"Your Majesty, now that maritime trade is flourishing, overseas countries and the Ming Dynasty have frequent commercial affairs, although there is only one trade gateway in Yuegang, but the tax will not be only more than 30,000 taels anyway!"

After the initial consternation, Li Hongyu came back to his senses, looked at Emperor Wanli with a surprised expression and said, "According to the minister's opinion, the tariff of Yuegang is at least one million taels a year, otherwise the customs of the first emperor will not be in vain!" ”

Li Hongyu said that the first emperor naturally refers to the father of the Wanli Emperor, Emperor Longqing, although the Longqing Emperor died young after only six years of reign, but he made a great event of great historical significance in the history of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the opening of the Ming Dynasty's sea ban and allowing the people to conduct overseas trade, commonly known as the "Longqing switch".

In view of the harassment of the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty and the involvement in private overseas trade, Ming Taizu decreed in the fourth year of Hongwu that "coastal people are not allowed to go to sea without permission", which officially opened the prelude to the sea ban, and the trade between the Ming Dynasty and overseas was only tributary trade with vassal states.

After Emperor Yongle ascended the throne, although Zheng He went to the West, the nature was still tributary trade, and it was a white flower to dig out silver, and strictly ordered "the original sea boats should be changed to flat-headed boats, and there is a division where they are located to prevent them from entering and leaving."

After the Jiajing Rebellion, there was a debate between the government and the opposition in the Ming Dynasty over whether to abandon the traditional "sea ban" policy and whether to open up the overseas trade of its own businessmen.

Although many officials believe that the "sea ban" is an ancestral system that cannot be changed, there are still some people of insight who see that the "sea ban" is the root cause of the Haikou and strongly advocate the opening of the "sea ban" to eradicate the Haikou.

In February of the first year of Longqing, less than a month after Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, he issued an edict to his ministers: "If there is any inconvenience in the decree of the first dynasty, you can revise it in a speech." ”

So the governor of Fujian wrote a book, "Please open the market, and the smugglers are public sellers", the so-called smugglers refer to smugglers, and public traders refer to legitimate businessmen.

Emperor Longqing immediately approved this request, announced the lifting of the sea ban, adjusted the overseas trade policy, and allowed the common people to sell the east and west oceans, known as the "Longqing switch" in history.

To this end, Emperor Longqing opened the Yuegang of Zhangzhou, Fujian, and established Haicheng County with the Yuegang as the governing place, and set up the Governor's Office, which was responsible for managing private overseas trade and collecting taxes.

The contents of the management of private overseas trade by the Governor's Office mainly include: ships going to sea for trade are not allowed to carry prohibited items; The shipowner receives the ship guide from the Governor's Office and pays the introduction tax.

It is worth mentioning that trade with the Japanese is still prohibited, and all ships going to sea are not allowed to go to the Japanese country, and if they go without permission, they will be punished with the crime of "colluding with the Japanese".

"A million taels?" A sneer flashed at the corner of Emperor Wanli's mouth, and he looked at Li Hongyu coldly and said, "You mean, the tax supervisor I sent there is greedy for ink?" ”

"The emperor forgives the sin, and the minister never meant that."

Li Hongyu knew that in order to collect taxes from all over the country, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty sent many eunuchs to the local government as tax supervisors, so he naturally couldn't attribute the customs revenue to the tax supervisors, and after a deep sigh, he said, "The minister means that private smuggling is rampant, and if it can be vigorously rectified, the annual customs tariff of one million taels of silver will no longer be a problem."

"Since Emperor Taizu, the Son of Heaven of all dynasties has tried their best to arrest smuggling traders at sea, and how many officials have sent them to arrest smuggling have returned in vain, with little success, what virtue do you have, how can you dare to boast of this sea port?" Emperor Wanli's brows furrowed again, and he asked coldly, thinking that Li Hongyu was too pompous.

"Your Majesty, the ministers dare not compare with their ancestors, the only thing they can do is to do their best to share the emperor's worries."

Li Hongyu pondered for a moment when he heard this, and then said in an orderly manner, "According to the ministers, it is better to rectify smuggling at sea than to block it, as long as you guide it well, it will definitely produce miraculous results." ”

"The reason why the minister dared to boast about Haikou and said that he would collect one million taels of silver in customs duties was because the minister met Long Qingye and opened the sea ban, which made it possible to guide private overseas trade."

Saying that, Li Hongyu Yufeng changed his mind and said, "Actually, in Weichen's view, overseas trade led by the imperial court is the right way, although it is not said to completely eliminate smuggling at sea, but at least it can greatly reduce its living space, and then we don't need to do it, those regular businessmen will also report smuggling businessmen." ”

"The imperial court dominates the sea trade?" Emperor Wanli had a thoughtful look on his face when he heard this, then shook his head, looked at Li Hongyu expressionlessly and said, "This matter is easy to say, how easy it is to achieve it!" ”

Obviously, the profits of smuggling must be much greater than the maritime trade dominated by the imperial court, and the reason why smuggling is repeatedly banned is that the smuggling merchants are inextricably linked with local forces, and it is not easy to crack down on them.

But if the sea smuggling channel cannot be blocked, how many merchants will respond to the call of the imperial court to go to sea to do business, and then pay customs duties in an orderly manner?

What is particularly important is that the opening of customs by Emperor Longqing was only the product of a compromise between various factions in the imperial court.

Emperor Longqing did not really let go of the sea ban, and only one port was opened in Yuegang, and the only merchants who were allowed to trade overseas were locals in the Yuegang area, and foreign merchants were not allowed to engage in maritime trade.

Merchant ships engaged in overseas trade, after going through the cumbersome procedures in the port of the month, loading and leaving the port are expected to enter the port for inspection, all ships must apply for the "ship by", that is, the certificate of registration, as well as the "business citation", also called "Wen Yin", that is, the business license, before they can go to sea.

What Li Hongyu did not know was that the imperial court later imposed total control on the construction and operation of ships going to sea, and it was rumored that the number of ships that could trade in the East and the West was limited to 44 each, and it was strictly forbidden to trade across the border.

Moreover, after careful consideration, the Ming court chose to open the ban on the sea to the sea, and the location originally determined was in Meiling, but it was later changed to Yuegang.

In fact, the seaports in Nanao and Zhao'an Meiling are actually more suitable for businessmen to go to sea.

Yuegang is an inland port, and the harbor is not deep, and large ships cannot dock, so they must use a few small boats to "ship to go", and the reason for this is because the Ming court hopes to meet the needs of the residents of the border sea to go to the sea to make a living, rather than to encourage the residents to go to the sea.

In fact, Li Hongyu has always suspected that the Ming Dynasty did not open the sea ban, in addition to the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty who regarded themselves as **** and looked down on overseas countries and overseas trade, it was also related to some officials of the imperial court because of their personal interests.

Obviously, the smuggling by sea is very profitable, and the smuggling merchants are closely related to the local and imperial officials, and once the smuggling by sea is banned, it will be a great loss for those who have interests.

According to some historical records of later generations, after the opening of Longqing until the year of the Apocalypse in the decades, the maritime smuggling of the Ming Dynasty immediately entered a period of prosperity and development, during which the silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty was conservatively estimated to be hundreds of millions of taels, and the tax revenue of the Moon Port was only two or three million taels, which was only one percent in terms of amount.

Therefore, as long as Li Hongyu can vigorously crack down on smuggling, then to carry out foreign trade led by the imperial court, then Li Hongyu's 1 million taels of customs duties is not a problem.

Seeing that Emperor Wanli's brows were slightly furrowed, Li Hongyu knew that he was not optimistic about collecting customs duties, and he didn't want to fight this idea, no matter how he said that the Ming Dynasty was also a **** country, and he didn't bother to do business with overseas barbarians at all.

What is particularly important is that, like previous emperors, the Wanli Emperor's trade with overseas countries was opened, and the Ming Dynasty's ironware, sulfur and other items and advanced technology would spread overseas, and in his opinion, the Ming Dynasty did not need to obtain anything from overseas, which was the most important reason for the Ming Dynasty's ban on the sea.

"Your Majesty, according to the will of the ministers, first of all, the ministers will first set up a naval division subordinate to the imperial court to fight the maritime smuggling trade; Secondly, the ministers set up the Daming Commercial Bureau to manage the merchants who went to sea for trade, and abolished the restriction that outsiders were not allowed to go to the sea to do business, so as to show the emperor's favor; Eventually, the council set up a tax bureau for the collection of customs duties. ”

However, Li Hongyu naturally would not give up easily, and after pondering for a while, he solemnly looked at Emperor Wanli and said, "Your Majesty, if the official army is defeated in Liaodong, the minister thinks that he can use the taxes from the sea to help the needs of Liaodong, benefit the people, and pacify the place!" ”

"Use the taxes of the sea to meet the needs of Liaodong?" Emperor Wanli couldn't help but light up when he heard this, Li Hongyu's words can be said to be on his heart, so that there is no need to levy new salaries from the people because of the war in Liaodong, and then reduce the burden of the people.

"Your Majesty, do extraordinary things in extraordinary times, please ask the emperor to judge!" Seeing this, Li Hongyu knew that Emperor Wanli was moved by his words, so he touched the ground with his head and said loudly.

"Do you think the official army will be defeated in Liaodong?" Emperor Wanli's brows furrowed a few times, and he stared at Li Hongyu quietly and asked, the key to the maritime trade that Li Hongyu said was the defeat of Liaodong, but he didn't think that the Ming army could not even defeat the little Jurchens.

"Don't hide it from the emperor, this is exactly what the minister thinks." Li Hongyu did not hesitate, knelt there with his head touching the ground and said, "The Jurchen chieftain Nurhachi is old and cunning, and the Jurchen soldiers are fierce and abnormal. ”

"Since you despise my Ming officers and soldiers so much, then I will make a bet with you, if I win, I will revoke your reputation, if you win, I will give you the same Jinshi background, and transfer you to the military department!"

Emperor Wanli saw Li Hongyu's resolute attitude, so he sneered and said, "Do you dare to bet with me?" ”

"The emperor is the body of ten thousand times, how dare the minister be so disrespectful." Of course, Li Hongyu would not make this bet with Emperor Wanli, you must know that this is a great crime of disrespect, knelt there and said, "If the minister loses, let the emperor deal with it, if the minister is lucky to win, I hope the emperor can allow me to go to Liaodong to rescue the Jurchen Yehe Department and allow them to move to Ningyuan." ”

"Yehebe?" Emperor Wanli didn't expect Li Hongyu to make such a strange request, and a look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face, and he didn't know what Li Hongyu meant.

"Your Majesty, Yehebu and Nurhachi's Jianzhou Department are a pair of old enemies, once the official army is defeated in Liaodong, then Nurhachi will definitely take the opportunity to annex it, so that he will unify the Jurchens in Liaodong and can fight against the official army with all his might."

Li Hongyu groaned for a moment when he heard this, looked at Emperor Wanli solemnly and said, "In addition, the Liaodong tribes have always been suspicious of the Ming Dynasty, thinking that the Ming Dynasty is just using them, so the ministers want to use this move to tell them that the Ming Dynasty regards them as subjects and will not abandon them easily." ”

"Yes, I promise you!" Emperor Wanli couldn't help but bow his head slightly when he heard this, thinking that Li Hongyu was reasonable, and he couldn't help but have a good impression of him in his heart, after all, there are very few courtiers like Li Hongyu who dare to go to Liaodong even though they know that the official army is defeated.

"Thank you for your grace." Li Hongyu heard that Emperor Wanli's tone became softened, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but flash a subtle smile, and then thanked him loudly.