Chapter 1,432: Find out the situation of the Japanese fleet in advance!
"How many of the ships in Ningbo are Fans and Japanese, and how many are gentry and powerful people from the coast?"
Hearing this question from Fantai, Shi Wende trembled all over and was horrified. As a member of the maritime merchants, he actually knew the answer to this question. That is, "Seven of the ten Japanese ships are fake."
"Ship", "Among the ten sea-going ships, there are nine, all of which are suitable for use that cannot be checked"!
Behind the profit sharing of Ningbo Port's maritime trade, 30% belongs to the middle-ranking officials in charge of the city's shipping department, 40% belongs to the gentry and noble families who sit in the land, 20% belongs to the sea owners who transport cargo, and 10% belongs to the merchants who are qualified to be affiliated.
The Japanese merchants didn’t give even half of their money to the imperial court!
This is an extremely huge interest network, which continuously flows into the hinterland south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty, with a large amount of luxury goods and money flowing in. The wealth of the coastal gentry has expanded rapidly, and the annexation of land has also increased day by day. If a chief envoy was born in the south of the Yangtze River,
Naturally, I am familiar with the private trade situation along the coast, and I will not be really ruthless.
In the shipping and sea trade of the three coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, all the gentry and noble families on the coast are involved, but there are more or less problems. None of the wealthy families are really clean, and no one would cut themselves with a knife.
On your body!
But now, this chief envoy who was born in Shanxi was transferred from Shaanxi to Zhejiang. He really has nothing to do with the huge coastal maritime trade interests!
If he really wants to represent the imperial court, rectify the Zhejiang officialdom, tighten the maritime ban, and start liquidating the "generally illegal maritime trade". Then such a Northern Jinshi who has been prepared for the Northern Lu is really a sharp guillotine in the hands of a saint!
When such a sword is swung down from the court, not to mention whether it can really kill those "sitting tigers", at least the snakes and rats that emerge will inevitably be separated from their heads. And the Shi family has all been killed in Fantai.
Even though he has a "prestigious reputation", can he still be spared? An ordinary title cannot protect such a big scene...
This is the tragedy of the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants. Even if they can gather hundreds or thousands of people to travel across the Southeast Asian countries, they will still be at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty's "food chain". Unless sea trade continues to expand and the power of maritime merchants continues to expand, until they can forcefully
Break free from this "food chain"... But by that time, the court's eyes will see that it may not just be a matter of killing hundreds of people with a guillotine!...
"My lord! Lord Fantai!..."
Shi Wende couldn't sit still anymore, and with a "pop", he knelt down in front of the Chief Envoy Wang Zhe. He was trembling with sweat and tried to defend himself.
"Lord Fantai!...Although sea trade is indeed...a lot of illegal...but after all...it always relies on the ship trade allowed by the imperial court...and never dares to openly raise the flag to disobey..."
"And these ship trades have indeed given many landless people in Zhejiang Province a way to support their families!..."
"The four prominent families in Ningbo in this dynasty... the Lu family in Xihu, the Zhang family in Chahu, the Tu family in Jiangbei, and the Yang family in Jingchuan... are all Jinshi families! In the past twenty years, they have sheltered thousands of acres of farmland, driving out
Thousands of ordinary people entered the city..."
"If there are no manpower hired by the ship trade, then these thousands of small people without a livelihood... can only become refugees, dying of cold, cold and starvation!... I hope Lord Fantai will raise his hand and leave a gap for sea trade.
Let the common people have a way out!…”
"Huh? The Lu family of Xihu, the Zhang family of Chahu, the Tu family of Jiangbei, the Yang family of Jingchuan...the landless people turned into troubled refugees?..."
After hearing this, the chief envoy Wang Zhe stroked his beard and did not say anything for a long time. The scholar-bureaucrats kept saying "agriculture is the basis", but when it came to the question of land annexation, it was difficult to answer. According to Zhu Xi's teachings, this answer has no meaning.
Of course, we must vigorously suppress annexations, punish the powerful, and ensure the arable land for the small people to survive!
But in fact, those who really occupied land in the Ming Dynasty were never the powerful, but the famous gentry families and the scholar-bureaucrats themselves. In this reality, it is really difficult to inventory the land and kill the scholar-bureaucrats themselves.
.
Even though Wang Zhe was a northerner with no interests involved, he would not have been able to make up his mind to attack prominent families like "Lu Zhang Tu Yang" without the strong support of the imperial court!
If the fundamental annexation problem is not solved and land for cultivation is not provided, sea trade is simply banned, landless people are not given a way to survive, and they are forced to become refugees... For Wang Zhe, the chief minister, the harm is far greater than the benefit.
It is easy to cause civil unrest.
And in this period of Hongzhi and Zhongxing, he could not say such stupid words as "Kill all the bandits" like the scholar-bureaucrats who "degenerated" during the Chongzhen period more than a hundred years later.
"To the east and west of Ningbo, there are still tidal flats and hills... If we work hard to cultivate them, we can still get some Botian... ugh!"
The chief envoy Wang Zhe said half-way, and then sighed softly. It has been 150 years since the founding of the capital. How can there be uncultivated fields in the hinterland of Jiangnan with such a prosperous population? Those tidal flats and hills are simply uncultivated.
If it cannot be cultivated, it will be difficult for rice and wheat to survive, and even the seeds cannot be harvested...
"That's it, that's it! The imperial court does not compete with the people. I will only stay in this position of chief envoy of Zhejiang for two or three years at most. There are some things that I turn a blind eye to and don't want to delve into.
…”
The chief envoy Wang Zhe shook his head, the killing intent in his eyes disappeared, leaving only a helpless wry smile.
The Ming Dynasty did not compete with the "private scholar-officials" for profits. It has been more than a hundred years. First, it has not established trade tariffs and levied maritime trade taxes. Second, it has not controlled copper and silver and minted silver coins. The bulk of the interests of maritime trade has always been
With a tacit approval of the bureaucracy and a blind attitude, it flowed into the pockets of the coastal gentry.
In these years, it is not that there were no scholar-bureaucrats who wrote letters advocating the reform of the Municipal Shipping Department. The imperial court also recognized the loss of "Fanship" commercial tax, and there were endless internal debates. However, in the developed civil service system of the Ming Dynasty, if they wanted to make some reforms,
How difficult is it? As long as you really want to reform something or change the distribution of benefits, you will face huge political resistance!
And those court officials who blocked it covertly and overtly were all selected from tens of millions of people through the imperial examination, and were highly qualified in politics and culture. They formed a tight network with each other and had many reasons and methods to oppose. If it weren't for Wang Anshi
With that kind of determination to break the boat, or the big changes in the outside world like Tumu Fortress, the Ming Dynasty will be like the tortoise and snake Xuanwu in "Chu Ci", "always unchanged, unmoving like a mountain"!
"Huh... It's rare to smile in this world, and my head must be filled with chrysanthemums... Looking at the test paper now, there are still many green mountains and green trees."
The chief envoy Wang Zhe recited two lines of poetry, and his interest was waning. He didn't want to waste any more words on Shi Wende who was kneeling on the ground. He stood up and put the "Collection of Li Wenxi Gong" completely into the bookcase. Then, he
He just stood in front of the case with a cold expression, looking down at Shi Wende who was kneeling down.
At this moment, the "teacher" who liked to teach others disappeared, leaving only a second-rank official of the Ming Dynasty, controlling one of the thirteen provinces of the vassal, looking down at a jurenhaishang who was at the bottom of the officialdom!
"Shi Wende, I have something to entrust you with when I meet with you this time. It concerns the overall situation of Zhejiang, so you must listen carefully!..."
"According to the rules of the imperial court, in April next year, there will be Japanese envoys, leading a large fleet, to formally pay tribute. This kind of large tribute only happens once every ten years, and it is not small. I am afraid that the Japanese fleet that will appear by then will
There were two to three hundred people. And I read the records and found that the Japanese who appeared every time to pay tribute were some kind of 'flag-bearing warriors' armed with swords, similar to the fine cavalry of the Northern Lu..."
"Every time the tribes of the Northern Empire came to pay tribute, the Northern Territory would send out scouts to investigate, mobilize guard posts along the way, and prepare for the Japanese at all times. And before these Japanese envoy fleets arrived, Zhejiang also needed to prepare for the Japanese, like
Be on guard as strictly as 'Beilu'!"
"Jiangnan has been at peace for too long, and the health needs must be rectified! I will deal with this severely later. And now, you, Chongming Shi, have dealt with the Japanese and are engaged in the sea trade of Japanese goods... just as a preparation for this time
The Japanese scouts!…”
"Find out the situation of the Japanese fleet in advance! If there is any important news, report it to me as soon as possible! After the Japanese ship arrives, you, Shi, will also serve as an interpreter and accompany you throughout the communication!..."
"Next year, the big tribute of the Japanese fleet must be calm. If there is any trouble and the court punishes me, I can only enforce the law according to the Ming Dynasty law and catch a group of 'thieves' who colluded with the Japanese! You have to know that through
Japanese private trade is the sin of losing one’s head and annihilating a clan!…”
"Yes! Yes! Follow the will of the feudal lord! ...Student... I must find out everything about the situation of the Japanese and never let the Japanese get into trouble!..."
Upon hearing the strict order from the feudal lord, Shi Wende leaned down deeply and touched his head to the ground, which was wet with sweat. The chief envoy Wang Zhe lowered his eyes and glanced at the fearful and trembling merchant for several seconds.
After taking a breath, he spoke calmly.
"Do it well! Sicheng, you don't need to tell me why you came to see me. I already know it... I will hand over a post from the feudal lord to several coastal inspection departments and health stations... As long as I am in Zhejiang for one day,
If you Chongming Shi Shi, nothing big will go wrong!…"
"However, I am already old and will not stay in Zhejiang for too long. As long as I finish my term safely, I will also bow to the Holy Father and return to my hometown. You, Shi, still have to make plans early and make a decision when it's time to do so.
