In fact, when Zhou Zhong first came to the Yamen of the City Shipping Division, he had already found a problem, when he came, he obviously saw that Ningbo Port was very prosperous, but the City Shipping Division, which was responsible for managing overseas trade, was dilapidated, which was obviously not in line with common sense, the only explanation was that the right to collect taxes that originally belonged to the Municipal Shipping Division was hollowed out, and Yang Tong's next answer also confirmed Zhou Chong's guess.

Because the Ming Dynasty from the beginning of the implementation of the sea ban, so the status of the city of the Department of the sea is more embarrassing, and even once canceled, and later after the establishment of the tributary system, the city of the Department of the city has a reason for existence, but because the tribute time of various countries is different, such as the country of the country is a tribute of ten years, the role of the city of the Department has become insignificant, such as the Ningbo City of the Department of Shipping, the previous promotion was concurrently held by the inspector, and the officials in the department are also two or three big cats and kittens, no one wants to come at all.

However, the so-called blockage is not as good as sparse, although the sea ban is severe, but in the period of filial piety, in fact, it has existed in name only, smuggling in coastal areas is very rampant, Ningbo here as one of the Ming foreign trade ports, but also the development of smuggling bases such as Shuangyu Port, and it is with Shuangyu Port that Ningbo Port has also restored its former prosperity.

However, although Ningbo Port has recovered its prosperity, the prosperity here is formed by docking smuggling after all, so it is a little disgraceful in nature. Therefore, the governor of Zhejiang discussed it with the envoy who was also the secretary of the city, and he simply put the city department aside and directly sent the people of the governor's yamen to collect taxes, and the name of the tax collection was not the city tax, but as an ordinary transit tax. This makes it easy to put into storage. At the same time, it is also convenient for the people above to do something with these taxes.

Zhou Zhong heard this. I finally understood the reason why the city shipping department was so depressed, and it took a long time that the officials led by the governor of Zhejiang regarded the tax revenue of Ningbo Port as their own small treasury, and naturally they would not let the city shipping department interfere. Even Ningbo Port was supposed to belong to the Ningbo government, but now the tax revenue has been taken away by the governor, the inspection envoy and other high-ranking officials, which is probably one of the reasons why the Ningbo government officials are not full of money.

At this moment, the Jinyi Guard, who was suddenly sent to sober up Tang Bohu, came to report, saying that Tang Bohu had come to his senses and was now asking to see him outside. This made Zhou Zhong also happy, and immediately let Tang Bohu in, he still had important things to announce.

After a while, I saw Tang Bohu walking in with a flushed face, although he still had the smell of wine on his body, but he had already sobered up, and when he saw Zhou Chong, he immediately bowed down and saluted: "Xiaguan Tang Yin, meet the Admiral!" ”

"Lord Tang doesn't have to be polite, I know that when you are transferred to the cold yamen of the City Division. There must be some complaints in my heart, thinking that this is a place where nothing can be done. However, today's Admiral Ben's visit to the City Boss Division is to provide you with an opportunity to show your strengths! Zhou Zhong was also very polite to Tang Bohu.

Hearing Zhou Chong's words, not only Tang Bohu raised his head in surprise, but Yang Tong next to him also trembled, although he had already guessed that Zhou Chong would definitely have something important to announce when he came to the City Division, and it was even likely that the City Division would be reactivated, but he had always been a little incredulous in his heart, until now he heard Zhou Chong say it with his own ears, which made him speechless with excitement.

"Lord Admiral, I don't know what you mean by 'showing your strength', isn't it possible that the imperial court is preparing to lift the sea ban?" Surprisingly, this time it was the newly transferred deputy Li Lian who spoke, and he was also excited now.

"Hehe, everyone in the city has taken the order!" I saw Zhou Zhong suddenly speak, and then took out a holy decree from his arms. Yang Tong and the others were stunned for a moment, but immediately reacted, and they all knelt down to accept the order at the moment.

"Fengtian carrier, the emperor's edict said: From now on, the city shipping division will be assigned to the Viceroy Yamen of the Four Seas to manage maritime affairs related to the Admiral's Yamen, and local officials shall not obstruct it, Qin this!" Zhou Zhong read out the contents of the holy decree loudly, although the content of the holy decree is not much, but it stipulates two things, the first is that the city ship division will become a subordinate of the four seas governor yamen in the future, the yamen is no longer subject to local control, and the second is that the power of the city ship department to manage maritime affairs has also been restored, although there is no explicit ban on the sea, but in fact, it is already clearly stipulated that the city ship department can collect taxes on merchant ships at sea.

Yang Tong, Li Lian, and Qian Yuan are all old fritters in the officialdom, and naturally they understand the importance of this holy decree as soon as they hear it, although Tang Bohu is a newcomer to officialdom, but he is not stupid, after thinking about it carefully, he also understands the meaning of this holy decree, it can be said that with this holy decree, they are equivalent to having a Shang Fang sword, and whoever wants to cross their city ship department to collect the city tax in the future, then he will have to weigh his own weight.

Thinking of this, the faces of Yang Tong and others were also more excited, Tang Bohu was even more happy and almost jumped up, as a scholar, he naturally had the ideal of entering the country since he was a child, but it was a pity that the later scientific examination fraud case suddenly broke his dream, his fame was taken away, and his career was hopeless for a lifetime, so it can be said that life has fallen to the bottom.

However, as the so-called endless road, Wang Lun passed by Suzhou more than half a year ago, and brought him to the capital through the accompanying Jinyi Guard, where he had the opportunity to get close to His Majesty the Emperor, and finally impressed the other party with his talent, coupled with his friend Wang Lun's maneuvering, which finally made Tang Bohu recover his fame, and was also sent as an official. Originally, Tang Bohu wanted to display his talents in office, but what he never expected was that the Ningbo City Bosi where he served had been abandoned for many years, and his deputy promotion was also in name only, and he had no real power at all.

"The subordinates will see the Admiral, but in the future, they will be driven by the Lord!" Yang Tong was the first to wake up from the excitement, and immediately saluted Chong again, after all, they will be regarded as Zhou Chong's direct subordinates in the future, so this time the salute is also very solemn, and the three people next to him, Li Lian and Tang Bohu, also came to their senses, and also stepped forward to salute, and then said some words to express their loyalty.

After this period of experience, Zhou Zhong has been able to deal with these officialdom things calmly, I saw him say a few words of comfort to Yang Tong and others, and then said some words of encouragement, which probably means that you people follow me Zhou Chong, you must be popular and spicy, and the people in Zhejiang officialdom have to respect them for three points.

After saying these clichés, Zhou Chong's tone suddenly changed, and he commanded Yang Tong with a solemn face: "Yang Tiju, now this official will announce the first of your city division, you must complete it in the shortest possible time!" ”

"Please show me, and my subordinates will do their best to fulfill your orders!" I saw Yang Tong take a step forward and reassure, with Zhou Zhong as their backing, coupled with the holy decree under His Majesty, he now felt that his waist was straightened all of a sudden, and he had more confidence to speak than ever.

"Very good, Admiral Ben now orders you to take back the tax revenue of Ningbo Port from the Governor's Yamen within ten days, and it must not affect the normal tax revenue of Ningbo Port, can you do this?" Zhou Zhong said ambitiously at this time, the tax revenue of Ningbo Port was only the first step for him to establish the Ming Customs, and in the future, with the strength of the Ming Navy, the scope of the city tax will slowly expand, until it expands to all the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

"This ......" Hearing this order, Yang Tong, who was still patting his chest and guaranteeing just now, suddenly hesitated, and his face also showed embarrassment.

"What, is Yang Tiju afraid of offending the governor's yamen?" Zhou Chong asked with a calm face at this time, the taxes of Ningbo Port involve a lot of interests in Ningbo officialdom, which Zhou Chong has long known, and he also knows that he will definitely offend many people by doing this, but these taxes are for raising soldiers in the future, so even if he offends people, he must do it, and with his current power, those who are offended dare not say anything at all.

Hearing a trace of displeasure in Zhou Chong's words, Yang Tong immediately defended himself: "Lord Admiral misunderstood, the lower officials are not afraid of offending people, but the city has been abandoned for a long time, although some officials were sent in some time ago, but the manpower is still insufficient, especially the small officials who are doing things below are seriously insufficient, although they can be recruited from outside, but it is not easy to find so many officials in a short period of time." ”

Zhou Zhong heard that Yang Tong was worried about this problem, and immediately smiled and said: "You don't have to worry about this, I also understand the situation in the City Ship Division, since you are short of manpower now, I will transfer fifty people from the Jinyi Guards around me to temporarily supplement the City Ship Division, I believe that with them, it will be more convenient for you to do things, but these Jinyi Guards can't stay in the City Ship Division for a long time, so you must recruit a group of small officials as soon as possible!" ”

Hearing that Zhou Zhong had transferred fifty brocade guards to himself, Yang Tong immediately said with great joy: "Thank you, Lord Admiral, with the help of these fifty brocade guards, Xia Guan will definitely take back Ningbo Port within ten days!" ”

As soon as Yang Tong's words fell, Li Lian and Qian Yuan, who were behind him, also stepped forward to express their attitudes, which was nothing more than that they would definitely try their best to assist Yang Tiju in completing this task, although what they said was nonsense, but it was indispensable in officialdom. Only Tang Bohu didn't understand this, and only woke up when he saw Li Lian and the two of them come up before and after, and he also stepped forward to say a few words, it seems that if this Tang genius wants to fully adapt to officialdom, it will take a period of experience.

Zhou Chong's purpose of coming to the city has been achieved, and at the moment he asked Wu Shan to allocate fifty brocade guards to Yang Tong, as for how he used these people to recover the taxes of Ningbo Port, it was their business with the city ship.

But just when Zhou Zhong was about to leave, he suddenly saw Tang Bohu standing there, thought about it and smiled: "Lord Tang, your city is busy with official business today, so I won't bother, I don't know where you live now, when you will be free to be at home, and Zhou will come to visit at that time?" (To be continued......)