My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 101: The Preliminary National Policy of the Single Whip Law (10th Update)
Su Ze also didn't expect that the last thing Gao Gong talked about was to arrange a marriage for him.

The person being proposed to marry was Zhao Zhenji's great-niece.

Didn’t Gao Gong have a conflict with Zhao Zhenji?

Why would she help Zhao Zhenji to find a wife for herself?

Is this some kind of political exchange?

Su Ze also fell into deep thought.

In fact, at his age, not only is it strange that he is not married, but it is also strange that he does not have children.

Of course, Su Ze also has his own special circumstances.

The original body had lost both parents and was obsessed with studies.

After passing the exam, he stayed at home in the Hanlin Academy to study. Then, after Su Ze traveled through time, he was in constant turmoil and those dignitaries did not dare to marry Su Ze.

However, a stable family is also a very important consideration when it comes to promotion in officialdom, just as family situation is also an assessment item in the evaluation of officials in later generations.

Not to mention this feudal era where "there are three unfilial acts, and the worst is to have no descendants."

Seeing Su Ze's hesitation, Gao Gong was not so willing to propose marriage to Su Ze. He briefly explained the situation of Zhao Zhenji's niece's granddaughter, and then said:
"Marriage is a major life event. Now that your parents are gone, you should consider it carefully. You don't have to reply to me today."

Su Ze quickly agreed, ending the topic.

"Is there anything else?"

Seeing that Su Ze did not leave, Gao Gong asked again.

Su Ze said:

"Master, after my Yuefu New Newspaper published the Chronicles of the Sea Kingdom, I received a letter from Tu Zemin, the former governor of Fujian. I inquired about Tu Zemin's affairs and heard that he had been impeached by the censors and was currently under investigation in the capital."

Conducting investigations was the responsibility of the Ministry of Personnel and also within Gao Gong's authority.

Gao Gong thought for a moment and said:
"Tu Zemin? I remember that when Your Majesty first ascended the throne, he was the one who wrote a petition to Your Majesty, requesting that the Yuegang Gate be opened?"

Su Ze said:

"It's Governor Tu."

Gao Gong thought for a moment and said:
"If Tu Zemin is found innocent during the investigation, what position will he be given after his reinstatement?"

As expected of the Ministry of Personnel, Gao Gong decided Tu Zemin's fate with just one word.

Su Ze also secretly sighed that it was too difficult to get things done in the officialdom.

People like Tu Zemin were willing to do things and their petitions were approved by the emperor, but because they offended the censors, they were impeached and investigated, and it took a long time for them to be cleared of all charges.

As for the credit for opening up the sea in Fujian, Tu Zemin was only given the title of the first initiator.

This is still considered good. Most officials work their entire lives without leaving any trace.

Su Ze continued, "The students think that an official like Tu Zemin should be put in charge of maritime affairs."

Gao Gong frowned and said:
"The post of Governor of Fujian has already been filled. What position should be given to him?"

Su Ze continued:

"After Your Majesty ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to open up the sea in Fujian. This is naturally a good thing that benefits both the country and the people."

Gao Gong nodded, he also agreed to open the sea.

The root cause of the Japanese Rebellion was the dispute over tribute among Japanese envoys, and the root cause was the Japanese struggle for the power of tribute trade.

The real Southeast Japanese Rebellion, Wang Zhi and other big Japanese pirate leaders, were actually pirate leaders who fled to the sea from the Central Plains. Many of the Japanese pirates that Hu Zongxian fought were Han Chinese.

The Japanese rebellion has been quelled, but export smuggling in the southeast region cannot be stopped.

Take Yuegang for example. In the early days of the Japanese invasion, it was a smuggling holy land. Even during the most serious period of the invasion, there were still merchants from Southeast Asia who risked their lives to come here to trade.

The opening of the sea trade was similar to Altan Khan's tribute, which was essentially a demand for Ming Dynasty goods from overseas, and the merchants and people of Ming Dynasty also wanted to sell their goods. The court wanted to enforce the ban, but it could no longer stop this trend. Therefore, Gao Gong thought it would be better to just open it up and to ease the flow rather than block it.

The opening of Yuegang was also promoted with the tacit consent of the imperial court.

Su Ze took advantage of the situation and said:

"Master, I believe that opening the port only at Yuegang will cause stagnation in the merchant fleet and concentrate wealth in Yuegang alone. It would be better to open trade in other places as well. This would actually increase the court's tax revenue and curb the rampant illegal trade."

Gao Gong also nodded. He agreed with opening up the country for trade. Since the Japanese rebellion had been quelled and the strong trade demand in the coastal areas could not be suppressed, the court might as well take the initiative to open up the country for trade and collect taxes through the checkpoints.

For example, when the imperial court issued the opening order at Yuegang, it set up a coastal defense office in Yuegang and appointed a post of coastal defense co-governor, who was specifically responsible for issuing "ship permits" as proof of docking for sea vessels.

In addition, Yuegang also set up a tax administration office to collect water tax (ship tax), land tax (commodity tax) and additional tax (surcharge) from merchant ships traveling back and forth.

In addition, the emperor also set up a Maritime Customs Office in Yuegang and sent eunuchs from the office to purchase Western treasures such as spices and gems in Yuegang.

So does Su Ze mean to add more ports and open more ports?
Gao Gong also began to think.

I have to say that Su Ze's proposal is still very tempting.

After Yuegang was opened, smuggling in Fujian was indeed reduced a lot, and the sporadic Japanese pirates also disappeared.

When doing business, especially long-term business like transoceanic trade, stability is the most important thing.

Ocean trade is a highly profitable business. For shipowners, as long as the ship can dock safely, they can make huge profits.

Even if the imperial court imposed heavy taxes in Yuegang, most maritime merchants were willing to pay them, because once you paid the taxes, you would become a legal merchant ship and would not have to be careful to avoid the imperial court's anti-smuggling ships, and you could also take legal routes.

Since the opening of Yuegang, 200 ship permits were issued in the first year. You should know that one ship permit costs ten taels of silver. Just from issuing ship permits, the income is 2,000 taels of silver.

For other expenses, in the first year of Longqing alone, Yuegang’s tax revenue amounted to 30,000 taels of silver!
Don’t be fooled by the online novels Su Ze read before, where people would often take out a million taels of silver to attack others. You should know that in this era, the annual tax revenue of a wealthy province was only a million taels of silver.

Yuegang is just a small port, but it collects 30,000 taels of silver a year. More importantly, the various departments of Yuegang receive cash from the sea merchants.

The Ming Dynasty court was short of silver. In fact, the Ming Dynasty court was not only short of silver, but also of all kinds of currency.

Gold, silver and copper coins were all in short supply in the Ming Dynasty court.

In fact, starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, some ministers proposed to change the collection of taxes in kind, which had large transportation losses and serious corruption and waste at all levels, to collection in currency, that is, to change from collecting grain to collecting money.

You should know that the government started to collect money during the Song Dynasty.

The tax was levied in kind instead of in silver, which is called the Single Whip System.

However, the reason why Zhang Juzheng was able to implement the Single Whip Law during the Wanli period was because after the long-term trade surplus during the Longqing period, a large amount of silver flowed into China. The court and the people had a large amount of silver, which created the conditions for implementing the Single Whip Law.

In other words, to implement the national policy of the Single Whip Law, the prerequisite is to first carry out the Longqing Opening and accumulate enough silver.

What Su Ze wants to do is to speed up this process.

Gao Gong was also a little hesitant. He remembered that he had just told Su Ze to keep a low profile, but this guy always came up with national policies that made him unable to move.

Gao Gong thought about it, then said with a stern face:

"Let's wait until Tu Zemin finishes his investigation before we discuss this matter! You'd better stay quiet these days!"

(End of this chapter)