"Open the sea?"
Suddenly, the old man's eyebrows, eyes, and beard all knitted together, and his eyes were a little unkind.
He is an extremely traditional person. In his mind, anyone who does not cultivate the land and take care of the crops is a second-rate person.
Therefore, although taxes were lightened after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a series of measures were taken to promote commerce. However, merchants in the Ming Dynasty had a low status and could not use slaves or wear silk and satin.
Businessmen are like this, let alone doing business across the ocean.
Doesn't opening up the sea mean allowing people to go to sea to do business? He understands this, but he just ignores it from his heart.
The only bad thing about the vast sea is that there are no whole bodies. And it lasts for several years. As the old saying goes, parents never travel far. They all have families and relatives, so why go to sea?
Orphan?
Isn't it good to work at home, be filial to your parents, and be honest?
Ling Han saw that the old man had a bad look on his face and knew that the old man must have had some wrong ideas, so he said quickly.
"The Ming Dynasty has thousands of miles of sea territory, but now only the port of Quanzhou is connected to maritime commerce. China is rich and abundant, but it cannot be exchanged for new money."
"Not to mention the distance, I checked the archives of the previous dynasty. When the Song Dynasty was in peace, the Guangzhou Customs Office alone had an annual revenue of two million!"
After saying that, he looked at the old man and said seriously, "Cash money!"
The old man was stroking his beard when his hand suddenly shook.
"Two million cash? Hiss..." the old man said in his heart, "This is enough to support the state's taxes. No wonder the old Zhao family has been beaten like that for more than a hundred years!"
Ling Han continued to speak, "Among them, the tea tax is 750,000 yuan! I heard His Royal Highness the Emperor Taisun say that tea is not valuable here, but it is worth gold in foreign countries thousands of miles away. Because we are the only ones in the world.
This is where the tea leaves come from!”
The old man raised his eyebrows and said loudly, "How can we say that we are a kingdom in heaven? All the good things in the world are with us!"
All the ministers expressed their approval.
In fact, their pride is completely justified. Chinese culture has always been the top of the world. In their hearts, the world is all foreign countries except China.
"We all know what you said!" The old man nodded at first, and then changed the topic, "But business cannot flourish in three or two days, nor can it just be done by patting the head and opening the sea."
"Besides, when the sea opens, people will go out to sea. What will happen if they don't come back? Who will farm when they are all doing business?"
The old man's words attracted many conservative ministers to agree. There are only two serious things in the world, farming or studying.
"What His Highness meant that day was that the imperial court could first organize a fleet to go to sea and let the navy protect it..."
The old man suddenly interrupted the other party, "Is the imperial court organizing a trip to sea?"
"His Royal Highness Taisun means that we can find an opportunity for the court to take the lead and organize a huge fleet to go to sea. First, to survey the sea routes, secondly, to promote the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, and thirdly, to eliminate pirates along the way and ensure the safety of the sea routes!"
The old man suddenly laughed out loud, "Oh, the navy is going to sea! Haha!" As he said that, his eyes changed, "Is he going to rob it?"
He always remembered what Zhu Yunxi said to his young sons in the university hall that day. Although the coastal countries are foreign countries, they are rich in gold and spices. If they can trade, they can do it, and if they can't, they can rob them.
These bastard words made those little princes' eyes light up, and they were always clamoring secretly about going to sea in the future and so on.
After the old man finished speaking, the hall suddenly fell silent, and many ministers had strange expressions on their faces.
The Ming Dynasty is a celestial kingdom, and its virtues are powerful and powerful all over the world. How can you listen to the emperor's wishes? The emperor's grandson intends to let the navy go out to rob those foreign countries?
This is really unreasonable!
"If you want to open a few ports for trade and slowly lift the sea ban, we can still discuss it!" the old man said thoughtfully, "but if we want to go to sea all of a sudden, we need to consider this matter in the long term!"
Hearing this, Ling Han felt very happy.
"The emperor's pulse is really accurate to the emperor's grandson!" He couldn't help but think of the letter the emperor's grandson gave him, "When you talk to the old man, you will ask for a high price. Otherwise, the old man will not let go at all!"
Although Ling Han is over seventy years old, he is very motivated and a pragmatic and enlightened official. He has his own views on the maritime ban.
There are all kinds of industries in the world. As long as the people can make a living by using them, and it neither violates the king's law nor violates moral ethics, what's wrong with going to sea?
At that moment, he immediately said loudly, "Your Majesty is wise, since the issue of going to sea is subject to discussion, it is imperative to open the seaports and ports! It is a great kindness to collect tax money to replenish the national treasury and use it for people's livelihood!"
The old man thought about it and seemed to understand. He glared at Ling Han and said, "How dare you wait for us here?"
He was about to get angry, but then he thought about it. Although Ling Han was stubborn, he didn't dare to plot against him like this. The only one who could come up with this strategy and command the six ministers to file a lawsuit with him was his precious grandson.
The fire in my heart immediately dissipated for the most part, and I thought for a moment, "The emperor's grandson brought up this matter, so you just wait until he returns to Beijing to discuss it with him!"
~~~
Zhu Yunxi was afraid that he would not be able to return to Beijing for a while.
Starting from Kaifeng, we followed the direction of the flood bursting and visited Weishi, Fugou, Zhoukou and other places incognito.
What made him a little relieved was that the local officials in these disaster-stricken areas were still fulfilling their duties and could properly handle the disaster and resettle the victims. Especially in Huaiyang, the local officials gathered young people to work for the relief of the victims.
.
However, this journey, like a survey, gave him a deeper understanding of the lives of the people in the north.
The economic center of the Ming Dynasty was in the south of the Yangtze River. Jiangnan accounted for 70% of the world's tax revenue. It was home to outstanding people and prosperous trade. Especially in Suzhou, Hangzhou and the coastal areas, there were already faint sprouts of a free economy. However, the inland provinces remained unchanged for thousands of years.
Agriculture-based.
This left the people with no other choice but to stay on the land and depend on the weather to make ends meet.
In addition to economics and culture, when Zhu Yunxi went to Suzhou and Hangzhou, private schools could be seen everywhere along the road. But when he went to many places in the Central Plains, he did not see a single private school.
"I remember that when we were inspecting the property of monks all over the world, we once said that temple property would be used to support academic studies in various places. How come there are no private schools in these places and no official schools are flourishing?"
On the official road leading to Zhoukou, carriages were driving slowly.
Because it was a private visit incognito, it was just an ordinary carriage. Besides him, there were also Xie Jin and Tie Xuan in the carriage, so it seemed a bit crowded.
"Three feet of ice does not last in a day!" Tie Xuan said, "I am from the Central Plains, and I know a little bit about it. Taking the Central Plains as an example, most of the people who study are the children of officials, and there are very few students from poor families!"
"Since the Song Dynasty moved to the south, the north has become a barbarian land. During the Jin Dynasty, the Chinese Jurchens attached great importance to the imperial examination. However, the Jin and Yuan Dynasties fought here for many years, and everything was destroyed! After the Yuan Dynasty unified, the imperial examination was almost not held, let alone paid attention to.
The official studies of various prefectures and the so-called articles of saints are just decorations for the Han people!"
"After the Ming Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, there were successive wars in the Central Plains and the north. The rich and powerful families who could afford to study were either ruined by the troubled times or fled south to settle down. The common people couldn't afford to eat. Who cares whether they can study or not?"
"Now His Highness is gracious and has ordered various places to rectify official schools. But restoring the academic style cannot be accomplished overnight!"
"In my opinion, hundreds of years of chaos will not be restored even in thirty or fifty years!"
Yes, the root still lies in the word "poor".
Studying requires money and leisure. There are countless poor people in the world, but only a handful of students from poor families. If a family has farmland and livestock, they are naturally willing to let their children study and become literate.
Another problem is that the burden on the people in the north is too heavy. Taxes in the south of the Yangtze River are used to fill the national treasury, while in the north, the soldiers on all nine sides collect grain and tax from the nearest place.
Although the military guards have farms, having said that, those farms are enough for the soldiers to be self-sufficient.
Zhu Yunxi's mind jumped, thinking about one thing and another, but everything was not as expected.
In fact, it is not a treaty in his mind. The country, the country, and the country are one, and nothing is independent of other things.
Xie Jin opened his mouth and said, "Your Highness, moral articles are flourishing in this world, and the promotion of official education is urgent!"
"It's not a rush!" Zhu Yunxi smiled slightly, "I feel something along the way. There are no outsiders. We, the monarch and my ministers, can talk freely!"
After the words fell, the carriage suddenly stopped. Zhu Yunxi was caught off guard and swayed twice.
Immediately afterwards, I heard the guard outside shouting sternly, "Who is blocking the way? Go away!"
~~~
Adjust your perspective and thinking, huh huh!
I owe a chapter today, I will think about it carefully and I will make up for it.
This chapter has been completed!