Hearing Emperor Hongzhi's words, he also felt the eyes of many colleagues behind him. Liu Jian slowly stood up and said: "Sea prohibition is a national policy formulated during the period of Emperor Taizu. The original purpose was just to prevent Japanese pirates, but there were no restrictions.
People go out to sea to fish, and there are no restrictions on merchants going out to do business."
"During the Chengzu period, our Ming Dynasty made seven voyages to the West, and its reputation spread far and wide. This led to the prosperous age of coming from all over the world, but it also increased the burden on our Ming Dynasty. At the same time, in the southeastern coastal areas, merchants only cared about profit.
Forgetting the laws of the country, in order to evade taxes, they repeatedly pretended to be Japanese pirates, which led to successive kings gradually tightening the sea ban, which led to the current strict policy of not allowing sails to sail into the sea."
There is no doubt that Liu Jian is still on Zhou Jing's side. First of all, he is from Henan and the north. He has no connection with the aristocratic families, gentry and merchants in the south.
Secondly, Liu Jian is also a well-known virtuous minister who is devoted to the country. This is why he is deeply appreciated by Emperor Hongzhi. Yesterday, he saw with his own eyes the sea fish from Tianjin, and even heard with his own ears that Li Dongyang and Zhou Jing asked Emperor Hongzhi.
reported situation.
For Liu Jian, as long as it is beneficial to the country and the people, he will support it. Not to mention the famine raging in the three northern provinces, even if there is no famine, this ocean fishing can harvest so much meat and make the people along the coast more full.
It also needs to be supported.
Moreover, he was also fully aware of the fact that businessmen from the south were going to sea privately to make profits, while at the same time supporting Shilin in the south to implement a strict sea ban.
The reason why they went to sea privately and implemented a sea ban at the same time was simply to evade taxes. The taxes in the Ming Dynasty were already very low, thirty to one tax, but merchants still had to evade taxes.
Salt merchants, grain merchants, maritime merchants, cloth merchants, etc. Although merchants did not have any official status in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, because the tax rate was extremely low and they all evaded taxes, merchants basically did not have any status.
Need to pay tax.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the annual commercial tax money in the Jiangnan area was only a few thousand taels. No one would believe it. In such a prosperous Jiangnan area, the annual commercial tax money was only a few thousand taels. From here
It can be seen how serious tax evasion was by businessmen in the Ming Dynasty. In their eyes, they probably never had the awareness to pay taxes.
Whenever someone raised the issue of levying commercial taxes in the court, the situation was even worse than the current situation. Ma Wensheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, pointed out that the Datong border police were insufficiently paid and demanded that the amount of the southern two taxes be increased in silver.
Xie Qian, one of the three elders of the cabinet, stood up and expressed his opposition. He said: In the previous dynasty, because the taxes in the south were heavier, they used the method of converting silver taels to reduce them. If another increase was proposed, the people might not be able to bear the burden. As a result, the bill proposed by Ma Wensheng did not
was passed.
In addition to tax evasion, another function was to monopolize Ming Dynasty's foreign trade.
Silk, porcelain, tea, etc. of the Ming Dynasty have been exported overseas since ancient times. It does not need to be shipped to Europe at all. Even if it is shipped to Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and other regions, the profits are already extremely considerable.
Strict maritime bans were implemented, and it was impossible for ordinary merchants to go to sea. Only those truly wealthy gentry and big merchants could go to sea, thus forming a monopoly, and monopoly meant huge profits.
Although the Ming Dynasty court and the emperor were very poor, the gentry, salt merchants, maritime merchants, etc. in the Jiangnan area were not as rich as the country. In the Yangzhou area, when the wealthy businessmen competed for the oiran, they had tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
They throw it out without even blinking an eye, and spend a lot of money talking about them.
Regarding this situation, Liu Jian also wanted to change it. If the court had no money, nothing could be done, and if the emperor had no money, he could do nothing.
The current Emperor Hongzhi is okay. He only has one wife. He has always been thrifty and frugal, and has been light on corvee and low on gifts, so it doesn't matter if he lives a hard life. But who can guarantee that the next emperor will be like Emperor Hongzhi?
Furthermore, the implementation of the maritime ban was beneficial to the big families and merchants in the south, but it did not benefit the gentry and families in the north.
North Zhili, Shandong, and Liaodong are obviously close to the sea, but they are not allowed to go to the sea without a sail. They can only look at the sea and sigh, without getting a trace of benefit.
"I think what Duke Zhou said is true. It is better to block the sea than to clear it. Since the sea ban cannot prevent merchants from going to sea privately, it is better to fully open the sea ban."
"What's more, in the past, we didn't know that the ocean was rich and had thousands of miles of empty land, but we could only guard one-third of an acre of land and were in dire straits. It was like guarding a mountain of gold and silver without knowing it, and begging for food with a golden rice bowl."
"If our Ming Dynasty opens the sea ban, and thousands of miles of sea territory, hundreds of millions of people can benefit. According to the time, thousands of fishing boats go to sea, and the people will have endless cheap meat, then our Ming Dynasty can be expected to prosper."
Liu Jian's voice was very loud and his words were extremely clear. His voice echoed in every corner of the Jinluan Palace.
"I impeach Liu Jian..."
Liu Jian had just finished speaking, and Emperor Hongzhi had not yet expressed his opinion. Immediately, several people came out one after another to impeach Liu Jian.
There is no doubt that the interests of Jiangnan Shilin are almost unanimous when it comes to the opening of the sea. As long as someone supports the opening of the sea or the imposition of commercial taxes, they will immediately stand up to oppose it. As for whether the other party is the chief minister of the cabinet or the six ministers
It doesn't matter, anyway, the Ming Dynasty has always had the tradition of using small to make big.
Censors and Hanlin officials are not of high rank, but they can still impeach the six ministers and cabinet ministers. Once someone impeaches someone, these ministers, cabinet ministers, etc., in order to show their innocence, will usually write to the emperor to resign. After all,
They are all face-conscious people.
"That's enough~"
Emperor Hongzhi looked gloomily, looked at Xie Qian again and said, "Xie Aiqing, what do you think?"
Seeing Emperor Hongzhi asking for Xie Qian's opinion, the officials from the Jiangnan area immediately stood back one by one and looked at Xie Qian with eager eyes.
Xie Qian is from Zhejiang, a serious Jiangnan native. Although Li Dongyang is also from the south, he was born in Hunan. In fact, he is not a Jiangnan native in the strict sense. The scholars in Jiangnan are now named Xie Qian in the court.
The leader also pulls in Li Dongyang when needed.
Xie Qian's family is also a big family in Shaoxing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and is also considered a very influential big family in the Jiangnan region, with huge interests in all aspects.
Therefore, when Ma Wensheng, Secretary of the Ministry of War, submitted a letter to levy commercial taxes, he would stand up and oppose it, because this also violated Xie Qian's own interests, not only the interests of the family behind him, but also the interests of the gentry, merchants, and big families in Jiangnan.
.
"The sea ban is an ancestral system and the foundation of the country, and cannot be shaken easily. However, what Zhou Gong and Liu Gong said is also very reasonable. Times have changed, and when we implement any policy, we should also adapt to the times and local conditions."
"First of all, famine is raging in the three northern provinces. Since ocean fishing can harvest a large amount of meat and use it to provide relief to the victims, this is something that benefits the country and the people, so we should support it."
"But the maritime ban is after all an ancestral system and a national foundation. It is related to the long-term stability of our Ming Dynasty. When it comes to the ancestral system and the national foundation, I think we should not act too hastily. If the maritime ban is fully opened at once, it may be as the princes of the DPRK and China have said.
It caused the Ming Dynasty to be turbulent."
“So I think it is not appropriate for us to completely lift the sea ban all at once. We can lift the fishing ban now and allow coastal areas to fish in the sea. At the same time, we can first open the sea ban in a few areas. If lifting the sea ban is indeed beneficial to the country and the people, we can fully lift the sea ban in the future.
It’s not too late to lift the sea ban.”
"If lifting the sea ban will lead to chaos in the world and shake the foundation of the country, it is okay to impose a comprehensive ban when we take over, because only lifting the sea ban in a few areas will have a controllable impact on our Ming Dynasty."
Xie Qian's words can be regarded as taking the middle road, which is also a very helpless move, because Emperor Hongzhi had already discussed the matter with him yesterday and reached a unified opinion, and it was impossible for him to stand up and express opposition.
But he was from Jiangnan and a representative of Jiangnan Shilin. It was impossible for him not to speak for Jiangnan Shilin. Ever since Zhou Jing proposed lifting the sea ban, he had been thinking about this matter. After thinking for a long time, he came up with this idea.
Here's a compromise.
On the one hand, it was to take care of Jiangnan Shilin's face, so that he would not be unable to gain a foothold in Jiangnan Shilin in the future. On the other hand, he was also following the opinions reached yesterday with Emperor Hongzhi and others, so as not to become the enemy of Emperor Hongzhi.
After hearing Xie Qian's words, officials from the Jiangnan area suddenly deflated like deflated balloons. Even Xie Qian, the leader of Jiangnan scholars, could not clearly stand on his side. Even though everyone was
What's the use of continuing to talk.
What's more, Xie Qian's method is actually acceptable after thinking about it. It just lifts the fishing ban and allows people in coastal areas to go fishing. This does not have much impact on the interests of businessmen. Ordinary
Ordinary people have no way to organize ships and go to sea to do business.
As for lifting the sea ban on a pilot basis in a few areas, they can also think of ways to mess up this pilot area. In this way, retreat is the way to advance. When they submit a letter to implement the sea ban in the future, they can leave the opponents speechless.