Yunyin listened attentively, his mind connecting the different information and the plan he read.
In addition... he also tried to understand the undercurrents between each sentence.
’No matter how ideal the plan is, it is still based on the Grand Minister’s thoughts –
First, asking for money from the Lian family... although merchants get jabs from officials at every corner, this one... is probably because of Consort Lian, isn’t it?’ Yunyin shook his head, this was a small act of revenge, though it wasn’t serious.
If a conflict can be solved with money, then it’s not a conflict. The Grand Minister was merely a bit dissatisfied because Consort Lian was part of the reason why the court was delayed.
The Lian family would be more than willing to pay some gold to get off the list of people disliked by the Grand Minister of Revenue, while they will likely harbour even more resentment towards that Consort Hong...
Returning to the plan, Yunyin analysed slowly –
’The Xuanxi Province contributing gold is one thing, but the Lanhua Province... it’s our neighbour and also the worst-faring of the southern provinces. Well, not worst, since there’s still Nanshan right below the three provinces, protecting the dynasty’s borders facing the mountains.
But compared to Yangling and Qingling, Lanhua isn’t part of the four spirit provinces.
So, asking them to pay even though their strength is workforce is clearly to show that the minister is unwilling to pay gold right now.
Though this is just the outline, and whatever which province does hasn’t been decided...’
Looking over to the ministers, Yunyin saw a visible sigh of relief from four of them. They made it intentionally visible, as a sign of gratitude to the Grand Minister.
Being a minister of revenue in those provinces was very difficult – with enemies close at hand and few flourishing industries, they have to tighten their belt throughout the year. Contributing a bit of gold during disasters was necessary, but contributing for such a large project...
Thinking of this waterway project, various other thoughts entered their minds –
Compared to the commercial use other provinces thought of, they thought about a more significant matter –
What if they built lines and lines of ships, sending them across the waterways to the provinces at war?!
These thoughts came and settled deeply in their minds.
Even if sending armies was difficult, sending military personnel in a short time, or elite troops... various uses would only grow and fester in their minds.
What did it mean to now produce much?
Wasn’t it because of their protection that these provinces could become so wealthy?
Yueling was protected by two provinces, the three in the south were protected from all sides, Heling was protected by two provinces...
As the Grand Minister, Fa Shanyuan had a few of these thoughts, though not as detailed. But what he knew was that these provinces ensured the dynasty’s peace and allowed its prosperity.
Anyways, once the waterway is built, there would be countless people trying to be strong there. Military would be needed to protect important ships and escort cargo.
While analysing these things, Yunyin realised another way to make money. He noted it down and would talk with his father about it.
The discussion between the ministries slowly came to a halt, each one knowing that the real discussion and negotiations would ensue soon.
Duan Qiwang looked at all and said one matter, "This is an internal discussion of our Ministry of Revenue. Anything spoken here shouldn’t escape its walls!"
His threat caused many people to tense, for they had such thoughts. But now spoken out, they wouldn’t dare. There were countless methods to find out who said what –
"Let’s proceed to our last point of order –
The general distribution plan of all ministries.
Currently, the general distribution is:
50% of all taxes will be used for the normal day-to-day proceedings of all twelve ministries at all levels. 30% is saved for various situations, ranging from small incidents to disasters. 10% is used to fund various projects. And finally, 10% is sent to the capital – 5% of which becomes budget of the General Ministry, the other 5% enter the Imperial Treasury.
Is there any request to change the general distribution?" Duan asked, looking specifically over to the Grand Minister.
This distribution was but merely a general concept, the reality is vastly different and each thousandth of a percent is calculated.
As expected, Grand Minister Fa nodded and said, "We do indeed need to change our distributions.
First of all, the General Ministry has done a great job these past few years and contributed greatly to the stability of the dynasty.
It has proven again and again that only with its help could we, as the Ministry of Revenue, assist the emperor to the best of our ability."
The Grand Minister started with a few kind words.
Yunyin, hearing this, agreed deeply. 5% of the taxes of each province ends up in the hands of the General Ministry – at 13 provinces, that’s 65% the taxes of a whole province!
Because the General Ministries were smaller and mostly focused in the capital, only 25% of it would be used for their operations. The remaining 40%...
This was the hotbed of funding, the real foundation of how projects could be funded, the budget all the ministries wanted to obtain.
And the General Minister could solely and freely decide on how to use these 40% of taxes, which project to fund, which province to assist, even if he just wanted to fund a certain path, he could throw the money that way!
Of course it would still be strictly controlled and not wasted, but such a huge sum was 4x the funding each province had, which is why so many wanted to engage with the General Minister of Revenue!
As Yunyin thought of these, he finally heard the Grand Minister state what he wanted to say –
"So, after long contemplation, I think we should reduce the imperial treasury’s yearly tax to 1% to dedicate those freed-up 4% partially to the General Ministry, and partially to each province’s funding, with the idea that each province should use this additional funding for the waterways!"