Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 286: Abolish the slave system and let the boat people take charge of the ship administration!

After hearing this, Gu Dayong was stunned for a long while.

He didn't expect the emperor to come up with such an idea.

Is this something a teenager could think of?

But Gu Dayong did not dare to object. He only secretly made up his mind to be more honest and kind to his subordinates in the future, so as to avoid being reported and causing the emperor to become suspicious.

Of course, Gu Dayong felt that he should be even more respectful to his superiors.

After all, once the palace secret reporting system was implemented, the emperor would have more reasons to deal with eunuchs like him.

Because as an old eunuch in the palace, he is bound to do some things that break the rules, it is impossible for him to be really innocent.

Therefore, Gu Dayong just bowed and said yes, then left the imperial court and did as he was told.

Once this system spread, there was a lot of discussion in the inner court, but there were also many people who responded. Some people actually started to make reports in the newly installed secret boxes at the gates of each palace when no one was around.

It was the middle of the fourth year of the Jiajing reign.

The focus of Zhu Houcong's Ming Empire's highest ruling class was still on strengthening maritime military power.

"Zhang Fu, the Minister of Works and Right Censor-in-Chief, reported that Qingjiangpu, Longjiang, and Taiping have been ordered to build 62 large ships of more than 5,000 tons, and 109 large ships of more than 2,000 tons!"

to this end.

On this day, in the imperial study, Cabinet Chief Minister Fei Hong reported the shipbuilding situation to Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong, who was standing in the hall, clapped his hands and laughed after hearing this: "Very good, I didn't expect it to be built so quickly!"

Fei Hong replied: "According to Zhang Fujing's memorial, this is because the country has been at peace for too long, and the number of craftsmen has increased. Many of them are short of work. Now the court pays them to build ships, instead of forcing them to build ships as in the past. Therefore, the enthusiasm of the craftsmen to build ships has greatly increased, and there is an endless stream of craftsmen who come to be hired to build ships."

"The shipbuilding is going fast, but what about the construction of the Naval Academy?"

"Does Lord Yang have any memorial to submit?"

Zhu Houcong asked at this time.

Fei Hong replied at this time: "Lord Yang has submitted a memorial."

then.

Fei Hong added: "But according to what Yang Ge Lao said, the enrollment of the Naval Academy is not going smoothly!"

"Why is it not going well?"

Zhu Houcong frowned and turned to look at Fei Hong and asked.

Fei Hong bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, according to what Yang Ge Lao said, no one is willing to send their children to the Naval Academy to learn shipbuilding and other naval affairs."

"Lord Yang originally wanted to allow the children of officers in the coastal garrisons to study in schools, but most of them were either lazy and useless because of their lax family traditions, or their families were strict and only allowed their children to study and become civil servants in the future."

"As for the children of ordinary military households, the regular men had to serve as local officials in addition to garrison duty, and the rest had to farm and serve as officers in the garrisons, so they had no time to study at the Naval Academy."

"Not to mention the children of the common people. According to Yang Ge Lao's report, the children of the common people and the rich families along the coast who are capable are only willing to take the imperial examinations. The uncapable ones are unwilling to take even the most promising careers, let alone study naval administration."

After Fei Hong detailed the problems Yang Yiqing encountered in running the Naval Academy, Zhu Houcong said, "I know that it will be difficult to implement a new thing, so I let him, the Grand Secretary, exercise the power of arbitrary decision-making. He can make decisions on small matters immediately and report big matters later. What will be the way to deal with the reports he submitted?"

Fei Hong replied: "Lord Yang has chosen to recruit children of boat families as students. For any boat family children who are willing to study at the Naval Academy, the fishing tax will be exempted and they will be allowed to change their nationality!"

"very good!"

"That's how it should be done!"

"This Yang Ge Lao is indeed a capable minister!"

Zhu Houcong couldn't help but praise Yang Yiqing, and then ordered:
"Why not just do this? Don't change your nationality. Just abolish the slave system!"

"Let these boat people go ashore, build houses and live there, work hard on the land, and be registered as Class A households together with ordinary people. The powerful and tyrants are not allowed to bully and drive them away. In fact, these boat people are also good citizens!"

"For those who enter the Naval Academy and are willing to be recruited as new naval officers, they can be exempted from household service and fish tax after landing, and only the land tax will be collected."

"People of Qi could also enter the Naval Academy and be recruited to join the navy, and after being recruited, they could be exempted from corvée service of their own household."

Fei Hong nodded in agreement.

And then.

Zhu Houcong also asked about the situation of banknote customs duties.

Wang Qiong gave a report.

What made Zhu Houcong happy was that the paper currency tariff was indeed increasing because the reform of the grain transport system put an end to smuggling and those powerful and wealthy people who obstructed the reform were severely punished.

This made Zhu Houcong even less sorry for the financial losses caused by his previous kind-hearted decision to exempt those who entered the Naval Academy and joined the navy from military service and fish tax.

As the Ming Dynasty developed to this point, a large number of Tanka households had fled due to exploitation, and the fish tax that could be collected from them was very small.

Therefore, according to the fish tax quota determined after the Chenghua Dynasty.

The total amount of fish tax that the boatmen across the Ming Dynasty had to pay every year was worth only more than 500 silver dollars based on the current prices in the fourth year of Jiajing.

Therefore, even if all the boat households went to the Naval Academy or joined the navy, it would not have much impact on the finances.

As for other registered citizens, they also went to the Naval Academy and joined the navy, and with the benefits of exemption from military service, it had little impact.

This is because most of these people are not good at swimming and are afraid of anything on water, so most of them cannot even pass the first level of the test.

Of course, the total amount of fish tax collected by the Ming Dynasty court each year was only worth more than 500 silver dollars.

But it is a considerable expense for each boat household.

First, the officials who are directly responsible for collecting these fish taxes would not really collect only this little, and would often find ways to collect more.

Second, the people of the Ming Dynasty were generally short of money and there was little commercial activity. In many cases, one silver dollar was a huge sum of money for them.

Sometimes, even for a penny, common people need to use various methods to exchange it. Otherwise, many places would not still rely mainly on collecting taxes in kind.

Therefore, although it seems that the fish tax collected by the imperial court is not much, when it actually falls on each individual tank household, it is enough to cause heavy losses.

In serious cases, such as encountering corrupt officials, one may even lose everything and even have to sell his children.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many boat people fleeing or becoming slaves in powerful families.

You should know that in the Hongwu Dynasty, the fish tax rice (a kind of fish tax) alone was 2,179 shi, but in the Chenghua Dynasty, the regular boat households could only hand over more than 200 shi of fish tax rice.

It can be seen that the situation of the genuine Tanka households fleeing or surrendering themselves was extremely serious.

Because of this, those who joined the Naval Academy and the Navy were exempted from the fishing class, which was very attractive to ordinary boat households and could greatly solve their survival problems.

What's more, Zhu Houcong also issued an edict to exempt those who joined the Naval Academy and the Navy from military service.

This makes it even more attractive.

Let’s talk.

When Yang Yiqing set up the Naval Academy in Fuzhou, he did encounter the problem of difficulty in recruiting students at the very beginning.

Against the backdrop of civil officials being respected and military officers being despised, no one in the official families, either military or civilian households, was willing to send their promising sons to the Naval Academy to become military officers after graduation.

As for ordinary military households, they were either fleeing or being enslaved, so naturally they would not take the initiative to come to the Naval Academy to study, or be released by local bureaucrats to study at the Naval Academy.

Pires, a Portuguese who had returned to Fujian to recuperate due to the cold weather, was overjoyed when he learned about this. He smiled and said to Du Qing, the commander of the Wei army, who was on good terms with him, "I didn't expect that your country couldn't even run a naval academy!"

Du Qing also stood up and said, "Yes, many times, I feel sorry for our Majesty. He wants to strengthen the navy, but the whole world is unwilling to cooperate because everyone prefers the days of emphasizing civil over military and does not want the military households to rise up."

"is it?"

"why is that?"

Ferluo, who came to Du's house with Pires, asked at this time.

"You don't know that the Ming army is divided into regular men and surplus men. Regular men are sent to guard the garrison, while surplus men are sent to cultivate the land."

"And military households are all exempt from military service."

"But in reality, the regular men had to serve the local government and undertake various corvée labor, while the rest of the men not only had to cultivate the land, but also had to serve the military officers in the garrison."

"In this way, the burden of dredging the river and running around in front of the government office was basically borne by the military households, including corvée labor in non-garrison areas that should not have been borne by the military households."

"So, if Your Majesty wants to improve the status of military households, it means transferring more of the corvée labor that military households have to bear to other civilian households, and other civilian households will naturally not be willing to do so."

"Besides, except for the wealthy families, all other households have also paid corvée fees."

"So, your majesty's wish to strengthen the army and navy is nothing but a foolish dream!"

Du Qing started laughing as he spoke.

Pires said, "But as far as I know, because of your country's exploitation of military households, most of the military households in the garrisons have already fled. As early as the Zhengtong Dynasty, your ministers said that more than half of the military households in the world had fled. Therefore, forcing military households to bear various types of corvée labor is actually gradually bankrupting. Now, powerful officials in many places have begun to collect corvée money and hire poor people to do work."

"Having said that, as long as the military households have not all fled, the people of that world are still willing to make the military households suffer, rather than let themselves suffer more!"

Du Qing said with a smile.

Pires nodded: "That's right!"

Subsequently.

Pires then asked Du Qing: "But your emperor is said to be no simple man. I think the minister he appointed to found the Naval Academy will not be a simple man either."

"Yang Anning is indeed an extraordinary person!"

"But from bureaucrats to gentry, and from gentry to common people, no one wants to strengthen the navy."

"So, there will never be any place on the southeast coast where he can open a naval academy! Because this is the will of the people. No matter how powerful Yang Anning is, he can't go against the will of the people! Going against the will of the people, no matter how much effort he puts in, is just like fishing in the water!"

Du Qing nodded and stood up. "Everyone, why don't you go with me to the Naval Academy in Fuzhou City to see if it is empty!"

Du Qing was afraid that these Portuguese would no longer want to trade because the imperial court would strengthen its navy, and would join them in smuggling, so he went to great lengths to encourage Pires and others.

After hearing this, Pires gained some confidence and said, "Let's go and have a look!"

So, the three of them, followed by the servants of the Du family, arrived at the Fuzhou Naval Academy, which had just been rebuilt on the basis of an abandoned academy.

But the three men discovered that the dock outside the Fuzhou Naval Academy was filled with numerous boats, filling the river.

Du Qing could not help but call out to Qin Qing, a scholar who was also standing there watching, and asked, "What's going on?"

"It's because Yang Anning asked the boat families to send their children to the Naval Academy to enroll, and said that any boat family children who enroll in the Naval Academy will be exempted from the fishing class forever!"

"As a result, the boat people near Fuzhou flocked in."

"I heard that the first batch of students has been filled, and they are now recruiting for the second batch!"

Qin Qing spoke at this time.

Du Qing was immediately dismayed upon hearing this, and then flew into a rage: "How can this be absurd? Using government taxes as a favor to allow untouchables to learn naval affairs, do you want them to become naval officers in the future?!"

In the Ming Dynasty, boat households were always regarded as untouchables.

According to the regulations, boat people were not allowed to live on land, and there were also restrictions on their ability to take the imperial examinations and become officials.

Therefore, Du Qing would be furious.

(End of this chapter)