I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 247 Inspection of the Beijing Camp
The party in charge?
Hearing the emperor's words poured into his ears, Yuan Keli was shocked. He instantly guessed the emperor's intentions and understood that his next answer would be related to his future career advancement.

His mind was running rapidly, and he tried hard to go through all his previous understanding and opinions on maritime trade and the West. He slowly formed a line of thought, and then bowed and answered:
"Your Majesty, the imperial court has set a precedent for setting up customs to collect taxes last year when the Wenhua Palace issued an edict. If I am in charge of the government, all I have to do is to follow the rules and regulations. It is my humble opinion that although it has been Rules have been set, but there are still some problems with the current tariffs.

For example, today's seaport tariffs in coastal provinces are completely independent of each other. Although the imperial court sets the tariff rates, the tax collectors who collect the tariffs come from the local government, and the tax amount is often reduced by the local government.Some customs tax collectors even enriched their own pockets by falsely reporting the weight of ships just for a few taels of silver. As long as they tampered a little, the court would suffer huge losses. The looseness in this was obvious.

Therefore, I believe that we cannot allow local governments to collect customs duties independently. Instead, as discussed by the imperial court last year, we should assign a "minister of high hopes" to take charge of customs duties, transfer the power of customs duties to the Ministry of Revenue, and send dedicated personnel to each port. Responsible for setting up customs to collect taxes, and all the taxes will be escorted to the capital and owned by the Ministry of Household Affairs.

At the same time, since ancient times, there has been no stability without agriculture, no wealth without industry, and no life without business. Maritime trade will not only bring tax dividends to the court, but also rely on it for the livelihood of coastal people. Therefore, the court cannot just set up customs to collect taxes, but also organizes Navy, combat pirates, and protect Ming Dynasty's overseas maritime trade. In this way, the court could not only protect the country and the people, but also maintain stability and increase customs revenue. "

Yuan Keli's analysis was very satisfactory to Zhu Youxiao. He thought that his guess was indeed correct. Yuan Keli was a very lively and avant-garde person and did not stick to the clichés of traditional Confucianism. Otherwise, he would not have proposed the establishment of Dongjiang Town. , the matter of launching sea trade to support Mao Wenlong.

Now his rhetoric is actually very consistent with Zhu Youxiao's expectations. Not only must the administration be unified, but a navy must also be established to protect the sea trade and never deplete the lake.

Although he was satisfied in his heart, he never showed it and remained expressionless. He pondered for a while and continued to ask:

"There are more and more people from the West coming to our country to do business. Many people say that they are ambitious. I am also deeply concerned about this. I just don't know what to do. Can you give me some advice?"

Yuan Keli had long heard of the emperor's attitude towards the West. Not only did he reuse Xu Guangqi, but he also met with a Western monk and asked the Western monk to translate his works. This made many people in the capital very irritated and angry. Many courtiers wrote to the emperor many times. The Western monks had evil intentions and hoped that the emperor would take back his orders. However, after the inscriptions were published, there was no news and they disappeared into the sea.

Thinking of this, Yuan Keli was also thinking about how to answer next. He actually didn't like Westerners very much. He felt that although Westerners had merits, they still had to be wary.

"Your Majesty, everyone knows the benefits of Western artillery. The imperial court's Franco machine guns and Krupp cannons both come from the West. The sage said to choose their strengths and follow them. The West has its excellence. We, the Chinese, are tolerant and learn from their excellence. There is nothing wrong with it. But if you are not of my race, your mind must be different, and the court has to guard against it.

Therefore, Wei Chen believes that if Westerners just want to come here for business, our Ming Dynasty will naturally welcome them. But since they come here, they must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty and respect our customs. This is the right way. If they cannot, they can be expelled. And out. "

After Yuan Keli finished speaking, he bowed his head and remained silent. Zhu Youxiao also heard the metaphorical meaning in his words. These words were also applicable to missionaries, but he didn't care.

"You are right. If you do business, our Ming Dynasty will naturally welcome them. If you do not abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty, you can expel them. But there is one more thing. If I, the Ming Dynasty, want to expel them, I am afraid that I can't just talk about it, but also have to strengthen the ship. Only the sharpest guns will do.

The Westerners traveled thousands of miles to come to our country in Ming Dynasty, burning, killing and looting along the way. Now they are here to pretend to be honest, not because they can't defeat us. If we can't defeat them, they won't be able to do what we do honestly. The business was lost, but Ming robbed it. "

Zhu Youxiao looked at Yuan Keli as he spoke. He quite agreed with Yuan Keli's words. Since he was able to open a sea route in Denglai to support Liaodong, it shows that he has a strong strategic vision and organizational ability. This ability can be used to open sea trade. It is also a necessary quality condition.

Although the imperial court now sets up customs to collect taxes, according to the reports sent by the chief secretaries along the coast, the monthly tariffs at major ports such as Ningbo and Guangzhou are only 1000 taels. This number is ridiculous and sad to say, it is a lie.

Therefore, he wanted to establish Yuan Ke as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, taking charge of customs duties in the southeastern provinces.Judging from the time, it seems that the Dutch are coming next year and the year after next. He has to prepare early, so he has today's question.

Unexpectedly, he asked like this today, and found that Yuan Keli's sonorous answer also satisfied his heart, so he made up his mind.

"Your Majesty is wise, a weak country will be humiliated. It has been the same since ancient times. These Westerners are not of my race and we must be on guard against them."

"What Aiqing said is very true. You must use it as well as guard against it. Tariffs are also very important. I have benefited a lot from what Aiqing said. You can think more about it when you go back. It will be of great use in the future."

When Yuan Keli heard this, he was shocked. He thought that the emperor might be of great use to him. Although he didn't know what his position was, it would definitely have a lot to do with customs duties and maritime trade.So he pretended to be calm, quickly bowed his head and said:

"The minister obeys the order!"

After Zhu Youxiao heard the message, he didn't want to say anything more. Then he waved his hand and said:

"Well, it's almost noon, so I won't keep you here. Go back and transcribe the list of tributes as soon as possible. Don't make other examiners wait."

When Yuan Ke immediately saw that the emperor had issued an order to expel guests, he quickly thanked him and left without thinking too much.

After Yuan Keli left, Zhu Youxiao also stood up and walked outside the Qianqing Palace for a while, lazily enjoying the spring sunshine and relaxing for a while.Then she went to Kunning Palace to have lunch with Zhang Yan. Seeing that he was a little tired, the queen told Zhu Youxiao to take a nap.After taking a comfortable rest, he hurried to Qianqing Palace after briefly cleaning up and freshening up. He had more important things to do in the afternoon.

When they arrived at Qianqing Palace, they saw Zhang Weixian, Chen Liangbi and others waiting here.

According to his previous instructions, in the afternoon he was going to the southern suburbs of the Beijing Camp with the British Duke Zhang Weixian and others to see the newly renovated Beijing Camp.

"His Majesty Saint Ann!"

"Get up, let's go, don't keep them waiting."

As Zhu Youxiao said that, he got on the dragon boat waiting outside Qianqing Palace, and then changed into a sedan chair at Huangji Gate. The escorts including Teng Xiang and Wu Xiang, as well as the eunuchs and entourage in the palace, lined up in a rectangular shape. A vast team guarded the sedan chair among them.

The British Duke, Taining Marquis, Wei Zhongxian and other noble eunuchs stood side by side behind the sedan. Since it was a review at the Beijing camp, and more than 30 noble eunuchs were specially handed over to accompany them, there were no civilian officials.

"Get up!"

Following the shout from the ceremony officer, Zhu Youxiao's sedan chair slowly stood up, and the entire team moved forward slowly.

This is not Zhu Youxiao's first trip, and he has paid many private visits incognito, so the initial freshness has long since passed. Now he has no intention of showing off to others, and is just sitting steadily in the sedan chair. After exiting Yongding Gate, we headed to the southern suburbs of Jingying.

At this time, the generals and battalion officers of the Beijing camp were also getting ready in the military camp, waiting for the emperor's arrival.

Since the emperor's review was for a purpose and specifically asked to inspect the Zhenwu and Yaowu armies, more than 3 people from both armies were waiting at the training ground, especially the Yongyi Battalion and Wuxiong Battalion, the most elite of the two armies. They even lined up and stood in the middle, waiting for the emperor's review.

At this time, Jiang Lin, the commander-in-chief of the Zhenwu Army, and Tan Mian, the commander-in-chief of the Yaowu Army, were waiting for the emperor's arrival outside the training ground with their staff generals Huang Degong and Sun Yingyuan.

"The Governor just sent someone to report that His Majesty has left Yongning Gate and I believe he will be here soon."

Seeing that the emperor's ceremonial guard had not appeared in the distance, Jiang Lin paced back and forth, feeling a little anxious. She repeatedly sent people to check. Tan Mian on the side couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw him like this.

"Well, that's good. This is His Majesty's first inspection of the capital camp this year. We must not take it lightly. If something like last time happens again, we will really die."

"Don't worry, sir. Today is different from the past. If anyone dares to cause trouble, we will be the first to refuse."

Upon seeing this, Huang Degong immediately expressed his position. He was promoted by the emperor himself. It was the time when the spring breeze was proud to repay his ambition. Who dared to cause trouble, Huang Degong was the first to refuse.

Huang Degong's words touched the hearts of everyone, especially Jiang Lin and Tan Mian. Although these two people came from noble families, they were only generals in the Shenji Battalion and the Three Thousand Battalion last year, but they have been following Chen Liangbi. Last year When Ding Guogong instigated a rebellion in the capital camp, the two of them were relied upon by Chen Liangbi and led the crowd to suppress the riots. Only then did Chen Liangbi take a fancy to them and directly promoted them to the commander-in-chief of the Zhenwu Army and Yaowu Army.

It can be said that everyone present was the beneficiary of the last turmoil. If it had not been for the turmoil in the capital last year and the emperor had purged the capital, they were afraid that they would never be able to get ahead, so they most hoped that their merits would be fulfilled this time. Make Zhu Youxiao happy.

"Hahaha, Degong is right. We don't agree. By the way, are Sun Yuanhua and the Western instructors here? His Majesty said he wanted to see them."

"Master Sun has just arrived. He is accompanied by seven Western instructors and Western soldiers. Since His Majesty said before that he wanted to watch them practice in person, they also brought a Krupp cannon, so they are a little slow."

After hearing this, Jiang Lin and Tan Mian also breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that everything was ready, all they needed was the east wind. At this moment, some sharp-eyed people raised their eyebrows and looked into the distance, and saw the Han general raising a canopy from behind. Come from a distance.

"Your Majesty is down!"

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(End of this chapter)