I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Because the emperor was waiting for the two of them to have an audience, after stopping at the dock for a while, Zuo Guangdou and others sent Yang and Xiong out of Tianjin Fucheng.

Yang Lian and others had not returned to Gyeonggi for a long time, so what they saw and heard along the way really opened their eyes and surprised them.

Not to mention the prosperity of Tianjin's port and the rapid increase in the city's population, let's talk about the road from Tianjin to the capital. The government actually paved the road with cement.

I heard that this kind of stuff was made by the Ming Dynasty Trading Company. Once dry, it becomes as solid as a rock and is very suitable for building houses or paving roads.Therefore, Shuntian Mansion now wants to use this material to repair roads and reduce construction costs.

And when they arrived in Tongzhou, they suddenly found that Tongzhou had suddenly become extremely prosperous.

Now not only canals are unloading goods here, causing Cao gangs to gather here.There are also firearms, cement, Western wares and other firearms workshops gathered here, plus the supply of Xishan coal, Zunhua iron, canal grain and other supplies.

As a result, after about a year now, Tongzhou has become more mature and has begun to take shape.For this reason, Yang Lian and Xiong Tingbi specially stayed in Tongzhou for a while.After some observation, Haosheng discovered that merchants from Shuntian Prefecture now like to set up industries and open workshops in Tongzhou.The reason is not only convenient transportation and cheap raw materials.

What's more important is that the Taxation Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs has now issued new regulations, that is, if a workshop is set up in Tongzhou, the commercial tax can be reduced by one-third, which will allow Tongzhou to further develop.

After leaving Tongzhou, they entered Beijing through Chaoyang Gate. As soon as they entered the city, they found that the environment in the city was very different from before. Many roads were under construction and repair, drains were dredged and widened, and roads were paved with cement.

Xiong and Yang were numb to this, and immediately went to the imperial city to prepare to meet the emperor.

When they arrived at Dong'anmen, Zhang Chang, who had been entrusted by the emperor, was already waiting here. Seeing this, he quickly took them to the Palace of Qianqing for an audience.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao was still arguing with Sun Shenxing, the Minister of Rites.

"The matter of encouraging travel to the New World has been decided. It is stipulated that within the next five years, all merchant ships from the West and the New World will be exempted from half of the tariff. And like the countries in the West, the court will collect [-]% of the tax on the property obtained, and the rest will be It belongs to the explorers. If anyone discovers the Western Ocean without discovering the mainland, not only can he name it himself, but I, the Ming Dynasty, will recognize it, and he can also be given a title by the court."

"Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty has everything, so why ask for it overseas. Besides, instead of competing overseas, it is better to deal with the Western religions and Westerners in our Ming Dynasty.

Nowadays, there are Westerners active in the Tongwen Hall of the Capital, the Military Academy, the Imperial College, and even among the people.These people preach Western teachings everywhere, and their purpose is to destroy our culture and make us abandon the way of saints. "

Sun Shenxing really didn't understand what was wrong with the emperor. Ever since the Chief Secretary of Fujian Province escorted the defeated red-haired barbarians to the capital last year, they had all been imprisoned.

In the end, for some unknown reason, many red-haired barbarian prisoners were suddenly released.And these people were arranged to places such as Wubei Academy, Jingshi Tongwen Hall, Jingying and even the private Daming Trading Company.

In Sun Shenxing's view, this was just playing the harp indiscriminately, and the red-haired barbarians invaded the Ming Dynasty.The emperor not only did not punish these people, but also reused these people. This didn't chill the hearts of the soldiers.

What's even more disgusting is that the Ming Dynasty trading company also hired some red-haired barbarian crew members, and then formed a fleet to go to the new world discovered in the Western Ocean.

And these were all secretly approved by the emperor, which made him puzzled as to why the emperor would do this.But now they are even more "excessive". They actually issued an edict to encourage the Ming Dynasty's ships to go to the West and the New World, and even gave titles to some people who have made meritorious expeditions. Isn't this against the ancestral system?

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but shook his head secretly after listening to Sun Shenxing's words, but there was nothing he could do.

There are countless people like Sun Shenxing in the court. Shen Guan left before, and now there is Sun Shenxing. Even if Sun Shenxing leaves, there will be others who will be as opposed to them.

"Sun Aiqing, you have read "Kun Yu Ten Thousand Kingdoms", and you also know the situation in the West. It is precisely because of their wild ambitions that their plans are not small.

Therefore, we must also take precautions before they happen. Now that the Ming Dynasty is powerful, it can easily defeat their fleet.But if we stop moving forward, what will happen to our descendants in the future?This matter is settled, the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites will act in accordance with the edict. "

As soon as these words came out, Ye Xianggao and others on the side immediately nodded in agreement, but when they saw Sun Shenxing, they did not flinch.

During this period of time, the emperor had been re-employing Westerners, and he had long been dissatisfied with it. He thought that if he didn't persuade him, he didn't know what would happen to Ming Dynasty in the future. So he was heartbroken and immediately knelt down and said:
"Your Majesty, this edict can be issued, and I will definitely act according to the order. However, the red-haired barbarians captured after the Penghu victory last year must not be leniently spared. Last year, Yuan Keli reported that more than 600 people were captured and all were escorted to Beijing.

But as far as I know, there are now more than a hundred people who have not been punished, but have been released by the people of Dongchang and placed in various places for the use of the court.I would like to ask if this is His Majesty's intention. Wouldn't it be against the laws of the imperial court and would chill the hearts of the soldiers? "

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he suddenly felt a little dizzy, secretly thinking that Sun Shenxing really left him helpless.

What he said was true. He did free some people.

After the Dutch prisoners were escorted to the capital last year, he immediately arranged for someone to interrogate the reasons and asked people from the Tongwen Hall in the capital to interpret.

Unexpectedly, after asking, I found out that in addition to the generals and sailors, about half of the Dutch fleet on the expedition to Macau were Dutch soldiers, and the other half were German mercenaries, Javanese soldiers and Japanese ronin recruited by the Dutch East India Company.

In addition, there was another surprise, that is, there was a first mate named Lawrence in the expedition fleet. He said that his family was very prestigious in the Netherlands, and his uncle was one of the seventeenth board of directors of the East India Company.

Therefore, he and Clark, the commander-in-chief of the expedition fleet, asked the Ming Dynasty court to give him a chance, saying that they would write to the Dutch East India Company and ask them to raise funds to redeem themselves, and send envoys to express their apology and let the two countries have good relations. .

After Zhu Youxiao found out, he thought about it for a long time, but he also felt that he had nothing to do with it.Rather than killing these people, it is better to recycle them.If the price offered by the East India Company is high enough, then it is not impossible to impose a slight punishment and then let him go.

He asked these people to write letters to the Dutch East India Company. At the same time, he did not let these prisoners rest and made use of them.So dozens of German mercenary soldiers and Dutch soldiers were selected to guard the Beijing Camp and the Armed Forces School in batches, allowing them to share their combat experience.

At the same time, he also arranged for Lawrence and others to attend the Jingshi Tongwen Hall, allowing them to learn Chinese while teaching Dutch to prepare for future exchanges. (End of chapter)