prosperous age

On the street, two cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty were openly discussing the opening of Tianjin to the sea.

This is the benefit brought by the opening of the sea to Songjiang Prefecture. Originally there was only one Yuegang port, and the beneficiaries were very limited, namely the Fujian maritime merchants.

After Wei Guangde opened the sea to Songjiang Prefecture, the entire Ming Dynasty, including the two capitals and thirteen provinces, benefited.

Naturally, everyone will want to fight for the visible benefits in the hope of getting a bigger piece of the pie.

There is only one Yuegang, and other big merchants will not pay attention to it.

But Songjiang Prefecture opened to the sea, and Ming merchants all knew the benefits of maritime trade. At this point, it was almost impossible to close it again.

Wei Guangde believed that opening Tianjin to the sea might not be Zhang Juzheng's idea, but someone must have told him about this.

Zhang Juzheng naturally understood the reason. The people below could make money, and the court and the palace could also obtain tax silver. Why not do it?

At this point, the Ming Dynasty’s open attitude could no longer be reversed because it had stirred people’s hearts.

As for closing down and secretly engaging in high-smuggling, that also depends on what other businessmen think.

After all, there are too few businessmen who can get through the navy and engage in smuggling activities.

“Is it going to open in Guangzhou too?”

Wei Guangde certainly supported lifting the ban on sea trade, but it had to be done under the control of the imperial court, rather than opening all coastal ports at once. This would not only be detrimental to the imperial court's tax collection, but would also cause many problems.

For example, if merchants all ship goods overseas, what should we do if domestic supplies are tight?
Well, Wei Guangde doesn't want to cause Ming Dynasty version of inflation due to supply and demand imbalance.

Whenever there is inflation, ordinary people are the ones who suffer, and they have to bear all the consequences. This is not what he wants.

"Guangzhou used to have frequent trade with Southeast Asia. The trade was just a pretense, but in fact it was smuggling goods overseas.

Instead of hiding it like this, it’s better to just let it go.

The revenue from the maritime trade is not as much as that from opening the sea."

The Maritime Customs also collected taxes for trade, but the money would eventually go to the inner court. The court did not get any benefits, and at most it would help support a few officials.

This can be seen from the fact that the Maritime Customs Office was often controlled by eunuchs who were sent out.

Moreover, the taxes collected by the Maritime Customs were not as harsh as those collected by Yuegang and Songjiang Prefectures.

"Then what about the original Maritime Customs?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

Obviously, Zhang Juzheng had already considered everything.

In the past, people didn’t need to care about the Maritime Customs because, compared with Yuegang and Songjiang Prefecture, the trade volume of the Maritime Customs was there and not large.

Moreover, the regions do not overlap, so naturally they do not affect each other.

But once Guangzhou opened to the sea, it overlapped with the Maritime Customs, and how to divide it became a problem.

"I suggest that in the future, the trade volume should be set each year, and the amount exceeding the limit should be taxed according to the sea trade. For Korea, two ships, for Ryukyu, one ship, and for other Southeast Asian vassal states, the same rule should be followed for Ryukyu."

Sure enough, Zhang Juzheng gave extremely harsh conditions.

In the past, countries such as Korea and Ryukyu paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty almost every year and conducted trade. In fact, it was not necessarily because they were attracted by the Celestial Empire. The main reason was that the products of the Ming Dynasty were attractive and they came to make money.

Although there are conditions for the maritime trade, such as the number of times they come, they always come with several ships. But even in Korea, there are more than ten ships engaged in maritime trade every year.

If Zhang Juzheng's idea was followed, only two ships from North Korea could enjoy the low tax rate, then the extra ten or so ships, strictly speaking, might amount to tax of more than ten thousand taels of silver.

"After we finish this matter, we can prepare for it when we return to Beijing."

Wei Guangde nodded and said, "How about distributing the ship's guide?"

Wei Guangde mentioned a very important point, which is probably what officials and businessmen are most concerned about.

"The ships from Tianjin will be distributed to the north, and the ships from Guangzhou will be distributed to the southern provinces."

No wonder Zhang Juzheng suddenly proposed to open two ports, one in the south and one in the north, it turned out that this was his idea.

"feasible."

Wei Guangde did not object to this and nodded.

At this time, the Tianjin City Wall was actually not very big, so after a rough walk, they returned to the palace.

In the evening, a dinner was held in the temporary palace, and Emperor Wanli entertained the representatives of the various diplomatic delegations that came to Ming.

The little emperor walked with a limp, so he didn't move much. It was mainly Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde who met with representatives of various foreign delegations under the guidance of Yin Zhengmao and Yu Dayou.

"Shan Dai, I see you keep staring at the barbarians, but have you found anything?"

After a round, Zhang Juzheng noticed that Wei Guangde seemed very interested in the three delegations claiming to be from Europe, and kept looking at those representatives.

In ancient China, people usually expressed a person's height in feet and inches. Since these measurements were not standardized in different dynasties, and were completely different from the centimeter unit that Wei Guangde was used to in later generations, there was no intuitive understanding of them.

In fact, Wei Guangde now doesn’t know whether his height would be 1.7 meters or 1.8 meters in the future.

Originally, his height was considered average among the Han people. According to his understanding, it felt like it was probably close to the 1.7 meters tall that people in later generations would measure.

But when he saw those Europeans today, Wei Guangde suddenly found that he seemed taller than these people, so he now suspected that his height might have reached 1.8 meters, or even higher.

Through translation, Wei Guangde has confirmed that the chief and deputy representatives of these three countries said that their heights are considered relatively tall in their own countries. This means that he, who is of medium height among the Han Chinese, may be considered tall in the West.

Wow, hahaha, I feel a little excited just thinking about it.

This was considered a state banquet, so of course people would not get drunk as usual. Everyone was very restrained, and even if their faces turned red, they would not drink any more.

Yes, in an occasion like this with the presence of foreign envoys, if you do something improper due to being drunk, you will be very embarrassed.

The young emperor did not like such occasions very much because he could not walk around the venue freely like Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde.

His lameness made him feel that he had lost the dignity of an emperor.

So, after all the necessary etiquette was over, he said he was tired and left first.

The emperor's retirement also allows the officials below to eat and drink as much as they want without having to worry about behaving improperly in front of the emperor.

Four people carried the Wanli Emperor in a small sedan chair and left the scene. Zhang Juzheng, along with all the officials and foreign envoys, stood up to see the emperor off.

When the banquet was almost over, Yin Zhengmao took the foreign envoys back to rest. Zhang Juzheng called Wei Guangde and Shen Shixing, as well as Zhang Ke, Xu Xuemo from the Ministry of Rites, and Yu Dayou, to an empty room next door.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng took the ceremonial notes for the Grand Review of the Navy drawn up by Xu Xuemo, the Minister of Rites, Zhang Ke, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and Yu Dayou, the Admiral of the Navy, and handed them to Wei Guangde, saying, "Please take a look at it. We will discuss it tonight and see if there is anything that needs to be improved in this ceremonial note.

If there is nothing that needs to be revised, Admiral Yu will start the drill tomorrow and hold a naval review two days later."

"it is good."

Wei Guangde agreed, opened the Grand Review Ceremony Notes handed to him by Zhang Juzheng and started reading.

In the naval review ceremony designed by Yu Dayou, the first step was naturally for the young emperor and his entourage of officials and foreign envoys to board the ships and go out to sea. A naval review was held five or six miles away from the port. All the nearly 400 large and medium-sized warships of the navy were reviewed by the emperor in groups of two.

This is similar to later generations. In fact, Qi Jiguang had a similar form of review at that time.

Afterwards, the gunboats of the South China Sea Fleet and the East China Sea Fleet will conduct a live-fire exercise. All warships will enter the battle zone in a battle line formation and bombard a small reef nearby.

After the figure 8 turns back, the guns will be fired again in a semicircle, and the ceremony is finally completed. "How many gunboats are there in the two ocean navies now?"

Wei Guangde was very curious about how rich the Ming Navy was now. Before, the Ministry of Works was only focused on shipbuilding, and he didn't even know how many warships the navy was equipped with.

"There are seventy-two double-decker gunboats and sixteen single-decker gunboats."

Yu Dayou spoke immediately.

Wei Guangde noticed that Zhang Ke next to him also nodded slightly.

"Is this the entire strength of the navy?"

Wei Guangde just asked casually this time, but Yu Dayou immediately got the answer: "There are two double-decker gunboats and four single-decker gunboats in Daimao City, Jiugang and Pegu Port respectively.

The rest of the gunboats are all here.'

"Come to think of it, our Ming navy also has more than a hundred gunboats."

Wei Guangde knew the number of main gunboats that the Ming Dynasty had at that time with a simple mental calculation. As for the other more than 300 warships, they were naturally large Fu ships and other sea ships.

"Where is the tribute ship?"

Wei Guangde heard that the tribute ship was half the size of a large Fu ship. Although it was much smaller than a Spanish treasure ship, it was still a behemoth, so he asked immediately.

"There are sixteen in total. In addition to the two tribute ships that were transferred to Tianjin earlier, two more tribute ships were dispatched to carry the envoys who were going to watch the ceremony. There are twelve more tribute ships participating in the review."

While Wei Guangde and Yu Dayou were conversing, he had already handed the ritual notes to Shen Shixing.

"After the bombardment drill is over, all the warships will be arranged in rows of twenty, divided into two groups on the left and right. Your Majesty's dragon ship and the other three sealed boats will pass through the middle. Four hundred warships will escort Your Majesty back to the port."

At this point, Wei Guangde suddenly hesitated for a moment, played out the scene in his mind, and felt that it was still not shocking enough, mainly because of what the people on the shore saw.

Twenty warships in a row feels too thin.

At the beginning, Wei Guangde thought of having twenty warships in a row, a total of twenty rows, which was just close to four hundred.

But as majestic as it looks from the sea, it is not as impressive from the port.

It is impossible for all foreign missions to be on board the ship. Only representatives of the missions and a few key personnel will go on board to watch the ceremony, while the others will wait at the port.

It is not enough to shock the chief and deputy envoys, but others must also be intimidated.

"Thirty warships, thirty warships in each row. Admiral Yu, think carefully about how to arrange these warships to best demonstrate the strength of our Ming navy."

Wei Guangde changed his mind and spoke immediately.

Yu Dayou had many such experiences. Every time he entered a port during his diplomatic mission to the West, he needed to put up a certain formation for deterrence.

Therefore, he could understand Wei Guangde's intention of letting the people in the port see the power of the navy.

At that moment, Yu Dayou said: "The first row, the second row, and the two rows of warships in the middle are all gunboats and tribute ships.

Once your majesty's dragon ship passes through the array, all the warships will set sail together to escort your majesty back to the port."

“What if the wind direction is not right?”

Wei Guangde suddenly asked.

"The navy has been prepared. All ships are fully staffed. If there is no wind, they can use paddles to move forward. There will be no loss."

Wei Guangde knew that a small boat could be paddled, but he had never seen a sailboat weighing hundreds or thousands of tons paddled.

However, this is just a problem of the vision of later generations. The ancients certainly knew how to use wind and water currents to navigate, but what should they do when they encounter adverse conditions? They can't just sit there and wait for death and go with the flow.

So, in fact, all ships of this era can be powered by oars.

Small boats use oars, large boats use paddles, both are possible.

"Please consider whether adding the last item is feasible. The first two items are both OK."

Wei Guangde was very satisfied with Yu Dayou's answer, and he spoke immediately.

Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Ke both deduced it in their minds and thought it was a good idea, so they nodded.

Xu Xuemao may have considered it from the perspective of etiquette, and after thinking about it for a while, he nodded slightly to show his approval.

As for Shen Shixing, he did not offer any opinions after reading the ritual notes, as he did not understand water warfare.

"I will go back and revise it tonight and submit the new ritual notes tomorrow."

Seeing that everyone agreed, Yu Dayou immediately spoke.

"Okay, I'll wait and see the new ritual tomorrow.

But for this last added link, Admiral Yu must arrange the positions of the ships properly, this is the key."

Before leaving after finishing the task, Zhang Juzheng reminded Yu Dayou.

Just as Yu Dayou stood up to say goodbye and prepare to leave, Wei Guangde suddenly stopped him and asked, "Admiral Yu, today I saw the representatives of the three countries, and they are not as tall as me. You have seen many Yi people, I wonder what the height situation is like over there."

Because he had never lacked food or clothing since childhood, Wei Guangde actually had very good nutrition.

Also, I practiced boxing at home, so my physical development was pretty good.

In the south, his height is not considered short, but this is the old city of Beijing, in the north, and people here are generally taller than people in the south, which makes Wei Guangde look like he is of medium height.

Among the people present, even Zhang Siwei who didn't come over, was actually not as tall as him.

Well, he, Wei Guangde, is now the highest-ranking person in the cabinet.

Yu Dayou was a little surprised that Wei Guangde pulled him at the door to ask this question. You know, he was actually not very tall, and definitely not the kind of tall and strong image that most people thought of as ancient military generals.

"Lord Wei, to be honest, I have visited many countries during this trip to the West and have seen their people. As for height, the people of the Ming Dynasty are still the tallest.

Of course, there are a few high points among those countries occasionally, but not many, and overall we are still the highest.”

Yu Dayou said seriously that this was actually the truth.

"What about the foreigners? For example, the Portuguese and the Spanish."

Wei Guangde continued to ask.

He met the main representatives of the British delegation, including Robert and Drake, as well as several people around them, who all seemed to be shorter than him.

Therefore, Wei Guangde felt that the Europeans at that time did not seem to be very tall, and they might even shout "giant" when they saw Ming people.

Wei Guangde had met Korean and Ryukyu delegations many times, and their opinions of people from other East Asian countries were not high either.

Especially the Japanese, it seems that their average height can only reach his shoulders.

"Except for the Portuguese deputy envoy, the others are pretty average."

Yu Dayou replied.

The Portuguese deputy envoy was a short and fat man. He was not a nobleman, but a wealthy businessman who bought the position of deputy envoy at a huge price.

"That's it." (End of chapter)