Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1589 Studio
"So, Shangluo, have you guessed it yet? What is the story about marking the stone slab to collect taxes supposed to illustrate? The previous parts can be considered our understanding, but this is what he told you separately."

"Is it possible that he's trying to fob me off about my payment?"

“You said he doesn’t care about money at all, so he’s not telling you this for the money. He must be trying to explain something. To put it bluntly, I think he might want to talk to you about how to ‘do nothing,’ since that method is really ingenious. He just used two markers to tax a group of people who hardly have any commodity economy.”

"Yeah that makes sense."

That makes sense, but he wasn't sure—though that wasn't so important at the moment. As long as he was certain the Celestial Masters wouldn't clash with the imperial court, everything else could be thought of and learned gradually.

Currently, Shangluo still needs to occasionally scrape together some funds.

Once home, before dinner, he checked the accounts with Phaethon.

“That’s about it.” Fahrenheit sent her the ledger. “The current balance of the Thunder Department is about 29 coins.”

"It doesn't seem like much? What are the main projects involving this money?"

"The main sources of income are two: the first is the service fee from Tianyi Guiren, such as for Xiao Gao's eyes, he pays us every month. The service fees for many projects in Lingwang are also included here; the second is the sponsorship from Lanfang Company, which is about twice the service fee. Together, our total monthly income is around one million."

Is that a lot?

"It's a medium-sized company, I suppose. It's too small for a company that wants to do big things—what, are you planning to expand your business? If you want to ask Lanfang Company for more money, that's fine, but you'll need to prepare a budget. Because Guoxing pays us according to the budget. But right now, our problem isn't the budget, it's that we don't know how to spend the money."

"Oh, I've heard of that. Generally speaking, not making money doesn't mean the business is in trouble; it's not being able to spend money that's in trouble, right?"

“Yes.” Fahrenheit nodded in confirmation. Although she didn’t want to confirm it, the “business line” that Shangluo had opened up was a complete mess.

"But why? Did I do something wrong?"

"Take a look at the ledgers yourself and see what our mine department's biggest expenditure is."

Shangluo glanced at it and saw that the first major category was listed: aerospace.

"That's not all. Look at the second major category—military spending. The third major category is perpetual motion machines."

Spaceflight, military spending, perpetual motion machines.

The revenue of a small to medium-sized company supports three money holes that can barely generate any profit.

"These three are particularly difficult for me to even write budgets for—Lanfang does contribute to aerospace funding, but Lanfang has its own aerospace division. Every time I write a budget proposal, I have to explain which expenses are absolutely necessary for the Ministry of Refinery to spend, just to have a reason to ask for money. There's no reason to ask Lanfang for military funding, because our army and warships are mainly deployed in the European region. The reason we spend less is because the students on board are earning academic credits; they don't want money, they want internship experience. And the third, the perpetual motion machine, that's even more of a 'Malacca' (a slang term for a pun on 'perpetual motion machine')."

"So our biggest positive asset is my power to approve academic credits, right?"

Fahrenheit nodded helplessly: "That's how it is. So, our department actually has many fundamental problems—if we were truly a government department, these three operations would be a cash cow, because I could write countless budget proposals and get approval for our operational funds, even if we spent money like water. But the problem is, the Department of Thunder isn't a government department; we're a private company with a 'department' label. We don't accept any grants; we only accept income from our own operations and financial assistance from relevant parties. That financial assistance is used for specific operations and won't be approved for us unconditionally. So—"

She concluded, “Our business ecosystem is very unhealthy, extremely unhealthy. Because we are using the revenue of a private enterprise to fill three bottomless pits, which is beyond our ability to fill. These medium- and long-term plans should be sponsored by more people. But as you know, the reason why Lei Department has maintained its independent operation so far is that the court does not want too many people to have conflicts of interest with Lei Department.”

The imperial court wanted to start afresh, because while the current court wasn't exactly hopelessly corrupt, it certainly had many accumulated problems. Zhu Xianxi and the cabinet both wanted to create a celestial court within the Thunder Department, and then have that celestial court absorb the imperial court from top to bottom. This would save a lot of trouble—although it couldn't completely eliminate all problems, it was at least a direction.

This is why Raibu has been controlling the scale of its expansion and maintaining its independence.

Zhu Xianxi trusted Shangluo a lot, believing that Shangluo could handle things well on his own.

However, Shangluo's energy was limited. Zhu Xianxi treated him like a fast horse that didn't need to eat grass, transferring him all over the country, leaving him little time to deal with the affairs of the Lei Department.

When I came to my senses, it was already a messy situation that I couldn't figure out.

"So, starting today, everything will change."

"So, the Raibu clan is finally going to be incorporated into the army?"

"That's right—the Lei Department is finally going to have some income! Do you know how much my salary is? It's this much!" Shang Luo reached out and flipped the money over several times.

"How many numbers is this?" Faetong couldn't understand the gesture, because Shangluo himself didn't know how many numbers it was.

"Don't ask, there are just a lot of them."

"So you're going to use the money from making movies to fund the Thunder Department? Hmm," Faeton pressed his forehead, "that doesn't seem quite right in theory. Using your personal income to supplement the company is never a good thing, but we're not a company after all. What you're doing is essentially using your own income to do public service."

"Is this normal?"

"This is the growth path of a faction. Because the pipeline of power is built through affairs, we can do more things when we have more funds. Previously, we were in a dilemma because we could neither do things well nor get money, and various businesses lacked expansion. If you can continuously bring in large sums of money, then the Thunder Department can continuously convert your money into power—and then, the Heavenly Court can grow from it."

"Well, speaking of which, as a member of the Heavenly Court, isn't it a bit inappropriate to always be thinking about making money?"

"Not necessarily. According to the Way of Fortune, money is fortune, representing the world's recognition of you and your credit. Money is the convergence of consensus, and where money is concentrated, consensus naturally converges as well—bringing their own income to serve the public is the style of Roman senators. Roman senators did not receive salaries; they competed on who could contribute more to the empire, and this contribution was earned through their own efforts. This was considered the driving force behind Rome's development at the time, as it promoted full competition among various political entities within Rome."

"Then I'll take care of it."

"Wait a minute, give me a rough estimate first. I need to know the amount so I can figure out how to help you spend it. Spending money is an art; you have to spend it wisely. After all, we're facing three bottomless pits. If we don't invest well, we won't even make a splash. So if it's a million-dollar amount, we still need to..." "Not a million, but a hundred million."

"Ok?"

"Yes, it's on the scale of hundreds of millions. Master Sa said that the box office is expected to be two to three billion, and they plan to give me 5% of the revenue."

"Good heavens, if we calculate based on 2 billion, that's 100 million! That's no small sum. Although it's still not enough when spread across three projects, if we focus on investing in one project, we can probably expand into a solid business line. If we reach that scale, then the expansion of Lingwang that we've been preparing for can finally be put into practice. If this business is successful, then the prototype of the telecommunications business will be completely under our control. The resulting economic benefits are a minor matter; what's truly beneficial is the expansion of our power."

"But by then, we classmates won't be able to handle it, will we?"

"We may need some employees at that time."

Have you considered entrusting it to the Heavenly Nobleman?

"Huh?" Faetong was taken aback. "Such a complicated task can be entrusted to the Heavenly Nobleman?"

【Absolutely. Look, telecommunications companies are simply providing services to customers, right? As long as they can provide service to every customer, all the intermediate steps can be omitted. After all, customers interact through an application, so whether there's a human behind the application is completely unimportant.】

Completely eliminating the human factor, Lei Bu can expand its business entirely using Tianyi Noblemen. Tianyi Noblemen are ideal intelligent entities; they will complete their work in the most rational and efficient way, without any need for human intervention.

“Good, very good.” Shangluo nodded. “Actually, many of the problems Lei Department is facing now are that it has no way to deal with people. Because the number of Qi cultivators is too small. If we want to deal with the unspecified majority of people, we can’t rely solely on Qi cultivators to work. And if we start recruiting ordinary people on a large scale, it would probably be an uncontrollable and massive business for us.”

The Thunder Department is not the Heavenly Court, and Shangluo is not actually running a business. Hiring people means taking on social obligations, which is the rule of running a business. However, Shangluo is now planning to take on obligations from the mortal world, because that would tie the Thunder Department down with a lot of trivial matters.

Once people are recruited, there will be people who manage those people, and people who manage those people. This goes against the original purpose of the Heavenly Court.

So all he needs to do is provide services, which aligns with the ideal approach of the Heavenly Court.

"And speaking of which, Shangluo, there's something you might not have considered, but that's actually one of Lei's strengths."

"What is it?"

"Lei Bu, you don't pay taxes."

"Ah! I forgot about that! Theoretically, I should pay taxes on my salary, right?"

Fahrenheit nodded: "Whether it's the Ming Dynasty or Rome, the income tax on such high-income earners is extremely heavy. But you don't need to pay taxes; the Lei Department's business is completely tax-free. In fact, Lanfang's investment in us also had a tax avoidance element involved. The Lei Department's business is indeed a bottomless pit of funds, but it is also a bottomless pit of taxes."

"Huh? Why isn't anyone asking us to pay taxes?"

"Because nobody knows where we are, there's no way to collect taxes. The Thunder Department is part of the Heavenly Court and doesn't exist in the affairs of the Imperial Court. Spaceflight, military spending, perpetual motion machines—none of these have anything to do with the Imperial Court. We don't conduct business within the Imperial Court's jurisdiction, and apart from paying consumption tax when buying things, we hardly touch any other taxes—thankfully, we don't have to file taxes, otherwise I'd never finish my work."

"So we have this kind of benefit?"

“You’re probably not very good at this kind of tax work,” Faethon replied. “After all, I handled business at the Ossuary for a while—it was tough, and filing taxes was a real pain. In Rome, only temples don’t have to pay taxes, and I wish the Ossuary were a temple. But right now, what you’re running is essentially a temple; you’re raising funds and providing public services.”

Providing telecommunications services can indeed be considered a form of public service. Upon closer examination—

"So the nature of our business is actually running temple properties, right?"

Faetong nodded: "The temple properties of the Ming Dynasty are all subject to taxation. But you, Heavenly Emperor, are our living deity. Actually, if you really want to expand your business, we could make a fortune just by acting as tax agents, but..."

"Aren't we going to do it? I think we should give it a shot."

"Are you serious? This business is that Lanfang doesn't have to pay taxes when she invests herself in us, and our business will provide Lanfang with intangible assistance from other sources. There are also some other very complicated tax matters. Are you sure you want to do this? Then we'll turn into a foundation, huh? If you want to do it, I can recommend someone to you."

"Who?"

"Apollonia".

【Huh? Me? Oh right, I almost forgot, that's how the Oracle operates—Shangluo, would you like to give it a try? If you need any business assistance, I can help you contact the Oracle. Although I haven't seen them for a long time, if you need help, I don't mind going back to check it out.】

“Shangluo,” Faetong said in a deep voice, “When it comes to running a foundation, the Oracle is the professional. Because their mission has always been to attract money from unspecified sources to serve a grand, endless plan.”

“Interesting. But don’t you think we should split the Thunder Department up a bit? I mean, we could create some sub-departments to connect with the Oracle. Okay, I’ve decided. Miss Apollonia, this task is yours.”

【Huh? Why? Why do you want me to do this work? I'm your personal assistant.】

"It's time for you to step out of your little box."

"Then, what do you want me to do?"

"The first task this department needs to handle is to resolve the film's issues. You will serve as my secretary and go on a separate business trip to the Oracle to coordinate matters on the film set, since the first shot is taken at the Oracle."

I have this strange feeling of the Dragon King returning home; bringing business home just feels a bit awkward. Okay, since you insist, I'll go back for a bit.

(End of this chapter)