Emperor Chongzhen once again guessed his son's thoughts wrongly - this is normal. Zhu Cixiang's thoughts were so bad. How could he, an honest emperor, guess it?
Zhu Cixiang brought Chongzhen and the princes and ministers in Beijing to this Xiaoling Mausoleum to think about the palace. It was not to force the palace, nor to regret, nor to plead guilty to Zhu Yuanzhang, but to convene a meeting related to the reform and opening up of the Ming Dynasty. s meeting!
Of course, reform and opening up must be planned and promoted by a "meeting of princes and ministers". At the same time, Zhu Cixiang also had to unify the thinking of the cabinet, the generalissimo's office, and the princes and ministers.
Only by unifying our thinking can reform and opening up be advanced with great fanfare!
Moreover, only by following the path of reform and opening up can Ming's military and economy embark on the fast track of development.
Otherwise, Emperor Lao Zhu's national policy of not conquering the country for fifteen years, the tributary system of sects and vassals, and the national policy of maritime ban would have become a stumbling block for the Ming Dynasty to go to the sea and gain power from the sea.
Apart from anything else, there is no way to even establish a "Shanghai Special Zone" and establish formal and equal diplomatic relations with the Netherlands, Portugal, and Japan. Not to mention sending missions and students to European countries...
Without formal and equal diplomatic relations, it would have been difficult for Ming Dynasty to systematically introduce Western scientific and military technology, not to mention impossible.
In addition, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to expand at sea, then the restriction of the fifteen-year-old country must be broken. Otherwise, if we don’t conquer this or that, where will we expand?
The first person to echo Zhu Cihong was of course "Zhang Ju's formal reformer" Wei Zaode. That was a figure who will go down in history! The future "Biography of Wei Zaode" will be written according to "The Biography of Zhuge Liang"...
He said: "Qiansui Master is right. The ancestral system is an old method more than 200 years ago. Now it is out of date. Doesn't it have to be changed? At that time, Emperor Taizu Gao didn't know that the earth was round, nor did he know that the earth was round. We know that there will be Western merchant ships carrying silver in the sea! Since there is great profit on the sea, how can we ban it? Besides, the sea ban cannot be controlled at all! The ban on coming and going is nothing more than blocking the sea route of the imperial court, making smuggling prevalent. , the sea area is out of control.”
"But Mu Zong has already issued an order to open the sea." Emperor Chongzhen added in a low voice.
"Father," Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Longqing's steps in opening the sea are still too small. This time we have to take big steps to open the sea ban...Huang Weishuai, tell me."
Huang Binqing is the commander-in-chief of the Navy Guard, and he has a say in the matter of opening the sea.
"The Longqing switch is not opened to allow foreign merchant ships to come to the port, but to allow merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty to leave the port." Huang Binqing explained, "This dynasty has always allowed foreign ships to come to the port. In the early years, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Quanzhou ports were opened. Nanyang, Japan and Ryukyu. Later, a maritime ban was implemented and only one port was opened in Guangzhou. During the Longqing period, Zhangzhou Yuepu Port was added.
However, the two ports of Guangzhou and Yuepu have long been unable to meet the needs of trade between the East and the West. Moreover, the two ports are too far away from Nanjing and are difficult to manage. Therefore, many maritime merchants suggested opening another port at the Yangtze River Estuary! "
"Opening it at the mouth of the Yangtze River?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned. "Aren't you afraid that the Japanese will find out what's true and invade along the Yangtze River?"
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "Father, you are too worried. The Japanese have been secluded in the early years of Chongzhen. Moreover, the country's navy has been in decline since the defeat of the Japanese Rebellion in Renchen. Now it is no match for the Zheng family's navy. How can it cross the sea? Coming?"
During the era of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule, Japan did possess a strong maritime force, otherwise it would not have been possible to invade North Korea. However, after the Battle of Sekigahara, many Western army daimyo who paid more attention to the navy suffered heavy losses, and the navy's strength collapsed. As for the Ming Dynasty, because of the submission of Zheng Zhilong, the Pirate King who absorbed a lot of Western navigation technology, he suddenly had the strongest navy in East Asia - he could challenge the Dutch East India Company's fleet in the offshore! The navy of the Japanese shogunate and the navies of the southwestern Tibetans were simply a piece of cake for the Zheng family navy!
And because of the Tokugawa shogunate's seclusion policy, and because Japan has always been located at the end of the east-west trade route, there was no maritime trade to begin with, let alone after the seclusion. How can we have a navy without maritime merchants these days? The navy needs a developed shipbuilding industry and a large number of sailors capable of long voyages, and both the shipbuilding industry and the training of sailors require a large group of maritime merchants.
"Now the Japanese pirates are not coming, but we are going!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "And if you want to go to Japan, you have to change the ancestral system of vassal tribute and the country without conquering for fifteen years...otherwise, what are we going to do? ?Sending money to Japanese pirates?"
The consequences of the Ming Dynasty's vassal tribute system and the country that was not conquered for fifteen years were to lose money and make money - if you don't beat others, why should they pay tribute to you? Isn’t it just thin and thick? Zhu Cixiang had no interest in backing down.
Zhu Cixiang added: "For the sake of coastal defense, the imperial court should also open a port at the Yangtze River Estuary, which it can firmly control! Only when a port is opened will maritime merchants from all over the world gather. And the gathering of maritime merchants will promote shipbuilding at the Yangtze River Estuary. The prosperity of the industry is also conducive to recruiting sailors and forming a navy.
This Yangtze River port should not only allow maritime trade, but also allow merchants from the East and West to live ashore and set up industries and Western schools.
Therefore, the area of the Yangtze River port should be as large as possible, and special systems should be adopted to encourage industrial and commercial trade. It should also be isolated from areas outside the port, or be surrounded by long walls. Within the long wall, we can focus on commerce and industry, and focus on trade. "
This is clearly a Shanghai Special Economic Zone that is open to the outside world!
No, it’s not just a special zone, it also has a more important role! The Ming Dynasty's navy also relies on this special zone - the real maritime power these days relies not on pirates but on merchants. In the final analysis, it must be supported by developed industrial and commercial cities. Otherwise, how can it develop shipbuilding and cultivate a large group of sailors? ?
Zhu Cihong paused and continued: "In addition, we can also set up a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at this port at the Yangtze River Estuary to be responsible for managing port affairs and communicating with Eastern and Western countries."
This is the existence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and it is also the government of Shanghai. The establishment of such a yamen in Shanghai was of course a well-thought-out decision.
After all, the Ming Dynasty had been closed off to the country for more than 200 years, and conservative forces should not be underestimated. I'm afraid it's hard to accept the sight of foreign devils roaming everywhere in Nanjing.
Therefore, it is easier for people to accept that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade are placed inside the enclosed Shanghai port.
"Master Qiansui, you have the final say on the matter of setting up the port." Prince Heng, who followed Zhu Cixiang from Shandong to Nanjing, was also one of the thirty-three kings. He intervened at the right time, "I only have one thing to do." I don’t know, after the opening of this port, will import and export taxes and commercial taxes be strictly levied?”
"Hehehe," Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Do you think we should accept it?"
