The most arrogant in history

Chapter 802 Energy Crisis.

Sang asked without question: "Hasn't Bao Sheng already gone to the Oil Peninsula? Hasn't he taken it all down yet?"

Ye Kun shook his head: "Bao Sheng killed several small tribes, but he didn't have enough troops to sweep the entire island. The oil extraction and refining work has begun, but it needs to be improved. I must lead the technical team to solve it."

Ma Zhao laughed and said, "Your Majesty, is oil really that important? Will it replace coal in the future?"

Ye Kun nodded: "Yes, the importance of the oil industry will far exceed that of the coal industry in the future. The population of the Chinese people is increasing rapidly, and there will soon be an energy crisis and conflicts. The way to resolve the conflicts and energy crisis is to seize overseas oil and natural gas resources, as well as foreign immigration to reduce domestic population pressure."

He Tiantian added: "Our population is growing rapidly, and we are vigorously developing steam engines, which is causing rapid deforestation. Within a hundred years, there will not be enough forest resources in the country.

At that time, there will be deserts and drought everywhere, and agriculture will be in tatters. When it rains, it is easy to cause floods. We must see these problems in advance and make plans to solve them in advance. "

The most terrifying outcome is the population explosion, forest disappearance and land desertification.

Sang Buyi and the others nodded: "In this case, we agree with the emperor's plan and will fully cooperate in its implementation."

Ye Kun was delighted to hear this and said with a smile: "Thank you all for your support and understanding. The New Year is coming soon, let's have a good New Year and celebrate the New Year together."

Everyone clasped their fists in thanks.

Before the Spring Festival, there is also a National Education Conference and a National Cultural Conference.

Ye Kun was very busy attending meetings, listening to reports and checking the results of the meetings.

Wen Axiu is in charge of education, culture and publicity.

Wen Axiu was busy with three boats and was exhausted.

Ye Kun read the report and gave a speech:

“According to the report, the number of students in our primary schools, secondary schools and universities has increased significantly. However, the overall enrollment rate has declined.

The enrollment rate of children in their teens is less than half, which is worse than before. If this continues, it means that at least half of the young people in the future will be illiterate. Our local officials and educators need to find a solution. "

The insufficient enrollment rate is still due to too many newborns.

With more children, the burden on ordinary people becomes heavier.

Children who are a little older have to help with housework to reduce the burden and have no time to study.

And studying costs money, especially for boys, who have to pay tuition.

The policy promoted by Ye Kun is that girls in primary school can go to school free of charge and even receive lunch subsidies.

But boys can't do that, they have to pay tuition.

The court could not afford to let everyone study for free.

Wen Axiu smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, the population has exploded, there are too many children, and education problems have arisen. One is that the common people cannot afford the education costs for all the children, and the other is that we don't have enough teachers, schools, and classrooms."

Ye Kun asked: "How many primary schools are there in China's nine provinces?"

"There are twelve thousand primary schools in the Chinese headquarters. There are another thousand primary schools in the overseas controlled areas."

"So many schools, aren't they enough?" Ye Kun frowned:

"If it's really not enough, we can add more primary schools as appropriate. Especially in the newly developed towns with a total population of more than 3,000, we can build new primary schools and arrange teachers to teach there."

The current population structure is very young.

There are not many old people, but many children.

A town of 3,000 people may have several hundred school-age children.

Moreover, the number of school-age children will increase further.

Wen Axiu smiled and said: "To solve this problem, we have to do two things. One is to build new schools and train teachers. The other is to continue to invest and provide subsidies so that children from poor families can go to school.

The school expansion or addition will have to double. The student subsidies will at least double. These two items together will be a huge expense.”

Ye Kun was also a little surprised.

By this calculation, overall investment in education will have to double.

Wen Axiu added: "The current investment in education is about 5 million taels of silver per year. If it is doubled, 10 million taels of silver will be needed. If I can get financial support, I can complete the task and increase the overall enrollment rate."

“No matter how difficult it is, education should never be relaxed.”

Ye Kun made up his mind: "Our goal is to provide primary education to every school-age child, secondary education to 40% of children, and university education to 10%.

We will greatly increase investment in education, but local officials and educators must also work harder and exert their subjective initiative, and not rely on the court for everything.

I suggest that a long-term reward and punishment mechanism be established. Those who do a good job in education should be rewarded. Those who do not do a good job should be punished or dismissed. Specific responsibilities should be implemented on the heads of every local government official, school principal and teacher. "

Wen Axiu nodded: "Okay, I will do as the emperor says."

After the meeting, Ye Kun sent a telegram to Guan Bao, as well as to Guo Ping in the Western Regions, Lu Yeliang in Chang'an and others, asking them to find ways to make more money.

Ye Kun also ordered tax audits for the canal and Yangtze River routes.

Any tax collector found to be corrupt would have their property confiscated and be forced to immigrate overseas.

In fact, tax revenue has been increasing every year in recent years, and the increase has been significant.

Banks across the country were also highly profitable businesses, paying tens of millions of taels of silver in taxes and profits every year.

The immigration expenses are too high. Money is earned like water and money is spent like water.

Sang Buyi said to Ye Kun:

"Your Majesty, we have enough money to spend in the next three to five years. What we are afraid of is that if we spend lavishly, we will face a financial crisis in five years. So we have to take our time when investing in education and not take too big a step."

Ye Kun pondered and said, "In terms of education investment, let's increase it by another two million taels of silver every year. If we continue for three years, the problem should be solved."

It costs two hundred taels of silver to build a new rural primary school.

Three thousand new primary schools are built every year, and the rest is used for enrollment and teacher salary expenses.

For three consecutive years, we have added 9,000 primary schools, which is enough to solve basic problems.

Education spending must increase, and investment in medical and health care must also increase.

Zhuge Hong said: "The domestic productivity is limited, but the fiscal expenditure is increasing. One day it will run out. We still have to find a way to get money from overseas."

Sang Buyi sighed and said, "But the Kushan Empire has been completely destroyed by us, and the Parthian Empire has also been beaten to the point of dying. All the small countries in the Western Regions have also surrendered.

Our overseas trade now only has Rome and Qin, and commercial profits have dropped significantly."

Ye Kun smiled faintly: "There is still a lot of money overseas, don't worry. Wait for me to send a telegram to the overseas garrisons and ask them to make money. Even the dying Parthian Empire can still squeeze out tens of millions of taels of gold!"

Sang Buyi was surprised: "How do you squeeze it out? Go rob again?"