Chapter 769: Just Right for Bullying
The relationship between the empire and the alliance has become the focus of research for many experts and scholars.
Related reports and forecasts are flying all over the place.
But apart from some sensationalists who never stop making shocking statements, normal research has generally reached a consensus: the Empire cannot afford the consequences of going to war with the Alliance.
It’s not that they can’t win, nor is it that the Alliance can drive straight to Holy Terra and overthrow the rule of the Imperial Center.
But, loss.
It would be a huge loss, a huge loss, and even with such a huge loss, the empire might fall apart after the alliance was destroyed.
The Iron War that began thirty-three years ago was the most recent of the large-scale rebellions the Empire had experienced, and it is worth learning from.
In that war, the Empire spent more than one hundred trillion directly or indirectly and shouldered a huge financial burden. Even with the Alliance's annual financial input of two trillion, and a lot of military expenditures were spread out over more than a decade in installments, which eased the pressure, it was still painful to shoulder such a heavy burden.
People in the Central Excise Department felt it particularly deeply.
How does the current alliance military strength compare to Iron Armor?
Only strong, not weak!
But that’s not all.
That is just a comparison of military strength, and it is not even on the same level as the war potential.
Look at how strong the alliance's economy is!
Lingze Star alone earns them nearly one trillion yuan a year. What about the real economic production within the alliance?
Yang Shiwei does not have any exact data to report, but as the central government of the empire becomes more and more curious about the current situation of the alliance, there have been many overt and covert investigations.
On the surface, under the framework of the Alliance Plan, a "supervision team" was sent into the alliance. They were guests of honor, but they were just "guests", not hosts, and they could not play any "supervision" role. At most, they were inside the alliance and could get first-hand information.
And secretly, there are many spies from Holy Terra and even from some local forces with ulterior motives.
Based on a collection of various pieces of information, it is generally believed that the alliance's annual fiscal surplus may be more than 4 trillion.
It's not just their gross domestic product, it also includes the money earned by Lingze Star, the trade between the northern line and the Star-Swallowing Universe and the Infinite Universe, as well as the trade income between the southern line and the Eastern Universe.
After deducting the 2.1 trillion imperial tax, the alliance still has 2 trillion in revenue a year.
The Alliance is really rich!
With such a strong economy, how many troops can they afford once they no longer have to pay imperial taxes?
If the alliance wants, they are fully capable of expanding their military power significantly in a short period of time!
Furthermore, it must be pointed out that there are at least two explanations for this 4 trillion yuan in revenue:
First, the alliance income surveyed may deviate from the actual situation, and the alliance income may be higher than this figure!
Secondly, in addition to the fiscal surplus of the alliance, there are still a lot of resources that are continuously invested in economic construction. Once the focus of the alliance's work shifts from economic construction to a full-scale war mode, it is unknown how much production capacity the alliance can produce.
Under this premise, we can use the Iron Armor War as a comparison.
In the Iron Armor War, the rebels had no way to survive without expansion, so they could only expand the battle line madly and fight to support the war. Otherwise, if the Iron Fury Stone and a group of traitors had defended the Princess Star Region, they would have been captured long ago.
But the alliance is really not like that. The alliance is not afraid of a war of attrition.
Even if trade is cut off, it doesn't matter if the alliance loses one or two trillion dollars a year.
And they paid less imperial taxes.
It is true that the Empire is much larger, but it absolutely does not have the ability to mobilize all its forces to put pressure on the Alliance.
According to the standards of the Ironclad War, if the southern, northern and western fronts were gathered together to launch an attack on the Alliance at the same time, the Alliance might really be able to engage in a long-term military confrontation with the Empire.
By then, not only would the empire lose its annual revenue of two trillion, but it would have to bear a cost of at least ten trillion a year to hold down the alliance and prevent them from attacking. If it wanted to destroy the alliance, it would cost fifteen to twenty trillion a year, and it would have to last for at least twenty years.
The central government of the empire simply does not have the financial capacity to make such expenditures.
Even if the expenditure is forced, rebellions in other places will probably continue to occur, and where will the strength be spared to suppress them?
There are orc invasions, Zerg invasions, and cult rebellions in various places...
The country is really going to be destroyed!
If one day the alliance changes its mind, rebels, and becomes a traitor, then there is no doubt that we have to fight even if we don’t want to. What else can we do?
But if the alliance was forced to rebel by the central government of the empire, then whoever did it would be the eternal sinner of the empire.
Under this premise, should Yang Shiwei negotiate with the alliance about increasing taxes?
Yang Shiwei himself was not sure!
Precisely because he understands the alliance, he feels that there is no room for negotiation on the issue of tax increases.
The imperial central government has no bargaining chips at all in this regard, so how can we negotiate?
As for how to deal with it with a tough attitude... he didn't dare.
He doesn't want to be the 'eternal sinner'.
But there is no need to take a tough stance and just talk normally. How can we achieve something through negotiation when we know that it is impossible to obtain on the battlefield?
He couldn't just take on the task like this.
He cannot bear the blame for forcing the alliance to revolt, and people will die;
If we fail to reach an agreement on tax increase, we may not die from taking the blame, but our future will be uncertain.
However, what made him feel relieved in the end was that Xu Fuzhen didn't just want him to be the scapegoat.
Premier Xu understood that this matter was difficult to handle, but he did not make it difficult for him. If the negotiation failed, then it failed. Although it would not be counted as his achievement and would make people a little disappointed, he would not be held responsible in the end.
Of course, the premise is not to anger the alliance.
Of course, Holy Terra also knows what Yang Shiwei knows.
Of course, the masters on Holy Terra have also read the reports from various sources.
Although there are indeed opinions advocating a tough stance towards the alliance, at least the person who holds this opinion is not Xu Fuzhen.
The reason is very simple.
Those hardliners who are always sarcastic, who made the decision to make the alliance into such a state that it is impossible to handle?
The primary target is Gallardo. It is well known that the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs is in cahoots with Gu Hang.
The second person to be scolded was Xu Fuzhen. She was greedy for the money back then and raised such an unsolvable monster now. She should be held responsible.
Can Xu Fu really recognize it?
Definitely not.
No matter what she thought in her heart, she couldn't change her political stance at this point. Even though she was the Prime Minister of the Taxation Department and one of the High Lords, she couldn't bear such a responsibility.
On Holy Terra, she, along with Gallardo, vigorously advocated for the loyalty of the Alliance, arguing that the current state of the Alliance was by no means a risk.
Raising taxes was a tactic she came up with.
Asking the alliance to raise taxes so that the central government of the empire can obtain more income is obviously a way to show the loyalty of the alliance. In this way, it can effectively counter those hardliners in the political arena of the central government of the empire.
Yang Shiwei deeply agrees with this.
On this point, he intends to have a frank discussion with the league and ask the league to pay a little more money, just as a token of his appreciation.
However, when he knew who was coming to represent the alliance this time, he had a new idea.
"Gu Jing? The eldest son of Gu Hang, right?"
"How old is he this year? Twenty-three?"
"It's still a child... Can you scare him?"
These thoughts were running through Yang Shiwei's mind.
I don't dare to offend the alliance, but I still have the courage to bully a kid.
In his opinion, Gu Jing was indeed a child.
He was only twenty-three years old. Among the powerful and wealthy class in the empire, it was normal to be two hundred or three hundred years old.
Those old ghosts were either born into wealthy families or climbed out from the bottom of society through untold hardships. They have experienced a lot, so it is very difficult to fool them.
But at the age of twenty-three, I have experienced so little, it’s different.
After coming up with an idea, Yang Shiwei quickly read through Gu Jing's resume and information, and then determined a strategy.
Gu Jing's life experience over the past 23 years is very simple. Before he was 18, he had always been by Gu Hang's side, brought up by his father and mother, and received a separate elite education. It was not until he was 18 that he left his parents and went to the highest institution of learning on Feiyi Star, the educational center of the Dragon Eagle Star Region, to study at university.
After finishing his four-year college career, he went to work in the Union government. The first place he worked in was probably a local government, where he worked for half a year. After that, he was transferred to the Union Ministry of Finance, where he has been working for about half a year now.
Then, he took on an important task: to come to Lingze Star to settle the imperial taxes for this period.
Yang Shiwei was both amused and confused.
Is this atypical young man who has just started out and hasn't experienced the hardships of life here to brush up his resume?
He could fully understand this arrangement.
The delivery of the imperial tax is also a big deal for the alliance. Leading this kind of work is obviously a good part of the resume. But at the same time, the delivery of the imperial tax is actually every two years. Due to the particularity of the alliance, the amount of materials is too large. The ships just come in batches, count them in batches, pass through the trading center in batches, and then deliver the tax. It is not strictly based on the time cycle. If there is goods, they will be taken away. As long as the officials of the Imperial Tax Department and the officials of the Alliance Imperial Tax Working Group jointly sign to confirm that a batch of goods has been shipped, it will be fine.
Every two years, the total tax amount is reviewed to see if it meets the standards.
The intermediate process has been running for fifteen years and is very mature, and there are basically no mistakes. It means that the main work is done by the people who do the work. The so-called "responsible delivery" means that an audit team will come to verify and sign at the end.
Generally there won't be any problems.
If there was a problem, it would have been exposed long ago.
What's more, this is not a major review within the two-year period, but an annual review in between, so its importance is not that high.
Isn't it obvious what the purpose of brushing up your resume is?
Just right for bullying!
…
"The alliance is at a critical juncture of survival!"
Yang Shiwei spoke with emotion, sincerity and worry.
The young man in front of him frowned slightly: "How do I start?"
While Yang Shiwei was speaking, he looked Gu Jing up and down.
He was wearing a white shirt, white pants, a blue outer robe with gold embroidery, and a rather thin figure. He had black hair, black eyes, and a fairly fair skin, which made him look handsome, like a beautiful young man.
If it were a girl, she would be easily attracted.
But unfortunately, the younger this young man was, the more he was like what Yang Shiwei imagined.
He continued, "Tax evasion has been really serious in the league over the years. I have been mediating, but now it is difficult to continue."
Gu Jing leaned forward, a look of surprise clearly on his face: "How is it possible? Our alliance's taxation has always been clear..."
Yang Shiwei interrupted Gu Jing forcefully and said, "I am the senior deacon specially appointed by the Imperial Taxation Department. Is there anyone who knows the tax situation better than me?"
Gu Jing seemed to be stunned.
Yang Shiwei continued, "The Empire's taxes have always been levied at 11%. When has the Alliance ever paid the full amount? The Alliance's output value over the years is far higher than this figure!"
"But the Plan of Union provides for a definite tax..."
"I participated in the signing of the Alliance Plan. The tax amount is not a fixed number. The Alliance deceived Holy Terra by fraudulent means. Now, many people on Terra have obtained solid evidence. A huge storm is about to come. Once it breaks out, your father will probably go from being a hero of the empire to a traitor!"
"Deacon Yang, what you said is too big, I can't figure it out for the moment."
Yang Shiwei pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "I don't know why you were sent to deal with such a big matter. Your experience is still too shallow."
After he finished speaking, Yang Shiwei saw the young man's brows slightly frowned.
The young man couldn't stand the excitement.
He changed the subject and said, "Take a look at these."
He spread out a stack of documents in front of Gu Jing: "This is a memorandum, a detailed investigation of the alliance's output value and taxes payable."
Gu Jing flipped through a thick stack of documents, but he obviously couldn't read them.
It's okay if you can't see it.
This document is not meant for people to see. It has more than 2,000 pages of content, with all kinds of details, charts, and one-sided conclusions taken out of context... If you don't find a team to review it for two or three months, it will never be thoroughly reviewed.
There is no point in reviewing it unless you conduct an on-site inspection and find a large amount of original documents for comparison.
When it comes to data, the tax department is professional.
Seeing Gu Jing having a headache, Yang Shiwei laughed secretly in his heart.
He deliberately waited for a while, and seeing that Gu Jing had no idea, he sighed heavily: "If you don't understand, take it back and let your staff take a good look at it... and take this document with you as well."
He took out another part, which was relatively simple, only 11 pages, clear and concise.
Gu Jing could understand this part.
"This is a memorandum. I have been working with the Alliance for many years. Prime Minister Xu Fuzhen and Prime Minister Gallardo have also maintained a very good friendship with Governor Gu Hang. We will not let the Alliance suffer too much. We can destroy the original investigation record, and everything can be reported to the Imperial Center according to the situation in the memorandum. Please sign it and act as your father's agent."
"Alas, I shouldn't have asked you to sign this, but what can I do? It's too urgent."
"There is not much room for maneuver, and the time window is short. I have to report to Holy Terra in an hour. If there is no signature on the memorandum, I can only report according to the original data."
(End of this chapter)
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