The focus next year will be on domestic construction and marine expansion.

Of course, making money is also the key.

After the budget is determined, it will soon be the end of the year.

By the end of the year, Zhao Yan naturally had more things to do. The busiest thing was to give bonuses to various departments. Among the nearly all departments, the scientific research department had the highest bonuses, followed by the military department, the business department and the administration department.

The bonus amounts of these departments with the highest bonuses are floating, but in contrast, the bonuses of other departments are relatively fixed.

In terms of personal rewards, the highest bonus is for scientific research.

At the end of the year, the scientific research department finally found a safe production method of yellow explosives and yellow gunpowder, and the entire research team received a bonus of 100,000 silver dollars.

Zhao Yan was so happy that he smashed out 100,000 silver dollars.

He believes that with a lot of money, more people will be encouraged to devote themselves to scientific research, so he can be said to be free of energy when rewarding.

The emergence of yellow explosives and yellow gunpowder, and the replacement of equipment of the Army and Navy was also put on the desk, but the premise was that the Military Weapons Bureau took out a cannon that could be installed.

In terms of next year's research tasks, the Military Weapons Bureau mainly studies the Mauser rifles and formal artillery drawn by Zhao Yan. If these two equipment can be mass-produced, Zhao Yan can reduce the personnel of the corps.

With the leap of combat power, it is too exaggerated to have tens of thousands of people in a brigade. It is normal to have tens of thousands of people in a brigade. It is too bloated to have so many people in a brigade that they cannot fully exert their troops.

Zhaojiabao at the end of the year was very lively. Compared with last year, there were more people in Zhaojiabao this year, more goods on the streets, and more people were richer.

Today, Zhaojiabao has expanded to a level of 20 ordinary kilometers, which is already a very large city in this era.

The permanent population of Zhaojiabao reached 830,000 and the migrant population reached more than 300,000.

The main departments under Zhao Yan were concentrated in Zhaojiabao. At the same time, many workers were living in Zhaojiabao. Many merchants moved their families outside Zhaojiabao. Most of the officers and officials settled their households in Zhaojiabao.

There are a wide range of goods on the street.

The eyes of cotton cloth in the market have become more bright. These cotton cloths are dyed in Zhaojiabao, and they are all made of new dyes. Song Yingxing has made a lot of money in this regard, and his patent fees are all made every month. In addition to the cotton cloth dyed in Zhaojiabao, there are also a large number of blankets and wool sweaters. Since Mongolia and Tufan were knocked down, the number of wool fabrics has increased rapidly. There are also many soft and shiny fur coats, high-end fur coats include mink, otter, fox fur, etc., and the lower-end ones include bear skin, sheep skin, deer skin, etc.

With the economic recovery of Huguang area, cowhide in Huguang area is supplied in Shandong in large quantities, and many leather shoes, leather boots, belts and other products have appeared in the market.

In addition to using it, there are also many foods to eat.

There are fruits and spices shipped from Southeast Asia, and foreign goods such as turkey, coffee, cocoa, and a small amount of European wine from the Americas. According to reports, wine is not very popular.

At the same time, there are many dried fish on the market, in addition to those caught in the Bohai Bay, there are also those caught from Zhoushan fishing grounds. Most of the fishery products in the Bohai Bay are sold in the south of the Yangtze River. A small amount of dried fish is supplied to Shandong, and the largest dry goods are hairtails.

The production of Hokkaido fishing grounds is not very high, most of them are dry goods, and a considerable amount of dried fish in the American colonies also transported back to Shandong.

The traditional New Year goods in the Ming Dynasty were so dazzling. As the end of the year approached, Shandong's imports of goods accounted for 1/5 of the year, and most of them were finished goods, not raw materials.

What makes foreign merchants happy is that Shandong's import tax has been cancelled on many commodities.

The unique trade barriers in the territory controlled by Zhao Yan are disgusting for manufacturers and traffickers outside the scope, which has also allowed Shandong factories to develop rapidly. For some industries that have already gained the ability to confront each other, the Ministry of Commerce directly canceled the import tax on some goods at the end of the year and reduced the import tax on some goods.

However, this is internal, that is, internal to the Ming Dynasty. For Japan and other things, the import tax is still very high.

It was not a Zhaojiabao that flourished at the end of the year. The entire Shandong and even the entire Ming Dynasty were much more prosperous than in previous years. Although the economy in the south was impacted by textiles, Zhao Yan also provided many employment opportunities to the people of the south, whether direct or indirect. In the absence of war, some people came out to provide disaster relief, and various places recovered quickly in agriculture.

The most expensive place is in Shandong.

Many people in Shandong work under Shandong government axe, and there are many workers, and they generally have 2 to 5 taels of salary and welfare per month, but they have no education, medical and housing problems. They all have money in their hands, and after a year of working, they generally have more than 10 to 20 taels of silver.

It is also very common in Shandong that earn dozens of taels of silver a year. Most of the technical workers, teachers, officials, and professional soldiers have this number.

The number of these middle classes is already relatively large, while those high-profile merchants are businessmen and scientific researchers. As a slightly smart businessman, they can make money in Shandong. Even if the profits are not so high, they can make profits if they spend some effort to do it.

At this time, the economic situation in Shandong is very good, and there is no reason not to make money. If you have capital and mind, then you can make money very fast. There are businessmen who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

For scientific researchers, as long as they really have knowledge and know how to invent and create, it is easy to get a few thousand taels a year. If the patent invented has a commercial name, it will be developed.

The whole of Shandong is so rich that the end of the year naturally becomes a huge cake. Most people are used to saving money and are usually more economical. At the end of the year, it is a time to be generous.

People in rural and urban areas flock to markets and shops at the end of the New Year to buy New Year’s goods.

Almost all Shandong is in a burst of laughter. This is the biggest carnival stage of the year. People who are well-off at home basically don’t consider the price when buying things. As long as they are not beyond the scope of acceptance, they will basically buy them as long as they like them.

The markets in various counties and towns in Shandong are very popular.

All kinds of meat, such as chicken, duck, cattle, sheep, pigs, etc., are sufficient supply and management at the end of the year, but the problem is that local governments in various places have insufficient forecasts for the market. As a result, various meat foods have been swept away in first-tier cities in Shandong.

"There is not enough meat!" Zhao Yan was surprised when he received the report: "Didn't I ask the following to prepare the meat supply?"

"Master, the demand for meat at the end of this year is a bit scary. I am asking the slaughterhouse to continue slaughtering. It will be better in a few days. The reserves in the farm are still very large." Zhang Buyun said, wiping the sweat on his forehead.

"Clog the gap as soon as possible." Zhao Yan ordered.

The gap is not too big. There are basically no gaps at the rural and township levels. After all, there are farms everywhere, so just pull them directly if you don’t have enough.

In first-tier cities, citizens have relatively high purchasing power and high demand, so some gaps have emerged, and the breeding industry has begun to develop.

According to statistics from the Bureau of Statistics, the per capita meat consumption in Shandong is 10 kg per person, and the consumption is still relatively low, and the breeding industry cannot develop within one or two days.

At the end of the year, when merchants make a lot of money, they are also the time when tax collection is the strictest and commodity quality spot checks are the strictest.

Many people feel that merchants are free from annihilation. There have been several periods in history that have suppressed merchants. Zhao Yan did not suppress merchants, but required merchants to be unwilling to be abducted while having higher wealth than workers, and they must play a real positive role.

After the end of the year, more than 600 vendors were arrested in Zhao Yan's administrative area, most of which were small vendors who could not get on the table, and very few of those big traders participated.

Most of these small vendors came to Shandong shortly and were not familiar with Shandong laws. Most of them were sentenced to half a month's detention, a small number were sentenced to one to three years in prison, and some of them were sentenced to a longer sentence of imprisonment.

The punishment for businessmen is very severe. If they are considered maliciously defrauding consumers or violate some other bottom lines, they will be denied their qualifications for doing business. Some are considered to have no good business ethics and extremely serious circumstances, they will be denied their qualifications for doing business for life. At the same time, these punished people often face the risk of being imprisoned.

The business foundation of the Ming Dynasty has been established for more than two hundred years. Businessmen who have gained the opportunity to pay attention to credibility and pay attention to the promise of a thousand gold medals and a golden sign.

Only those small vendors who cannot get on the table can do business and cheat everywhere. Merchants support the punishment of Shandong. They are all happy to see that Shandong Zhengfu advocates business ethics. It is reassuring for a person with business ethics to do business with another person with business ethics. Even some businessmen are unhappy with the punishment of Shandong, and no one dares to stand up to oppose or question it.

Vendors who come to Shandong to do business must stand the test, and some consumers like to report it. After all, there is a bounty to get.

Outside Shandong, the New Year is still pretty good in other provinces. No matter how hard it is, at least you don’t have to go hungry during the New Year.

There are basically no people in those difficult areas. The recruitment bureau most often does is to move Han people from poor areas to Shandong, and then move Shandong's overseas.

The end of the year is also the best-selling time for cotton cloth in various provinces. Before the end of the year, the textile factories opened by the Ministry of Commerce in various places have already been shipped quickly.

Since using the steam engine, the cotton production of the textile mill has been turned upward, and this is still the case when the steam engine is not fully replaced.

After all, textile factories that use steam engines can also produce them at night, just add an electric light, and a steam engine can drive thousands of spindles, which is far from comparable to hydraulic power, which leads to the reduction of the production cost of cotton cloth.

Other provinces in the Ming Dynasty focused on the markets in Shandong, while merchants in Shandong were staring at the markets in the provinces in the Ming Dynasty, and Shandong's goods began to flood in various provinces.

Overall, although the end of the eleventh year of Chongzhen was not perfect, most of them felt that they were much better than the previous years' Day.

With the recovery of production, grain prices fell and meat prices also fell, leaving the ridiculously high level before. The types of commodities increased, and the prices of cotton cloth fell again.

After treatment last year, the Yellow River area did not break during the rainy season in autumn, and there was no diversion, and the Yellow River Basin area was basically stable.

The Yangtze River Basin also achieved certain results in its governance last year, but there were still two floods that said whether it was big or small.

The Yangtze River Basin has become an important commercial trade zone. Shandong's goods flow directly from the Yangtze River, and then transport the raw materials in the basin back to Shandong.

From New Year's Eve, various performances are being organized everywhere.

Zhaojiabao has the most performance activities. After constantly gathering folk artists, many excellent art projects have been discovered. Most of these outstanding folk artists work in universities in Shandong. It is naturally their busiest time during the Chinese New Year.

Businessmen from all over the country also organized various celebrations during the Chinese New Year, and the whole of Shandong was in a carnival, and everyone was full of hope for the future.

Many people can't go back to Shandong to celebrate the New Year, but this is only a few years. Those conscripts are basically outside and they can be discharged from the army in a few years. The First Division, which is mainly professional soldiers, has its infantry brigades returned to Shandong to repair and will go home during the New Year holiday.

In relatively deserted places such as colonies, northern Moon, southern Moon, and Nurkandusi, the atmosphere during the Spring Festival is also pretty good, and local Han people organized various activities.

...The twelfth year of Chongzhen has arrived.

The cabinet earned 35 million taels of silver last year, and its fiscal revenue hit a new high, mainly commercial tax and agricultural tax.

Although the agricultural tax has been reduced due to the exemption of taxes in several provinces, there are still agricultural taxes in southern provinces. Adding to the larger amount of commercial tax, it has reached more than 35 million taels.

For this reason, the cabinet paid 20 million taels to Denlai Bank, and there was still 15 million taels of fiscal budget. Denlai Bank, which recovered the funds, greatly reduced its operating pressure and started investing again.

The cabinet has no action this year, and basically no project investment will be made, but only uses this money to maintain the operation of the empire.

However, this year Zhao Yan has a relatively big appetite and intends to swallow the four provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Henan and Huguang. Therefore, the cabinet will change the governor and officials in these four provinces.

Shandong has already put out the official list, and the cabinet can implement it according to this list.

Zhao Yan was more targeted in choosing the administrative areas to be annexed in the 12th year of Chongzhen. Shaanxi was the most affected and was most likely to cause turmoil, so it is better to intervene early. This year, the Han people from northern Shaanxi were moved out first, so that the troops arranged in Shaanxi could be diverted.

Henan is an important cotton production area. Because it is close to Shandong, Henan has recovered well this year. If there were no locust plagues coming out from time to time, it would have recovered better.

Huguang and Sichuan are grain production bases. The agricultural tax revenue in the Jianghuai area is high, so land annexation there is still good. The rich generally don’t buy much land, but the land annexation in Huguang and Sichuan needs to be started.

Zhao Yan naturally couldn't do a loss-making business. So much money was spent to build a water conservancy project, but the landlords picked peaches. How could he feel happy?

These four provinces are bound to be swallowed up by Zhao Yan this year, and killing Chongzhen this year to next year is also the goal. However, Chongzhen is not bad now, but it is not a big impact. I just feel very unhappy to see him keep popping up there.

Recently, Yang Sichang contacted old forces such as landlords and royal relatives and nobles everywhere, and Zhao Yan naturally noticed it.

After the Chinese New Year, the cabinet began to vote. Without surprise, all the proposals proposed by Zhao Yan were passed by a majority of votes.

Zhao Yan's influence in the cabinet is becoming increasingly powerful. Nearly 80% of the cabinet members are already in Zhao Yan's camp. Zhao Yan's current power is no different from that of the emperor, but he has some supervision, but he always stands on the commanding heights of morality, and supervision has no impact on him.

Even if you are caught, what if you have a handle? At least it is not a big handle. For example, at the end of the year, Chongzhen started to make trouble again, and he said that the salt tax was not paid.

Zhao Yan did not pay a penny of salt tax last year. This was originally the emperor's private money, but it was swallowed by Zhao Yan, so Chongzhen naturally had to make trouble.

This incident was also widely exaggerated by Chongzhen in newspapers, and almost the entire Ming Dynasty knew about it.

After nearly half a month of trouble, Zhao Yan ignored him at all, and no one came out to give him an explanation. Chongzhen jumped up and down for half a month, and the result was a ruthless blow.
To be continued...