization of the Ming Dynasty at this time was indeed beginning to fall behind overall because of the corruption of its dominant Neo-Confucianism. Although Zhu Youdong tried his best to shape a new cultural trend for the country, it would take .
At this time, there are actually many benefits to using Western civilization to impact us appropriately.
However, the missionaries who came to Ming Dynasty before were actually just the middle and lower classes of society in Europe. Now that Fangshan Research Institute has been on the right track, there is not much help they can provide to Ming Dynasty.
Richelieu was different. He was knowledgeable and talented, and had great political skills. What was even more valuable was that he traveled all over Europe and the Ottoman Empire because of the Spanish twins. The arrival of such a person would bring a new brainstorming to the Ming Dynasty's scholar-official class.
Therefore, after receiving Richelieu cordially, Zhu Youdong was very happy to invite the cardinal to accompany him to visit the northwest of Ming Dynasty first, and then take him to Beijing to discuss his new position in Ming Dynasty. Richelieu also happily accepted Zhu Youdong's invitation.
In short, although the recent domestic affairs gave him a headache, Richelieu's arrival still made him very happy.
However, he is happy now, but his colleague, Philip from Spain, can no longer laugh.
August 1, 1628, Madrid, Spain.
"Your Majesty, we have calculated the revenue and expenditure of the last fiscal year. In general, our government earned a total of 173 million taels and spent 203 million taels last fiscal year, with a deficit of 30 million. Adding the deficits from the year before last and the year before last, the royal government currently owes a total of 46 million taels to several banks, including the Bank of Madrid, the Bank of Milan, and the Netherlands Union Bank."
"Yes." Philip nodded gently and asked expressionlessly, "My Prime Minister, can you tell us where the expenditures are mainly going?"
"Okay, Your Majesty." Osvalles opened another booklet. "The main expenditures are in the following categories. First, engineering construction. Last fiscal year, the Suez Canal project officially started after the exploration was completed. We mobilized 200,000 local Arabs and transported 100,000 craftsmen from Europe, and 100,000 black slaves from sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 400,000 workers worked there, and the daily consumption of fresh water and food was extremely alarming. Your Majesty, the Suez Canal project alone cost us more than 12 million in revenue last year. In addition, we are also building more railways, roads, and heavy industries such as steel mills, gun factories, and shipyards. In short, last year, the royal government's expenditure on engineering construction alone was close to 30 million."
"My Prime Minister, please continue."
"Yes, the second largest expenditure of the Royal Government is education. According to the will of His Majesty, in recent years, we have newly built the University of Madrid, the University of Barcelona, the University of Lisbon, and three teacher training colleges, as well as 25 new middle schools and 135 primary schools. There are also 30 middle schools and 275 primary schools under construction... The construction cost of these school buildings is not high, but in order to ensure that the annual income of teachers is not less than 500 double pillars, all students can attend school free of charge, free food and accommodation, so the more schools there are, the higher the maintenance cost. In the last fiscal year, the Royal Government allocated 28 million to the Ministry of Education, and in the end the Ministry of Education only had more than 7,000 double pillars left."
"The third major item is military expenditure. The total military expenditure of the army last year was 16 million, and the navy was 11 million."
"The fourth item is the salaries of officials. The fifth item is the payment of part of the principal and interest owed in the previous year. The sixth item is scientific research. The seventh item is the construction of public hospitals. The eighth item is the support for poor members within the alliance. The ninth item is the alliance dues. The tenth item..."
Osvalles read with a blank expression, and naturally the expressions of the senior officials attending the meeting varied.
With an annual income of 170 million, there is still such a huge deficit. Our Majesty, the Son of God who was born under the protection of the archangel, is really good at making money, but he is also very good at spending money.
In fact, judging from the major expenditures of the Kingdom of Spain in the past, if there had been so much income during the reign of Philip III, the treasury would definitely have been overwhelmed: the royal government at that time would not have undertaken any major projects, such as compulsory education.
Of course, all the stubborn high officials in Spain have been removed by His Majesty Philip IV. Those who are still here are all people who have obeyed His Majesty's ideas: How could the dramatic increase in the royal government's income be achieved without those railways and factories? And how can we have enough technical talents to fill those factories without developing education?
So, right now in this conference room, there is no idiot who would stand up and say that in order to reduce the deficit, we should just stop running schools and stop digging canals.
"Your Majesty, the above is the income and expenditure for this year."
"Yeah." Philip nodded calmly and asked, "What about the census?"
"Yes." Osvalles stood up again: "Since July 1626, the royal government and our allies have jointly established the European Population Census and Statistics Bureau. After two years of hard work, the data is now as follows: The actual population of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) is 19.8 million, the former French region and the Netherlands region, 22 million. The British Isles, 9.2 million. The Germanic countries in Central Europe including Austria and Denmark, 31 million. The Apennine region, 8.55 million. Poland and Lithuania, 10.5 million. The Scandinavian Peninsula, 2.3 million. The above, the total native population of the entire alliance, is 103.35 million.
In addition, we have initially counted the population of North Africa, which was newly included two years ago, at 2.1 million. In sub-Saharan Africa, the combined population of our alliance countries in their respective colonies is about 4.3 million. The population controlled by the Royal Government in North and South America is 8.8 million.
After the initial census was completed, the European Demographic Bureau, in addition to providing identity certification and registration for all Europeans in accordance with the arrangements made by His Majesty, also counted the population that was fit for military service. In general, there were 12.8 million men aged 16 to 25 in Europe at this time. If the upper limit was relaxed to 30 years old, it would be 15.2 million. "
"Hey, this population is not enough."
"Your Majesty? What's not enough?"
"Oh, that's all right. Then, Prime Minister, please tell me about the next item, food."
"Yes, last year the total grain output of the entire alliance was approximately 67.5 billion kilograms, so there is no problem with food self-sufficiency."
"655 kilograms per person, alas, it's still not enough." Of course, Philip did not say this.
The Little Ice Age climate is fair to both Philip and Zhu Youdong. In fact, due to the higher latitude of Europe, it is more affected: if it were not for Tianxuan's talent bonus, Europe's per capita grain production would be even lower.
But the advantage of European agriculture is that due to the generally mild climate, European agriculture is a combination of farming and livestock, rather than a clear dividing line between farming and livestock areas like in China. In other words, it is impossible to calculate in this era. If you really want to calculate, it is estimated that the average calorie intake of Europeans is higher than that of the Ming Dynasty.
But Philip, as a historian, could naturally see what Zhu Youdong could see: the current grain production was barely enough to meet people's food needs. If natural disasters became more severe, or if the size of the army expanded rapidly in the future, it would definitely cause unstable grain prices and the lower classes would not have enough food to eat.
"Okay." Philip gently supported the bridge of his nose without glasses and said, "Everyone, as senior officials of the country, the most important and basic thing for you is to control the three things of people, money and food. As long as these three things are sufficient, then as long as we work a little more seriously, the whole country will naturally get on the right track. But now it seems that the kingdom, and even the entire alliance, has great deficiencies in these three aspects, and we need to work hard to make up for it."
"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions."
"Let me first talk about the Kingdom's fiscal problems. The government's fiscal deficit is close to 40% of its annual revenue. This is indeed very dangerous and needs to be reversed immediately. My solution is to establish the Suez Canal Construction Co., Ltd. and the European Railway Transport Co., Ltd. Under the premise that the Kingdom's government holds absolute control, private capital will be accepted. After the corresponding railways and even canals are built, everyone will share dividends according to proportion."
"Your Majesty, this is a very good idea. I personally believe that as long as the stock trading is open, merchants from all over Europe will be eager to subscribe. In this way, our deficit will soon be eliminated."
"Haha, Prime Minister, please sit down first. I haven't finished speaking yet."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"In addition to railways and canals, railroad carriages, public hospitals and even schools in various cities can accept private investment, and then distribute dividends in proportion within a certain period of time. Ladies and gentlemen, don't think there is anything wrong with allowing private capital to enter these public products. Now, it has been many years since Mr. Galileo's improved steam engine was put into practical use, and countless factory owners have accumulated considerable wealth. If we don't guide them to invest their funds in areas that we can control, then they will use the extra money to speculate. Humph, it's okay to speculate on luxury goods, but if they speculate on food prices or something, that will cause great difficulties for the country and the alliance!
In addition, aren't factory owners everywhere complaining about the lack of qualified technicians, which leads to unstable product quality and affects their sales? In this way, the Asturias laboratory can send professors to serve as teachers, and factory owners from all over the country can invest individually or jointly to set up a technical school in a certain place to recruit young people for short-term training. "
"Your Majesty's solution is truly wise. This way, the two largest expenditures , public works and education, will have someone to share the burden! Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will work hard to turn the Royal Government's revenue and expenditure from loss to profit in the next fiscal year."
