After the establishment of the empire, it did not give up the prospecting work within the empire at all. At the beginning of its establishment, the Ministry of Economic Development of the empire introduced professional prospectors from the countries in the Western Continent whose technology had reached the forefront. The chemical and physical prospecting methods they brought were extremely advanced. It has greatly improved the work efficiency of the empire's prospecting department, and also brought new technologies and methods to the empire's prospecting department. In this regard, the countries of the Western Continent seem to have not paid enough attention to this aspect, and the empire's high-paying recruitment It also did not show a special prohibitive attitude, which allowed the empire's prospecting level to be greatly improved in a relatively short period of time.
A series of copper deposits were discovered in Burma County and Zhongnan County, which made the two newly appointed governors of Burma County and Zhongnan County overjoyed. Although the currency system of the empire changed, the copper mines no longer have a special financial status, but copper Other metals already play an irreplaceable role in all aspects of national production. As the empire's territory continues to expand, the demand for copper is still increasing. However, it is obviously unrealistic to carry out large-scale development before traffic conditions are completely improved. Therefore, the local governments of the two counties are fully cooperating with the Imperial Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Construction in the construction of key roads in these two counties. The construction of the strategic highway from Hanzhong to Eastern Samoa via Tiannan County, Burma County, and Zhongnan County has also been listed as the No. 1 project by the central and local governments of the empire. Only by completely opening up and improving this road can we make the land that has always been inland accessible. The economy of the two counties has developed. The two governors who were transferred here from the wealthy counties in the south of the Yangtze River know this better than anyone else.
The Imperial Prospecting Department also achieved great success in Terokna. A huge silver mine was discovered in Langshan Prefecture, which brought a good sign to the newly established Langshan Prefecture. The flat terrain in the Jieluoke area is also very conducive to the mining of silver mines, and the issue of silver mine ownership is also After a heated debate between the local government and the imperial central government, the local government finally secured 30% of the equity for itself. The Xindi Langshan Mansion only sold 10% of its equity in exchange for a massive amount of construction funds. The new city guard of Langshan Mansion even promised to build Langshan Mansion into a condition that would meet the requirements of Jerokna and even the entire northern region of the empire. The best and most beautiful city.
The empire was still not open to the mining of two precious metals, gold and silver. However, some modifications have been adopted to deal with the historical evolution of the Indel region. Some of the original gold mines have been controlled by the nobles. This is also one of the most important economic sources for the local nobles in India. In addition to Except for some nobles who obviously participated in the rebellion against the empire, the empire has confirmed the mining rights of these gold mines.
However, the Mineral Resources Law promulgated by the empire also clearly stipulates that from the date of the establishment of the empire, all gold and silver mineral deposits within the empire shall be owned by the central government and local governments of the empire, and shall not be owned by private individuals. Before the establishment of the empire, the gold and silver mines confirmed their ownership for a certain period of time through flexible means. After the ownership expired, the empire would take back the original owners and give certain economic compensation to the original owners. However, during this period, the start of the gold and silver mines must Mining is carried out under the supervision of the Imperial Treasury to prevent destructive mining. The introduction of this policy has been unanimously welcomed by the gold mine owners in the Indian region. They are overjoyed to be able to obtain mining rights for a certain period of time. They are also satisfied that they can receive certain economic compensation when the imperial government takes back the gold mines.
The nobles who participated in the rebellion against the empire's occupation of the Indian region were naturally deprived of everything. While their properties were confiscated, their gold mining shares were also transferred to the State-owned Assets Department under the Imperial Ministry of Finance. The disparity in treatment made the nobles in the Indian region more tightly attached to the imperial government.
In addition to precious metal mines, diamonds and non-metallic minerals are not all under the control of the imperial government as imagined, whether it is diamonds, gems, emeralds in the Indian region or white jade, nephrite, etc. in other areas of the empire The empire did not interfere too much in the mining areas. Even the mining areas that were confiscated for other reasons were quickly sold through public auctions, which also won high praise from merchants and media everywhere.
In addition to the rapid development of the mining and metallurgy industries, the empire is also consciously considering lifting industry barriers to tobacco and alcohol, which were originally monopolized. Alcohol has been directly lifted from all access and sales restrictions. Anyone who has access to the empire's economic development With a health and safety license issued by the department, you can enter the alcohol production and sales industry. There was a lot of criticism on this point, but in the end the Imperial Government Council agreed to separate the liquor industry from the monopoly industry.
The same is true for the tobacco industry. Tobacco cultivation has never been restricted, only in the field of deep processing. The Tanghe Empire and the original Xijiang have adopted a monopoly approach, but now the Imperial Ministry of Culture, Education and Health has issued warnings and suggestions. , excessive smoking of tobacco is harmful to the health of the people, and it is recommended that the empire take measures to prevent the further deterioration of this phenomenon. Although this warning was not received by the Imperial Senate and the Citizens' Council,
passed, but still attracted media attention. This has dealt a heavy blow to the owners of Imperial Tobacco, who had hoped to be able to completely lift restrictions.
In addition to the high tax policy in terms of planting, processing and sales, the empire also made an exception to regulate and limit the area of tobacco cultivation, except for North Luzon, Burma County, Zhongnan County, Nanhai County, and South Indy. Except for An County and Binhai County, where each county determines its own tobacco planting area, tobacco planting areas in other areas of the empire are strictly controlled. Especially in several major grain-producing areas, tobacco planting is clearly prohibited, and the tobacco processing industry A large number of small and medium-sized processing enterprises were also required to merge or be merged by large enterprises, and the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Commerce of the Empire also put forward strict requirements for these large-scale processing enterprises after mergers or mergers, especially for each Processing companies have put forward relatively stringent export sales ratio requirements, and the imperial economic development department has also adopted various means to ban smaller tobacco processing companies, forcing small-scale tobacco processing companies to merge with other tobacco giants or form joint-stock companies on their own. Large processing complex.
This is the first time that the empire has restricted and restricted the development of a certain industry, especially when it is comprehensively revitalizing the empire's industry and commerce. This has also caused widespread controversy among the empire's industrial and commercial circles.
Critics believe that the Empire's restrictions on the tobacco industry are a fair treatment, especially since such tough administrative measures were taken based on the identification and recommendation of the Empire's Ministry of Culture, Education and Health without any proposals from representatives of the Imperial Senate and Citizens' House. To restrict the development of an industry was a huge blow to the imperial economic circles. At first, they did not dare to openly question the Imperial Ministry of Culture and Education’s view that tobacco was harmful to health. After all, it was carefully investigated by the Imperial Ministry of Culture, Education and the Ministry of Culture and Education after inviting many experts and scholars. They are not clear about the results obtained after the study, but they hope to make up for this through other means, such as strengthening investment in difficult-to-health medical facilities and increasing tax rates.
However, the voices of supporters are not small. They mainly come from local gentry and officials, especially those in non-tobacco growing areas. They believe that the harm caused by tobacco will endanger people's health and give rise to more civil problems. They agree Supports restrictions on the expansion of the tobacco industry and advocates maintaining the current status quo.
As the debate grew louder, representatives of the tobacco industry began to seek legal means to overturn the restrictive measures imposed by the Ministry of Economic Development, especially those from Tiannan County and Panja County because these two counties were not included in the ban. The Ministry of Economic Development of the Empire listed tobacco cultivation as a non-restricted area, so tobacco cultivation was subject to considerable restrictions. While the local governments of the two counties had to implement the political reforms of the Ministry of Economic Development, they also secretly supported the owners of the tobacco industry in passing laws. means to solve this problem.
On July 22, 701 in the Continental Calendar, thirty-three owners’ representatives of the Imperial Tobacco Industry Association jointly submitted a complaint to the Imperial Seventh Court of Justice (mainly responsible for the trial of major criminal and civil claims under the jurisdiction of Tiannan County), demanding that the Imperial Garden No.7 The court ruled that the administrative order restricting the size of tobacco plantations in Tiannan County by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Empire was invalid. They had previously filed a lawsuit with the Third Circuit Court of the Seventh Imperial Court, but the Third Circuit Court sued the state. The first-level body of the Administrative Order Tribunal of the administrative agency refused to accept the complaint on the grounds that it had no authority to accept it, and the complaint was handed over to the Seventh Tribunal by the owners.
This administrative complaint demanding that the order of the Imperial Ministry of Economic Development be invalidated almost immediately shocked the entire empire. It was the first time that an administrative power department at the imperial ministry level was sued, although there had been complaints in the Western Xinjiang era. There was a precedent for the financial department to prohibit the opening of commercial banks in order to seek monopoly, but that was within a very narrow scope after all, and it disappeared quickly, far less than the impact that this time affected the entire empire.
The media from all over the empire paid extraordinary attention to this incident, especially in the Meili area, which was newly under the administration of the empire and had relatively developed industry and commerce. People who cared about this matter were even more enthusiastic, and Meili The county's media also made sure to publish the lawsuit, known as the Tobacco scandal, on its front page every day. The Minister of Justice, Molun, also made an unusually high-profile statement that the empire's judicial department must handle the case impartially and without favoritism, which made the case even more popular.