The second year of Guangde was the first year of the empire's new policy, and it was also the year when old officials withered.
In August, Qiao Yiqi died of illness;
In September, the comet fell to the earth;
In October, Mao Yuanyi died of illness, and in December, Xu Guangqi died without illness.
Since then, among the civil officials of the Kaiyuan era, only Sun Chuanting and Wang Huazhen, who were idle at home, remained.
Metabolism is the law of the world.
Liu Zhao and Sun Gui are the kings of kings, so they cannot violate it.
However, time has not left any trace on the Supreme Emperor.
Not even a single gray hair.
This is nothing short of bizarre.
On New Year's Eve of the second year of Guangde, and the New Year was approaching, the Supreme Emperor held a family banquet in the palace as usual.
Most of the people attending the banquet this year were newly promoted nobles, and there were only a few old ministers.
There are Kang Yingqian's nephew Kang Jingxiu, Kang Yingqian's son Kang Guangxu, Mao Wenlong's son Mao Chengdou, Mangui's nephew Mao Yan, Yuan Chonghuan's nephew Yuan Zhaoji, Shen Lian's nephew Shen Mo, Wang Erhu's son Wang Jin, Yuan Keli's son Yuan Shu, Qi Jin's son Qi Ming, Sun Shirui, the son of Sun Chuanting.
As for Zhang Juzheng's son, Zhang Yunxiu, he also urged the implementation of the Qing Dynasty in Fujian.
There were pirates in Kinmen County who resisted the new law and killed people. Zhang Jinglue was unable to escape and stayed in Fujian to work during the Chinese New Year.
"Zhang Jinglue is a good official. If Da Qi has more such officials, the world will be in order."
After pushing cups and changing cups, the Supreme Emperor looked at Kang Guangxu with bright eyes.
"Kang Xunjing, I know everything you and Zhang Jinglue did in Jiangnan. I am very pleased that you have made such a great contribution. You have lived up to your father's expectations."
Kang Guangxu stood up and thanked him, saying that the implementation of the New Deal was all due to the Supreme Emperor's strategizing. Of course, he also did not forget to praise the young emperor Liu Kan.
"My emperor is pure and filial. He shared the worries of the Supreme Emperor and moved heaven. In the seventh month, I saw with my own eyes in Taicang that auspicious signs appeared frequently, such as white deer and golden harvest..."
Liu Kan smiled politely.
Sure enough, the dragon and the phoenix gave birth to the phoenix, and the mouse son knew how to dig holes.
In terms of explaining auspiciousness, Kang Guangxu was just like his father, who was self-taught.
"The reform has not been successful yet, you still need to work hard."
In front of all his confidants, the Supreme Emperor announced that the focus of Guangde's internal affairs in the next three years would be shifted from the New Deal to the abolition of water transportation.
~~~~~
One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and when the Supreme Emperor announced this order, the ministers were in an uproar.
Even Emperor Guangde, who had been silent, couldn't sit still.
"Abolish water transportation?"
"How can we abolish the food and clothing of millions of water workers?"
"The water transport banknotes contribute millions to the country every year. Once it is abolished, how will these gaps be filled?"
"In the Yuan Dynasty, water transportation was abandoned in favor of sea transportation, which led to the Yellow River flooding in the later period, the rise of rebels, and pirate rebellions... How can our government repeat the same mistakes?"
There was a lot of discussion among the ministers. Rao was one of the radicals who advocated reform. They were all shocked when they heard that the banknotes were to be demolished.
It is of course nonsense to say that these Daqi upstarts have any interests connected with water transportation.
Imperial commerce is owned by the Chamber of Commerce, which is owned by the state. Moreover, the North Canal has long been completely abandoned. What is discussed here is the section of the South Canal south of Guazhou.
The scholars of this era, whether they were officials of the Qi State or officials of the former Ming Dynasty, had already set their minds. When they heard that water transportation was to be abolished, they thought that the world would collapse.
Nothing else, just because this river is so important.
Water transport began in the Qin and Han Dynasties and lasted for nearly two thousand years until the Qi Dynasty.
The Sui Dynasty built the North-South Grand Canal.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the economic center of gravity moved southward, and water transportation became the economic lifeline of past dynasties.
The transportation of grain and taxes in the Jiangnan region, the transportation of troops and materials from the north to the south, the livelihood of the people along the route, the construction of the granary system, and the prosperity and stability of the Gyeonggi region all rely on the Grand Canal.
"The North Canal has been abolished for a long time, and shipping has been carried out for many years. Now the seaports of Dengzhou, Jiaozhou, and Lushun are prosperous, and they are no worse than before. If the North Canal can be changed, of course the South Canal can also be changed!"
Liu Zhaosun was calm and calm, and he was well prepared for the opposition of the ministers.
"Dean Dai, please tell everyone."
The Supreme Emperor looked at Dai Li, the sitting professor of the university hall.
Dai Li saluted the Supreme Emperor and the Young Emperor in turn, and glanced at
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Everyone said in an excited tone:
"Your Majesty, it is technically possible to replace river transportation by sea transportation. In the early Yuan Dynasty, grain transportation by sea became the norm. When the weather was good, it only took ten days to travel from western Zhejiang to the capital."
"The Liaodong Chamber of Commerce sailed and determined its position by identifying longitude and latitude. Specifically, the longitude and latitude were obtained through a series of calculations based on the North Star and Southern Cross constellations with the help of measuring instruments. Last year, the Portuguese craftsman John Harriso (1593-1676) in the workshop , creating an accurate marine clock with an error of only 5 seconds.”
A group of civil servants and generals were astonished to hear this.
Liu Zhaosun waved his hand towards Dai Li, signaling this knowledgeable expert to speak human language.
"In short, the navigation skills of our dynasty are far superior to those of the Yuan Dynasty, not to mention the north-south sea transportation. From Yinzhou in the north to Australia in the south, the boats go back and forth as if they were walking on flat ground!"
As Dai Li said, the empire's navigation technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and is no longer what it was before.
Of course, it is obviously nonsense to say that sailing to North America is a smooth journey.
In this magical country, what determines affairs is not technology, but the so-called personnel.
Fortunately, the current Daqi society is not one of family and one world, but one of several circles.
Kang Guangxu hurriedly said: "This shows that the Supreme Emperor was far-sighted. When our dynasty was founded, the Supreme Emperor ignored all opinions and concentrated on developing maritime transportation. He did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to hire Franji instructors. Such a unique insight is not worthy of the minister. Nothing can be compared."
Liu Zhaosun smiled awkwardly.
Mao Chengdou and Sun Shirui, who were sitting next to Kang Guangxu, looked at each other and resisted the urge to continue listening to Kang Guangxu's disgusting compliments.
~~~~
Sea transportation has large volume, fast speed and low cost. It was the main way to transport grain from the south to the north in the Yuan Dynasty, and water transportation was only a supplement.
However, by the Ming Dynasty, with the further improvement of navigation technology, sea transportation was gradually abolished.
In the sixth year of Hongwu's reign, the Liao Xiang shipwreck occurred, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (Chinese Academy of Sciences) reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, requesting more land reclamation in the north to reduce shipping.
In the 27th year of Hongwu, the 21st Guards of Liaodong were basically self-sufficient in food and salary, so shipping was stopped in the 30th year of Hongwu.
In the first year of Yongle, Beijing's grain reserves were insufficient, so the imperial court started shipping again, with Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan as the chief military officer to supervise shipping, and the ship set sail from Nanjing.
Since then, there have been suggestions to rebuild the Grand Canal.
In the end, the Ming Dynasty had to employ 260,000 workers and spent 6 months dredging the Huitong River 385 miles from Jining to Linqing.
In the 10th year of Yongle, Song Lili, Minister of Industry, once again pointed out the shortcomings of maritime transportation and proposed adjusting the proportion of rivers and seas.
Pingjiang Bo Chenxuan succeeded in regulating the Huaihe River, which allowed 3,000 watercraft to be dispatched at the same time, carrying 4 million shi of grain, and flowed unimpeded.
In the thirteenth year of Yongle's reign, the imperial court announced that sea transportation would be officially stopped.
Based on the summary analysis, several reasons for opposing maritime transportation include not conforming to the ancestral system, maritime transportation technology is not up to standard, lack of shipping vessels, maritime transportation risks are too high, and the maritime transportation system is immature.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is just nonsense.
There are only two reasons that really hinder the implementation of sea transportation:
The first is the complex game of interests of all parties; compared with several seaport cities such as Dengzhou and Jizhou, the spokespersons of the major cities through which the Grand Canal passes undoubtedly have greater say in the government and the opposition. It makes sense that sea transport cannot compete with water transport.
The second is the uncontrollability of shipping. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen's remaining troops often raided coastal areas. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, the Japanese invasion of Japan became serious along the coast. In order to control the coastal people and strengthen governance, it was impossible for the imperial court to support large-scale shipping.
~~~
None of the ministers spoke.
It would be too bold to completely abolish water transportation.
Liu Zhaosun waved his hand, and the chief internal officer held out an account book.
That was the income from the treasury of the former Ming Dynasty that Sun Chuanting worked hard to sort out when he was the chief assistant.
"Do you know how Qianming was destroyed?"
The Supreme Emperor suddenly raised this question, and everyone was at a loss.
Wasn't it destroyed by you, the Supreme Emperor?
"Here is an account. Let Eunuch Dongfang calculate it for you."
Dongfang Zhu quickly opened the account book.
"In the previous Ming Dynasty, most of the tax revenue came from land tax, and the country's annual revenue was less than 30 million taels. Not all of the 30 million taels were turned over to the national treasury, of which 12
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000,000 were intercepted by various prefectures and counties, 8 million were supplied to the Nine-Border Army, and finally, the remaining 10 million taels were transported by water transport and arrived in Beijing, with 6.2 million taels. ” (Note 1)
Liu Zhaosun interrupted:
"Of course, this is only on paper, and the actual amount is far lower than 6.2 million."
The Supreme Emperor threw the account book on the table.
"Frequent floods and droughts occur in various places, and they are fighting Tatars and bandits. With these few million taels, Zhu Youjian won't be enough even if he sells himself!"
"Daqi doesn't raise moths!"
"Why are millions of canal workers dependent on food and clothing? If we leave the canal, these people will starve to death?"
Liu Zhaosun struck up the case and said: "Sailors, trackers, porters along the river, and green-skinned sailors are all vagrants. Abolish water transportation and recruit them into the new army - of course, not all of them. Those stubborn people will all move to the north. , go to Liaodong to colonize."
"The canal only allowed a few cities to prosper and prosper for a while, and enriched a group of canal officials. What benefit did it do to the country to ask for help? The people benefited from it far less than the price they paid. In the end, such a huge empire was limited to In this canal, everyone is like a frog at the bottom of a well, handing over the fate of the country to a small canal, leaving trillions of people blind and ignorant of what is going on in the ocean, like a blind man and a horse, walking into the pond in the middle of the night. Isn't it sad?"
Note:
1. "A Thousand Sails Race - Research on the Transformation of Rivers and Seas in Water Transport in the Qing Dynasty" Liu Lu
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