"Actually, it's not insufficient. Besides agricultural tax, we also have consumption tax and various tariffs."

The Holy Treasury Department has actually estimated the income of the His Holiness the Pope's central authority.

The central authority of Pope Country must have an annual income of 50,000 gold pounds to ensure a balanced budget.

Although Horn has been advocating the concept of a positive deficit, the most advanced concept of this era only believes that there should be a balance between income and expenditure, living within one's means.

Even though the Pope's power is limitless, Horn still tries to avoid forcibly enforcing it using this authority.

Every time he uses personal authority, it incurs a loss of the government's authority.

It can be used at critical moments, but it's better to use it sparingly at non-critical points.

As for the central revenue, apart from agricultural tax, it also comes from other aspects.

The first is the palace-operated workshops. For the workshops left by previous merchants and lords, Horn adopted two strategies.

They either follow the original tribute system and give part of the profit to the Salvation Army every year, but the Salvation Army will participate in the operations.

Or they can redeem it, collecting a sum of money once to buy the ownership of the workshop for the Salvation Army.

The main purpose of both is to raise military funds.

This particularly allowed for many city stewards to become Workshop Masters, as well as many rural small landowners.

The second is tariffs, stamp duties, and consumption tax.

This brings up the upcoming regulation of markets and urban commercial areas.

At this time, people exchanging goods did not have specialized merchants who went to the countryside to collect, and then sold it in markets or supermarkets as they did in later generations.

However, in certain rural areas, there are designated markets which are not held daily but every ten days instead.

Small vendors and farmers would bring grains, cash crops, and agricultural by-products to sell at the market.

The original markets were mostly controlled by priests and hooligans, often requiring protection fees.

Even private transactions didn't make sense as one might sell two eggs after traveling so far, and fears of being scammed or cheated were fewer.

Horn aimed to leverage this situation.

The Priestly Order must dispatch Night Watchers and the Defensive Army to oversee the markets, maintaining order, but they must also collect consumption tax and stall fees based on the goods entering the markets.

And for town areas, designated vegetable streets and commercial districts are drawn up where raw material regulation allows for collecting consumption tax and tariffs.

In essence, the government provides public services and security, ensuring merchants, farmers, and vegetable vendors are insured in exchange for their payment of consumption tax.

For bulk commodity transactions, Horn will set up exchanges in capital cities at the county level, such as Joan of Arc Castle.

In these exchanges, a stamp duty is also collected from both parties, and fees are charged when a transaction is completed.

Horn believes that merchants will easily accept the stamp duty as it allows them to achieve big things with little money.

Because the Salvation Army Government is about to legislate stipulating that contracts without stamp duty won't be recognized in court, and can only be mediated by a Notary outside court.

Furthermore, there is also the Baptism Tax derived from alchemical product blessings.

The Baptism Tax essentially legalizes contraband from the black market; once His Holiness the Pope blesses it, it can be freely sold.

As Horn has only collected urban consumption tax in several large towns such as Joan of Arc Castle, Sour Melon Town, and Ry Court Barracks.

They are not yet aware of how much tax could be collected if it were implemented in all towns and villages, but according to Qianqian's conservative estimate, including the agricultural tax, about 10,000 gold pounds could be collected annually.

"So how should the Hundred Households District operate? I mean, we still don't understand the Holy Treasury of the Hundred Households District." At this moment, a representative of the Hundred Households Captain stood up, unable to resist asking.

The confusion among the Hundred Households Captains was understandable.

When Horn was dividing the land, he also divided the forests, lakes, and unowned wastelands.

However, the usage rights of these lands have always belonged to the Hundred Households District, freely available to all the believers within the district.

Logically, if villagers made money from the land, it should belong to them.

"Let's use a specific example to illustrate... What's your name?"

The Hundred Households Captain nervously clutched his hat: "My name is Gongtalei, Your Holiness, from the Motone Hundred Households District."

"Very well, does your area have any specialty land resources?" Horn snapped his fingers and asked.

"We have a forest in our Hundred Households District that produces excellent hardwood. Many furniture craftsmen come to buy hardwood from our district," Gongtalei said haltingly.

"Have you thought about setting up a sawmill in the Hundred Households District?" Horn saw Gongtalei sweating profusely without knowing what to say, smiled slightly, and then continued.

"Suppose we set up a sawmill on your district's land. What should be the first step?

It would be to apply to the Priestly Order to rent or purchase the land usage rights for constructing the sawmill, with the money shared between the Order and you.

Don't be surprised, because building a sawmill in that area might not just be a matter for your Hundred Households District, but an affair for the entire Priestly Order.

Once the sawmill is built and ready to process wood, wouldn't you need to acquire a forest zone?

Who would you acquire it from? From all of you, the residents of your Hundred Households District.

The contracting fee is something you decide yourselves, which constitutes the second fund, entirely yours to keep.

Then who does this fund belong to? Do you distribute it equally and hand it out?

That is clearly wrong, because this money might be a drop in the bucket for some, unnecessary, while for others, it is a lifeline.

This money should be deposited into the Holy Treasury for everyone to share, primarily used for aiding poor families, building water works, developing fields, constructing roads, and other projects benefiting everyone."

Seeing Gongtalei's suddenly enlightened expression, Horn smiled.

This is just the micro-level action of this plan, which both grants a degree of local autonomy and ensures central authority.

As to why such a system needed to be established, it was naturally for a reason.

Under external military pressure, a confederation or federal system suitable for this era could not be implemented.

Horn needed to swiftly mobilize resources, focus on industrial development, and equip professional bureaucrats and a standing army to prepare for potential war threats.

This meant that the power of representative institutions (the Senate) could not surpass the Pope's power, Horn needed to hold both administrative power and legislative power simultaneously.

If the Salvation Army were formally institutionalized, it had to be an absolutist bureaucratic state, which meant it would be a big government.

But the common problem with big governments is bureaucracy; bureaucrats become rigid and corrupt faster than Eight Banner Soldiers.

Horn doesn't expect them not to become rigid and corrupt, as it is an inherent flaw of bureaucracy.

He just hopes it doesn't happen too quickly so that survival is first ensured.

Thus, Horn must introduce competition and a quasi-market environment, turning the government into administrative contractors while maintaining central authority.

In terms of flexibility and non-rigidity, who can match contractors?

Each Priestly Order and Village Monastery became like big companies with subsidiaries participating in market competition.

Their competition indicators were called political achievements, and the profits they gained were called power.

Horn issued a task to the general contractor (Village Monastery), and the general contractor delegated the task to subcontractors (Priestly Orders).

The Pope didn't care how they completed it, only cared whether they completed it.

In extreme cases, Horn might not even need to provide money, only decrees and deadlines.

As long as monks in the Order want to advance, they must use their financial resources to get things done.

Horn didn't even care how the money in their hands was spent, some embezzlement was fine, but they must get the job done.

Whether there's embezzlement only determines if a failure leads to dismissal or execution.

"You all understand the specifics now," Horn sorted some documents in his hands, "If there are no issues, then you will trial the 'Plan' in the 23 Hundred Households Districts around Joan of Arc Castle."

The people present looked at each other, finding no one spoke out further.

Then, under Armand's lead, everyone stood up simultaneously, bowing in unison to reply, "Yes, Your Holiness."