Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 269: I broke out in a cold sweat!
The next day, it was early in the morning.

Officials including Zhou Ziliang heard shocking news.

Last night, Xia Zhibai sent three groups of people to write a record of yesterday's banquet and report it to the emperor.

After hearing the news, Zhou Ziliang, who had originally had a calm face, suddenly froze in place, with a hint of annoyance and anger in his eyes.

He really didn't expect that Xia Zhibai would really "do what he said".

I thought I was just trying to scare them and make them afraid, but Xia Zhibai actually dared to do it.

Go to the government office.

As soon as Zhou Ziliang sat down, officials such as Wang Xuanfan came, but their faces were full of worry and panic, as if they were frightened by Xia Zhibai's behavior, and they looked a little nervous.

Wang Xuanfan gnashed his teeth and said, "Is this Xia Zhibai really an official of the imperial court?"

"How can there be such a unreasonable person in the court?"

"What the hell is this?!"

"You have to report everything to the court. Do you really think this is just a child's game? When something happens, you have to report it to the parents? It's ridiculous."

Wang Xuanfan was so angry that he wanted to laugh.

This was the first time in his life that he felt speechless.

He had vowed before that Xia Zhibai would never dare to spread those words, but less than a day later, he was slapped in the face in public. Not only did Xia Zhibai dare to do so, but he also acted decisively and sent out these records in the middle of the night.

They couldn't do anything even if they wanted to dissuade him.

At this moment, not only Wang Xuanfan was speechless, but officials such as Zhou Ziliang and Lin Shijia were also speechless.

Lin Shijia touched his smooth forehead and said angrily, "What did Xia Zhibai do? Who will dare to contact him in the future? Whatever he said, he must report it to the court immediately. Isn't this just putting us on the fire? It's really unreasonable."

"Fortunately, we don't plan to contact Xia Zhibai, otherwise we don't know how we would be tortured."

“It’s simply deceiving!”

Zhou Ziliang had a gloomy face. He looked at the clerk who was reporting to the side and asked, "Tell me more about this matter."

The clerk nodded and said, "Your Excellency, last night the Imperial Censor Ding came to our house and asked us to deliver the records. There are three main routes: one by water, one by land, and one by sea."

"By sea?" Zhou Ziliang was startled and instantly alerted. He asked in a concentrated voice, "What does this have to do with the sea route?"

The clerk smiled bitterly and said, "How would an inferior know?"

"It's just that Censor Ding said that they were racing against time to deliver the record, and he also said that every second counts."

"These records must be delivered to your Majesty as soon as possible."

“So speed must be ensured.”

"Because he didn't know the delivery conditions of various roads, he asked us to try every method."

"It was not us who proposed the sea route, but he took the initiative to mention it."

Zhou Ziliang frowned and said in a serious tone: "The court has banned the sea now, how can we open the sea for him alone? Isn't this absurd? Can you agree to this?"

The clerk looked aggrieved and said, "Sir, how dare we disobey? This is a record sent to His Majesty, and the order was given by the minister who followed the imperial envoy. He said that he was following His Majesty's will. How dare we stop the imperial envoy from giving orders? We can only let it go."

Zhou Ziliang's eyes were uncertain.

He knew that the petty official was telling the truth, that a higher-ranking official can crush a person to death.

What’s more, it’s someone like Xia Zhibai.

People who use the power of others to the extreme, even if they call your Majesty "open" or "close" are very troublesome to face, the officials under them dare not offend or provoke him, and no official dares to stop him. If he is charged with a crime of disrespect, who can bear it?
"Are there any government officials on this ship?" Zhou Ziliang continued to ask, feeling a little uneasy.

The clerk nodded and said, "Of course, the person appointed by the government is at the helm."

"The imperial envoy and his entourage have just arrived. They are unfamiliar with the place and don't know the local area. They can only ask the government for help. And your Excellency has specifically instructed that if the imperial envoy has any requests, we should do our best to meet them. I, an official, will also obey your orders." The clerk said anxiously.

Hear the words.

After hearing the clerk's reply, Zhou Ziliang's tense nerves relaxed a lot.

Sea transportation is something that cannot be touched.

Wang Xuanfan obviously knew what Zhou Ziliang was worried about, and whispered: "Councilor, you may be too worried. What can a boat see? Besides, the route is still under our control. Besides, Yuhang to Yingtian Prefecture is only about 200 miles, and the coast is not long. It won't be noticed."

Zhou Ziliang nodded.

He also felt that he was a little too tense.

His face returned to normal, and he said calmly, "I understand. You can go down first. If something like this happens again in the future, you must report it immediately, and the sea route must be arranged by the government."

"Yes." The clerk nodded in response and left quickly.

Back in the lobby, Zhou Ziliang took a deep breath and said irritably, "This Xia Zhibai is really troublesome. First, he used chicken feathers as a token of authority to put all kinds of pressure on us, then he made some documentary, and now he's even going to create a sea route."

"What on earth does he want to do?!"

Wang Xuanfan and Lin Shijia looked at each other, both with helpless expressions on their faces.

How would they know?
Xia Zhibai's behavior made them break out in cold sweats.

Whether it is to record the facts for His Majesty or to go and 'open the sea', they cannot accept it at the moment.

The documentary is okay, it's just their complaints and it's irrelevant.

Your Majesty will not really punish you for this. But opening the sea is different. The Ming Dynasty was "forbidden to the sea" to a certain extent, but the real situation was clearer than anyone else. The Ming Dynasty's maritime transport was very prosperous. Although on the surface, only the ships of the Ming Dynasty royal family were still sailing on the sea, it was not the case.

Many families were involved behind the scenes.

Made a lot of profit.

Even the imperial court's ban on maritime trade was instigated by these people.

In the 17th year of Hongwu, the Japanese monk Yao Zangzhu was found to have colluded with court officials and was directly ordered to be executed by His Majesty.

At that time, the national security of the Ming Dynasty was not stable. The main external threats were the Northern Yuan Dynasty in the north and Japan in the southeast, known as the "Northern Barbarians and Southern Japanese". After investigation, it was found that the Japanese monk Yao Zangzhu had connections with Hu Weiyong. Your Majesty had no good feelings towards the Japanese pirates, so after the 17th year of Hongwu, he directly ordered to suspend all exchanges and implement the maritime ban with all his strength.

The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban officially began.

However, Japan did not give up and kept sending envoys secretly, trying to make friends with the imperial court and purchase some goods from the Ming Dynasty. However, it never received any response at the official level, so these Japanese gradually began to have contacts with officials along the coast.

Back and forth.

Maritime smuggling began to become rampant.

Nowadays, in the waters of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to smuggling with Japan, there are also exchanges with Vietnam and the three island countries in the south.

The smuggled items are diverse.

In addition to the common silk, salt, tea, and porcelain, there were also some weapons and firearms.

The reason why trade in the South is so developed today is also due to smuggling. It is thanks to smuggling that various parts of the South are making a lot of money. On the one hand, they strongly advocate a sea ban to the court, and on the other hand, they continue to win over coastal officials so that the court can never detect it.

The reason why the officials of the Salt Administration and Provincial Government did not take it seriously this time.

That's it.

Salt is a good thing.

But they themselves don't have much interest in it.

Therefore, they did not want to get involved, and hoped to settle the matter as soon as possible. They were even dissatisfied with those aggressive meritorious officials behind the scenes, thinking that they were greedy and causing trouble for them. If the news of secret smuggling was known to the court, it would cause a big incident.

Wang Xuanfan asked, "Is it possible that we are overthinking?"

"Xia Zhibai is from the north, how can he know the situation in the south? How can he know the value of shipping?"

"And after so many years of hard work, we know that in the minds of most officials in the court, shipping is a losing business. As long as the people sent by Xia Zhibai can't find the ships operating on the sea, nothing serious will happen."

"Besides, since he was delivering a message, he couldn't go deep into the ocean."

“I think it’s still safe.”

Zhou Ziliang said in a deep voice: "Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of one."

"I have told these people to be less greedy and not to push their luck, but they refused to listen and pushed the kitchen owners into a desperate situation. Do they really need the kitchen owners' money? They are just greedy."

"Sooner or later, these people will die from greed."

Wang Xuanfan smiled bitterly, not knowing what to say.

Zhou Ziliang snorted coldly and said, "Don't think I don't know what you are up to. You just don't want to part with that little money, so you want to run your own salt factory, and then sell the salt to remote areas like Japan, and then seek high profits."

"But don't forget it."

"The steam engine was invented by Xia Zhibai."

"Xia Zhibai knows the output of steam-produced salt."

"Steam-made salt has been used in the south for quite some time now. Normally, the salt supply in the south would have been excessive long ago, but now the salt market in the south is still normal, which is abnormal in itself!"

"I have a hunch."

"Xia Zhibai should have noticed something."

"Otherwise he wouldn't be so obsessed with the number of salt factories and insist on bringing them under government control."

"They've made a big mess this time!"

Lin Shijia curled his lips and said in a deep voice: "Zhou, the salt administration is the salt administration, and the shipping is the shipping. The two are different. After so many years of hard work, our interests in the South have long been integrated. How can Xia Zhibai stop it?"

"I can't do anything about the salt administration."

"Other people who took action first have already reaped the rewards. We can't let those who come later get nothing, right? For example, Lin Xian and others in Mingzhou have been jealous for a long time. They are also the ones who insist on taking over the salt factory. We have tried to persuade them, but it was no use."

“They are all obsessed with money.”

"I just want to use the salt factories I have to make up for what I haven't made in these years."

“There’s nothing we can do.”

"Because others won't take themselves away."

“No one wants to.”

"If it is really impossible to do anything, it is not a bad idea to abandon them."

"After all, things have to come to an end!"

　I have to catch a train and move house tomorrow, so I may not have time to update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)