Chapter 536 Tight finances

The voyage from Sanya Port on Hainan Island to several major ports in Southeast Asia is more than a thousand nautical miles, and the voyage to Batavia even exceeds 1,500 nautical miles. If there is no reliable supply transfer point on such a long voyage,

For the crews and sailors traveling on this route, the risk is indeed quite high. This is one of the reasons why some Ming merchants did not dare to open up the South China Sea trade route without authorization, although they coveted the huge profits from ocean trade.

But Haihan's mid- to long-term strategy is to encircle the entire South China Sea as his own territory, and based on this, to achieve a maritime trade monopoly between the East and the West. In order to realize this long-term plan, it is necessary to control

The main channel from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean is a necessary means. One place is Manraka and the other is Batavia, both are battlegrounds in the future. Of course, you must first have a strong navy.

It is possible to conquer such a distant goal.

Although the current strength of the militia navy is one of the best in the South China Sea, its scope of activities is still very limited, and it does not have enough ability to send its troops south to compete with the Netherlands, an old maritime power, for ports in the South China Sea. Not only the military generals know this, but also other departments

Everyone also understands this fact. When the Executive Committee eagerly obtained the land and development rights of the four southern ports from the Annan court, it was precisely to prepare for its future layout in the direction of the South China Sea.

What Yan Chujie wants to emphasize is the important role the navy will play in Haihan's southern expansion, as well as the scale and necessity of fleet expansion required to complete these tasks. Link the naval expansion with Haihan's overall strategic plan, and others will

It will be difficult to oppose the military's budget.

But having said that, Yan Chujie’s report did not exaggerate too much. The current scale of the militia navy cannot support the executive committee’s strategic intention of expanding southward. If we want to achieve simultaneous expansion of commerce, trade and military, then expanding the navy is indeed

Measures that must be implemented immediately. In fact, considering the shipbuilding cycle, the entry time of the next batch of warships will definitely lag behind the expansion of trade routes. Therefore, Yan Chujie knew that proposing such a budget would receive fierce opposition, but he still

Stick to your guns.

Yan Chujie put forward his reasons from a professional perspective, and it was indeed too difficult for opponents to refute him in this field. When Tao Donglai saw that Gu Kai and Ning Qi were both dumbfounded, he asked: "Others

Do you have any additional comments on the military’s budget?”

"I would like to say a few words on behalf of the Ministry of Shipping." Yue Zhiyun raised his hand and said: "Everyone, the cost of building and using steam-powered sailboats is still very high, but this is indeed the future development direction of shipbuilding technology. What we have mastered

All kinds of technologies that transcend the times need to be practically applied in the military field and then gradually spread to the civilian field. Not only warships, but also our merchant ships will have to use more advanced power systems sooner or later. The current high cost is mainly due to

Because our production capacity is limited, mass construction is the most effective way to reduce costs for our current situation. I believe my colleagues in the Ministry of Industry will agree with me. Leaving aside military expenditures, in terms of the shipbuilding plan alone

, our Ministry of Shipping very much agrees with the military’s proposal.”

"What Xiao Yue said makes sense." Bai Kesi, who represented the Ministry of Industry, took over and said: "Before we produced steam engines for the navy, we made one prototype and two mass-produced models, and then stopped production, but for this reason we

After more than a year of preparation, equipment, personnel, and venues were all prepared for this kind of steam engine. When the executive committee said it would stop work, all arrangements were disrupted. Everyone felt that the cost of building new warships was high.

Can the cost of building a small ship be high?"

The Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Industry successively stated their attitude and supported the military's naval expansion plan, which silenced the opponents. In the end, although the Navy failed to receive the requested military budget amount, it still spent this year's

It has basically improved by 80%, which can be considered a victory.

This debate is only one part of the agenda of the budget and final accounts meeting at the end of the year. In fact, with the rapid acceleration of Haihan's expansion, various departments are requesting to increase budgets and expand department staffing, including vocal opposition.

Representatives of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education of the military also need higher budgets for their departments to achieve normal operations. As for Haihan's overall situation, the land and land acquired through the rapid expansion in the past year or two are

The population has not been fully converted into economic benefits, and there has been almost no war dividend in the past year. Financially, the government has just kept paying and paying again, but the increase in income has not kept pace.

"Everyone, if the budgets of various departments can be passed, then we have only one way to go, and that is to go bankrupt immediately!" Schneider had to give a simple explanation of the current situation to those present: "According to me

According to the data recorded at the meeting in the past two days, comparing the budgets proposed by various departments with this year's fiscal revenue, we will probably have a fiscal deficit of... 2.7 million yuan. This means that unless our revenue next year

The increase exceeds 2.7 million. Otherwise, we will be unable to make ends meet in the next year, and we will probably be in trouble due to capital turnover issues."

"What is the expected revenue of the Ministry of Finance next year?" someone asked very keenly.

"Our conservative estimate is to maintain this year's level. As everyone knows, our fiscal revenue mainly comes from foreign trade, because it is impossible to predict how much impact the Qiongbei region will have on our foreign trade. In addition, the investment in Qiongbei will also be

We may not stay at the budget figures currently proposed, and the deficit may further increase." Schneider did not give detailed figures, but tactfully went around: "But what I can be sure of now is that if there is no foreign trade

If there is a particularly big breakthrough, then the fiscal deficit will be unavoidable!"

Since time travel, the biggest factor hindering the development of Haihan has always been manpower. If it can have sufficient human resources, Haihan can develop at least half a year faster than it is now. Cheap industrial products produced by various advanced means,

As well as a centralized financial system, Haihan has amassed wealth at the fastest speed of its generation. In the past few years, finance has never been a problem that has plagued Haihan's development. However, as the expansion speed accelerates

, the new problems Haihan has to face are also emerging one after another. The fundamental way to solve these problems lies in money, but now the speed of making money can no longer keep up with the rhythm of spending money.

"I know you will probably ask me what solutions I have next. In fact, there must be a solution. To put it bluntly, it can only be said in four words: increase revenue! Reduce expenditure!" Schneider said unhurriedly: "In terms of increasing income,

From one aspect, we must increase the scale of foreign trade, and the only roadblock is manpower. Facing the Ming Dynasty market, our production capacity is far from enough. Increasing fiscal revenue is a foreseeable goal, but

To a certain extent, it will be affected by the speed and scale of immigrants introduced from outside the island in the coming year. Of course, if there are other ways to make quick money, such as launching a local war to ensure considerable profits, I personally am not opposed to a more radical approach.

.”

"As for reducing expenditures..." Schneider glanced at everyone present and said slowly: "I believe that the budget proposals submitted by everyone are the result of repeated deliberation and calculation, but considering our financial situation,

Due to the current situation, we will eventually reduce and cut off some projects that are not so necessary. I hope everyone can understand."

"Can't we raise some funds through other methods? For example, selling bonds?" Someone else put forward a new suggestion.

"Issuing bonds is indeed feasible in theory, but we have to consider the actual situation." Schneider explained: "If we sell bonds, it is equivalent to revealing a message to the outside world - we do not have enough money.

We have spent a lot of time and energy to start to let the outside world accept our financial system, so that Ming businessmen are willing to store gold and silver in our banks, but these people may not understand the actual meaning of bonds. Once they feel that their

If money is at risk, then our banks may face a run. Simply put, our current financial credit is not enough to support the issuance of bonds. Perhaps this situation will gradually change after our political power is established.

Once the naturalized people under our rule have a real sense of belonging, we can try to slowly issue government bonds internally. In short, it will take some time to wait for external conditions to mature before we can use this method."

Among the people here, Schneider is the only real financial expert, so this issue is basically his own final word. Even if others want to raise questions, it is difficult to have an in-depth debate with him in this professional field - just like

No one in the military field can refute those people at the Central Military Commission with words.

The results of the meeting were not satisfactory. Except for a few departments, most department heads did not look very good when they left the meeting room.

Yan Chujie was undoubtedly one of the final winners of this meeting. Although the final approved budget did not reach the level expected by the military, compared with other departments, the budget increase received by the military should be one of the best. Except

In addition to immediately resuming the construction of the third Majesty-class warship, the military will also place a huge order with the Victory Port Shipyard, including the construction of at least three more Majesty-class battleships, as well as an exploration-class and current standard fleet configuration.

Expedition-class warship. The total tonnage of this order will be close to 10,000 tons. The shipyard will definitely be busy in the next year.

As soon as Yan Chujie arrived at the gate of Victory Fort, before he got on his special carriage, someone called him from behind. Yan Chujie looked back and saw that this person was one of the winners of today's meeting, Deputy Minister of Security Hao Wanqing.

.

"If Mr. Yan is not in a hurry, can we chat for a few words?" Hao Wanqing came up and shook hands with Yan Chujie, and then said concisely: "There are some work matters that I would like to discuss with Mr. Yan."

"Okay, no problem. Should you go to my place or yours?" Yan Chujie said generously.

"It's dinner time, let's find a place to eat and chat!" Hao Wanqing made an invitation gesture: "I'll be the host!"

The restaurant that Hao Wanqing found was in the Shengli Port Business District, but it was Yan Chujie's first time to eat at this restaurant. The food on the table could not be said to be rich. It was basically home-cooked food, but it tasted very good. Yan Chujie tasted it

After a few bites, he couldn't help but praise: "The chef here is very good! Why have you never heard of this restaurant before?"

"It's only been open for half a month. The chef is Fan Wei's apprentice, and his skills are definitely not bad." Hao Wanqing pointed to the outside of the room and said: "Don't look at the small courtyard. There are not many rooms, and the decoration is not as good as those on the street.

The restaurant is luxurious, but the business is so good that you have to queue up to make a reservation to eat here at night."

"This is a high-end private kitchen. It's pretty good..." Yan Chujie put down his chopsticks, stared at Hao Wanqing and said, "This place also belongs to your security department, right?"

Hao Wanqing smiled noncommittally and said: "Sometimes we need to interview some people outside, so we have to find a suitable place in advance. We can't drag people to the Security Department every time."

Yan Chujie nodded and said: "Your place is indeed a bit scary. It feels like you are about to be interrogated and you can't have a good conversation... Let's get down to business. I know you are also a busy person, so there is no need to talk in circles.

"

Hao Wanqing said: "Mr. Yan is so straightforward, so I'll get straight to the point. During today's meeting, I heard what President Yan said that one of the purposes of the military's fleet expansion is to expand the scope of maritime activities southward.

Is that what you say?"

"Yes, that is indeed what we plan to do." Yan Chujie nodded and said, "This step must be taken sooner or later. If you start preparations early, you can reap the results sooner. And our military is not the only one who wants to do this. You can also see

When we arrived, the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Commerce were on our side."

"After all, it's understandable that the interests are related." Hao Wanqing responded: "Then I would like to take the liberty to ask, what specific plans does the military have for Nanyang?"

"What do you want to know?" Yan Chujie did not answer his question, but asked instead. Although the Ministry of Security has great authority, it is only outside the military system and involves military secrets. Yan Chujie does not have to sell it.

Give face to the security department.

"Mr. Yan, don't get me wrong. The purpose of my asking this question is not to find out the secrets of the military. I just want to know from the side and see if there is any possibility for our two departments to cooperate in Nanyang." Sensing Yan Chujie's vigilance.

, Hao Wanqing immediately explained.
Chapter completed!