Chapter 168: The Sea
Lao Zhu took it and looked at it, and the cover read: "Please open the sea ban". Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Yes, Yun Xi finally began to propose the opening of the sea in the last year of Hongwu. Yunxi deliberately overwhelmed the opening of the sea in the last year. Because this is different from the apportionment of the mu and the integration of the officials and gentry to pay the grain: it is possible to spread the ding into the mu and the officials and gentry to pay the grain in the traditional Chinese way, and because there will be great resistance, it is just necessary for Lao Zhu's thunderous means to carry it out.
But the opening of the sea is different. The people along the coast, most of the merchants, are looking forward to opening the sea, so there will be no resistance. And after the opening of the sea, it is very important to use what way to govern the treaty port and collect tariffs, now is the time to set the rules, and it will be much more convenient to set the rules, and let Lao Zhu set the rules Yunxi is afraid that he will not be able to collect much tax, so he deliberately chose it in the last year of Hongwu.
The biggest reason for Yun Xi's request to open the sea in the above letter is: "The people of the world are bustling, and they are all for profit." In his book, he wrote: "Since the Tang Dynasty, trafficking in illicit salt has been a capital crime, but trafficking in illicit salt has been repeatedly banned because people in the world are bustling for profit." Now His Majesty has stabilized the price of salt, and allowed merchants to transport grain to the north so that they can sell salt, but there is very little private salt. ”
"Sea trade is similar to salt, but His Majesty is not allowed to open the sea, only to pay tribute from vassal countries, how far from selling salt. Nowadays, no sea trade is allowed, and the people along the coast will go to sea privately in order to seek huge profits, and even collude with the Japanese to invade the border. From this point of view, when merchants are allowed to trade, the seaside will be peaceful and the Japanese will be eliminated. ”
Yun Xi is talking about a simple economic principle. Now there are about 30 vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, which cannot be compared with more than 70 countries in Yongle in later generations - of course, Yun Xi thinks that it is a good thing that there are not many vassal states - there are not many things that come in tribute every year, but there are many things that are needed by the rich or ordinary people, such as luxury goods such as ivory and spices such as pepper.
Therefore, according to the relationship between supply and demand, the profits of trafficking these things are extremely high, and Yun Xi remembers that later generations have seen information that the profit margin of some luxury goods can reach 1,000 percent. According to Marx's analysis in "Capital", capitalists dare to do anything if they have 300 percent profits, so 'pirates' will certainly be banned if they do not open the sea.
The specific operation method is also attached to the back. Yun Xi suggested that pilot treaty ports should be set up first, and then extended to other coastal provinces in the country after the system is completed. Of course, the pilot area is Shanghu County.
Yunxi chose Shanghu County for two reasons: first, Shanghu County is very close to the capital, and it is easy to manage Shanghu County not long after leaving the port from Longwandu: second, the geographical location of Shanghu County is too good, holding the mouth of the Yangtze River, and it is in the middle of the Chinese coastline, and its unique geographical location makes it almost irreplaceable.
And the other cities that traveled by the sea in later generations Yunxi thought that they could be replaced. The treaty port of the Song Dynasty was in Quanzhou, and in the later generations it was in Xiamen, didn't there be any discomfort?
Yun Xi also suggested that Shanghu County be changed to be under the jurisdiction of Ying Tianfu, becoming the ninth subordinate county of the capital. Now the people of Shanghu County may be happy about this, but when the time comes, the businessmen will scold the government for this move.
Lao Zhu looked at it twice, and then said to Yun Xi: "There is one thing to tell you, grandpa is not unaware of the huge profits of sea trade. Grandpa promised tribute from all countries, although the reward was very large, but after selling their tribute, the profit was far above the reward. ”
"And if the sea trade is allowed, there will inevitably be a very powerful sea merchants, these sea merchants often have thousands of people, called the people of the Ming Dynasty but do not obey the control of the government, and seduce the people to be restless and keep to themselves, and even some people set up their own countries overseas, which is a great trouble for the imperial court. In contrast, Haikou is the disease of Siem Reap. ”
Lao Zhu's purpose in formulating various systems is to make the Ming Dynasty permanent, so he is deeply aware of the harm of maritime merchants to the Ming Dynasty. But the problem is that Lao Zhu's policy will not be successful for a long time.
A country is most stable if the whole country is middle-class, homesteaders in the countryside and small owners in the cities. However, with the increase of population, land annexation is an inevitable trend, unless Lao Zhu is immortal.
And Lao Zhu can't live forever, so he can only move the extra people to other places. The people who migrated to Southeast Asia had the help of maritime merchants to get twice the result with half the effort, and even they were not afraid to take the migrated people as their own and establish themselves as a country, but they supported it, but they must welcome the descendants of the Zhu family as kings. Even if it's just a torii, it has to be erected.
If Southeast Asia is full of the Zhu family as the king, just like the Anjou Dynasty, the Stuart Dynasty, and the Windsor Dynasty in Europe, which have different names but are essentially all family dynasties, even if it is all archways, even if the Ming Dynasty in the Central Plains collapses, no one dares to abolish the archways casually, otherwise other countries will have justifiable excuses to hit you. In contrast, it costs less to erect a torii. What's more, it can't all be torii.
So Yun Xi said: "Grandpa, so we must strictly restrict them, impose heavy taxes, and set up a number of treaty ports along the coast after the system of Shanghu County is perfected, so that people in different places have maritime merchants, and when the 'Tui En Order' is implemented on the sea, all maritime merchants who own ships above how many materials are paid, after the death of their master, the eldest son can inherit most of the goods, but when the ships are divided equally among all the children and grandchildren." It should be ordered that a 'tui en 'tui en' be posted at all the ports, and if anyone comes to report that the head of the house does not carry out the tui en tui order, the government will make the decision for him. ”
The sea push order is useful when the government's execution ability is strong, and it is useless when the execution ability is weak. However, Yun Xi proposed that this article was originally temporary, so it was okay.
"And even if they are not allowed to trade, they will smuggle, and I can go to sea everywhere on the coast of tens of thousands of miles, and I can't help it."
"And in the future, my grandson plans to seal some uncles to Nanyang, and with my uncles here, I will definitely be able to keep Nanyang under the rule of my Ming Dynasty, and I will definitely make it impossible for maritime merchants to disobey the control of the imperial court."
Lao Zhu nodded slightly when Yun Xi said the first point, and didn't care much when he said the second point, but after Yun Xi said the last point, Lao Zhu's eyes lit up, and he said: "Yes, there are not many people in the Nanyang Islands, and even if they are sealed, they will not be able to fight against the central government." ”
However, Lao Zhu said again: "But the vassal states that have been surrendered must not be invaded, and the vassal states that my grandfather designated as non-conscripted countries in the "Emperor Ming Zu Xun" must not be invaded. I am a big country, how can I not believe in my words. ”
Yun Xi hesitated for a moment and said, "Grandson remembers." ”
Lao Zhu didn't care how much land he occupied in Nanyang, he had no concept of this, he agreed that the purpose of sealing his descendants was to preserve them and make order stable. Seeing that Yun Xi agreed, and Lao Zhu sincerely agreed after careful observation, he said, "Grandpa agreed to open the sea." You can do the rest, and just talk to me about the charter when it's ready. ”