Although he finally calmed down the attack by civil servants on nobles, Yunxi still had lingering fears. This incident really taught him a lesson.
Prior to this, whether it was the last years of Hongwu or the first two years of the Jianye Dynasty, there was no political struggle in the court, but most of the senior officials were his cronies, and at worst they were experienced people who would not act rashly in order to seek the country. The struggle between middle and lower-level officials
It has no impact. Although there are people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who engage in small actions in private, there has never been such a large-scale mass rape incident.
This made Yunxi truly realize that there are no small things in the court. Any seemingly trivial thing may lead to big things happening. He cannot ignore any impeachment memorial. When he can't figure it out for the time being,
It's better to stay in the center first and see if there is any other movement.
…
Yunxi summarized many lessons learned from this experience, and after carefully remembering them, he prepared to take the next step. Even if it may cause dissatisfaction among officials or even lead to other political struggles, the reform must continue and cannot stagnate; no matter what is ahead
The abyss is still a minefield, I will not look back and move forward bravely.' Yunxi agrees with this sentence, although he may not be able to do it.
However, just before Yunxi was about to issue a new decree, the memorials of Yang Ren and Zhang Yanfang reached the capital from Guangdong: preparations for the Baoan Shipping Department have been completed and can be formally established at any time. Your Majesty is requested to select a date for opening the sea.
Yunxi was extremely happy: This was three or four months faster than the Shanghai Shipping Company had opened the sea, and if it opened the sea one month earlier, he could earn one more month of tariffs. How could he not be happy?
After careful consideration, Yunxi chose the third day of February, the day after the dragon raised its head, as the day to open the sea.
…
…
On the 30th day of the first lunar month, Yang Ren, who was in Bao'an, received Yunxi's order and immediately sent someone to call Zhang Yanfang.
When he came over, Yang Ren handed him the decree. Zhang Yanfang took the decree, looked at it, and said nervously: "The sea will open on the third day of February, and there are only three days left. There is not enough time."
"Previous preparations have been made. What we have to do now is to summon merchants to do business in the Shibo Department Store. There are not many problems." Yang Ren said.
"But the biggest problem is to gather merchants. It's just local merchants in Guangdong. We have already made a decree to open sea in Bao'an after the New Year. After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, they came to Bao'an one after another from their hometown.
Or Guangzhou, it would be easy to gather them at the Shipping Department of Baoan City on the third day of the Lunar New Year."
"But it is not easy to summon businessmen and merchants from other places. The businessmen from Fujian, Huguang and even Changxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have gone home to celebrate the New Year. There are not many people coming here these days. Your Majesty opened the sea for the convenience of Guangdong.
Businessmen from Fujian, Hu, Jiangxi, Guangxi and other provinces, not just businessmen from Guangdong."
"There won't be many merchants. There were a lot of smuggling merchants here in Guangdong before, but after Shanghai opened the sea, many people went to Shanghai. Although if they knew that Baoan opened the sea, they would definitely return to Guangdong, but at least they have to go back to Guangdong.
In a month or two." Zhang Yanfang said.
"Didn't a decree be issued to establish the Bao'an Shipping Department in October last year? Why don't the merchants wait around here?" Yang Ren said.
Zhang Yanfang explained: "Brother Yang, who knows how long it will take for these merchants to officially open the sea this time? If it takes one or two years to prepare, will they keep waiting here? There will be no business for general maritime merchants in a year or two.
How can we maintain it? This is no better than before the opening of the sea in Shanghai, in the 30th and 31st years of Hongwu, the imperial court launched a large-scale crackdown on pirates along the coast. Smuggling could not continue at all, and merchants could only go to Shanghai to try their luck."
Only then did Yang Ren understand why there were so few merchants waiting for news in Bao'an, "But His Majesty has already made a decree to open the sea on the third day of February, and the time cannot be changed. If it is postponed by two days, it is better to postpone it by three days.
Delay it for two or three months..." Yang Ren didn't finish his words, but Zhang Yanfang certainly understood what he meant.
'It would be better if I told His Majesty that the time should be more relaxed when reporting this matter to His Majesty.' He thought. But the matter could not be changed at this point, so Zhang Yanfang said: "We can only make some adjustments."
"Shanghai used to rent land and houses. A piece of land and the house were leased to merchants for five years. The merchants could renovate the houses themselves, but they could not move the foundations and could only build simple houses; they could sublet, but they had to go to the municipal government office.
Sign the sublease document.”
"In the first year, we will only rent to merchants for one year instead of five years, but we are not allowed to modify the houses at all, and can only build pergola and the like; at the same time, we allow and even encourage merchants to sublease, and there is no need to report to the municipal government office...
…”
Zhang Yanfang talked a lot, and finally said: "Fortunately, His Majesty's decree did not stipulate that the regulations of the Shanghai Shipping Department should be followed completely. In the letter, he even allowed modifications based on the actual situation in Guangdong. Otherwise, there would really be no way.
.”
Yang Ren had also put a lot of effort into preparing for the Shanghai Shipping Company before, so he understood that the charter mentioned by Zhang Yanfang was indeed more appropriate.
He is not a person without responsibility - one of the criteria for Yunxi to choose his close friends is whether they are responsible. He is not afraid that his officials will do something wrong, but he is afraid that they will do nothing in order to avoid making mistakes - so he said: "That's it.
It’s decided, let’s get things done first.
"Immediately send people to the states and counties under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Prefecture and neighboring prefectures to post notices, telling them to open the sea on the third day of February and rent out shops in Bao'an City Shipping Division."
"Bao'an's guard station must also be mobilized. If the newly recruited police officers are not effective, we should let the guardsmen maintain law and order. Who among these maritime merchants does not have dozens of thugs? They must not be allowed to cause chaos in the city shipping department."
…
The two discussed for a few more words, straightened out the final preparations before setting off to sea, and wrote them all down. First, they would implement them one by one according to the straightened out content, and they would draft a memorial to report to Yunxi.
After signing their names on the prepared memorial, Yang Ren and Zhang Yanfang went their separate ways and began the final preparations.
In the afternoon of the same day, Dongguan County, Xiangshan County, Shunde County, Zengcheng County, Nanhai County and Panyu County of Tongguo in Guangzhou Prefecture, Boluo County and Guishan County in Huizhou Prefecture posted notices officially opening the sea on the third day of February, allowing merchants to
Quickly go to Bao'an City Shipping Department; the next day, on the first day of the second lunar month, notices were also posted in farther prefectures and counties.
Local businessmen in Guangdong have been waiting for this day since they learned about this in November last year. Most of them have gathered in Guangzhou Prefecture or near Baoan City Shipsi where merchants are allowed to stay. After seeing the notice, they immediately set off for Shibosi.
The local officials in Guangdong also attached great importance to the opening of the sea. For a time, all the attention of the Guangdong local government was focused on the small Bao'an Shipping Department.
