Lao Zhu took a look at the memorial and saw on the cover: "Please lift the sea ban."
Yes, Yunxi finally started to propose opening up the sea in the last year of Hongwu. Yunxi deliberately put forward the idea of opening up the sea in the last year. This is because this is different from sharing the land with the gentry and the officials and gentry: sharing the land with the gentry, and the officials
It is possible to use the traditional Chinese method to collect grain from a gentleman, and because there will be great resistance, Lao Zhu's thunderous methods are needed.
But the opening of the sea is different. The people and most merchants along the coast are looking forward to the opening of the sea, so there will be no resistance. And after the opening of the sea, it is very important to use how to manage the treaty ports and collect tariffs. Now is the time to set the rules.
It would be much more convenient after the rules were set, but Yunxi was afraid that he would not be able to collect much tax if Lao Zhu was to set the rules, so he specifically chose the last year of Hongwu.
Yunxi's biggest reason for requesting the opening of the sea in his petition was: 'Everyone in the world is bustling, and they are all seeking profit.' He wrote in his petition: "Since the Tang Dynasty, trafficking in illicit salt has been a capital crime, but trafficking in illicit salt has been banned repeatedly.
It's all because people in the world are bustling with each other for profit. Now your Majesty has stabilized the price of salt and allowed merchants to transport grain to the north to sell salt. Therefore, there is very little private salt."
"Sea trade is close to salt, but Your Majesty does not allow the sea to be opened, and only allows vassal states to pay tribute. How is it far different from selling salt? Now that sea trade is not allowed, people along the coast will go to sea secretly in order to seek huge profits, and even collude with Japanese pirates to invade the border.
From this point of view, if merchants are allowed to trade, the seaside will be peaceful and Japanese pirates will be eliminated."
What Yunxi is talking about is a simple economic principle. There are about thirty vassal states in the Ming Dynasty now, which is incomparable with the more than seventy countries in Yongle in later generations. Of course, Yunxi thinks it is a good thing that there are not many vassal states.
There are not many things that come as tribute every year, but there are many things that the rich or the common people need, such as ivory and other luxury goods and pepper and other spices.
Therefore, based on the relationship between supply and demand, the profits from trafficking in these things are huge. Yunxi remembers seeing information in later generations that the profit rate of some luxury goods can reach 1,000%. According to the analysis of Marx's "Das Kapital", capitalists have 100%
With a profit of 300 yuan, you can dare to do anything, so if you don't open the sea, you will definitely be banned from "pirates".
Later, Yunxi also attached specific operation methods. Yunxi suggested setting up a pilot treaty port first, and then extending it to other coastal provinces across the country after the system was complete. Of course, the pilot area was Shanghu County.
There are two reasons why Yunxi chose Shanghu County: First, Shanghu County is very close to the capital. It doesn’t take long to get to Shanghu County from Longwandu port, which is convenient for management; second, Shanghu County’s geographical location is very good.
It guards the mouth of the Yangtze River and is located in the middle of the Chinese coastline. Its unique geographical location makes it almost irreplaceable.
Yunxi believes that other cities that traveled by sea in later generations can be replaced. The trading port in the Song Dynasty was in Quanzhou, and in later generations it was in Xiamen. Isn't there any discomfort?
Yunxi also suggested that Shanghu County be placed under the jurisdiction of Yingtian Prefecture and become the ninth county under the capital. The people of Shanghu County may be happy about this now, but in the future businessmen will scold the government for this move.
Already.
Lao Zhu read it twice and then said to Yunxi: "I have something to tell you. Grandpa is not unaware of the huge profits from sea trade. Grandpa promised tribute from various countries. Although the rewards were very generous, after selling the things they paid tribute to
The benefits are far greater than the rewards."
"And if sea trade is allowed, there will inevitably be the rise of extremely powerful sea merchants. These sea merchants often number in the tens of thousands. They are called citizens of the Ming Dynasty but they are not subject to the government's control. They seduce the people to rest in their own ways, and some even establish a country on their own overseas.
, is a serious problem for the imperial court. In contrast, pirates are a serious problem for Siem Reap."
The purpose of Lao Zhu's formulation of various systems was to stabilize the Ming Dynasty forever, so he was deeply aware of the harm caused by maritime trade to the Ming Dynasty. But the problem was that Lao Zhu's policies could not be successful for a long time.
A country will be most stable if the entire middle class is composed of farmers in the countryside and small owners in the cities. However, as the population increases, land annexation is an inevitable trend, unless Lao Zhu lives forever.
When Lao Zhu was unable to live forever, he could only move the extra people to other places. The people who migrated to Southeast Asia had twice the result with half the effort with the help of maritime merchants. They even took the migrating people as their own and established a country of their own.
I am not afraid, but I support it, but I must welcome the descendants of the Zhu family as kings. Even if it is just a memorial arch, it must be erected.
If the Zhu family were kings all over Southeast Asia, it would be like the Anjou dynasty, Stuart dynasty, and Windsor dynasty in Europe, which have different names but are essentially a family dynasty, even if they are all archways, even if the Central Plains
After the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, no one dared to destroy the archways casually, otherwise other countries would have a legitimate excuse to attack you. In comparison, erecting the archways would cost less. What’s more, it couldn’t be all archways.
So Yunxi said: "Grandpa, we must strictly restrict them, impose heavy taxes, and set up multiple trading ports along the coast after the Shanghai County system is complete, so that people from different places can have maritime trade, and they should be on the sea
To carry out the "Tweening Order", for any maritime merchant who owns more than a certain number of ships, after the death of the owner's family, the eldest son can inherit most of the property, but the ship should be divided equally among all the children and grandchildren. An order should be posted at all ports.
If someone comes to complain that the head of the family does not implement the order of grace, the government will make the decision for him."
The sea extension order is useful when the government's execution ability is strong, but will be useless when the execution ability is weak. However, Yunxi pointed out that this provision is temporary in nature, so it does not matter.
"And even if they are not allowed to do business, they will still smuggle. Our Ming Dynasty has tens of thousands of miles of coast, and we can go to sea everywhere, so we can't help it."
"And in the future, my grandson plans to seal some of his uncles to Nanyang. With my uncles here, I will be able to keep Nanyang under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and the maritime merchants will have to obey the control of the imperial court."
When Yunxi said the first point, Lao Zhu nodded slightly, and when he said the second point, he didn't care much. But after Yunxi said the last point, Lao Zhu's eyes lit up and he said: "Yes, there are not many people in the Nanyang Islands."
If there are too many, even if they are sealed off, they will not be able to fight against the central government."
However, Lao Zhu added: "But the vassal states that have surrendered must not be invaded. The vassal states that my grandfather designated as a country that cannot be conquered in the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions" must not be invaded. We, the Ming Dynasty, are a huge country. How can we not keep our word?"
Yunxi hesitated for a moment and said, "My grandson has remembered it."
Lao Zhu didn't care how much land he occupied in Nanyang. He had no idea about this. He agreed to seal his descendants in order to protect them and stabilize the order. Seeing that Yunxi agreed, and after careful observation, Lao Zhu truly agreed.
, and said: "Grandpa agreed to open the sea. You can handle the rest. Once the regulations are finalized, just tell me about it."
