prosperous age

"The development of industry and commerce can absorb refugees. This is good governance. Taxes are collected from workshops, and you are collecting customs duties from the Municipal Shipping Department. How can there be so many? One million taels?"

Yu Wang finally couldn't help but interrupted and asked.

No wonder King Yu doubts that the opening of the Shibo Department can earn millions of taels of silver. It really has something to do with the current Shibo Department system.

The current Shibo Department has actually inherited the model since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, and has not changed much.

In the sixth year of Xianqing Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, he established the Maritime Ship Envoy in Guangzhou. He was in charge of sea, road, state diplomacy and foreign trade, and appointed a special official to take up the post. The main duties were to manage the ships that came to trade, purchase a certain amount of imported goods on behalf of the court, and manage the items that merchants paid tribute to the emperor. , Supervise and manage the city ship trade, and draw points.

The following Song, Yuan and even the present Ming Dynasty generally had these responsibilities, only increasing or reducing the number of ships and ports.

Of course, due to the policies of each dynasty, the responsibilities are slightly different.

For example, in the Ming Dynasty, because of the implementation of the sea ban policy, only tribute trade was carried out, so the Shibo Department also assumed the responsibility of welcoming foreign envoys, verifying the authenticity and prohibiting private people from going to sea.

In other words, the ancient Shi Ship Department not only assumed the functions of customs, but also assumed part of the diplomatic power, responsible for welcoming and sending overseas envoys.

Among them, the diplomatic function is more important, while the customs function is relatively small, or because of some private actions of the officials of the Municipal Shipping Department, a large amount of customs duties that should have been collected by the court were lost.

In fact, such things are not uncommon, and there are similar problems in the major banknote customs, but because the annual tariffs paid remain stable, and there are ministers in the DPRK and China to maintain them, the court did not pursue them.

After all, people with official status, and fellow businessmen who have no family members or acquaintances, more or less lend out famous posts for the convenience of travel.

Wei Guangde didn't dare to talk too much about the tricks, so he could only say tactfully: "The benefits should be huge, otherwise, why would Japanese pirates be attracted.

Overseas people have an extraordinary love for my Chinese products. Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been an endless stream of Nanyang and Persian businessmen. It can be seen that they are willing to travel far and wide without fearing the risks involved.

It is said that when my Chinese goods are transported thousands of miles away, the price of the goods can increase several times, so I think it is okay to impose a high tariff on the goods that I export from Ming Dynasty. "

Of course, Wei Guangde couldn't answer the question of how much the goods of the Ming Dynasty could sell in Europe in this era, but he could make a simple judgment.

That is, businessmen can't get up early without profit. Since they have traveled thousands of miles, it naturally represents a huge benefit, that is, after deducting purchase costs, transportation costs and necessary losses, this business still has huge profits. Lan.

Wei Guangde doesn't know whether there are counterfeit Daming products in Europe at this time, but it doesn't matter, as long as the merchants are willing to come, it has nothing to do with him whether the merchants offset the increased taxes by reducing costs or raising prices to cover them. nothing.

In my impression, it is a recognized fact that a large amount of silver from all over the world flowed into China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and such results were achieved even in this period when the shipping technology was not perfect, which shows that the competitiveness of Ming's products in the international market is invincible. , Daming products will definitely not worry about sales.

"Although I don't know how big Lilan is, the Yi people come to my Daming area every year to buy my Daming goods. I have also heard people say that these Yi people even directly bought and looted Daming from the Japanese pirates. Commodities, this is actually one of the important reasons why Japanese pirates have repeatedly banned them.”

Zhang Juzheng said at this time, he is from Huguang, so he is not as familiar with sea trade as those people from the coastal provinces, but he also heard some rumors.

At this time, what Wei Guangde said made sense, so why not tell him what he heard.

"So, if the Shibo is opened up so that the barbarians can directly purchase Ming products from the Shibo Department, it will at least prevent them from trading with Japanese pirates."

Yin Shizhen reminded, for the Japanese pirates looking for money, if the looted things cannot be realized, what is the use of looting?

"At the beginning of the opening up, tariffs can be temporarily waived, or preferential, temporarily exempted from tariffs, and at the same time resolutely refuse the barbarians who have connections with Japanese pirates to enter Hong Kong for transactions. It is one aspect to earn money for the court, and at the same time, we must not be soft when we attack and weaken Japanese pirates."

Wei Guangde answered.

"I understand what you mean. Open the market, allow merchants among the barbarians to participate in transactions, and no longer inspect and inspect. On the one hand, the imperial court trades the taxes in kind collected from Jiangnan and converts them into silver. On the other hand, it can also get money from them. Taxation, is that also allowed me to participate in businessmen, do they also have to collect taxes?
Forget it, let’s collect taxes. Since they are also profitable, it’s okay to collect some taxes. However, according to what you said, opening up the market seems to be very beneficial to fighting Japanese pirates. "

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, King Yu nodded and said.

At this moment, the balance in King Yu's heart has tilted. Although he knew that when Emperor Jiajing was in power, the opening of the market would not be approved in all likelihood, but the benefits of opening up are obvious.

Daming products are sold overseas through Shibo, and those factories and workshops are bound to expand production, which requires the recruitment of workers, and the refugees in Jiangnan caused by Hu Zongxian's addition to the faction will have a place to resettle.

The imperial court can dispose of the backlog of goods in the official warehouse through the city ship and turn them into money for use. This is also a very important good governance, and at least it can alleviate the imperial court's financial crisis.

What's more, according to what Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng said, after the opening of the city ships, barbarian merchants can be prevented from doing business with Japanese pirates. People along the coast have a way to survive in maritime trade, and they don't have to join Japanese pirates in order to make a living. If things go on like this, Japanese pirates Only by reducing the number of people can the Japanese problem be fundamentally solved.

It seems that this is killing three birds with one stone, no matter how you look at it, it is not a loss.

At this time, what other people in the room didn't know was that in the heart of the future Emperor Yu Wang of Ming Dynasty, he had already made up his mind to tentatively open the market after he came to power.

After all, it is a business that has been banned for more than a hundred years, and King Yu dare not implement the strategy of abolishing the sea ban on a large scale as soon as he comes to power. He will choose a shipping company to try and see what the effect will be after it is released.

Letting go of the sea ban, judging from what I heard now, undoubtedly has a lot of benefits, but since the imperial court has not let it go, it means that there should be some harm that they don't know about.

King Yu thought so, and he planned to have the opportunity to ask Gao Gong to see what Mr. Gao's attitude was towards the sea ban and Shibo.

This is not to say that Yu Wang does not trust Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen, but because Gao Gong has always been his reliance. In Yu Wang's view, Gao Gong is unparalleled in the country. His talent and ability are second to none in the dynasty, as long as he does not object , then it can be executed.

Besides, according to the news from Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing was in his prime in spring and autumn, and he didn't know when it would be his turn to be the master of the house. There is really no need to worry about this matter.

Wei Guangde, Yin Shizheng, and Zhang Juzheng were discussing each other sentence by sentence, while King Yu sat on the side, interjecting a sentence from time to time, and the atmosphere was quite lively.

"Li Fang, ask someone to hold a banquet in the back garden. I want to entertain some gentlemen."

Seeing that everyone was very interested in chatting, King Yu ordered in a low voice.

Just when Li Fang lowered his head and promised to turn around and leave, King Yu called him back again, "Bring some jars of good wine out of the cellar in the backyard."

King Yu is absolutely not stingy with the people in the palace, and often invites them to stay together at dinner parties.

King Yu felt that Wei Guangde's proposal of opening up the market was very interesting, so he held a banquet again. During the banquet, everyone would have more time to talk freely, and he could also listen to the thoughts of these lecturers.

For King Yu's actions, Yin Shizhen, Wei Guangde and others didn't take it seriously, and it wasn't the first time they had encountered such a situation, and the three of them were talking very excitedly at this moment, and they didn't want to leave either.

However, there is always a banquet in the world. When the banquet in Prince Yu's Mansion was over, the three of them boarded their respective carriages and sedan chairs with the help of the servants.

Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen were a little drunk at the moment, and soon fell asleep faintly after getting into the car, while Zhang Juzheng was also a little drunk, but he tried his best to maintain a trace of sobriety.

Wei Guangde's proposal today has greatly touched him in some aspects.

In the past, when thinking about solving the countless difficulties faced by the country, most of them looked for solutions from themselves, and one of the sources he found now was to reform the tax and service system that had been in place for a century, especially those in kind. tax.

In fact, when Zhang Juzheng was in Huguang, he had already noticed that the goods received in the official warehouse were all taxed according to the method of drawing points, but it was difficult to realize them if they were idle in the official warehouse for a long time.

Therefore, he had the idea of ​​discounting all other physical taxes and services except grain and silk. Only in this way can the resources that the court can mobilize be effectively used.

The reform of the tax and service system is to reduce the burden on the people, and the reduction of physical tax and service is to integrate the resources of the court so that the court has more fiscal revenue to use instead of being wasted in official warehouses.

At the same time, like Gao Gong, he believes that vigorously cracking down on corrupt officials can also save a lot of money. At the very least, getting back the money that has been corrupted by corrupt officials is a way to "cut costs".

Today, Wei Guangde's proposal to open up the ship market seems to be a very meaningful "open source" policy, but the so-called ancestral system of sea ban needs to be abolished, so that both the court and the people can benefit from it.

As mentioned at the banquet, shipyard workers in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places will also benefit from this. Among the people who participated in the rebellion in Fujian this time, there are boat people.

To open up the market, the government needs to hire people to maintain the port, repair and build ships, and people to get on and off the ships. It can really add too many ways to resettle refugees.

It seems that tomorrow I will take the time to visit the teacher's house to see what the teacher's attitude is towards the opening of the market.

The teacher in Zhang Juzheng's heart is naturally Xu Jie, the second assistant of the dynasty. Xu Jie's native place is Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, which is also one of the coastal prefectures. He should know something about maritime trade.

He could see King Yu listening sideways during the dinner today, so he believed that King Yu had taken this matter to heart.

Although everyone felt a little pessimistic about implementing this policy during the Jiajing Dynasty, isn't there still a future emperor sitting at the banquet?
As long as he can accept this suggestion, he might be able to succeed if he tries after he ascends the throne in the future.

Because, Zhang Juzheng couldn't find it after searching his stomach and intestines, so what harm would there be in developing Shibo.

The Forbidden Sea directly banned a large number of Japanese pirates, making the Ming court tired of defense. In this case, it is better to open it up and try to see if there will be more Japanese pirates coming.

You know, anyone who is not prejudiced or has an interest in collusion can see what the pirates on the coast were like before Emperor Jiajing banned the sea, and what they looked like after the ban.

It is clear at a glance who is strong and who is weak. After tonight's discussion, Zhang Juzheng has realized that perhaps, lifting the sea ban is the only way to solve the Japanese problem.

I don't know if Wei Guangde and the others didn't think of it or dared not say it, but Zhang Juzheng noticed that when Wei Guangde talked about opening up the market, he only said that it could weaken the strength of the Japanese pirates, but he didn't mention that it could eliminate the hidden dangers of the Japanese pirates.

Naturally Zhang Juzheng didn't know why Wei Guangde used such words, but Wei Guangde knew it very well.

The so-called Japanese pirates are actually pirates. They rob ships at sea, and sometimes land and plunder. Is this a profession that can be eliminated?
The same rice feeds a variety of people, and the technology of later generations is so advanced that there are still pirates active on the world's major shipping routes. It is said that hundreds of ships of all sizes are robbed by pirates every year, but they dare not land easily to commit crimes. , so their existence gradually became unknown.

But, to be is to be.

In fact, in Wei Guangde's view, as long as the Japanese pirates in the Jiajing Dynasty can be weakened to the reign of the previous emperors, the existence of the Japanese pirates can basically be ignored.

There are not a few major robbery cases in a year, and there are not as many cases as bandits and robbers.

But Zhang Juzheng didn't know this, he was still thinking about why Wei Guangde said this and not that.

However, no matter what, the news of Fujian's defeat still spread in the official circles of the capital, and the officials and gentlemen of the Ministry of War could only give up rest and stay in the yamen to discuss what strategy to adopt.

Although Xiyuan didn't summon Da Sima urgently, what about tomorrow?
Tomorrow, Emperor Jiajing will definitely ask about this matter. Faced with such a major case of rebellion, no emperor will take it lightly.

Therefore, they must come up with a charter tonight, otherwise it will appear that the Ministry of War is too ineffective. The officials of the Ministry of War are all vegetarians, and if they fail, they will be caught and bitten by the mad dogs of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

While other officials were still having fun or reading at night with lamps, they were struggling to discuss state affairs.

It's just a pity that they quickly searched through the surrounding atlases, but they couldn't find many troops that could be recruited to participate in the war against thieves.

Fujian has already lost once, and it must not continue to lose. This will make the court lose face.

What should I do if I can't find a place to mobilize troops to increase troops?
Continue to expand the scope.

Soon, atlases from all over the South were turned up, looking for any army at their disposal.