The next morning at court, Emperor Hongzhi had just settled down, and Xiao Jing had just finished shouting slogans. Immediately, several ministers stood up.
"Zhou Aiqing, please speak first."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the several courtiers who stood up. Among them, the highest-ranking one was Zhou Jing, the Minister of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty. Most of the other ministers were Hanlin, censors and the like with lower grades. Naturally,
Let Zhou Jing speak first.
After hearing Emperor Hongzhi's words, the other ministers returned to their seats silently. If Zhou Jing, the Minister of Household Affairs, wanted to report something, unless he was the elder of the three cabinet ministers, they would basically have to let him go first.
"I am reporting to Your Majesty, Zhou Jing, that I have recently been ordered to Tianjin to raise food for disaster relief. I saw with my own eyes in Tianjin that a ship going out to sea can harvest more than 100,000 kilograms of marine fish every day, which is enough to supply the needs of tens of thousands of people."
"Today, there is a famine in the three provinces of Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shandong. The land is full of hungry people and people are dying. I ask your Majesty to lift the sea ban for the sake of the people of the world and the people of Li."
Zhou Jing's words almost caused a thousand waves. As soon as he finished speaking, the entire Jinluan Palace seemed to explode. Before Emperor Hongzhi could speak, more than ten ministers immediately stood up one after another.
"I object. The implementation of the maritime ban is an ancestral system established by Emperor Taizu. It is the foundation of the country and must not be shaken, otherwise disaster will occur."
The speaker was Wu Kuan, a member of the Hanlin Academy. He was the one who said that money would be used to buy grain for disaster relief. Requisitioning grain from merchants would break the trust of the people. Now that he heard Zhou Jing's advice about imposing a sea ban, he immediately
Take out the ancestral system and the national foundation.
"I also object. The maritime ban is a national policy and the foundation of the country. Since Emperor Taizu set it, all the previous kings have strictly abided by it and severely cracked down on merchants who went to sea privately."
"Nowadays, the sea ban is opened just for a little sea fish. It is actually an act of disloyalty, filial piety, benevolence and unrighteousness. It bears the efforts of the ancestors of the past kings and disregards the life and death of the people. I swear to the death to remonstrate that the sea ban cannot be opened. On the contrary
Your Majesty should strictly abide by the ancestral system, severely crack down on those who go to sea privately, and strictly prohibit fishing at sea. Otherwise, the country will be shaken and the world will be in chaos."
The second person to stand up was Xu Ziyuan, a royal censor. His words were extremely offensive. He not only opposed the sea ban, but also described the sea ban as unfaithful, unfilial, and unkind.
In his mouth, it seemed as if the Ming Dynasty's sky would fall as soon as the sea ban was lifted.
"I agree that the sea ban is an ancestral system. Starting from Emperor Taizu, we have repeatedly banned Japanese pirates on the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty. The implementation of the sea ban can effectively combat Japanese pirates. Once the sea ban is lifted, Japanese pirates will be rampant in the southeastern coastal areas and people will be devastated.
, the people are in dire straits.”
The third person who stood up was Xu Long, a member of the Hanlin Academy. He told the reason why the Ming Dynasty implemented a sea ban. He believed that once the sea ban was lifted, Japanese pirates would inevitably run rampant along the southeast coast.
"I second that the maritime ban must not be lifted."
"At that time, Emperor Taizu formulated the policy of banning the sea, dividing the land between scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, and implementing the household service system. All this was to adhere to the agriculture-based national policy that has been implemented by all dynasties since ancient times."
"Once this maritime ban is lifted, merchants will make profits and sell our Ming Dynasty's wealth overseas on a large scale, which will inevitably lead to our Ming Dynasty becoming increasingly difficult. Ordinary people will also become merchants because of the benefits of maritime trade, give up farming, and shake the country's foundation. Then we will
The Ming Dynasty is bound to be in danger."
"Besides, once the maritime ban is lifted, our vassal states in all directions of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably pay tribute in large quantities every year, and our Ming Dynasty's treasury will be empty, so we will inevitably be unable to give back, which will lose the prestige of our Ming Dynasty."
The fourth person who came forward has some weight. His name is Dai Shan, and his official position is Zuodu Yushi. This official position is equivalent to the current head of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and he is an important official of the second rank.
His words directly linked this sea ban with the agricultural-based national foundation. The establishment of a sea ban would mean abandoning the agricultural-based nation and would shake the Ming Dynasty's national foundation.
At the same time, he also mentioned the issue of tribute from vassal countries. Because of the good face, every time a vassal country came to pay tribute, the Ming Dynasty would definitely pay back several times, which led to the consumption of a lot of financial resources in the Ming Dynasty. This was also an important reason for the strict implementation of the maritime ban.
.
As soon as Zhou Jing's words came out, one minister after another stood up, as if he had aroused the anger of the crowd. Zhou Jing just said one sentence, and then more than ten ministers expressed firm opposition.
From the ancestral system to the foundation of the country, they also talked about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness. At the same time, in their mouths, once the sea ban was lifted, the Ming Dynasty would be in chaos, all life would be in ruins, the country would not survive, etc.
"I am impeaching Zhou Jing. Zhou Jing is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and an important minister of the country. He does not think about being a king, sharing the worries of the country, and does not think about the welfare of the people in the world. Instead, he talks nonsense about imposing a sea ban. In fact, he is a dead man and is unfaithful.
A filial person, how can such a person be placed in a temple, and how can he serve the country and the people wholeheartedly?"
At the same time, a censor directly stood up to impeach Zhou Jing, saying that Zhou Jing was worthless. At the same time, he wanted to see Zhou Jing and beat him to death.
Emperor Hongzhi has been silent, but his expression is not very good. In fact, Zhou Jing, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Liu Jian, and Zhang Mao also discussed the issue of the sea ban with Emperor Hongzhi yesterday.
When Li Dongyang and Zhou Jing came back from Tianjin, they not only brought back a million catties of sea fish, but also more than one million taels of silver. This was among the three million taels of silver Du Mingen earned from going to sea. After excluding costs, it belonged to Hongzhi.
Emperor's profit.
So he also tasted the benefits of this sea trade and knew that this sea trade was very profitable.
Of course, what's more important is that he learned everything that happened in Tianjin from Prince Zhu Houzhao, from Li Dongyang and Zhou Jing, and even from Xiao Jing, who was in charge of Jinyiwei.
Knowing the importance of marine fishing to the Ming Dynasty, once the maritime ban is lifted and fishing can be done in the Ming Dynasty's thousands of miles of sea, the marine fish caught in the entire Ming Dynasty every year will be enough to feed thousands of people in coastal areas.
Especially now that there is a famine in the three northern provinces, because the harvest of sea fish is huge. Beizhili and Shandong are both close to the sea. As long as there is a boat, you can go out to sea to fish, which can fill the hungry people's stomachs and tide them over.
Therefore, Emperor Hongzhi, who loves his people as his own son, convened the important ministers in the court yesterday to unify their thoughts and opinions, and planned to propose it to Zhou Jing at court this morning, and then everyone discussed it. The sea ban does not have to be fully liberalized.
Open up fishing first, at least so that people in coastal areas can go out to sea to fish to fill their stomachs.
However, what Emperor Hongzhi did not expect was that the Zhou Jing had only just been proposed, and it was really surprising that so many people in the court would stand up to oppose it.
