Ganqing Palace, Xihunting 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.

However, these two navigators have to admit that in the current Ming Dynasty, only the Han prince in front of him truly realized the importance of the ocean to the Ming Dynasty!

Even if you are a little bit bad, you are just greedy for wealth from the sea.

As for the prince and his civil servant group, I wish they could die early and reborn early, and completely suspend the national policy of the Western world!

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

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

Hearing this, Zheng He was stunned at first, then blurted out: "Because voyages to the West are very expensive and spending too much money and food, this is something that has to be admitted!"

After the previous two voyages to the West, the court had almost no income. All the tributes paid by the vassal states were added to the treasury, and the treasury instead distributed a large amount of money and grain.

Although the Ming Dynasty successfully made great contributions to foreign countries overseas and was supported and respected by overseas countries, this kind of loss-making transaction is very similar to what those literati and doctors said, losing money and gaining publicity!

Fortunately, the fleet transported back a lot of goods for the third time, and the strong help from the Han prince in front of him brought 10 million taels of silver to the court's treasury, so Zheng He and others were spared.

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

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

"Zheng He, you brought back a lot of goods this time and successfully added a huge amount of income to the treasury. But do you believe it or not? When you ask to continue your voyage to the West next time, those civil servants and sects will still jump out to object!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zheng He was shocked and didn't quite understand the profound meaning of the words of King Han.

"Because voyage to the West is one of the three new policies of Yongle, the new policy lies in the word "new"!"

Zhu Gaoxu sighed and explained patiently: "From the Hongwu Dynasty to the Jianwen Dynasty, the court has strictly implemented the national policy of "no single-piece entry into the sea" until the Yongle Dynasty broke the ban. The old man ordered you to break through this ice, lead the Ming fleet to patrol foreign lands, educate the four barbarians, and thus drive the reform of the new policy of Yongle!"

Zheng He and Wang Jinghong nodded repeatedly. As emperors and ministers and envoys to the West, they still knew the secrets.

"But have you ever thought that from the Hongwu Dynasty to the Jianwen Dynasty, overseas vassal states have never obtained the specialties of my Ming Dynasty?"

From the Hongwu Dynasty to the Jianwen Dynasty, the policy of maritime bans was strictly implemented at that time. How did overseas vassal states obtain our Ming specialties...

No!

wrong!

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

"His Royal Highness Han means...smuggling?"

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

Zhu Gaoxu gave an accurate answer and thoughts were everywhere in his mind.

The trade of Chinese merchants on overseas trade can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty, and even formed the "******" in the Han Dynasty. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Chinese merchants on overseas trade continued, and a large number of trade ports appeared.

In the former Song Dynasty, relying solely on the shocking profits of maritime trade, the weak Song Dynasty could resist Liao, Jin and Mongolia for a hundred years, which was enough to show the terror of profits behind maritime trade!

However, in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly issued laws prohibiting and restricting Chinese merchants from going overseas, which also rose to the level of "ancestral teachings", which forced future kings to abide by them.

Zhu Yunwen also issued an edict in the third year of Jianwen, banning Chinese merchants from going to sea for trade. His edict gave a ridiculous reason: the people on the coastal areas would easily lure barbarians into robberies and harm good people.

Even in the Yongle Dynasty, Zhu Laosi announced in the first year of his ascension to the throne that the people of the world were not allowed to go to sea without permission and continued to follow the Hongwu example.

Although the Yongle Dynasty had the feat of Zheng He's voyage to the West, the only thing he had to do was to tribute trade, and private private people were still not allowed to go to sea.

People in coastal areas live by the sea and live by the sea, either engaged in fishery production or maritime trade. However, because of this national policy of banning seas, the normal way for people in coastal areas to make a living is blocked.

For example, "Xinguo Gong Tang He inspected the coastal cities of Zhejiang and Fujian, and prohibited people from entering the sea to catch fish." The people along the coast had no other choice except to rise up and fight.

Under the strict maritime ban policy, coastal people who cannot survive can only choose to violate the law and discipline, work for thieves and bandits, cooperate with merchants in coastal areas, and make huge profits by smuggling specialties in the Central Plains, and survive.

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

Coastal smuggling is rampant, aren’t the civil and military officials in the court aware of it?

No, they know, at least half of them!

Of course, the Wenchen Group knew the shocking profits of maritime trade, but the benefits were taken by the emperor. The treasures transported by Zheng He went to the West were also put into the treasury. Even if the goods transported back this time were turned into silver and entered the treasury, they had not gained anything!

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu said coldly again: "You must know that the maritime trade in the former Song Dynasty was extremely prosperous, and it was said that "the clothes of all nations are endless." The taxes collected by the imperial court from maritime trade were about one-fifth of the country's total income in a year!"

"At that time, what 'the emperor and the literati and the officials rule the world together', to put it bluntly, the emperor and the literati and the officials shared the world. The royal family made a fortune, and the literati and doctors were also full of oil. Therefore, they tried their best to promote shipping trade and maritime management, and even supported some wealthy families with strong financial strength to go overseas to operate trade as private merchants, and everything was just for money."

"Mongolia entered the Central Plains, and scholars changed their masters. Although their status was not as good as in the Zhao and Song dynasties, they were still quite accustomed to them. They also relied on these scholars to govern the country, so they also treated them with great weight and ate by sea trade!"

"It's a pity that when we arrived in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Gao formulated a national policy of banning the sea. Poor these fat and big-eared scholars and officials are now unable to eat enough and can only make small money by smuggling..."

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

"Bah! These literati doctors are really shameless!"

Zheng He and Wang Jinghong were both extremely angry, and they still couldn't understand where they could see it.

The Hongwu Dynasty had severe laws and they dared not, but when the Jianwen Dynasty was lenient and polite, these dogs became bolder and used coastal people to smuggle and resell for huge profits.

After the Yongle Dynasty, when they voyage to the West, their smuggling transactions were devastatingly hit!

Cutting off people's way of wealth is like killing parents!

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

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

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said, "My good brother has a soft ear. He is surrounded by literary doctors. To put it bluntly, when my old man goes away, you still want to go to the West, that's just a waste!"

"I must remind you that if you want to continue voyages from the West and to make achievements for the Ming Dynasty, you must complete the reform in the Yongle Dynasty and take everything as your order!"

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

Zheng He glanced at the King of Han deeply, and he knew that this was not an exaggeration.

The prince is a man who only cares about benevolent government and people's livelihood. Once he takes office, the Northern Expedition to the West will be stopped immediately. Zheng He will be defeated back to his original form and guard the imperial tomb for today's son!

Thinking of this, Zheng He sighed a long time, got up and fell to his knees.

"Zheng He is willing to honor His Highness's order and swear to fulfill His Highness's trust to the death!"

Wang Jinghong's expression changed drastically because this was a ritual to recognize the master!

But at this point, he had no other choice unless he wanted to die at the hands of the King of Han!

"Wang Jinghong wishes to honor His Highness's order and swears to fulfill His Highness's trust to the death!"

Seeing this, Wu Xuan touched his forehead and simply followed suit and knelt on the ground and said.

"Wu Xuan respects His Highness's order and swears to fulfill His Highness's trust to the death!"

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

"You and I are the four of you, not for the rest of the world, but for the descendants of the future generations!"
Chapter completed!