Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 267: The purpose of cutting the grass is to scare away the snake!

Xia Zhibai smiled and nodded, "I spent so much time and effort just to send these 'documentaries'!"

After hearing what Xia Zhibai said, Ding Zhifang was completely stunned.

He couldn't understand why this was happening?
They all thought that Xia Zhibai was trying to scare Zhou Ziliang and other officials, and that he would never really do that. Besides, His Majesty is very busy with state affairs, so how could he have the time to look into these trivial matters? Moreover, His Majesty is such a great figure, how could he not know the little thoughts of the local officials?
This is totally unnecessary.

Now that they heard that Xia Zhibai was really going to send it out, they all stood there in a daze.

Tang He also looked confused.

There was even a hint of coldness in his eyes.

Is Xia Zhibai going too far in pretending to be powerful?
He saw early on that Xia Zhibai's attendance at the banquet was just "using chicken feathers as a token of authority", relying on His Majesty's authority to put pressure on the local authorities, forcing them to bow their heads and submit, thus buying more room for negotiation for himself.

This kind of thing can just be talked about, how can you really do it?

Isn't this child's play?

If everyone behaves like this in the future, then won't the affairs that His Majesty has to deal with pile up like a mountain?
Tang He reminded: "Xia Zhibai, stop it."

"Don't overdo some things."

"Too much is too little."

"You have already used your majesty's influence to accomplish some things. Why do you need to continue? This will only bring you more inconvenience and dissatisfaction. What's more, your behavior is very unwise. The court sent you here to solve problems, not to be a mouthpiece."

Tang He's eyes were a little cold.

Xia Zhibai is a little too "smart", so smart that it makes people a little disgusted.

Even disgust.

He has the look of a smug villain. As long as he has some connections, he will talk about it all the time, as if he is afraid that other people in the world don't know. This hypocritical demeanor really makes people feel unfavorable, especially since Zhou Ziliang and other officials before him spoke nicely, but Xia Zhibai has been aggressive all the time.

This is indeed a bit too much.

What Zhou Ziliang respects is the current emperor.

If we really talk about official position, he is higher than Xia Zhibai.

Xia Zhibai smiled faintly, not taking Tang He's words to heart. He looked around and made sure that no one was around, then he said softly: "How could I not know what Duke Xin said? How could I, Xia Zhibai, really be such a pretentious person?"

"I just used those words to make enemies for myself and force these people to be against me."

"Although they were somewhat opposed to me, they just kept smiling and didn't break up with me. I just brought this up so that they could recognize 'me' in advance and take the initiative to stand against me."

"I want to be isolated and helpless."

"only if."

“I was forced to appeal.”

"This is the reason I gave to submit a petition to the court."

Tang He frowned, looking puzzled.

He looked at Xia Zhibai suspiciously, and only after he was sure that Xia Zhibai was telling the truth did he ask in confusion: "Why are you doing this? Why do you have to do this? What good will it do for you to make yourself at odds with the local officials? Wouldn't this make it more difficult to handle the salt administration?"

Hua Lun and the others also looked over, with the same look of surprise and doubt on their faces.

Xia Zhibai smiled.

“I understand that, too,” he explained.

"But when dealing with people, the most feared thing is a smiling tiger like Zhou Ziliang. If you are not careful, this kind of person will stab you out of the blue, and then ask you with a smile whether you want to live or not. The salt administration is actually not that difficult. All the roots are in the stove owners. As long as the stove owners' problems are solved, the salt administration problems will be solved."

"And if we want to solve the problem of the stove owners, we are bound to come into conflict with the local government."

“It’s unavoidable.”

"The court has mobilized so many manpower and resources to go south, it can't just do this one thing."

“My bigger concern is”

"Open the sea!"

"Open the sea?" There was a cry of surprise in the field.

Not only Hua Lun and others, but Tang He also looked incredulous.

What does this have to do with opening the sea?
Aren't they here to solve the problem of the southern stove households? How can it be related to opening the sea?

"Yes, it is to open the sea." Xia Zhibai nodded affirmatively, and he said calmly: "Yuhang passes through Qiantang River, and then directly enters Hangzhou Bay, and then enters the sea."

"After my arrogant attitude, I have completely put myself in opposition to the local authorities. As an 'incompetent person' who 'takes advantage of his power to bully others', when I encounter some things and encounter the local authorities deliberately making things difficult, I feel aggrieved and angry, and I can only think of complaining to the higher-ups."

"Although Yingtianfu is only more than 200 kilometers away from Yuhang, it can be delivered by horseback or other means."

"Now is autumn, which is a convenient time for transportation."

"Compared with canal and land transportation, sea transportation is obviously more convenient and faster."

"I just want to be unique and take a different path from the ordinary."

"I want to use my current 'power' to open up a 'sea route', and then slowly open up the sea transportation."

Hear the words.

Tang He was silent for a moment.

By sea.

Zhu Yuanzhang had told him that this was one of Xia Zhibai's views. However, he did not expect that Xia Zhibai would have the leisure to plan these things now that he was entrusted with the important task of handling the affairs of the kitchen households, and he was worried about his reputation. He already knew that with Xia Zhibai's aggressive attitude, if he proposed to open the sea route, I'm afraid that the local officials would not dissuade him at all, and would even be happy to see it.

Once Xia Zhibai really opens the sea route, I'm afraid the local authorities will impeach him.

The reasons are all ready.

It was Xia Zhibai who kept saying that he represented the will of His Majesty. Now that Xia Zhibai asked for it, how dare they disobey?
For the officials of Zhejiang Provincial Government, the sea route opened for Xia Zhibai alone was nothing at all. Once Xia Zhibai left, they would close it again. It would not have any impact on them, so they did not take it to heart at all.

But who could have expected that Xia Zhibai's real intention was to plan this sea route.

Zhou Ziliang and others were afraid that they were being plotted against again.

Tang He looked at Xia Zhibai with deep emotion, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings. He was becoming more and more unable to understand the young man in front of him. He had so many thoughts and was so thoughtful. Although he was considered knowledgeable in his life, this was the first time he had seen such a thing.

Fortunately.

Xia Zhibai is not a criminal.

"Are you so confident?" Tang He asked curiously.

Xia Zhibai smiled and said, "What if you are not confident? You have to give it a try. Otherwise, if the world remains closed, wouldn't that be like closing the country to the outside world? The sea route is the eyes and ears of the Ming Dynasty to understand the outside world. In addition to the sea route, there is also the Hexi Corridor in the north and the Silk Road of the Han and Tang Dynasties, which are all the eyes and ears of the Ming Dynasty."

"Open your eyes and see the world."

"Only by having enough knowledge and understanding of the outside world can the Ming Dynasty remain invincible, rather than waiting until others come to its doorstep before realizing that the world has changed."

"and"

"Lord Xin, do you really believe that the locals won't take the sea route?"

Hear the words.

Tang He was stunned.

"What do you mean?" Tang He asked in a serious tone.

"It means exactly what it says." Xia Zhibai turned around, looked out the window, and said calmly, "Sea transportation cannot be banned. Even if it is banned, it can only be banned on the surface. With the current scale of salt factories in the south, production has already been in excess, but there has been no price reduction or suspension of salt production."

"That means all the salt has a place to go."

"I just tried to test him intentionally by saying that the imperial court wanted to confiscate the salt merchants who didn't come. I noticed that Li Benmo was very nervous when he heard this. Before that, he was listless when I said anything else."

"The Salt Transport Bureau does not participate in the operation of the salt factory, but Li Benmo is worried that the salt factory will be confiscated. I'm afraid there is another story behind this. Ming salt is indeed not expensive, but if it is transported to Korea and Japan in the north, it will be a huge profit. The court has currently banned the sea invisibly."

“So it’s hard for the outside world to notice.”

"I am also using this opportunity to have someone take a boat out to sea to see if there is any smuggling going on."

Tang He looked serious, thought for a while, and nodded seriously.

Xia Zhibai stood up, hands behind his back, and said calmly: "From the current situation, the salt policy problem in the south is very serious. In addition to the large number of salt factories and the severe exploitation of salt farmers, there may also be a large amount of smuggling and poor supervision. If we continue to let it go, the Ming Dynasty will be increasingly unable to control the southern salt market."

"So these salt factories must be seized and everything laid bare."

“Salt is a very important strategic material.”

"It is also an important source of tax revenue for the Ming Dynasty."

"The imperial court doesn't know the exact local production, nor where the products are sold. It has not formulated a strict employment system, nor has it established a sound and qualified supervision system. The whole thing is just an empty shell. The Ming Dynasty can only collect a little dead money."

“The big ones have all been taken.”

"Even so, these people are still not satisfied and want to get more, and even want to take the court's share."

"Greed is never enough, a snake swallows an elephant."

"They will eventually have to pay a price, and eventually they will have to move towards formalization."

"Duke Xin."

"I'm afraid your hands will be stained with blood this time you go south."

Tang He laughed and said coldly, "I, Tang He, have come through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Killing a few people is nothing. If there are really bastards who collude with the Japanese pirates and smuggle at sea, then these people deserve to die."

"You did the right thing."

"Instead of playing tricks on these people, it's better to scare them on the spot."

"It will at least keep them on tenterhooks for a while."

Xia Zhibai nodded.

He deliberately alerted the enemy in order to attract the attention of local officials, so that he would have an opportunity to take advantage of other places. If he really interacted with these people, given their cunning and scheming, he might be tricked.

If you can’t win by playing dirty, then play openly.

Hua Lun and the others looked at each other in bewilderment.

They knew they had heard something outrageous, something they should not have heard, something they did not even deserve to hear.

They knew that Xia Zhibai had told them this on purpose.

And Xia Zhibai's arrogant attitude before was intentional.

This was to cover up his other plans.

They were all deceived.

At least they all believed it before Xia Zhibai said it.

(End of this chapter)