After this great dispute in the court in recent months, the Ming court finally announced a change of course and reopened the sea ban. ◢ With * dream * small ◢.1a

However, even if the Son of Heaven has made it clear to the world, it is still not easy to implement this policy truly and thoroughly. Because since Xuande finally sent a fleet to sea, the imperial court has never officially gone to sea, and the people have long been accustomed to living isolated from the sea, and it is not easy to break this inertia.

In particular, the old-fashioned and stubborn gentry class in those localities were quite resistant to this, and after the edict was issued, many local yamen had already received opposition from the gentry and other gentry of no low status, and even many officials had prejudices about this, so they even tried to dissuade them one after another.

Under such circumstances, high-ranking officials in the DPRK and the central government naturally became the targets of attack by these opposition groups, whether it was the cabinet ministers or the six ministers, each of them was counted as one, and they were all criticized a lot, saying that they were consumed by the desire for profit and really failed the emperor's favor.

Of course, the most pressure is still Zhu Qiyu today, because he not only sees opposition reports from the people every day, but also has to face the side attacks of those officials in the court who are still not very convinced, which makes the young emperor really a little stressed, and he feels that he can't support it.

In desperation, Zhu Qiyu had no choice but to summon Lu Zhen into the palace again to discuss countermeasures.

After listening to the emperor's complaints, Lu Zhen was also helpless. Obviously, his proposal is completely for the benefit of the country and the people, but there are so many people who do not appreciate it, and they have made fierce objections. It would be nice if only those who would oppose it because the opening of the sea would harm their interests, but in fact the majority of those who oppose it are those who stick to the old ways. He could only sigh at the horror of the ignorant and the strength of historical inertia.

Seeing that Lu Zhen was only sighing there, the emperor really couldn't help it: "Lu Qing, the matter of opening the sea now is related to the prestige of me, the Son of Heaven, in the hearts of the officials and the people, you have to do things well, and you must not drop the chain." ”

"I understand." Lu Zhen came back to his senses at this time, nodded and agreed: "Your Majesty, rest assured, in fact, this minister has already considered it." For example, the reason why there are so many people who oppose the opening of the sea today is just because they are not familiar with this matter, and they don't know how much benefit this can bring to my Daming. As long as they do something to benefit from it, these opponents will immediately become supporters of the opening of the sea! ”

"It's not easy to say...... "The Son of Heaven smiled bitterly: "Now that there is opposition everywhere, there will be many obstacles to the implementation of this decree, how can it be effective in the short term?" ”

When Lu Zhen heard this, his brows furrowed. He could feel that in fact, the Son of Heaven was already a little tired and tired of the current situation of constant strife. In fact, this is also reasonable, as soon as the things that were thought to be easy to implement were obstructed by the Manchu courtiers, and then they finally suppressed these courtiers, but they were opposed again and again, which naturally made him feel powerless and frustrated.

"Your Majesty, please be relieved, in fact, the minister has also thought about this matter. After all, the DPRK has banned the sea for 100 years, and the sudden opening of the sea will inevitably make people feel uncomfortable. As long as the opening of the sea there has been an effect, and thus brought enough profits to the imperial court, the officials of other provinces will naturally follow suit for the sake of political achievements, and now those people who oppose Lianlian will also change their minds after knowing the benefits of opening the sea. Lu Zhen had no choice but to be patient and persuaded gently.

Zhu Qiyu listened to this proposal, and after thinking about it again, he couldn't help but nod: "This is a serious statement. But I don't know where Lu Qing thinks it is better to choose this sea ban? ”

"Of course, the three southeastern provinces, especially Jiangsu, are the most suitable." Lu Jin gave such an answer without thinking about it. This is not because he is a Suzhou himself, but because history has shown him the way.

It is said that at the end of the Braided Dynasty, when foreign invaders knocked on the door of the country with strong ships and cannons, many treaty ports were opened in the coastal provinces. Among them, Shanghai, located in Jiangsu Province - now called Huating - is the most developed. Although Lu Zhen doesn't know what the truth is, he believes that as long as he follows the footsteps of history, the hope of success is naturally the greatest.

The emperor only thought for a moment, but then shook his head: "I'm afraid this won't work." ”

"But why?" Lu Zhen asked rather strangely.

"If you want to promote the opening of the sea, it is not enough to rely on the decrees of the imperial court and the decrees issued by me, and it is still up to the officials to implement them wholeheartedly. Do you think that in this Manchu Dynasty, who can take on this heavy responsibility? The emperor did not rush to give a reason, but asked such a question.

Lu Zhen really hadn't thought about this question, and when he was asked at this time, he was stunned. The emperor no longer went around in circles, and immediately asked and answered himself: "If you want to take on this position, the re-establishment must meet the following points, one of which is sufficient to at least subdue the local officials and gentry, the second is to have enough means, and the third is that you must have some understanding of the matter of opening the sea and be able to carry out this policy smoothly." The last point, but the most crucial, is that we must wholeheartedly push forward this new policy, and we will not back down because of obstacles and difficulties. Lu Qing, in my opinion, if you can meet the above four points, you are the only one among the officials of the Manchu Dynasty. ”

"This ......" Lu Zhen couldn't help but smile bitterly, what the emperor said was reasonable, and at the same time he also understood why Zhu Qiyu would say that Jiangsu was not suitable as a pilot. Because the dynasty has its own rules, it must be an official in a different place. He is a native of Jiangsu, so it is naturally impossible for him to go there to be an official again - with his current status as a squire in the military department, there is naturally only one choice for him to be sent to the local government as a messenger, and that is the governor!

This is a local high-ranking official who is far greater than the political envoy and the probationary envoy, and how could the imperial court, which even has to be an official in a different place, send him, a native of Jiangsu, to Jiangsu as a governor?

"Thank you Your Majesty for your trust, I understand. Since you can't go to Jiangsu, you can only choose Zhejiang or Fujian as a pilot for opening the sea. Lu Zhen had no choice but to retreat. Fortunately, as far as he knows, the foundation of these two provinces is not bad, Zhejiang has Ningbo as the starting point for opening the sea, while Fujian is even more dependent on the sea and countless cities, and even Quanzhou and other cities that were key ports for maritime trade in the former Song Dynasty, which is enough to make the sea trade go smoothly.

In this regard, Zhu Qiyu did not have any opinions, so the two of them made up their minds, and only waited to explain all this to the ministers later.

But then the reaction of the ministers in the court once again made the calculations of the monarch and the ministers fall into the void. When the opponents, who had already died down, heard that Lu Zhen was going to go to Zhejiang or Fujian to supervise the opening of the sea in the capacity of the governor of Qincha, they strongly opposed it, and bluntly said that this was not good governance, and it could never be arbitrarily carried out in such an important place of money and grain in the three southeastern provinces.

This time, even Hu Hu and Yu Qian's subordinates did not stand up to speak for Lu Jin. Because they only helped each other before because of the instructions of those two, they may not accept the policy of opening the sea in their hearts. In addition, they are more sophisticated than ever before, and they know that in this matter, opponents will definitely stick to the end.

It has long been an open secret that the three southeastern provinces are forbidden to go to sea for smuggling behind the scenes, and as long as anyone wants to investigate, they will certainly be able to find a lot of evidence. If Lu Jin, who was on the opposite side of them at this time, rushed there as a high-ranking governor and official, I am afraid that it would very likely cause contradictions between the two sides, which would not only be unfavorable to the opening of the sea, but might even disturb the overall situation of the entire southeast. This is something that no one can accept.

Therefore, Lu Jin's original idea naturally could not be implemented. Some people may ask, in addition to these three provinces, according to the results of later generations, isn't Guangdong also an excellent choice? Why didn't Lu Jin choose to implement the new policy there?

The answer is that Guangdong at this time is far from being compared with later generations, and it is still a wild land in the south and a barren land for the imperial court to distribute sinners. Although it is close to the sea, there is no decent port at all, and even the roads are not smooth...... Therefore, when considering the pilot, Lu Zhen directly ignored Guangdong.

"It seems that these guys are not giving up, and although they cannot openly oppose my promotion of the opening of the sea, they still obstruct it by other means. There are not many places where I can open a port, except for the three southeastern provinces, it seems that only Tianjin and Shandong are left. Lu Jin's face was gloomy and he made calculations, and finally said: "In this case, the minister thinks that Shandong will be chosen as a pilot for the opening of the sea ban, I wonder if you will object?" ”

In fact, Tianjin is a more suitable place. It's just that after all, this is close to the capital, Lu Zhen believes that as long as he proposes it, there will definitely be people who oppose it, and the reason is naturally that how can the emperor open the sea at will?

After hearing his words, several officials were eager to object. As he expected, these people are indeed holding back the curve to save the country, and they are constantly opposing the pilot position to deny the opening of the sea. But just when these people wanted to speak out against it, some high-ranking officials in front of them gave them a look and told them not to oppose it again.

Although they didn't understand what kind of medicine these people were selling in their gourds, the officials below still obeyed the command and didn't say a word.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen was also slightly surprised, and he didn't know what the other party was thinking. But this is a good thing after all, and the pilot position is given, which can be regarded as the first step towards the opening of the sea ban.

So, on July 25 of the first year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court officially decided to implement the policy of opening the sea, and appointed Lu Jin, the squire of the military department, as the governor of Shandong......