The hall fell silent again, Zhu Youxiao gently stroked the bronze dragon head on the throne, and the feet under the robe beat gently, without urging. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Yuan Yingtai's mind flew around, and the purpose behind the construction of a new port at the mouth of Dagu by officers and soldiers was self-evident, that is, to provide a port for sea vessels, which meant that the Son of Heaven intended to open a sea ban.

So, what exactly is a sea ban?

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Taizu adopted the national policy of 'emphasizing the capital (agriculture) and suppressing the end (except for the industrial and commercial industries with agricultural accidents)', and used measures such as military tun, min tun, and merchant tun to bind the people of the country in a corner with land, in order to rebuild a self-sufficient natural economy, and to prohibit the unstable factors caused by population movement.

Although the problem of Chinese people eating can be solved, salt, clothing, farm tools, etc. always need to be traded, so the Ming Dynasty followed the Song and Yuan Dynasty's 'thirty taxes and one' policy and levied commercial taxes.

In order to embody the principle of 'emphasizing the basics and suppressing the last', Taizu stipulated that 'the peasants are allowed to wear silk yarn and silk cloth, and the merchants' families are allowed to wear silk cloth', and 'when the merchants go out, their neighbors must be informed... On the occasion of the guest, the physiology of the debater, the examination of the wood... In the name of fear, there are other things to inhibit the development of business.

Due to the relatively underground level of the commodity economy at the beginning of the country, the small proportion of commercial taxes, and the instability of the sea caused by Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen's remnants of the party, Taizu and Yongle in order to protect the peace of the country and the people, they 'forbade the people on the coast from going to sea privately' to enforce the sea ban, so as to 'close their gates, listen to their self-submission and not disagree, and refrain from provocation'.

In the Ming Dynasty, the sea ban was mainly used to prepare for the Japanese, and Taizu once said, "I can use the sea route to communicate with foreign countries, so I try to prohibit their exchanges", only the official "tributary trade" is allowed, and "the piece is not allowed to go to the sea" strictly prohibits private merchants from coming and going.

The maritime ban did contribute to the stability of the country at the beginning of the country, but things always changed, and the policy of the sea ban was loosened and varied at different times.

There are mainly several stages: the relaxation of Zheng He's voyage to the West in the Yongle period, the strict ban on the sea due to the overwhelming of the imperial court due to the tributary trade of 'thick and thin' in the later Yongle period, the arrival of Western colonists in the Zhengde period, and the 'battle for tribute' (1523) in the Jiajing period, which made Jiajing decree to strictly prohibit the sea again, the relaxation of the sea ban due to the Longqing switch allowing maritime merchants to go to sea, and the development of trade in the Wanli period made the sea ban abolished.

No matter how far afield, the maritime merchants in Fujian and Guangdong became active after the Longqing Switch. As I said before, a merchant is the personification of capital - profit-seeking, and once a ship goes to sea, it cannot be controlled. For example, during the Wanli Korean War, 'it was forbidden to pass through Japan, and then the east of the Li Beibei [xǐ] (several times) in the west, when the sea ship went to sea, it first went to the west, and it was far away to fold into the East Ocean', and 'the tall mast giant ship, the flow of the Japanese country', and there was no way to talk about preparing for the Japanese.

In the twenty-third year of Wanli (1595), Xie Jie, the governor of Nanjiang and the right deputy capital of the imperial history, pointed out the current situation of the sea ban in the "Qiantai Wa Compilation": "Kou and Shang are the same people, the general rule of the city is that Kou is turned into business, and the city ban is changed to Kou, the beginning of the ban on business, and the later the ban on Kou, the stricter the ban and the more prosperous Kou is." The plates are not allowed to go to the sea, and the huge ships come from the river; No one is allowed to do anything, and the children are always full of jade...... So everyone on the seashore is a thief, and there are those who are invincible. ”

Affected by smuggling, only a few small countries such as Korea, Ryukyu and Siam (Thailand) continued to come to tributary trade at this time, while the rest of the countries such as Annam (northern Vietnam), Champa (southern Vietnam), and Chenla (Cambodia) used smuggling to meet their needs for Daming tea, silk and porcelain.

In view of this situation, the DPRK and China were basically divided into two factions: one faction headed by Huang Jiashan and Xiong Tingbi who demanded strict coastal defense and a resumption of the ban on the treaty on the grounds that the people were "overwhelmed and had children to be sent to the poor" and "Haikoulin and Xin Lao and others gathered thousands of plans to occupy the land of Dongfan, occupy the land of Dongfan, wait for the wind and flood, set sail to invade, and sail thousands of miles along the coast without harm."

Although Yuan Yingtai is a member of the Donglin Party, he can also see that the sea ban is like controlling water, and it is better to block it than to sparse it, legalize the sea trade, and collect taxes by the city shipping department, so the treasury will naturally be full.

He trades personal fame and fortune, group perception, and national interests......

Yuan Yingtai asked himself what he was pursuing? Wine color power? No, what people pursue is inner happiness, not the pleasure of obtaining money, power, love, fame and fortune, happiness is only people's subjective feelings, from the enrichment of the heart, and for the country and the people so that they can find self-worth.

"I'm afraid it's hard for a minister to take on this position." Yuan Yingtai kowtowed again and said, "The minister heard that the household department has long been unable to make ends meet, and the cost of building a port will be more than 10 million taels, and the imperial court cannot afford to pay, let alone have no money to build a sailor, so please think twice." ”

Obviously, Yuan Yingtai feels that making people all over the world live a stable life can make him feel happier than the interests of the group. In the original history, he took in Mongolian refugees and did not listen to his advice, which shows that he was compassionate and good-looking; Ren Huai Xu used tens of thousands of taels of silver to relieve the disaster when he was preparing for the meeting, and dared to kill himself after the city of Liaoyang was broken, which shows that he does not lack courage; His talent is no longer military, but civilian.

"I have made up my mind, and the matter of the sailor has its own military aircraft to choose the opportunity to do it, but it is imperative to build a port." Zhu Youxiao listened to his refusal at first, his hands tightened, and he was preparing to call someone to take him to prison in line with the principle of 'making things secret, and venting defeat', but after listening to the second half of Yuan Yingtai's sentence, he slowly let go, and his heart was sunning, it seemed that he was the heart of a villain.

Yuan Yingtai didn't know that the second half of the sentence just now saved him from prison, and when he saw the attitude of the Son of Heaven, his heart was relieved, and he continued, "However, the minister has a bold idea, if the emperor agrees, the minister will go to the soup." ”

Zhu Youxiao sat upright, knowing that he was bargaining, and still asked with a happy face, "Oh? Let's hear it. ”

"As the minister just said, although there are soldiers in the establishment of Hong Kong, the financial resources have not yet been solved, and although the soldiers' meals and salaries can be allocated by the military department, the use of soldiers in Liaodong will cost 8 million taels per year. Even if the emperor has stopped the three major halls, there may be a surplus in the interior, but there is still a light temple mausoleum that has not been built, and it is the season to use money. Dare to ask the emperor, where will the stone, wood, pig iron and other things needed for the construction of the port come from? ”

Zhu Youxiao was young in the end, he didn't expect it to be so far-reaching, a flash of inspiration flashed, but he didn't grasp it, stopped the beat under his feet, and said to Yuan Yingtai, "Then what do you say." ”

Yuan Yingtai had grassroots experience and knew that this port was different from the river embankment, and it would be unrealistic to rely on the imperial court to allocate silver to build it, "In view of the embarrassment of the household department, the ministers dared to beg the emperor to allow rich merchants from all over the country to build the land with silver, and the matter was allowed to enter and exit freely, and they were taxed to return their investment in building the port." ”

Zhu Youxiao finally grasped the key, isn't this just capitalism, although now handicraft and commerce have just improved, but the profits of trade, he knows. As a traverser, he would never give up his right to receive taxes, but this made him think of issuing 'treasury bonds'.

Yuan Yingtai saw that the Son of Heaven was silent again, and added, "Previously, the emperor ordered wealthy merchants from all over the country to go to Beijing to buy steam engines, and the ministers could mediate on their behalf. ”

"What if I don't agree? Do you dare to resist the decree? ”

"Your Majesty, if you are not a minister, you will be bold and resistant, but it is really difficult for a clever woman to do it."

After Zhu Youxiao signaled Wang Chengen, who had returned to the Heart Cultivation Palace, to help Yuan Yingtai up, he paced beside him and said, "It is definitely not feasible for Xu Shangshang to collect taxes on his behalf, but it can be done in another way. That is, I borrowed silver from them, gave them certificates, and limited to the period of port construction, and paid their interest at an annual interest rate of 5/5% per year, and returned the principal when the port was completed. ”

"This ......" Yuan Yingtai looked embarrassed and didn't know how to answer.

Yuan Yingtai muttered in his heart, the old Zhu family has Taizu killed Shen Wansan first, it is hard to believe, it is still light if he does not admit the account at that time, if he unloads the mill and kills the donkey, won't he become the public enemy of the world's businessmen? Not to mention the Jin merchants, as far as Jiangnan is concerned, the merchants and gentry are either connected as a whole by in-law or by interests, and the relationship is complicated, and their own 'one thought' will push everyone into the fire pit.

Zhu Youxiao saw Yuan Yingtai hesitating, knowing that he was not a public servant at all, and was dissatisfied with it, and said sternly to him, "I have no regard for the face of borrowing money from businessmen for the world, this is my biggest concession." You go down first to deal with the rich businessmen, if you figure it out, then go to the Ministry of Industry before the year to select the builders to go to Dagu to investigate, and ask for the stop Wan Hu ([hú], Ming system five buckets said Hu, ten buckets said stone. Nowadays, the largest ship in Guangzhou is more than 1,000 Hu, and the famous Guangzhou ship. Big ship. ”

Yuan Yingtai knew what the Son of Heaven meant, that is, if he couldn't figure it out, he would send others to supervise the army. He was not bold enough to ask what to do if he didn't figure it out, he could think of the consequences of 'not being able to figure it out' with his toes, and he didn't know where he angered the Son of Heaven, so he had to stubbornly say that he was retiring.

After Yuan Yingtai left, Zhu Youxiao asked Wang Chengen to summon Zou Yi of Dongchang and Xu Haoran (appointed by Guangzong), and ordered Zou Yi to monitor Yuan Yingtai, and verified the people he had seen in detail, and ordered Xu Haoran to secretly visit the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan and Shanxi, and be sure to find out what was involved.

Zhu Youxiao's move was not to brutally kill people and raid his home, but to know in his heart, so in line with the principle of 'the people can make it, but not make it known', he didn't explain the reason to the two of them in detail, but just let him be a good eagle dog and do things with sincerity.