Chapter 647, the concept of the Ming Navy (supplement)
Qianqing Palace, in the study of Emperor Hongzhi.
Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Zhong Zhong, the minister of household affairs, were still blowing their beards and glaring. They kept arguing in the court, but there was no result, and there would be no result.
In this matter, the truth is that a child who cries gets milk.
In the past, the court was poor and had little money, so it was impossible to talk about any major projects related to the national economy and people's livelihood.
In the past, if we embarked on any major projects or projects, we would be strongly opposed by the ministers.
Firstly, there is no money, and secondly, it is more likely to waste people and money.
For example, Emperor Hongzhi wanted to build a new Shangqing Palace in the Qing Palace on Longhu Mountain. This matter was strongly opposed by the ministers, and finally had to be terminated because the imperial treasury was empty.
If you don't have money to build a big project, you will need to recruit tens of thousands of people as corvees. At the same time, the various materials needed will also need to be collected and transported from various places.
The amount of the project is huge, and it is true that it will waste people and money, but it is not false.
And it often does not bring any benefit to the people. What benefits do you think the construction of the Shangqing Palace can bring to the people?
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which was beneficial to the country and the people, brought down the Sui Dynasty. Countless people only saw the huge manpower, material and financial resources spent on building the accompanying Grand Canal, but they did not see that even though the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was It is still benefiting both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and benefiting both north and south China.
This time, the situation when the imperial court built cement roads was different.
Everyone has seen the benefits of building cement roads, and has also already established the principle of building cement roads. All costs, materials, manpower, etc. are supported by money from the imperial court.
This is great, because it means that the people along the road do not need to be subject to corvee labor. They can get money to do things and earn money. It is also good for them to build the road.
Naturally, everyone wants to fight, and everyone fights fiercely.
"You two dear friends don't have to fight back and forth. It's just a matter of one year sooner or one year later."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the two of them and even wanted to laugh.
I have never seen these old ministers blowing their beards, staring at each other, and making their faces red-faced.
"Yes~"
The two of them quickly replied respectfully.
"This is a report submitted by Liu Jin, the Minister of Household Affairs, on the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Royal Naval Academy and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy. Everyone should take a look."
Emperor Hongzhi handed a memorial in his hand to Xiao Jing and said.
"The Royal Naval Academy of the Ming Dynasty?"
"The Ming Royal Navy?"
When everyone heard this, they immediately became energetic.
Just now, the fight for the cement highway was a small matter. After all this fight, it is still in the pot. As Emperor Hongzhi said, it will be repaired either this year or next year.
But the establishment of the Royal Naval Academy and the Royal Navy of the Ming Dynasty is a major national matter, which requires careful discussion and discussion.
Starting from Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Liu Daxia, Zhang Mao and others took turns to read the memorials written by Liu Jin very quickly.
In the memorial, Liu Jin believed that the Ming Dynasty's territory was no longer limited to the land of China, but its territory had begun to expand around the world.
And with the development speed of Ming Dynasty, it will involve even wider areas in the future.
At the same time, Liu Jin also pointed out that the future world will be an era of great navigation dominated by oceans, and Ming Dynasty should be proactive, occupy more vast lands overseas, and open up more living space.
However, Ming's overseas expansion and interests have been greatly threatened.
There are a large number of pirates and thieves along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, in various parts of Southeast Asia, and even in the oceans around the world. They rob passing merchant ships and kill our people of the Ming Dynasty.
What's more important is that overseas, there are still many arrogant countries and civilizations that wantonly provoke our Ming Dynasty and harm the interests of Ming Dynasty.
In distant Europe, the maritime power of these countries has developed rapidly, and they will become Ming Dynasty's strong opponents on the ocean in the future.
Therefore, in order to protect Ming's overseas interests, for Ming's continued expansion overseas, and to conquer more land, Ming must have a maritime force that is always strong enough to conquer the world.
This is why it is necessary to build a navy.
At the same time, Liu Jin also pointed out that the navy is different from the land army. The navy is more dependent on weapons and equipment, and it also has higher professional requirements for naval personnel.
It requires powerful warships and artillery, as well as personnel with professional knowledge, so that they can sail on the sea and control the artillery to attack the enemy.
In wars at sea, opponents are often killed with artillery from a long distance away, and there is no need for each other to fight with swords.
This is the biggest difference between the navy and the traditional army.
The Navy must be professional.
This is the inevitability of the development of war.
Just as wars in later generations gradually developed into contests of air power.
Fighters, missiles, these are all high-tech and professional things, and illiterate wars are all slowly going to withdraw from the stage of history.
"Everyone, let's talk~"
Seeing that everyone was taking turns to read it, Emperor Hongzhi spoke.
"Your Majesty, I think what Liu Jin said is true. The territory of our Ming Dynasty is no longer limited to the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the traditional sense. We also have huge territory overseas."
"Also overseas, our Ming Dynasty has extremely huge interests. Nanyang alone is enough to provide our Ming Dynasty with tens of millions of taels of wealth every year. In the future, we will also have Golden Continent, Australia, etc."
"Years ago, the countries in Southeast Asia came to pay tribute to our Ming Dynasty, and we, the Ming Dynasty, asked them to sign a vassal state agreement. In the entire Southeast Asia, only Luzon signed the agreement and became a vassal state of our Ming Dynasty."
"This Luzon was willing to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty only after being convinced by me, Marquis Taiping of the Ming Dynasty."
"It can be seen that the countries in Nanyang are afraid of power but not moral. In the future, Ming Dynasty's interests and expansion in Nanyang will require the establishment of a powerful navy."
Liu Jian was the first to stand up and express his position.
It must be built and it must be large-scale.
Don't ask me why I support it. At the end of last year, the business bank in which Liu Jian's family held shares paid dividends at the end of the year, and Liu Jian received more than 200,000 taels of silver.
There is naturally no comparison between the more than 200,000 taels of silver and the properties under Liu Jin's command. Any one of them would be able to completely blow up this performance.
But this is different for Liu Jian.
He used to make a living by collecting rent from land in Henan, his hometown, and running some small businesses in Henan. He could not make much money a year, and his life was tight.
However, the trading company that invested in this company went back and forth to Nanyang last year to do business and opened a plantation to grow sugar cane in Nanyang. In less than half a year, it paid out more than 200,000 taels of silver in dividends.
The owners of the trading houses have all said that they will increase investment this year, buy more ships, expand the size of the plantations, and earn more money.
The purpose of establishing the navy is to protect Ming's interests, especially overseas interests. Why not support such a thing?
Do we have to regret it after Nanyang’s financial path is affected?
"I also support the establishment of a strong navy~"
"And I think that our Ming Dynasty should establish a naval base in Crescent City in Nanyang, and at the same time dispatch large armies to various places in Nanyang to frighten the countries in Nanyang."
"At the same time, send a large army to eliminate pirates, bandits, and natives in the Nanyang region, and protect our Ming Dynasty's merchant ships and plantations."
Xie Qian also stood up and expressed his opinion.
Like Liu Jian, the butt determines the head.
Last year, the south opened two openings, Nanjing and Songhu, which can be regarded as opening up the power of the south. The big landowners, big businessmen, big families, etc. in the south also quickly established large and small establishments in Nanjing and Songhu.
The trading houses actively participated in this huge feast in Nanyang.
The results are naturally very gratifying.
Everyone quickly tasted the benefits, especially those who had been unable to do business overseas before. They became addicted all of a sudden, and finally understood why some people had to impose routine sea bans in the past.
Everything is for the sole purpose of enjoying the huge profits from sea trade.
Now everyone can go overseas to make a fortune, and the enthusiasm of southerners has suddenly increased.
Setting up a trading company, buying a boat to fish, going to sea to do business, going to the Ryukyus, and setting up plantations in Nanyang, everything is very profitable, and it is many times higher than the income from renting.
After tasting the benefits, he naturally understood the importance of forming a strong maritime force. As Liu Jin said, it was to protect the interests of Ming Dynasty!
Yes, it’s to protect Ming’s interests!
Ming's interests are above all else.
In the past, those who talked about benevolence, justice and morality were all hypocrites. A true gentleman should speak out about his interests and the interests of the country.
The pirates in Nanyang are very annoying, and there are still some weak pirates along the coast of the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, the plantations, gold mines, and silver mines in Nanyang will be attacked by the natives.
There are also a large number of ferocious natives on Ryukyu Island. These are threatening plantations and merchant ships, and they all need to be cleaned up.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty's large and small business houses, which have tasted the benefits, have almost all formulated expansion plans in Nanyang this year.
Build more plantations, build bigger plantations.
Therefore, it is necessary to occupy more territory and incorporate more Nanyang islands into the Ming Dynasty's territory, otherwise how can it be divided among everyone.
"Your Majesty, I am convinced that our Ming Dynasty must build a powerful navy to protect our people and interests~"
British Duke Zhang Mao also stood up and expressed his stance.
There is nothing to say about this matter, I must express my position.
The people who make the most money in Nanyang and overseas are people like them, Emperor Hongzhi, the prince, Liu Jin, Duke Yingying, Duke Dingguo, Duke Chengguo and others.
They were the first to go to sea and the first to taste the benefits. The most merchant ships to and from Nanyang were from Tianjin Ocean Trading Company. They also had the most and largest plantations in Nanyang. They made no money in a year.
