318 [Governor's Military Affairs Mighty General Chief Officer]
Governor's Palace.
The cold pig head on the table had already been tasted by the local master, so Wang Yuan asked the cook to use it to make braised vegetables.
In the evening, the braised pig head was cut, and the wine was placed under the lamp to have a drink.
Zhang Cong sat across from Wang Yuan and suddenly said: "President, I went to Zhangzhou and heard some news that I don't know whether it is true or false."
"What news?" Wang Yuan asked with a smile.
Zhang Cong gave Wang Yuan a full glass, poured himself another drink and said: "There is a group of red-haired ghosts who came from the land of Western Europe and have occupied Malacca. The merchants in Zhangzhou who used the Nanyang Sea Route called these red-haired ghosts
The ghosts are the Folangji people. They always bring countless spices and conduct private transactions in Guangzhou, and it is said that they make a lot of profits."
Franji?
Is it Portugal or Spain?
Wang Yuan's memory was a little confused and he couldn't tell which country it was. Anyway, it was either Spain or Portugal.
"What do you think?" Wang Yuan asked.
Zhang Cong ate the braised pig head and said: "Send people to Guangzhou to recruit the Folangji people and let them do business in Hangzhou. If they tax them heavily, they will definitely get a lot of money. In Guangzhou, the tax is 20% as usual. In fact,
The tax is over 30%. If Hangzhou only levies 25%, those Folangji people will definitely be willing to come."
Wang Yuan said: "Guangzhou taxes taxes regardless of the type of goods. We should treat them differently. Goods that are beneficial to the country and the people should have slightly lower tariffs. Luxurious things used for pleasure must be taxed heavily!"
"This method is very good." Zhang Cong praised.
When Zheng He went to the West, he brought back a lot of pepper. Due to the imperial court's monopoly on maritime trade, pepper became a luxury product and was deliberately sold slowly. As a result, after the pepper landed ashore, it was sold to private merchants from official dental shops, and then to private merchants.
When sold to the common people, official dental shops can make ten times the profit, and private merchants can also make several times the profit!
You can imagine how much money Zheng He made for the court, and how frightening the price of pepper was.
Portuguese Ouweizi actually arrived at the Pearl River Estuary by boat as early as the eighth year of Zhengde. Although Ouweiji was not allowed to land, he still sold out all his goods and made huge profits. His son fell ill and died and was buried on the spot in Tun.
Macau. A few years later, Ou Weiji was buried in Tuen Mun Macau by his friends, and the father and son were reunited in the underworld of China.
Two years ago, the Portuguese Pires wrote a book "Oriental Chronicles" based on the information provided by Ovage and the Chinese doing business in Malacca. This book soon spread back to Europe and became as famous as "Marco Polo's Travels".
Half a year ago, the Italian-Portuguese captain Belestrero came to Tuen Mun and Macao to trade again and made a profit... twenty times!
From Malacca to Guangdong, a 30% tariff was imposed, but the profit was twenty times.
Of course, this is a special situation because the Portuguese have scarce items shipped from the West.
Zhang Cong ate the braised pig head and drank another glass: "I heard that there are private ports all over Guangdong. As long as they share the tariff, the three companies are too lazy to take care of it. The sea in Guangdong is already half open!"
"Why can't I finish the remaining half?" Wang Yuan said regretfully.
Chen Jin, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Wu Tingju, the political envoy to the left in Guangdong, both advocated the introduction of customs taxes and were also officials who advocated "semi-opening of the sea".
What is "half-open sea"?
Foreign merchant ships were allowed to trade in China, and they took the opportunity to impose heavy taxes. At the same time, Chinese merchant ships were prohibited from going to sea, and the ancestral sea ban system was selectively and strictly enforced.
And this kind of "half-open sea" led to the eunuchs of the Guangdong Municipal Shipping Bureau and the officials of the Third Division of Guangdong. The eunuchs wanted the Municipal Shipping Division to collect taxes, and the civil servants wanted the Third Division to collect taxes. When Liu Jin was in power, the eunuchs won, and Liu Jin died.
Later, the customs tax revenue was controlled by the three departments. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the Ministry of Revenue, and it is absolutely impossible for the tax money to be handed over to the central government.
Tuen Mun Island (Lantau Island) in Guangdong has been called the "Trade Island" by the Portuguese. Merchant ships from Luzon, Bo Ni, Annan, Dongpu Village, Champa, Japan, and Ryukyu are crowded with Tuen Mun Island.
On the sea surface, local officials in Guangdong turned a blind eye to the tax after collecting it and had no idea what the sea ban was.
Zhang Cong said: "When the fleet comes back from Japan, it will be time to take advantage of the trade winds to travel to the Southeast Asia. At that time, I plan to take a sea ship and go to Tuenmen Island first to invite merchant ships from all over the world to come to Hangzhou for trade. Then I will go there again.
Go to Malacca (Malacca) and find out the real situation of the Folangji people. Manlajia is a vassal of our Ming Dynasty, but unknowingly, the country was destroyed by the Folangji people. The Folangji people will definitely be a big trouble in Southeast Asia!"
Wang Yuan made it up casually: "I also heard from the pirates that the Flemish people and ships are strong and powerful, and there is also a thing called sweet potato. Sweet potato does not choose the land, even barren fields can survive, and the yield is amazing. If you can get this thing
, if it is introduced to China, it can bring life to all the people."
"Is there such a thing? Then I must pay attention." Zhang Cong was half convinced.
In fact, Wang Yuan doesn't know exactly when sweet potatoes were introduced to Asia. Anyway, there is nothing to lose by asking.
…
Four batches of merchant ships, totaling more than 110 ships, sailed from Hangzhou to Japan.
The Hangzhou Shipping Department collected a tariff of 130,000 taels.
In addition, he got 525,000 taels of silver from selling maritime trade licenses (maritime trade licenses, valid for five years). Most of them were owed on credit. The merchants said they would pay them after they made money. Wang Yuan wanted to open the sea smoothly.
Agree immediately.
This money is nothing, it will become more and more in the future.
Once sent to the capital, Zhu Houzhao is guaranteed to be driven crazy with joy. Even Shi Jie, the Minister of Household Affairs, probably has to be short-handed and dare not speak so loudly to Wang Yuan.
Shi Jie was going crazy, and so were the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty.
The prince and the princess survived successfully for a hundred days. The prince was named Zhu Zaiyi and the princess was named Zhu Xuanzhen.
At the end of September, an auspicious day was chosen to make Zhu Zaiyi the crown prince and Concubine Zhuang the imperial concubine.
Then, the moth came...
At the beginning of October, Zhu Houzhao, accompanied by Jiang Bin, secretly left the capital through the Victory Gate. Liang Chu, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji and others asked for information, and hurriedly chased him on horseback. In Changping, he finally caught up with the emperor and knelt down, crying and admonishing the emperor to return.
Zhu Houzhao refused to listen and went straight to Juyongguan.
Zhang Qin, the censor who patrolled the customs, refused to open the door because Zhu Houzhao had not completed the formalities and did not carry the customs clearance documents with him. Zhu Houzhao knew that he was in the wrong and had to return to the capital.
A few days later, Zhang Qin went out for inspection and was not at Juyong Pass. Zhu Houzhao immediately left the city. The generals guarding the pass did not dare to disobey, so they had to open the door to let him pass. At the same time, he sent people to Beijing quickly to report the news.
"What? His Majesty ran away again!" Liang Chu was shocked.
The cabinet ministers looked at each other and had no choice but to try their best to conceal it, and then sent people to recover the emperor.
Unable to catch up, the emperor ran too fast and reached the Xuan Mansion in a flash. He proclaimed himself the "Governor-General of Military Affairs, the Mighty General and the Chief Military Officer", and in this name he sent orders to all the border towns.
Contrary to historical records, after Zhu Houzhao arrived in Xuanfu, he did not carry out any major construction work to build the "Zhenguogong Palace" - after defeating the little Mongolian prince, Zhu Houzhao proclaimed himself the Zhenguogong. It is pure nonsense to say that he built the Zhenguogong Palace in Xuanfu.
Not to mention having fun and asking for the wives and daughters of officials and people; nor did they harm the people and force the local people to live in poverty.
On the contrary, after Zhu Houzhao settled down in Xuan Mansion, he immediately began to reorganize the army and strictly enforce military discipline. He also frequently mobilized border generals, demoted unqualified garrison generals, and transferred generals who could fight from various places.
The next step was to check the number of soldiers, replenish them as much as possible, and order the Ministry of Household Affairs to quickly transport food and grass.
Then there is the inventory of official pastures, collection of available war horses, and reorganization of cavalry units.
Anyway, all for the sake of fighting the little Mongolian prince.
Because the emperor personally took charge of the situation and issued orders, the military affairs on the border of the Ming Dynasty improved rapidly, and even corruption and expropriation became restrained.
Jiang Bin is also a ruthless person. In order to fight in wars and achieve meritorious service, he sets an example and becomes extremely "incorruptible". He also requires generals everywhere to be serious and responsible. Who dares to disobey, the emperor is here, just get rid of him and get it done.
It's a pity, it's just a gust of wind.
When the battle is over and the emperor leaves the border town, regardless of victory or defeat, the army will return to its old state.
At the same time, since the emperor was not in the capital, the government was controlled by the cabinet, the six ministries and the ceremonial supervisor.
The cabinet, the Sixth Ministry and the Supervisor Zhang Xiong crazily seized power, and Zhang Xiong was even more unscrupulous in corruption. The entire court was in a mess, and no one was in charge of Wang Yuan's opening of the sea in Hangzhou.