Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 212 Compromise (for subscription)
Hearing the words of Emperor Hongzhi, he also felt the eyes of many colleagues behind him. Liu Jian stood up slowly and said: "The sea ban is a national policy formulated by Emperor Taizu. The original purpose was to prevent Japanese pirates, but there is no restriction. The common people go out to sea to fish, and there is no restriction on merchants going to sea to do business."

"During the time of Chengzu, my Ming Dynasty made seven voyages to the Western Seas, and my reputation spread far and wide. Only then did I have the prosperous scene of subsequent four-party dynasties, but it also increased the burden on my Ming Dynasty. Forgetting the laws of the country, pretending to be Japanese pirates repeatedly in order to evade taxes, caused successive kings to gradually tighten the sea ban, and this is how the current strict policy of not sailing into the sea."

There is no doubt that Liu Jian is still on Zhou Jing's side. First of all, he is from Henan and from the north, and has nothing to do with the aristocratic families, gentry and businessmen in the south.

Secondly, Liu Jian is also a well-known virtuous minister who is dedicated to serving the country. This is why he is deeply appreciated by Emperor Hongzhi. Yesterday he saw the sea fish from Tianjin with his own eyes, and even heard with his own ears Li Dongyang and Zhou Jing. The situation reported.

For Liu Jian, as long as it is beneficial to the country and the people, he supports it, not to mention the famine that is raging in the three northern provinces. Even if there is no famine, this ocean fishing can harvest so much meat and make the coastal people more full. It also needs to be supported.

Moreover, he is also very clear about the fact that the businessmen in the south go to sea for profit without permission, and at the same time support the strict maritime ban imposed by scholars in the south.

The reason why the sea ban is implemented while going to sea privately is nothing more than to evade taxes. The tax in Daming is already very low, one for thirty, but merchants still have to evade taxes.

Salt merchants, grain merchants, sea merchants, cloth merchants, etc., although the merchants did not have any status in Ming Dynasty, in fact, because of the extremely low tax rate and tax evasion, merchants basically did not need to pay taxes.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the annual commercial tax silver in the Jiangnan area was only a few thousand taels. It can be seen how serious tax evasion was by merchants in the Ming Dynasty. In their eyes, they probably never had the awareness of paying taxes at all.

Whenever someone in the court proposes to levy a business tax, the situation is even worse than the current situation. Ma Wensheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, proposed that the border police in Datong were not paid enough, and asked for an increase in the amount of silver converted from the two taxes in the south.

Xie Qian, one of the elders of the three cabinets, stood up to express his opposition. He said: Because the tax in the south was heavy in the first dynasty, it was reduced by converting silver taels.If an increase is proposed, the people may not be able to afford it. As a result, the motion proposed by Ma Wensheng was not passed.

In addition to tax evasion, another role is to monopolize Ming's foreign trade.

Silk, porcelain, tea, etc. of the Ming Dynasty have been exported overseas since ancient times, and there is no need to say that they are shipped to Europe. Even if they are shipped to North Korea, Japan, Nanyang and other regions, the profits are already extremely considerable.

With the strict sea ban, it is impossible for ordinary merchants to go to sea. Only those real nobles and big merchants can go to sea, thus forming a monopoly, and monopoly means huge profits.

Although the court and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty were poor, none of the gentry in the Jiangnan area, salt merchants, maritime merchants, etc., were rich and invincible. Throwing it without blinking an eye, it's them who spend a lot of money.

For this situation, Liu Jian also wanted to change it. The imperial court had no money and could not do anything, and the emperor could do anything without money.

The current Emperor Hongzhi is okay, he only has one wife, and he has always been thrifty and frugal, so it doesn’t matter if he lives a hard life, but who can guarantee that the next emperor will be like Emperor Hongzhi?
Furthermore, the implementation of the sea ban is beneficial to the big families and businessmen in the south, but it is of no benefit to the gentry and families in the north.

Beizhili, Shandong, and Liaodong are obviously also close to the sea, but they can't go to the sea without a sail. They can only watch the sea and sigh, without any benefit.

"I think what Duke Zhou said is true. Blocking is worse than slackening. Since banning the sea can't prevent merchants from going to sea privately, it's better to fully open the sea ban."

"What's more, in the past, we didn't know the richness of the ocean, and there were thousands of miles of sea and territory, but we could only guard an acre of land. It's like guarding the golden mountains and silver mountains without knowing it, and begging for food with a golden rice bowl."

"If my Ming Dynasty opens up the sea ban, and hundreds of millions of Li people can benefit from thousands of miles of sea areas, and when thousands of fishing boats go out to sea, the people will have endless cheap meat, then my Ming Dynasty can expect a prosperous age."

Liu Jian's voice was very loud, and his enunciation was extremely clear. His voice echoed in every corner of the Golden Luan Hall.

"The minister impeached Liu Jian..."

Liu Jian had just finished speaking, and Emperor Hongzhi hadn't expressed his opinion. Immediately, several people stepped forward to impeach Liu Jian.

There is no doubt that Jiangnan Shilin’s interests are almost the same in the matter of opening the sea. As long as someone supports the opening of the sea or the collection of commercial taxes, they will immediately stand up to oppose it. As for whether the opponent is the chief assistant of the cabinet or the six ministers It doesn't matter, anyway, the Ming Dynasty has always had a tradition of controlling the big with the small.

The censors and Hanlin are not of high rank, but they can still impeach those six ministers and cabinet elders, and often once someone impeaches them, these ministers and elders will usually write to the emperor to resign in order to show their innocence. They are all people who want to save face.

"Enough~"

Emperor Hongzhi had a gloomy face, looked at Xie Qian again and said, "Xie Aiqing, what do you think?"

Seeing that Emperor Hongzhi asked Xie Qian's opinion, the officials from the Jiangnan area immediately stood back one by one, and at the same time looked at Xie Qian eagerly.

Xie Qian is from Zhejiang, and he is from the south of the Yangtze River. Although Li Dongyang is also from the south, he was born in Hunan. In fact, he is not a person from the south of the Yangtze River in the strict sense. In the lead, Li Dongyang is also pulled in when needed.

Xie Qian's family is also a big family in Shaoxing, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It is also considered a very influential big family in the Jiangnan area, and it also has huge interests in various aspects.

Therefore, when Ma Wensheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, wrote a letter to levy commercial taxes, he would stand up and oppose it, because it also violated Xie Qian's own interests, unless the interests of the family behind him touched the interests of gentry, businessmen, and big families in the south of the Yangtze River .

"The ban on the sea is the ancestral system and the foundation of the country. It should not be easily shaken, but what Zhou Gong and Liu Gong said is also very reasonable. Times change. When we implement any policy, we should also adapt to the current and local conditions."

"Famine was raging in the three northern provinces before. Since ocean fishing can harvest a large amount of meat and use it to relieve the victims, it is reasonable to support such a thing that benefits the country and the people."

"But the sea ban is, after all, the ancestral system and the foundation of the country, and it is related to the long-term stability of my Ming Dynasty. In terms of the ancestral system and the country, I think we should not act too hastily. If the sea ban is fully lifted at once, it may be like what the lords of the court said. It caused great turmoil in Ming Dynasty."

"That's why I think we shouldn't lift the sea ban all at once. We can lift the fishing ban now and allow coastal areas to go fishing. At the same time, we can open the sea ban in a few areas first. If the lifting of the sea ban is really beneficial to the country and the people, we can do it later. It is not too late to lift the sea ban."

"If the lifting of the sea ban will lead to chaos in the world and shake the foundation of the country, it's okay for us to ban it completely, because the impact on Ming Dynasty can be controlled only by lifting the sea ban in a few areas."

Xie Qian's words can be regarded as taking the middle route, and this is also a very helpless move, because Emperor Hongzhi had already discussed this matter with him yesterday and reached a unified opinion, so it is impossible for him to stand up and express his opposition.

However, he is from Jiangnan and is a representative of Jiangnan Shilin, and it is impossible for him not to speak for Jiangnan Shilin. Since Zhou Jing proposed to lift the sea ban, he has been thinking about this matter for a long time, and then he came up with this A compromise approach.

On the one hand, it took care of the face of Jiangnan Shilin, so that I would not be unable to gain a foothold in Jiangnan Shilin in the future. On the other hand, it also followed the opinions reached through discussions with Emperor Hongzhi yesterday, so as not to become the enemy of Emperor Hongzhi.

Hearing Xie Qian's words, the officials from the Jiangnan area suddenly deflated like deflated balloons. Even Xie Qian, the leader of the Jiangnan scholars, couldn't clearly stand on his side. What's the use of going on.

What's more, Xie Qian's method is actually acceptable when you think about it. It just lifts the fishing ban and allows people in coastal areas to go fishing. This does not have much impact on the interests of businessmen. The common people have no way to form a boat to go to sea to do business.

As for the pilot lifting of the sea ban in a few areas, they can also find a way to mess up the pilot area. In this way, they can retreat and advance, and when they write a letter to implement the sea ban in the future, they can make the opponents have nothing to say up.

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(End of this chapter)