Wanli Ming Emperor

Chapter 216: Riding the Wind and Waves, Flying to Fame

"Rehabilitate Wang Zhi?"

"What can Wang Zhi do to suppress the rebellion?!"

Before the emperor of the chairman had a chance to speak, he was already hearing questions one after another.

Zhu Yijun looked as if he was staying out of the matter. He reached out to pick his ears and looked at Li Zaiting with interest - since there was someone in front of him, he was not in a hurry to express his opinion.

Every generation has its own demands for redress.

Wang Zhi was a pirate during the Jiajing period. He had a hundred thousand followers and more than a thousand pirate ships of various sizes. He dominated the vast sea area and acted without fear.

Of course, this is an exaggeration unique to literati, but no matter what, Wang Zhi is definitely the number one pirate since the Ming Dynasty.

This person is a bandit who has his own way of gathering pirates and occupying islands. He is quite trustworthy and has set up a private market.

The most important thing is that Wang Zhi is different from other pirates. He is focused on doing business. Not only does he not rob, but he also actively cooperates with the government to eliminate pirates who destroy the business environment. "For example, Lu Qi and Shen Jiu lured the Japanese to invade Qiantang. The deputy envoy of Zhejiang Sea Road Ding Zhan and others sent a letter to Wang Zhi and others to capture the pirates and surrender them, so as to allow mutual trade. Wang Zhi threatened the Japanese to capture Lu Qi and others as tribute."

He escorted the ocean routes and accepted foreign merchants; he appeased the people and protected maritime trade; he cooperated with the government and cracked down on lawlessness, so that the pirates trusted him, the people loved him, and even the foreign rulers loved and obeyed him.

Around the 30th year of Jiajing.

With the support of Ding Zhan, the deputy envoy of the sea route, Wang Zhi recruited many fugitives and completely controlled the sea route from Portugal to Korea. He frequently traded with Japan. The Portuguese matchlock gun was copied by Japan with this as the hub.

Wang Zhi even set up bases in Suzhou and Hangzhou to conduct trade. "Foreign ships were allowed to enter and leave without any obstruction at the customs, and those who were engaged in trade were everywhere in Suzhou and Hangzhou, openly and without fear."

Of course, Wang Zhi’s power was so huge that the rank of Deputy Envoy of Zhejiang Province was not enough.

As for the fat sheep, it will definitely be hit hard.

In the 32nd year of the Jiajing reign, Yu Dayou launched a surprise attack on Ligang, and Wang Zhi was defeated and fled to Japan.

There is no tiger in the mountain. Once Wang Zhi entered Japan, his life reached another peak. "He occupied Matsuurajin in Satsuma Island, usurped the title of Jing, called himself Hui Wang, deployed officials with titles, controlled the key points, and the barbarians of the 36 islands were all under his command."

He actually became the Pirate King.

It was not until the 36th year of the Jiajing reign that Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang, promised to "open mutual trade" and summoned Wang Zhi. The latter was obsessed with doing business and took the initiative to return to China.

Of course, Hu Zongxian, a mere governor, had no right to decide whether such a rebel who claimed to be a king could be granted peace.

The older Emperor Sejong got, the more he feared traitors.

So, in the 38th year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi, who had been in prison for more than a year, was executed in Zhejiang.

Until his death, Wang Zhi still pleaded in prison, saying that he had never done anything evil in his life, that he lived and died as a trader, and hoped that the court would forgive him and "serve as a dog or a horse, and be willing to pacify the sea for the court."

This happened only twenty years ago, and the memory is not yet blurred, so the ministers are very clear about Wang Zhi's situation.

It was for this reason that Zhang Han, who was preparing to retire just now, was extremely emotional at this moment: "Wang Zhi usurped the title of Song and called himself the King of Hui. He was punished for claiming to be a king and establishing a system. Isn't it unfair for him?"

Zhang Han had the most say on whether Wang Zhi should be killed or not - in the 37th year of Jiajing's reign, the matter was discussed in court, and Zhang Han, as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, actually spoke out.

Li Zaiting looked calm and faced the dissatisfaction of the Minister of Justice.

Zhang Han's attitude was indeed expected.

Unlike Wang Anshi, after all, it was the right and wrong of the early Song Dynasty. At least everyone could say something fair by watching the fire from the other side of the river.

Wang Zhi was different. Zhang Han had made clear comments on the files of the Ministry of War, saying that he "interfered with national policy and left harm to the people."

If Wang Zhi were to be rehabilitated, it would be embarrassing for Minister Zhang.

When Li was questioned in court, he just nodded solemnly: "The one who is wronged is wronged. The court promised Wang Zhi that he would not die, but after he was lured back to the country, he was beheaded. Isn't that wronged?"

This statement was full of loopholes, and was immediately seized upon by the Minister of Rites Wang Zongyi: "Li Butang should not be vague. It is clear that it was Hu Zongxian who tricked Wang Zhi into living. How can you make it sound like the central government had promised it?"

At this time, Wang Shizhen, who never discussed political affairs, suddenly interrupted and said, "The governor-general is the governor-general, and he is in charge of everything. Hu Zongxian governs Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places. Can't he represent the court in front of the pirates?"

The scene was suddenly divided into two, and Zhu Yijun couldn't help but marvel at it.

It is not surprising that the old scholar Wang Zongyi had a simple disgust for Wang Zhi, who fled abroad and usurped the throne.

Wang Shizhen worked hard for more than ten years to seek justice for his father, and he had no taboos about redress.

Furthermore, Wang Shizhen's "Records of Japan" had already made sharp comments on this matter.

Of course, he did not dare to say that the court was unfair, but only threw the blame on Hu Zongxian, hating him for not explaining the situation to the central government - "Zongxian reported the situation to the emperor, but he did not dare to explain the reasons in detail."

He also implicitly stated that Wang Zhi's unjust death caused "unrest throughout the country and the exhaustion of vitality in the southeast."

History is too recent to be easily commented on. Everyone has their own accounts and stance, so naturally it is hard to say anything fair.

Zhu Yijun caught a glimpse of Zhang Han's face, showing hidden anger and a look of readiness to strike.

Seeing this, he hurriedly fulfilled his duty to control the situation and coughed lightly: "National affairs, whether it is unjust or not, it is not appropriate to discuss here. Li Qing might as well speak frankly, what does the Wang Zhi case have to do with shipping?"

As for politics, we should put the valuable matters aside for a while, and explaining the pros and cons is what is meant by it.

Zhang Han's words were held back, and Wang Shizhen also kept silent.

Li Zaiting took over the conversation and said, "Your Majesty, this is a long story."

He paused, carefully considered his words and said briefly: "I have been ordered to build the Fujian Maritime Customs Office. Now the government office, ports, shipping routes, foreign vassal states, maritime merchants and many other matters are all complete."

"Following the established laws of our ancestors, ships going to coastal areas are issued with licenses by the Maritime Customs to allow them to go overseas."

"Following the old rules of the 12th year of the Zhengde reign, merchant ships going out to sea and foreign countries paying tribute and loading cargoes were ordered to pay a 20% tax."

The Ming Dynasty had a 200-year maritime ban, and the types and purposes of the trade were very different, so any ancestral method could be found.

During the reign of Emperor Taizu in the early Ming Dynasty, maritime bans were mostly for the purpose of defending against Japanese pirates.

It was basically a temporary policy of "forbidding people to fish at sea to prevent the Japanese pirates" and "forbidding the sale of all foreign incense and goods, and those found must be sold out within three months."

After the Japanese pirates retreated, the only written order was to prohibit "building illegal large ships with three masts or more, and taking contraband goods to sea for trade in foreign countries."

There is a list of prohibited goods in the Ming Dynasty law, which only includes "horses and cattle, military supplies, iron goods, copper coins, satin, silk, and silk cotton."

Obviously, it is only for national security considerations that trade is allowed for at least ships with less than three masts and goods other than prohibited goods.

The basic attitude is that I don’t know what maritime trade is, but we must guard against the Japanese.

During the Yongle period, "invoices" were issued, that is, registration and licenses were issued before ships were allowed to go out to sea for trade.

For example, Fujian Province managed tribute and sea merchants separately. "Fujian's maritime trade was exclusively under the jurisdiction of Fuzhou. Only Ryukyu paid tribute under the jurisdiction of a kanpaku. All seafaring merchants came from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, and only had to report to the prefecture and obtain a citation as proof."

Small merchants who did not get a ticket number could not even own an ocean-going ship, and all of them were forced to ship flat-boom boats that could not sail on the ocean.

At this point, the essence is to suppress private maritime merchants, and the main purpose is very clear, which is to make concessions to state-owned enterprises and establish a monopoly.

The basic attitude is, I know sea freight is great, so I have to do it myself.

Because of this, Zheng He of the same period was very active and his official ships went out to sea frequently.

But after Zheng He, the direction of maritime trade took a sharp turn for the worse.

Some say that this incident attracted Japanese pirates to invade the border, while others say that maritime trade was a loss-making business, costing the people money and time. There is even a claim that the tax was paid in kind, and that maritime trade destabilized the tax base.

As a result, Emperor Xuanzong and his followers really believed these suggestions.

Even the official maritime trade was no longer mentioned, and the country could only wait for tribute from foreign vassal states to become compatible with trade.

During the Chenghua period, when Emperor Xianzong wanted to engage in maritime trade to make money, there was immediately an uproar among the people.

Liu Daxia, the Minister of War, simply said that Zheng He's voyages to the West killed tens of thousands of people - "San Bao's voyages to the West cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in money and food, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians died. Even if he could have brought back treasures, what benefit would it have brought to the country?"

At this time, the basic attitude of the imperial court had become that sea transportation was bad and no one should get involved in it.

Of course, it was also at this time that smuggling by noble officials flourished.

Liu Jing, the general of Guangdong, packed up the sulfur and saltpeter in his military supply reserves and sold them to Vietnam.

The Duke of Wei's Mansion in Nanzhili colluded with the Censor of Zhejiang Sea Road to embezzle the "surplus official salt" and ran to exchange it for spices with the French.

This situation, in which the central government said it would be a loss even if they wanted to do it, but court officials were privately eager to do so, continued until the reign of Emperor Wuzong.

In the third year of Zhengde, maritime trade took a turn for the better, and a massive and long-lasting "ban on trade" naturally began.

First, the eunuch Xiong Xuan of the Maritime Customs changed his attitude of "waiting by and doing nothing" and took the initiative to welcome the vassal ships at times when it was not the tribute season, and requested to collect taxes from the vassal ships before bringing them ashore.

The Ministry of Rites gave him a blow, reprimanding him for "assumed power and ordered him to return to Nanjing to take charge."

However, the successor, the eunuch Bi Zhen, once again submitted a petition to seize power, "According to the old rules, all seagoing ships were managed by the Maritime Customs Office. Now, the patrol officers and the three officials are allowed to take charge of them. Please continue with the old rules."

Of course, this motive of seeking money from the inner court was immediately responded by the Ministry of Justice with "no exchanges, no private trade, and foreign ships that are not paying tribute will be driven away."

Once the fire starts, it cannot be stopped.

Once this precedent was set, local officials, officials in the central regions, and the southeastern coastal areas all fell into disarray, with each fighting till blood was shed.

Wu Tingju, the Right Governor of Guangdong, submitted a petition to allow ships to sail through the country and to implement a tax-collection system for ships traveling back and forth. Chen Boxian, the Right Councillor of Guangdong, immediately submitted a petition to impeach Wu Tingju, saying that this move "has enabled thousands of treacherous people to build huge ships, privately stockpile weapons, and roam the sea, causing harm to the local area."

In response, the Ministry of Rites agreed with the latter's approach and "ordered the governor and other officials to ban foreign ships"; however, Guangdong Governor Lin Tingxuan and others turned a deaf ear to the Ministry of Rites' order and "continued to follow the old practice."

He Ao, the second son of He Zhao, a wealthy man in Zhejiang, and the former Prince's Guardian, raised the theory of the threat of foreign vassal states, saying that "the foreign vassal states drove a large ship into Guangping Province two years ago, and the sound of guns and cannons shook the city walls." Chen Jin, the then Guangdong Chief Censor, retorted, "If we open up the sea trade to prepare for military pay, we can imitate guns and cannons."

This fight lasted for more than ten years.

Starting from the third year of Zhengde, the two factions had been fighting each other and the policies were wavering.

It was not until the 16th year of Zhengde that Emperor Wuzong died in the Leopard House.

The day after the emperor passed away, Yang Tinghe, the chief minister of the cabinet, issued an order to expel the foreign vassal states in Beijing: "The tribute-paying barbarians from Hami, Turpan, and Portugal, etc., will all be rewarded and ordered to return to their countries."

The Guangdong region finally stopped wavering and launched a hunt for the French, which even triggered the sensational Guangdong Tuen Mun naval battle, announcing the end of the Zhengde naval conflict in a spectacular way.

Of course, every passing goose leaves traces. Although Zhengde's maritime expansion failed, at least some historical documents were left behind.

This is what Li Zaiting now refers to as the ancestral law.

"Two out of ten!?"

This tax amount is a bit frighteningly high.

Wang Guoguang suddenly turned his head and stared at Li Zaiting.

Shen Shixing also showed a surprised expression. How did Li Zaiting maneuver in Fujian and manage to calmly control 20% of the situation?

Established laws are established laws and cannot be used directly. The former Song Dynasty even earned millions of taels of silver in maritime taxes every year.

It’s different in the past.

You should know that the opening of the sea during the Longqing period presided over by Gao Gong encountered many obstacles. Only the Quanzhou Yuegang was opened. Not only did the tax revenue have to be retained by the local government as military pay, but even the annual tax revenue was only "more than 10,000 taels", which was no different from sending away beggars.

After two years, the number of ships from foreign vassal states increasing, and the customs duties collected increased.

The Fujian provincial government immediately submitted a memorial stating that "the military pay suddenly increased to 29,000 taels, which was really like draining the pond to catch fish." Since then, the amount has remained at 30,000 taels.

Compared with this, two tenths is a huge sum of money.

At the beginning of the country, Taizu only collected 6% tax on maritime trade, and the maritime tax was never lower than 170,000 taels.

Li Zaiting nodded calmly: "Foreign vassal states, as well as sea merchants... I mean civilian merchants, seek trade day and night but cannot get it, so even if only two out of ten of them are willing to do so."

"I have already reached a consensus with Fujian merchants and vassal states on the issue of taxation."

He explained briefly, and then continued: "Now their only concern is the attitude of the court."

"I am afraid that the court will be indecisive, implement and then abandon it, and even lure the snake out of its hole."

"Add to that the instigation of some people with ulterior motives, and the folk song in Fujian, 'I'd rather trust smuggling than the shipping company,' has almost spread everywhere."

"Even if I personally come forward to guarantee it, they are afraid that I am the second Hu Zongxian." "To get to the bottom of this matter, we still need the help of the central government..."

Having said that, the meaning is very clear.

The one who first made the figurines has no descendants.

Wang Zhi lived and died for the mutual trade. Even in his last words, he was still advocating for the mutual trade, advocating that "customs clearance and tax payment will make the coastal areas prosperous."

Twenty years have passed since he was killed. Foreign bandits have been indignant, sea merchants in Zhejiang and Fujian all think he was wronged, and the people in the southeast want to put down his rebellion.

It can be said that Wang Zhi has almost become the spiritual symbol of coastal trade.

Although luring Wang Zhi to his death was a temporary relief, the price he paid was the credit of the provincial governors, the prestige of the central government, and the credibility of the court in opening up trade.

Why is the story of moving a tree to establish trust still popular today? When the business environment is damaged, it is not as simple as just empty words to call people back.

Now Li Zaiting has done everything a provincial governor can do.

What remains is the court’s attitude.

Zhang Han was displeased: "How can the court bow down to them?"

Wang Shizhen lowered his head and said, "Then don't think about collecting taxes from others. It's better to think about how to arrest smugglers."

After Wang Zhi's death, the Japanese pirates rebelled again, and no less than hundreds of thousands of government soldiers, officials, and civilians were killed in the battle or captured.

In Wang Shizhen's history book, the blame had already been implicitly placed on Emperor Shizong and his court officials.

At this time, Alliance Leader Wang also rarely showed a displeased expression.

Wang Guoguang stepped in to smooth things over: "Maritime trade is a major way to increase revenue. You have all been forgiving of each other for many years. Please do not hurt the harmony."

It can be seen that Da Situ really wants to levy taxes.

He looked at Li Zaiting hesitantly and said, "Tang Li, if we trade along the coast, I wonder how much the maritime tax will be?"

Don't ask what the center can do for you, first tell us how much tax you can bring to the center.

Whether Wang Zhi was rehabilitated or not did not depend on whether he was wronged or not, but mainly on how much money the court could get by admitting the Emperor Shizong's mistake.

Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue leaned forward at the same time and looked at Li Zaiting seriously.

Li Zaiting pondered for a moment and said, "If I govern Fujian, in two years, I will earn no less than one million taels per year."

He didn't say what would happen after he left Fujian.

Just like during the dispute over the maritime ban during the Zhengde reign, when Governor Lin Tingxuan could ignore the Ministry of Rites' ban, it is possible that if the local governments are out of step with the central government in the future, the maritime tax will return to 30,000 taels a year.

Outsiders, of course, ignored these details and only heard the numbers he said, one million taels per year...

Wang Zongyi couldn't help but twitch his eyelids, and cast an inquiring look at the former Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi beside him.

Yin Zhengmao hesitated for a moment and responded in a low voice: "It should be about the same. In the 26th year of Jiajing, after our army wiped out the Japanese pirates and captured the Shuangyu Island stronghold, in May and June of the same year, more than 1,200 large and small ships that had not received any news went there to smuggle as usual."

Wang Zongyi nodded thoughtfully.

This statement is a bit vague, after all, there are definitely sea people with a sampan naked in it.

But even so, with this scale of trade, if the tax rate is 20%, one million a year is not an exaggeration.

He glanced at Zhang Han obscurely. The millions of taels of tax might be worth a little change...

Although Yin Zhengmao spoke in a low voice, everyone in the hall heard it.

After confirming that Li Zaiting was not exaggerating, the ministers all made their own judgments.

Wang Xijue was very straightforward and said directly: "Your Majesty is benevolent and virtuous. I think you can pardon Wang Zhi a little to reassure the merchants."

Shen Shixing did not look into Zhang Han's eyes, but turned his head to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, Hu Zongxian has failed Wang Zhi and deceived the emperor, causing him to suffer injustice for twenty years. Now that the truth has been revealed, the court should put things right."

Lord Shin was much more mature, at least he knew to give Emperor Sejong a way out.

It can also prevent the emperor from destroying the purpose of maritime tax for the sake of his grandfather's face.

As for pushing it to Hu Zongxian, it was a tacit matter. Wang Shizhen had done it a long time ago, and even said that Hu Zongxian did it on purpose in order to "get the credit of being promoted to the title of Prince Taibao."

Afterwards, Wang Zongyi, Yin Zhengmao, Wen Chun and others expressed their agreement, fearing that the emperor would not agree.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Han, whose face was uncertain, and secretly sympathized with him, giving him a comforting look.

The emperor has not expressed his opinion yet - it is impossible that everything needs the emperor's supervision to be done, right?

It is a very important issue to give full play to the subjective initiative of the six cabinet departments.

Seeing that the ministers had reached a consensus, Zhu Yijun reluctantly spoke: "At that time, the maritime ban was a national policy. He claimed to be a king and tried to force the court to lift the ban. He interfered with national policy and violated national laws. According to the law, he should be executed."

No matter what, Wang Zhi had already established a country called the Song Dynasty, so there was nothing wrong with him being beheaded.

Zhang Han's expression eased somewhat.

Shen Shixing opened his mouth to speak.

Zhu Yijun spoke again: "Now that the late emperor has slightly lifted the ban on sea trade, I have also made some progress. As the saying goes, times have changed. The people in the southeast hope that I will be lenient at this time, which is also what everyone wants."

In the context of the feudal ruling class, Wang Zhi deserved to be killed, but since he was preparing to plant the seeds of capitalism, it is not impossible to now step away from the historical background of the Jiajing Dynasty and evaluate him objectively.

This sounded a bit like trying to smooth things over, but after hearing this, both parties in the palace at least stopped their fighting: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Li Zaiting achieved his goal and was very satisfied: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Zhu Yijun continued, "Ding'an Earl once told me that the Japanese pirates were the result of strict maritime bans, which affected the daily lives of the people along the coast."

This was the consensus basis for Gao Gong's efforts to promote the opening of the sea in the Longqing period. The Japanese pirates were the cause of the maritime ban, and as long as the maritime ban was not lifted, the Japanese pirates would not be pacified.

All the ministers came from the Longqing Dynasty, so naturally they had no objection to this statement.

The emperor was overturning Wang Zhi's verdict - he was a good man, but he was forced by the environment and it was pitiful that he violated the law.

"I heard that Hu Zongxian asked Wang Zhi's son to write to Japan about his father. Wang Zhi replied, 'How foolish you are! When your father is alive, I will treat you well. When your father comes, I will kill the whole family.'"

"But even so, once the promise of trade was made, Wang Zhi still turned his back on his enemies and surrendered with courtesy."

"Even in prison, he still made suggestions to the emperor, saying that if the emperor showed mercy and forgiveness, he would be allowed to work as hard as dogs and horses, and that ports such as Changtu in Zhejiang and Dinghai would be allowed to pass customs and pay taxes as in Guangzhong, and that they would not miss the tribute period."

Wang Zhi worked hard throughout his life to realize his ideal of mutual trade.

If we look beyond that period of history, Wang Zhi represents advanced productivity and was a pioneer in the development of capitalism during the Jiajing period.

Of course, no matter what he thought, Zhu Yijun would not say that.

He paused, and then concluded, "He died a worthy death. For his service in urging the country to open customs and pay taxes, I will posthumously confer the title of Wuchuanzi on Wang Zhi!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Han groaned, feeling as if he had internal injuries.

Li Zaiting asked thoughtfully, "Your Majesty, do you want to inherit his throne from his son?"

Zhu Yijun was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand and rejected the idea, saying, "Let his descendants live in peace."

There is no need to set up a platform for other people's descendants when making a statement.

Otherwise, Hu Zongxian has descendants, so who can stand the repeated reversals of the verdict?
Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Heng and said, "Mr. Zhu has seen that Fujian is about to be opened to navigation. The next step will certainly be to follow the example of Zheng He. I wonder when the Ministry of Works will be able to deliver the large ships?"

There is no logic that the government-run business can only watch after it is opened up to the private sector.

Royal merchants also want to join this imperfectly competitive market!
Zhu Heng immediately perked up after hearing this: "Your Majesty, there will be several offshore trials after the spring, empty, fully loaded, and half loaded. If there are no problems, it is expected to be delivered at the turn of spring and summer."

Zhu Yijun was still very confident in Zhu Heng and asked, "Where do we get into the water?"

Zhu Heng nodded and said, "The treasure ship is 150 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 13 feet deep. It cannot be put into the canal, so it can only be assembled in the harbor factory and then launched into the water."

"It is currently scheduled to be in Huai'an Port, which can go north to Tianjin Port and south to Fujian Port. After a round trip without any problems, we can go out to sea."

After hearing what Zhu Heng said, Zhu Yijun felt a little regretful.

If the ocean-going treasure ship was launched at Tianjin Port, he might be able to go against the crowd and cut the ribbon to join in the fun, but Huai'an Port is still too far away.

He had no choice but to wave his hand and skip the matter: "Let's talk about the candidates for the ocean trip and the route at the same time."

Upon hearing this, Yin Zhengmao immediately seized the opportunity to speak: "Your Majesty, when I was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, I recruited several troops and I am well versed in the nature of the water and the sea. Can you..."

Wang Zongyi interrupted Yin Zhengmao without giving him any face: "The Grand Marshal has a good reputation for honesty in Guangdong and Guangxi. It is better not to recommend anyone for such trade."

Yin Zhengmao paused.

He was well-known among the people for his corruption, and now that people were speaking sarcastically to his face, he felt really upset.

He wanted to argue, but it was inconvenient to speak, so he just muttered and complained: "How can I pay the salary if I don't make money from my family? It's easy to talk without any pain in the waist."

"Cough cough."

Zhu Yijun coughed lightly and said, "Okay, this matter will be led by the Imperial Household Supervisor Sun Long, and escorted by Jinghai Earl Zhu Shitai."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Long on the side showed ecstasy on his face, and even in the middle of winter, bursts of white steam came out of his nose.

Shen Shixing took a glance and saw that these eunuchs dreamed of imitating Zheng He. It was a blessing for them to have this opportunity now.

He shook his head, throwing away unnecessary thoughts: "Your Majesty, as for the route, the last court meeting tentatively agreed that it would go from Tianjin Port to Korea, pass through Japan, return to Jue Island, and stop at Fujian via Wanli Shitang."

Wanli Shitang is the South China Sea.

All ocean voyages have missions. Whether or not you make money on the first trip can be put aside as a secondary issue. What you must do is to show off your strength. You have to pass by here no matter what.

Zhu Yijun had no objection, as long as he could go to Japan.

As for the mission, he would naturally leave a secret letter to Sun Long and Zhu Shitai - Zhu Yijun couldn't quite remember where the Japanese silver mine was, so he had to explore it.

In any case, tax reform will be carried out after the land is measured.

Tax reform requires capital, and in any case, Japan's silver mines must be mined as soon as possible.

"Then let's do it this way."

Zhu Yijun waved his hand, gave Zhu Heng some instructions about archiving the case files, and then ended the topic.

While everyone was discussing the matter, the sun gradually rose higher.

By the time the shipping issue was discussed, it was already hanging firmly in the sky.

As the ministers' stomachs were rumbling, they naturally had to combine work and rest to avoid overworking themselves.

A simple imperial meal arrived as expected.

Having lunch together at the annual meeting has become a tradition of some importance. The ministers did not refuse and ate while chatting.

Without wasting much time, everyone quickly had a quick meal and then returned to their seats to continue discussing state affairs.

"What do you think about the issue of the transformation of native peoples into officials in Guizhou, Guangdong and Guangxi?" Zhu Yijun drank the tea he had after dinner to clear his stomach.

Tu means chieftain and Liu means official.

The so-called reform of chieftains into officials means changing the hereditary chieftain system to set up states and counties and appointing officials.

Of course, tasks such as checking household registration, measuring land, and verifying taxes are also part of the topic.

Speaking of this, Wen Chun suddenly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the Tianyang and Cenhuang of Guangdong and Guangxi have been inherited for hundreds of years and have become too powerful to be eradicated."

"Now that the national treasury is becoming increasingly full, it is imperative to transform the aboriginals into commoners!"

(End of this chapter)