Zhu Ying's letter, after a few days of turnover and under urgent circumstances, quickly reached Zhu Yuanzhang's hands.
Looking at Da Sun's handwriting, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled as happily as a child.
As far as Zhu Yuanzhang is concerned now, the handling of the wealthy businessmen in Suzhou are all side effects, and the news about his eldest grandson is the most critical.
And joy, of course, needs to be shared.
After Zhu Yuanzhang read it, he asked Liu and Jiang Wei beside him to take a look.
Liu and Jiang Wei, who had been with Zhu Yuanzhang for many years, naturally understood that this was the time to praise their grandson.
After Liu He and Jiang Wei looked at each other, Liu He took the lead and said: "His Royal Highness Taisun is really doing extraordinary things and is not bound by the common customs."
"Those businessmen can only be played with and applauded by His Highness the Grand Sun."
"From what I see, it won't be long before those wealthy businessmen from the south of the Yangtze River will only look after His Highness the Grand Sun."
"The hidden dangers in Jiangnan should be gradually eliminated."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he nodded slightly.
The Jiangnan area has always been a worry for Zhu Yuanzhang. Although there have not been many uprisings, Zhu Yuanzhang paid special attention to Jiangnan.
In the "Great Edict" promulgated, it was stipulated that scholars who refused to serve the monarch would be punished with death.
This article is aimed at Jiangnan.
A large number of wealthy people's properties were confiscated, and many literati were brutally persecuted.
It seemed that the problem was caused by low-level officials, but in fact it was secretly instigated by Zhu Yuanzhang.
It's still the same routine. When local public dissatisfaction becomes too great, those officials who persecuted the literati will become scapegoats and be sentenced to death by Zhu Yuanzhang to appease the people.
However, among them, there are also many officials who are sincere in their work and have been affected.
This was the case with Wei Guan, the former prefect of Suzhou, and the literati Gao Qi and Wang Yi who were close friends with Wei Guan.
When Zhu Yuanzhang was fighting for territory with Chen Youliang before he became emperor, Wei Guan joined Zhu Yuanzhang's camp and was a more senior founding hero.
He was born as a scholar. After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he served as an assistant teacher at the Imperial College, a bachelor at the Imperial Academy, and the director of the Ministry of Rites. He also served in local places. Later, he retired when he was too old.
Shortly after Wei Guan retired, Chen Ning, the prefect of Suzhou, was dismissed from office by Zhu Yuanzhang due to excessive taxation.
Zhu Yuanzhang reactivated Wei Guan and appointed him as the prefect of Suzhou.
After Wei Guan took office in Suzhou, he abolished Chen Ning's harsh rule.
Later, the imperial court wanted to transfer Wei Guan to Sichuan, and the people of Suzhou wrote to the imperial court, requesting that Wei Guan continue to be the prefect of Suzhou.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not think of a suitable candidate to replace Wei Guan for a while, so he agreed.
Suzhou commander Cai Ben had a conflict with Wei Guan. He wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang attacking Wei Guan, pointing out two crimes against him:
The first is to build a government office at the site of Zhang Shicheng's palace.
The second is to recruit farmers to build water conservancy projects, which did not follow Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions of caring for the people.
Cai Ben said that Wei Guan did these two things because he had the intention of treason.
After Zhu Yuanzhang received Cai Ben's letter, he did not immediately punish Wei Guan. He had always believed in Wei Guan, and Wei Guan was already sixty-nine years old at the time, so rebellion was really unreasonable.
Moreover, the army in Suzhou was controlled by the commander Cai Ben. As the prefect, Wei Guan could not mobilize the army, so what could he use to counterattack?
In order to find out the truth, Zhu Yuanzhang sent a censor named Zhang Du to Suzhou to conduct a secret investigation.
Zhang Dudu disguised himself as a migrant worker and participated in the construction of the Suzhou government office.
Zhang Du didn't notice anything strange at first, until the beams were installed for the government office. Wei Guan held a beam-mounting ceremony and invited his old friend Gao Qi, the great writer in Suzhou, to write an "Essay on Shangliang".
The fates of Wei Guan and Gao Qi were sealed.
It's just that in the Jiangnan area where there are constant turbulence, until now, the hidden dangers have not been officially and completely eliminated.
On the surface, there are no problems, but secretly, there are dangers.
For Zhu Yuanzhang, the country he wants to leave to his descendants is a country that is impregnable and the world is peaceful.
This problem must be solved within our lifetime.
Therefore, Da Sun's current actions are very important.
Seeing that His Majesty did not speak, Jiang Wei turned to himself after thinking for a moment and knew that he wanted to hear what he meant.
After all, His Highness Taisun’s letters are not meant to be read in vain.
However, Jiang Wei already had a draft in his mind.
Judging from some of the files conveyed by Jinyiwei, Jiang Yu had a deeper understanding of His Highness Taisun's actions.
"Your Majesty, I feel that His Highness Taisun may have a more ambitious goal in establishing a shipyard in the south of the Yangtze River."
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Yuanzhang's attention was naturally attracted.
"tell me the story."
Jiang Wei clasped his fists and bowed: "Your Majesty, I believe that His Highness Taisun seems to be setting up a shipyard in the Jiangnan area and seems to be engaged in business. In fact, from my perspective, His Highness Taisun's goal should be far overseas.
"
"If His Highness Taisun wants to improve business roads, there are actually many choices in Jiangnan. They are the breweries, garment factories, textile factories, sugar frosting factories, and porcelain factories in the capital, which of them cannot open and expand business roads for His Highness Taisun."
"But His Highness Taisun chose a shipyard that has never been opened before."
"This is naturally related to the recent lifting of the sea ban. However, in fact, His Highness Taisun seems to want to use sea trade to carry out a kind of sea migration for the wealthy merchants in the entire Jiangnan region."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his eyes suddenly became serious.
Zhu Yuanzhang has always attached great importance to the shipyard.
Although in order to prevent overseas intrusion, a strict maritime ban policy has been implemented, which stipulates that "no one is allowed to enter the sea", and "anyone who dares to engage in private trading will be severely punished".
However, in fact, while the "sea ban" was implemented, the "tribute" trade still continued and became more prosperous.
Shipyards have also been established in various places.
The "Treasure Shipyard" was established in Shangxinhe on the outskirts of the capital city, and the ships built were called "treasure ships".
Those built in Fujian are called "Fu Chuan" and those built in Guangdong are called "Guang Chuan".
The characteristic of "Guangzhou Ship" is that it is "made of iron chestnut wood, and it is considered that Fu Ship is especially huge and strong".
The materials are excellent, using iron chestnut wood as strong as iron. The hull structure is solid, the scale is huge, and the sailing power is strong.
The foreign ships that went out to sea in Guangdong were all built by wealthy merchants.
They colluded with officials to purchase commercial goods and smuggled them out to sea.
"The joint defense of the giant ships is 120 steps wide and can accommodate 2,000 people. The wood is used as a city, and it is used as a tower and oars. There are four gates on which horses can ride."
It can be seen that in the field of smuggling, the profits are huge and the relationships are complicated.
"What you mean is that Da Sun's idea is to introduce all the big merchants from the Jiangnan area into maritime trade and compete with the smuggling merchants from Guangdong and Fujian."
Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
This is a good idea. If you look at it this way, when Jiangnan merchants start to use sea transportation, they will naturally weaken in the field of water transportation.
It will be easier to control the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan.
The most important thing is that when the fleet is formed, the background of these wealthy businessmen will gradually be revealed.
"Your Majesty, I agree with you, but I feel that His Highness Taisun may still have the intention to move to the south of the Yangtze River to become a wealthy family."
"It's just like the Japanese country."
Jiang Wei said in a deep voice.
This sounds a bit strange at first, but Zhu Yuanzhang can understand it.
Because Dasun had revealed such thoughts before.
Instead of using the word migration, foreign colonization is actually a better interpretation.
Xie means reproduction and reproduction.
Colonization refers to a powerful country immigrating to the area it conquered and plundering the interests of the original local people.
It is the process by which a great power seeks and obtains possession of economically, politically and culturally underdeveloped areas abroad.
The main manifestations are overseas immigration, pirate robbery, slave trading, capital export, commodity dumping, raw material plunder, etc.
As for these, the current Ming Dynasty has almost met all colonial needs.
During Zheng He's voyages to the West, his fleet of 20,000 people had the power to destroy many Southeast Asian countries. The strong military power and the self-sufficient material conditions of the fleet did not promote the development of a large number of colonies. Zheng He used a completely different, ancient
way to handle the relationship with those earth kings.
The establishment of a large number of tributary countries and the establishment of diplomatic relations with friendly countries replaced armed colonization. However, the colonization of America caused by Columbus's geographical discovery brought huge wealth, which caused a leap in Western politics, military and science. The non-colonial policy of the Ming Dynasty was even regarded as
It became a turning point in history when the situation between East and West changed from good to bad.
So in ancient and modern history, except for the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, which was most fond of external expansion, other dynasties almost never had the idea of colonization.
Mainly it's a cultural issue.
In Chinese culture, the self-confidence in their own sense of superiority has caused the people to regard other areas as barbaric areas, and those who leave their hometowns are those who really cannot gain a foothold.
After death thousands of miles away, one cannot return to one's roots. It is simply a sentence of exile, which is most incompatible with Confucian culture.
The Ming Dynasty was a feudal dynasty that traditionally valued agriculture, and its expansion of territory was also governed by traditional garrison troops and officials.
Especially for the centralization of power in the royal family.
In the administrative system, the jurisdiction of the colonies was thousands of miles away, and its philosophy was in strong conflict with centralization.
The change of dynasties and the transfer of the Five Virtues are China's own culture.
Qin Shihuang established the basic structure of China a long time ago. The Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, and many places had the potential for continued development during the Ming Dynasty.
In terms of land and food production, the Ming Dynasty had no intention of opening colonies, and the logistics cost of transferring food from the colonies greatly exceeded the food itself. From an agricultural perspective, opening colonies was extremely ridiculous.
However, as far as Zhu Yuanzhang is concerned, there are many differences.
Because of profit.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, this was not considered colonization, but rather the exile of all the wealthy businessmen from Jiangnan.
Let them be there and become an indirect spread of the Ming Dynasty.
This is almost the same as the current policy of Grand Sun towards the vassal king.
Zhu Yuanzhang also felt this very well.
You must know that the descendants of the old Zhu family will naturally flourish and spread their leaves.
For now, there are already many descendants of the Zhu family. It is conceivable that in another hundred or two hundred years, the descendants of the old Zhu family may be in the tens of thousands.
Arrangements for the children and grandchildren have become a problem.
According to the current system, it is natural that the royal family will provide support and receive salary.
But who would want their descendants to be mediocre people waiting to die and only know how to pass on and reproduce?
On Dasun's side, a good path has been opened up.
Let the wealthy businessmen expand first, and when the time is right, let the descendants inherit it.
In this way, Ming's territory will only become wider and wider.
Even if it is beyond the jurisdiction, it doesn't matter much.
After all, the meat rotted in the pot.
....
Here in Suzhou City, the shipyard has already begun construction in just ten days.
For today's Ming Dynasty, this is a very incredible speed.
Normally, it would be almost impossible to say that there would be any movement within half a year of the opening of the shipyard.
In fact, this has little to do with the Ming Dynasty. No matter in ancient times or future generations, the government always has to pay attention to a regulation when doing things.
Reports are made layer by layer, and then approved layer by layer.
This is unavoidable.
Coupled with the current summons time in Ming Dynasty, it is already very fast to start a shipyard in half a year.
But all this has become extremely simple with Zhu Ying.
On Yang Youwen's side, after Zhu Ying showed up, the truth came to light.
After all, he was the grandson of the emperor, and Zhu Ying was not interested in playing hide-and-seek games. After finding out the details of Suzhou City, what he wanted was to cut through the mess with a quick knife.
These big merchants in Suzhou were caught off guard.
Mr. Li was released even after being locked up for two days.
And he also successfully invested in a first-level stake in the shipyard.
But Mr. Li's mood did not become relaxed because of this.
"Brother Shuming, I'm afraid there is no other way to go this time. Who would have thought that it would be the rumored His Highness Taisun who came to Suzhou in person."
In the Suzhou restaurant, fellow acquaintance Song Xin said helplessly.
When he saw His Highness Taisun at the Public Security Department Yamen and learned his identity, he was already in despair.
It even felt like there was a possibility that even the hair on my head might not be safe.
However, what His Highness Taisun said next was beyond Song Xin's expectations.
At this moment, Li Shuming's mouth felt a little bitter.
"I have stayed in Jiangnan all my life. Even though I gained the reputation of being a scholar, I did not want to be an official. Instead, I started a lowly career that was looked down upon by others."
"After so many years, I really didn't expect that something like this would happen now."
"Since Your Highness Taisun is willing to spare my life, now that the situation has come to an end, I can only bite the bullet and go up."
Li Shuming picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, as if what he swallowed was not wine but sadness.
Naturally, Zhu Ying would not say good intentions to let Li Shuming, the leader of the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce, stay in Jiangnan.
There is only one condition for releasing him, and that is to open up new territories for the Ming Dynasty.
In other words, colonization.
In Li Shuming's view, it was naturally an exile.
Song Xin took over the conversation: "Brother Shuming, there is no need to worry too much. Going to sea is also a way to survive. It is better than losing your life."
"Furthermore, His Highness Taisun also said that as long as Brother Shuming makes enough achievements, he will allow the fallen leaves to return to their roots."
Having said this, Song Xin picked up his wine glass:
"Brother Shuming is going to Nanyang, so take everything seriously."
"If he can really make a contribution, perhaps Brother Shu Ming will make a big mark in history."
After saying this, Song Xin suddenly felt a little envious.