Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 256: Overseas Farming
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but stop. He didn't expect that there would be a civil servant who dared to stand up and state that he was willing to submit a memorial to the court to fully open the sea.

But no matter what, Zhu Houzhao was still quite pleased. After all, there were civil servants who dared to be the first in the world. This also showed that among the scholar-official class, there were still good ministers who were not bound by ancestral rules and cared about the people.

But most of the court officials were not as pleased as Zhu Houzhao. Some of them looked angry like Wei Ying, some looked happy like Liu Yu, and some shook their heads and sighed like Wang Qiong.

However, there were still many officials like Wei Ying who opposed opening the sea. Although the benefits of maritime trade were right in front of them, for them, banning the sea meant emphasizing commerce and suppressing agriculture. Even if the tariffs were returned to the court, they believed that the court had little actual use for silver and grain income was the foundation of the country.

At this time, Wei Ying stood up first and said, "Your Majesty, I think the maritime ban must not be completely abolished. The maritime ban is an ancestral rule and it cannot be violated!"

"Your Majesty, the opening of Guangdong and Guangxi to the sea is already against the rules. Fully opening the sea will only make the people of the world farmers and merchants, which will hurt farmers and destroy the foundation of the Ming Dynasty!"

At this time, Guan Dongsheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Revenue, also stood up and spoke.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao quickly reached out to stop the other officials who wanted to dissuade him from opening the sea completely, and waved to Xiong Jia: "Come here!"

Xiong Jia walked towards Zhu Houzhao and said, "Your Majesty, I, the Censor Xiong Jia, greet you!"

"A gentleman never jokes. As long as you dare to make a memorial, I will agree to it," Zhu Houzhao said and returned to the royal West Garden.

"I obey your command!" Xiong Jia replied.

At this time, Wei Ying walked towards Xiong Jia, waved his sleeves and snorted.

The other officials also looked at Xiong Jia meaningfully but said nothing.

After Zhu Houzhao returned to the Royal Western Garden, he did not continue to summon cabinet ministers to discuss the issue of opening the sea, as he knew that this matter could not be rushed.

Now, for him as the emperor, the more important issue is how to deal with the gold and silver that entered the Ming Dynasty through plunder and trade.

Zhu Houzhao did not want the Ming Dynasty to have inflation problems.

"Your Majesty, this is the latest situation from the East Factory investigation. The price of grain has increased by 10% compared to last month!"

At this time, Gu Dayong from the East Factory reported the latest grain price situation to Zhu Houzhao.

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He had to admit that with the influx of a large amount of silver, prices in the Ming Dynasty had begun to rise. He had to spend this silver abroad as soon as possible to exchange it for various raw materials. Otherwise, the silver stockpiled in the country would only become a pile of precious metals, which would cause prices to soar.

"Issue an order to the cabinet to prepare to set up the Ming Grain Bureau, prepare to raise ships and relevant officials, and be responsible for purchasing grain from overseas! I can invest first, three million or five million taels will not be a problem!"

"Issue an order to the Cabinet, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Royal Bank to prepare for a court meeting to discuss the reform of the currency system!"

"Issue a decree to the cabinet, ordering them to immediately work out a patent system and prepare to promulgate it throughout the country!"

"Issue the cabinet and the Ministry of Education to immediately select the most outstanding people in new theories, new inventions, and new technologies from previous years and this year. They will be divided into five categories: national studies, the study of things and arithmetic, chemical engineering and metallurgy, medicine and physiology, and money. They will be awarded the Royal Highest Science and Technology Award. No more than three people in each category will be awarded 10,000 taels of silver! Grant them the title of Minister!"

Zhu Houzhao immediately issued four edicts in succession. Except for the edict to carry out currency reform, all other edicts were to spend money externally. The purpose was to spend all the hoarded silver and curb the rise in prices.

After receiving Zhu Houzhao's edict, the Cabinet Chief Liu Yu did not dare to delay and began to prepare for the establishment of the Ming Grain Bureau.

"How can I plan to start this business? Among all the civil and military officials in the court, no one knows how to run a company. The only people who can do this are writing eight-legged essays, poetry, and even cockfighting and horse riding," Liu Yu was puzzled.

"It's better to select officials who graduated from the Imperial University. Neither the civil juren nor the military juren are fit for use," suggested the deputy assistant Wang Qiong.

Liu Yu also agreed with this and said hurriedly: "Then let Li Chongsi come, go and call Li Chongsi, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue!"

The chief minister of the cabinet is now equivalent to the prime minister and has the power to directly summon subordinate officials. Therefore, Liu Yu could send someone to directly summon Li Chongsi.

Zhu Houzhao's edicts would generally be made public to officials and civilians, so at this time, officials from the Ministry of Revenue also knew about the establishment of the Ming Grain Bureau.

With the emergence of the Ming Royal Industrial Company and others, officials from various departments also knew that this was a lucrative job.

thus.

After learning about this, officials from the Ministry of Revenue were eager to participate in the establishment of the Ming Grain Bureau.

When the cabinet wanted to see Li Chongsi, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, all the officials of the Ministry of Revenue could guess that Li Chongsi would be responsible for setting up the Ming Grain Bureau. Some were envious, some tried to get close to him, and some were resentful. For example, Wei Ying, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, complained secretly:

"Why did the ministers let Li Chongsi, a third-class scholar, be in charge of setting up the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau? I am a Hanlin graduate and the Left Vice Minister, so I should be the one to take on the role!"

But in any case, Li Chongsi was recommended by the cabinet, and Zhu Houzhao officially issued an edict to promote Li Chongsi to the position of Minister of Revenue (an honorary title) and to be in charge of the Ming Grain Bureau.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao summoned Li Chongsi that night and asked him, "How do you plan to buy grain overseas?"

"Your Majesty, I want to buy it with silver," Li Chongsi replied.

"Silver is of course not enough to buy, we have to grow crops! The Arsenal has a batch of flintlock rifles that are not being used. It's a pity to leave them there. I graciously allow you to go to the Arsenal to buy a batch of flintlock rifles, and go to Japan, Korea, Jiaozhi, Java and other places to engage in armed farming," Zhu Houzhao said, and then continued to explain to Li Chongsi how the Grain Bureau operated.

Therefore, Li Chongsi organized the armed forces of the Daming Grain Bureau according to Zhu Houzhao's request.

This armed force not only has a number of warships eliminated by the Guangdong and Guangxi Navy, but also a number of flintlock firearms eliminated by the Ordnance Bureau. Although it is not as good as the main army of the Ming Dynasty, it can still show off its power when going out to sea.

……

Osumi Castle in Japan.

Three thousand employees of the Ming Dynasty's Grain Bureau blasted open the place with one shot, and hundreds of Japanese were escorted out. They were then loaded onto ships and transported to an unknown Japanese village.

This place was already an important branch of the Ming Dynasty Grain Industry Bureau in Japan. When Li Chongsi saw another group of Japanese being captured, he immediately ordered: "Give each of them a hoe and let them loosen the ground first!"

As soon as the Japanese were untied, they rushed towards Li Chongsi, howling. Li Chongsi's guards immediately opened fire, shooting the Japanese to the ground.

"Cut off the arms of all the Japanese and use them as oxen! Harness the plowshares on them! Let the natives of Luzon help with the plows!"

Seeing this, Li Chongsi simply ordered his armed employees of the Grain Bureau to chop off the arms of the captured Japanese one by one.

Suddenly, there was a miserable sound of ghost howling.

But the effect was good. These Japanese people calmed down and after being forcibly harnessed to the plowshares, they began to work obediently like oxen, reclaiming wasteland and cultivating the land. The natives of Luzon who were captured by the Grain Bureau held the plowshares behind the Japanese and moved forward. The helpers of the Grain Bureau (non-staff members) supervised them from behind with whips, and those who slacked off were naturally whipped.

The main task of the employees of the Grain Bureau was to stand around holding flintlock rifles and kill any Japanese natives who attempted to rebel.

Within three years.

Relying on its powerful armed forces, the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau reclaimed millions of acres of wasteland outside the country, of which 20% was used as operating expenses of the Grain Bureau and 80% went to the imperial court.

In the first year, three million shi of grain were transported back by sea.

……

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, recently the Han pirates have been rampant and have frequently disturbed our Korean seas. They have kidnapped tens of thousands of our people and even directly occupied our land for farming. Their artillery is excellent and our army is no match for them. Please, Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, send the troops of the Celestial Empire to help suppress them! Woo woo!"

The Korean envoy Li Han denounced the pirate disaster in front of Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao knew that he was talking about the armed personnel of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau, but he could not say that it was instructed by the emperor, so he pretended to be angry and said:

"What a jerk! Korea is a friendly country. Although these pirates are Han Chinese, they don't care about the Ming Dynasty's loyalty to its vassal states. Mr. Lin, you, the General Staff of the Imperial Guards, must come up with a way to wipe out the pirates!"

"Your Majesty, it is not difficult to eliminate these pirates. The difficult part is that it costs money. Now the Ming Dynasty is building roads and bridges everywhere, and there is not enough money. The money allocated by the Royal Taxation Bureau to the Guards is getting less and less every year. If the Kingdom of Korea is willing to pay 5 million taels of silver to help the navy to eliminate the pirates, the brothers of the navy will naturally be willing to help the Kingdom of Korea!"

Lin Tingxuan, who had been transferred to Beijing to take charge of the Imperial Guard, understood the emperor's intentions, so he made a huge request and asked the Kingdom of Korea for 5 million taels of silver to suppress the bandits.

Upon seeing this, the Korean envoy Li Han had no choice but to give up.

The Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau's overseas activities became more and more rampant, and the surrounding countries were helpless in dealing with it.

Finally, Korea could no longer bear the harassment and had to once again ask the Ming Dynasty to send troops to help it suppress the bandits in exchange for an annual tribute of 5 million shi of grain.

Only then did Zhu Houzhao agree.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau withdrew its influence in Korea.

As a result, North Korea enjoyed a year of peace.

The following year, the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau made a comeback. There was no other choice. Southern Korea had a lot of arable land, a large population, and was close to the sea, making it extremely suitable for military farming.

If North Korea handed over another 5 million shi of grain, it would have another year of peace.

Finally, the Minister of Rites Ouyang Dan could not stand it anymore and, with sympathy for Korea, suggested to the court that it sign a "Mutual Assistance Treaty" with Korea, requiring Korea to pay tribute of grain every year and Ming Dynasty to protect the sea borders for Korea every year.

Zhu Houzhao agreed and sent officials to Korea for negotiations.

Korea had no choice but to agree, and eventually peace was restored to the Korean sea in exchange for paying an annual tribute of 6 million dan of grain to the Ming Dynasty and adding Jeju Island as the Ming Dynasty navy's base in Korea.

then.

Neighboring countries followed suit and paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau had to shift its business focus to the Sumatra region in Southeast Asia and even to India.

However, the amount of grain obtained by the Ming Dynasty was increasing every year. In the 16th year of Zhengde, the amount of grain collected from foreign countries had reached more than 10 million shi.

(End of this chapter)