Chapter 305: Establishing the System (IV)

Usually, when the New Year comes around, elders are expected to dig into their own pockets and give the children lucky money. This principle held true for the ancient emperors as well: whenever the court held a grand sacrificial ceremony, after the emperor finished the rites of praying for blessings and warding off disasters, he always had to hand out a wave of red envelopes to his ministers, soldiers, and subjects.

In this process, the rank-and-file soldiers and minor clerks would receive some coins, banknotes, cloth, and cold meat. The high-level bigwigs, naturally, looked down on such trifles; what they cared about was Enrollment by Grace: their sons and grandsons would receive official appointment quotas.

Although this wave of red envelopes was nominally handed out by the emperor, the money actually spent still came from the Treasury. Even the quotas and ranks for Enrollment by Grace were governed by fixed numbers and rules; the emperor could sprinkle a little extra within his personal scope, but he could not alter the overall framework.

This situation typically reached its climax upon a New Emperor's Ascension. Whether it was the Founding Emperor or a later successor ascending the throne, there would always be a "Great Feast for All Officials" coupled with a "Grand Bestowal of Rewards."

These bestowals carried considerable weight: the hereditary Nobility Ranks of the Meritorious Aristocracy Bloc were born this way. Every time a new emperor took the stage, there would always be a batch of Newly Ascendant Favorites, Powerful Eunuchs, and Imperial In-Laws gaining power... One Reign, One Set of Ministers.

Of course, for the political resources and the accompanying massive reward expenditures mentioned above, the one bleeding profusely was still the Treasury.

In fact, the amount of silver the Ministry of Revenue allocated annually to the emperor for his household expenses was limited. During the stable early and middle periods of a dynasty's structure, it was very difficult for the emperor to extort unreasonable funds from the Civil Official Bloc for personal consumption.

There is a specific term for this: Imperial Private Purse Silver.

Imperial Private Purse Silver was essentially private savings. While the emperor enjoyed a portion of the Treasury's finances, he also relied on Imperial Merchants, Imperial Estates, Tribute Goods, Money Lending, and other such means to earn extra income on the side. In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor alone had set up 886 Imperial Estates in places like Northeast China and North China, managed by the Account Management Office of the Imperial Household Department.

The sum of the various incomes above constituted the emperor's private funding source for his usual household expenses, paying wages to eunuchs and consorts, bestowing personal gifts upon ministers, and purchasing rare curios from various regions for the palace.

Well, since it was private savings, there was never a moment when one felt they had too much — the emperors of every successive dynasty, in order to have a bit more cash on hand, fought many battles and tore through many quarrels with the Civil Official Bloc.

Among them, some emperors succeeded, such as Emperor Huizong of Song; there were also those who were duped and crippled by the civil officials, so that when the dynasty fell, the houses of the nobility and civil officials were stuffed full of silver, while the emperor alone was utterly destitute... Yes, that would be our old brother Chongzhen.

There were also some emperors of the shameless variety. In the late period of the Ming Wanli reign, for over twenty years before the Transmigrators arrived, in order to enrich his private treasury, the Wanli Emperor, who hid in the Rear Palace for years without attending to state affairs, actually dispatched large numbers of Mine Supervisors and Tax Envoys to extort wealth from various regions, leading to a continuous wave of tax resistance riots across the land.

However, aside from the late periods of dynasties prone to extreme situations and a few bizarre emperors, looking across history, most of the time, the emperors' Imperial Private Purse Silver had a stable amount; on certain occasions, when the state was mobilizing for war, the emperor even had to contribute silver from his own pocket.

Let us return the matter to the Transmigrators.

Previously, all the materials Cao Chuan transported to the New Time-Space were, in fact, "public property." These materials were recorded in the Public Account: first invested by the major Shareholder Cao Chuan, and then the Shareholders actually presiding over the work would distribute the materials as needed to Construct the nation.

However, now it was different: since the framework now included an Imperial Household, then there would certainly be Imperial Private Purse Silver. Public and private must be clearly separated; otherwise, if the emperor treated the Treasury as his own family purse, that would be even more terrifying. Therefore, the Government would certainly allocate a sum of funds annually from now on, just as the British Ministry of Finance also issues a "Sovereign Grant."

Note that the Imperial Private Purse Silver referred to here specifically means those goods brought from Later Generations by the Cao Emperor that the Transmigrators could not manufacture "within their lifetime." As for the local industrial products and gold, silver, and treasures of the Great Ming — these easy pickings were worthless in the eyes of the First Generation Crossers; everyone would just discuss a distribution ratio with the emperor later, and no one cared.

Therefore, the current situation was rather special: because the emperor was relatively formidable, he could theoretically claim all future shipments of goods as his own and keep them as Imperial Private Purse Silver to leave to his foolish son.

For example, that golden Rolls-Royce Phantom parked downstairs — someone had spent two "Treasure Boxes" specifically to transport the parts a few days ago, and now it had been assembled, purely for the sake of showing off during his own Enthronement.

... Consequently, the new "Shadow Government," not yet formally Established, now had a massive headache: Xia Lao Zhongtang not only had to rack his brains to struggle against the Imperial Han, but was also Responsible For negotiating with the Cao Emperor, striving to reclaim the majority of the "Import Goods" distribution share from the other party's hands.

Alright, in this day and age, the Government was the vulnerable group, needing to live by exploiting the emperor's Imperial Private Purse Silver.

However, the emperor was at least a graduate of a third-rate university, and not as easily fooled as Chongzhen: if the civil officials wanted to regain the initiative, it was impossible without bleeding a little... more on this later.

The emperor had his Imperial Private Purse Silver, but what about everyone else? In fact, calls for others to be issued some private savings had long existed.

Ever since Crossing Over, aside from half a cubic meter of personal belongings, each Transmigrator had no choice but to seek substitutes within the Ming Dynasty for everything else.

This was a truly miserable affair. The vast majority of Transmigrators used rough straw paper to wipe their bottoms, bathed with Soap Pod before the Chemical Plant was built, and for that earliest group who crossed over, especially those working in the field, their shoes rotted, their pants rotted, their jackets rotted, and even their underwear was completely done for.

When the "Treasury's" small reserve of early daily necessities was exhausted, even the rough old men complained endlessly.

And these were not the hardest things to endure; if an Armani tore, at worst you could sew two Corduroy patches on the elbows and pass it off as a casual style... the hardest thing to endure was running out of Cigarettes.

For a normal smoker, one pack a day was the average. So no matter how much these people economized, by now, a year and a half after Crossing Over, all smokers had run out of supplies.

This matter also indirectly spurred the launch of the Cigarette Factory in the Kiln District. However, things were not that simple: the cigarettes of Later Generations were high-grade industrial products. They contained not only Flavoring Essence that could not currently be produced, but also the specialized Cigarette Paper, the Acetate Tow in the filter, and the non-toxic EVA Glue for the tipping and seam — none of which the Cigarette Factory had the Capability to produce.

Thick, harsh, choking, and leaving a mouthful of tobacco dregs — the homemade cigarettes brought blissful enjoyment to the broad masses of workers, yet the bigwigs were cursing. On the forum's section now dedicated to internal trading, Cigarettes could no longer be seen... you couldn't even trade one for a grown maiden.

Alright, this matter was finally resolved after there was an emperor. Cao had previously Announced: on the day of his Enthronement, the old man would bestow upon all his ministers and officials one Dan Shu Iron Certificate each... no, wrong, a blank list, on which every minister and official could fill in personal items totaling one cubic meter in volume.

This move won the sincere support of all his subjects, and the crowd nearly shouted "Long live the Emperor!" That very night, N number of gangs spontaneously organized on the forum... quite a few were Intending for several people to pool together for one US military Humvee.

A group of officials including Xia Xianze were also happy with this: importing over two hundred cubic meters of private consumer goods was not something these "Government officials" had the guts to approve... they would be criticized to death by the Imperial Han and a portion of the Industrial Party members red-eyed with anticipation for Equipment.

Yes, puffing on imported Cigarettes while simultaneously attacking the Government for not importing luxury goods was the exclusive patent of the Minority Party.

Now that the emperor was taking the lead, it was a happy ending for all: one cubic meter of goods per person was effectively the emperor paying out of his own private pocket, and no one could say a word against it.

The party that controls the supply and distribution rights of Resources is always the dominant party. This was precisely why Bai Hongda and the others feared Cao Chuan when everyone went to the Imperial Palace for the meeting, the "Audience with the Emperor."

There was no need to use a major move like "confiscation" to intimidate these bastards: Cao Chuan only needed to Announce that all Imperial Han members' rewards would be halved, and Bai Hongda and Wei Hu would be toppled overnight, then bound hand and foot, a straw marker stuck in their hair, and delivered to the Imperial Palace to beg forgiveness...

Therefore, during the talks in Jianyuan Hall, once Cao Chuan stepped in, there were no further obstacles. The Imperial Han members changed their previous ways, became honest and down-to-earth, stuck to the facts, and quickly settled several matters that had been left unresolved before.

First was the national title.

Among the several options previously, the one ranking near the top was "Qin," proposed by Cao Chuan himself. The unlearned and unskilled third-rate university student had originally intended "East Qin," but after being privately pointed out by his ministers, changed it to "Qin."

The national title ranking second was "Gold Dragon Empire," publicly put forward by the Conservative Party members. This title, so rustic it was cringeworthy, originated from a single item: the Ring in Cao Chuan's hand. When the stored energy was sufficient, what appeared on the Ring's face were Two Golden Dragons spiraling and coiling around.

Because everything that had happened to the Transmigrators so far originated from this Ring, originated from those two dragons, the Conservative Party believed: when drinking water, think of its source. Everything about the Empire should be linked to the Ring; after all, the existence of this mysterious high-level civilization was already confirmed, and the Transmigration Nation could thus be considered to have an origin.

Besides these two titles, the Imperial Han naturally also proposed a Pile of national titles bearing characters like "Tang" and "Han."

Now that Cao Chuan had stepped in, the several parties Sitting In Jianyuan Hall quickly reached a Consensus: the national title ultimately decided upon was "Gold Dragon Empire."

The reasoning was very simple: Cao Chuan's "Qin" and the Imperial Han's batch of "Tang" and "Han" canceled each other out. Two negatives make a positive; since deleting any of those national titles from the Old Time-Space would be inappropriate, it was better to simply use none of them.

After settling on this rustic national title brimming with a fantasy spirit, the National Flag naturally followed: a Starry Sky encircled by Two Golden Dragons would be the design of the National Flag... essentially, it was just photocopying the face of the Ring.

The National Emblem was much the same. Two Golden Dragons encircling the Emperor's Crown and crossed Scepters, symbolizing the emperor and the Founding Nobility wielding power beneath him.

The last thing settled was the National Anthem.

Here, they certainly could not use that song from the previous life: the moment they heard the words "Arise, ye who refuse to be Slaves," the faces of the group of slave owners seated in the hall instantly turned green.

Thus, a song brimming with Killing Intent, Very Suitable for the Empire's expansion, was decided upon — the Red Alert theme song, the "Soviet March."

Alright, the lyrics and song title would need slight modification... everything else was fine. Anyway, this song had been remixed countless times by netizens, and presumably that American author wouldn't mind either.