The recovered western part of the continent was divided into three provinces, namely Baojun Province, Gushu Province, and Peninsula Province.
The names were actually chosen quite arbitrarily. Baojun is the area where Blackbird City is located, named after the pre-war era city ruins that used to bear this name; ‘Gushu’ is the northeastern part of the mainland, which has a very large ancient tree that surprises people, so they simply called it that; Peninsula is the southwestern part, which features a protruding peninsula.
Altogether, the three provinces have a population of over thirteen million people.
In fact, according to past records, it should be close to twenty million. However, for one thing, the past statistics might have been problematic, and for another, under the rule of Blackbird Heavy Industries, a large number of people were transformed into semi-mechanical beings without consciousness, or they died during past surgeries, in labor, or in the wars against the Alliance.
As for now, only eleven million remain. The other two million were, during the war, conveniently relocated to the heartland of the Alliance by the returning supply convoys.
These displaced populations primarily supplemented two locations—Weixing City and Beiqing Valley Province.
These are also the two areas with the greatest demand for labor.
As an industrial center, Weixing City naturally needs no further explanation. The explosive development of its industries craves labor like a black hole.
Beiqing Valley is not much better off. The region has a very high per capita output, but this output comes from massive per capita cultivated areas and strenuous labor. Even though Beiqing Valley has almost achieved complete mechanization and industrialization of agricultural production, the average agricultural worker still has too many fields to tend to, leading to excessively long working hours.
Of course, agricultural workers in the Green Valley Region are fully motivated to do so. Their efforts, under the Alliance’s system, are rewarded. Based on their total work hours and output over the past year, almost everyone who worked normally received a promotion in their personal job grade by the end of the year, with going from E5 to E6 being a common occurrence, and even 30% of the people going directly to E7.
Moving from E5 to E6 means a 50% increase in basic benefits and allowances; reaching E7 is equivalent to doubling them.
Originally, the benefits and allowances at the E5 level already far surpassed the living standards they had as ‘serfs’ on plantations, where they lived almost like people. With a further increase of half or even double, the improvement in their quality of life was significant.
This was the reward for their hard work, but Mr. Gu did not intend to let them maintain a working day of 14 hours, or even more, forever.
The one million people arriving from the western three provinces would be able to alleviate some of the pressure.
As for opening up more land, it still required a larger population.
Currently, under the rule of the unified Alliance, there are over forty-four million people, with an annual total output value reaching fifty-two million Tax Currency.
The per capita output has just exceeded one, but only just.
The main reason for this was the uneven development of production forces across Rage Owl Star.
Beiqing Valley and Weixing City are quite high, but other regions have not yet passed one.
According to the standards of the Imperial Tax, handing over a tenth as tax presents not only no pressure, but is also more than sufficient.
At present, the per capita consumption level under the Alliance’s rule is roughly 0.6 Tax Currency/person/year, which objectively speaking, is not a particularly high standard of living, roughly adequate for subsistence, a little short of modest comfort.
But the citizens’ satisfaction is very high.
Although not wealthy, it’s much stronger than struggling at the brink of survival as before.
Happiness is relative.
The current scale of consumption across Rage Owl Star is about twenty-seven million Tax Currency, theoretically leaving a ‘surplus value’ of twenty-five million.
And the administrative efficiency of the Alliance is very high, able to collect fifteen million of this surplus value into the Alliance finances.
This is quite rare, and the contrast is telling.
Korolya III has a population of forty billion, with an annual output of at least twenty-eight billion, a per capita consumption of 0.3, leaving a surplus value of sixteen billion in Tax Currency. In theory, collecting four billion in Imperial Tax every year should be relatively easy.
But the Korolya government simply cannot do it. At most, they manage to collect just over twenty billion each year, and the rest has to come from handing over populations.
This is where the difference in administrative efficiency lies.
The Alliance excels in this regard, mainly thanks to two factors.
Firstly, it’s a matter of the system. Under an economy that is mainly planned on an overarching scale, the rent-seeking class between the government and producers has been greatly eliminated. Factory owners, plantation owners, entrepreneurs… In essence, all of them are employees of the Alliance Government. The means of production do not belong to these managers but to the Alliance. Their work enthusiasm is supplemented by rank promotions and extra allowances.
There is no ‘collection’ phase here; all output belongs to the government and is subject to government allocation.
But if that was all there was to it, it wouldn’t be enough.
The number of administrative personnel in the Alliance is not high, but their efficiency is, thanks to persistent anti-corruption, anti-dereliction efforts, and incentive policies for administrative personnel, the whole society is currently operating in a highly efficient and clear political environment.
Even so, a large amount of output has “disappeared.” Ten million in Tax Currency has neither entered the standard consumer spending nor the Alliance’s finances.
There are many reasons for this, with the service industry being the main one, as its output is not counted in the Alliance’s statistics. Following that, there are administrative costs, waste, spontaneous investments…
But no matter what, the current situation of the Alliance is more than capable of dealing with the Imperial Tax.
As long as they reserve one-third of the fiscal budget each year and slow down investment growth, the entire Alliance can enter into a normal cycle within the Empire World.
But Gu Hang has no intention of doing so.
Under his direction, the Alliance’s fiscal budget remains maxed out, even running at a deficit in many areas.
Mainly, it’s about reinvesting into production.
Under the Alliance’s system, although there is a certain level of private investment, which the government encourages, overall development still relies on large-scale, government-led investment.
If they really slowed down, the Imperial Tax would take a big chunk, and military expenses another, leaving not enough for investments, and Gu Hang is unwilling to slow the pace of development.
On the one hand, the industrial centers must continue to be built; on the other hand, the economic levels of other regions within the Alliance need to rise.
Of course, another important factor restraining the development of the entire planet is the population.
Such a vast planet, with just over forty million people, is still too few. Experience more on My Virtual Library Empire
Reliance on natural population growth is too slow. Despite many policies encouraging childbirth for the future, as for the present, immigration remains the most important avenue.
The two largest channels of immigration are Heijian Star and Korolya III.
According to Gu Hang’s plan, in the next two years, they aim to continuously bring in at least ten million people from the outside.
This is a huge challenge for the Alliance Government.
Never mind how Mr. Gu will achieve this by then, government officials must be prepared to undertake the task of accommodating so many people. How to arrange it economically, how to clarify identities politically, how to resolve cultural disputes…
The difficulties are numerous, and as the Alliance Premier, Osenia can only take a deep breath, then go ahead and make plans with determination.