Nine hundred million mu?
Li Xin was not surprised by this data. In a prosperous era, such a large amount of fertile land was not excessive. There was still a vast amount of land lying idle throughout the land.
It's worth noting that, in my memory, the area of arable land in later generations was as high as 1.9 billion mu!
Historically, during the Ming Dynasty's peak period, the cultivated land area reached as high as 1.1 billion mu!
The present territory of the Great Gan Kingdom is even larger than that of the Ming Dynasty in history, yet its arable land area is less than that of the Ming Dynasty, which is certainly unreasonable.
However, Li Xin knew that the current registered 900 million mu was the amount after the five-class land classification system. As for tidal flats and marginal lands, they were not included in the statistics.
Furthermore, a large amount of wasteland, which has only recently been reclaimed, has not yet been included in the statistics. The five-year tax exemption for newly reclaimed wasteland will only be included in the statistics when it is about to expire.
As for the newly recovered areas, the amount of farmland is still being tallied.
With 900 million mu of farmland, the average tax rate for each mu of land was about 100 wen, based on the fifth-grade farmland tax standard.
With the addition of tax exemption policies, the estimated tax revenue from 900 million mu of farmland is 40 to 50 million guan. Liu Jingxuan is underestimating the situation!
"Grand Secretary Liu,"
Li Xin smiled and said, "Even with some tax exemptions, the land tax alone would probably amount to more than forty or fifty million strings of cash."
"His Majesty,"
Liu Jingxuan bowed and said, "Nowadays, with the implementation of tax exemption policies such as encouraging childbirth and exempting military personnel from taxes, many ordinary families are already paying very little in taxes. In addition, thanks to this year's vigorous publicity, there will be a baby boom before the collection of land taxes next autumn, and the newborns at that time will also be included in the tax exemption. Therefore, forty to fifty million strings of cash is a normal estimate. As for the specific amount, we will only know it after the collection is completed and the statistics are finished next year!"
"Uh-huh!"
Li Xin nodded slightly.
In fact, the current tax rate for land is still very low. This is a benefit that Li Xin seeks for the people; as long as the people can live a good life, that's enough!
Moreover, nowadays, relying solely on industrial and commercial taxes, customs duties, salt taxes, and profits from merchant firms, the fiscal revenue of the Great Gan Kingdom has reached an astonishing 90 million strings of cash!
As times continue to develop, and in a few years, as more and more new products are launched into the market, the fiscal revenue of the Great Gan Country will also increase!
At that time, we will no longer need to rely on land taxes.
Furthermore, as society develops, industrial and commercial taxes can also be reformed. New taxes such as consumption tax, business tax, and income tax can be gradually put on the agenda!
Even if the Daqian Kingdom no longer has land taxes and agricultural taxes, its annual fiscal revenue will not be less.
Moreover, the Great Gan State still has a banknote bureau.
As times progressed, the money printed by the mint was gradually put into the market, which indirectly increased the government's disposable income.
There are also government bonds, corporate bonds, and future profits of Toyo Trading Company!
Thinking of this, Li Xin nodded slightly.
With increased fiscal revenue, some things can be put on the agenda next year.
Including matters related to large-scale military expansion!
After conquering Japan, the Daqian Army had expanded to seventy infantry divisions and twenty cavalry divisions, with a total strength of nearly one million men.
However, with the expansion of the Great Gan Kingdom's territory, this number of troops is still somewhat insufficient.
Therefore, according to Li Xin's plan, the army should be expanded to at least two million people in order to deal with future events!
Military spending will also be a huge expenditure!
Fortunately, the country's fiscal revenue has increased significantly.
Moreover, according to Li Xin's plan, a portion of the imperial court's revenue would be specifically allocated for military expenditures. For example, profits from the arms trade, as well as future revenue from Japanese trading companies, would all be dedicated to military spending.
As for the newly collected land tax next year, it will all be used for the Ministry of Water Resources' expenditures, such as water conservancy construction and hydropower construction projects.
Of course, relying solely on the proceeds from arms trade, future revenue from Japanese trading companies, and a portion of the revenue allocated by the Imperial Cabinet is far from sufficient to cover the high annual military expenditures.
After all, with a million troops nowadays, the military pay alone costs tens of millions of dollars, not to mention weapons, equipment, clothing, logistics and supplies.
However, Li Xin had another way to make up for this shortfall: the spoils from his campaigns across various regions, which were also very substantial.
It should be noted that the income from gold and silver after this campaign against Japan was extremely high.
Although the Great Gan Kingdom does not directly use gold and silver nowadays, the existence of these reserves allows it to generate substantial wealth through issuing bonds, raising funds, or selling them.
It's still enough for military spending!
After much deliberation, Li Xin made his decision.
We aim to expand the cadre army to approximately two million by the end of the eighth year of Yanning within three years.
By then, the army will consist of at least 130 infantry divisions, 40 cavalry divisions, and a naval force of 300,000 men!
Of course, this is just an initial plan!
After the large-scale training of the army reaches a size of two million, the next expansion plan will also be carried out simultaneously.
The increase in the size of the Da Gan army is not only to ensure the status of Da Gan and deter other countries. More importantly, there are too many unstable factors surrounding Da Gan.
Better safe than sorry!
This was also Li Xin's idea.
Immediately, Li Xin also summoned a group of officers from the Privy Council and conveyed the order.
The Da Gan Army is a regular army with formidable strength.
Therefore, the task of choreographing and training is of utmost importance.
After the mission was assigned, the General Political Training Department and the General Military Training Department of the Privy Council formulated a plan to expand the Da Gan Army and began to systematically recruit new soldiers from the militia, the land reclamation troops, and the people of the Da Gan Kingdom's provinces, and began training them.
The task of recruiting new soldiers is arduous and has a long way to go.
In order to adapt to the new environment, new weapons and equipment, and new tactics and methods, the training of new recruits will also take a long time.
In addition, some soldiers in the current large-scale military will gradually retire due to factors such as age and physical fitness.
Therefore, the number of new recruits is also very large.
It was precisely because of these reasons that Li Xin chose to grant them three years to train a large army.
After all, expanding the current army of one million to two million is still a very difficult task!
No matter how arduous the task, Li Xin was extremely confident!
This matter must be completed!
Moreover, it must be done exceptionally well!
After all, in the future, the journey of the Great Army will be to the stars and the sea!
It is the unification of the four seas!
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