Chapter 170 The Shamelessness of Literati! The Truth About Resistance in the Pacific Ocean!

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Qianqing Palace, Xinuang Pavilion.

Zheng He and Wang Jinghong looked at each other, looking very hesitant.

It is true that the task assigned by His Highness the King of Han is full of great dangers.

But these two navigators had to admit that in the entire Ming Dynasty, only the Prince of Han in front of them truly realized the importance of the ocean to the Ming Dynasty!

Even today, to put it mildly, it is just greed for wealth at sea.

As for the Crown Prince and his civil servant group, they wish they both died early and were born early, and the national policy of going to the West was completely suspended!

Seeing that the two of them seemed hesitant, Zhu Gaoxu immediately changed the subject and prepared to adopt a strategy of attacking the heart.

"Zheng He, Jing Hong, do you two know why all those civil servants strongly oppose your voyage to the West?"

Hearing this, Zheng He was stunned for a moment, and then blurted out: "Because the voyage to the West was very expensive and spent too much money and food. This is something I have to admit!"

During the previous two voyages to the West, the imperial court had almost no income, and all the tributes paid by the vassal states went into internal funds. Instead, a huge amount of money and food was transferred out of the national treasury.

Although the Ming Dynasty has successfully gained prestige overseas and won the support and respect of overseas countries, this kind of loss-making business is just like what those literati and doctors said, losing money and making money!

Fortunately, this third fleet brought back a lot of goods, and with the great help of the Han prince in front of him, it brought an income of 10 million taels of silver to the imperial treasury, and Zheng He and others were able to survive. .

If we really want to talk about it, Zheng He, Wang Jinghong and others still owe him a favor to Prince Han!

When Zhu Gaoxu heard this answer, he just shook his head and sneered: "This is just one aspect, not the main reason!"

"Zheng He, you have brought back a lot of goods this time and have successfully added a huge amount of income to the national treasury. But believe it or not, when you request to continue your voyage to the West next time, those civil servants and officials will still come out to oppose it. !”

As soon as these words came out, Zheng He was shocked, and he didn't quite understand the meaning of the words of the King of Han.

"Because the voyage to the West was one of Yongle's three major new policies. New policies and new policies all depend on the word 'new'!"

Zhu Gaoxu sighed and explained patiently: "From the Hongwu Dynasty to the Jianwen Dynasty, the imperial court has been strictly implementing the national policy of banning ships from entering the sea. Until the Yongle Dynasty broke this ban, the old man ordered you to break through this ice and lead the Ming Dynasty. The team traveled to foreign lands to educate the barbarians, in order to stimulate the Yongle New Deal reform!"

Zheng He and Wang Jinghong nodded repeatedly. As the emperor's ministers and the envoys to the West, they knew these secrets well.

"But have you ever thought that from the Hongwu Dynasty to the Jianwen Dynasty, overseas vassal states did not obtain the specialties of the Ming Dynasty?"

From the Hongwu Dynasty to the Jianwen Dynasty, when the national policy of maritime ban was strictly implemented, how did the overseas vassal states obtain the specialties of the Ming Dynasty...

No!

wrong!

Zheng He woke up suddenly, his face as gloomy as water!

"His Royal Highness the King of Han means... smuggling?"

"Yes, it's smuggling. Smuggling along the coast of Jianwen Dynasty is very popular!"

Zhu Gaoxu gave an accurate answer, with thousands of thoughts in his mind.

Chinese businessmen's overseas trade can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty, and even formed a "foreign trade" in the Han Dynasty. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, overseas trade by Chinese merchants continued in an endless stream, and a large number of treaty ports appeared.

In the early Song Dynasty, the weak Song Dynasty could resist the Liao, Jin and Mongolia for hundreds of years just by relying on the astonishing profits of maritime trade. This is enough to see the horror of the profits behind maritime trade!

However, in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly promulgated laws prohibiting and restricting Chinese merchants from overseas trade, and these laws were elevated to the level of "ancestral precepts", forcing future generations to abide by them.

In the third year of Jianwen's reign, Zhu Yunwen also issued an edict prohibiting Chinese merchants from going to sea for trade. The edict gave a ridiculous reason: coastal people going to sea for trade would easily lure barbarians into stealing and harm good people.

Even in the Yongle Dynasty, in the first year after he ascended the throne, Zhu Laosi declared that the common people in the world were not allowed to go to sea privately and continued to follow Hongwu's example.

Although the Yongle Dynasty had the feat of Zheng He's voyages to the West, only tribute trade was liberalized, and private individuals were still not allowed to go to sea.

People in coastal areas depend on the sea for their livelihood and are either engaged in fishery production or maritime trade. However, due to the national policy of banning seas, the normal way for people in coastal areas to make a living has been blocked.

For example, "Xinguogong Tanghe inspected the coastal cities of Zhejiang and Fujian and banned people from entering the sea for fishing." The people along the coast had no other choice but to rise up and fight.

Under the strict maritime ban policy, the coastal people who could not survive had no choice but to break the law and commit thievery. They cooperated with merchants in coastal areas and made huge profits by smuggling specialties from the Central Plains to survive.

This kind of private overseas trade is regarded as illegal and is being forced to embark on a path of abnormal development, that is, it is forced to turn into smuggling and armed smuggling, and even develop into a maritime armed smuggling group that competes with the imperial court in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Smuggling is rampant along the coast. Don't the civil and military officials of the entire court know about it?

No, they knew, at least half of them!

Of course, the Wenchen Group knew about the astonishing profits of maritime trade, but all the benefits were taken by the emperor. The treasures brought back by Zheng He from the Western Ocean also went into the internal coffers. Even the goods shipped back this time were turned into silver and entered the national treasury. They didn't catch anything!

Thinking about it, Zhu Gaoxu said coldly again: "You must know that the maritime trade in the former Song Dynasty was extremely prosperous. It was known as 'the clothes of all nations, and there was an endless stream of people.' The tax collected by the imperial court from maritime trade alone was equivalent to about five percent of the country's total annual income. One percent!"

"At that time, the idea of ​​'the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats co-ruling the world', to put it bluntly, meant that the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats shared the wealth of the world. The royal family made a lot of money, and the scholars and officials also had a lot to eat, so they tried their best to promote shipping trade. He Shi Ship Management, and even supports some wealthy families with strong financial strength to go overseas to operate trade as private traders, everything is just for money."

"When Mongolia entered the Central Plains, the scholars changed their masters. Although their status was not as good as it was during the Zhao and Song Dynasties, it was still decent. The Mongolian court relied on these scholars to govern the country, so it treated them quite favorably. They also benefited from maritime trade. Big ears!”

"It's a pity that in our Ming Dynasty, Emperor Gao formulated the national policy of banning seas. Poor these fat-headed scholar-bureaucrats, now they don't have enough to eat, so they can only make a small amount of money through smuggling..."

After reaching this point, Wu Xuan spat out a mouthful of phlegm.

"Bah! These literati and doctors are so shameless!"

Zheng He and Wang Jinghong were equally angry, and they still don't understand.

The Hongwu Dynasty had strict laws, so they didn't dare, but in the Jianwen Dynasty, where the punishments were lenient, these bitches became bolder, and UU Reading www.uukanshu.net took advantage of the coastal people to smuggle and resell to make huge profits.

After the Yongle Dynasty, as soon as their voyages to the West began, their smuggling business suffered a devastating blow!

Destroying someone's wealth is like killing one's parents!

No wonder, from the beginning, these shameless literati strongly opposed the voyage to the West!

When he thought of this, Zheng He gritted his teeth with hatred.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "My good brother is soft-hearted, and he is surrounded by scholars and doctors. To put it bluntly, when my old man drives to the west, if you still want to go to the West, you are just trying to eat shit. !”

"I would like to remind you that if you want to continue your voyage to the West and make contributions to the Ming Dynasty, you must complete the reforms in the Yongle Dynasty and make everything an order!"

"Even if my good brother sits on the dragon throne, he will not dare to reform. Do you two understand?"

Zheng He took a deep look at the King of Han, and he knew that these words were not alarmist.

The Crown Prince is a master who only cares about benevolent governance and people's livelihood. Once he takes office, projects such as the Northern Expedition to the Western Ocean will probably be stopped immediately, and Zheng He will be brought back to his original form to guard the imperial mausoleum for the emperor!

Thinking about it, Zheng He sighed, stood up and knelt on the ground.

"Zheng He is willing to respect His Highness's orders and swear to the death to fulfill His Highness's great trust!"

Wang Jinghong's expression changed drastically, because this was the gift of recognizing the Lord!

But now, he has no other choice, unless he wants to die in the hands of the King of Han!

"Wang Jinghong is willing to respect His Highness's orders and swear to the death to fulfill His Highness's great trust!"

When Wu Xuan saw this, he touched his forehead and simply followed suit, kneeling on the ground and saying something.

"Wu Xuan is willing to respect His Highness's orders and swear to the death to fulfill His Highness's great trust!"

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction and stepped forward to help the three of them up.

"You and I, the four of us, do it for nothing but future generations!"

"Your Highness is righteous!"

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