The World Online

Chapter 1002 – Faction Within Faction, Group Within Group

When it was time for Internal Affairs Minister Wei Yang to report, Ouyang Shuo added a reminder.

“Tell Pei Yun that the Civil Affairs Department needs to quickly do the preparation work for the grain for natural disasters. This would become one of the evaluation components of the civil affair officials. Apart from that, the Imperial Court will take out one million gold to start up the disaster relief fund; this would be under the Civil Affairs Department.”

Since Gaia released the disaster system, they would obviously make use of it.

In the previous four years, the wilderness weather was great, and there were basically no natural disasters. As a result, Great Xia neglected disaster relief and did not have any preparations for that.

Which was why Ouyang Shuo especially raised the matter.

“Understood!”

Although Wei Yang was a little confused, he nodded.

Following which, Financial Minister Fan Li mainly spoke about the problems with financial liquidity. Luckily, the Imperial Court was not going to purposely start up internal wars during the 5th year, so this problem would not grow.

The main thing would still be iron ore purchases.

Before this, the iron ores in the country only had profit considerations. As for the purchases from Australia, that needed actual gold. If one considered coal and special metals, they needed to prepare eight million gold.

Although this sum would mainly be paid for by the Shu Mountain Iron Corporation and the Canglong Military Works Group, the gold that they had to prepare was real.

The China region was only left with eight territories. The Yanhuang Alliance and Fallen Phoenix City were self-sufficient, so they would not order from Great Xia. Basically, they could only digest internally.

Of course, the main one would still be the Privy Court.

The huge military expenditure had always been the worry of Fan Li. Military Affairs Minister had developed a thin face, and he directly said, “We have a few foreseeable wars next year, including the wars against Annan, Japan, and Hawaii.”

“There are also a few that might happen like Zhenla and Nanzhang. There’s also Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Algeria where the Moroccan king is hiding.”

“Next would be internally. If the Yanhuang Alliance starts a war against West Chu, we might be dragged into it. As for the extent to which we would be dragged in, it would depend on the moment.”

“There’s also Tibet, Turkic Khanate, as well as the three imperial cities. One could foresee the West Xia and Mongol problems. There are too many uncertain factors.”

Du Ruhui rambled on and on, causing Fan Li’s face to turn darker and darker. If they really fought all those wars, no matter how much money the Finacial Court had, it would not be enough.

However, Du Ruhui’s words made sense, which made it impossible for Fan Li to retort.

He was not finished.

“One can foresee that during the Gaia 5th year, we are going to expand by 300 thousand troops. At least the Guards Legion Corps is lacking a legion and the three from the Bear Legion Corps would need to be filled up. Next would be the navy, especially the three voyage ones, which would be huge expenditure.”

“Based on the Privy Court calculations, their estimated expenditure would be above 28 million.”

Du Ruhui’s words were not nonsense. However, how did military expenditure increase by 10 million when they only needed to expand by 300 thousand troops?

In truth, the Eagle Legion Corps and the Bear Legion Corps were both formed in the 4th year. The Guards Legion Corps and the City Protection Legion Corps were both fully filled in the latter half of the year.

Hence, these troops did not occupy a full year of salary. Of the 18.5 million expenditure in the 4th year, a small portion was used in military reorganization and war reparations.

In the 5th year, the huge military expenditure would start to show.

When Fan Li and the others heard that, they could not help but suck in a deep breath. If they considered all that, even if the financial earnings crossed 100 million, they would not have too much extra gold.

Even to say that if they did not do well, they might exceed the budget and have a shortage of gold. As a result, Fan Li’s face was really dark, as all of this pressure was on him.

Ouyang Shuo was unmoved and added, “Every year, the navy also needs to purchase above two million gold of magic crystals from Lemuria; this amount must be listed in the military budget.”

“….”

Fan Li was numb to the point where he had no words.

If one counted the ores as part of military expenditure, then their military budget would take up 40% of the total.

However, this was unavoidable.

The world was not peaceful and war was unavoidable. Even in a peaceful era, during the 21st century, Russia’s military budget was 14% of its early budget.

Speaking of which, Ouyang Shuo had tried his best to control the scale of the army. Not only did he remove the garrison forces, but he also eliminated a large number of soldiers.

If not, the Guards Legion Corps and the Bear Legion Corps would be full now.

Settling the Financial Budget, Ouyang Shuo concluded, “For the Imperial Court to have our achievements, it is due to all of you and your loyalty. The road to the top is one that we will fall off if we do not advance. I need all of you to continue working hard and try to make specific plans for the budget before the New Year.”

“Yes my king!”

The ministers all nodded, looking really pumped up.

“Meeting over!”

Ouyang Shuo got up and walked toward the back hall.

Only when Ouyang Shuo was gone did the ministers leave. On the way, they gathered together in groups of twos and threes.

Amongst all of them, Yan Song was the loneliest, walking on the Dali stone steps slowly.

Out of all of them, Yan Song, this ‘despicable minister,’ was a hot topic. Ouyang Shuo made the decision on his own to send him into the Cabinet, and this was something many ministers had problems with.

Like Wei Zheng and Hai Rui, who were all the more unhappy. Especially Qiongzhou Prefecture Governor Hai Rui, who was from the same era as Yan Song and had dealings with him.

In history, Hai Rui participated in taking down Yan Song.

Learning that Yan Song had entered the Cabinet, Hai Rui even wrote a letter to Ouyang Shuo. However, Ouyang Shuo retorted, “Do you think I’m the Jiajing Emperor?”

Hai Rui was instantly speechless.

In the few years that he had spent in Great Xia, Hai Rui naturally knew that Great Xia was really different from the Ming Dynasty. The king was good at ruling both generals and civil servants, and he was good enough to compare to Qin Shihuang and the Hanwu Emperor.

To compare him with the Jiajing Emperor was an insult.

Thinking about it, Hai Rui could only take it as the king valuing Yan Song’s talents and was not going to let him abuse his power.

When he learned that the king had ordered Yan Shifan to not be an official, Hai Rui was both emotional and embarrassed, and he said, “The king is wise!”

Yan Song did not bother about the outside world. As time went on, seeing that Yan Song did not do anything out of hand, the words and badmouthing would stop.

Furthermore, badmouthing a Cabinet elder was a really dangerous matter.

Not discussing it did not mean that they were close. Looking at how Yan Song was alone, one was able to tell the situation he was in. … Ouyang Shuo returned to the Imperial Reading Room. Just as he sat down, Tsing Yi handed him a cup of hot tea.

The two of them had a good understanding of each other.

“Thank you!”

Ouyang Shuo smiled. He treated her half as a subordinate and half as a friend.

The relaxed atmosphere in the reading room was what Ouyang Shuo liked. He did not want to have to behave like a king in front of everyone because that was really too tiring.

Rubbing his head, Ouyang Shuo thought back to the suggestions.

Weirdly, out of the seven, Jiang Shang came from West Zhou, Kou Zhun from North Song, Yan Song from the Ming Dynasty, Xiao He from Han, Wei Yang from the Warring States, Fan Li from the Spring and Autumn Era, and Du Ruhui from Tang Dynasty.

None of them came from the same dynasty.

Silently, a huge group of people gathered behind their backs. The factions of the dynasty started to slowly become clear. Xiao He and the other’s intentional distancing from Yan Song was noticed by Ouyang Shuo.

“Apart from factions, there are also disputes.”

Ouyang Shuo was really satisfied with putting Yan Song into the Cabinet. Although a stagnant pond was clear, it would lack life. Only by putting a koi in could it stir up the pond.

Yan Song was that koi fish.

Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo saw the rough shadows of the philosophers.

As the ancestor of philosophy, Jiang Shang held a supernatural position. Kou Zhun represented the Confucians, Xiao He the Taoists, Wei Yang the legalism school of thought, Fan Li the business school of thought, and Du Ruhui the school of war.

Each group had their own ideals and thinking, which resulted in the prosperity of the Great Xia.

Through this meeting, Ouyang Shuo seemed to have understood something while also seeming to have not. As for the yearly budget itself, it was not the core matter.

The Great Xia income in the 5th year would break 100 million; this was a sum that 99% of players would not earn even if they worked their hardest.

The Great Xia business was huge, the more it grew, the more it spent. This was not as ideal as outsiders thought of it to be.

As the ruler, Ouyang Shuo had to balance everything out.

Ouyang Shuo had already heard people discussing in the dark that they hoped the Imperial Court would turn from war to internal construction, focusing on the administrative aspect and military as secondary.

However, Ouyang Shuo did not know how much of such sentiments was for the progress of the dynasty and how much of it was for personal gain.

Fighting wars unavoidably raised the position and prestige of generals.

Not mentioning Baiqi, but also Han Xin and the other marshals, even if they did not enter the Imperial Court, they would hold the same level of position as the Cabinet elders. Even the Legion Generals had the ability to exude such confidence.

In comparison, the civil servants seemed a lot weaker.

Not mentioning others, in terms of just rank alone, the generals were far higher than that of the civil servants.

If the dynasty shifted its focus to internal affairs, naturally the position of civil servants would rise.

So the dynasty looked really peaceful, but in truth, hidden currents were moving.

Just as Ouyang Shuo was deep in thought, the servant came to report, “My king, Shanhai Guards Commander Shen Buhai requests an urgent meeting.”

Ouyang Shuo was jolted to his senses. He did not know what had happened, “Invite him in.”

“Yes my king!”