Volume B Volume 201 General Discussion, Transaction
After calming down, Feng Ziying knew that opening the sea was an extremely sensitive topic within the Zhou court.
It is not that no one has mentioned opening up the sea, but the pros and cons of opening up the sea have been debated within the court.
Similarly, even among those who support opening up the sea, there are still different views.
More people still tend to support the selection of one or two ports for limited sea opening. All foreign sea trade can only be limited to these two ports. Other places still urgently need to strictly implement maritime bans to prevent piracy, Japanese invasion and
Infiltration and harassment by Western barbarians.
In both his policy papers for the National Examination and the Palace Examination, he mentioned the relationship between the prevention of Japanese invasion and the opening of the sea. Especially in the policy paper for the National Examination, he also spent a lot of space explaining the positive financial significance of the opening of the sea.
Feng Ziying estimated that these two articles should have attracted the attention of some people within the imperial court.
However, due to the lack of sufficient on-site research, it was difficult for Feng Ziying to judge how much direct tax revenue the opening of the sea could bring to the finance, and this was precisely what Emperor Yonglong valued most.
As for the direct and indirect benefits it has brought to the local people, Feng Ziying estimates that this is not what Emperor Yonglong and the cabinet elders are concerned about yet.
The gentry and merchants related to the maritime trade along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang may have consciously or unconsciously reached a consensus or tacit understanding with some officials who had the same views. However, the views of officials within the imperial court on the ancestral system of maritime prohibition were still very strong, and the mainstream view was still that of resolute maritime prohibition.
, to put an end to Japanese invasion and pirates, which made not many people in the court willing to talk about opening up the sea.
In particular, the recent appearance of Western barbarians in Guangdong, especially the emergence of Jesuit priests, has caused quite a shock, making some people in the court insist on the maritime ban even more.
"Brother Zixun, it seems that you are also very concerned about Kaihai and Japanese invasion." Feng Ziying chuckled.
"Ziying, you have to pay attention. Brother Yu is from Fujian. No Fujian scholar will not pay attention to this." Xu Xie emphasized the word "Fujian scholar".
Feng Ziying's heart moved slightly, "So, Brother Zixun also agrees to open the sea, what do you think about the Japanese invasion?"
"The opening of the sea is of great importance. Brother Yu is also very conflicted and difficult to make a choice, but he still feels that if he continues like this, can pirates and Japanese troubles be eliminated? But from the Ming Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, for a hundred years, the imperial court has always insisted
The sea ban almost caused the people along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang to move inland, but is the price too high? Since it can't be done, and the results of the sea ban are still unsatisfactory, can we change our strategy?"
Xu Xie's eyes were intense, and his tone was slightly raised, "But the imperial court has banned the sea for so many years, and there is a lot of opposition to the opening of the sea. They all believe that the opening of the sea will bring dangers and threats, especially now with the emergence of the Western Yi.
Ziying should know, right? There are more and more people in Guangdong, even in southern Zhili and Fujian and Zhejiang. The imperial court doesn’t know what to do..."
Feng Ziying has basically been able to determine that Xu Xie should be speaking on behalf of a certain person or a few people, or even a certain group.
Well, Fujian scholars, although this group is not too numerous within the imperial court, their interests are relatively consistent, but I don’t know what they want.
Xu Xie is just a scholar who has not yet become an official. No matter how you say it, it will have little impact, at least it will not have much impact on his appointment. Even if it does, someone will help him to eliminate it.
The same goes for me, but why do I have to blame myself? Is this a deal?
"Brother Zixun, from my understanding, if you want to discuss the strategy of opening up the sea, you first need to understand one question, and that is the pros and cons." Feng Ziying thought for a while and then answered.
"Pros and cons?" Xu Xie chewed the word for a while and calmed down, "Ziying's words are worth a thousand dollars, and she has told the true meaning."
"Haha, Brother Zixun is too praised. In fact, this is the truth in everything in the world. There are pros and cons in everything. The key lies in the pros and cons. To give the simplest example, is building water conservancy a good thing? Is opening a school a good thing?
Everyone must know that this is a good thing, but where is the money to be spent? Maybe the money from building water conservancy projects should be spent on military pay to defend against foreign invaders. Maybe the money from opening schools should be used to build a bridge to facilitate people's lives. How to weigh the pros and cons?
?”
Feng Ziying gave an example casually, and then continued: "What are the advantages and disadvantages of opening the sea? It is one thing for the court and another thing for the local people. Many people think this may be inconsistent and conflicting, so
This requires detailed analysis of specific issues and understanding them bit by bit, so that we can judge the pros and cons."
"The sea ban in our dynasty was a continuation of the previous Ming Dynasty. The reason for the initial sea ban in the former Ming Dynasty was that pirates in Fujian and Zhejiang were rampant when the Zhu family was founded, and they had always been opposed to the Zhu family. Therefore, they deliberately suppressed the Zhu family after the founding of the country, thus forming
Regarding the maritime ban policy, there was also a call to open the sea in the early days of our government. However, with the civil strife in Japan, a large number of Japanese exiles fled to the sea and had no livelihood. They began to develop from smuggling to robbery..."
"..., and due to our country's maritime ban policy, the interests of some maritime merchants along the coast were also damaged, and some maritime merchants facilitated the collusion of the Japanese and became land bases for smuggling. In turn, this kind of smuggling and pirates directly destroyed and affected
Naturally, the interests of the imperial court and the people must be severely punished, and this cycle will naturally become more and more intense, until today..."
"... Fortunately, the Imjin Japanese Rebellion had an impact on the Japanese ronin. In addition, the Tokugawa clan is still in the stage of stable rule in Japan, so the maritime territory is relatively stable. Once the Tokugawa clan intends to invade Japan through foreign war,
If we consolidate our own rule, or are subject to internal pressure in the hope of obtaining benefits from the outside, then our maritime borders will still face severe challenges..."
Xu Xie also had to admit that Feng Ziying had a very thorough understanding of the situation in the maritime areas, but he was a little confused as to how Feng Ziying could understand the internal situation in Japan so well. I am afraid that the Ministry of War's Staff Division might not be able to understand it in such detail, right?
I heard that the Feng family is quite successful in Shandong. Could it be that the Feng family is also engaged in maritime business in Shandong? If so, it would be easier to explain, and it would be more beneficial.
Xu Xie's mind became more and more flexible.
"Then what do Ziying think about the pros and cons of the current sea ban?"
"In my humble opinion, the disadvantages of the sea ban far outweigh the benefits." Feng Ziying was very frank. This was the attitude she also revealed in her article on the Imperial Examination. There is nothing to hide. This is why the person behind Xu Xie found herself
Because of that.
"Oh, I would like to hear the details." Xu Xie said patiently.
"Let's talk about the disadvantages first. Most of the opponents think that if the sea is opened, maritime smuggling will be intensified. However, this is based on the premise that only one or two ports will be opened. Didn't the Great Zhou Dynasty propose to build Yuegang and Ningbo in the early days of the founding of the country?
Should we set up a municipal shipping department? However, our great Zhou Dynasty covers a vast territory from Liaodong to Annan, involving seven or eight direct provinces, with more than ten million people. Doesn’t it mean that the sea trade between Guangdong and Liaodong must also go to Yuegang and Ningbo? What’s the point?
What's the point? People are definitely going to smuggle, but if the location of the shipping department can be reasonably arranged, then this can at least be greatly improved..."
"There is also the worry that opening up the sea will strengthen the Japanese pirates' power and intensify their harassment. But in fact, unless all the coastal people move inland, you will not be able to cut off contact with the Japanese pirates at sea. This worry itself is meaningless, Brother Zixun
We should be aware of this. Under the current maritime ban, are the Japanese pirates getting less supplies from our mainland?"
Xu Xie nodded slightly. There were many islands along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang, the coastline was tortuous, and the people and merchants were all mixed up. It would be too difficult to cut off the contact between these Japanese pirates and the mainland.
"Of course the most critical point is that the tribute system followed by the imperial court made the Zhou Dynasty unbearable, especially the tribute from the Japanese lands, so the imperial court cut off tribute, which eventually led to collusion between these so-called tribute missions and Japanese pirates at sea.
…”
"Of course, there are still some people. Opening the sea may allow more Xiyi people to come in and endanger the imperial rule. But if we don't open the sea, won't they come? Now they have arrived around our great Zhou Dynasty, the Japanese,
Nanyang, if we keep them out, we are covering our ears and stealing the news. Instead of doing that, why don’t we openly contact and understand them?”
"These so-called disadvantages actually boil down to the fact that the imperial court felt that this would undermine the majesty of the Zhou Dynasty and make management troublesome. It did not have a clear and standardized management system, and it did not realize the benefits that the sea ban could bring, or in other words, it did not feel that the benefits were there at the beginning.
How old is it, we can simply ban the sea and put an end to it."
"What about Li?"
"Benefit, from the current perspective, opening up the sea can solve the livelihood of many poor people in coastal areas. Whether it is running boats, sea trade, or dock livelihood, it can at least bring a job to fill their stomachs. Secondly,
, we can sell more of our Dazhou production, and at the same time exchange for the things that our Dazhou people need, well, even the things that the court needs, such as spices, silver and copper, but this is based on a
Under a brand new trade model, instead of the original tribute,..."
"Ziying, are you saying that we want to change from sea trade smuggling to open smuggling?" Xu Xie's eyes lit up.
"If we can provide taxes to the court, it is not called smuggling. Brother Zixun, we need to understand this concept. If we can provide the court with considerable and generous taxes and income, then it is considered smuggling, and that is what we are doing."
The Zhou Dynasty should support smuggling, right?"
Feng Ziying smiled slightly, and this smile fell into Xu Xie's eyes, but it was so weird.
The content and meaning contained in these words were so rich that it was difficult for Xu Xie to understand them for a while, and the impact they brought was even greater. Xu Xie needed to digest them before passing on these ideas.
"Ziying, can you write a more detailed policy statement?" Xu Xie pondered for a moment before saying.
"Do I need to submit it to the court?" Feng Ziying laughed. I'm afraid this is the real deal. "But I am no longer a student of Qingtan Academy."
"Then you are now a second-class Jinshi." Xu Xie also smiled in return.