Shipping?
Li Min, Huang Su and others shook their heads.
Tang Zonglu sighed and said bluntly: "The sea transportation is favorable, how could we not know. However, if we don't say that the sea transportation is not easy to come, our Majesty will not agree to it. What's more, four years ago, His Majesty issued a decree , ordered Jinghai Marquis Wu Zhen, who was a member of Fang Guozhen’s subordinates, Wen, Tai and Qingyuan prefectures, as well as the people of Wutianliang in Lanxiu Mountain, more than 110,000 people, to be assigned to each guard as an army, and the people along the coast were prohibited from going to sea privately..."
When Gu Zhengchen heard this, his heart felt slightly heavy.
In the sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet stopped the maritime ban in Ningbo, Quanzhou and Guangzhou, but the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban had already begun.
The starting time was the fourth year of Hongwu.
Is it too late to travel through time?
Gu Zhengchen secretly clenched his fists. Zhu Yuanzhang was a genius military strategist and a great emperor who revitalized the Han people, but his own knowledge and vision were limited and he did not know the importance of sea power.
The sea power during the Ming Dynasty was not related to the rise and fall of a dynasty, but the rise and fall of a nation, and was the fate of the East and the West!
In a sense, the turning point in the national destiny of the East and the West lies roughly in the Ming Dynasty and in the maritime industry.
It is precisely because of the maritime ban that Chinese civilization has missed the window for understanding the outside world.
Of course, it is immoral and incorrect to directly blame the decline of the national destiny on Lao Zhu's maritime ban policy.
In fact, even if Ming is given a window to observe the world, he may not learn too much, absorb too much, or change too much through this window.
During the Hongwu period, Lao Zhu made a sea ban policy, which cannot be said to be completely wrong. It is inappropriate to directly talk about the results regardless of the reasons.
Lao Zhu closed the sea not because of the need for self-enclosure, but because of the need for self-protection.
Many people do not understand the background of the maritime ban in the early Ming Dynasty. In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, the remnant forces of Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen frequently harassed the Zhu Ming Dynasty and colluded with the "Sea Road", causing great disasters to coastal areas.
Some historical records record:
"Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen and others led the Japanese pirates to roam the sea, burning residents and looting goods and property, from Liaohai and Shandong in the north to Fujian, Zhejiang and East Guangdong in the south. The entire coastal area was not affected by them."
The "no year" here refers to every year!
Not to mention the period of Lao Zhu, even later Zhu Laosi, Zheng He also faced pirate attacks when his aircraft carrier-level fleet set sail. For example, Chen Zuyi, the pirate king who traveled across the sea and experienced the Hongwu, Jianwen, and Yongle dynasties.
But Lao Chen was later taken care of by the real One Piece King Zheng He.
There are not only a few people making troubles, but they often number in the thousands, tens of thousands, or even tens of thousands of people. They are no longer something that can be solved by a small group of forces or by a small fight.
When the Ming Dynasty focused its main attention on Yuan Ting, the issue of the sea could only be put aside. Sea ban and seclusion became a policy option to reduce coastal losses and reduce the collusion between people and pirates.
It's just that this policy is aimed at domestic subjects, not enemies, and has achieved limited results.
In addition to the threat and harassment of hostile forces at sea, the Ming Dynasty had no time to engage in long-distance trade, recuperate, encourage reclamation, large-scale farming, and develop agriculture and mulberry. This was the business. Not to mention long-distance trade, even commerce was somewhat "disdainful" Gu".
According to literature records, in the thirteenth year of Hongwu, the Ministry of Officials wrote: "Those who collect less than 500 shi per year from the tax department should be dismissed from the 364 places."
The five hundred stone meters here are roughly equivalent to two hundred and fifty taels to three hundred taels.
In other words, there are 364 tax bureaus, and the commercial taxes collected in a year are less than this amount. At that time, the total number of tax bureaus in the country was only more than 400!
In other words, in the entire Ming Dynasty, there were only thirty or forty tax bureaus that collected more than three hundred taels a year...
And this also proves from the side that the amount of commercial taxes in Ming Dynasty is so pitiful that it makes people want to cry.
Coupled with the inertial thinking of past dynasties of "emphasis on roots and suppression of weakness, emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business", Lao Zhu's maritime ban policy was reasonable at the time.
Lao Zhu's fault was not the sea ban, but that he was too paranoid, hoping for a solid framework to run the Ming Dynasty, and not allowing future generations of successors to change the "ancestral laws" without authorization!
Don't think that Zhu Laosi opened the sea ban. He did not. Even Zheng He's voyages again and again created maritime legends belonging to the Chinese. However, these were only official voyages, not private. And throughout the process, private voyages were It's not turned on either.
Although there was a Longqing switch later, the Ming Dynasty's navigation industry had already suffered setbacks.
The reason why Gu Zhengchen proposed the voyage to the Minister of Industry and others at this time was to use their words to influence and change Zhu Yuanzhang's will.
Because next year, which is the ninth day of September in the seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang will abolish the three cities of Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou. This also means that the maritime ban will be further strengthened!
If the sea ban is allowed to be strengthened step by step, the Ming Dynasty will not be able to even think about reopening the sea for thirty-one years.
But if you want to boost the Ming Dynasty's treasury revenue, shipping and shipping is a link that is difficult to give up.
Of course, the current operation of the Shipping Department is very failed, even operating at a loss, and it is understandable to be abolished. The key is that this kind of loss is not caused by private trade with overseas countries, but caused by the official trade between the Ming government and overseas countries. This was caused by the policy of "thickness goes but thinness comes" set by Lao Zhu.
I came here and brought goods worth 500 guan. Before I left, Lao Zhufei wanted to give me a gift of 3,000 guan. Who can bear this for a long time? Let alone the Shipping Department, it’s like the World Expo. You can't make any money doing it.
Gu Zhengchen hopes to find an opportunity to change Lao Zhu's will to fence the sea. Yang Lianyin may be an introduction to push officials to persuade Lao Zhu.
"The rampant pirates and bandits on the sea are indeed a problem. However, passive defense is not conducive to the livelihood of the people along the coast, and it cannot eradicate the bandits. What's more, the great benefits will be in the long run. If the imperial court can build a large ship, sail to Jinghai, and pave the way for trade. Even if it is The benefits of being an official cannot be ignored. As far as spices are concerned, if they are transported to Jinling, there will be a lot of money in an instant..."
Gu Zhengchen guided carefully.
Li Min, Huang Su and others all know how valuable spices are, and they are in short supply in Jinling. Ten taels of silver may not buy a pound of pepper.
Gu Zhengchen can't afford spices now. Even in later generations, the price of spices is not low. Spices are so valuable that sometimes, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty directly used spices as salary, such as Zhu Laosi...
The pie was very big, but no one could eat it.
Huang Su sighed and shook his head helplessly: "It's not that the Ministry of Industry is unwilling to build a sea boat, but it's because it has no will. Even if it is to purchase a sea boat, it is to transport military supplies northward. How can it be used to suppress bandits and conduct trade..."
Li Min said solemnly: "At the beginning of the establishment of the Municipal Shipping Department, His Majesty's intention was to communicate with the barbarians and suppress profiteers. I'm afraid your intention is to use official trade to open up sea routes, and then introduce merchants and common people to the sea to do business. This is not feasible. , His Majesty will not agree."
