Wei Zhongxian's ability to obtain this position has fully demonstrated his ability and means.

At that time, Wei Zhongxian's character and style should not be bad, at least on the surface.

The Divine Sect and the Light Sect would not allow a notorious, swearing-mouthed, unlearned, and inferior scoundrel to contact the little heir.

No matter how Wanli looked down on Emperor Taichang, it would not affect court education too much.

At most, Wanli has never been waiting to see Taichang, and has always put his eldest son aside.

The apocalypse was not picked up, and the emperor's eldest grandson was not joking.

Is Wei Zhongxian really illiterate?

How can a person with a high IQ and explosive emotional intelligence be illiterate.

How can you not study if you want to climb to a high position?

If you want to manipulate the imperial court, how can you not know how to read?

Moreover, the "Xizong Record" records: When Zhou Zongjian said that Wei Zhongxian "didn't know anything", Wei Zhongxian was still very angry and argued, indicating that he should know words.

There are also records of Wei Zhongxian's reading in the "History of the Ming Dynasty". Of course, his literary level may not be high.

Dealing with the world is a profound science, and flattery also requires a lot of knowledge.

Wei Zhongxian can play with a group of knowledgeable ministers, get along well with a group of knowledgeable high-ranking officials, can make a group of knowledgeable leaders happy, and finally form his own eunuch group, this technique is definitely not simple.

"Shoufu, since Wei Aiqing said your method, you can talk about it, this is a place for deliberations, if you have anything to say, it doesn't hurt to say it directly." Emperor Zhu Youxiao urged.

Gu Bingqian was still playing the drum in his heart, whether to tell the emperor about Wei Bao's strategy, he hadn't made up his mind yet.

The most important thing is that Gu Bingqian doesn't want to be this up-and-coming bird.

It's too big.

He can be fooled by Wei Bao to accept the strategy, which is mainly considered from the perspective of personal interests.

Because Gu Bingqian is optimistic about Wei Bao's political rise, he relies on Wei Bao's sleekness, Wei Bao's current achievements, and Wei Bao's age.

Wei Bao is only fifteen years old, as long as Wei Bao can stand tall in the Ming Dynasty, it is almost a sure thing to enter the cabinet before the age of thirty.

What's more, Wei Bao is the son-in-law of the British Gong Zhang Weixian, with such a tough backer, what can happen?

Therefore, as long as he has a good relationship with Wei Bao, he can guarantee the prosperity of his family for generations.

But now on the platform, Gu Bingqian is the first assistant who has risen step by step, not a wine bag and a rice bag, and when he arrives here, he will envision it for the Ming Dynasty.

Open the sea ban, especially according to Wei Bao's proposal, open more than ten treaty ports, that is, the sea ban will be fully opened!

How much impact did this have on the Ming court?

Will the Ming Dynasty fall because of this?

If the Ming Dynasty falls, what is there to talk about wealth and glory?

Although it is impossible for Gu Bingqian to look forward from the perspective of later generations like Wei Bao, before the Ming Dynasty, the sea ban was also opened in previous dynasties, which is not something that only existed in the Ming Dynasty.

There is a reason why the Ming court has always been indifferent to the ban on opening the sea.

Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Zhuxia has been to the southeast of the wealth to support the northwest horses, Tang Tianzi heard the boat to come father and son to each other and cried, Song Tianzi back to Heluo still lack of food.

The emperor of the Ming and Qing dynasties also regarded the canal as his lifeblood.

But there are always a few far-sighted people, and most of the people in the southeast are not willing to pay for the soldiers and horses in the northwest, if there is a strong soldier and horse in the southeast, what will happen?

Therefore, since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the military affairs have been heavy on the north and light on the south, in order to prevent changes.

If they could not use the wealth of the southeast to support the horses of the northwest, in the end, the nomadic marauders from the grasslands would drive straight in, coerce the Han people in the north to swallow mountains and rivers, and the southerners would be reduced to the last servants.

Why was the Japanese army so strong in the Battle of Imjin Korea, because the main force of North Korea was guarding against the Jurchens on the Yalu River in the northwest, and there was no extra financial resources to support more soldiers and horses.

Why the coastal defense in the middle of the Ming and Qing dynasties was useless, because the main force was also guarding the northern Xinjiang.

Because they did not dare to raise a strong army in the southeast, especially the southeast coast, which was conducive to secession, and did not want a strong maritime power to appear in the southeast.

Most of the maritime merchants before the twentieth century were pirates who were both merchants and pirates, and if they had no armed forces, they would not mix in the sea and wait to feed the sharks.

All parties are strong and strong, they are big sharks one by one, and only those who have the ability can mix up.

Before the Industrial Revolution, China was one of the richest countries in the world.

The Son of Heaven is rich all over the world and does not have much desire to expand, nor does he have a vision beyond the times, if he wants to ensure the 'peace of the country and the people', he will naturally ban the sea and limit business, and even close the country.

In this way, there will be fewer things and it will be natural and stable.

The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban was a traditional policy.

The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy was the Yuan Dynasty of learning, while the Yuan Dynasty was the Song Dynasty of learning, and the Song Dynasty did not have a maritime ban policy before.

Why did the Song Dynasty ban the sea, because the imperial court wanted to monopolize the profits of the sea trade, just as it monopolized the brewing industry, salt industry and other businesses.

Once the sea ban is opened, the materials from the outside can continue to impact the imperial court and the landlord class.

So Wei Bao doesn't have to worry about making money, as long as the sea ban is opened, Wei Bao is confident that he will be rich in a few months!

The Yuan Dynasty was relatively loose, but that was because its ruling ability was too poor to manage.

On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty inherited the system of the previous dynasty, and on the other hand, the problem of the Japanese in the early Ming Dynasty was indeed quite serious.

At this time, Japan was in the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and many Japanese robbers took advantage of the war in the Central Plains to rob.

The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban was bad because during the Ming Dynasty, private industry and commerce had already surpassed the government-run, and the continued maritime ban hindered the development of productive forces.

Why was there no sea ban before the Song Dynasty, because in those days only the clan lords and Arab merchants had the ability to conduct ocean trade.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the private sea trade was far inferior to the imperial court.

A ban on the sea is not the same as a closed country.

To put it bluntly, the sea ban is a good thing to make money, and the Ming court wants to swallow it alone!

In the early Ming Dynasty, this powerful navy was maintained, and Zheng He was also sent to the Western Ocean.

Although the dynasty was a tributary trade, Zheng He went to scatter money to establish a tributary relationship.

But being able to do this shows that the Ming Dynasty court had a need for ocean trade.

The Qing Dynasty's sea ban was no longer just a sea ban, but a closed country.

First of all, the navy of the Qing Dynasty was not comparable to that of the Ming Dynasty at all.

The Manchus, as a court established by a nomadic tribe, instinctively disliked sailors and navies.

Secondly, the Qing Dynasty was quite inactive in foreign trade, and even only allowed maritime trade at the port of Guangzhou.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy was gradually relaxed.

Except for the Jiajing period, that year was the most fierce time for Japan's Warring States to fight, and the Japanese were more serious.

The Qing Dynasty became stricter and stricter.

Except after the Opium War, it was also forcibly opened by foreign countries.

In addition to making money and coastal defense, the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban had other purposes in addition to monopolizing maritime trade and preventing Japanese invaders.

First of all, when the Ming Dynasty was first founded, the population was very small, only 60 million, and you must know that China had a population of 60 million in the Western Han Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty's discrimination against southerners led to the emergence of immigrants to Southeast Asia along the southeast coast, and the ban on the sea in the early Ming Dynasty was also to limit the outflow of people.

Secondly, the Ming Dynasty used silver as the main currency, and it happened that Europeans found a lot of gold and silver mines in the Americas, and there were also many silver mines in Japan.

Not restricting the inflow of silver can easily lead to inflation.

Moreover, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was necessary to curb industry and commerce to restore agriculture.

Finally, China's absolutist centralized system since the Qin period had come to an end, and the Yuan Dynasty had already seen a trend of big merchants threatening imperial power.

Don't underestimate the monarchs of the Ming and Qing dynasties, although they didn't understand what capitalism was, they could see the potential threat of the emerging bourgeoisie to the impact of the imperial power.

These things can be thought of by the monarch, Gu Bingqian, the cabinet ministers, thinking about things and looking at problems from an angle will not be lower than that of the monarch, and most of them are knowledgeable, they can think of it even more.

If it was just for a temporary shortage of silver, a bigger opening was opened.

It may be able to make up for the lack of silver for the time being, but the bigger hole may let Daming fall into it all at once, and in a few days, Daming will be finished, what should I do?

Since the Tang Dynasty, China has used the wealth of the southeast to raise the horses of the northwest.

In other words, the southeast is the money bag, and the money and grain are used to feed the border guards in the northwest.

After the Song Dynasty, the military center of gravity shifted to the northeast to solve the problem of the northern threat.

In order to ensure the control of the border regiments, the capital of the Tang Dynasty was to be in the north.

There are two problems with this, the southeast has money to come out, and it can take out the money from the southeast.

The problem of money in the southeast was solved with the development of the southeast during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

And the second problem is more complicated, no one wants to be a money bag.

The southeast region has money and a lot of room for geographical expansion.

There are people, there is money, if there is a strong organization, it is likely to make their own independence and divide one side.

It's better to be an emperor than a cow, Sun Quan, and Chen Baxian are all examples.

The Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Five Dynasties of Southern Secession, and the Southern Song Dynasty are all examples.

So for the great unified dynasty in the north, how to ensure that the south does not make trouble.

Or that you can't be independent.

There are many ways to do this, and the sea ban is one of them.

Maritime trade meant huge sums of money, organized groups, workshops for the construction of large ships, large gatherings of people, and frequent contact with foreign powers.

Once there is a change, it will cause the city of the empire to lose the largest money bag, and then lead to the destruction of the entire empire.

To give the simplest example, a certain maritime group pulls thousands of mercenaries from overseas, and the local sailors distribute weapons to 20,000 people, take a large ship into the Yangtze River, divide the troops into two routes to cut off the Cao Yun, and besiege Nanjing.

The north of the Ming Dynasty pointed to Caoyun to eat, and the army in the south was basically scum.

The mobility of the ancient army was slow, and the troops were transferred from the north for at least half a year, and when your northern soldiers came, the daylilies were cold.

Therefore, whether from an economic point of view or from a military point of view, the opening of the sea ban and the opening of sea trade are huge problems.

The emperor knew, and so did the ministers.

The Emperor of the Apocalypse didn't know what Gu Bingqian was embarrassed about.

Wei Zhongxian was very clear.

With Wei Zhongxian's ears and eyes, he already knew the topic of opening the sea ban that Wei Bao raised at the wine table yesterday.

"Shousuke! What's wrong with you today, is there anything unspeakable, don't you worry about it, say it boldly, whether what you say is right or wrong, I will forgive you! Emperor Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but urge.

"The old minister just has a little humble opinion, in fact, he didn't think about it, otherwise, Your Majesty should ask Lord Wei directly, he knows better." Gu Bingqian stiffened his head and kicked the ball back.

Gu Bingqian was also cowardly, and he didn't dare to offend Wei Bao, so he didn't dare to directly say that this idea was come up by Lord Wei himself.

"Oh? Wei Aiqing, you know? Speak, you are eloquent, you speak clearly, I like to hear you. Zhu Youxiao was happy.

Wei Bao glanced at Gu Bingqian, secretly wondering what was unclear about this? You old fox, aren't you all good things?

Wei Bao said: "Master Wei Guangwei and Huang Liji have a joint signed transcript with Lord Shoufu, otherwise, Your Majesty will read the transcript directly, right?" ”

When Wei Guangwei and Huang Liji heard this, they looked at each other and almost fainted.

Seeing that Gu Bingqian didn't dare to say it, they thought that the matter of the book might have passed like this, and Gu Bingqian definitely didn't dare to take it out.

Who knew that Wei Bao brought it up himself?

Like Gu Bingqian, the two of them also took a fancy to Wei Bao's political future and wanted to get involved with Wei Bao and glorify the entire family.

But the matter of opening the sea ban is really too big.

The two of them are not stupid, and like Gu Bingqian, they all know what the situation will be caused by opening the sea ban.

Moreover, Daming has opened the sea ban more than once, and it is not that he has not done it before.

The Yongle Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty ruled by Zhu Di, as well as the Hongxi and Xuande dynasties that were in the same vein, had Zheng He's seven trips to the West, which should be a very open era to the outside world. However, turning over the dust of history, we will find that the sea ban of the Yongle Dynasty was actually extremely strict.

In the second year of Yongle (1404), Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty ordered a ban on private sea boats, and the original sea boats were changed to flat-headed boats. There is a division to prevent it from entering and exiting" flat-headed ships can not sail in the ocean, this time the Zhu Ming Dynasty used the method of drawing wages from the bottom of the kettle to achieve the purpose of the sea ban, forcing the maritime merchants to lose their means of transportation, which shows how resolute Chengzu's precaution is. Even for the merchants who fled overseas during Hongwu and Jianwen, Chengzu never let go. In October of the same year, he sent people overseas, commanding that "those who flee from the other side should be pardoned before the barnyard and restore their own business, and they will always be good citizens." If you are still in danger and stubborn, you will be ordered to send troops and kill them all, and you will not regret it." Cheng Zu did what he said, and in the fifth year of Yongle, Zheng He returned from the West to the old port near the Singapore Strait, and exterminated Chen Zuyi's maritime merchant forces who refused to return. ”

In July of the fifth year of Yongle (1405), in the Jiaozhi political division established after the pacification of Annan by force, the Ming Dynasty also insisted on implementing the policy of banning the sea in the newly conquered area. In the edict to pacify Annan, Cheng Zu affirmed that "soldiers and civilians are not allowed to privately enter the outside world and go to the sea to sell goods without permission, and violators will be punished according to the law." ”

Under the influence of Zheng He's voyage to the West, the number of private trade in the sea began to increase in the last years of Yongle. Just as Zheng He returned to Beijing in July of the eighth year of Xuande on his seventh trip to the West, Xuanzong ordered a strict ban on the sea:

"The fate is strictly forbidden in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. …… There are already prohibitions on fornication. In recent years, officials, the military and the people do not know how to abide by it, and often build sea boats privately, and search for them under the pretense of the imperial court, harassing foreign officials, or luring them into crimes. Guilty of a felony. It is advisable to affirm the previous ban, and the example is to the navy and the people, and those who have already been captured, and those who have the offenders are allowed to give half of the prisoner's family salary. If you know but don't tell you, and the military and the guards have a ban on the crime together. ”

Such a strict sea ban cannot be explained by the prevention and control of pirates and dangerous elements. Why did Zhu Di, a generation of heroes, go to the West on a large scale on the one hand, but on the other hand, he imposed such a strict ban on the sea? Could it be that going to the West is really just a loss of money and making money?

Let's take a look at a few records.

Yan Congjian's "Shuyu Zhou Advisory": "Since Yongle changed the yuan, sent four envoys, summoned Haifan, and made contributions. Strange goods and heavy treasures, the previous generations hoped, overflowing the reservoir city. The poor are ordered to buy bo, or get rich, and the state is also envious. ”

In the second year of Tianshun (1458) of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch played: "Yongle, Xuande repeatedly went to the West to buy gold, pearls, and precious stones, and it has stopped for more than 30 years. The treasury is exhausted. Huang Fu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry of Xuande, also said: "Yonglejian, although Beijing is built, Jiaozhi is discussed in the south, and the desert is conquered in the north, and there is no shortage of resources. There is no big expense than the country, and the year is only given. That is, if there is unfortunately a flood and drought, how will the requisition help? ”

From the above historical data, we can see that even if you go to the West itself, you will have a certain amount of rewards to the countries for the purpose of paying tribute. But when the nations came to pay tribute, the trade that took place was undoubtedly mutually beneficial.

The purpose of the ban on the sea and the suppression and restriction of private sea trade was to make the sea trade official and collect its profits, which was the same as the salt and iron official camp in the Han Dynasty.

The maritime trade of the Song and Yuan dynasties was extremely developed, but because private maritime merchants often evaded and evaded taxes, the trade volume was huge, and the state made little profit. Therefore, the Song and Yuan dynasties both tried to ban the sea, but they gave up because the government control was not strong, and it was not until the Ming Dynasty that it had the ability to implement the sea ban.

In addition, the excessive mercantilization of the Yuan Dynasty also led to the cultivation of cash crops on large tracts of fertile land, limiting the maximum grain output. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, with a population of less than 90 million, a large peasant uprising broke out due to population saturation, and it perished.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang is well aware of the role of business, and he knows the harm of business. The anti-business policy of the Ming Dynasty contained many provisions to protect commerce, and it was by no means a blind suppression of commerce, but aimed at controlling the amount of commerce within the most appropriate range. In this regard, Mr. Zhang Mingfu's "Suppressing Commerce and Trade: The Commercial Policy of Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty" has a very detailed discussion.

In order to maximize profits from the limited share of commerce, the government-run maritime trade was the preferred choice in the early dynasties, and the ban on the sea to prevent private maritime trade became an essential auxiliary measure.

However, the government-run trade also has its disadvantages of mechanization and rigidity. In the Ming Dynasty, the tributary trade lacked restrictions at the beginning, and those who came to the door did not refuse, but in the later period of the Yongle Dynasty, because of the excessive number of Tibetan goods entering the market, the depreciation of Tibetan goods was a good example.

And because after Xuande, the Ming Dynasty's government control continued to decline, and it was difficult to organize and plan large-scale government trade, so the Ming government had begun to consider liberalizing private sea trade. In the Zhengde Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, restrictions on maritime trade in Southeast Asia were relaxed. In the fourth year of Zhengde (1509), a Siamese ship was blown into Guangdong by a wind, and according to the regulations, the ship was a non-tributary private ship and was not allowed to trade, but the governor of Guangdong Town allowed it to trade and levy its excise tax for military purposes. Officials of the Ministry of Rites affirmed this practice, holding that the "ocean-wide merchants and wind boats" were neither recruited by the rescue book, nor were they contained in the old regulations, were not tributary ships, and did not fall within the purview of the city shipping department, and should be under the supervision of the town patrol and the three officials. In doing so, the Guangdong officials clearly negated the principle of tributary trade that "if there is a tribute, there is a mutual market, and if there is no tribute, they are not allowed to trade with each other", and it marked the beginning of the Ming Dynasty when China's trade with Southeast Asia entered a new period of private overseas trade.

As for the reason that after the Zhengde Dynasty, there was still a naval ban on the West and Japan. Westerners are unpredictable and difficult to fathom, while Japan was in the Warring States period at the time, and the situation was chaotic, and pirates and maritime merchants were often confused. Therefore, when it arrived in the Longqing Dynasty, the Moon Port was completely banned. However, from the perspective of maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty, Southeast Asia and South Asia were the bulk of the revenue from maritime trade, and it was not important whether the West and Japan were banned at that time.