Chapter 359 What is the duty of an imperial master?
"Weighing anchor..."
Following the shouts of the boatmen and the rattling of the chains, the magnificent royal fleet sailed away from Jishuitan Pier, like a majestic celestial beast in mythology, and slowly entered the main channel of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
Zhu Youxiao stood in the second-story flower hall with nanmu walls and crystal windows. Facing the warm and pleasant spring breeze during the day, he looked at the busy scene of hundreds of boats competing for water. His face was full of excitement, and he kept looking to Cao Huachun and others who were accompanying him.
Ask this and that.
But soon, his various questions no longer received fluent responses.
Cao Huachun said awkwardly and frankly: "Brother, I have only been serving in the palace since I was a child. This time, I was lucky enough to be rewarded by my brother, so I took a big boat for the first time. This canal canal boat is accessible to me.
Nu Zhen is a blacksmith doing embroidery—a layman."
Zhu Youxiao glanced at him: "Go and invite Master Zheng."
A little chambermaid ran to the deck in a hurry, and after a while, he led a red-robed figure upstairs.
Although the Ministry of Rites controlled by Dong Lin agreed that Zheng Haizhu and Lu Xiangsheng would accompany Zhu Youxiao on his eastward trip to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices, they were not willing to follow Zhu Changluo's wishes and give Zheng a temporary title of Rites Officer, let alone give Zheng Haizhu the title of Rites Officer.
official uniform.
Zheng Haizhu had no time to spend his precious time arguing with the die-hards in Donglin. Instead, he directly put on the official attire of Wenhua Palace and boarded the ship.
At this moment, Zhu Youxiao saw the red robe and showed a sly smile again: "Master Zheng, just now at the dock, the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple came to see you off. When Zhao Siqing saw you coming, his face was as straight as a gourd.
Chief, I was close to him, and I heard him angrily say the words, 'What a shame'. Hehe, I'm so angry with him, old man."
Zhu Youxiao had previously heard Wei Zhongxian talk about Master Zheng being besieged in public, and was angry that Dong Lin was bullying others, so he was particularly disgusted with Zhao Nanxing.
Zheng Haizhu glanced at Cao Huachun, who showed his approval, and said calmly to Zhu Youxiao: "The crown prince of the country should not be indifferent to a court official like Zhao Siqing. Besides, taking advantage of a few words is false, and it is not true.
Just use actions to fight back if you exceed the rules. I travel as a prince and an official, so I can wear the official red robe of the Hanlin Academy."
Zhu Youxiao grinned in agreement after hearing this.
Last year, because of his visit to his grandma, he thought that Master Zheng had some cool and ruthless tactics, and he became frightened of the female master for a time.
But as teachers and students got along with each other, the fear melted away like ice on the lake after the beginning of spring.
Master Zheng's style of not talking nonsense, but overcoming obstacles set by his opponents with just a few moves, made the adult Zhu Youxiao want to imitate him more and more.
It seemed that if he mastered this skill, he who had been under the pressure of Li Xuan's servants since he was five years old could truly break out of his cocoon and become a butterfly, getting rid of the useless nightmare of a young man being bullied.
Just listen to Zheng Haizhu say: "The eldest son of the emperor invited me to come up. What do you want to ask?"
Zhu Youxiao regained his demeanor of seeing everything new and pointed out the window: "Master Zheng, are those the canal boats you mentioned?"
"Well, it's the cauldron coming from the south," Zheng Haizhu nodded. "Please see, the eldest son of the emperor, those sailors in uniform uniforms are Caoding. Just like my soldiers from Zheng Ziying in Chongming, they are from the imperial court."
It is a soldier, not a guard army. The leader is Qianzong or General, which is a formal military position registered with the Ministry of War."
Zhu Youxiao stared at him and asked: "Master Zheng, aren't the canals used to transport grain and cloth to Taicang, the capital? Why are there so many canal boats at this time of the year? And you see, what's piled on the boats are either dried fruits or bamboo and wood furniture.
, isn’t it no different from an ordinary merchant ship?”
The young prince's question touched Zheng Haizhu's heart.
As expected, this child has the keen observation ability of an engineering genius, which just guides him to understand the national affairs and national conditions on the basis of interest.
"Emperor's eldest son, the various governments in the south pay land taxes to the imperial court, and some of them are converted into silver taels for easy transportation. Therefore, water transportation is not only busy during the season when the fields produce food. Most of the water ships passing by at this time were paid by the various states.
The land tax that was not paid in full last year was broken into silver and transported to the capital. As for the canal boats, they were piled up like our private warehouses, because this was approved by the Ministry of Revenue, and the caoding people could do their own business along the waterway."
When Zhu Youxiao heard this, his eyes widened with an expression of "This is okay".
Zheng Haizhu smiled helplessly and said bluntly: "Because the imperial court can no longer afford to support so many Caoding, they can only rely on the convenience of waterways to pay themselves."
"Master Zheng, how much does it cost to raise Caoding in Ming Dynasty?"
"The question of the eldest son of the emperor might as well be changed to how much money it costs to maintain water transportation in the Ming Dynasty. Eunuch Cao, please give me paper and pen."
Cao Huachun spread his pen and ink on the sandalwood table in front of Zhu Youxiao.
Zheng Haizhu picked up the pen and showed it to Zhu Youxiao as he wrote: "The Ministry of Household Regulations stipulates that the eight southern provinces, including Shandong, Anhui, Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi, transport grain to the capital every year, which is four million shi.
, whether it is raw grain, rice, cloth, or silver, it is spread to each boat, and each boat is loaded with about two to three hundred stones. This alone requires more than ten thousand boats to be launched every year. There are more than ten people in each boat, along the way.
There are still many river sections where trackers need to be hired. Moreover, water transportation is not only transporting fields to the Ministry of Household Affairs to pay military salaries, but also responsible for the transportation of tribute products from various provinces to the capital, weaving silk and satin, etc., as well as the transfer of discount salaries to so many officials in the capital.
, all these are spectacular, and the number of voyages and expenses are even more than that of grain transport ships. Therefore, there are 120,000 soldiers for water transport, plus the civilian labor, it costs millions of silver every year. There are more than 10,000 water ships, and each year
The cost of building a canal ship will not be less than one hundred taels of silver. It takes two years to overhaul and five years to scrap it and replace it with a new one. The cost of a new canal ship every year is about three hundred thousand..."
Zhu Youxiao exclaimed: "Then the imperial court invests two million dollars in this river every year?"
Zheng Haizhu put down the pen and said simply: "Then it's better to take the less."
Zhu Youxiao frowned: "Master Lu said a few days ago that sea ships are fast and carry a lot of things. In the Yuan Dynasty, food from the south was transported to Dadu by sea ships. Then why didn't we use sea ships in the Ming Dynasty?
?”
"Your Highness, our country has been promoting canal water transportation for three hundred years. How many merchants and people along the road have eaten at it, and there are so many Caoding people who have families and families. What will they do if it changes to sea transportation overnight?
?”
Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment and murmured: "Oh, I thought that Master Zheng wanted to open more customs and was familiar with sea routes, so he would recommend sea transportation."
"It's related to the national economy and people's livelihood. How can I ruin an entire industry just because I don't care where my butt is? This is not what a minister should be like, and a ruler shouldn't be like this."
Zhu Youxiao's eyes became warm, and then he comforted himself and said: "Fortunately, our Ming Dynasty has a vast territory and a large area of fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River. If the Ministry of Revenue and the various states and counties have more capable officials and collect more land tax, they should be able to deal with it.
?”
Zheng Haizhu sighed: "Your Highness, our Ming Dynasty does have many good fields, and the people of the Ming Dynasty are indeed good at farming, but the products in the fields and the silk cloth on the spinning machines may not be able to enter the national treasury. Now that I have returned to