high official

Chapter 218
"The emperor doesn't test your knowledge of classics and righteousness. There are those people who are pedantic and masters of Confucianism, and you are supervised by Master Yao. This aspect is definitely not bad." Zhu Di said with a smile: "However, no matter how much knowledge you have, if you can't understand it and apply it in the world, He's just a two-legged book cook, how is he different from an illiterate person?"

"It's so good." Yao Guangxiao, who had been silent all this time, suddenly praised: "The emperor has clearly revealed the shortcomings of the current imperial examinations."

"Unfortunately, the father is so wise that he has to re-open the scientific examination. I have been inferior to my ancestors so much, what can I do?" Zhu Di sighed, and said to Zhu Zhanji: "But my grandson doesn't need to take the imperial examination, and he can't do it. You don’t need to drop your book bag, reading is to apply what you have learned. The emperor wants to see now, whether your head has been damaged by those old Confucians..." After a pause, he said: "I am asking you, I will send Zheng He three times Xiyang, what do your masters think, and what do you think?"

Zhu Zhanji couldn't help groaning secretly, this question really makes people scratch their heads. Three years after Yongle, Zheng He led the fleet to the West for the first time, and it was accompanied by controversy.The main opponents were civil servants. It was okay for the first time. The ministers were shocked by the rare treasures brought back by Zheng He and the envoys of various countries. Word.

But everything was repeated again and again, and the last time I went to sea, the courtiers became more annoying. This time, they realized that the emperor had another intention to go to the West.What embarrassed Zhu Zhanji was that several of his teachers were also on the list of persuasion. If he disagreed with his teachers, it would be embarrassing to meet him in the future, but he dared not disobey the emperor.I had no choice but to say with a straight heart:

"Returning to the emperor, my grandson's masters also agree with the national policy of the imperial court's long-distance and short-term attack, but they just feel that the imperial court is now using soldiers to fight each other, build Beijing City, and rebuild the Grand Canal. It’s a time when the situation is getting worse and the situation is tight, so it’s understandable to hope that the court will save money.”

"Hmm." Zhu Di said noncommittally, "What do you think?"

"Grandson's humble opinion is different," Zhu Zhanji changed the subject: "Grandson thinks that because the imperial court has huge expenditures and cannot make ends meet, it is more appropriate to go to the West!"

"Oh?" Zhu Di changed his expression and said, "Why do you say that?"

"The masters are all ministers of Neo-Confucianism who are not talkative, but the court wants to fight wars, practice, and dig canals. Just being reasonable can't do it. It also needs manpower and material resources, and manpower and material resources need real money!" Zhu Zhanji said: "People have only seen that Uncle Ma's fleet has hundreds of large ships and tens of thousands of horses each time, and they think that it must cost a lot. But they never thought that if there is no income, how can such a huge fleet be done?" So, persist overseas for two years, but don’t need to return to China for supplies?”

"Hehe." Zhu Di looked at Zheng He, then at Yao Guangxiao, and the three of them looked at each other and smiled. Those civil servants couldn't understand such a simple truth, not even a child under 16 years old!
In fact, Zhu Zhanji did not rely on guessing, but Zheng He personally told him when he went to Jiangnan last year.Zheng He told Zhu Zhanji that going to sea is burning money.Sailors, officers and soldiers can overcome their fear of the vast sea, and they will not be able to return to China for two years after going there. There is no other way except that there must be brave men under heavy rewards.

The fleet drifts at sea for a day, and it will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver just to pay for the sailors, officers and soldiers, plus shipbuilding, ship repair, supplies, and gifts along the way. Nearly 1000 million taels of silver.Although the current emperor is determined to surpass the kings of the past and present and be the first emperor through the ages, he is by no means the second-generation ancestor who is overconfident like Emperor Sui Yang.Even if you want to show off your country's prestige and promote orthodoxy, you can play a money-burning game like sailing to the West once, and you will never repeat it over and over again...

The only explanation is that the actual benefits he got from the voyages outweighed the costs he paid. Only in this way can people have the motivation to repeat!
The secret lies in his father Zhu Yuanzhang's ban on the sea that "no tree can go into the sea".The emperor Taizu who was born as a small farmer, even if he could make "the crescent moon in the sky is a fishing hook, tell me how many rivers and mountains there are", "the sky is a tent and the ground is a felt, and the sun, moon and stars accompany me to sleep."I dare not stretch my feet at night, for fear of stepping on mountains and rivers. 'This kind of heroic and eternal poem, but facing the vast ocean, still produces deep fear, and subconsciously thinks that he cannot grasp it.Then he began to worry, if the people of Daming fled to the sea, wouldn't he be helpless?

what to do?Easy!Promulgated a ban on the sea, the boards are not allowed to go to the sea, and no one is allowed to go to the sea, so there is no problem!
The national policy set by Emperor Taizu has always been like this. If he thinks there is no problem, then he will do so, regardless of other people's opinions.The ban on the sea was promulgated in the name of dealing with Japanese pirates. Unexpectedly, the Japanese pirates who harassed the coast not only did not decrease, but intensified, and even took land from the sea.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand until his death, why the more strict the sea ban was, the more serious the Japanese problem would be?
It was Daoyan monk Yao Guangxiao who solved the mystery.Back then when Zhu Di was in the mansion, he wiped out a group of Japanese pirates who invaded Beiping. When he asked this question inconceivably, Dao Yan told him that everything was because of the sea ban.You must know that the generation of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong has a long history of maritime trade.Since the Tang Dynasty, maritime merchants have exported countless domestic products to North Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, and even further to the West, and also trafficked overseas products to China, making huge profits and becoming rich.

Especially in the Southern Song and Yuan Dynasties, overseas trade reached its peak, and even half of the imperial court's annual revenue came from sea.At the same time, the big merchants in Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong are also wealthy and have developed into a force that cannot be ignored.For example, the Pu family in Quanzhou, the Zhu family in Chongming, and the Zhang family in Jiading... These long-established big merchants even became rich.And Emperor Taizu banned them from going out to sea with a sea ban order. Even if these sea families could wash their hands and go ashore to live an honest life, the giant ships and sailors under their command would not agree!

It's like a big river, which originally flows eastward, but occasionally it is damaged during the flood season, and it can also nourish the people on both sides of the strait.If you insist on blocking the river course, the river will be so fierce that if it escapes from the river course and floods, it will submerge the farmhouses and villages on both sides of the river, causing a hundred times more damage.This is also true of the ban on seas.

As a result, many sea merchants were forced into the sea in this way and became big pirates. In order not to hurt their relatives in the country, they often shaved their hair and changed clothes, and dressed up as Japanese to cover up their identities.With the participation of these fake Japanese pirates who know the country well, are wealthy and well-equipped, it is no wonder that the Japanese plague does not intensify.

In the eyes of Yao Guangxiao and Zhu Di at the time, since the crux of the problem was found, there was a solution. As long as the Japanese pirates were strictly suppressed, the sea ban was lifted, and the pirates who came ashore were amnesty, the Japanese plague would disappear soon.But when Zhu Di became the emperor, he realized that this strategy would not work. The reason why he couldn’t raise troops was that Jianwen changed the law of his ancestors indiscriminately. Can you move the sea ban issued by the Taizu?
What's more, Zhu Di never thought of lifting the sea ban, the reason is very simple.What is banned in the sea is civilian ships, not official ships. The navy of the imperial court can still sail the four seas!The sea ban was lifted, and the sea merchants made money, most of which belonged to them. How much profit could the court share?Why not monopolize it like iron and salt, and do it yourself? !

When ordinary people come up with ideas, maybe they just think about it, but once the idea of ​​a generation of emperors sprouts, it will definitely become a reality, so there is Zheng He's voyage to the West!The reason why more than 300 huge ships and nearly [-] troops were dispatched is because the sea is a lawless place, and the pirates are fierce and arrogant. There are tens of thousands of large pirate gangs, and there are more than one family. The pirates are defeated, where will Emperor Yongle's face go?

Moreover, such a super navy that covers the sky can also show off its force to the Southeast Asian countries, defeating others without fighting, so that they can restore their awe of the court, and more importantly, worship him as the emperor, this is also Emperor Yongle What he dreamed of... When Zheng He first went to the West, Zhu Di's wishful thinking was that even if the trip could not be done, he would let the countries in the South China Sea know that if he was the emperor of Ming Dynasty, he would make several vassal states come forward. It is worth it to come to pay tribute and create a scene of all nations coming to court!

Of course, in order to reduce domestic opposition, Zheng He's fleet's frequent overseas trade was deliberately covered up. After all, the emperor was engaged in business.So it is only said to the outside world that it is to promote the country's prestige, to contact the countries in Southeast Asia, etc...

In fact, the reason why Zheng He went to the West again was that the emperor was short of money.

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From Zheng He, Zhu Zhanji had already learned the purpose of the emperor's sending people to the West, so he could choose what Zhu Di liked to hear, and made the emperor's grandfather very happy. The heart of the emperor!" He said with a gratified smile: "Not bad, you have made progress, and you want to reward it! Tell me, what do you want the emperor to reward you for?"

"My grandson doesn't want anything else," Zhu Zhanji said with a smile, "I just want to ask, can I add someone to my young army?"

"Who?" Zhu Di asked with a smile.The so-called young army is that he ordered the Ministry of War last year to select from all over the country aged between 20 and [-], brave, strong, and slightly talented folk children, and send them to the capital to serve as the entourage of the emperor's grandson Zhu Zhanji. And for this and for this army named, called 'young army'.

These people are actually the emperor's grandson's personal security force. It is reasonable for Zhu Zhanji to want to recruit some people.He replied softly: "It's a small official that my grandson met by chance when he was in Suzhou. He is very smart and capable. I want him to help me manage people."

Hearing that he was a petty official, Zhu Di lost interest in asking, nodded and said, "Just tell Jin Shangshu, and he will help you."

"Thank you, my lord!" Zhu Zhanji said overjoyed, and his heart said it!

(End of this chapter)