Council of Aki, 1558, Day 1

The Council of Aki commenced with the presentation of the economic report by the Commissioner of Finance.

The Budget

The current budget is as follows:

Military costs exceed half of total income. We have 1900 koku excess funds for development. It is recommended that military costs should be maintained at about 60% of total income.

Province wealth

The wealth of the our provinces are as follows:

Iwami with its gold mine, and Aki, are, by far, our richest provinces. The Kyushu provinces

Kyushu garrison costs

In order to maintain minimum order in Kyushu, these are the garrison costs:

Osumi  160
Hyuga  140
Bungo  490
Buzen   420

The high costs in Bungo and Buzen arise from the need to suppress the restive Christian population. As Christianity diminishes in these provinces, we will be able to reduce these costs.

Kyushu development

The Commissioner of development reports that the construction of a trading port (cost 1800) in Bungo and a paper mill (cost 1400) in Buzen are envisaged in the next two seasons. The paper mill will break even within 5 seasons. The current budget will meet these costs.

Trade

This is the value of our trade:

We are losing 600 koku in lost trade due to the blockade on the Bessho. This should be addressed.

The Yamana, Ouchi and Bessho are our most valued trading partners.

Korean cotton trade is worth 1080 koku and costs 350 in trade fleet maintenance. Cotton is worth 34 koku each.
Annamese incense trade is worth 400 koku and costs us 50 in trade fleet maintenance. Incense is worth 50 koku each.

Trade fleets should be redeployed to the more profitable incense trade.