The Visual Impact of Two or Three Hundred Million: A Fortune Fit to Topple a Nation Piled on the Beach

Compared to Ning Rongrong's shock, Xiao Wu—who had no real concept of humanity's monetary system—merely blinked blankly and tilted her head. "Two or three hundred million... is that a lot?"

"Is that a lot? Take out the 'is'!"

Ning Rongrong took a deep breath and began force-feeding this illiterate rabbit some economics about human society.

"Xiao Wu, let me put it this way. The Heaven Dou Empire, currently the most prosperous empire in the world, generally has an annual total revenue of only around two hundred million Gold Soul Coins!"

"But those two hundred million coins don't all go into the Emperor's pocket! After deducting the massive military expenses, the salaries of officials at every level, the cuts skimmed off by local city lords, Spirit Hall's fixed annual share, and relief for all manner of sudden natural disasters... the actual net surplus left on the books is extremely limited!"

Counting on her fingers, Ning Rongrong solemnly did the math. "In a good year with favorable weather and a bountiful harvest, perhaps thirty or forty million Gold Soul Coins could be allocated to the treasury. Under ordinary circumstances, they should thank the heavens if twenty million remains."

"And that's not even the end of it! Aside from the royal family's enormous and extravagant daily expenses, the money that barely makes it into the treasury must also be used to reward meritorious ministers, spend lavishly to recruit gifted young Soul Masters, and cover all sorts of miscellaneous royal expenditures..."

Ning Rongrong spread her hands helplessly. "After all that, the Heaven Dou Empire has less than five million Gold Soul Coins left each year at most, which can truly be locked away as reserves in the treasury's underground vaults. If they have the bad luck to run into a war, military spending rises