Dashun, Hanjing.

In the political affairs hall, Qi Zhiti wore a black veil and a second-rank pheasant tusk garbage, which looked even more energetic. Compared to his low-key position when he was the Zuo Zhengzheng (equivalent to the first deputy prime minister), he had a sense of vigor. Obviously, after reaching the peak of imperial power, this man who had just reached the 50s would not only be a transitional figure, but decided to do something that would allow him to leave his name in history.

"Mr. Hu! Master Zao! Master Shen!" Qi Zhiti nodded to the other three people in the hall with a reserved attitude. Hu Keqin and Zao Guoquan are members of the cabinet. Although Shen Hongmao has not yet entered the Political Affairs Hall, the Ministry of Revenue he is in charge of can be said that Qi Zhiti will make the key point of decision today, so he is also qualified to attend this meeting.

"I am trusted by Your Majesty and trusted by the state affairs. Among them, there are many people who can surpass you in the court. I am ashamed of being wronged by Your Majesty!" Qi Zhiti said a few humble words first, and then changed his meaning: "But since he is in his position, he must do something and must not be a corpse and abstain from the state affairs. Qi's talent is shallow, so please don't think that the three adults are stupid, and you must give more suggestions!" At this point, Qi Zhiti stood up and bowed deeply to the three people in front of him.

"I dare not!" Hu, morning, Shen and the other two hurriedly got up and returned the greeting.

"The first way to govern is to manage finances! Now Dashun is not without soldiers or lack of people, but the financial resources are scarce, and the military pay is insufficient. This is indeed true. The official believes that the most urgent task now is to rectify the finance and taxation first, so that the central government can make sufficient financial use, and then deal with other matters, so that it can be smooth! What do the three adults think?"

"What the Prime Minister Qi said is very much!" Hu Keqin, the oldest, agreed first. As the former prime minister of wealth, he actually had the most say: "When our dynasty was founded, Emperor Taizong set rules that he had to obtain light taxes and taxes to support the people's strength. This idea was originally good. However, over the past two hundred years, the breeding and consumption increased, but the wealth was less than enough. Now the income of the court is not only in the land tax, tariffs, salt, tea and wine taxes, and all the various incomes are only more than 50 million yuan in the annual total. The number of transported to the center is not enough. However, the number of soldiers raised is nearly 10 million taels per year. Other equipment and ammunition are not included. If you do something, you have to borrow money to make a living. But you always have to pay off your debts. How can you continue like this?"

"That's right!" Zao Guoquan also interfered: "Isn't the Japanese invading Ryukyu this time that they delayed because of money. As a result, the British intervened and caught us off guard. The Japanese took advantage of the loopholes and lost the vassal states. You must know that when fighting, the soldiers are very fast. They can take advantage of one day. The enemy will not stand up obediently and wait for you to raise troops and funds before taking action. How could they start looking for money after taking action!" At this point, Zao Guoquan was still very resentful. Since he joined the army, he has always won more than defeats. He suffered a loss like this time. He was still the only one who suffered a loss. He was still because of his lack of money. How could he not annoy him?

Seeing that the two colleagues in the cabinet agreed with their opinions, Qi Zhiti nodded with satisfaction and asked Shen Hongmao: "Mr. Shen, you are the minister of the Ministry of Revenue, what do you think?"

Shen Hongmao replied respectfully: "The officials also think that our dynasty's finances should be changed, and they should start from the following points first!"

"Oh! I didn't expect that Lord Shen had already had a show in his heart as soon as he took office. OK, let's say, let me and Hu, please listen to me!" Qi Zhiti said with a smile.

"Zhanbu dares not say that, but it's just that he has some experiences as an official over the years, especially when he went to Shanghai to issue treasury bonds with Lord Hu this time, he has a deep understanding of some rules. Some rules cannot be changed!" Shen Hongmao said in a deep voice: "First of all, we must sell all the ironmaking offices, machinery bureaus, textile factories, and trade agencies under the court. These factories have to spend millions of taels of silver in the court every year, which is very inefficient and has become the money bags of the officials in charge. It is better to sell them all, which can save the future silver in the court, and the second is to earn a sum of money."

"Sell them all?" Qi Zhiti looked puzzled on his face: "These are the result of hard work of ministers in several dynasties. You sold them all at once, how can you do it? Besides, if you sell them all, if the court wants to use troops to fight, build bridges and pave roads, where will the ships, equipment, and military uniforms come from?"

"It's just that you can use money to purchase from private enterprises!" Shen Hongmao replied confidently: "The court can issue laws in advance. If a war occurs, it can requisition the necessary ships from private enterprises. As long as you pay compensation afterwards, all private enterprises must give priority to the production of the required orders for the imperial court. Isn't that what it means?"

"This is also a solution!" Qi Zhiti nodded: "But are you doing this just to save money?"

"No, Mr. Qi, do you remember a few years ago that I was impeached for selling two low-level blast furnaces in Hanyang Iron Factory to Chen Zaixing!"

"Oh! That's the matter!" As soon as Shen Hongmao reminded him, Qi Zhiti immediately remembered it and said with a smile: "You have to thank Lord Hu, he suppressed it for you, but what you said makes sense. The two blast furnaces seem to have been there for several years, and they are useless. At least they can be sold to Chen Zaixing and they can still get some money back!"

"But do you know? Chen Zaixing used these two converters and built an iron maker station in Kunming, Yunnan. It was released in May last year. It produced 80 tons of iron and 30 tons of steel every day. Now all the steel from the Kunming Machinery Bureau and the Trade Bureau no longer need to be purchased from the outside, and there is also excess steel for sale to Guangxi and Guangdong. Every year, the dividends to the Burmese royal family alone are more than 10,000 taels of silver."

"What?" Qi Zhiti's face finally showed a look of surprise. As one of the prime ministers of the court, although he was relatively low-key due to his position, it did not mean that he was a fool and incompetent person. As the earliest modern steel factory in Dashun, the shipyard near Hanjing, the Machinery Bureau and other several most important military, machine and ship steel supply plants, Qi Zhiti can be said to have a backward recitation. By 1891, the Hanyang Iron Factory produced 100,000 tons of iron and 60,000 tons of steel every year. In addition to providing the Machinery Bureau and the Shipyard, most of the steel it produced was used to make rails for Pinghan (Beijing to Wuhan) According to the Dashun railway plan, two important railway lines, Jinpu (Tianjin to Pukou on the other side of Nanjing), after completing these two railways that run across the north and south, there are still a large number of railways to be built in the northeast, northwest, southeast and other places. The steel output of the four largest official iron plants, Hanyang Iron Factory, Shanghai Iron Factory, Jinling Iron Factory, Youzhou Iron Factory, combined with the total steel output of more than 300,000 tons of pig iron and 170,000 tons of steel per year. Compared with the steel required, it is simply a drop in the ocean. Chen Zaixing could actually produce nearly 30,000 tons of pig iron and more than 10,000 tons of steel every year by relying on the two converters bought from Hanyang Iron Factory at a low price. This is why Qi Zhiti is not surprised.

"Mr. Shen, what you said just now is true? You can't joke about steel!" Qi Zhiti's face became serious.

"Qi Xianggong, Xiaguan and Chen Zaixing were in the same year. These numbers were mentioned in his correspondence with me, and there should be no fakes. Besides, Guangdong and Guangxi have always lacked steel. Even the small amount of steel needed for Kunming machinery and equipment were transported from Guangdong and Guangxi and Hunan. However, since last year, not only did they not import steel from Guangdong and Guangxi, but they instead imported steel from Yunnan and Guizhou. Many private small iron plants were forced to close. This was mentioned in the comments on Guangxi's Jiedushi. This is not fake!"

"Take it seriously, let me show you the note!"

"Please look at me!" Shen Hongmao, who was prepared, took out the note from his sleeve and handed it over. Qi Zhiti took the note with his slightly trembling right hand, opened it for a while, put it aside, and sighed in a low voice: "This Chen Zaixing is really a genius. He not only knows how to use troops to fight, but also builds steel plants. Unfortunately, he is a Burmese prince and does not serve the court!"

"Qi Gong, you are wrong!" Zao Guoquan, who was standing aside, smiled and said, "He is now called a lonely person in Myanmar, and his descendants will be honored in the south in the future. There are hundreds of millions of subjects, and the worst is a dragon, son, and phoenix grandson. Which one of us can compare with him? As the saying goes, a gentleman's greed will be killed for five generations. Is it better for my ancestors to accumulate virtue, as long as the court is still there, an iron hat of "not slaughtering the marquis" will always be there. Even if you ministers are of the highest rank, who can guarantee that they are not a commoner after three or five generations?"

After hearing what Zao Guoquan said, Qi Zhiti and Hu Keqin couldn't help but smile bitterly and admitted that the other party was very serious. The three of them sighed a few times, and Qi Zhiti asked with a solemn attitude: "Mr. Shen, according to your statement, it is very important to sell ironmaking companies such as the public. After all, Chen Zaixing's ironmaking factory in Kunming does not mean that others can do the Hanyang ironmaking factory well. It's better to be cautious!"

Shen Hongmao was very calm. He took out another piece of paper from his sleeve and presented it with his hands: "Mr., this is a memorial written by the Xiaguan at the Hanyang Iron Factory when he was the head of the Ministry of Works. When the Xiaguan inspected several official enterprises near Hanjing, he felt that the people were overdoing their work, wasting labor and materials, and were rampant in bribery. So he strictly supervised a workshop and eliminated redundant employees. In those two months, the cost of that workshop was reduced by 50%, but the output doubled. It can be seen that even ordinary people, as long as they do not build the steel mill into a yamen, these factories can improve greatly!"

Looking at Shen Hongmao's second note, Qi Zhiti nodded slightly and sighed: "Okay, okay! Lord Shen, you are really short of talents who can do practical things like this. Lord Hu has not read you wrong. He strongly recommended you to Your Majesty out of public intention! Let's do this, as you say, take out a small factory to sell and try it. If it is good, promote it. Set the price and formulate rules. These things are inseparable from you. You will do this job!"

Thank you for the rewards from the book friend of the dead tree and the deserted snow!
Chapter completed!