He asked a question.
"Can I?"
Zhao Zhen and others looked at him nervously.
Zhao Jun grinned and said, "Yes."
He walked over to Zhao Zhen's desk and began calculating on paper with a brush. "Thanks to the surge in productivity, our agricultural tax was just over 15 million guan in the second year of the Qingli reign. By last year, with the tax rate unchanged, it had risen to 24 million guan. This shows that the people are cultivating more land, and productivity has once again increased."
"So, using the normal 10% fluctuating tax rate, the total agricultural output value of our Great Song Dynasty is 240 million guan. In terms of purchasing power, this total value should be about three times that of previous years. This is because the price of grain in previous years was three times the current level, and the current total grain output is also much higher than in previous years."
"Let's calculate the commercial tax. Based on the current commercial tax rate of about 3-5%, the total commercial tax value last year was 58 million guan. Taking the median value of 4%, the total value of non-agricultural GDP reached 2.32 billion guan, and the gross domestic product reached 2.56 billion guan."
"And that's just domestic revenue. Last year, taxes on foreign trade totaled 31 million guan. Export taxes totaled 23 million guan, and import duties totaled 8 million guan. We've lowered the export tax to 5%, so the total value of our exports is 115 million guan. The import tariff remains at 10%, so the total value of our imports is 80 million guan."
"That is, our annual trade surplus reached 31.5 million guan (approximately 1.3 billion guan). Our exports were primarily porcelain, tea, silk, and handicrafts. Our imports were primarily raw materials such as copper ore, spices, livestock, and fur. The total value of imports and exports was 310 million guan (approximately 1.3 billion guan)."
"A rough estimate shows that the country's GDP has reached around 3 billion guan. Currently, rice prices continue to fall, and one guan can basically buy 4 dan of rice. Calculated by purchasing power, one guan is equivalent to 700 yuan in our later generations. This means that the current GDP of the Song Dynasty is equivalent to 2.1 trillion yuan. Before I traveled through time, China's GDP was 126 trillion yuan."
"Can we complete the industrial revolution with a GDP of 2.1 trillion yuan?"
Zhao Jun placed the brush back on the pen holder, then looked at the crowd and said with a smile, "My answer is yes, because the GDP of the Song Dynasty has basically surpassed the GDP of many Western powers before World War I. Although GDP doesn't mean much, because the GDP of the Qing Dynasty was much higher than that of Western powers even without industrialization, it means that we have enough money to carry out the first industrialization reform."
After he finished speaking, the whole audience burst into warm applause. Fan Zhongyan sighed, "It's not easy."
"Yes, I've worked so hard all these years just for this moment."
"Finally, there's hope."
"One day, will this old man be able to see trains and ships? He won't have to watch them in the movies anymore."
They were all in tears.
Ever since Zhao Jun appeared, he has brought them so much longing.
Basically, when they reach this position, they no longer have to worry about being stripped of their position as prime minister. Once their power is guaranteed, they no longer think about intrigue and power struggles, but how to leave their names in history and fulfill their political ambitions.
In particular, Zhao Jun also gave them dreams that could be realized, such as steam-powered trains, which enabled people to travel thousands of miles in just a few days, without having to sleep in the open air for months as before.
So each of them wanted to see it. Now Wang Sui and Sheng Du left with regrets, and old men in their sixties and seventies like Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and Zhang Shixun also felt unwell and sighed that they might not live long. They hoped to see that day even more urgently.
But Zhao Jun still poured a bucket of cold water on them, saying, "Don't be too happy too soon."
"ah?"
Yan Shu was surprised and asked, "How can you say that?"
"Having a GDP this high doesn't necessarily mean we'll succeed. The key lies in whether the court has the money to do things. If the court has no money, then sharing wealth with the people is just empty talk. In the Ming Dynasty, taxes were so heavily controlled by wealthy landlords that even successful candidates didn't have to pay. With wealthy landlords and families amassed immense wealth everywhere, is this social progress?"
Zhao Jun said, "Since the Jingyou Year, the imperial court's revenue has remained between 80 and 90 million guan. After the Qingli New Deal reforms, with the agricultural tax subsidy, it dropped to over 50 million guan. It was only through foreign trade that it was barely raised to 70 million guan."
"Now, after all these years, despite building water conservancy facilities, reclaiming new farmland, and importing high-yield crops from overseas to boost productivity again, we have only just recovered to our previous level."
He looked around at the crowd and continued, "The difference is that before, we achieved this through exploitation, but now we've expanded the pie and cut military and redundant expenses. This allows us to no longer exploit the people to maintain the court's expenses. But this doesn't mean this little money can sustain our long-term industrial plans."
"yes."
Fan Zhongyan sighed, "Isn't there going to be a major infrastructure project across the country next year? This part of the construction will probably cost 40 to 50 million strings of cash every year, which is basically enough to cover the huge military expenditures in the past."
"In addition to infrastructure, we also need to promote education, build schools, train workers, and build steel mills and textile factories. Unless we expand foreign trade again, it may take a long time to make up for the shortfall if we rely solely on domestic demand."
Zhao Jun said: "So if you want to complete it in a short period of time, or to achieve results, you must have a large amount of funds."
"So."
He looked at everyone and asked the most soul-searching question: "Where does the money come from?"
Lu Yijian's deep eyes flashed, and he said in a calm tone: "The wool comes from the sheep!"
"right!"
Zhao Jun also looked deep in his eyes and smiled as he said, "The Song Dynasty has supported these wealthy landlords for several years. They should have become extremely wealthy. It's time to slaughter them."
The land tax was only to increase the taxes on the landlords and the rich households to a certain extent, and then to increase the taxes on those who owned more land by 5%. In addition, the tenants were snatched from the landlords and the rich households, forcing them to increase the rent. All in all, the landlords and the rich households suffered greatly.
However, since the second year of the Qingli period, when land taxes were drastically reduced and a large number of exorbitant taxes and levies were abolished, landlords and wealthy households have enjoyed extremely low taxes, saving an unknown amount of money and grain every year.
Now.
It's time to return it to the court.
pig.
We still have to raise them for a few years to let them become fatter and fatter before we can kill them.
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