Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 305: In order to seize the profits from maritime trade, Zhu Wan treats the big families along the coast forcefully!

The first month of the fifth year of Jiajing.

Upon hearing that the capital was hit by another severe famine, Zhu Houcong issued an edict ordering the allocation of grain from county granaries and money from Taicang granary for relief.

Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue spent another one million silver dollars to buy corn and coal, as well as wood to build huts to accommodate the hungry people.

The large number of starving people in the capital was probably due to the large number of refugees fleeing from other places.

Zhu Houcong knew that as long as local mergers did not stop, the situation of bankrupts coming to the capital would never end.

In this regard.

He could only provide famine relief while trying to find ways to solve the survival problems of these bankrupt people and help them rebuild their businesses.

And this still needs to focus on the current sea ban.

So, one day at noon, after Xie Qian had found Wang Ao and Lin Jun had found Fei Hong, Zhu Houcong was in the Imperial Study Room and asked these ministers: "How is the sea ban going?"

"Your Majesty, the sea ban has taken effect, because Lord Lin has come to complain to me, saying that the sea ban has become chaotic."

Fei Hong replied.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong clapped his hands on his knees and said, "Just start complaining!"

At this time.

Wang Ao followed up and said, "Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Xie Gong also came to see me and was quite dissatisfied with Zhu Wan's ban on sea trade in Liangzhe."

Zhu Houcong nodded.

"It's okay to be dissatisfied."

"You must continue to support Wang Hong and Zhu Wan and let them perform this drama well. Not only must we make those wealthy families along the coast dissatisfied, but we must also make them completely oppose the maritime ban!"

"We'll make them feel a headache when they hear that the imperial court is going to ban the sea!"

"As long as they are not afraid of the maritime ban, it means that the imperial court has not been able to maintain discipline!"

"I still say the same thing. It's not that I don't want the people of the world to live a life of wealth and luxury, but it must be a clean wealth and luxury. I will never allow wealth and luxury to be obtained by undermining the emperor's prestige and impoverishing the common people!"

When Zhu Houcong said this, Wang Qiong followed up and said:
"Your Majesty is right. If they don't care about the court, then don't blame the court for not thinking about them."

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this: "Although the court doesn't need to worry about them, we still need to care about the common people who make a living from maritime trade. We should be careful not to let them rebel because of the maritime ban and become real pirates! They may even collude with Japanese pirates, invade the seas, and plunder coastal towns. The southeast is an important financial center for the court, and any chaos will affect the situation of the entire world. Therefore, we should continue to promote maritime trade in addition to the maritime ban."

"Your Majesty is saying that it is not just the southeastern coastal areas, many people in the inland areas also rely on working to make a living. If they really only block the passage without clearing it, there will probably be chaos."

Fei Hong followed suit.

Wang Ao also said, "I second the motion!"

As officials who came from large industrial and commercial landowner families in the southern inland area, they actually did not want a strict maritime ban.

Although they are not directly involved in smuggling, they provide goods such as silk, tea, and porcelain to major smugglers along the coast. Therefore, if a strict maritime ban is imposed, their goods will become unsalable, which will affect the lives of a large number of merchants and craftsmen.

In general.

The Ming Dynasty was now a foreign trade empire. Ordinary people in the country were not wealthy, so cotton cloth, silk, tea and other important craft, industrial and agricultural products of the Ming Dynasty could only be exported.

Domestic sales can only supply the dignitaries in the capital and the chieftains in the southwest, but the goods these people can consume are limited and they are particularly particular about quality.

Therefore, a large amount of goods could only be exported to the rulers and nobles of small countries overseas.

It’s just that the Ming Dynasty’s current foreign trade profits have not flowed into the hands of the imperial court.

Now, after hearing what Fei Hong said, Zhu Houcong nodded and said:
"Then, as I said before, we will form a tour team in the name of visiting foreign vassal states and complete the trade."

"Let the officials be responsible for visiting their monarchs, nobles, and bureaucrats, and let the accompanying caravans be responsible for visiting the common people and completing the corresponding transactions. The caravans that go out for visits represent the image of merchants in our Celestial Empire, and also relate to my image, so I need to directly appoint families that I trust enough to form the Imperial Merchants."

"I have decided to temporarily appoint the Wang family of Yuyao, the Liang family of Shunde, and the Zhang family of Wenzhou as the three major imperial merchants! Let them each send one of their sons to Beijing to receive the imperial crown and belt, and then go on tours with the Jinyiwei."

Fei Hong and others bowed in agreement.

The Jinyiwei officers of the Ming Dynasty had always been responsible for diplomatic visits. For example, in the second year of Xuande, Jinyiwei officer Chen You was sent to Mongolia as an envoy.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong decided to send the Jinyiwei to represent him in foreign trade with the imperial merchants in the future. This would allow the Jinyiwei to increase their profits and consolidate their loyalty to the royal family, and also allow the Jinyiwei to take the opportunity to gather overseas intelligence and plant spies for him, while also allowing the Jinyiwei to supervise the imperial merchants.

The reason why Zhu Houcong chose the Wang family of Yuyao, the Liang family of Shunde and the Zhang family of Wenzhou as imperial merchants.

That’s because Zhu Houcong had already sent someone to inform them.

They were wealthy families along the coast, had participated in smuggling, had their own maritime trade team, and had surrendered to the emperor, becoming his own people.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong naturally chose their family to become the first batch of imperial merchants.

When Zhu Houcong issued this decree, Wang Yangming, Liang Chu and Zhang Cong had already asked their families to start ordering large merchant ships from the government-run shipyards, in preparation for serving as imperial merchants and going out to sea for trade.

The profits from the official shipyards building ships for these imperial merchants would naturally go into the national treasury, which would increase the court's income.

Of course, after completing the trade, they also have to pay taxes to the court, which can also increase the court's income.

In addition, the emperor would also participate in their dividends and increase the income of the treasury.

In general, the newly established imperial trade meant that the profits from maritime trade no longer belonged exclusively to the big coastal merchants, but instead allowed the emperor and the court to have a share of the profits. It was the Ming emperor who united and won over some loyal big coastal merchants and began to redistribute the profits from maritime trade.

However, the prerequisite for achieving all this is that the emperor and the court have their own powerful navy, and Zhu Houcong is willing to let the families of Zhang Cong, Liang Chu, and Wang Yangming have more to gain.

This is not to say that Zhang Cong, Liang Chu, and Wang Yangming really need enough benefits before they are willing to work for the court, but that the family and network of relatives and friends behind them need to give them enough benefits before they will support and cooperate in their loyalty to the court.

For example, Zhang Cong, who was in charge of building warships, was able to successfully complete the shipbuilding task without cutting corners because his people were willing to work hard under his persuasion and knew that the emperor would give greater benefits to their relatives and friends who worked with Zhang Cong.

Therefore, the premise of all this is that there are people in the ruling class who are willing to be loyal subjects and contribute to the country, so that the emperor can win over some big families and share the profits of maritime trade with him.

Otherwise, the emperor would not have been able to easily cut a large piece of the cake of maritime trade profits for himself and the court.

When Zhu Houcong established the Imperial Merchants, Zhu Wan, Wang Hong and others continued to seize the profits of maritime trade by force in the name of cracking down on smuggling along the coast.

"cut!"

Hangzhou.

After Zhu Wan gave the order, hundreds of powerful and influential criminals engaged in smuggling who were taken to the vegetable market were beheaded one after another.

Heads rolled all over the ground.

Xie Dou and other coastal tycoons behind the scenes were gnashing their teeth because those who were killed were all minions who relied on their power to continue smuggling.

What made Xie Dou happy was that not long after, he received a letter from his father Xie Qian, saying that the people above Zhu Wan had agreed to write a letter to dissuade Zhu Wan.

Xie Dou immediately spread the news and brought many wealthy people to Zhu Wan, asking for an audience with Zhu Wan. On the grounds that the arrested smugglers were all good citizens slandered by the government troops, he demanded that Zhu Wan immediately release the corresponding smugglers who were still in custody and had not been dealt with.

"You said they were good citizens, but do you have any evidence?"

"When my troops captured them, they caught them red-handed!"

Zhu Wan asked and added a sentence.

After hearing this, Xie Dou couldn't help but ask, "Didn't the sir receive the letter?"

Zhu Wan laughed and stood up in front of all the gentry: "I was wondering why you dared to ask me to release him today. It turns out that you knew that there would be a letter from the capital."

"You guys really have great connections!"

Zhu Wan then sighed, and then took out Wang Ao's letter from his sleeve: "Yes, I received a letter from the Minister of the Imperial Study in Beijing, Lord Zhenze Wang. The old man said that we have to ban the sea, but we can't ban it completely either. We have to consider the feelings of the Grand Tutor."

Snapped!
Zhu Wan slammed the letter on the table and said with gritted teeth:

"But I don't understand. What does it mean that the sea cannot be banned, but it cannot be banned completely? Whose feelings should be taken into consideration?"

"But there is no doubt that you, the noble families and coastal gentry, have really sent your message to the Imperial Study, but I just won't listen. I am a minister of the Ming Dynasty, not yours!"

(End of this chapter)