Jiajing Chengming

As an official from Fujian, Lin Jun was very sensitive to the issue of enhancing the military strength of the Japanese daimyo.

He was mainly worried that the Japanese invasion would return in the future.

Moreover, Lin Jun is now an official who strongly advocates opening the sea.

He did not want the court's official trade to increase its foreign trade revenue again through arms trade, which would make it even more unwilling to open the sea to benefit the people along the coast.

"If we don't sell firearms to Japan, won't they find other ways to get them and spend a lot of money to imitate them?"

At this time, Prime Minister Yang Yiqing questioned Lin Jun.

Yang Yiqing is a staunch supporter of the ban on sea trade.

The imperial merchants controlled maritime trade and the profits from maritime trade went solely to the imperial court, forcing the poor along the coast to rely on the imperial merchants for food and the people in inland areas to profit from supplying goods to the imperial merchants.

The benefit of this is that the central government’s power will be even greater.

As a result, his power as the prime minister also increased.

The gentry and wealthy families in the world had to respect and please him even more.

Because greater power means a greater ability to legally harm the interests of the gentry and wealthy families in the world.

Yang Yiqing may not use this opportunity to rent-seek power, but the gentry and wealthy families in the world have to try to please him even more because he is the Prime Minister, to prevent him from suppressing the prices of their goods through imperial merchants, or even stopping them from purchasing goods from their towns.

So, Yang Yiqing questioned Lin Jun at this time.

Lin Jun was speechless for a moment and just clenched his teeth.

At this time, Zhang Cong, who succeeded Xi Shu as the Minister of Revenue due to his death, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I also do not agree to sell firearms to the Japanese daimyo Niko clan, because this will make the lives of the Japanese people even more difficult!"

"We sell firearms to the Amago clan today, and tomorrow the Ouchi clan will come to buy our firearms, followed by the Otomo clan, the Hojo clan, and the Uesugi clan."

"If this continues, the Japanese daimyo will intensify their levies and extortions in order to strengthen their own troops. This will not only intensify the chaos in Japan, but also make life more difficult for the people."

"And the unrest in Japan is not a good thing for the country."

"First, there will be fewer and fewer wealthy Japanese families who can afford our country's department stores!"

"Secondly, more Japanese will become bandits due to bankruptcy, and they will definitely invade our southeast again!"

"Therefore, I believe that the imperial court should not allow the chaos in Japan to worsen for the sake of the benefits of arms."

"In short, it is best for Japan to be divided but not chaotic."

After Zhang Cong finished speaking, Lin Jun looked at Zhang Cong with great appreciation and said, "Your Majesty, as the Minister of Agriculture said, when governing, one should seek long-term plans to keep the people safe, rather than creating long-term problems for short-term gains! Now, instead of selling firearms to the Japanese for money, it is better to open up the sea to give the people the benefits of making a living, instead of blindly taking benefits from the upper level and then allocating them to the lower level. This will only allow most of the benefits of the world to be intercepted in the hands of corrupt officials!"

"Your Majesty is a sage and benevolent ruler who is committed to enriching the people. You should do as I have said and not harm the people for the sake of profit. Instead, you should give up profit for the sake of the people."

After Lin Jun spoke with great emotion, Zhu Houcong nodded slightly.

At this time, the Minister of Personnel Zhao Huang also said: "Your Majesty, I also think that it is inappropriate to sell firearms to the Japanese. The Japanese are warlike and bloodthirsty. Giving them firearms will only make the situation of fighting among themselves worse, and will also affect the stability of our Great Ming's sea borders."

But at this time, Zhu Houcong asked Yang Yiqing: "How much does the Nizi clan that Xu Jie mentioned intend to pay for our muskets?"

Yang Yiqing hurried forward and reported: "Your Majesty, they are willing to pay three taels of gold for a bird gun, and ten taels of gold for a submachine gun."

Zhu Houcong was not surprised by this.

Because he remembered that in history, when the Portuguese first arrived in Japan, they blackmailed the lords of Tanegashima, Tanegashima Keitoki and his son Tanegashima Tokiyao, with two thousand taels of gold. Therefore, the Japanese daimyo was willing to pay a high price for the Ming Dynasty firearms, and naturally he would not be stingy.

But after Zhu Houcong asked, Zhao Huang and Zhang Cong both opened their mouths wide.

Minister of War Li Chengxun and Minister of Works Wu Wending were also shocked. Three taels of gold for a gun, and the cost of a gun in China was only three taels. There was a tenfold profit here, so they were naturally shocked.

Not a moment later.

Zhang Cong spoke first: "Your Majesty, I have thought about it and feel that as long as we can ensure the clean governance of the government, it may not be a bad idea to sell some firearms to the Japanese first!"

"First, as the Prime Minister said, even if we don't sell it, they will find ways to get it through various means and imitate it. In this case, it is better for the court to sell it to them!"

"In this way, we can also gain some benefits to further develop and improve our firearms to ensure that the royal army can always suppress the Japanese in Japan;"

"Secondly, since the Japanese are willing to pay such a high price to buy firearms, I am worried that the court will not give them to them. I am afraid that corrupt officials and corrupt merchants will find ways to sell firearms to the Japanese."

"Instead of doing this, it is better to let the court make a profit and control the amount and types of firearms sold."

Zhang Cong looked up and continued speaking.

He really didn't expect the Japanese to be so generous.

But in fact, the Japanese daimyo of this era were so wealthy, because they not only had silver mines such as Iwami, but also gold mines such as Sado. In addition, the land in their Kyoto, Kanzhong, and Kitakyushu areas was also very fertile, and they levied heavy taxes on the people.

Now that Zhang Cong knew that the Japanese were willing to pay such a high price, he had to change his mind.

Lin Jun looked at Zhang Cong in surprise.

At this time, the Minister of War, Li Chengxun, also stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I also think that we can sell some firearms to the Japanese. This way, we can curb the Japanese's motivation to develop firearms, and promote the motivation of our military craftsmen to develop firearms. In addition, the increased income can also make up for the huge expenses of the court in making weapons."

The Minister of Works Wu Wending also followed suit and said, "Your Majesty, I second the proposal! Since the Japanese are willing to pay such a high price, we can use this huge profit to further improve the treatment of the craftsmen, and even train more outstanding craftsmen. There is no need to let the profits from the Japanese's need for firearms go to the big smugglers, making the corrupt officials even more daring!"

"It is better to ease the flow than to block it. We would rather use the money earned from selling firearms to strengthen the skills of our country's craftsmen than to use a blockade to force the Japanese to be self-reliant and force the wealthy families of our dynasty to take risks for huge profits!"

"As for opening the sea, it is really not advisable now!"

"Because the common people who dare to go out to sea must be desperate criminals. If they don't go out to sea, they will cause trouble. If they go out to sea, they will be even more difficult to control. It is better for the court to continue to carry out imperial merchants and official trade, and continue to improve the administration of officials to ensure the safety and benefit of the people."

Wu Wendi also went on to express his opinion that he did not support opening the sea.

Zhu Houcong nodded again.

The Minister of Personnel Zhao Huang also stood up again and said, "Your Majesty, I have also thought about it and found that selling firearms is not impossible!"

"Why?"

Zhu Houcong looked at Zhao Huang.

Zhao Huang didn't dare to say directly that he changed his mind because Your Majesty nodded again and was willing to sell firearms to the Japanese. He just said awkwardly: "My reason is the same as theirs!"

Zhu Houcong then looked at Wang Ao, who was also ill and came to attend the court meeting, and asked, "What do you think, Lord Zhenze?"

"Your Majesty, I think it can be sold. In addition, we should not open the sea, but continue to strictly prohibit the sea. It is better to enrich the country than to enrich the big families along the coast!"

Wang Ao replied.

Zhu Houcong looked at Xie Qian who was standing aside for consultation: "Where is Mr. Xie?"

Xie Qian replied: "Your Majesty, I also think it can be sold, but it should not be opened to the sea. Opening the sea is not an ancestral rule, nor is it a good strategy for governing the country and maintaining peace!"

"Moreover, the real reason why the coastal people are suffering now is not because they cannot go out to sea, because whether they can go out to sea or not has little impact on them!"

"After all, most of the coastal people don't have many ships to go out to sea, let alone much capital to go out to sea. Otherwise, the ban on sea trade would not have been successful at the beginning of the country. What really affected the coastal people was the serious land annexation and the transfer of tax burdens by local powerful families to the common people, forcing them to become refugees and pirates." (End of this chapter)