The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Of course their small boats wouldn't have kitchens. Zhang Ning was referring to the boats they seized from Wu Dahai.

Wu Dahai’s gang was quite large. After operating for a few years, the small broken boats they used to own were replaced by large ships.

The ship can not only accommodate hundreds of people, but also carry several small boats on the side of the ship.

They used large ships to carry small boats, took the opportunity to hide close to merchant ships, and then killed and robbed people after boarding the ships.

Sometimes, in order to chase merchant ships, their ships would be out to sea for ten days or half a month, and naturally there would be kitchens on board.

They couldn’t make complicated dishes, but they could make simple ones, so Zhang Ning asked Pan Yun and his team to take charge of the kitchen.

Wangyue Island is not close to here and it is estimated to take three days to arrive. He has sent someone back to report the situation and let the subsequent reinforcements find them according to the location on the nautical chart. They will take Wu Dahai and go ahead.

Pan Yun squatted in the kitchen, staring at the rice and flour on the shelf in a daze.

Xue Shao rolled up his sleeves and walked in, tapping her shoes lightly with his toes, urging her, "Go to the side and stare blankly."

Pan Yun stood up, squatted on the kitchen doorstep, turned his back to Xue Shao and sighed: "How did I become the head chef?"

Xue Shao had already measured out the rice, washed it carefully and poured the water aside for recycling.

"Let's cook porridge for them today, but we harvested too many vegetables on the island yesterday. We only brought two baskets on board. I'm afraid it won't be enough for so many people for three days." Xue Shao said, "I heard that people will get septicemia if they stay at sea for a long time. Eunuch Sanbao once said that it's because they haven't eaten vegetables for a long time..."

"Just three days..." Pan Jun paused, then changed his words, "Yes, three days. I don't know how many days I'll have to fight. It will take another three days after I come back. It's indeed a bit long. Even if I don't get sepsis, it's uncomfortable to have my hands and feet peeling. I'll grow some bean sprouts later."

Xue Shao was stunned: "Bean sprouts?"

"Yes, didn't we collect several bags of soybeans from the island? We moved them all to the island."

Xue Shao was silent for a moment: "I thought you were going to make bean rice for everyone."

Pan Yun turned around and looked at him with contempt: "As pirates, can they not even afford rice and flour? You look down on pirates too much."

Xue Shao was silent for a long time, and then he said: "According to my investigation, among the ten pirate groups along the coast, only three groups have more than enough money, four groups can only maintain food and clothing, and the remaining three groups can't even maintain food and clothing."

Pan Yun was stunned: "What kind of pirates are they?"

"So they often run away and go home to become good people."

Pan Yun became serious, and moved a small stool to sit in the kitchen with him to cook porridge: "You have also discovered, right? Except for a few extremely vicious ones who committed crimes and went to sea to escape the pursuit of the government, most of the other pirates went to sea because they could not survive."

Xue Shao lowered his eyes and nodded slightly.

Pan Yun: "In addition to robbing merchant ships, what they actually did more was secretly transporting goods from land to overseas countries for sale. It's true that they were pirates, but it's also true that they were smuggling merchants."

Xue Shao: "You want to lift the maritime ban?"

Pan Yun smiled and asked, "Do you have any better way to deal with the bandit problem?" Xue Shao said, "The court has always believed that lifting the ban on sea trade will breed pirates, and past data also shows that every time the ban on sea trade is lifted, the number of Japanese pirates on the sea increases sharply. But everyone knows that at least 50% of the so-called Japanese pirates are disguised as people from our Ming Dynasty. Merchant ships are repeatedly robbed, and not only merchants, but also the court can't stand it. To eliminate pirates, it takes a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources. The southwest and the north are not at peace. The court obviously does not have extra power to fight pirates in the southeast. Banning the sea is the least laborious national policy."

Pan Yun said: "That's because the court acted too harshly after lifting the ban on sea trade, and the benefits did not fall on ordinary people, ordinary merchants and ordinary landlords, and the profits from sea trade were too tempting, so more pirates were bred.

The ban on sea trade has indeed reduced the number of pirates at sea, but that's because there are fewer merchant ships going out to sea, so they have nothing to rob and naturally disperse. As you said, three out of ten groups of pirates can't even support themselves, so why are they still pirates? "Pan Yun shook his head and said, "But relying on banning sea trade and reducing maritime trade to fight pirates, isn't this a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater?"

Pan Yun looked at him with sharp eyes and asked, "Do you know how much profit there is in sea trade?"

Xue Shao took two steps and said, "I understand what you mean, but every time the court lifted the ban on sea trade, the gains were not much, but the costs were quite high."

Pan Yun sneered, "That's because the bulk of the money has been taken away by others. The royal family and the court officials in the capital bypassed the customs. How much money could the Maritime Customs Office collect? Once the sea trade was opened, the expenditure of the Navy Office increased sharply, which naturally gave people a feeling of not making ends meet. But you see, since the Yongle period, when the tribute was stopped, the trend of smuggling among the people has flourished. How many people on the southeast coast have quietly risen up by relying on sea trade?

Don't tell me you don't know how the Chen family grew to where it is today."

Of course Xue Shao knew about it. He had heard about the Chen family's smuggling a long time ago. Wasn't one of the reasons why he concealed his identity and came to participate in the bandit suppression this time to investigate the Chen family?

"But the growth of the Chen family did not benefit the neighbors. Instead, the people living near them became poorer and poorer. Their fields gradually became the Chen family's, and their shops were connected by the Chen family to form Chen's Street," Pan Yun whispered, "The benefits of maritime trade should have benefited the people along the coast, and even the entire Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Jiangxi. How many places in the world have silk, porcelain and tea that overseas countries want more than these places?

But look, among the ordinary people in these places today, who has benefited from the maritime trade? Only the Chen family and the Pu family have secretly exploited the people and profited from both ends. Their cruelty is more severe than the harsh government. As an imperial censor, do you only want to arrest these two families, but not think about solving the fundamental problem?"

Pan Yun said with a sad heart, "Even if the Chen and Pu families are gone, there will be the Huang and Qian families. You can't just handle them one by one, right? The people have suffered as much as they did before, and they will suffer as much as they do now and in the future. What's the point of handling this case?"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Just change that expression on your face." Xue Shao looked helpless.

Pan Jun's expression suddenly changed, and he smiled: "So you agree to help me solve the fundamental problem?"

Xue Shao sighed and said, "This cannot be solved simply by lifting the maritime ban."

Pan Yun looked at him seriously.

Xue Shao explained: "The court tried to lift the maritime ban several times, but each time the plan failed after just one trial, because the treasury had no money and there were many people in the court who opposed it. Your Majesty was powerless even if he wanted to."

Pan Yun raised his eyebrows: "You mean, the current emperor wants to lift the maritime ban?"

Xue Shao nodded: "Yes, he has come to terms with it."

He looked outside.

Pan Jun waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Don't look, there's no one outside. Pan Xiaohei is squatting outside in the sun, no one will come near."

Xue Shao then said: "Your Majesty said that if you want to lift the ban on sea trade, you must first rectify the royal family, have money in the treasury, and strengthen the Maritime Customs and the Navy Office at the same time, so as to ensure smooth sea trade.

You are right. The profits from maritime trade are staggering. Your Majesty has long wanted to recover maritime trade, but has never had the chance. The treasury is empty. The Luchuan War consumed a lot of manpower and financial resources, as well as Your Majesty's energy, so that the southeast coast can only maintain the status quo. "

Pan Jun pursed her lips. (End of this chapter)