The City Ship Division was set up by the Chinese dynasties in various seaports to manage maritime foreign trade, which was equivalent to the customs.

Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there was a city envoy in Guangzhou, generally served by eunuchs, which was the predecessor of the city ship division, and the city ship division was formally established in the Song Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, in order to manage the tributary and trade affairs of overseas countries, the system of the previous dynasty was followed, and one person was promoted from the fifth grade and two people were promoted from the sixth grade, which was responsible for collecting tariffs.

The Ming Dynasty set up a city in Guangzhou, Guangdong, Quanzhou, Fujian, and Ningbo, Zhejiang, Guangdong City was specially designed for the tributary of Champa (Vietnam), Siam (Thailand), Manraka (Malaysia), and Chenla (Cambodia), Zhejiang City was specially set up for Japanese tribute, and Fujian City was specially set up for Ryukyu tribute.

After several generations of emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the three city shipping divisions were abolished and restored, and the foreign trade ports also changed, and it was not until the middle of Wanli that they stabilized.

Seeing Zhu Cihong asking about the City Shipping Division, Cheng Guoxiang talked about the Municipal Shipping Division with great interest, and said: "Your Highness, the benefits of opening the sea to trade are self-evident, the cargo ships of the Hongyi people need a large number of porcelain, silk and tea and other goods every year, but I have only opened three market shipping divisions for trade, and the three divisions also have complex and irritating restrictions on the goods and quantities of trade, please abolish those restrictions." ”

Zhu Cihong nodded and said: "The customs duties of the three divisions will be collected by the Ministry of Taxation, and the restrictions of the local government on the people's business will be further reduced. ”

Cheng Guoxiang, the secretary of the Ministry of Taxation, said that he understood the deep meaning of the crown prince's actions and wanted to make next year's tax revenue climb to a new height again.

Zhu Cihong suddenly asked, "Does Cheng Lao know that Zheng Zhilong is a good person?" ”

Cheng Guoxiang recalled and replied: "The minister knew that this person was a pirate before, and he was later recruited by Xiong Wencan and made some contributions in the maritime industry!" ”

Zhu Cihong smiled and groaned: "What else? ”

Cheng Guoxiang didn't understand why the prince asked a martial artist, and he didn't know much about Zheng Zhilong, so he shook his head and said: "The minister doesn't know much about him, and I ask His Highness to make it clear." ”

Zhu Cihong looked at Li Yan again and asked, "What do you think?" ”

Li Yan said: "The minister thinks that Xiong Wencan, the governor of Liangguang, prides himself on knowing and employing people, but in fact, it is not the case that he recruited Zheng Zhilong in the first place is the biggest failure!" ”

Zhang Guowei, the head of the household, asked: "After Zheng Zhilong returned to the imperial court, he not only drove out the red ghosts and defended the Ming Haijiang, but also recruited the displaced people to move to Dongfan at the price of three taels of silver per person, which can be regarded as solving the problem of the displaced people in Fujian, what does Lord Li mean by this?" ”

Li Yan said: "After the current saint ascended the throne, he tried to pacify the sea frontier, adopted Xiong Wencan's strategy of appeasement, and ruled the Kou with Kou, but after Zheng Zhilong was recruited, he used the name of the imperial court to eradicate the dissidents among the pirates, and he had already dominated the coastal areas of Fujian in a few years. ”

"The immigration to Dongfan is benevolent on the surface, but in fact, Zheng Zhilong's disaster is leading to the east, and the displaced people who have lost their industry are the hidden dangers of the imperial court, and they are all sent to the barbarian island, and the territory under its jurisdiction is too peaceful, he Zheng Zhilong is developing his strength in Quanzhou, Fujian Province at the same time, he is also developing Dongfan, just to have a spare foothold in case he turns his face with the imperial court in the future!"

Li Yan continued: "After this person dominated the coastal areas of Fujian, while fighting pirates, he also shielded smuggling, accused me of using the Ming Haijiang as his own backyard, smuggling and selling foreign goods through his official body, and passing ships, regardless of pirate merchants, must buy Zheng's banner to buy peace, and his annual income can reach 10 million taels of silver, but he has never paid a cent to the imperial court!" ”

Zhang Guowei didn't know the details of Zheng Zhilong, and after listening to Li Yan's evaluation, he realized that he had been despising this surnamed Zheng, no wonder the crown prince paid so much attention to him, and after making trouble for a long time, this guy was a ruthless character who was inconspicuous and made a fortune in a muffled voice.

Zhang Guowei said: "In this way, Zheng Zhilong is really divided, does His Highness want to raise troops to eradicate this evil!" ”

Zhu Cihong shook his head and said, "Don't worry! ”

The Ming Dynasty has a long coastline, only set up three city divisions, so that in the long coastline there are thousands of smugglers active, with the smuggling and the rise of nature is like maggots attached to the bones, and the two are often converted to each other, the shore is for the people, and the sea is for the thieves, this situation has developed to the point of no more in the apocalypse.

Zhu Cihong wanted the Ming coastal area to smoothly open the sea and trade, and the most important point was to crack down on smuggling, and there were two roots of smuggling, one was Japan, and the other was Zheng Zhilong in Quanzhou.

Japan financed countless smuggling ships that were both common to the people and thieves, and Zheng Zhilong obtained money by exploiting pirates, and at the same time monopolized the supply of goods on trade routes, becoming the largest smuggling group with official status in the Ming court.

Zhu Cihong wanted to open up sea trade along the coast of the south of the Yangtze River, and he could not avoid the arrangement of the Zheng family, after all, if foreign merchant ships wanted to go through the Taiwan Strait to reach Zhejiang and Shanghai, they had to pass through the southeast sea controlled by Zheng Zhilong.

It is impossible to collect protection money in the South China Sea on the one hand, and the imperial court collects tariffs in Zhejiang and Shanghai, what is this called?

Li Yan said worriedly: "Your Highness, if you don't solve the Zheng family, further opening up the commercial port will only make the Zheng family's wealth further grow, this Zheng family is already the richest family in the people, and if it continues like this, I am afraid that it will really be rich and rival the country." ”

Zhu Cihong didn't know about this situation, but he didn't have much confidence in the combat effectiveness of the newly built Ming Royal Navy, and at present, the shipyard was newly built, and naval officers were still training, so it was difficult to form a strong combat effectiveness in a few years.

Zheng Zhilong has fought several large-scale naval battles, and the strength of the opponent is the top in Asian waters, Zhu Cihong now has to rely on his own naval background, and it is not easy to defeat the Zheng family sailors in naval battles (the Fujian sailors are basically done by the Zheng family).

It is not that the combat effectiveness of the Tianwu Army and the Jingwu Army is inferior to that of the Zheng family, but that the terrain of Fujian is too fucked, except for a few places along the coast, the middle is basically full of undulating mountainous areas.

If the Jingwu army stationed in Zhejiang was transferred to attack the Zheng family's nest in Quanzhou, Fujian, it would be necessary to cross the mountains and mountains for nearly 2,000 miles.

If the troops were transported to Fujian by sea, a naval battle could not be avoided.

The most important thing is that even if Zheng Zhilong is defeated, those big and small pirates in the southeast sea who surrender to Zheng Zhilong will be a trouble, and there are also foreign devils, who may stab them in the back.

Zhu Cihong pondered for a while, and finally spoke: "Salute first and then soldier, let Mao Xiang go to Quanzhou as a messenger to give an order, order the Zheng family to enter the Admiralty, and the Fujian Navy Division will be changed to the Ming Royal Navy Flat Fleet, Zheng Zhilong will be the chief soldier of the fleet, and the uncle will be sealed in the east, and let the Zheng family be in the east!" ”

"In addition, Xiong Wencan, the governor of Liangguang, was transferred to Nanjing to serve as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, Yang Shicong, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, was transferred to the governor of Liangguang, and Jiangxi was transferred to the governor of Fujian according to the judge Huang Daozhou......"

Losing Taiwan to Zheng Zhilong can also be regarded as compensation for the Zheng family to give up control of the southeast sea area, and now Taiwan has not yet developed, and there are wastelands and miasma everywhere, so let the Zheng family engage in construction, and it is best to drive the Spaniards and Dutch away.

In order to prevent the Zheng family from refusing to accept appeasement, Zhu Cihong also began to arrange a follow-up hand to conquer the Zheng family by force.