Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 214 One Piece

The maritime ban lasted almost throughout the Ming Dynasty.

In the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty", there are very strict regulations on overseas trade.

"I order the military and civilians along the coast to report the offender first, and those who find out the truth will be given half of the offender's family property. Anyone who knows but fails to report, and who is not banned by the military and guard officials, will be punished as a whole."

This means that those who come forward to report others to the sea will receive half of the property of the accused. If someone knows and fails to report it, or if the military and security offices and other departments fail to strictly enforce the sea ban policy, they will be guilty of the same crime as those who go to sea.

Trafficking in people and weapons overseas may even lead to death by hanging.

But under such harsh punishments, some people will still take risks and go to sea to engage in foreign trade.

Because many coastal people do this really just to survive.

We must know that for some people in coastal areas, "the fields do not provide food, but the sea makes a living."

The sea ban not only prohibits trade, but also prohibits fishing at sea.

The imperial court's policy was "nothing is allowed to enter the sea."

Forbidden sea is equivalent to cutting off their way of survival.

In recent years, it can be said that the higher the maritime ban, the more serious the smuggling becomes.

For example, maritime merchants in Fujian would gather "hundreds of large ships to ride the wind and set sails to cover the ocean" every year; people in Guangdong also "took many Ege boats into the sea and barbarian markets." These maritime merchants came from all walks of life, including landlords, officials and gentry, as well as fugitives, monks, scholars, etc.

Fortunately, it is only the seventh year of Hongwu.

These maritime merchants still operate independently and have not united to form an armed maritime merchant group.

By then, things will become a little difficult.

These armed maritime business groups are, at best, merchants, and at worst, pirates.

The more famous people in the history of the Ming Dynasty include Wang Zhi, Xu Hai, and Ye Zongman
  However, this situation would not occur until the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Yang Xian is naturally aware of these situations.

But after all, this is a business of wearing your head in your belt, and there is absolutely no need for the Shen family to get involved in this kind of thing.

Faced with Yang Xian's doubts.

Shen Wansan's face was full of bitterness, and he said: "During the Yuan Dynasty, the Shen family was engaged in overseas trade, and even had a fleet at that time. The Shen family also made a lot of money through overseas trade. But the Ming Dynasty was established , after issuing the sea ban, I ordered the fleet to be disbanded, and all the merchant ships were sold. There is only one ship left, the ship where I first made my fortune, just as a memory."

"A few days ago, Mr. Yang Guogong must have heard about the fact that the emperor asked me to borrow money. Thirty million taels of silver is really a huge amount. After I sold most of the Shen family's property, I handed over the money in full. Go up. But after this incident, the strength of the Shen family was severely damaged, so my youngest son secretly used this merchant ship to conduct overseas trade without telling me."

"I don't blame him for this, but I didn't expect that during this business trip, we encountered Japanese pirates who robbed money and goods. It didn't matter, but my Shen family man and one of my grandsons were all kidnapped by them. "

If it were for other matters, relying on the friendship he had borrowed money from before, if Shen Wansan approached the court, the court would definitely help him, and most of the time it would be done.

But Shen Wansan knew about this matter and could not report it to the court.

He thought that the only person in the world who could help him was Yang Xian.

"As long as Yang Guogong can help, no matter what the outcome, our Shen family will be guided by the Duke from now on." Shen Wansan put down the wooden stick in his hand and was about to kneel down and salute Yang Xian.

His whole life has been full of ups and downs, and at the age of the old man, the call of death is not far away, and the only thing he cares about most is the continuation of his children and grandchildren.

It's true that Shen Wansan liked Shen Xia and Shen Cheng the most, but that didn't mean he didn't care about his other grandchildren.

Yang Xian stretched out his hand to support the old man in front of him. The Shen family has reached its current stage, and speaking of it, it has something to do with him.

Yang Xian believed that with Shen Wansan's ability, he should have discovered that Mingji Trading Company was behind the acquisition of their Shen family's industry. Even in this matter, Yang Xian was very covert.

It is not difficult to find out the relationship between Mingji Trading Company and Yang Xian.

Under such circumstances, Shen Wansan's willingness to say what he just said was tantamount to selling himself and the Shen family to Yang Xian.

Therefore, Yang Xian is ready to help.

Yang Xian looked at Shen Wansan and said, "Have you found out who the Japanese pirates who hijacked your Shen family's merchant ship are?"

The reason why Yang Xian asked this was because it was not just the Japanese who were doing looting in the coastal areas at this time.

Speaking of this, I have to mention one person.

Zhang Shicheng, male, born in 1321, was a smuggler in salt and a native of Taizhou.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he rose up from scratch and eventually became one of the princes in the world who resisted the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhang Shicheng was a powerful figure in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but unfortunately he was not very lucky, because the person fighting for the world with him was Zhu Yuanzhang.

After Zhang Shicheng's defeat, he himself was also executed.

But some of his remaining forces were not completely wiped out at that time.

Many of Zhang Shicheng's subordinates were from the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and were very familiar with the situation at sea. Therefore, after Zhang Shicheng's forces were eliminated, they were unwilling to join Zhu Yuanzhang. Instead, they fled to the sea and continued to be enemies of Zhu Yuanzhang, often harassing the coast of the Ming Dynasty. Frontier and passing merchant ships.

Therefore, Shen Wansan's merchant ship may also have fallen into the hands of Zhang Shicheng's remaining men.

Shen Wansan understood the meaning of Yang Xian's words, and he said: "I have asked the boss and others to contact Chuan Lao Li. Chuan Lao Li used to be Zhang Shicheng's old subordinate, and my Shen family is kind to him. If it really falls to Zhang Shicheng's old subordinates With it in hand, Ship Lao Li will definitely be able to find out the news."

Yang Xian nodded and forgot about this.

Rich businessmen from Jiangnan like Shen Wansan had funded Zhang Shicheng back then, so it was normal for them to know Zhang Shicheng's old men. Being able to tell this matter so frankly also represents Shen Wansan's absolute trust in Yang Xian.

Nowadays, only Zhang Shicheng's old tribe is the most powerful Chinese force at sea. If it is other Chinese pirate forces, they should be able to save face if they go to seek help.

Originally there was Fang Guozhen, who had already died in the Ming Dynasty. In the seventh year of Hongwu, at the beginning of this year, he also passed away.

He is buried at the source of Yushan, 20 miles east of Nanjing.

"I made a special statement before I left that as soon as there is any news from Suzhou, it will be sent to Yangzhou immediately." Shen Wansan said.

Now everything is clear.

If the final result of the investigation is that the Shen family merchant ship was attacked by Zhang Shicheng's old troops, then everyone will be happy.

As long as Shen Ruinan is still here, the Shen family will just have more money.

What I'm most worried about right now is another situation.

If it fell into the hands of Japanese pirates, they would probably have to resort to force.

At this time, under what name to send troops is another big question.

　Thank you Liuli丷Nishikino Maki for the reward of children's shoes. Thank you. Thank you all for your continued support. I bow to express my gratitude.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)