"That's more like it."
Granny Wang nodded in satisfaction, then she and Old Man Wang bowed to all four directions, thanking heaven for its eyes, for bringing them the sage, the great personage, Saint Chu.
Secretary Zhou of the village opened and closed his mouth, finally sighing in resignation.
The grain and tax official beside him sneered, "Your Excellency the Secretary, forget it, there's no hope. Chu Prime Minister lets them eat their fill and dress warmly, without worrying about food and clothing. If he doesn't promote personality cults and build memorial arches, it's impossible. You can give up on persuading them."
"Even in my opinion, the village you manage will have to build a shrine for him within a short time."
"..."
Secretary Zhou was worried. The common people had good intentions. Building a memorial arch at home was one thing, but building a shrine for Prime Minister Chu might not be a good thing. If he were to be viewed with suspicion by His Majesty or attacked by court officials because of this, leading to his downfall, then the good times that had just begun would come to an end.
"Alright, alright, stop bowing, everyone! Hurry up and harvest the sweet potatoes from your fields."
The grain and tax official waved his hand impatiently and shouted, "So many sweet potatoes, who knows how long it will take to weigh them all! Your village probably can't finish weighing them in three days! Hurry up!"
"Yes, alright!"
Old Man Wang, who was being scolded, was not angry at all. He happily took his wife and children to the fields to continue harvesting sweet potatoes.
By the time it was almost August, the sweet potato yields from the various agricultural estates were reported to the Royal Chamber of Commerce, and then reported to the Empress at the court.
Of course, the Empress already knew before the court session, and the ministers had also heard some rumors.
133,246,620 shi! An incredibly terrifying yield.
At the court, the ministers were stunned by this data.
The previous corn was already very high-yielding, and they were shocked then. Now, with the highest-yielding sweet potatoes harvested, it was impossible not to be stunned.
"Your, Your Majesty!"
Qian Jieren stepped forward with a flushed face and bowed.
The Empress looked at him with amusement, "I know, Minister Qian, you want the Royal Chamber of Commerce to pay grain tax again, right?"
"Indeed."
Qian Jieren didn't want to, but if the Royal Chamber of Commerce could pay grain tax on sweet potatoes, the amount would be too much!
With a total output of 130 million shi, even if this was the first year and the farmers in the estates had to pay a land rent of up to fifty percent, that would be 65 million shi. Paying the highest possible grain tax of fifty percent to the Ministry of Revenue would be 32.5 million shi.
Even though sweet potatoes were cheaper than rice, it was about ten shi of sweet potatoes for one tael of silver. This would be 30 million taels in silver. Adding the ten million taels from corn, the estimated tax revenue would be 12 million taels this year.
This year, the Ministry of Revenue would likely be the wealthiest in the history of Yunyue, with 52 million taels! Even at the founding of the nation, the tax revenue was only 17 million taels, and with grain tax, it would be at most 30 million taels.
The civil and military officials pondered for a moment and secretly marveled. With so much money in the Ministry of Revenue, how would their departments spend it? At the current rate of expenditure, they didn't seem to have enough to spend it all?
This made their mood complicated.
And when they thought about the yield of potatoes... that would likely add another ten million taels in silver. The court this year had become more than ten times richer compared to last year!
With so much money, their hearts trembled.
It was too much, far too much. With so much money in the court, they suddenly felt insecure.
"Fortunately, fortunately, the Great General of State Protection, Wei Zi, requested to expand the army. We couldn't stop it. It's good that the army is expanding! It's wonderfully done!"
When the civil officials thought of the army expanding by 100,000, their sense of security returned.
Expanding the army by 100,000 only cost a few million taels at most.
Hmm? If that's the case, wouldn't it be even better to expand by another 100,000?
At this thought, Xie An, the Minister of War, immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, now that the court is so wealthy, I believe that expanding the army by 100,000 is far from enough. I request that the court should expand the army by another 100,000, which would be more appropriate!"
"Exactly, I second this motion!"
"I also second this motion!"
The civil officials all requested to expand the army. This move stunned the military officials. They had only just begun to consider whether to expand the army, and you were already submitting a request? Was the speed too fast?
The Empress smiled, "It's rare for the civil officials to unanimously request me to expand the army. I suppose having too much money in hand is also a worry."
"If that's the case, then I shall agree. This matter will be handled the same way as last time, with General Wei in charge of 50,000 and Princess Xin Yue in charge of 50,000."
"Yes!"
The civil officials were relieved. Yunyue was clearly getting better and better. Only by holding onto the state's interests could they... cough cough~
Right?
In the past, with a tax revenue of two million, when His Majesty ascended the throne, with six or seven million, they could only get a few taels of silver?
Even though they dared not openly skim so much now, they couldn't help but have so much money, right?
This time, it was Chu Chen's turn to be a bit stunned. The Ministry of Revenue had more money, and the civil officials were happy.
The army was expanding by 200,000 this year, and the military officials were happy. But 100,000 of them were said to be under Xin Yue's responsibility, which would eventually fall on him?
Managing 100,000 people would be a headache.
"Damn it, why does my job as Prime Minister seem to be increasing? Should I persuade His Majesty to form a cabinet?"
Chu Chen's mood was also complicated.
"Since the court has so much wealth, I hope all my beloved ministers will pay more attention this winter, and try to minimize deaths from freezing!"
The Empress thought of something and said.
"Yes! We will do our best!"
Chu Chen and a group of ministers replied in unison.
It was impossible to prevent anyone from freezing to death. Anyone who said so was talking nonsense.
A country would always have people with mental problems. Due to their mental state, they might not even know if it was warm or not. It was normal for them to freeze to death when winter arrived.
However, local government officials simply did not treat such people as humans, so when reporting, there would naturally be no one frozen to death, which was a cause for celebration for everyone.
"Besides coal stoves, which are essential for winter, there are also hearths and cotton."
"We have coal stoves and blue bricks. When production expands further, we can start building them. However, we need to build houses first, tear down the villagers' original mud houses and replace them with blue brick houses, and then build hearths."
"As for cotton, Yunyue does not have it. We may need to send people to the Great Yue country further west to look for it."
Chu Chen pondered the materials that could help the common people get through the winter and found it a bit difficult.
Fortunately, most of the common people would not lack food this year. With food, thick hemp clothes, coal, and stoves, it should be difficult to freeze to death.
"Even if we get cotton from Great Yue, we can only plant it next year, and we need to plant it in large quantities. The planting conditions in Yunyue are quite good. The entire valley region has plenty of sunshine, but the plains in the valley region are not extensive."