Zhang Cheng is the righteous son of Zhang Hong, the eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, and Zhang Jin is the righteous son of Feng Bao, the eunuch of the master of ceremonies.

Tianzi Nanku - Moon Port.

After receiving the holy decree, Hai Rui returned to Dianbai Port in Guangzhou Prefecture to board the ship to Yuegang in Chenghai County, Fujian, and then took a boat to Songjiang Mansion to dock, and then went all the way north to Tianjin Wei to get off the ship, and entered Beijing as an official.

Moon Port is the only legal port of departure for civil maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty.

In the forty-third year of Jiajing, the plague gradually subsided, Tan Lun in the aftermath of the "Beiyuan Slightly to Seek Public Security", the people who live on the coast of the world, do not know how many they are, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains and the sea to eat the sea, the policy of the sea ban caused the people to be miserable, and opened the wind to open the sea, and then the court launched a fierce discussion on this.

The resistance to the opening of the sea was extremely great, but the plague also exhausted the imperial court, and in the end, after repeated struggles, the Kaihai faction gradually gained the upper hand.

In the first year of Longqing, under the wind (public opinion) of the DPRK and China's "the general rule of the city is to turn Kou into business, and the city ban is to turn business into Kou", the governor of Fujian, Tu Zemin, asked for the opening of the sea, and Emperor Longqing immediately agreed.

Yuegang, a port that has been open to the outside world since the Sui and Tang dynasties, has finally opened.

With the opening of the sea as the main program and the cohesion of the war against the Japanese during the Jiajing period, the DPRK and China formed a political collective of a certain scale that covered the bureaucracy, military and politics of science and Taoism.

The moon port is shaped like the moon, so it is named, on the river bank of more than two miles long in Haicheng County, there are eight trestle wharves, along the mouth of the Jiulong River, from west to east side by side, standing on the trestle bridge, looking at the end of the moon, it is the ebb and flow of the tide, the looming island.

In the distance, the sea and the sky are the same color, the sea seems to be fused with the sky, the sea breeze with the smell of the sea blows the sea, the layers of waves hit the reef, and the waves with the golden light of the sunset are photographed, the sea breeze blows across the sea, blows out bursts of waves, blows through the mast of the sea ship to the sky, blows through the barge, blows Zhang Cheng, Zhang Jin and Luo Gongchen's clothes.

Zhang Cheng, Zhang Jin and Luo Gongchen politely said that the sea was really calm.

Zhang Cheng held his hand, stood in the wind, looked at Luo Gongchen and asked: "To put it bluntly, after Your Majesty knew Luo Tongzhi's auspiciousness, he was happy to see Hunting, and he had opened up a ten-acre land in Jingshan in Shanglin Yuan. ”

"The matter is serious, and I would like to ask Luo Tongzhi to answer truthfully."

Luo Gongchen is extremely strong, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, thick eyebrows and big eyes, he looks extraordinarily stocky, he is from a lifting background, but he is a martial artist, he is not good at dancing and writing, but he is very good at fighting.

As the coastal defense acquaintance of the Metropolitan Salary Hall, because Luo Gongchen returned to Beijing to report on his work, he climbed the relationship between Yuanfu and Zhang Juzheng, and now the Metropolitan Salary Pavilion is headed by Luo Gongchen.

"Two angels, look here." Luo Gongchen pointed to a large white flower on the edge of the beach and said, "These are all seedlings, cut and planted casually, and now they are already lush." ”

"Naturally, I don't dare to deceive the Lord, these seedlings, if planted properly, can beat more than 1,500 catties of grain, and if you plant them at will, you can also beat 6 or 700 catties."

Zhang Cheng was a little relieved, and before leaving, Zhang Hong solemnly told Zhang Cheng that this righteous son must ask Luo Gongchen if he was lying, since His Majesty is related to Nongsang, then there must be a result.

Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jin, two eunuchs, came to Yuegang for the purpose of inspecting the Nanku of the Son of Heaven.

In the first year of Wanli, a total of 110 copies were issued, and there were about 200 ships entering the Daming Sea Ship Port every day, according to the tax law of 100 value and 6, 60,000 taels of gold and silver were paid every month, and about 720,000 taels of silver entered Beijing as a commercial tax every year.

Zhang Juzheng's private residence is full of Chu Hall, counting the Chu scholars who open the hall once every three years to entertain the people who enter Beijing for the examination, and the average annual use of silver is 1,200 taels of gold and silver.

Seven hundred and twenty thousand taels of silver, about enough to support Zhang Juzheng's Chu Hall for 620 years, that is, in 2193 AD.

The money traded, hundreds of thousands of years without worry, public and private, this is an important reason for the reconsideration of the sea ban after the court opened the sea, naturally there is no shortage of people who bark wildly at the sea, but the court has no money, the emperor has no money, and the public opinion of the forbidden sea is still there, but the court has made up its mind to compete with the people.

The court of the Ming Dynasty was really poor, with no food and no silver.

"Two Da Jue, I have something I want to inquire about." Luo Gongchen took out two salt envelopes and handed them out, but what made Luo Gongchen very embarrassed was that neither of the two eunuchs took the salt lead.

Salt citation is money, a large salt quotation is worth one or two or five yuan of silver, Luo Gongchen took out more than ten salt quotations, more than fifty taels of silver.

The sea breeze blows the salt, which is slightly embarrassing.

What eunuch is not greedy for money? This sun has come out in the west, and the eunuchs don't take bribes?

Luo Gongchen thought about it for a while, and knew that he had done something stupid, these two Da Jue came, and there was only one salt lead, his face was slightly distressed, and he took out more than ten salt leads, and stretched out his two hands, this one person is the way to do things.

The salt was blowing in the sea breeze, and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

"Luo Tongzhi take it back, it's not too little, it's really not that you can't take it, the old ancestor and the second ancestor have issued a death order, whoever collects money outside, is taken by the people in the outer court, find a well and jump in, Luo Tongzhi can ask whatever he wants." Zhang Cheng broke the silence and embarrassment and explained the reason.

Along the way, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jin have taken the trouble to explain many times, where they go, the officials don't believe that the eunuchs don't collect money, this matter is outrageous.

The most fundamental reason is that Feng Bao, the old ancestor, is not allowed to accept it, and the second ancestor is not allowed to accept it, although the old ancestor and the second ancestor are not fighting openly but there is a secret fight, if anyone has a problem outside, the seat ranking in the palace will be easily rewritten.

His Majesty talked about Wang Zhen, and he also beat him, Feng Bao didn't want to be Wang Zhen, and since he didn't collect money, when he sat in the Wenhua Hall to discuss the court, when he scolded people, it was called a righteous and arrogant, and the one who scolded was called hearty.

When did the eunuch party ever raise his eyebrows so much?

Feng Bao also gradually figured it out, if the bell is gone, it is really gone, so much money in his hand and left it for the righteous son who collects it? It's better to live happily.

Luo Gongchen was very puzzled and put away the salt quotation and asked, "When I entered Beijing last year, I wanted to collect taxes on foreign ships, can I still do this?" ”

"Close!" Zhang Cheng immediately said: "You have to accept it!" ”

Zhang Jin also said with a solemn face: "Don't collect taxes on foreign ships, do you keep them cubs?" Luo Tongzhi was a little restless, and Asari was still grinding his teeth, but Mr. Yuanfu still had to push it. ”

As for the collection of taxes on foreign ships, the matter itself is a matter of course, but there is still resistance in the DPRK and China, and Lu Shusheng's Ministry of Rites is the biggest resistance.

"There's a hard time right now." Luo Gongchen said with a solemn face: "A four-masted galleon with a Francophone man, requesting to enter the port for trade, is this a point or not?" ”

Zhang Cheng asked suspiciously: "Entering the port according to the system, what is it about the ship that makes Luo Tongzhi so cautious?" ”

"Silver." Luo Gongchen said with certainty.

"Didn't Luo Tongzhi say it? Most of the merchant ships in Hong Kong have silver, is there anything strange about silver? Zhang Jin asked a little puzzled.

Luo Gongchen said with an extremely complicated expression: "This ship is full of silver, about four million taels of silver, about two hundred and fifty thousand catties. ”

Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jin's originally breezy expressions became slightly stunned, Zhang Cheng looked at Luo Gongchen and said, "How much do you say?" ”

Luo Gongchen said solemnly: "Four million taels, two hundred and fifty thousand catties, in order to buy raw silk, brocade, cotton cloth, tea, porcelain, etc. ”

"One ship, more than four million taels of silver... Luo Tongzhi, how many soldiers and horses do we have in Yuegang? Zhang Jin's eyes became strange, more than ten pieces of salt led him not to pay attention to it, but more than four million silver in front of him.

Rob!

The court is going to be destitute and crazy, but there is a big ship here full of silver!

Four million taels of silver!

"Da Jue, you can only grab a boat, but when you do business, you can go a long way." Luo Gongchen said in a low voice.

Luo Gongchen wants to draw points, four million taels of silver, according to the hundred value of six accounting, that is as much as 240,000 taels of silver, Yuegang is only 720,000 taels of silver a year, this ship is more than 240,000 taels, if there is an index, this one ship has completed the target of four months!

Zhang Jin was a little embarrassed, didn't say a word, and it was no problem to grab it, but for the sake of prudence in interfering in local political affairs, Zhang Jin did not express his position.

Zhang Cheng, the son of Zhang Hongyi, the eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, gritted his teeth and said: "Etiquette is made according to the matter, and legislation is legislated for the matter." The capital pay hall is the capital salary, first draw points and then say, if this matter is blamed by the imperial court, our family will be responsible! ”

Zhang Cheng has the qualifications to say this, because he is a messenger in yellow, he is out of the house, and he represents the Son of Heaven, so he has some decision-making power, but few people will exercise this decision-making power, and he should not meddle in matters since he is here to wait for Hai Rui.

But Zhang Cheng said that this foreign ship collects taxes, collects them first, and there is really a punishment, and that is also his lord, Zhang Hong, the second ancestor in the palace, to punish him, and the outer court can't control the palace.

Get the money in hand first.

"Then smoke." Luo Gongchen thought about it, but decided to do it, but no one picked the beam, Luo Gongchen planned to draw points, not to mention that someone is picking the beam now.

The Metropolitan Salary Museum is here to pay for it!

The ship of the Ming merchant ship is going to be drawn! The ships of the Fanyi merchant ship are also drawn!

In order to pay the capital this time, Luo Gongchen summoned about 100 small boats, more than a dozen battleships, and nearly 3,000 sergeants, and then sent people to communicate with the people on the galleons to confirm the points and other matters.

The general took a small boat, going back and forth between the Ming court and the galleon, and soon communicated a number of matters related to the introduction of many barges into the port.

The galleon is very different from the ship of the Ming Dynasty, it is more slender, the draft is deeper, and the bow and both sides are covered with black holes of cannon barrels, the mainmast hangs a large square sail, and the three sails behind are oblique spinnakers, this oblique triangular sail is a longitudinal sail, when the schooner sails against the wind, first turns to one side, and then turns to the other side, winding forward along the 'zigzag' shape.

The four-masted galleon of the Francois was a behemoth, and after repeated communication, the galleon began to slowly retract its gray or ochre-colored sails like goose feather fans, and gradually stopped on the sea, allowing the barge's ropes to be attached to the ship.

The governor of Luzon, Francisco Sand, and the captain Antonio Morga, had a heated quarrel on the ship.

"Captain, we promised the Ming people to put away our fangs, and they will rush up and kill us and snatch our silver! We should stuff gunpowder into the barrel, remove the supports from the bow, and be ready to fight at any time. Francisco was very incomprehensible to the captain's order, and roared loudly and questioned himself.

How could Captain Antonio, who had come from Ciudad de Portosí, on the peak of Rico, Mexico, and through the endless Pacific Ocean to Luzon and the Harbor of the Moon, put away his bow and block his artillery with wood?

In case the Ming people rushed up, they could only be captured.

Captain Antonio Murga shook his head and said: "Governor, your letter has been denied by the king, and you said in your letter: To conquer the Ming Dynasty, you only need two thousand to four thousand soldiers, and now I see the coastal defense of the Ming Dynasty, and tell me, two thousand to four thousand soldiers, how to conquer them?" ”

Francisco said quite accurately: "As long as there is an opportunity, every Ming man will become a pirate, and no one will be loyal to their emperor!" We can first send missionaries to infiltrate and collect the enemy's information and counter the internal response, and then set off civil strife, taking advantage of the civil strife in China, we will send troops on the pretext of 'escorting the Ming people back to China', occupy the territory, and occupy it step by step. ”

"I wrote a plan to conquer China in September the year before last, but no one responded."

Antonio smiled and said, "Because the king is not a fool. ”

"Did you see those ships? They have dozens of ships, and we only have one armed merchant ship, do you mean that we are going to use one merchant ship against a warship that cannot see the border at a glance? ”

"We are here to do business, not to fight, we open our spikes like hedgehogs, and the result is that we will die, they will get our silver, this is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, on the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the bow and arrow and artillery are opened, this is not a wise decision."

"They only charge 6% of the tax, and the damned governors and tax collectors of the empire will collect 30% of our taxes at a time!"

Antonio's last sentence was uttered through gritted teeth.

Maritime trade is both risk and opportunity, the risk is the wind and waves, reefs, fierce natives, even after experiencing these, but also by the governors of various places, the governor of Mexico and the governor of Peru, on Antonio, scraped more than 30% of the tax.

If it weren't for Antonio bribing the tax officer, the declaration of the goods would have been much less, and this trip would have taken such a big risk and lost money.

The principle of silence is to fill in the declaration of the manifest of goods, is the number of goods, the tax officials in various places remain silent, no longer board the ship for inspection, of course, to keep the tax officials silent, it is necessary to give certain benefits to the tax officials in various places.

In the case of Antonio's Pelican, for example, he declared a cargo worth 520,000 silver coins and eight reais silver coins.

At the time of departure, it was true that there were only 520,000 silver coins on his ship, but after he left the port, there would be a large number of small boats to replenish his hold, and Antonio bribed the tax officials in Peru, Mexico, and Luzon to keep them silent about the amount of goods on board.

This time in Yuegang, Antonio truthfully chose to declare, the tax rate of the Ming court was only 6%, which shocked Antonio, and Antonio did not know the Ming tax officer.

"Okay, don't worry too much, they are not murderous natives, as far as I can see, the Ming people seem to be more civilized than us, let's get off the boat." Antonio relieved Francisco and began to disembark, followed by several servants in linen shirts.

Antonio was a businessman who was willing to take certain risks in order to make a fortune.

"It's a pleasure to be here in the mysterious eastern country, I heard the legends here when I was very young, and today I finally set foot on this mysterious map, which is a gift I bring to you." Antonio did not kneel, but performed a nondescript courtesy.

Several servants in linen shirts opened several wooden boxes, which contained neatly arranged and densely packed silver coins of eight reals.

Luo Gongchen, Zhang Cheng, and Zhang Jin looked at the strangely dressed man in front of them.

Antonio and Francisco, both wore a black hat with a feather pinned to it, a wide velvet coat lined with cotton, and a bunch of charms on their chests, mainly in the shape of a cross.

Antonio, who was less than six feet long, had a tall nose and deep eyes, a cat-eyed hawkbeak, a red bronze face, curly hair, and a brownish-red beard, while Francisco was much shorter than Antonio, only about five feet (1.6 meters).

Luo Gongchen and other Ming officials looked at the red-haired fan, and the red-haired fan was also looking at the Ming officials, and the first intuitive feeling was that the Ming officials were strictly hierarchical, and the pattern on the patch on their chests represented their status.

Luo Gongchen took a few steps forward and took out a silver coin, the front of the silver coin is a king's head, and the back is engraved with a crown and a coat of arms representing the royal family of Franco, on both sides of the coat of arms, there are two pillars of Hercules, with paper rolling columns, like very much: $.

"I was rude." After seeing Luo Gongchen put the silver coin back, Antonio motioned to the servant in the linen shirt to close the box.

With so many people, openly bribing may violate local laws, and it is more appropriate to do this kind of thing quietly.

Luo Gongchen was very interested in silver coins, a silver coin weighed about six coins and seven cents, and there were not many silver coins brought by the Franc machine, more silver ingots.

The lottery began, and there were five Haiphong Tongzhi of the Metropolitan Salary Hall, and there were four eunuchs present.

Luo Gongchen estimated that the difference was not bad, this galleon brought a total of 4.02 million taels of silver, and 241,200 taels were divided according to the system, and this tax would be escorted to the Beijing Division, and the national treasury and the internal treasury would be divided in half.

The money traded, hundreds of thousands of years without worry, public and private.

Antonio was very confused.

According to his estimate, after collecting the tax, there should be all kinds of difficulties, he has prepared the silver coins for the joints, but after the points, they get the pay slip issued by the capital pay hall, and they can start to buy goods.

"Is this the end of it? It seems to be inconsistent with what the Governor said. Antonio looked at Francisco and said puzzledly: "Sisko, you have been in the East for a long time, and the Ming bureaucrats are doing things so quickly and concisely?" ”

Francisco said even more confused: "On the contrary, there should be tax collectors, city defense officials and other officials to make things difficult, because there have been a lot of difficulties in transporting goods from Luzon to Daming before. ”

"The two beardless people we saw should be eunuch envoys sent by the Ming Emperor, so no one dares to make things difficult for us when the envoy is there."

Francecos guessed that the two beardless men were the legendary eunuchs.

Antonio realized this, and said: "Look, you tell me: every Ming man will become a pirate, and no one will be loyal to their emperor. ”

"But the emperor's envoy is in Yuegang, and these officials don't even dare to do anything to make things difficult for us, if this is not loyalty, then what is loyalty?"

"Well, I'll admit, I don't know enough about this mysterious land." Francecos sighed a little, this rich land does not seem to be so easy to conquer.

The Son of Heaven, who was sitting thousands of miles away, only needed to send two eunuchs who didn't look so strong to get the local officials to put away their ugly faces on weekdays.

Sure enough, it is a strange and mysterious oriental world.

"We've brought six million silver coins, can this little port satisfy us?" Antonio said with a little worry.

Francisco, the Spanish-appointed governor of Luzon, smiled and said: "You just bring 60 million silver coins, even if it is more, Yuegang can satisfy you, of course, if you bring 600 million silver coins, then it will not work." ”

Francisco was in Luzon, he knew too well the richness of this land, and the output here was everything, like a monster that could never be fed, no matter how many silver coins were thrown into the Ming Dynasty, it could not satisfy the greedy appetite of this monster.

Zhang Cheng was very nervous, he was a eunuch in the palace, he received the dispatch of Xuan Hairui back to the court, and waited for Hai Rui to come to Yuegang by boat from Guangzhou City in Yuegang, Zhang Cheng was in charge and drew points for foreign ships, which was not within his purview, and even some encroachment.

"Now you know you're panicking?" Zhang Jin sat steadily, looking at Zhang Cheng's panicked appearance, he was full of smiles, when he went out of the palace to do errands, he said less if he could say less, did less if he could, and made money if he could make money, this is the eunuch's own job when he left the palace, which supported the local officials to collect taxes on foreign ships, and when they returned to Beijing, they would be impeached by the officials.

"When I return to Beijing, Your Majesty and the Queen Mother are beating or scolding, killing or sinking wells, it's okay, anyway, I brought the silver back, isn't this Moon Hong Kong the Son of Heaven Nanku?" Zhang Cheng comforted himself.

Bringing the money back to the court, he felt that he was doing the right thing, but the officials in the court were fierce, and he was afraid that he would seize this matter to impeach the internal officials again.

In June, Hai Jui received the holy decree and began to set off, boarding the ship from Dianbai Port in Guangzhou, came to Yuegang, anchored for a day, began to go south, anchored for a day in Ningbo, and set off again.

At the beginning of August, Hai Jui disembarked at Tianjinwei, accompanied by his wife Wang, his youngest daughter, two eunuchs, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jin, and 241,200 taels of silver.

After he settled down, he first went to the Ministry to report to the Ministry of Officials to receive his own seal, chatted with Yang Bo for a few words, and then reported to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, chatted with Ge Shouli for a while and then returned home.

In the early morning of the next day, Hai Rui stood in front of the Wenhua Hall wearing a second-grade embroidered brocade chicken toner, waiting for the court to be discussed.

Youdu Yushi was one of the courtiers, Hai Rui's clothes were a little loose, and the officials didn't expect Hai Rui to be so thin, and the court clothes he made were a little big.

After the three rings of the whip, the ministers entered the temple.

"The ministers are visiting Your Majesty, is Your Majesty bowing safely?" The ministers saluted.

Zhu Yijun stretched out his little hand and said, "Excuse me, I heard yesterday that Mr. Hai returned to the court, where is Mr. Hai?" ”

"The minister has seen Your Majesty." Hai Rui came out of the queue and bowed his head and said.

Zhu Yijun looked at Xia Hairui, he stood straight, slightly thin, his eyes were bright, and he was full of bookishness, worthy of the nickname of the mountain pen stand.

"Okay, all the ministers sit down and continue the deliberations." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and motioned for the ministers to sit in the court.

Ge Shouli took the lead in making a difficulty, and said: "The governor of Fujian Province, the governor of Fujian Province, the governor of Fujian, and the Fujian Zuo Buzheng and others impeached Zhang Cheng, a member of the internal officials, interfered in the government affairs, privately opened a coastal defense shuttle ship, and set up cards to collect taxes. ”

Zhang Jin stayed out of the matter and was not on the list of impeachment, because Zhang Jin did not express his position.

When Wang Guoguang heard this, a smile appeared on his face, after the money was divided with the internal funds yesterday, it had already entered the national treasury, and the national government had a big financial loss, and the national treasury was financially constrained, and it was overstretched.

Feng Bao was observing the situation and planned to teach Ge Shouli a good lesson, although Zhang Cheng was Zhang Hong's righteous son, but this silver went into the inner treasury, and the eunuch of the inner transport treasury had folds on his face, the imperial court had no money, and the inner treasury actually had no money.

A penny is hard to beat a hero.

Talking about so many bullshit truths, fart is useless, there is no rice in hand, it is called a chicken, and the chicken should not be!

Before Feng Bao could speak, Hai Rui stood up and bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, I have ancestral teachings in the Ming Dynasty, and the internal officials and people interfere in politics, and the court has no definite policy to collect taxes. ”

Zhu Yijun looked at Hai Rui, waiting for Hai Rui to finish speaking, Zhu Yijun could understand this, and if he got the emperor's trust and grace, he dared to be a big traitor, and if he was evil, he dared to mess with the government and bring disaster to the country and the people.

Hai Rui continued: "But from the point of view of this matter, the minister thinks that there is nothing wrong with what Zhang Cheng did, and the sister-in-law must help him, and the matter is urgent and expedient, the galleon is on the sea, if it does not draw points, then the galleon will not be able to draw points when it arrives in Hong Kong in the future, and at that time, is there any need for the establishment of the Metropolitan Salary Hall?" ”

"I beg Your Majesty to be clear."

The first time the galleon arrived in Yuegang, if the imperial court did not draw points for the first time, it would not be able to draw points in the future, and it was easy to conflict.

Zhu Yijun laughed after hearing this, Hai Rui's words were very strange.

Hai Rui's words are summed up, Zhang Cheng did this thing, it is not right, but it is also true.

The sky is changing, the earth is changing, the people are changing, Hai Rui asked Xu Jie to return to the field, but he was impeached and returned to his hometown to live idle, Hai Rui is also changing, he is still him, but he has changed his way of playing.

Put it on the shelves and ask for a monthly pass, woo!!!!!!!!!

(End of chapter)