The opening of the sea was forcibly passed by Emperor Hongji, but will it really not cause waves?

Impossible!

Beijing, Jiangnan Hall.

Today, there are many officials from the Jiangnan region here, and among them, Xie Qian, a big man, was also invited over.

Xie Qian knew what these people wanted to do, but he couldn't help but come, after all, people are social animals, and he, Xie Qian, if he wants to sit firmly in the position of Pavilion Elder, he also needs the support of some people, otherwise, even if he is Ge Lao, the people below him will not be good for him.

Therefore, Xie Qian must come, because the gentry of the Jiangnan system are his greatest reliance.

"Duke Xie, Your Majesty didn't hold a court discussion, and directly announced the opening of the sea, what is this going to do? Moreover, His Majesty is a very conservative person, how could he be so radical? ”

A five-rank official asked, he was really puzzled, Emperor Hongzhi was not a radical person in his impression, and suddenly, Emperor Hongzhi announced such a radical policy, which caught him off guard.

"Times have changed, Your Majesty, a conservative person, has also changed, you must also learn to adapt, otherwise, you will be eliminated!"

Xie Qian sighed and said, he has accepted the opening of the sea, because he has already seen that this is the trend of the times, and it is also what Emperor Hongzhi has made up his mind to implement, so he doesn't want to go against the general trend.

"In addition, I will tell you a piece of news, about the matter of opening the sea, it was unanimously agreed by Liu Gong, Li Gong, and several other national dukes, so if you want to sabotage this matter, I don't think there is a chance."

After all, these people are his biggest supporters, so Xie Qian still hopes that they can also change, although he knows very well that if the imperial court chooses to open the sea, it is the Jiangnan gentry who will lose the most benefits.

Because when the sea was forbidden, these Jiangnan gentry were smuggled out of the sea and did not need to pay any taxes, but after the opening of the sea, Emperor Hongzhi had already made it very clear in the early dynasty that he would be in Tianjin, oh, and it would be renamed Tianjin in the future, and he would set up a city department in Tianjin to collect taxes.

Although, at present, only a municipal department has been set up in Tianjin to collect taxes, but what about the future? Obviously, His Majesty is only using Tianjin as a place of experimentation, and in the future, it will definitely be carried out throughout the country.

As for the city divisions in Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Ningbo, don't mention it, it's completely different. The people present knew that the city directors of these three places were basically here to receive foreign envoys, not to collect taxes, and they had no effect on them.

"Now that the times have changed, opening the sea is the trend of the times, many of you have ships at home, in fact, you can accept this era, to earn more silver, there is no need to be on the bar with Your Majesty because of some taxes, it is not cost-effective!

Moreover, you have to think about it, why did Your Majesty suddenly change? Let His Majesty make the decision to open the sea, who will have the greatest influence on His Majesty? ”

"Li Zhaotong?"

Someone answered with some uncertainties.

"That's right, it's Li Zhaotong, think about it again, Li Zhaotong has a nickname, what's his name?"

"Little God of Wealth!"

Someone replied in the affirmative, needless to say, this person must have made money following Li Zhaotong.

"That's right, it's the little God of Wealth!"

Xie Qian asked and answered:

"Many of you are following Li Zhaotong and making a lot of money, right? I know you may be reluctant to admit it, but that's a fact.

Li Zhaotong, I can bring you to make money! Li Zhaotong himself made more money!

And the matter of opening the sea was first raised, and I won't hide it from you, it is Li Zhaotong, so why did Li Zhaotong promote this matter? Have you thought about it? ”

"Could it be that the little God of Wealth is promoting the opening of the sea, what big plan does it have to make more money?"

Someone asked uncertainly.

"Of course!"

Xie Qian is very sure:

"Among you, many of you are maritime merchants at home, you all know that you should make profits as a maritime merchant, Li Zhaotong is a saint's son, he has no reason not to know, so he must have opened the sea to be a maritime merchant and earn high profits.

However, he is more knowledgeable and generous than you, and knows that to do things, you must be generous and open-minded, not because you are reluctant to give up a small part of your interests, take risks, and do it secretly, and then lead to losing watermelons and picking up sesame seeds. ”

"Gong Xie, where is this a small part of the interests, this is a large part of the interests, once the imperial court opens the sea, for us, there will be more competitors, our profits, our buyers, will be reduced because of this!"

Everyone else present knew that Xie Qian's family was not in the sea trade business, so Xie Qian's idea made them feel quite helpless.

Paying taxes in the future is naturally a major reason why they oppose the opening of the sea, but there is another more important reason, that is, once the sea is opened, there will be more competitors for them! In this area, the benefits they have lost are huge.

"The world is big, the money is endless, what you want to do, I won't participate! But I give you a word of advice, Your Majesty's determination to open the sea this time is very great, don't go too far, be careful of being counterattacked! That's it, I still have a lot of things to do, so let's go first. ”

After speaking, Xie Qian really left, he didn't want to go against the general trend, but he knew better that the opening of the sea did touch the interests of many people, so he was not ready to participate, and was ready to wait and see.

As soon as Xie Qian left, everyone immediately looked at each other.

"This ......"

"It's too much for him to thank Qian, because we support him so much."

"Forget it, Gong Xie's family doesn't do maritime trade business, he doesn't object, it's the biggest support."

"Okay, if Xie Qian doesn't participate, he won't participate, so what should we do next? Go to the temple of heaven to admonish? Or do you want to think of another way? ”

"There is no need to advise, Gong Xie has actually hinted at us just now, this time His Majesty's determination to open the sea is very great, so I estimate that our advice is useless, and it will please Your Majesty's dislike, think of other ways!"

"Indeed, it should be useless to advise, this time the three pavilion elders and several princes unanimously agreed to open the sea, Your Majesty has confidence in this, we go to advise, it is difficult to shake Your Majesty's determination."

"What then? We sent people to Tianjin to spread the disadvantages of opening the sea? ”

"I guess it's useless, this time, Your Majesty and the Son of Heaven's private army have won the hearts of the people in Tianjin, at this time, whatever decision Your Majesty makes, those untouchables will definitely support it, and the "Globe and Mail" is a sharp weapon to control speech! We are certainly not as good as the Globe and Mail. ”

"What then?"

"Let's start from the sea, Duke Wu, can you contact the one from She County?"