The couple chatted for a while, and the sunlight coming through the window became brighter. Knowing that it was already early, they got up immediately. /Very Literary/
Because of Xia Xun's high status, he occupies a complete courtyard in Guanyi. Outsiders are not allowed to enter without permission, so it is like his own private house. Xia Xun finished washing and went to the living room wearing only casual Yanju clothes.
At this time, Qiaoyun had already prepared the meal and was chatting and laughing with Tang Saier in the hall, waiting for his arrival.
In fact, Guanyi has its own chef, and because the emperor visited the north, he brought a large number of civil and military officials, most of whom stayed in Guanyi. Therefore, the cook also tried his best to hire famous chefs who are good at cooking various kinds of dishes. However, Qiaoyun always felt that it was not as good as cooking at home.
of meticulousness.
Ming'er has received tutoring, meals, nvs and other skills that a daughter must learn since she was a child. Naturally, she knows the skills that a daughter must learn. However, the little princess Tian's daughter is loved by her family like the apple of their eye. Although she has been taught by famous teachers about food and cooking, imagine it.
The little princess is holding a kitchen knife and a big spoon...
The stove is blazing here, the oil is boiling over there, and the oil smoke is everywhere. Ming'er is "playing" with gusto, but the family is on tenterhooks, huddled at the door of the kitchen waiting to rush in to bandage the wound, throw soil to put out the fire... It's no different than the same thing.
kind of torture.
So in the end, Ming'er actually just learned this skill. It was her personal maid Qiaoyun who really learned this cooking skill. Anyway, she had been accompanying the young lady since she was a child, and she was destined to be a dowry girl in the future. She knew how to do it.
It's Princess Ming'er who is meeting.
Qiao Yun is now Xia Xun's woman, and Xia Xun has never made his family's class divisions clear, with strict barriers such as wife, concubine, concubine, and maid...
Although she talks about her status to others, she always downplays it at home and treats Qiaoyun with the same love and care, but Qiaoyun never treats herself as a young mistress. When she came to Beijing, she followed the wife's instructions to serve the master.
She naturally regards food, drink and shelter as her own responsibility.
Now she has been pregnant for several months, but she has been working hard since she was a child and has never been able to take time off. She made this breakfast by herself. The breakfast is relatively simple, a casserole stewed with steaming, fragrant and delicious Bijing chicken.
The porridge blue and white porcelain plate contained appetizing green boiled vegetables, a few snacks, a few pickles, a plate of Gaoyou salted duck eggs, and a plate of braised beef with Sichuan peppercorns.
As soon as Xia Xun arrived, the family sat down to eat. While eating and chatting, suddenly a servant reported that news came from the palace, asking Duke Fu to come to the palace at three o'clock.
He had not been in court for several days. After hearing this, he didn't know what the emperor meant by calling him. He quickly wanted to call the eunuch in to ask him clearly, but the servant said that the eunuch had already gone back to deliver the order.
Xia Xun had his thoughts on his mind, so he didn't dare to delay and hurriedly finished his breakfast. Qiaoyun and Xiaoying waited on him to wash his face, put on his clothes and boots, tie his waist with a leather belt, comb his hair and tidy up his hair. After everything was ready, he hurried out.
Guanyi, rode a horse and went straight to the palace.
Xia Xun rushed to the meeting hall of the palace and saw two young eunuchs standing at the door of the palace. He took a quick look and found that the one on the right was Mu Si's confidant, so he said to the young eunuch on the left: "Yang Xu has been ordered to see you, please excuse me."
Common knowledge!"
When the young chamberlain saw that the Duke of Fu had arrived, he did not dare to neglect and hurriedly turned around and went in. Xia Xun took the opportunity to ask Mu Si's confidant: "Why is the emperor in such a hurry?"
The little chamberlain coughed and hurriedly replied: "Eunuch Zheng He has come from Nanjing. The emperor wants to sail to the West again, and all the officials are opposed to it!"
"oh……"
Xia Xun suddenly understood and nodded slightly. At this time, the little eunuch who had gone in to report had already come out and stood in front of the steps and said loudly: "The emperor has a decree, Yang Xu is here to see you!"
Xia Xun hurriedly dressed up and stepped into the palace.
Above the main hall, hundreds of civil and military officials were gathered together, arguing fiercely. Xia Xun came in without interrupting their heated debate.
Looking over, it turned out to be Zheng He. Zheng He smiled and nodded to him. Xia Xun nodded in response, and the two of them stood still and said nothing.
Zheng He's last voyage to the West was a great success. Not only did he bring envoys from many countries to pay homage to the emperor, but he also purchased a large amount of exotic goods. He made astonishing gains as he went in and out. It can be said that he gained both fame and fortune, which made Zhu Di very happy... After that
, Zheng He stayed in Nanjing, focusing on managing ship construction, and improving all aspects of navigation technology based on various problems exposed during the last voyage to the West.
At that time, all the civil and military officials knew that the emperor still wanted to go to the Western Seas. However, at that time, Timur suddenly died and the Western armies had just retreated. Zhu Di himself had a great success in attacking the Tatars. Arutai surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and became a vassal. Emperor Yongle's military achievements were outstanding.
, he was extremely prestigious for a while, and the matter of sailing to the West was not on the agenda for a while, so the civil and military officials did not touch his bad luck.
Now, Zheng He has made all preparations for another voyage to the West. He is confident that he can go further this time, explore more unknown worlds, and understand what countries, races, species, and cultures there are in the wider world.
, excitedly came to Beijing to report. Zhu Di was overjoyed when he heard the news, and wanted to issue an order to go to sea again. As soon as the news spread, all the civil and military officials who accompanied him northward and the officials from the Beijing branch exploded.
Since Beijing has been designated as the national capital, more and more officials have moved to Beijing to serve. This is also a kind of preparation for moving the capital. We cannot ask all officials to wait for a good time and auspicious days, and then all of a sudden go north from Nanjing, and then
None of them are familiar with the city of Beijing. They don’t even know where the Meridian Gate faces, right?
Therefore, Nanjing's six ministries and various government agencies have successively dispatched officials to Beijing. During Zhu Di's northern tour, he also brought many officials. The total number of officials in Beijing now accounts for more than half of the imperial officials. These groups raised objections and almost
This is equivalent to the attitude of all the officials in the entire court.
Su Qian, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, interrupted his speech because Xia Xun came to the palace to see him. When Xia Xun stood back in the class, he resumed the topic and said angrily: "The previous voyage to the West, if it is said to be to propagate and pacify the countries, it is actually
We have achieved our goal. Now that we are only a short time away, why do we need to go to the Western Ocean again? The Western voyage costs hundreds of thousands of money and food, and thousands of soldiers and civilians die due to illness, storms, and tsunamis.
What’s the benefit?”
Zheng He retorted: "Master Su, my imperial court has hundreds of treasure ships, each of which is as huge as a city. They travel thousands of miles and are just to purchase some rare treasures? How many rare treasures are needed to fill this city?
A huge ship? My Ming Dynasty treasure ship returned from its westward journey and purchased nearly two hundred kinds of goods, twenty-nine kinds of spices, twenty-three kinds of treasures, twenty-two kinds of medicinal materials, seventeen kinds of hardware, and fifty-one kinds of cloth.
There are twenty-one kinds of animals, eight kinds of paints, three kinds of food, three kinds of wood, and eight kinds of cloth and other miscellaneous goods. The so-called only buying rare and rare treasures. Don’t you think this is nonsense, Mr. Su?"
During Zheng He's voyages to the West, he handled the import and export of various commodities. He explained it clearly, and said: "Among the purchased goods, such as pepper, the purchasing price in Sumatra, Kochi and other countries was
The market price of a regular one hundred catties in our Ming Dynasty is at least twenty thousand one hundred catties, and the profit is more than twenty times. Our Ming Dynasty treasure ship is as wide as a city, but if we transport a ship of pepper back, how amazing is the profit from this alone?"
Pepper was a very popular commodity in the Ming Dynasty. From the palace to the wealthy gentry, pepper was a must-have in the diet. At the same time, it was also a very commonly used spice. Li Ping in "Jin Ping Mei"
When my son wanted to remarry, when describing how many private houses she had, she mentioned that she had "forty catties of agarwood, two hundred catties of white wax, two jars of mercury, and eighty catties of pepper."
Although this book was written in the Song Dynasty, the author was from the Ming Dynasty. He just substituted the folk customs of the time into the story of the Song Dynasty. It reflected the market customs of the Ming Dynasty at that time. Pepper was a very scarce commodity.
However, the output in the Central Plains is very small and they mainly rely on imports. The transportation cost of private imports is extremely high, and the prices continue to rise, so it has become a hard currency to maintain value.
Zheng He added: "There is also sumamu. The price difference between the purchase price in foreign countries and the selling price in our Ming Dynasty is more than 20 times. When my Ming treasure ship comes back, the profit from the sumac alone is more than ten million?"
At this time of year, prices were not high, so the profit was only more than 20 times. In the original history, with the rise in prices and the stop of the Western voyages, there was an imbalance in supply and demand. By the Xuande period, the price of a pound of sappan wood had risen to
Fifty times the purchase price.
Later, the imperial court used pepper and hematoxylin to replace salaries. Some people who did not know the truth criticized this as depriving officials of their salaries. Who knows that in the early Ming Dynasty, salaries were often replaced by real items. Even later, some people directly distributed rice and cloth. So they used
It is a normal behavior to use physical objects instead of treasure notes to distribute salaries, and using pepper and sappan wood as the physical objects to distribute salaries was cost-effective when the market supply exceeded demand at that time.
At that time, it was not only civil and military officials but also a large number of sergeants who were paid with pepper and sappan wood. If the payment of pepper and sappan wood was an act of deduction, then the emperor would have offended almost everyone (civilian officials, military generals, and sergeants).
Is it possible that it can be implemented even after offending all the power groups without even a single military mutiny?
At that time, these things were in short supply, and the discount on them would increase everyone's salary in disguise. Just a few decades later, Magellan returned from his voyage, and when the pepper he loaded was sold, the price was half the price of the place where he purchased it.
More than 10,000 times, so the pepper and sappan wood bought by Zheng He are basically treasures that are constantly increasing in value.
Of course, during the seven consecutive voyages to the West, the large import of pepper caused the market price of pepper to drop sharply. This is inevitable in the supply relationship. Is it good or bad for these commodities to enter the homes of ordinary people? Is it possible?
The trade behavior of exchanging what is needed does not reduce the price of goods, but causes the price of goods to continue to rise?
The market is saturated and unprofitable, so people will naturally reduce the import of this product. Color TVs were in short supply in the 1980s, and many families could not get one without asking relatives and friends. Merchants could import as much as they could, guaranteed.
You can make a lot of money and don't have to worry about sales. Why don't you go and tell him that in thirty years these things will be all over the streets and don't buy them to avoid a backlog?
To use this as a reason to attack the Western Seas is shameless to say, and stupid to believe it.
Zheng He added: "Besides, when our treasure ships go to sea, they also carry a large amount of goods. Take porcelain as an example. The purchase price is only dozens or hundreds of coins, and the best ones are only a few or dozens of coins, but they are sold for
What's the price? In a foreign land, the blue and white porcelain plates cost five hundred guan each, the bowls three hundred guan each, the bottles five hundred guan each, and the wine bottles one thousand five hundred guan each."
Zheng He smiled slightly and said: "Master Su, if we sell ten thousand bowls, we will earn at least three to five million yuan. How can this be a waste of money and money?"
"this……"
Zheng He's words were well-founded and could not be argued with. Su Shilang was speechless for a moment. The other officials wanted to help, but when faced with the examples given by Zheng He, they were speechless for a while.
Xia Xun smiled slightly after hearing this and said, "Eunuch Zheng, what you said is ridiculous!"
"ah?"
Zheng He was stunned when he saw that it was Xia Xun who came out to refute. Zhu Di was also a little dazed when he was sitting at the top. He knew that Xia Xun had always supported the voyage to the West. Seeing Zheng He being besieged and criticizing him, in fact, he was pointing at
Zhu Di himself was very upset. He was secretly happy when Xia Xun arrived, hoping that Xia Xun could stand on his side and refute the ministers. Unexpectedly, Xia Xun actually expressed his opposition. He couldn't react for a while.
All the officials were overjoyed when they saw Duke Fu's objections. Hu Wenlong, the counselor of the Beijing branch, couldn't help but said: "I don't know what Duke Fu's views are. I am willing to hear the details!"
Other officials responded one after another and said repeatedly: "Yes, yes, please ask the Duke of Fu to state his interests to the emperor!"
Xia Xun cupped his hands to Zhu Di and said, "What the Emperor, Eunuch Zheng said just now, was only about the benefits of the exchange of goods. This aspect alone is really nothing."
All the officials responded one after another: "Yes, yes, our country is vast and abundant, and we have everything. Why should we exchange our possessions with the barbarians and compete for their interests?"
Xia Xun smiled slightly and said: "I feel that if you only care about the pros and cons of going to the West, you will be inferior. To see whether it is beneficial or not, we must consider the following aspects!
"
Zhu Di's face was elongated, almost turning into a shoehorn face. He suppressed his displeasure and said, "You tell me!"
"yes!"
Xia Xun seemed to have not seen Zhu Di's expression, and said loudly: "First of all, coastal cities, such as Changle, Ningbo, Taicang, Quanzhou and other places, are prosperous and prosperous with merchants gathering. The reason is because of the sea market. If there were not
Haishi, how can these coastal cities be prosperous? The voyage to the West has promoted the comprehensive development of culture, economy and people's livelihood in coastal cities, which is an incalculable benefit."
"Um?"
All the civil and military officials were stunned. Zheng He was the first to react: "It turns out that Duke Fu is speaking to me!"
Zhu Di also reacted, but he did not show obvious joy like Zheng He. Instead, he glared at Xia Xun and said with a straight face: "Go on!"
"Yes! Another one, when the treasure ship sails to the Western Ocean, it is necessary to purchase a large amount of Central Plains items for trade. Like the porcelain that Eunuch Zheng just mentioned, if it is not used for Western trade, the celadon from Jingdezhen and the white porcelain from Dehua, Fujian...
··How could the sales volume be so large? Foshan was originally just an isolated village with a few foundries. If it weren't for the initial gathering of ships and huge losses from the north and south, how could An Neng develop from a few workshops into a huge city?"
At this time, all the civil and military officials knew that Xia Xun was actually on Zheng He's side. They were all annoyed, but Xia Xun ignored them and continued: "From this, Jingdezhen's porcelain, Suzhou's silk weaving, and Songjiang's cotton
Weaving, printing in Wuhu, tea industry in Hangzhou... How much development have they brought to the local area?
Moving on to iron smelting, forging, shipbuilding, navigation, astronomy, etc., how much technological development has been brought about in this process? Not to mention how many species will be brought in by the transportation to the West.
, how much cultural exchange has occurred”
"Going to the Western Seas not only spreads the prestige of our Ming Dynasty and makes all foreigners convinced, but also makes our Ming Dynasty's goods popular in all countries. All the barbarians in the four seas feel honored to use our Ming Dynasty's things. It can also make their hearts turn to the heaven. Furthermore, even if it is
The barbarians also have their strengths. We, the Ming Dynasty, went to the Western Seas and exchanged our strengths for our weaknesses. This not only increased the country's prestige but also served the country's needs. We gained both fame and fortune. What's wrong with that?"
Lin Chengyi, the minister of Taichang Temple, couldn't help but retort: "What Duke Fu said seems reasonable.
But the Duke knows that since Zheng He returned from his voyages to the West, tribute ships from other countries have been paying frequent tributes. When the tribute ships arrived, laborers were mobilized from the local area to transport them. The consumption of people's manpower was immeasurable. For example, transporting from Guangdong to Beijing was difficult because the boats were not accessible.
, it is often necessary to cross mountains and ridges, which makes the people miserable.
Furthermore, there is no fixed time for overseas countries to pay tribute. If it comes during the busy farming period, the labor force will be diverted, which will be more harmful to the local area. When the army and the people deliver it for a mile, no less than thirty or forty people will be sent to wait for the official, and they will be tired of menstruation.
, farming has long been abandoned.
When the tribute envoy returned to China, he purchased a large amount of goods from our country. All the companies along the road had to carry them on their behalf, ranging from dozens of people to more than a hundred vehicles. There were not enough men, and even women had to serve.
Wherever it goes, it is like wind and fire. It is not uncommon to humiliate post officials and flog people. The imperial court recruits people from far away, but only increases the worries of those close to you. What is the truth? "
When he said this, Hu Wenlong, the counselor of the Ministry of Finance, also got excited and said: "There are often hundreds of tribute envoys and attendants. Those who go to the capital with the tributes only have a few chief and deputy tribute envoys, and the rest will probably stay in the coastal city."
The local government is responsible for the food, accommodation, and various gifts of these hundreds of people in the post. These tribute envoys have stayed in the local area for a long time, and they often rely on their status to cause trouble.
In the past, a Ryukyu tribute envoy robbed a sea ship, killed officers and soldiers, injured a middle-ranking official, and took away his clothes. Although he was punished, the harm was not small. Later, a Javanese tribute envoy was drunk and rampant in Puyang. He killed several people with a knife and then committed suicide.
, The influence is bad! Wherever these tribute envoys go, chickens and dogs are often disturbed. Some Japanese tribute envoys take advantage of the famine in Shandong to steal the children of refugees and leave with their loads, harming the people and the country. It is very painful and hateful."
Su Qian, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, also refuted loudly: "That's not all! Most of these tribute envoys come to pay tribute for the sake of profit! It doesn't matter whether you need it or not, it just comes in large quantities. If you don't accept it, they will pester you endlessly.
All kinds of scoundrels! They are doing it under the guise of paying tribute. How can our country care about the thickness of the tribute? As a result, they take advantage of it time and time again."
Jin Youzi, a cabinet scholar who accompanied him, said: "For some foreign countries, when the tribute envoys arrived, the tribute ship immediately unloaded the cargo and returned, and loaded another cargo ship. Since the tribute envoys did not return, they were all used as tribute. I asked
The imperial court accepts the goods. The goods may not be needed by the people, may not be used by the country, may be poor and tattered, or may not be worth a penny, but they demand high prices. How can we not refrain from such an act that harms the country and the people? "
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