I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 91: Li Zhuangyuan fights two people alone
After Xu Jie found out the details of the memorial, he began to think about it in his mind.

Abolishing the maritime ban and allowing trade are indeed beneficial to the Southeastern families.

Everyone knows that maritime merchants make huge profits.

Many families from the southeast participated in it.

In the past, there was a maritime ban, and the maritime business was based on the tribute model. You could make money, but not much. Later, taking advantage of the chaotic situation of the "Japanese invasion", you could make a lot of money for a few years.

But the Japanese invasion was a double-edged sword. After those big pirates became powerful, they turned against us and demanded higher and higher membership fees every year. All the little money we earned was given to them. How could we bear this?

Therefore, later on, the aristocratic families in the southeast and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang parties strongly supported the suppression of the Japanese pirates in the southeast.

These Japanese pirates are so evil that they actually robbed us. We must destroy them.

Hu Zongxian vigorously suppressed the Japanese invaders and achieved great results in Nanzhili and Zhejiang. When he began to move his forces to Fujian, the southeastern families and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang parties began to have ulterior motives and stabbed Hu Zongxian in the back.

The Jiangsu and Zhejiang Party and Xu Jie originally disagreed with the establishment of a coordination office to ensure Hu Zongxian's food and money for the suppression of the Japanese invaders, but considering that overthrowing Yan would bring greater profits, they used this as an exchange and stopped obstructing it.

As the Coordination Office grew in power, the maritime business expanded, and many Southeast families became wealthy. In addition, with the navy's control over the Southeast Sea, anyone who did not obey the "instructions" of the Coordination Office would not be able to continue their business.

As a result, the noble families in the southeast joined forces and turned to the Coordination Office.

You can be mean to anyone, but you can't be mean to money.

Now the three provincial governors of Zhejiang and Fujian have submitted a petition requesting the abolition of the maritime ban and the opening of ports to allow merchants to trade, which will be beneficial to the expansion of maritime trade.

But the cunning Xu Jie would think deeply about it.

There should be more benefits than just this!

Without greater benefits, neither the Crown Prince nor the Emperor would do it easily.

So what is their main point in this matter?

The controversy in the Cabinet Chamber continues.

Yan Ne said, "A friendly visit? The local officials came out to invite us to dinner, drink some wine, and entertain us. This is too casual. Our Ming Dynasty is the Celestial Empire, a country of etiquette. How can we be so absurd and let the news get out and let foreign vassals laugh at us?"

"A joke? My Great Ming is a joke in the eyes of many foreign vassals. We are too obsessed with face, and we are treated as fat sheep, but we still have to swell our faces and pretend to be fat. In the eyes of the foreign vassals, my Great Ming is just a bunch of stupid people with a lot of money."

Yan Ne and Guo Pu also understood what was going on.

The top scholar Li Chunfang could not possibly say such "vulgar" words.

After all, it can only be that he heard it from his student, the Crown Prince, and then used it as a mouthpiece to speak it out in the cabinet.

Yan Ne and Guo Pu can ignore the Crown Prince's words for the time being. The key is that the Crown Prince and the Emperor are connected. Could the Crown Prince's words contain the Emperor's intentions?

It is not easy for both of them to enter the cabinet.

Anyone who can stand out from tens of thousands of bureaucrats is not a fool.

Everything will turn around in your mind.

Since predecessors such as Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing resigned in the early years of this dynasty, during the Jiajing period, no cabinet elder dared to ignore the emperor's words and dared to openly defy him.

After thinking it over several times in his mind, Yan Ne said, "That's why Emperor Taizu established the tribute system, paying tribute every two, three or ten years. To win over distant people and to use both kindness and power."

Li Chunfang replied: "Mr. Xu, I feel that this tribute is only a favor, not a power. 'Since I fear this power, I only admire the pure virtue, follow it but not be arrogant, and be upright and supportive.'

Only by combining kindness and authority can one "fear the authority and cherish the virtue, and all will come to be his followers, without daring to be arrogant or lazy, and always showing all piety and respect."

Moreover, the overseas vassal states are all barbaric and do not know the classics, sages, rude and greedy, and have no faith. Every time they come to pay tribute, do you really think they are submitting to the Ming Dynasty and admiring the superior country? "They just want China's precious goods, not because they fear its power and virtue." "

As expected of the No. 1 scholar, he could quote scriptures and make arguments fluently.

The meeting hall was silent for a while, and Guo Pu said: "It is precisely because the overseas vassals are barbaric and rude that our dynasty must show more kindness, spread virtue, improve education, and change customs."

Li Chunfang immediately responded, "Mr. Guo is a modest gentleman who cares about the teachings of the sages and the education of the people. I know that. But we have not had enough time to educate the many unsophisticated people in the Ming Dynasty. We can't take care of educating those overseas vassal states who are not citizens of the Ming Dynasty for the time being."

Well, Xu Jie felt something was wrong. Li Chunfang, who was always gentle and calm, suddenly became so brave today, fighting two people at once, and facing the two cabinet ministers Yan Ne and Guo Pu with ease.

There must be a ghost!

Xu Jie went through all the information in his mind and vaguely grasped something, but when he wanted to reach out and grab it in his hand, it suddenly disappeared.

That's right, this matter must have been caused by the prince, um, now the crown prince, who was the one who messed it up.

I have served the emperor for twenty or thirty years and can understand his thoughts.

There was no trace of the Crown Prince's thoughts.

The rise was too fast, and there was too little contact.

In this case, why not let Li Chunfang finish his words and thoroughly understand the Crown Prince's intentions before making any plans.

Xu Jie stroked his beard and spoke slowly.

"Both Lord Yan and Lord Guo are wise and prudent. Especially the issue of tribute from overseas vassal states concerns the state system and cannot be dismissed with a casual friendly visit.

The Honglu Temple, well, they are now more focused on court meetings and auspicious and inauspicious ceremonies. They are busy organizing major national ceremonies, suburban temples, sacrifices, court meetings, banquets, imperial lectures, enthronement, presenting the calendar, presenting the spring, transmitting decrees, and reporting victories.

As for the pilgrimage of officials from other provinces, and the reports of the officials and envoys, as well as their thanks and resignations, the Honglu reported to the emperor. On the first day of the year, the Lantern Festival, the Double Fifth Festival, and the Double Ninth Festival, the Honglu reported to the emperor on all matters related to the ceremonies performed by officials.

The various foreign countries came to pay tribute, but he had no time to take care of them.

The Ministry of Rites."

Xu Jie had been in charge of the Ministry of Rites before, so he naturally knew that the Honglu Temple had now almost become a follower of the Ministry of Rites, and all matters were dependent on the orders of the Ministry of Rites.

To put it bluntly, the Ministry of Rites gives the orders and the Honglu Temple does the running.

The Honglu Temple is unwilling to accept tribute from various foreign countries. Do you think the Ministry of Rites is willing to take over?

No wonder it was such a mess before, it turned out no one was in charge.

In the Ming Dynasty, the basis of maritime trade was Kanhe, which was closely related to the tribute system.

No one cares about the tribute that is related to the national system and etiquette, so who will take care of the maritime trade that is in compliance with the system?
Overseas vassal states came to the Ming Dynasty to do business under the guise of paying tribute and using the Kanhe agreement.

The local authorities took the case and reported it to the higher authorities, but none of the six ministries and nine temples said anything, and the case did not even reach the cabinet for a vote. If the higher authorities did not say anything or express their views, who would be willing to take responsibility at the local level?

Naturally, it was pushed away cleanly.

With everyone pushing the issue forward and no one in charge, the maritime trade based on the Kanhe system fell into chaos, which then led to the Japanese invasion in the southeast.

There was a gleam of light in Xu Jie's eyes. The Crown Prince was indeed smart. He had actually found the root cause of the Japanese invasion in the southeast amidst the layers of fog, which was the indulgence and chaos in maritime trade.

Then they took a different approach and temporarily replaced the Kanhe system with a licensing system, and combined it with naval force to put the chaotic maritime trade in order.

Maritime trade was in order, everyone could make money, and pirates became chamber pots.

Being despised and condemned by everyone, it is natural that it will be eliminated quickly.

However, replacing the Kanhe system with a license system could only be a temporary measure, because the Kanhe system was also related to the Ming Dynasty's tribute system, which involved etiquette and national system and could not be taken lightly.

Therefore, if the tribute system is not resolved and the license system temporarily replaces the Kanhe system, problems will arise sooner or later.

Thinking of this, Xu Jie probably understood Zhu Yijun's thoughts, so he continued, "Zi Shi, the tribute and cooperation system established by Emperor Taizu is related to the tribute paid by overseas vassal states to our Ming Dynasty. It is a matter of etiquette and state system, and cannot be sloppy. Do you have any good ideas?"

Xu Jie directly raised the core issue to see how Li Chunfang would respond.

In other words, he wanted to see how Zhu Yijun would deal with this thorny issue.

Yan Ne and Guo Pu also tasted the flavor and looked at Li Chunfang with sharp eyes.

Li Chunfang replied slowly: "Lord Xu, Lord Yan, Lord Guo, this matter is actually very easy to handle. It's quite simple."

(End of this chapter)