Chapter 256 Overseas Farming
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but stand firm. He didn't expect that any civil servant would dare to stand up and express his willingness to report to the imperial court to fully open the sea.
But in any case, Zhu Houzhao was very pleased. After all, there were civil servants who dared to lead the world. This also showed that among the scholar-bureaucrats, there were still good ministers who did not stick to the ancestral system and thought about the people.
But most of the court officials were not as pleased as Zhu Houzhao. Among them, there were some who looked sullen like Wei Ying, some who looked happy like Liu Yu, and some who shook their heads and sighed like Wang Qiong.
However, there are still many officials like Wei Ying who oppose the opening of the sea. Although the benefits of maritime trade are in front of them, for them, banning the sea means focusing on commerce and suppressing agriculture. Even if the customs duties return to the imperial court, they believe that the real use of the imperial court is There is not much money, and food income is the foundation of the country.
At this time, Wei Ying stood up first: "Your Majesty, I believe that the sea ban must never be completely abolished. The sea ban is an ancestral system, and the ancestral system cannot be violated!"
"Your Majesty, the opening of the sea between Guangdong and Guangxi is already against the law. Any further full opening of the sea will only make people all over the world become farmers and engage in business. It will harm the farmers and destroy the foundation of the Ming Dynasty!"
Guan Dongsheng, a doctor from the Ministry of Finance, also stood up and said.
Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop other officials who wanted to follow him to stop him from fully opening the sea, and waved to Xiong Ban: "Come here!"
Xiong Pun walked towards Zhu Houzhao: "My lord, the supervisory censor Xiong Pun has met your majesty!"
"A gentleman has no joke. As long as you dare to play, I dare to promise you." Zhu Houzhao said and returned to the Royal West Garden.
"I accept your order!" Xiong Ye replied.
At this time, Wei Ying walked towards Xiong Yan, waved his sleeves and snorted.
Other officials also looked at Xiong Fen meaningfully and said nothing.
After Zhu Houzhao returned to the Royal West Garden, he did not continue to summon cabinet ministers to discuss the matter of opening the sea. He knew that this matter could not be rushed.
Now, for him as the emperor, what is more important is how to deal with the gold and silver that entered the Ming Dynasty through plunder and trade.
Zhu Houzhao did not want Ming Dynasty to suffer from inflation.
"Your Majesty, this is the latest situation investigated by Dongchang. Grain prices have increased by 10% compared with last month!"
At this time, Gu Dayong from Dongchang reported the latest grain price situation to Zhu Houzhao.
After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but fell into deep thought. He had to admit that with the entry of a large amount of silver, the price of goods in the Ming Dynasty had begun to rise. He had to spend the silver abroad as soon as possible in exchange for various raw materials, otherwise the silver would be hoarded in There will only be a pile of precious metals in the country, but it will cause prices to take off.
"I'm giving an order to the cabinet to prepare for the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau, and prepare to raise ships and corresponding officials to purchase grain from overseas! I can invest first, and three million to five million taels will not be a problem!"
"I am issuing an order to the cabinet, the Ministry of Accounts, and the Royal Bank to prepare for a court meeting to discuss the reform of money laws!"
"I am issuing an order to the cabinet to immediately discuss and come up with a patent system, ready to be promulgated throughout the world!"
"An order is given to the cabinet and the academic department to immediately select from previous years and this year those who have performed most outstandingly in new theories, new inventions, and new technologies, divided into four categories: Chinese studies, inquiry and arithmetic, chemical engineering and smelting, and medicine and physiology. There are five categories of money and law, and there is a Royal Highest Science and Technology Award. No more than three people will be awarded in each category. Each category will be awarded with the title of Minister!"
Zhu Houzhao immediately issued four edicts in succession. In addition to the edict to carry out currency reform, they were all edicts to spend money externally. The purpose was to spend all the hoarded silver and curb the rise in prices.
After receiving Zhu Houzhao's decree, Liu Yu, the chief minister of the cabinet, did not dare to neglect and hurriedly began to prepare for the establishment of the Daming Grain Bureau.
"This is how I prepare for the establishment. In the civil and military dynasties, no one knows how to start a company. Apart from being able to write stereotypes, write poetry, and even fight cocks and horses," Liu Yu was in trouble for a moment.
"It is better to choose officials who came from the capital university, whether they are literary scholars or martial arts scholars, they are all useless," the second assistant Wang Qiong suggested.
Liu Yu also agreed with this and hurriedly said: "Then let Li Chongsi come and tell Li Chongsi, the right minister of the household department, to come!"
The chief minister of the cabinet is now equivalent to the prime minister and has the power to directly summon subordinate officials. Therefore, Liu Yu can send someone to directly summon Li Chongsi.
Zhu Houzhao's edicts are usually announced to the officials and the people, so at this time, officials in the Ministry of Revenue also knew about the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau.
With the emergence of the Ming Dynasty Royal Industrial Company and others, officials in various ministries also knew that this was a fat job.
thus.
After officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs learned about it, they were eager to participate in the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau.
When the cabinet was about to summon Li Chongsi, the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, all the officials in the Ministry of Revenue could guess that Li Chongsi must be responsible for establishing the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau. Some were envious, some were busy trying to get close, and some were resentful. For example, Wei Ying, the left servant of the household department, complained secretly:
"Why do the cabinet elders let him, Li Chongsi, a third-level scholar, be responsible for establishing the Ming Dynasty Grain Industry Bureau? I am from Hanlin and I am Zuo Shilang, so I should be the one to serve!"
But in any case, Li Chongsi was promoted by the cabinet, and Zhu Houzhao officially issued an edict to promote Li Chongsi to be the Minister of Household Affairs (a virtual title) in charge of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau.
At the same time, Zhu Houzhao summoned Li Chongsi that night and asked Li Chongsi: "How do you plan to buy grain overseas?"
"Your Majesty, I want to buy it with silver," Li Chongsi replied.
"Of course it's not enough to buy it with money, you have to plant it! The Arms Bureau has a batch of flintlock guns that are not being used. It's a pity to keep them in vain. I grant you permission to go to the Arms Bureau to buy a batch of flintlock guns and go to Japan, Korea, and Japan. Armed troops were stationed in Jiaozhi, Java and other places." Zhu Houzhao continued to explain to Li Chongsi how the grain industry bureau operates.
then. Li Chongsi organized the armed team of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau in accordance with Zhu Houzhao's request.
This armed force not only has a group of warships eliminated by the Guangdong and Guangxi Navy, but also a group of flintlock firearms eliminated by the Ordnance Bureau. Although it is not as good as the main army of the Ming Dynasty, it can still show off its power when going to sea.
……
Dayusu Castle in the Japanese Kingdom.
Three thousand employees of the Grain Bureau of the Ming Dynasty bombarded the place with one cannon. Hundreds of Japanese were all escorted out and began to be loaded onto ships and transported to an unknown Japanese village.
This place was already an important branch of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau in the Japanese country. When Li Chongsi saw another group of Japanese captured, he immediately ordered: "Give each person a hoe and let them loosen the ground first! ”
As soon as the Japanese were released, they rushed toward Li Chongsi with howls. Li Chongsi's guards immediately opened fire and shot several Japanese to the ground.
"All the Japanese cut off their arms and use them as plow cattle! Hitch the plowshares to them! Let the Luzon natives help the plows!"
Seeing this, Li Chongsi simply ordered his armed employees of the Grain Bureau to chop off the arms of the captured Japanese one by one.
Suddenly, there was a miserable howl of ghosts.
But the effect was good. These Japanese people all settled down. After being forcibly tied to plowshares, they began to plow the land like cattle, while the Luzon natives who were captured by the Grain Industry Bureau helped the Japanese people behind their backs. They move forward with a plow, while a helper (non-staff member) from the Grain Industry Bureau holds a whip to supervise from behind. If they are lazy, they will naturally whip them to serve.
The main task of the employees of the Grain Industry Bureau was to stand around with flintlock guns. Once these Japanese natives tried to rebel, they would be killed directly.
Within three years.
The Ming Grain Bureau relied on its powerful armed forces to reclaim millions of acres of wasteland abroad, of which 20% went to the Grain Bureau's operating expenses and 80% to the imperial court.
In the first year, three million stones of grain were transported back by sea.
……
"His Majesty the Ming Emperor, Han pirates have been rampant recently and have frequently disturbed our Korean waters. They have kidnapped tens of thousands of our people and even directly occupied farmland. Their artillery is excellent and our officers and soldiers are invincible. I would like to ask Your Majesty the Ming Emperor to send a warning to the Chinese Empire." Soldiers to help suppress! ”
The North Korean envoy Li Han denounced the pirates in front of Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao knew that he was talking about the armed personnel of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau, but on the surface, he could not say that it was the emperor who ordered it, so he pretended to be angry: < br>
"What a bastard! North Korea is a friendly country. Although these pirates are Han people, they don't care about the Ming Dynasty's righteousness to the vassals. Lin Qing, the General Staff of the Guards must come up with a way to destroy the pirates!"
"Your Majesty, it is not difficult to destroy the pirates. The difficulty is that it costs money to suppress the pirates. Now the Ming Dynasty is paving roads and building bridges, and there is insufficient money. The money allocated to the Guards by the Royal Taxation Bureau is getting less and less every year. If North Korea is willing If you provide five million taels of silver to help the navy suppress thieves, the brothers of the navy will naturally be willing to contribute to the Korean state! ”
Lin Tingxuan, who had been transferred to Beijing to take charge of the Guards, understood the thoughts of his Majesty the Emperor, so he opened his mouth and asked North Korea for five million taels of silver to suppress thieves.
Seeing this, Li Han, the envoy of North Korea, had no choice but to give up.
The Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau's overseas activities have become more and more rampant, and surrounding countries are unable to do anything about it.
In the end, North Korea couldn't bear the disturbance and had to ask the Ming Dynasty to send troops to help it suppress the bandits at the cost of paying tribute of five million shi of grain every year.
Only then did Zhu Houzhao agree.
As a result, the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau withdrew its influence in North Korea.
As a result, North Korea had peace for a year.
The following year, the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau made a comeback. There was no other way. South Korea had a lot of arable land, a large population, and was close to the sea, which was very suitable for farming.
North Korea will hand over another five million stone grains and gain another year of peace.
Finally, Ouyang Dan, the Minister of Rites, could not stand it anymore. With a heart of sympathy for North Korea, he suggested that the court sign a "Mutual Assistance Treaty" with North Korea, so that North Korea would pay tribute of food every year, and the Ming Dynasty would protect North Korea's maritime borders every year.
Zhu Houzhao agreed and sent officials to North Korea to negotiate.
North Korea also had to agree, and finally paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty with six million shi of grain every year, and added Jeju Island as a base for the Ming Navy to station itself in North Korea, so that peace could be achieved in North Korea's maritime areas.
then.
Neighboring countries followed suit and provided food to the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau had to withdraw its business focus to the Sumatra region of Southeast Asia and even India.
However, the Ming Dynasty received more and more grain every year. In the 16th year of Zhengde, the grain collected from abroad reached more than 10 million dan.
(End of chapter)