“During the whole process, we can not only do business with those countries that have been plundered, but also with those powerful countries.
When the Ming Dynasty's porcelain, tea, silk, lacquerware, etc. are sold overseas, the price can increase several times or dozens of times. It is not as good to earn the money of the people of the Ming Dynasty as to earn the money of overseas countries.
In this way, people in Ming Dynasty will have many jobs, which will in turn promote the development of the entire industry.
When businessmen want to do business overseas, the tariff will not be 30%, but 10%, 20%, or even 30%.
Because we have to use the Ming Navy to escort and frighten other countries, tax revenue can increase significantly. Is the logic behind this clear? "
Having said this, Yuan Keli turned around and saluted Chongzhen on the dragon throne, indicating that he had finished speaking.
Buzz…
The ministers were so shocked by Yuan Keli's conclusion that their heads were buzzing, and their faces were full of disbelief.
They had already decided in their hearts that the establishment of a maritime ban would be a matter of time.
Why did the imperial court implement the maritime ban policy since Taizu? The first was to maintain stability by banning private trade at sea and eventually reaching land trade, thereby increasing taxation.
The second is the harassment of coastal pirates, who not only rob merchant ships, but also land and damage the property and personal safety of coastal residents. Sea bans reduce casualties and losses at sea.
The third is to maintain the small-scale peasant economy. To put it bluntly, it is a continuation of the strategy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing business.
But in the middle and late Jiajing period, after the threat of Japanese pirates eased, the Longqing switch immediately ushered in, and the prosperity of Fujian Yuegang came.
After Fuso is destroyed next year, the imperial court will not immediately impose a sea ban. Shipping should be possible, and the sea ban will be raised when the time is right.
But I didn't expect that the emperor had not only planned it, but also had taken substantial actions.
They have all read the "Da Ming Huidian", which records many treasures paid tribute by overseas countries during the Taizu and Chengzu periods and the love of various countries for the products of the Ming Dynasty.
There are three major categories of overseas countries. One is overseas treasures: agate, crystal, ivory, rhinoceros horn...etc.;
The second is handicraft raw materials: glazed yellow, cowhide, red copper, tin...etc.; the third is handicrafts: gold and silver utensils, gold-coated screens, gold-sprinkled cooks, gold-sprinkled desks...and so on.
These things are extremely popular in the Ming Dynasty and can only be owned by some nobles.
The Ming Dynasty's porcelain, silk, lacquerware, etc. were more popular overseas than the things they paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty. A piece of exquisite porcelain from a private kiln might be worth half a tael of silver in the Ming Dynasty, but overseas, it would be worth at least ten taels.
Lacquer ware is even more expensive. It is normal to sell it thirty to fifty times or hundreds of times. Moreover, it has a price but no market.
But although these things are time-consuming in the Ming Dynasty, they are almost inexhaustible.
How great the benefits are, it can’t be overstated to say that one can make a fortune.
After the dialectic, Xi Duanfan, who retreated to the door as a transparent person, had a look on his face, and then his face was full of excitement.
As long as they are allowed to go overseas for business, let alone pay 10% or 20% of business tax, they are willing even if it is half and half.
He even had a treasonous conjecture. During the Emperor Chengzu's seven voyages to the West, was it really just to promote the power of the Ming Dynasty as the supreme kingdom of China?
No, it was because the imperial court monopolized this piece of fat sea trade through the maritime ban.
Chengzu spent his whole life fighting, including five expeditions to Mobei, moving the capital and building cities, changing the canal route, and the Yongle ceremony. The money in the Ming Dynasty alone was a drop in the bucket.
Complete global trade with the Ming Dynasty's absolute military superiority, and use the huge overseas wealth to transfuse blood to the Ming Dynasty.
And why is the sea banned? Among them, there are even civil servants and wealthy businessmen smuggling and making huge amounts of wealth.
This is just his conjecture, and it can never be stated openly.
But he can be sure that sea trade will definitely earn huge wealth, because Zheng Zhilong's caravan has proved it.
Before he could think about it, he heard the emperor continue: "The reason why I am preparing to open the sea ban is that in addition to doing business and earning a lot of money from overseas countries, there are two most important points.
The first is the resources of overseas countries, such as gold, silver, copper and rare precious metals. These will be needed by the Industrial Research Institute and the Firearms Research Institute in the future. It is always good to prepare them in advance.
The most important of these resources are crops.
The potatoes and sweet potatoes that Ming Dynasty is currently promoting and the corn that Shaanxi is experimenting with are all introduced from overseas countries or smuggled in.
In this case, do overseas countries have high-yielding crops that are resistant to drought, floods, and cold?
Our Ming Dynasty has a vast territory. Although the land in Liaodong is fertile, it is extremely cold for half of the year. The northwest is mostly arid, and the southeastern coast is prone to floods due to climate reasons.
If overseas countries have it, it will be great news for Ming Dynasty. If it is introduced into the country, the people of Ming Dynasty will no longer go hungry.
Secondly, due to major disasters in the past dynasties, food production was reduced and countless people starved to death. The court wanted to provide disaster relief, but it was not necessarily possible to find food.
But if we do business with overseas countries, we can buy food from overseas countries during major disasters. This is another way to provide disaster relief.
I even have a bold idea. In the future, all merchants who go overseas to do business must carry 10% of the total cargo back to the Ming Dynasty. This can also solve many problems. "
“The second important point is to learn advanced technologies and knowledge from overseas countries.
From Matteo Ricci, we can learn that many things in overseas countries have roughly become systems, such as physics, mathematics, etc. Although we in China have these, they are very scattered.
Kong Shengdu said that if there are three people walking together, there must be our division. Overseas countries must also have advantages. Take the red cannon as an example. Without the red cannon, would there be a great victory at Ningyuan?
Maybe, but it will definitely be a miserable victory!
It's not scary to fall behind others. What's scary is not being able to reflect and being arrogant instead.
Therefore, what I advocate is to learn from the barbarians and develop skills to control the barbarians. Learning from the barbarians is the means, and conquering the barbarians is the goal, so as to make ourselves stronger.
This was the original intention of the establishment of the Gewuyuan, and it was also the starting point for the spread of overseas knowledge and technology in the Ming Dynasty. "
The ministers were once again shocked by the emperor's foresight.
Especially the sentence "Learn from the barbarians and learn skills to defeat the barbarians" made everyone even more ashamed.
After the shock, everyone's eyes were red, and there were faint tears.
Although the emperor was young, he was responsible for the food, clothing and prosperity of hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty.
As a minister of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's thinking was too advanced. They couldn't keep up with the emperor's footsteps. They were really ashamed.
Chongzhen looked at the contemplative ministers, thought for a moment, and immediately said: "My dear friends, since today we have talked about launching a sea ban, I will simply have a showdown with you."
