Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

"Everywhere is asking for money. Where does this money come from?"

"Who can give me some advice?"

If the land tax is not increased, where can we get the money from?

All the officials knew the answer, but no one dared to speak out first!

Otherwise, even if the officialdom can tolerate them, the literati in Jiangnan will not tolerate them!

Zhu Youxiao sat back in his chair, took the teapot from Youtong, and drank tea while waiting.

The situation was at a stalemate for a moment.

The officials had been standing in the cold wind for more than three hours, and finally some of them couldn't stand the biting cold and stood out.

"Your Majesty, I think that part of the imperial estate can be sold."

Zhu Youxiao: ???

He was almost pissed off by this guy!

So he asked coldly: "What's your name!"

The man hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I am the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Yu!"

"boom!"

As soon as Wang Yu finished speaking, Zhu Youxiao threw the teapot in his hand at him.

"boom!"

The fine purple clay teapot had an intimate contact with his head, then fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

Blood immediately flowed from his forehead, but Wang Yu fell to his knees without even a groan.

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

"I really can't think of any other way..."

The others were also startled and stood there in silence, not daring to say a word.

Zhu Youxiao pointed at Wang Yu and said.

"What a great Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue!"

"You can't think of a way to make money, so you set your sights on my imperial estate!"

"What? After selling the imperial farm, are you going to sell off the concubines in the harem and even the queen at a clearly marked price?!"

"Like those poor people, who sold their land, then their wives and daughters, and finally even their ancestral houses?"

"Come, come, come, tell me, how much is this palace in Nanjing worth!"

"If it's suitable, would you mind selling it for me, Minister Wang?"

With each word, Wang Yu's face turned paler. After he finished speaking, he put his head on the ground and spoke in a trembling voice.

"I dare not. I have spoken out of turn. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Of course Zhu Youxiao would not show any mercy and shouted directly.

"Where is the Northern Pacification Division?"

Look north and get out of the line.

"Chen is here!"

"Wang Yu is incompetent and deceitful. I will strip him of his official uniform and investigate his actions while in office!"

"If there is any violation of the law, we will never let it go!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yu panicked and hurriedly knelt down to the imperial steps, kowtowed and begged for mercy like a chicken pecking at rice.

But Zhu Youxiao ignored him. Zhen Beiwang came over with several Jinyiwei, unceremoniously stripped off his official uniform, and dragged him out of the Meridian Gate.

"Wait a minute!"

At this moment, the Minister of Justice among the officials suddenly spoke.

"His Majesty!"

"Although Minister Wang made some inappropriate remarks, his crime is not serious enough."

"If Your Majesty insists on doing it his own way, I'm afraid it will chill the hearts of all officials."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Minister of Revenue Zhang Pu stood up.

"I second the proposal!"

Then, the Minister of War Liu Tingyuan, the Minister of Rites Han Rizuan, the Minister of Works Shang Zhouzuo, the Minister of Personnel Wang Zaijun and others also came out.

"I second the proposal!"

As a result, all the six bigwigs in Nanjing stood against Zhu Youxiao.

Left Deputy Censor-in-Chief Min Hongxue also stepped forward.

"Your Majesty!"

"Being punished for one's words has always been a taboo in the court."

"If this sets a precedent, I'm afraid no one will dare to speak out in the court from now on!"

"I hope Your Majesty will take the country and the people into consideration and give Minister Wang a lenient punishment, either by demoting him, sending him to a distant place, or reducing his salary."

"But dismissing him for this very reason and investigating past events is not what a wise ruler would do!"

Zhu Youxiao was completely furious!

In Beijing, with Wei Zhongxian in charge, no official in the court dared to stand up and oppose him so blatantly.

In addition, after a large number of officials in the court were dealt with, the new officials who replaced them dared not act rashly.

But these guys in Nanjing......

They are really not afraid of death!

At this point, how could he not see that Wang Yu was just a pathfinder pushed forward by these six ministers?

But they forgot one thing!

Nanjing is just a temporary capital!

Officials like them are just spare tires!

When he thought of this, Zhu Youxiao laughed in anger and pointed at the six ministers and shouted coldly.

"Great! You are really my good ministers!"

"Do you really think I'm made of clay?"

"Don't just say you're the only ones here. Even if everyone present here kneels down and begs for mercy, I won't take back my order!"

After saying that, he looked at Zhen Beiwang who was standing aside.

"What are you waiting for? Take Wang Yu out to me!"

"Sir, obey the order!"

Zhen Beiwang bowed and immediately took his men to drag Wang Yu out of the Meridian Gate.

All the officials were stunned.

Pan Jun and others vaguely felt that something was wrong.

The emperor is too tough!

In order to deal with a Left Vice Minister, he even went against all the officials!

After a while, Zhu Youxiao looked at the ministers who had stopped talking and said with a gloomy face.

"The matter of Wang Yu is now exposed!"

"Now back to the previous question, can anyone tell me how to fill the gap in the national treasury?"

"The Jian Nu outside the Great Wall are becoming more and more restless. Sooner or later, the Ming Dynasty will have a decisive battle with them!"

"The Portuguese fleet overseas has already occupied Siam, Java, Luzon and other places, and is trying to occupy Taiwan recently!"

"Inside the Great Wall, Shaanxi has been hit by severe drought for years. The people are already living in poverty, and now there are refugees everywhere!"

"These are all major events that can affect the country's destiny. In order to deal with any eventuality, the Ming Dynasty must prepare early!"

"But to organize the army and provide relief to the victims, which one doesn't require a lot of money to be spent?"

"What, are you still going to keep silent now?"

"In that case, I'll tell you!"

"In recent years, the Portuguese have traveled between Ming and the West, grabbing a huge amount of wealth, and the national strength is growing stronger day by day!"

"From this, it is clear that our Ming Dynasty should also lift the maritime ban and try to trade with the world, earn profits from it, and strengthen our national strength!"

"Everyone, what do you think?"

boom!

Compared with the exemption of land tax, opening up the sea had a greater impact on a group of officials!

Everyone knows what benefits opening up the sea will bring, but those benefits are now controlled by the gentry and wealthy businessmen on the southern coast!

Once the sea is opened, it will have a huge impact on these people!

And now these officials standing outside the Huangji Gate have more or less conflicts of interest with the gentry and merchants who control the maritime trade routes!

Chapter 119: Open sea? Close sea?

Strictly speaking, at this time in the Ming Dynasty, the maritime ban had been slightly lifted, but it was not a complete ban.

This situation can be traced back to the Longqing period.

Ever since the eunuch Zheng He made seven voyages to the West during the Yongle and Xuande periods, the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited all ships from going out to sea.

It was not until the Longqing period that Emperor Muzong of the Ming Dynasty, who had ascended the throne just one month ago, announced the opening of the sea, opened Yuegang in Zhangzhou Prefecture, and established Haicheng County with Yuegang as its seat, and set up a Supervisory Office to manage private overseas trade and collect taxes.

Historical name: Longqing Opening

The impact of the Longqing opening of the sea was enormous. Although it was only a reluctant opening, it created a gap in the Ming Dynasty's comprehensive maritime ban, but it still brought considerable tax revenue to the Ming Dynasty.

However, by the end of the Wanli period, smuggling and piracy were rampant, and the Dutch occupied part of Taiwan. The Yuegang trade declined rapidly, and the southeastern sea border fell into a tense situation. Emperor Wanli had no choice but to order the closure of the Yuegang trade and once again implement a strict maritime ban.

The Minister of Revenue Zhang Pu came out and bowed to Zhu Youxiao.

"Your Majesty!"

"Yuegang was reopened in the fifth year of Tianqi, but the actual tax revenue collected was very little!"

"As far as I know, the tariffs collected are not even enough to cover the salaries of port officials."

"Your Majesty, please tell me clearly, what is the meaning of opening the sea like this?"

Zhu Youxiao was stunned when he heard this. He really didn’t know about the opening of the sea in the fifth year of Tianqi!

However, he had looked at the tax records of the southern provinces and found that the total tax revenue in the coastal areas of Fujian had hardly changed in the past four years.

If the sea is opened, Yuegang will definitely be one of them.

But the port was opened, but tax revenue did not increase, which further illustrates the problem!

That is, those wealthy merchants have long been accustomed to smuggling. After all, if they do not go through the port, they do not have to pay taxes.

Therefore, even if the Ming Dynasty reopened the sea and Yuegang was reopened, they still engaged in smuggling activities.

Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he looked at him with a hint of amusement.

"Then according to what Mr. Zhang said, what should we do?"

Zhang Pu said seriously: "I think that not only should we not open the sea, but we should completely close Yuegang!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Left Censor-in-Chief Min Hongxue stood up.

"Your Majesty, I think what Minister Zhang said is absolutely right!"

"Since the ban on sea trade during the Wanli reign, pirates have been rampant along the coast. Although Yuegang was reopened the year before last, these pirates control the sea routes, and civilian caravans are no longer able to go out to sea."