Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen said: "The ministers of the Governor of Liangguang and the king of Guangzhou, I have ordered them to relax the ban with a secret decree, so there is no need to hesitate. The www.biquge.info hungry people go to the sea to make a living, and some of them may become servants of the pirates, but if they are not allowed to go to the sea to make a living, and if the court does not provide timely relief, they will definitely become bandits. The lesser of two seas, I know how to choose. ”

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen continued: "Whether to open the sea, set up a port, and collect taxes is related to the future national fortune of my Ming Dynasty. ”

As soon as the emperor's voice fell, Xu Guangqi said: "During the Wanli period, the minister had a lot of contacts with Western Ruli Matteo Ricci, because he knew a little about Taixi Zhuyi. Whether it is the Dutch Yi that competes with the Ming Dynasty in the east, or the Spanish Yi who occupies Luzon, or the Portuguese Yi who is based in Macao.

"These Taixi countries, if their land is not enough in terms of land area, are not enough for my Ming provinces, but now the reason why they can compete with my Ming Dynasty on the sea is because of the huge profits of their country's maritime colonization.

"If you colonize the open sea, there will be no idle people in the country, and there will be no banditry and turmoil. The seafaring trade is particularly profitable, and a shipload of silk porcelain from my Ming Dynasty is worth as much as a shipload of silver. And this is the reason why the Taixi countries came from thousands of miles to the east to trade.

"If Your Majesty opens the sea ban and prospers on sea trade, with the vast land of my Ming Dynasty and the hardships and hard work of my Ming people, in a few years, the entire rich land of Nanyang will be the home of my Ming people to live and work in peace and contentment."

Speaking of this, Xu Guangqi also got up and left his seat, knelt on the ground solemnly, and after kowtowing, he continued: "This is a good opportunity for me to open peace for all generations in China, please don't miss it!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen saw that several important ministers he trusted had said this, and knew that it was beyond the scope of summoning Nan Juyi today, but after thinking about it, it was better to choose a day than to hit the day, so he simply decided some things that would be decided sooner or later today, and it should be regarded as unifying the thoughts of the ministers of the cabinet and the military aircraft department in advance.

As soon as he thought of this, Emperor Chongzhen said to Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua: "The two ministers of military aircraft, what do you think? ”

At this time, Sun Chengzong already knew the emperor's thoughts, after all, he had discussed with the emperor before the strategy of enriching the country and strengthening the army, and at that time, the emperor in front of him had already revealed the idea of learning from the Song Dynasty, opening up sea trade, and extracting tariffs.

Therefore, seeing the emperor's questioning at this time, Sun Chengzong arched his hand and said: "My Ming court used to enforce the policy of sea ban, at first it was to prevent Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen, who fled to the sea at the time of Taizu, from plundering and growing, and later it was a strategy to resist the pirates. His Majesty took pity on the people of Fujian and Guangdong for not being able to make a living, and he was allowed to relax the ban, and the ministers had no objections. ”

After Sun Chengzong said this, the emperor looked at Li Banghua.

At this time, Li Banghua said: "The minister was the governor of Tianjin, and he knew a little about the harm of the sea and the benefits of the sea trade. Please speak for Your Majesty.

"The imperial court has strictly implemented a sea ban in order to prevent the attack and harassment of the sea bandits, but for 200 years, the sea bandits have been repeatedly banned, what is the reason?

"If the minister thinks that the sea market is passable, then Kou will turn to business, and if the sea market is forbidden, then business will turn to Kou.

"And the stricter the law of the sea ban, the greater the benefits of the sea trade. There are always people who are unwilling to be hungry and cold and rob, greedy for the huge profits of sea trade, and take risks to enter the sea without permission. ”

Speaking of this, Li Banghua also got up and left his seat, knelt on the ground, and said: "Your Majesty, please open the sea ban and promote sea trade, this matter is indeed closely related to the future fortune of my Ming Dynasty." Your Majesty, please be wise! ”

Seeing that several important ministers of the Cabinet and the Military Aircraft Department had reached an agreement, Emperor Chongzhen's heart was also relaxed, but thinking of the reaction of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, especially the reaction of those civil ministers from wealthy merchant families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Emperor Chongzhen's heart was still a little apprehensive.

Fortunately, now that Gyeonggi has been consolidated and the first town of the Guards has been trained, he has nothing to worry about above the court, at most he will kill another group of opposing ministers.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen stood up, stepped forward, and helped several important ministers who were kneeling on the ground one by one.

After they finished sitting down again, Emperor Chongzhen said: "Today's original intention is to take the opportunity of His Majesty Nan Aiqing to learn more about the situation in the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang. However, since the secretary and others have reached an agreement on the matter of opening the sea ban, then removing one disadvantage is a benefit. I have made a decision, since the New Year's Day of the second year of Chongzhen, I have opened the sea ban in the Ming Dynasty, and all coastal provinces can choose one or two ports to open sea trade, set up a city shipping department, and extract sea trade tariffs. ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen looked at several important ministers present, and then said: "However, the opening of the sea ban is not the opening of everything. Tea, silk, porcelain, cotton cloth, of course encouraged trade, but there were some things that could not go to sea at all.

"The Cabinet and the Military Aircraft Department should come up with a charter on what can be sold overseas and what cannot be sold to sea, and it must be specified in detail. In my opinion, grain, guns, seedlings of tea trees and silkworms, as well as books on military and agricultural books are not allowed to be sold at sea. ”

Historically, tea has always been a unique commodity in China, earning a lot of gold and silver for the Chinese, but after the middle of the Qing Dynasty, it was sold overseas by unscrupulous merchants at a high price, and as a result, the British successfully tried to grow it in India, and since then China has lost the profit of tea monopoly.

Something like this must not happen again.

After saying this, Emperor Chongzhen continued: "However, all the ports opened by a province are only allowed to trade in the maritime field, and the field can be run by the government or business, but regardless of the business or government, it must be under the jurisdiction of the city and the shipping department, and the tax shall be levied according to the law. Fifty percent of the taxes collected will go to the household department, three percent will go to the superintendent's yuan, and two percent will go to the fuyuan, which will be used for local military training and disaster relief.

"As for the tax rate for the maritime merchants, after the decree of the imperial court is announced, it shall be determined by the household department and the governors of the coastal provinces, but except for rice and grain, imports shall not be less than ten taxes and two, and exports shall not be less than ten taxes and one yen."

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen said: "After the cabinet and the military aircraft department agree, the household department will draft the edict as soon as possible, and after sending it to the imperial court, it will be announced to the world at the New Year's Day court meeting!" ”

The Governor's Yuan refers to the Ministry of the Governor of Liangguang and the Ministry of the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, which is the more formal name of the Governor's Yamen in the Ming Dynasty, and the Fuyuan is naturally the name of the Governor's Yamen.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen divided the tariff revenue of the city after the opening of the sea to the governors of Liangguang and Fujian and Zhejiang was to reduce the resistance by making profits.

The interests of the imperial court and the local governors are evenly distributed, and this matter can be implemented more smoothly.

In addition, if the local governors do not have any financial autonomy and financial support, it is indeed difficult to do many things entrusted to them, such as the compilation and training of supervision and raising standards.

Nowadays, all the newly appointed governors and governors of Emperor Chongzhen, when His Majesty resigns, he will grant them the power to compile and train the supervision and the standard, supervising the standard of 3,000 posts and raising the standard of 2,000 posts.

The purpose of this was to enable the new governors and governors to gain a foothold and to protect themselves and suppress them in the face of local warlords or future thieves.

However, the training of the army costs money, and it is not an overnight investment, but a long-term continuous investment, and if there is no stable financial source, how can such investment be sustained?

As far as the two Guangzhou, Fujian and Zhejiang are concerned, opening up the sea for trade, setting up a city shipping department, and collecting taxes and silver from maritime merchants is a relatively fixed source of revenue.

Tying the power and needs of the governor himself with the opening of the sea and trade can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Seeing that the emperor had thought so carefully, of course they knew in their hearts that the matter of opening the sea ban and encouraging sea trade had been brewing in the emperor's heart for a long time. ”

Emperor Chongzhen summoned Nan Juyi, originally to explain to him the precautions after taking over as the governor of Zhili, but in the end, it became the cabinet and the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department to discuss the matter of opening the sea, and when Nan Juyi resigned and left, most of the time had passed, and at this moment, Bi Maoliang had been waiting outside the Qianqing Gate for most of the day.

Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to hurriedly send Bi Maoliang in and ask him a few words about the matters that the governor of Hubu Cangchang should pay attention to.

Bi Mao Liang has served in the household department for a long time, and at the same time, because of the minting of Chongzhen's silver dollar, he has a lot of contact with the emperor, and knows the emperor's consistent thinking, so he also understands the emperor's meaning of "building a high wall" and "accumulating grain".

Therefore, after a while, Bi Maoliang resigned and went to Tongzhou with Nan Juyi to take office.