Chapter 2772
"Prerequisite?" Zhu Zian was stunned, and immediately asked: "Is it the cooperation of Mingting that Brother Shi is referring to?"
Shi Chengwu nodded and said: "Over the years, more than half of the goods transported to the north by canal are public grain and tribute, and the destinations are concentrated in the Gyeonggi area. As for the owner of the goods, it goes without saying. If we can transfer all the transportation needs of this part, If we organize the transportation capacity to take the sea route directly to Shuntianfu, the transportation tasks of water transportation will be greatly reduced, and the process of transforming the water transportation system will be easier. ”
As Zhu Zian said before, inland water transportation, especially the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal system that connects the north and the south, is actually a transportation project specially built by various dynasties to maintain their rule in the Central Plains. The main users and beneficiaries are not the people along the coast. They are not the officials engaged in water transportation, but the rulers of past dynasties.
Haihan's current ruling area does not rely on the water transport system. The real stakeholder is actually the Ming court. To transfer the transportation tasks originally undertaken by water transport to sea routes, the Ming court's recognition and cooperation will inevitably be needed.
Zhu Zian said: "If Haihan can provide safe and convenient shipping channels, surely Mingting will not refuse it, right?"
Shi Chengwu smiled and said: "But the problem lies precisely here. We have discussed this with the Ming court many times and made suggestions to replace part of the water transport with sea transportation, but we have never received a positive response. In my personal opinion, the Ming court It seems that they are not willing to leave the relevant transportation tasks to our country.”
Ning Zijing continued these words and added: "The Cao Mansion has embezzled so much money and materials over the years by deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth from the inferiors. I think it is unlikely that they can monopolize these benefits. A considerable part of the benefits must be obtained by others." It was given to some officials in the court. I can make a bold guess that most of the yamen that are unwilling to accept the change are also vested interests in the old water transportation method, and the resistance from the Ming court mainly comes from these places."
Tao Hongfang also nodded and commented: "Almost all of the six departments of the Ming Dynasty are related to water transportation affairs. I think the opposition to cooperation with our country should come from these yamen."
Although Zhu Zian is a child of the royal family, Prince De's palace is not in the capital. The number of times he has been to the capital since childhood can be counted on one hand, so he cannot be said to be familiar with government affairs, and can only be regarded as having common sense. However, after listening to several people's comments, he vaguely felt that what the other person said made sense.
If this matter is beneficial to Daming, then why did Daming refuse the transportation conditions provided by Haihan? If it is because he lacks trust in Haihan and is worried that Haihan will use material supplies to choke Mingting, then Haihan actually does not need to bother so much. As long as he controls the source of food in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and does not give Mingting a chance to raise food, he will It's enough to achieve the purpose.
In this way, the underlying reason why the Ming Dynasty opposed full cooperation with Haihan in water transportation matters was probably partly due to the desire to protect private interests.
The Ming Dynasty abolished Zhongshu Sheng, the highest agency for handling government affairs, and assigned government affairs to the six ministries of official, household, ritual, military, criminal, and industrial affairs. Among them, the Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the appointment and dismissal of officials, the Ministry of Households is in charge of the import and export of money and grain, the Ministry of Punishment is in charge of illegal inspections, and the Ministry of Industry is in charge of project construction. The Ministry of War is originally one of the participants in water transportation. Among the six ministries, there is no obvious direct interest relationship with water transportation. It’s just the Ministry of Rites.
Are the six yamen unaware of the shortcomings of the water transport system? The answer is of course no. However, these yamen either had interests or were constrained by other yamen, and finally chose to close their eyes and condone the Caofu's behavior. Obviously, they should all be responsible for the current situation. Having said that, if these yamen are not willing to cooperate, then Haihan will indeed spend a lot of troubles if he wants to forcefully change water transportation to sea transportation. Zhu Zian also gradually understood why everyone from Li Qingyang to his friends stayed away from the idea of interfering in water transportation affairs. Since the chaos in the water transportation system had minimal direct impact on Haihan, why should Haihan take the risk of affecting the capital relocation plan and take the initiative to do thankless things.
Thinking about this episode, Zhu Zian couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. He clearly knew the crux of the matter and had a corresponding solution, but he couldn't implement it and could only watch the system continue to rot.
Shi Chengwu saw through his thoughts and persuaded with a smile: "Zian, when a dynasty reaches the end, it is often riddled with holes and countless problems, and water transportation is just one of them. And it has not been solved for hundreds of years. The problem is, don’t expect that just by issuing a few official documents in the yamen, you can coordinate all aspects and make things develop in the direction you expect.”
Tao Hongfang also advised: "The Special Liaison Office can take care of many things, but not every case involved will have an ideal result. The main purpose is to maintain communication with Mingting and try to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts. Ship to There is no need to blame your own inability for problems such as water transportation that cannot be solved temporarily.”
Zhu Zian calmed down after hearing the two's consolation. He raised his hands and said, "You two are right. When I first took office, I thought about making achievements as soon as possible, which was a bit too hasty. We still have to wait for the time to mature for this matter. Only then can we take action to cure the problem. I will also quote your opinions and write down the solution later.”
After talking about Zhu Zian's work, everyone quickly shifted the topic to another major event currently taking place in Hangzhou, which was the arms trade negotiations between Haihan and the shogunate's envoy.
Everyone present had participated in the visit to Japan and was an insider to the arms trade, so there was no need to keep it secret. Bai Letong, who was unable to attend today's gathering, was accompanying his father Bai Kesi to participate in the negotiation.
"Two days ago, I arranged for Masuyama Masato to go to the mountains south of the city to observe gunnery drills, but he was so greedy. After shooting, he touched the weapons one by one. I really wanted to put them in my pocket right away. Take it away!" Shi Chengwu told the anecdote about taking the shogunate envoy to visit the live-fire drill, which immediately made everyone laugh.
Although Japan also has the ability to make its own muskets and artillery, its military industry level is still at a relatively primitive stage, and the performance of its weapons is significantly different from Haihan's equipment. As early as on the way back from their visit to Japan, everyone had imagined using live ammunition drills to frighten the shogunate's envoys. Now it seems that the expected results have been achieved.
"Then how much does he plan to buy?" Ha Jianyi asked curiously.
Shi Chengwu said: "Then I'm afraid we have to see how much budget the shogunate has prepared for this."
(End of chapter)