At the request of Zhao Yan, Denglai Academy of Sciences established a scope research team.

Research on sniper rifles is put into the process.

At present, this kind of black gunpowder is not very suitable for sniper combat, because thick smoke will emerge after the gun barrel, which will expose the sniper's position and easily bring disaster to the sniper.

However, it does not hinder the application of sniper. The effective shooting distance of 680 meters is completely beyond the imagination of this era, so even enemy generals can be killed in front of the formation.

...Shandong's reform has been continuing. By the end of the year, all work had basically been implemented and Shandong's population was also counted.

Tang Zhengze submitted demographic data to Zhao Yan at the end of November.

There are 3.5 million people in the three eastern prefectures and 2.1 million people in the three western prefectures, totaling 5.6 million. Among them, urban residents account for 15%, and the remaining 85% are rural population.

Among them, there are 1.4 million young and strong men.

After the reform, 850,000 people participated in military training.

In terms of population distribution, the population of the Three Western Prefectures is less than that of the Three Eastern Prefectures. In the past three years, people have been relocated from the Three Western Prefectures to the Three Eastern Prefectures.

In addition, the population of Handan area is 630,000 and the population of Yingzhou area is 760,000. These two areas have begun to extend to surrounding areas. In the areas of Handan and Xingtai, the region is already broken and there is no resistance to expansion.

The Yingzhou area expanded westward, supported by Zhu Dadian, and did not do anything earth-shaking, so people did not pay much attention to it.

The military expansion in Handan area has stopped because the demand for steel has increased significantly. If the military expansion is further expanded, it will cause a shortage of labor.

Therefore, only Yingzhou is still remaining in the two second-line corps areas of Handan and Yingzhou that were originally designated, while Handan maintains its original force and only serves as a support for bandit suppression in the northwest.

In mid-November, Zhao Yan felt that a slightly tricky problem broke out.

In order to cope with the large outflow of silver and Shandong's industrial impact on Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan, launched a brand new silver coin with a lead content of 8%. At the same time, in terms of policy, it also issued several restrictions on textiles for Denlai, which shrank the profits of textiles in Denlai again. The Denlai Merchant House and the Tokugawa Shogunate of Denlai failed to discuss, and the two sides did not reach a common opinion. The Tokugawa Shogunate of Denlai insisted on their policies, which led to the semi-stagnation of the trade in Denlai.

In history, such trade differences broke out between Japan and North Korea. As Japan's silver continued to flow out, it introduced a silver coin containing lead, which made North Korea's trade with Japan stagnant. China's goods were relatively cheap because they were luxury goods. But now Japan has obviously pointed its finger at the products of Den Lai.

"Isn't Japan stupid?" Zhao Yan smiled bitterly after receiving the news. He originally thought that exporting large amounts of textiles would achieve the effect of boiling frogs in warm water, which would trigger turmoil in Japan, but now it seems that Japan is not so easy to play with.

"This year, we made a profit of 32 million taels of silver, of which 29 million taels of silver shipped from Japan were 29 million taels, and 4 million taels of silver was worth brass. The silver on the market in Japan was half less, and most of the brass was transported away by us as soon as it was mined, and it was also in a state of exhaustion." Zhao Quan, who was in charge of maritime trade, said to Zhao Yan: "The Japanese poured lead into silver coins and made up their minds to take advantage of us. In terms of arms trade, after they bought more than 300 cannons and 20,000 muskets, they no longer bought arms from us."

"Now we don't have time to repair Japan. Let's reduce the trade share next year! In another two years, when we take our hands out, we will slap him hard." Zhao Yan thought for a while and said, after long-term contact, Zhao Yan discovered a mentality of Japan. Japan was trying to escape from the influence of the Ming Dynasty and was no longer willing to be a younger brother.

Especially during the Tokugawa Shogunate era, we were working hard to get rid of the radiation core of the Ming Dynasty. The reason why we had reached an agreement with the group led by Zhao Yan was because of arms issues.

Now that the arms are bought, the Tokugawa Shogunate naturally has no demand. Japan is already under the control of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Tokugawa Shogunate does not need too much arms, as long as their military strength can form an absolute advantage over other daimyos.

Therefore, if you want to force Japan to follow Zhao Yan's trading method by force, it is not just about driving a warship to the port of Japan to fire a few guns. This is likely to cause a large-scale conflict before Zhao Yan is ready, which will cause life threats to the lives of the people in Japan.

The force of force against Japan must wait. Zhao Yan's maritime power is indeed not strong enough now, and he also has to deal with the main enemy of the Qing Dynasty. When he takes his hands out, Zhao Yan doesn't mind fighting a few battles and signing a few unequal treaties.

The Tokugawa Shogunate is obviously not honest enough, so it is not so easy to control the Tokugawa Shogunate as a puppet. It is necessary to first make Japan confused and then support a puppet political axe who obeys the rules.

Japan is just a small place. As long as it restricts it in the navy, it will never be able to break out of the island country because it has no resources. A mineral specimen country needs a large amount of imports no matter how in-depth development is made.

The ideal Japan should be a cheap labor market, which specializes in exporting hard labor, concubines, etc. to the Ming Dynasty, but this takes time and will not be in a hurry.

Zhao Quan said worriedly: "If we cannot reach a solution with Japan, our profits in maritime trade will shrink significantly next year."

"Next year, we will aim at Franji people. When Japan trades, stop it! Anyway, the money cannot be escaped." Zhao Yan was not in a hurry, "The end of the year is coming soon, and this year's fiscal summary will begin to be liquidated tomorrow!"

The huge profits of trade in Japan cannot last long. This profit is based on the large amount of silver in Japan and the reason why Japan's silver seems to be a lot is actually because their GDP is not high. When trade is frequent, this profit becomes like trade between the north and south of the Ming Dynasty. In the distance, there is not much difference between Fujian and Shandong.

So even if it is forced, Japan does not have much potential to explore. It is better to stop first and allow Japan to accumulate more gold and silver, and take them together after Japan.

The Spaniards and the Portuguese are different, they are the real potential trade targets. At the same time, the decline in profits after trade cessation also exposed the problem of insufficient ships.

Trade with the Spaniards and Portuguese next year is not that simple. You have to be wary of pirate attacks on the road. Moreover, the journey is long and the round trip is not as close as Shandong to Japan. Profits will certainly shrink, but the profits you earn will continue to grow every year.

Zhao Quan nodded and went to convene people to summarize the fiscal revenue this year.

This year's fiscal revenue is exciting. Zhao Quan couldn't help but smile when he remembered the money he earned this year. Although the profits in the maritime trade may shrink most of the time next year, with the fundraising of banks, the finances are still abundant.

...It's another end of the year, and the financial summary began under the leadership of Zhao Quan.

The biggest highlight of fiscal growth this year is the steel industry. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, a total of 2 million taels of silver were earned. All kinds of steel products were very popular in the Ming Dynasty, and even more popular in Japan. Except for one sword-casting technology that surpassed the Ming Dynasty, Japan's other industrial capabilities were very weak, and things like steel needles had to rely on imports.

In addition to the 2 million taels of silver being paid, the steel plant in Handan also exported a large amount of steel to Denglai, which greatly reduced various costs. It is really rare to earn more than 2 million taels of silver when it can bear the steel demand of Denglai and the smelting cost.

In addition, there are banks that have raised more than 10 million taels of silver after opening in Denglai and Jinan. Almost every household in Denglai has put money in the bank. By the end of the year, banks have already been deployed in various counties in Denglai.

The current Denglai Bank is actually similar to the Shanxi Piaohao that appeared shortly after history. Shanxi Piaohao also has deposits and interest, and both are for fundraising.

Under such interest, the people were happy to deposit the money in the bank, especially when Zhao Yan had a good reputation in Denglai and even the entire Shandong, the people were even more willing to deposit the money in the bank for interest.

The bank has also made more than 300,000 taels of silver, and of the 10 million taels of silver raised, 5 million taels have been loaned to the textile factory.

In terms of income, the bank's income is optional. As long as it can maintain good operation and achieve the fundraising function, it will be considered successful. Zhao Yan does not expect the bank to make much money, but hopes that the bank can raise how much money it can raise.

The profits of sea trade were large in the first half of the year, but dived straight in the second half of the year. The main reason was that the only target of sea trade was Japan. As a large number of commodities poured into Japan, Japanese silver continued to flow out and profits became lower and lower. Therefore, after accounting for more than 20 million taels from the previous year, it was only more than 10 million taels in the second half of the year, totaling 32 million taels.

32 million taels are pure income, and the silver shipped from Japan exceeds 30 million taels, because the goods themselves require costs, and the profits contained in these costs are earned by merchants and workshops supplying goods.

The textile industry is also very strong, earning 5 million taels of silver in a year, including yarn, cotton cloth and socks. The total profits of the three products, including yarn, cotton cloth and socks, has accumulated 10 million taels of capital. Together with the bank's 5 million taels of loan, the operating capital reached 15 million taels.

In terms of profits of glass products, the income of glass mirrors is in a steady increase stage, with an average monthly income of more than 1 million yuan, and 8 million taels throughout the year. This is related to the gradual reduction in the price of glass mirrors. In addition, Zhao Yan spreads the benefits of glass mirrors everywhere, a trend has been formed in the eroding Ming Dynasty. As for those salt merchants, it is very shameful to not have a big glass mirror when they get married.

Of course, there are exceptions. Shanxi merchants are as stingy as ever, and few of them pay to buy glass mirrors to compete. The income of other glass products has increased, with the total annual income reaching 2 million taels.

The income from the salt industry is also in an upward stage. With the private salt inspections in the five northern provinces, the market for Shandong salt has continued to expand, with revenue of 9 million taels. In addition to the 5 million taels paid, there is still more than 4 million taels left.

There is almost no income in agriculture this year because I will not sell grain this year. Except for the sweet potatoes transported to various places to provide porridge, no other grain was sold and all of them were stored in the warehouse.

The fishery has caught 60,000 tons of fishery this year, with an output value of more than 8 million yuan, and a total of more than 3 million taels of fish tax collected.

The total revenue reached an astonishing figure of 55 million taels.

Most of the income of 55 million taels was profits taken from Japan, and there was already a lot of money overseas. In fact, there was a lot of money in the Ming Dynasty. Most historians in later generations believed that large-scale inflows of silver was the Kangxi period, but if you carefully observe the situation in the late Ming Dynasty and Kangxi period, it is not difficult to see that this view is wrong.

First of all, the interval between the late Ming Dynasty and the Kangxi period was not long. This period was the most severe period of sea ban, and it was impossible to flow into a massive amount of silver in such a short time.

As for why silver depreciated, it was obviously because of the decrease in GDP. After all, after just experiencing the influence of the massacre, the Han people had only 20 to 30 million left, so silver seemed to be more naturally.

At the same time, the reason why there was not much silver in the late Ming Dynasty was that merchants, landlords, officials and other upper classes hid silver in the warehouse.

There were nearly 200,000 landlords of all sizes in the Ming Dynasty, and there were definitely no less than tens of thousands of households in the royal family, officials, and merchants. Who wouldn’t save millions or tens of thousands of taels in the landlord’s family? In addition, those merchants, Shanxi merchants were so rich that they were reluctant to spend money, and they all hid the money. Shanxi merchants were relatively alternative and could not be regarded as the style of all merchants. However, even if other rich people were extravagant and extremely eager, they would do it with sufficient storage. Even Shandong merchants who cooperated with Zhao Yan the most closely, they also held the business style of "keeping the foundation with the end".

What is "to keep the foundation with the end"? It means that a small amount of money is used to conduct business, and most of the money is stored at home as the "book".

In general, there was a lot of money in the Ming Dynasty, but the gap between the rich and the poor was serious. The money was not circulated on the market, and the GDP was high, which led to a shortage of currency.

If they wanted to pay money from these rich people, in addition to selling luxury goods to them, Zhao Yan also prepared a bank for them and took out their money to circulate on the market, thereby promoting production and not being hidden in the warehouse by them, which was no different from scrap iron.

Those merchants and landlords only support the bank. Most of the merchants in Shandong deposited some money in the bank, but they did not deposit all the money.

They were still afraid that the silver would be swallowed by Zhao Yan. Although Zhao Yan's reputation has always been very good, it is difficult to guarantee any problems in the future. For example, when money and food are urgently needed after the defeat, all kinds of assumptions are possible. Therefore, except for the people who are more enthusiastic in deposits, the rich rarely deposit all the silver in the bank.

The 55 million taels of silver account also made Zhao Yan's hands extremely relaxed.

There is almost no need to consider the issue of military expenditure. Even if Zhao Yan wants to increase military expenditure, he doesn’t know where to use it. After all, there is only so many people, and expanding the enrollment of the army will have an impact on production.

Others want to build palaces when they have money, but Zhao Yan wants to build roads when they have money. Only with the road can business be smooth. How to spend the 55 million taels of silver, you have to think hard.

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!