I am the king of the dead

Daming has a ban on chiseling mountains and cutting rocks. This is the instruction of the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty. Although His Majesty has slightly modified it, the ban on cutting down rocks still exists.

Daming’s demand for wood has no upper limit, and the rewards for logging in Jilong Island are quite generous. It only takes five days to transport it from Jilong Island to Zhangzhou Shipsi. The logging industry began to develop in full swing.

More than [-] exiled convicts felled wood, which was not enough to support the growing demand for wood. Therefore, Chen Yi boarded the ship and prepared to go to the Penghu Inspection Department, and then to the Songjiang Prefecture Shipping Department.

The news that Yuan Bin went to Luo with his sword was not the same as the time when Chen Yi arrived at the Shipping Department of Songjiang Prefecture.

Li Binyan, Governor of Songjiang Prefecture, Li Xian, Governor of Yingtian, Xu Chengzong, Duke of Wei, Chen Yi, Governor of Chicken Cage, Bo Renli Ningyuan, officials of the Shipping Department of Songjiang Prefecture, Mizhou, Ningbo, Zhangzhou City, Commander of Yingtianjingying, Tianzi Tiqi, etc. , Zhejiang, Lianghuai, Huguang and many other merchants have all rushed to the Wanguo City in Songjiang Prefecture.

Those who know know that they are making decisions about the opening of the Ming Dynasty, and those who don't know think they are plotting to rebel.

This battle is really a bit big.

Li Binyan sat in town with the Yongle sword and started a meeting on maritime affairs, just like the meeting on salt and iron. Daming held the first special meeting on maritime trade on many matters related to opening the sea.

The background of the Salt and Iron Conference was a great debate of the Han Dynasty on the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and its essence was to evaluate and make decisions on various policies introduced during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

The background of Daming's salt and iron meeting was the poor financial situation of Ming Dynasty, so a meeting dedicated to financial affairs had to be held.

The background of the maritime trade conference is the increasingly large maritime trade, and it is necessary to discuss the tax system, shipbuilding, and maritime trade goods of Ming Dynasty.

The Salt and Iron Conference of the Han Dynasty, the Salt and Iron Conference of the Ming Dynasty, and the current Maritime Trade Conference are actually a kind of political negotiation to ease the conflicts of various classes and prevent them from intensifying to the point of uncontrollable.

Wanguo City is a city distributed in a perfect circle of eight trigrams, and the Yamen of the Bosi of Songjiang Prefecture is built in the Qian hexagram, and His Majesty Zhu approved the word Qiandian.

Li Binyan's left hand side is a group of officials of Ming Dynasty, and the first person on his right hand side is a craftsman.

In this kind of division, no one dares to say a word, the status of scholars, farmers, businessmen, and merchants has always been like this.

Li Binyan saw that everyone was seated, so he said, "This time, everyone gathered here because of His Majesty's decree to come here for the opening of the sea."

"Your Majesty has a saying: During the Kaiyuan period of the former Tang Dynasty, there was a city ship envoy in Guangzhou. The governor-general was in charge of the sea, road, state, foreign trade, tax collection, distribution of all things, management of ships, and allocation of ships. During the Kaibao period of the former Song Dynasty, the city ship department was set up in Guangzhou."

"In the early years of Yongle, Qi Zhen, the minister and admiral, came to Guangzhou, and died in the Xuande period. The Guangzhou Shipping Department survived in name only, and now it is agreed to restore it."

The Guangzhou Shipbuilding Department was the first city shipping department in the history of the Central Plains Dynasty. It was established in the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty until the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty. The Guangzhou Shipbuilding Department existed in name only.

Is the Guangzhou Shipyard Department gone?

In Dianbai Harbor, hundreds of boats competed for the flow, thousands of sails competed, and the city and ship trade was frequent, and it was the most prosperous in all dynasties.

During the more than 20 years of Hongwu Yongle, the Guangzhou Shipbuilding Department counted gold and silver instead of materials. A total of [-] taels of gold and tens of millions of silver were traded, which was seven times the sum of all city shipping departments in the Song and Yuan dynasties. .

However, such a prosperous trade has not had any relationship with the Ming court since the death of Qi Zhen, the admiral of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Shipping during the Xuande period.

The Guangzhou Shipping Department only existed in name only at the Ming court.

The first agenda of this Maritime Trade Conference is to read the imperial decree, and the first thing is to restore the Guangzhou Shipping Department.

Li Binyan closed the imperial decree in his hand and said: "Your Majesty's intention is very clear. The re-establishment of the Guangzhou Municipal Shipping Department is a foregone conclusion. It is imperative that the Municipal Shipping Department draw points. Don't make mistakes."

Li Bin said that this was a blatant warning to everyone that in Daming, only death and taxes are inevitable.

Even rebellion has to pay taxes three times. Guangzhou's thriving ship trade does not want to pay taxes, so how can it be?

Chapter 6 and Five Ocean Conference——On Sea Power

Li Binyan put down the first imperial edict, took out the second imperial edict and said, "Your Majesty's decree, the first is to discuss sea power."

"Your Majesty asks, what is sea power?"

This is His Majesty's first topic, and it is also the doubt in Li Binyan's heart. What is sea power? Standing in different classes and in the eyes of different people, sea power looks completely different.

Li Binyan said with a smile: "Let me first talk about my own views, and throw bricks to attract jade."

"Since the fourth year of Jingtai, His Majesty divided Nanzhili into four parts. It has been more than three years since he served as the governor of Songjiang. I hope you can correct me with some humble opinions."

"The eunuch of the Three Treasures once said: If you want the country to be prosperous and strong, you should not ignore the sea. Wealth comes from the sea, and danger also comes from the sea. Once the king of another country seizes Nanyang, China will be in danger."

"Our fleet is invincible. It can be used to expand business and subdue foreign lands so that it does not dare to covet Nanyang."

What Li Binyan held in his hand was a quite old memorial, and this one was the original.

It was written in the first year of Hongxi, Emperor Renzong of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Gaochi wanted to abolish the costly and costly voyage activities that harmed the country and the people. In order to preserve this fleet, Zheng He made a memorial to Zhu Gaochi, imploring Zhu Gaochi to keep the fleet.

There should have been three copies of this series of memorials, but at that time, Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty was the guest of honor, Emperor Renzong collapsed a year after he ascended the throne, and Emperor Xuanzong faced the rebellion of the Han Dynasty when he ascended the throne, the ever-changing court situation, the fire in the ancient and modern Tongji warehouse, and finally Only one remained.

But just one letter, when Li Binyan took it out, he still felt that it weighed a thousand catties.

With the bypass of Peng Sui's degree, the measuring ships measuring longitude and latitude are constantly measuring in the South China Sea, and the importance of the South China Sea has been vividly reflected.

Once other countries seize control of Nanyang, China will be in danger.

Li Binyan and Zheng He didn't know that Zheng He's words explained the difficulties of the Central Plains Dynasty in marine affairs in the next 600 years.

From the Ming Dynasty to the Yongle period, the absolute control over Nanyang lasted until the Jiajing period. Since then, the Ming Dynasty has gradually lost Nanyang.

The Central Plains Dynasty completely lost control of Southeast Asia when the Lanfang Republic was completely defeated by the Dutch East India Company. The Central Plains Dynasty lost Nanyang, and then lost Ryukyu, ushering in a century of humiliation.

Li Binyan opened the memorial in his hand so that everyone could see Zheng He's inscription, and handed it back to the admiral of Songjiang Shipbuilding Department. Zheng He's memorial will be returned to the capital for safekeeping after copying.

Zheng He's memorial is about national security.

Absolute control over Nanyang is the top priority of Ming Dynasty's national security, and its significance is no less than that of Xuanfu, the gateway of the capital, to the capital.

Li Binyan continued to say: "build a big ship, gallop the ocean, harmonize all nations, and make the world peaceful. Showing off troops in foreign lands shows the prosperity of the country. Since Yongle was changed to the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Wen sent envoys four times to order Haifan. The contribution is complete, and the rare goods are precious. , The previous generation Ji Xi, flooded the Kushi market, the poor bought it first, or got rich, and the state also envied it."

This paragraph is Li Binyan's own understanding. He saw with his own eyes how Songjiang Prefecture's shipping department gradually grew from a fishing village to the present behemoth in just a few years.

"Your Majesty's order." Li Binyan said while sitting upright.

All the people present subconsciously sat up straight, waiting for Li Binyan to read the oracle.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor, the edict said: The ocean issue is definitely not an issue of financial affairs in a region, but a national policy issue related to national security and prosperity."

"Whoever wins the hearts of the people wins the world, and whoever wins the seas secures the world and gets rich and strong."

Li Bin talked about two major directions, the first is national security, and the second is national prosperity.

If the country is rich, the people will be strong, and if the people are strong, the country will be rich. This is a mutual relationship. The sea is very important to Ming Dynasty.

Xu Chengzong took out his own question book, and he had already prepared his own thoughts on the first issue of sea power.

Xu Chengzong did not have as many holy relatives as Li Binyan, and he did not invite Zheng He's original memorials as a basis for citing scriptures, he just talked about his own views.

"I think no matter from the perspectives of military affairs, government affairs, financial affairs, etc., I think that the sea itself is the most important and the most eye-catching thing is that it can make full use of maritime routes."

"Because of various factors such as weather, sea currents, monsoons, and rocks, the sea seems vast, but only part of it can be selected as a route. I call it the sea route."

"I think whoever controls the sea routes controls the oceans."

Xu Chengzong's speech has aroused a lot of discussion among the people. Wei Guogong Xu Chengzong is the last brother and heir to the title. He has always done things dissolutely. The Yanyu Building was built in Dagongfang. It was built on five floors and even the palace can be seen. Although it is demolished now , but done is done.

During the Nanya rebellion, Xu Chengzong's extremely poor performance made people quite disappointed. He first fled to Fengyang, and then watched his favorite concubine being torn apart by a car under the city.

Such a person, who is in the high position of the Duke of the State, actually, almost everyone who came to Songjiang Mansion to participate in the Ocean Conference did not care much about the Duke of Wei.

But Xu Chengzong's speech was not ignorant, even if it was written by someone, it was not in vain, and he was extremely well prepared.

Xu Chengzong looked at the discussion among the people, and didn't say much. In his heart, His Majesty must know that he is useful, so that he can continue to be so honorable.

The Xu family has one family, after all, there are two duke mansions.

Xu Chengzong continued to say: "In the second year of Jingtai, Chen Mao, Marquis of Ningyang, set up a shipyard in Zhangzhou and built more than 180 ocean-going ships. Since the third year of Jingtai, he has shipped white grain every year, that is, Zhancheng rice, which is 110 million shi. Among them, about 30 million stones are being given, and the remaining [-] silver coins will be returned to Fujian."

"In the 13th year of Orthodoxy, the people of Fujian were in turmoil and storms, sweeping millions of people in five provinces and [-] prefectures. In the seventh year of Jingtai, Fujian was Antai, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. There are seven shipyards, and there are more than twenty registered private shipyards."

"Fujian's tax collection is almost equal to that of the Fengyang prefectures, second only to Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Officials are dismissed, and the loss of escort transportation is only one-thirtieth of the land route."

"This is a detailed list of the merchants and cargoes of the Songjiang Prefecture Shipping Department in Jingtai's six years. From Songjiang Prefecture to Hulumos, it only takes one year to go back and forth."

"Safety, there are certainly pirates on the needle road. If you go by land from Yumenguan, it will take at least one and a half to two years. On the way, you have to pass through the territory of the Oirats, Turks, and Crescent people, and there are countless others. Horse bandits, countless taxes."

"Compared with land and water routes, sea routes are undoubtedly more convenient, cheaper and safer than land routes."

Convenience, safety, and cheapness, the needle road is the biggest feature of the sea road.

Xu Chengzong handed the inscription in his hand to Li Binyan and said: "In the inscription, I have made a comprehensive explanation on the importance of the sea route. In more detail, I also ask Governor Li to correct it and circulate it."

Xu Chengzong's speech was extremely concise. He listed a lot of arguments in the title book to support his point of view. For example, under the same manpower, the transport capacity of sea routes is ten times that of land routes. For example, the maintenance cost of sea ships, Much lower than tank ship maintenance and transportation costs.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the main artery of the Ming Dynasty, but there are too many moths attached to this main artery to suck blood. The guys who suck blood along the way greatly increase the transportation cost of the waterway.

After receiving the imperial decree, he ran to the pier himself to inquire about this question book. He led others to do it. It was indeed written by someone else, but it was indeed his result.

He didn't want to be regarded by His Majesty as a person with nothing to do. If that was the case, Xu Chengzong himself was not sure whether Wei Guogong's mansion could be kept.

Li Binyan flipped through the question book in his hand and nodded continuously. He handed the question book to the secretary around Li Waiter, and asked them to print the fastest movable type for everyone to discuss.

Li Xian opened his test book, which also included a discussion on the importance of sea routes, but Xu Chengzong did a good job. He sorted it out and said: "The port, Liujiagang on the Yangtze River, Xingang in Songjiang Prefecture, Yuegang in Zhangzhou, Dianbai Port in Guangzhou, Jiaozhou Port in Mizhou, Naha Port in Ryukyu, and Namba Port in Japan are all distribution centers for trade.”

"A stable, safe, and resupply port is just a little fire of the Ming Dynasty in the vast sea. A single spark can start a prairie fire."

Li Xian has conflicts with Xu Chengzong about the sea route, but his exploration of Daming sea power is also forward-looking.

In Li Xian's view, the existence of ports is the key to Ming's influence overseas in many aspects such as politics, military, economy, and culture.

And the port is also the starting point of Daming's road to becoming a king overseas.

The importance of this starting point is self-evident.

And Li Xian made a comprehensive discussion on the problems of many ports such as Xingang and Liujiagang in Songjiang Prefecture, such as wharf position, storage location, cargo handling, labor compensation for hard work, and even a part about epidemic prevention and disease prevention. Gentiles and barbarians from all nations need to live in the city of all nations and so on.

Li Xian handed the title book in his hand to Li Binyan. He spoke on behalf of the bureaucrats in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fengyang provinces, and made specific plans for port management.

Fan Du commanded Ma Yun to speak: "The existence of the Daming Navy plays a decisive role in sea power."

"Show off your wealth and dominate the barbarians. In the past, the Sanbao eunuchs commanded tens of thousands of banner troops in the official school, and sailed on more than a hundred huge ships to patrol foreign lands, intimidating those who dared to contend with China. Those who dared to fight against China were captured alive. "The bandits and soldiers who wantonly plundered and wiped out foreign countries obeyed the edict, bowed their heads and surrendered, and did not dare to have two hearts."

"Whether it is to ensure that the South China Sea will not be coveted by the kings of other countries, or to ensure that Ming controls the sea routes, a powerful navy is relied on."

"Navigation is the foundation of sea power and the guarantee of ocean commerce. Whoever has an invincible navy can control the ocean, develop business, secure the people and rejuvenate the country; losing the navy will lose the right to control the ocean, which cannot protect business. Ships cannot guarantee the peace of the people along the coast of Daming.”

"Today's merchant ships, everyone wears armor, carries a knife and carries a bow and crossbow. Almost every three-masted ship has artillery, guns, gunpowder and other items. If you don't draw your bow and fill your gunpowder, you will ignore it when you enter the port."

Fan Du commanded Ma Yun to talk about the status quo of Ming Dynasty, the unspoken rules of the Ship Department, and why the various Ship Departments and Inspection Departments turned a deaf ear to the merchant ships carrying weapons, all because the navy of Ming Dynasty was not strong enough.

And a powerful navy is the foundation of sea power. This is Ma Yun's point of view on behalf of the army.

Ma Yun dared to say it so openly, because whoever tells His Majesty now that he values ​​literature over martial arts and promotes literature and martial arts is looking for trouble.

His majesty did a lot of things. When the emperor got angry, he lay down millions of corpses and bleed for thousands of miles. His majesty turned over and got millions of silver coins, which were spent like running water.

Your Majesty can only profit from overseas.

"What does Chang Gong think?" Li Binyan took Ma Yun's question book and asked the craftsman sitting beside him.

The Daming navy is still in the recovery period. It will take at least ten years to restore the invincible navy with more than [-] ships and a thousand five-masted treasure ships during the Yongle period. Therefore, Ma Yun’s point of view is not new, but he only emphasizes and repeats his position.

Chang Youde is the general manager of Daming Songjiang Shipyard and a master craftsman certified by Daming.

Chang Youde said very seriously: "The boat."

"The navy mentioned by General Ma, the port mentioned by Governor Li, the sea route mentioned by Duke Wei, the national security mentioned by His Majesty's decree, etc., all of which require ships, and many, many ships."

"The more ships, the better. Sea power is ships."

Chang Youde is a craftsman, he can't bite the bullet, and he can speak concisely. In his eyes, the number of ships determines the development of Ming Dynasty in sea power.

Chang Youde handed over the title book to Li Binyan.

"Okay! Very good!" Li Binyan looked at the question book and nodded and said, "Chang Gong is not good at talking, but he can see things clearly. In the question book, Chang Gong still has a few points of view."

"For example, in this article, His Majesty once decreed that Tongshi Ma Huan should set up a Tongshitang to be responsible for cultivating general affairs, while Chang Gong believed that the Tongshitang could be turned into a maritime supervisor, and would be responsible for cultivating maritime-related talents. For example, the sailor in charge of steering the boat, the crew in charge of looking out, the general in charge of translation, etc.”

"There is also this one. In the craftsman city, we should divide science and study, and set up more calendar institutes, such as the calendar institute responsible for improving ships, the calendar institute dedicated to ocean weather, and the calendar institute dedicated to the sea current. wait."

"very good."

Chang Youde is not good at talking. He said that he will build many, many ships, not only in quantity, but also in classification.There are also many types of these ships, such as warships, ocean-covering ships, flying wing ships, five-masted treasure ships, three-masted merchant ships, two-masted single-masted pilot ships, tank ships and so on.

As a craftsman, Chang Youde is quite pragmatic, and all the ideas he put forward can be implemented.

"It just costs a lot of money." Chang Youde said with some worry.

Li Binyan put away the question book and said with a smile: "Don't worry about money, Your Majesty has plenty of solutions."

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty had a good way of making money.

Chapter 6 and Six: Haimao, making more money than a gambling house winning all the time

Fei Yiying is the head of the two Zhejiang salt merchants, and also the head of the current ship merchants, and he is also the spokesperson for Wei Guogong Xu Chengzong's interests. Similarly, he is also a businessman who is very good at assessing the situation.

When it came to merchants speaking, Fei Yiying was a little at a loss. Even though he was the richest man in the world, he still appeared in a very low profile when facing officials from prefectures and counties.