Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 303: Crack down on smuggling, the wealthy and powerful are surprised!
After Zhu Houcong decided to let Zhu Wan supervise the coastal defense of Liangzhe and Nanzhi, he looked at the ministers in the Imperial Study and said:

"Send the order to Wang Hong and Zhu Wan, who are in charge of coastal defense; tell them that the maritime ban must be implemented well and the smuggling tycoons must be beaten and scared!"

"Let them know the pain of banning the sea, then we can start talking about opening the sea!"

This was something Zhu Houcong had already agreed upon with the ministers in the current Imperial Study.

A strict ban on sea activities must be implemented before the sea is opened.

All the ministers in the Imperial Study bowed in agreement and returned to the cabinet together.

Lin Jun felt unhappy when he saw the three people coming back from the imperial study.

But soon, Lin Jun learned the reason from the "Yumin Daily" which published the donation information of associations from various places.

"I didn't expect Wang Zhenze and the others to be this kind of people!"

Bang!
Lin Jun couldn't help but slam his fist on the table, and became indignant.

Nanzhi officials such as Wu Yipeng were naturally very happy when they learned that Wang Ao had really entered the imperial study.

Especially after knowing that the emperor had promoted Zhu Wan at the request of Wang Aozhi and began to promote his fellow villagers.

These Nanzhi officials felt that their money was not wasted.

His Majesty the Emperor will not take benefits for nothing.

Not long after, Zhu Wan received an imperial decree ordering him to be the commander-in-chief of the coastal defense of Liangzhe and Nanzhi.

"The minister accepts the order!"

Zhu Wan accepted the order with great excitement.

His colleagues were all envious of him for being able to be promoted so quickly, and they all knew that it was probably because his fellow countryman Wang Ao was a cabinet minister in the court that he was able to be promoted so quickly.

This made his colleagues begin to hope that people with qualifications and reputation among their fellow townsmen could join the ruling class as soon as possible.

Also transferred to Zhejiang along with Zhu Wan were Jiao Yu, the commander-in-chief of the newly formed navy who served as the lieutenant general, Wang Ying'en, the commander-in-chief of the anti-Japanese war who served as the guerrilla commander, and Pan Dinggou and other officers and soldiers.

The current military system of the Ming Dynasty is beginning to shift towards a battalion system.

Many generals were originally officials of the garrisons and the Duzhihuishisi, but when exercising their power, they held positions in the barracks, such as lieutenant general and guerrilla commander, which meant they were generals who could lead troops on their own. They were not under the control of the Duzhihuishisi but directly took orders from the governor's office.

However, many middle and lower-level military officers were still garrison officers, that is, officers of the rank of thousand households or hundred households, and did not hold official positions in the barracks.

This is because they were originally subordinates of officers serving as lieutenant generals and guerrilla battalion officers. They did not need to lead troops independently and therefore did not have corresponding battalion officer positions.

But in the future when it is necessary to lead a small-scale independent army to defend or capture a place, the battalion system will continue to be improved, and middle and lower-level official systems such as the captain and sentry officer will appear.

In fact, the nine northern borders now have an officer system called the battalion commander because they often need to fight small-scale invasions by barbarians and have to respond to them as quickly as possible without having time to consult their superiors first.

After Zhu Wan arrived in Hangzhou, Liangzhe, Jiao Yu, Wang Yingen and others had already arrived there.

Therefore, after Zhu Wan arrived in Hangzhou, he was able to quickly gather all the important generals of the coastal defense office together, and held the imperial edict to sternly prohibit:

"Your Majesty's decree: the sea ban must be strict!"

"So you are not allowed to protect smugglers, nor are you allowed to participate in smuggling. Violators will be severely punished!"

"The principal offender will be sentenced to death, his ancestral position will be revoked, and his family will be sent to the border as soldiers!"

"It's the same from me, the commander-in-chief, to all of you, the lieutenant generals, guerrillas, thousand-householders, and hundred-householders."

"And soldiers."

The generals couldn't help but gasp.

They did not expect that the imperial court would not only impose death penalty on those who sheltered smugglers and participated in smuggling, but also deprive them of their hereditary positions and implicate their families.

The latter is something they cannot afford.

After all, it is not easy to obtain a hereditary position, and involving family members is emotionally unbearable.

"do you understand?"

Zhu Wan asked.

Jiao Yu and others immediately bowed and answered loudly: "Understood!"

"In addition, according to the Great Ming law, all the goods obtained from smuggling, including the cargo ships and vehicles, will be seized by the government, and one-tenth of the proceeds will be paid as a reward to the informant."

"So, His Majesty has issued an order that this article should be strictly enforced. You can develop as many informants as you want. When the time comes, both you and the informants will be considered informants, and you can get three-tenths of the reward. I will not take a single cent."

"So, if you want to get rich, keep your eyes open and work hard with courage and loyalty, don't try to take shortcuts!"

Zhu Wan continued to speak. Jiao Yu and others continued to nod in agreement, but they all looked very excited.

After all, three-tenths of the reward is given as a bonus, and their boss Zhu Wan doesn't take a penny, which means that they can earn a huge sum of reward money through smuggling.

Because in fact they also know how lucrative the profits from smuggling are.

Not to mention three points as reward, even one point as reward is several times more than the regular salary, which is certainly enough for them to work hard to combat smuggling.

And they don't have to worry about offending the coastal gentry by cracking down on smuggling too aggressively, because it was Zhu Wan who requested it, so if anyone had to take the blame, it would be Zhu Wan.

"Please rest assured, I will never make the slightest mistake. If anyone among you is blind and does not take your Majesty's orders seriously, and pretends to obey but actually disobeys them, I will report it to the emperor and ask him to be held accountable according to the law! No matter who he is!"

Jiao Yu answered at this time.

Wang Ying'en and the others also followed suit and bowed: "The same goes for us!"

"very good!"

Zhu Wan nodded accordingly.

"Now listen to my orders! Lieutenant General Jiao Yu will lead the Jinghai Camp to the forbidden seas of Nanzhi, and guerrilla Wang Yingen will lead the Haibei Camp to the forbidden seas of Liangzhe!"

"I will personally lead the battalion to patrol at any time. If I find that you are not taking precautions, don't mention in front of me that he has made any contributions to the country or shed any blood. No matter who he is, I will deal with him severely and show no mercy!"

Zhu Wan continued speaking in a deep voice.

"Don't dare!"

"Then let's do it!"

"Yes!"

……

……

The maritime ban was known to coastal officials and gentry through various channels as early as the imperial court issued an order for Zhu Wan to be the commander-in-chief of the coastal defense of Nanzhi and Liangzhi.

But they didn't take it seriously at first, and even supported it.

"It's good to ban the sea!"

"The ancestral system should be followed carefully. Only by following the laws established by our ancestors can the world be revived."

Lin Shiyuan, the Nanjing Censor, discussed his views on the maritime ban at a gathering of scholars and literati in the southern capital.

Xie Dou, the son of Xie Qian from Yuyao, Shaoxing, also called together his own family and said:

"My father has sent me a letter saying that the imperial court has decided to ban the sea rather than open it, so he wants us to take this opportunity to buy more goods and go out to sea, even if we have to borrow money, so that we can earn back the 10 million taels of silver as an apology as soon as possible!"

"In addition, the land rent will also be increased by 30%. If the sea is banned, fewer and fewer common people will be able to go out to sea. At that time, there will be more and more tenants and servants. This is a good opportunity to increase the rent."

"Also, we will let those sea merchants who are under our protection take three points less profit, and ask them to deliver the goods first, and we will give the price one year later. If anyone's goods are late, we will postpone it for another year. If anyone refuses to agree, don't even think about being protected by our Xie family anymore!"

"Yes!"

For a while.

Many tenants and sea merchants in the Liangzhe area complained about the Xie family and wished to wipe out the entire family, but they dared not speak out and could only accept it.

After all, a strict maritime ban is imminent, and if maritime merchants don’t have the protection of the Xie family, not only will they not make any money, but they will also lose their heads and implicate their families!

The common people no longer dared to go out to sea privately, and could only continue to rent the fields of Xie family. Strictly speaking, many of Xie family's fields were hidden fields that did not have to pay taxes, so it was still more cost-effective than renting government fields or buying fields by themselves, so they had no choice but to endure it.

What the maritime merchants did not expect was that even though they had the protection of the Xie family, the navy of the Coastal Defense Office still sealed them off.

"How dare you! We are from Master Xie's family! Are you going to seal it up too?"

When a smuggling merchant ship near Dinghai was seized by Pan Dinggou, a captain of the Haibei Camp, the leader of the merchant ship, Xu Bin, directly pointed out the background of the merchant ship. Pan Dinggou ignored him, pulled out a knife, and put it to Xu Bin's chest: "Be bound obediently, or I will execute you right now!"

"Then why don't you try this method?"

"You poor military family, do you really think that you can scare us wealthy people by threatening us with the banner of the government army?"

Pfft!

Pan Dinggou suddenly stabbed Xu Bin in the chest with a knife.

Xu Bin was shocked and pointed at him: "You really killed me!"

(End of this chapter)