First Prince of Ming Dynasty - Chapter 758

  Chapter 758 Suppression of business

   There is also the sea chart, even the most detailed sea chart preserved by the Maritime Bureau of the Yuan Dynasty is not as good as it is in case, he also asked his confidants who are proficient in sea charts to come over to see it in private, and they were all dumbfounded.

  All kinds of doubts weighed in his heart, and it was inevitable that he would talk about ghosts and gods, but he didn’t dare to ask, so what if he really asked, because His Highness said casually and he believed casually.

   Is it possible to tie up His Highness and go to the temple or Taoist temple to exorcise evil spirits? I am afraid that before His Highness is tied up, his head has already fallen to the ground.

  No one in this world will believe or dare to say that there is something wrong with His Highness the Crown Prince. If there is, then he’d better be able to block a million divisions alone.

  After half an hour, Zhu Biao stopped talking with a dry mouth, took the tea that Liu Jin had deliberately cooled down and drank it up: “Tomorrow the Japanese Palace will meet with representatives of the Shang Gang.”

  Wu Liang came back to his senses and replied: “No, it’s just a mere merchant. Your Highness really doesn’t need to…”

  Zhu Biao shook his head and said: “They will become more and more important. Once the foreign trade routes are opened, these coastal state capitals will surely prosper, and the future taxes of the imperial court will depend on them.”

Wu Liang was silent for a moment: “His Royal Highness, this should not be admonishment by such a low-ranking minister, but the business is booming and the profits are huge. Ordinary people who work in the fields will see Li Siqian. If all the people in the world are What should be done if the pursuit of profit leads to the waste of acres and the reduction of grain production.”

   Zhu Biao looked at Jiang Yinhou with admiring eyes, which is why he appointed Wu Liang as the commander of the ocean. This is not a simple reckless man.

Advocating festivals and honoring fame, far away from women and despising money, guarding Jiangyin for ten years, lived on the top of the city tower for the night with a sword on his pillow, and in his free time after the founding of the country, he often invited Confucian scholars to lecture on classics and history, built schools and farmed fields, and persuaded the emperor to reduce taxes. , This is the demeanor of a famous general in the Qin and Han Dynasties.

   Only such people can take on the task of opening an era. Going out to sea is facing all kinds of problems, and it is not a responsibility that one or two brave generals can bear.

Zheng He undoubtedly did a great job, but now he is too young, and Zhu Biao cannot wait for him for more than ten or twenty years. Among the generals in the court, except for Da Dengyu, Zhu Biao prefers Wu Good.

What Wu Liang said now is also the worry of most officials in the court. This situation also occurred in the Han Dynasty. Merchants eventually led to one man farming for a hundred people to eat, and one woman for weaving a hundred people’s clothes.

What followed was the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business. In fact, there is nothing wrong with it. The self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy requires an equal ethical culture, restricted clothing, limited bureaucracy, only a few people who save money, and restrictions on boats, vehicles and armor. …Although there are virtuous talents and beautiful bodies, no one dares to obey him. Although there are many wealthy families, they dare not use their wealth if they have no income.

  The development of the commercial economy will inevitably lead to the polarization of the rich and the poor, and will always threaten the life ethics of the small peasant society of equality, tranquility, and stagnation. Only by adopting a ruling policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce can the static ethical and cultural order be realized and maintained.

  If there were no overseas countries, it is estimated that Zhu Biao would maintain this tradition with peace of mind. After all, his identity is neither a farmer nor a businessman. As a ruler, there is nothing wrong with maintaining a stable social order.

   It’s a pity that it doesn’t work. The most tragic Black Death overseas has passed, and some countries are also very lucky not to suffer too much from this catastrophe. The population is still increasing crazily, such as Portugal, the future first maritime hegemon.

   Their current situation is probably facing serious social turmoil. The small country cannot accommodate a dense population. The old enemy next to them has blocked the road to land expansion. The only hope can only be at sea.

  Slowly, step by step, even if it is to impact social stability, Zhu Biao must support overseas expansion, support the development of handicraft manufacturing, and improve the status of businessmen, even if this will cause pain for the country.

  This is why he came here specially. He is the prince of the country and the future emperor. Only when he firmly expresses his attitude can this plan that violates social order continue.

Of course, it is also thanks to this period of time, and I am afraid that only during this period of time can he have such strength. Otherwise, no matter how wise and powerful the emperor is, it is impossible to promote such damage in the mid-to-late period of the dynasty. things about power.

   “This matter will be handled properly by the palace. The court will not be short of food. Merchants will have to pay heavy taxes even if they earn huge profits. What’s more, the people are not likely to abandon agriculture and go to business on a large scale nowadays.”

There are profits and losses in business, not to mention maritime trade. If you are unlucky, you will lose your life. Coupled with the long-term policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, the social atmosphere is to despise merchants. Generally, if they have land, they will never allow their children to work in it. Low business.

With such a social atmosphere, it will take at least ten or twenty years to change it. The Ming Dynasty has now canceled the population tax. This is a period of population surge. Twenty years later, young people will gradually turn from agriculture to business. Not impossible.

At present, the most common is a family of seven or eight children. Twenty years later, each of the seven or eight children will give birth to another seven or eight children. The grain produced by their cultivated land will gradually become insufficient to feed the whole family. They must either move to open up wasteland, or find another way out.

But no matter how you calculate it, the population is still far from enough. In ten or twenty years, more people will not be able to fill up the current cultivated land of Ming Dynasty, let alone Yunnan, Guizhou, Liaodong, Koryo, and even Nanyang will have large-scale relocation in the future. .

This is only the area near Daming. Doesn’t the land outside Daming need Han people to fill it? Naturally, even if Daming can’t control it, it’s not bad for them to seal their lands and establish themselves as kings. After all, they belong to the same source.

  Jiangyin Hou sighed, he didn’t know about other places, but this coastal prefecture has the memories left by Song and Yuan.

  Not to mention the merchant family, there are already many small households who have secretly built sea ships, not big, but enough to hold some silk and porcelain ornaments. When the imperial fleet goes to sea, they will follow behind to earn gold and silver.

  As long as these people make a profit and return, the rest of the fellow countrymen will follow suit. Even if they dare not go to sea, they will sell their cultivated land and turn into traders.

  After listening to Wu Liang’s words, Zhu Biao was also a little surprised. As expected, the benefits were touching. Even a small boat dared to face the waves. Then the conversion rate of merchants in coastal prefectures must be much higher than Zhu Biao expected.

The two of them were silent for a moment, and Wu Liang understood what His Highness the Crown Prince meant. No matter what the situation was, ocean-going trade was imperative. As a subject, he had already fulfilled his duty of persuasion, and the rest was to concentrate on ocean-going. He will also do his best!

  …

  Sitting in the palace, His Majesty the Emperor of Ming Dynasty was obviously a little irritable, his sharp eyes were shining, the hairs of the officials standing below stood on end, their calves were twitching, and he felt inexplicably that kneeling would be much more comfortable.

  With the arrival of the prince, the ocean-going fleet, which has not been paid much attention by officials in the DPRK and China, can no longer be hidden. It is really unexpected that the prince has achieved such a level, which is really surprising.

  Especially the officials of the household department, the coastal shipyard has never increased the input of money and food, so why did it get such a large scale quietly, I think His Highness must have subsidized it himself.

  Speaking of which, the gold and silver obtained by the Tea Horse Division’s trade in the north has never been returned to the treasury. It turned out to be invested here. Angry (*｀へ*) Shangshu Hubu thought so.

“Your Majesty, the Marquis of Jinghai has expelled the Japanese pirates, and the sea routes are smooth. We also hope to trade with overseas countries. The Song and Yuan Dynasties made huge profits from this, and I can also do it in the Ming Dynasty. It’s just that this should be presided over by the imperial court. How can private merchants be easily allowed to enter the market with a price-setting policy?”

  Yeah, it is the right way for the city shipping department to inspect the import and export of foreign goods, confiscation, extraction, and trade. Ordinary merchants will also be supervised and inspected when they enter the country, so as to prevent the leakage of my Ming’s secrets and foreign vassals. “

   “His Royal Highness is young, he must have been induced by those aristocratic merchants, why should he order the local government to arrest those treacherous villains and behead them on the spot!”

  …………

  (end of this chapter)