Smuggling deals between Korea and the Ming Dynasty have a long history. For major events such as the ascension of the king of Korea, the Ming Dynasty had to send envoys, bring documents, and canonize the king, so that he could be regarded as a rightful king. And the general messengers are eunuchs, and during the Chengzu period, eunuchs also had to bring private goods to North Korea, and then sell them to North Korea at a high price.

Since the Joseon was afraid that the eunuchs would go back and speak ill of the emperor, they would generally buy it. However, these items were of low quality or ordinary goods, and the Korean merchants did not want to buy them, so they sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to complain, and then the Ming Dynasty ordered a ban on smuggling and entrainment, and the atmosphere improved greatly. However, North Korea couldn't sit still, because the previous trade Ming Dynasty was in a large trade surplus, and exports far exceeded imports, and North Korea, which was small and barren, cut off trade with the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty didn't care, so the mutual market was canceled. However, the Ming Dynasty did not rely on North Korea, but Korea relied heavily on various materials from the Ming Dynasty, especially medicinal materials.

After the introduction of traditional Chinese medicine to North Korea, it also slowly developed, and the number of herbal medicines began to increase, but many medicinal materials were not available in North Korea. So what to do? Smuggling is a good way to bring in much-needed supplies in North Korea. Therefore, the smuggling transaction between North Korea and the Ming Dynasty was unavoidable.

This kind of transaction is not said in my heart, but now the Liu family's fleet incident has put this matter on the table. Not only did people die, but also sensitive items were found, although there is no doubt that North Korea is trying to do something to the Ming Dynasty, but weapons are still sensitive objects and have to be taken seriously.

On the fourth day of February, the mighty general returned to Changshan Island without incident, and surprisingly, brought back three sea vessels. However, the people who knew about this situation were all from the land and water battalion and the Dengzhou battalion, and the news did not leak.

When Ma Sheng got off the boat, he couldn't help but ask Xiang Zhu Yuan, "What should we do?" Zhu Yuan stopped, and then said leisurely, "We can't manage it, so leave it to someone who can manage it." Think so much about what to do. Let's do the evidence first, as for these people, don't be hungry, in this Changshan Island military camp, they can't make waves. ”

The ice in Bohai Bay has not yet completely melted, and it is inevitable that there will be danger if you sail at this time. So in order to hide people's eyes, Zhu Yuan's letter was delivered by express mail at the Shuntong Post Office, and four days later, the letter was handed over to Zhu Houzhao's desk. That evening, the three of Hongji's father and son couldn't help frowning when they saw this letter.

Hongji raised his eyebrows and asked lightly, "What are you going to do?" Zhu Houzhao replied first, "What else can I do, the ships and goods will be confiscated, and then the case will be strictly investigated." Let the Liu family be the chicken, so that the other monkeys will live a lot in peace in the future. ”

Hongji didn't judge, but looked at Zhu Houwei. Zhu Houwei had no choice but to say, "It's better to send someone to the Liu family with a letter, and let them decide for themselves how to choose." Hongji owed a slight debt, "What way are you going to give him?" Zhu Houwei pondered for a while and said, "One is the ship, the goods are collected, the personnel are convicted, and the land and water battalions will often cruise in the East China Sea in the future, and when the time comes, they will catch one and collect another." The other way is that in the future, their cargo ships will have to go through the inspection of the land and water battalions, and issue official documents before they can go to North Korea. ”

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help asking, "That's it?" Zhu Houwei smiled and shook his head, "Of course not, the cargo on each ship has to be charged a reserve fee, and then the money is invested in the naval construction of the water and land battalions, so as to ensure the smooth flow of sea routes, and they can do business safer." ”

Zhu Houzhao said with a wry smile: "It seems that this smuggling trade cannot be broken." Zhu Houwei said indifferently, "It doesn't matter, if the trade is really cut off, North Korea will first come to complain." If it is formalized, I don't know how much money I can collect with the current tax system of the Ming Dynasty. If you raise the ban on the sea, there will be many people who oppose it. Many people in Jiangnan rely on maritime merchants to get a large amount of silver, if anyone can go to sea, their profits will be small, after all, there are small countries around, and they can only digest so many things in a year. Hongji nodded, "Then I'll leave this matter to the two of you." ”

On February 15, in the lobby of a mansion in Nanjing, forty or fifty people gathered, all dressed exquisitely, if you know more about the upper-class people in Jiangnan, you know that the middle-aged people and the elderly here are all powerful figures in Jiangnan. It goes without saying that there are people in the family who are officials in the imperial court, and another point is that they are all super-rich families, and they all do some business at sea. Everyone who came had to say hello, and the lobby was bustling. After a while, the head of the Liu family, Liu Qi, slowly walked into the lobby. I saw that he was about fifty years old, his beard was black and thick, his appearance was medium but very majestic, especially now that his face was a little serious and gloomy, like a piece of cold ice, which suddenly cooled down the lively lobby. I saw him walk to the front of the hall and take out a letter from his cuff, and then everyone's eyes hit the big words on the envelope - Tianjin Water and Land Camp.

On the first day of the first month of March, nothing major happened in Daming, but the interesting thing is that Dengzhou City is a lot more lively, because many ships from the south of the Yangtze River docked at the seaport outside Dengzhou City, and then Changshan Island will also come to the water and land camp ships to board and communicate with these owners.

The prefect of Dengzhou was very happy during this time, only half a year after taking office, under his hard work, Dengzhou has achieved tremendous development, which is a visible political achievement, and it is expected to be promoted.

The land and water battalion released the three fleets that had been brought back within a month, and when he left, Zhu Yuan came out with a smile to see them off. The stewards of the three fleets all snorted coldly, only Ji Lidong glanced at Zhu Yuan deeply, then solemnly clasped his fists and left expressionlessly. Zhu Yuan didn't react in his eyes.

And in the capital, in the Ten Kings' Mansion, the two brothers Zhu Houzhao were drinking tea. Zhu Houzhao had some questions: "Are there a lot of merchant ships going to North Korea?" I don't think I can afford a lot of money. Zhu Houwei said with a smile, "Not necessarily, we collect taxes according to percentages, although it is only set at three percent, which is lower than the thirty taxes of commercial tax, but it is calculated according to the transaction price (CIF price), which is indispensable." This time it was definitely a cut of meat on them. “

"Then according to you, how could they agree so easily. Don't you see that there is not much business tax? Zhu Houzhao asked with a smile.

Zhu Houwei took a sip of tea and stretched his waist, "That's different, what they do is smuggling, and they can't see the light." And the route from Jiangnan to North Korea is fixed, and the land and water battalions are very likely to run into them, so they have to compromise. In fact, even if they paid taxes, they didn't lose much, although the trade to North Korea was very profitable, but the amount was so large. Don't you see that the imperial court's commercial tax is only much, last year it was less than 300,000 taels, if the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty was not leaked, then it would have to be at least dozens of times. And with the water and land battalion to ensure the smooth flow of the sea route, it is also good for them, the pirates in the past few years were very noisy, and their gang was also annoyed, but now that the royal family is leading, they are reluctant to work together. ”