Zhang Yan's words made everyone present tremble with fear, because he directly targeted the yamen and garrison officers in various places.
The cattle given to the Yunnan military camp in the 20th and 23rd years of Hongwu are all facts. There are data to check. But the problem is that the imperial court gave nearly 20,000 cattle to the military camp. Not all of these 20,000 cattle were given to the army. There are bulls and cows that give birth to calves.
The first 20,000 cattle were given by the imperial court, but the ones that were born later belonged to the guard station itself.
The cows in the guard station are naturally the cows of the officers. The commanders, thousands of households, and hundreds of households look poor, but in fact they have dozens or dozens of cows. The money to rent the cows is enough for them. A year's worth of food and wine.
No one had any arguments about this and took it for granted.
It's like the imperial court gave a chicken to the people. It is the people's freedom to sell or eat as many eggs as the chicken lays. The same goes for the guard station. When the imperial court asked these sergeants to come over to reclaim wasteland and farm fields, the cattle they promised to give were the cows of the guard station. Why should the cows born from their own cattle be regarded as belonging to the imperial court?
It is a matter of vital interest for the guards. Zhang Yan is so angry and wants to prey on these cattle. Is he really not afraid of causing catastrophe?
You must know that the guards officers are not ordinary people holding kitchen knives. They are holding control knives. If the court messes up, there may be a mutiny in the guards. Who can bear the consequences?
Just like Beiping Prefecture, people sell farmland for millions of taels, but who has ever heard of Beiping Prefecture selling cattle?
no?
This is because the cattle belong to the sergeants, officers, and guards. How they sell them is their own business. It has nothing to do with the sale of land by the Beiping government. Even if it is sold, the money belongs to the sergeants themselves, and the court only It can be taxed, that's all.
Zhu Yunwen finally understood. He looked around at the crowd and sneered twice: "I don't think about food and drink because of the cattle farming. The people are waiting like fire and water. Unexpectedly, all the cattle in various places are covered in their hands and unwilling to help those people." People, right?”
Is the Ming Dynasty short of cattle?
lack!
Does the Ming Dynasty Guard lack cattle?
Also lacking.
But if you ask, do the landowners of the Ming Dynasty lack cattle, and do the officers of the Ming Guard Station lack cattle?
the answer is:
There is no shortage, there is still plenty.
The problem is so funny. Over there, the flowers are blooming while waiting for the cattle, but here there are people renting and making money with the cattle in their hands.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Shi Weizhong and Li Yanzhen: "How many cattle are there in Henan and Shandong Wei? How much is the surplus? Do you have a bottom line?"
Shi Weizhong was sweating on his forehead. If the property of the guardhouse was taken away by force, these officers would be in pain.
Li Yanzhen was also in a bit of a dilemma. In fact, as early as the Hongwu period, the imperial court had given many cattle to Shandong. The most recent time was in the 28th year of Hongwu. In Dongchang Prefecture alone, the Ministry of Revenue gave 10,000 cattle. If If we look at reproduction, there should be 20,000 cattle in Dongchang by now. But the problem cannot be calculated this way. As the number of cattle increases, so do the number of people and the land.
Of course, it is difficult to say whose backyard the surplus cattle are in, and it is also difficult to investigate.
Seeing that Shi Weizhong and Li Yanzhen were silent, Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhang Bing and asked: "Although the farmland of the guard station around Beiping Prefecture has been sold, not all the farmland in Beizhili has been sold. How many cows are there in the guard station? How many cows are left in the guard station?" "
Zhang Bing looked ugly. He had no other choice now, so he had to bite the bullet and said: "Back to the emperor, there are not many left in the Beiping Guards. Excluding the cattle needed for farming, there are roughly more than 5,000 cattle left."
Zhu Yunwen did not pursue the question, but looked at Zhou Zheng, the chief envoy of Huguang, and asked: "Most of the cattle bought by the Ministry of Household Affairs come from Huguang. And there are many health stations in Huguang, so there are not a few surplus cattle, right?"
Zhou Zheng lowered his head and replied carefully: "Maybe there is some surplus..."
"How much are some?"
"The minister is the chief envoy, and the minister in charge of the guard office is not clear."
Zhou Zheng didn't dare to say.
If you really want to go out, the people of Dusi Yamen will settle accounts with you after you go back. How will you live in that life? Anyway, we are in charge of civil affairs and don’t know anything about the health center.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Tie Xuan, Minister of War, and saw that Tie Xuan made no movement, so he ordered Xu Huizu to be summoned.
Xu Huizu came to Wuying Hall in confusion. When he heard the emperor's idea of taking the cattle of the guard station, he was immediately shocked and said quickly: "Your Majesty, the cattle of the guard station belong to the sergeants of the guard station and are needed for farming. , cannot be misappropriated."
Zhu Yunwen slapped the table and scolded: "According to the statistics of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Yunnan army has 1.3 million acres of farmland. Calculated based on 50 acres and one cow, only 26,000 cows are needed. At present, the Yunnan Guards Station has There are more than 80,000 cattle, and one cow can cultivate 16 acres. But as for the immigrants from the north, they have to cultivate more than 20 million acres. With 40,000 cattle, one cow can cultivate more than 600 acres! Tell me, Do the various health centers have enough cattle?"
Xu Huizu looked at Xie Jin, Yu Xin and others, and kept winking, "You guys have to say something, what does the civil affairs matter have to do with our Governor's Mansion and the Guard's Office."
Jie Jin knew that Xu Huizu was in trouble, and considering that the brother could not be punished too badly, he had to step forward to rescue him: "Your Majesty, the cattle farmed by the guard station actually belong to the guard station itself. If they are forcibly recruited, I am afraid it will cause dissatisfaction among the sergeants."
Zhu Yunwen looked at Xie Jin coldly and asked, "Is it the sergeant or the officer who is dissatisfied?"
Xie Jin shivered.
A mutiny without the participation of sergeants is just an insult by officers.
If the imperial court really wanted to requisition cattle from the guard station, the sergeants would definitely have no idea. Anyway, they were not their own cattle. If the officers had fewer cattle, the sergeants would be able to pay less for renting the cattle, so there would be no loss.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Xu Huizu and said seriously: "No matter how many cattle we have in the guard, we will re-determine it according to the standard of one cow for thirty acres. The cattle beyond this standard will be sold to the Ministry of Household Affairs at the market price. The people are in urgent need now. I will never spare anyone who dares to keep cattle for farming, especially those in Shandong, Beiping, Liaodong, Henan, Shanxi, South Zhili and other places. Priority will be given to identifying them and moving the cattle northward!"
Xu Huizu breathed a sigh of relief. If he bought it at the market price, he would be somewhat relieved that the matter was not done. The standard of one cow per thirty acres has dropped a lot compared to fifty acres. The various health stations should be content with that.
The problem of farm cattle has been solved, which made Zhu Yunwen relax a lot, and the anxiety of the past few days also subsided a lot.
Zhang Yan became an independent man because he touched the interests of too many people. Today he can cut off the benefits of the guards officers with one sentence, and he can cut off the benefits of the chief envoy with one sentence another day. Such a person, It's better not to be too close, lest he die one day and be blamed on you.
Zhang Yan had no complaints about the change in attitude of the officials. After all, they were all colleagues. He was the Chief Envoy of Yunnan. Neither the Yunnan Dusi nor Mu Sheng dared to touch him. Once Annan was dealt with, he would return to the capital, resentful That's nothing. If you don't even have the courage to offend some people for the sake of the people, why are you still an official?
After solving the most difficult problem, Zhu Yunwen began to deal with other problems in various places. For example, the Chief Envoy of Guangdong, the Chief Envoy of Fujian, and even Suzhou, Songjiang Prefecture and other places were requesting the imperial court to reopen the shipping department, set up ports, and carry out maritime operations. trading.
As Japan gradually became more peaceful, Japanese pirates were beaten back and did not dare to enter the Ming Dynasty waters. In addition, pirates in the Southeast Ocean area also stopped a lot. The Ming Navy fleet and caravans have made two voyages to Southeast Asia. Routes and trade conditions It is basically clear that the time is ripe for opening up the shipping industry.
After Zhu Yunwen discussed with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War, it was decided on February 2 to set up a municipal shipping department in Guangzhou, Guangdong, Quanzhou, Fujian, Ningbo, Zhejiang, Taicang Prefecture, Suzhou, North Zhili, and Tanggu, Tianjin, North Zhili. Specializing in overseas trade.
The Ministry of Household Affairs proposed a tariff collection plan based on the size of the ship. A one-foot-long ship would be levied one liang and two taels. According to this standard, the tax would be doubled. A two-foot-long ship would be levied two taels and four taels, and a three-foot-long ship would be doubled again... The maximum levy would be 10 taels, and the minimum levy would be Two coins.
As for the goods they brought and how much they were worth, the Shipping Department didn't care. As long as they were not contraband, flammable or explosive goods, they didn't care. Anyway, if they sold them in the Ming Dynasty, commercial tax would be levied. The Shipping Department , just charge according to the boat.
Zhu Yunwen was stunned for a moment after hearing these plans. This was quite simple and easy to implement...
In order to regulate the Municipal Shipping Department and ships going to sea, Zhu Yunwen required that all ships going to sea must have their names written in white paint. No matter what the name of the ship is, it must have a name and make a record. If there is no ship name, it is not allowed to go to sea. Without registration, you are not allowed to go to sea. All ships that go out to sea for trade must dock at the Municipal Shipping Department. If they dock in areas other than the Municipal Shipping Department and transship goods, it will be regarded as smuggling, and the court can arrest and convict them.
In order to cooperate with the Municipal Shipping Department, according to the proposal of the Ministry of Household Affairs, twenty Dafu ships were allocated from the Navy fleet to patrol and protect the Municipal Shipping Department. At the same time, guard camps were set up around the Municipal Shipping Department to prepare for unexpected events.
The restart of the Municipal Shipping Department marked the recovery of maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty. Different from the official tribute trade during the Hongwu Dynasty, the maritime trade promoted by Zhu Yunwen was mainly non-tributary trade and supplemented by tributary trade.
In Zhu Yunwen's view, the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang's maritime trade did not continue was simply because he wanted to monopolize the benefits, but he failed to do so. The benefits of maritime trade were too great, and it was impossible for the court to monopolize them. Besides, tariffs and commercial taxes were enough for the court to gain a lot of benefits.
The reopening of the sea is of great significance to the Ming Dynasty. The open sea will give the people of the Ming Dynasty a new vision to see the world and understand the world beyond the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yunwen believes that the complacent history will disappear completely with the open sea, and in order to maintain the benefits brought by the ocean, the Ming Dynasty will gradually develop a sense of sea rights and territorial waters.
Even a hundred years later, they can control the sea, generation after generation, until they meet their destined enemies and defeat them.
The collision between East and West will come sooner or later.
Although Zhu Yunwen changed the historical trajectory of the Ming Dynasty, he could not change the historical trajectory of the West. The war between Britain and France should be fought again, Portugal, Spain, and Venice should still fight, and the Ottoman Empire at its peak should be dealt with by Timur. Will be cleared away.
Sooner or later, the West will embark on the Iron Revolution, but in this competition, Zhu Yunwen decided to let Ming Dynasty run for decades first, so that this Eastern Lion will no longer sleep.
With the end of a series of problems, Hajj officials returned one after another, but some officials stayed in the capital, such as Ru Yu, who took back the post of governor of Shanxi and re-entered the cabinet, such as Li Bin, who participated in Shanxi politics, including Yang Pu, Hu Hui, etc.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the North Korean envoy Li Zhan led his people to Beijing and was received by Zhu Yunwen at Fengtian Hall.
Li Zhan brought the news that Li Fangqian abdicated the throne and Li Fangyuan succeeded to the throne. This news shocked both the government and the public. Tie Xuan, Minister of the Ministry of War, looked at Zhu Yunwen with some fear, and Xu Huizu and others also deeply admired him.
Long before the Hajj, Zhu Yunwen had predicted the news that Li Fangyuan would take charge. Although the officials present did not say it explicitly at the time, they were not optimistic about Li Fangyuan, but were optimistic about Li Fanggian. After all, in terms of ranking and strength, Li Fanggian was better.
But the reality is that Zhu Yunwen made the right decision and Li Fangyuan came to power.
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