On the day of the feast, Emperor Zhu Youtang ordered a memorial to be given to Li Jie.
"Lin Aiqing, take a look at this memorial. Is my Ming too indulgent towards Ryukyu?"
Li Jie respectfully took the memorial and read it carefully. The memorial was presented by Jin Yiwei. It recorded that the Ryukyu envoy bribed the chief officer of Fuzhou Shipping Department in an attempt to bypass the imperial court and trade privately.
The memorial contains all the details of when and who paid bribes. To be so clear, I am afraid that the chief officer has secretly planted spies around him. Li Jie's first impression after reading the whole text is that the Jin Yiwei is really pervasive. He secretly sighed countless times. The details of the concealment were already known before it officially began.
The Municipal Shipping Department is specifically responsible for foreign maritime trade. The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban, the so-called "no sails are allowed to enter the sea", only prohibited private maritime trade. The official still had widespread trade relations with various countries, but it was not called trade but called trade. "Tribute" refers to tribute envoys carrying tributes into the DPRK. The Ming Dynasty official followed the policy of "thick exchanges and thin exchanges" for trade.
Although it was a generous reward, but since most of the tribute items from overseas were treasured items, and the gifts in return were often silk, porcelain, copperware, etc., it was still a huge profit for the government. The reason why the imperial court banned private trade was that The purpose is to deal with coastal Japanese invasion, and secondly, it is to monopolize overseas trade and enjoy exclusive benefits.
In the early Ming Dynasty, due to the severe Japanese invasion along the coast, the country's political situation was unstable at the time of its establishment. In addition, the Srivijaya incident seriously threatened the security of the southern border of the empire. Zhu Yuanzhang issued a sea ban in the fourth year of Hongwu, and thereafter repeatedly cracked down on private overseas businesses. trading.
During the Chengzu period of the Ming Dynasty, firstly, after the demise of Srivijaya during the Hongwu period, the Malacca Strait sea route was not normal, and the tribute trade fell into a low ebb, resulting in a shortage of spices and medicinal materials. Secondly, the Jingnan War was still legally He was in an improper position and needed to be recognized urgently to create a grand scene for all nations to come to court and govern all nations, so Zheng He's voyages to the West came into being.
After the Civil War, the national power was greatly damaged and the imperial court was unable to provide escorts for the visiting envoys. The frequency of tribute trade gradually decreased. However, in addition to the lucrative profits of overseas trade, there are also some scarce resources that are indispensable, such as copper, sulfur and other materials. Ryukyu Naturally, it appeared in the eyes of the court.
Ryukyu is located in an important maritime transportation area. Ryukyu's Nanshan, Zhongshan, and Beishan regimes have established close tributary relations with the Ming Dynasty. Ryukyu's fiscal revenue mainly relies on transit trade. Ryukyu itself produces sulfur. In addition, the Ming Dynasty needs Pepper, spices, etc. are purchased through Siam (Thailand), Java, and Macaca (Melaka).
Generally speaking, Ryukyu is equivalent to a large-scale transit platform. It exchanges its own specialties and specialties of other countries for supplies from the Ming Dynasty, and then sells them to other countries. Li Jie understands the inside story and plans to explain to the emperor the benefits of not having middlemen to make the difference.
"Your Majesty, our court has treated Ryukyu too favorably. In order to facilitate Ryukyu's entry into the court, we have specially transferred the Shipping Department of Quanzhou Prefecture to Fuzhou Prefecture and allowed them to pay three tributes a year. They are greedy and should be severely punished!"
After speaking, the subject changed: "I wonder if your Majesty knows about the profession of broker?"
"Broker? What kind of job is this?"
Li Jie introduced the intermediary matter to the emperor in detail, and then said: "Ryukyu is just a large broker. The other party relies on me for the breath of the Ming Dynasty. When our national strength recovers, we can trade with other countries independently. Wouldn't it be more profitable?" thick."
As for the lifting of the sea ban, it is absolutely impossible to mention it at the moment. Even if Xu Pu, Liu Jian and other important ministers appreciate Li Jie very much, it is extremely difficult for them to open up private trade. Paying tribute is already very good.
Seeing that Zhu Youtang showed no obvious objection, Li Jie struck while the iron was hot and said.
"Your Majesty, during the Yongle period, although the construction of the capital city, the conquest of Jiaozhi in the south, and the expedition to the desert in the north cost countless money and food, the financial resources of the country were not greatly strained. This shows that the voyage to the West will not bring a huge impact on the government's finances. The burden can actually feed back the finances.”
"During the Yongle and Xuande years, they made frequent voyages to the West, bartering for gold, copper, and precious stones. The palace's treasure trove was overflowing. But today, the palace's treasure trove is exhausted. Trade has moved around, and everyone has found his own place. Rare things are valuable. Overseas spices, Pepper is a treasure to our dynasty, and it is of great benefit whether it is used as a substitute or to fill the national treasury."
Zhu Youtang is actually very dissatisfied with Ryukyu's approach. However, due to the need to transit through Ryukyu and the impact of North Korea and China's remarks on the huge cost of tribute, he has not yet figured out how to deal with this incident. Everyone in the cabinet has said before Strictly punish bribe-taking officials, but there is no conclusion on how Ryukyu will deal with it.
"Lin Aiqing, do you have any evidence for your statement that the overseas voyages are not expensive?"
Li Jie had been paying close attention to the maritime ban, and he naturally memorized the relevant information. He pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, just take pepper as an example. Pepper in its place of origin only costs 10 Wen per catty, while the market price in Beijing is between 300 and 500 Wen." From time to time, the profit from this alone is more than thirty times, and this is clearly recorded in the book."
When Zhu Youtang heard that there was a profit of more than 30 times, his mouth opened in surprise, but he immediately retracted the surprise on his face. He had already lost his composure just now, but he still couldn't stop the shock in his heart and asked quickly.
"Lin Aiqing, is this true? Then why do some people still say that the voyage to the West cost a lot of money and was of no benefit to the country?"
In Li Jie's opinion, most people are just following others' opinions. When most people think that a certain concept is right, even if it is wrong, it becomes right. If we want to say whether the cost of sailing to the Western Sea is high, of course it is. The fleet Construction is a large expense in both ancient and modern times. It is indeed difficult for the national treasury to support large-scale voyages, but it is not completely impossible to afford this expense.
"Your Majesty, the waves on the sea are high and the winds are strong. Large ships cannot sail long distances, and thieves are rampant at sea. Safety cannot be guaranteed without large-scale fleets. The reason why large amounts of money are spent on sea ships is because of this. However, this is for ocean voyages. It is different in places like Champa and Siam. There is no need to build huge ships like the three treasure eunuchs who went to the West. Medium-scale or even small-scale is also acceptable."
Zhu Youtang had something in his mind, but such a major matter was not something he could decide with just one word. He still needed to discuss it with the ministers. He became interested in what Li Jie said. Everyone in the world is here to benefit. Even the richest emperor is not exempt from vulgarity.
Then Zhu Youtang asked many questions about overseas affairs. Li Jie answered them one by one. From time to time, he emphasized with the emperor the importance of the ocean and how important the navy was. If the Ming Dynasty navy was strong, there would be no need to worry about Japanese troubles. It only needed to patrol the coast. , whether it is a real Japanese or a fake Japanese, they are still running away.
