"Dear Your Majesty the King: I came to the East under your order to open up the trade route between the East and the West. I came to the Ming Dynasty, which is known as the Kingdom of Heaven. The Ming Dynasty is fighting against the barbarian Qing people in the north. I heard that the war situation is not optimistic. , lost more than half of their territory. However, the land is still vast and the products are rich. The most gratifying thing is that they have changed their previous trade policy and set up customs in four beautiful coastal cities specifically for the entry and exit of loan goods. These customs are very well laid out. It is reasonable and a large wharf has been built for large merchant ships to dock; the officials are polite and businessmen from all over the world can enter the customs for free trade after declaring their goods according to the procedures and paying taxes; there are shopping streets in the customs, and businessmen from all over the world can trade on the streets. Dozens of business houses, large and small, have been opened, and the number is still increasing. There are Siamese, Champa people, Annamites, Koreans, Japanese, French, Spanish, Portuguese and damn Dutch. People. I think we British should also open such a business office in the customs of the Ming Dynasty, and go to their capital Guilin to establish stable diplomatic relations with them. Thank God Almighty for allowing us to build a bridge of friendship between the East and the West. ??"
This is a letter written to Charles I by William Charto, the special envoy sent to the East by King Charles I of England. Unfortunately, when this letter returned to England, Charles I had already failed in the civil war and fell into the hands of the British bourgeois revolutionary Cromwell. As a result, the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Britain was delayed by a year.
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"Mr. Sun, it has been two months since the customs was opened. How is the current situation?" In the yamen of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the customs officer Zhen smiled and asked Sun Yurong, the newly established customs officer.
Upon hearing the Shangguan's question, Sun Yurong did not dare to make any mistake. He sat upright with half of his butt raised, straightened his back and answered: "Replying to your lord, the situation is gratifying: Qinzhou Customs of Lianzhou Prefecture collected a customs duty of 6,000 taels last month. This month it rose to 10,000 taels; Wuchuan Customs in Gaozhou Prefecture collected tariffs of 5,000 taels last month, and this month it rose to 8,000 taels; Changhua Customs in Qiongzhou Prefecture collected tariffs of 4,000 taels last month, and it rose to 7,000 taels this month. Annan Xin'an Prefecture Customs collected a tariff of 3,500 taels last month, which rose to 6,000 taels this month. And with more and more merchants entering and leaving the customs, Xianguan estimates that the four major customs can collect a tariff of 400,000 taels in the first year. More than two taels of silver will increase year by year in the future."
"Well, thank you for your hard work, Mr. Sun. By the way, according to the usual practice, the four major customs departments should have one person in charge of the sixth grade. However, the supervisory country believed that customs is important and promoted all the chiefs of the four major customs branches to the fifth grade. , the documents from the Ministry of Civil Affairs will be arriving in the next two days. This is a great favor, you must work hard!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Yurong quickly thanked him.
The customs is a big vacancy. In order to increase the anti-corruption efforts in the customs, Zhu Hengjia ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to check the customs tax situation on an annual basis, focusing on checking whether there is tax evasion. He also developed a system to assess the customs performance. There are three assessment methods. : First, the Ministry of Household Affairs conducts an inspection, and then reports the inspection results to the cabinet; second, the Ministry of Personnel conducts routine inquiries when evaluating officials for promotion, demotion, or dismissal; third, sets up a customs inspection censor to conduct random inspections from time to time.
Zhu Hengjia also stipulated that all customs branch officials should be replaced every three years, and locals were strictly prohibited from serving as customs branch officials.
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Just after reading the Ministry of Household's memorial on the Customs Department, Zhu Hengjia rubbed his eyes. He was tired of correcting the memorial in the past two days. He suddenly reported to Concubine Zhuang for an audience.
Concubine Wang Zhuang has known Zhu Hengjia for the longest time, and she is considered to be Zhu Hengjia's poor wife. She has always been a virtuous and unconcerned wife, and she likes to eat fast and chant Buddha's name the most.
"What's she doing here?" Zhu Hengjia's old face turned red. "Is it possible that Gu has been going to Shi Xianfei and Huang Huibin during this period, neglecting her, and wants Gu to hand over the public food?"
"Announce her coming in."
"Your Highness, I've made some ginseng soup for Your Highness." Seeing Zhu Hengjia's tired face, Concubine Wang Zhuang hurriedly stretched out her slender hands to help Zhu Hengjia massage his shoulders, neck and head.
Zhu Hengjia was shocked, and a familiar feeling came to his heart. It seemed that the original owner often enjoyed this kind of service.
"What has my concubine been busy with recently?"
"I am busy day and night praying for Your Highness and your family!"
"What a good woman! Gu neglected her, and she still prayed for Gu!" Zhu Hengjia felt hot in his heart and whispered: "Tonight Gu is going to the concubine's palace."
Concubine Wang Zhuang blushed and quickly changed the topic: "Today I went to Longhua Temple to offer incense and met the master Wuyaji from the Champa Kingdom. His Buddhism is profound. Why doesn't Your Highness meet him?"
"Okay! It's that magician again! He wants to trick our Ming soldiers into fighting for his country, but there's no way!"
Zhu Hengjia's face sank: "Emperor Taizu Gao established the ancestral system long ago, and the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics. Does your beloved concubine want to violate the system?"
Concubine Wang Zhuang's eyes turned red and she knelt down to plead guilty: "I am not doing this for myself, I am praying for the prison country and His Highness the Crown Prince. I met Master Wuyaji in Longhua Temple, and he recited the Sangha Sutra for me.
", I saw that he was profound in Dharma, so I introduced him to His Highness. I knew I was wrong."
When Zhu Hengjia saw Concubine Wang Zhuang crying so hard, he couldn't bear it: "Okay, okay, if this doesn't happen next time, I will see him tomorrow for the sake of my beloved concubine."
Wuyapi was an envoy sent by the Champa Kingdom to the Ming Dynasty, and he was also a devout Brahmin. The Champa Kingdom believed in Brahmanism like India, and Buddhism evolved from Brahmanism, so Wuyapi was proficient in Buddhism.<
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The Ruan family of the Annan Kingdom continued to invade Champa City. The king of Champa, Pochi, ordered Wuya to come to the Ming Dynasty to invite troops to attack the Ruan family and stop the invasion. As a time traveler, Zhu Hengjia knew that Zheng Zhilong would surrender to the Qing Dynasty in a few months.
Emperor Wu was about to be killed in Tingzhou. He was preparing to fight the Manchus with his troops. How could he have time to take care of the occupation of the city? So he declined with an excuse. Little did he know that this gangster was very shameless, so he just stayed in Guilin.
Forget it, he actually pretended to be a Buddhist monk to deceive the kind and pure Concubine Wang Zhuang! It’s really intolerable for my uncle, but not for my aunt!
Zhu Hengjia thought, do you think Gu doesn’t know the difference between Brahmanism and Buddhism? Let’s see how Gu will expose you tomorrow!
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"Master, you said that your country believes in Buddhism and is the country of the Buddha. The Buddha said that all living beings are equal, so why does your country divide the people into four classes: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras?"
Zhu Hengjia asked this question with ill intentions, and pointed out the difference between Buddhism and Brahmanism to the point. He wanted to expose the truth about Wu Yaji pretending to be a Buddhist monk, and he said it in a bird-like manner.
Unexpectedly, Wu Yabo was worthy of being a Taoist god. He smiled slightly and said, "Although our country is the country of the Buddha, not all of our people are Buddhas. Amitabha!"
Awesome, all of this will work! Okay, since you pretend to be an eminent monk, I will play Zen with you.
"Master, have you heard of the two masters Han Shan and Shi De?"
"This is an eminent monk from the Tang Dynasty, and young monks admire him!"
"Hanshan asked Shide: 'How should I deal with someone in the world who slanders me, bullies me, humiliates me, laughs at me, despises me, despises me, or deceives me?' Shide said: 'Be patient with him, let him, avoid him, let him. Be patient with him, respect him, ignore him, and see him in a few years. Master, do you understand what I mean?"
Wu Yajie said with a mournful face: "Your Highness, do you want us to ask our country to tolerate the Annan Ruan family for a while, and then they will kill themselves if they do all kinds of evil?"
"Exactly, now that our Ming Dynasty is fighting against the Qing Dynasty, we are temporarily unable to take care of the city occupation, so I have to ask your country to be patient for a while."
"Your Highness, the Buddha once asked his disciples: 'How can a drop of water not dry up?' None of the disciples could answer. Sakyamuni said: 'Put it into rivers, rivers, lakes, and seas.' Your Highness, little monk What does it mean?"
Zhu Hengjiale was delighted: "Master, you want me to love all directions and protect your country with a broad mind? But I really don't have this ability!"
Wu Ya was anxious: "Your Highness, if the Ming Dynasty is willing to send troops to help me capture the city, my country is willing to provide three hundred thousand taels of silver, ivory, rhinoceros horn, and some ebony."
"What? Three hundred thousand taels of silver! There are also ivory, rhinoceros horn, and ebony!" Zhu Hengjia thought about it and it seemed that this business could be done.
"Master, infantry, Gu really can't draw out, but Gu recently recruited a group of pirates, no, formed a navy, which can rescue your country; in addition, there is a batch of eliminated ones in Gu's warehouse, no, just produced Firearms, artillery, and armor weapons can be provided to your country."
After collecting 300,000 taels of silver and a large number of rare treasures from the Champa Kingdom, Zhu Hengjia ordered one of the newly recruited pirates of the four surnames, Xu Guixiang, to station 2,000 men at Bintonglong Port in Champa City and support a group of pirates. Firearms and armor weapons were eliminated and given to Champa, and Master Wayaji was finally sent away.
