Four hundred and ninetieth chapters City Ship Department cleaning
The conversation between Li Huan and Xu Pu was heard by a group of officials and nobles who were watching the cannon test of the Hongwu treasure ship. Many of them had puzzled looks on their faces, as if they didn't quite understand why they saw the cannon.
The power, Xu's reaction would be so great.
Ordinarily Xu was well-informed, but why did he react so violently when he saw the shells fired by the artillery?
Even some nobles had the same reaction, but if these people had some understanding of the military, I'm afraid they wouldn't have such a reaction.
After all, anyone who is not a fool can imagine what changes the emergence of powerful bullets will bring to the battlefield.
However, these civil servants and some nobles did not react at all.
If they were civil servants, that would be fine. After all, it was natural for the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty not to know about military affairs, but these nobles had indeed been completely ruined by the centuries of wealth and the prosperity and luxury of Jiangnan.
Li Huan saw the expressions of everyone in his eyes. Except for a few people, the rest looked blank. While sighing in his heart, Li Huan's mind had already shifted to the place in the river.
On top of a treasure ship that was firing continuously.
If such a treasure ship was loaded with such ferocious artillery, Li Huan was quite looking forward to how the enemy would react if they saw the treasure ship's size and ferocious firepower.
Of course, what is more important is that the Ming Dynasty can build more than one such powerful large-scale treasure ship. Several other official Ming Dynasty shipyards that have obtained the shipbuilding technology provided by the Longjiang Shipyard are now building the Ming Dynasty treasure ship.
Nowadays, among the dozen or so large shipyards in Longjiang Shipyard, almost every one of them is building a Ming Dynasty treasure ship.
Countless craftsmen who were collected and recruited by Li Huan from all over the world gathered in these shipyards. Especially the Longjiang Shipyard now has thousands of shipbuilding craftsmen alone, not to mention the craftsmen surrounding the shipyard.
It has brought a large flow of people and formed upstream and downstream industries.
It can only be said that each Ming Dynasty treasure ship with a total cost of tens of thousands of taels can definitely help a considerable number of people to have a subsistence life.
Just these dozen treasure ships and at least dozens of matching large and small ships started by Longjiang Shipyard, such as troop carriers, rush ships, reconnaissance ships, grain ships and other ships, once they are built and all launched,
Supplemented by a group of well-trained elite naval officers, a naval army with astonishing combat power has been formed.
As for such a large naval fleet, given the current wealth of the Ming Dynasty, or that there is no need for the court to allocate money, Li Huan's 20 million taels of silver alone would be enough to build more than a dozen. When the Ming Dynasty had several
When the powerful naval fleet was rampaging across the vast seas, Li Huan was looking forward to seeing which country in this era could compete with the size and foundation of the Ming Dynasty.
When the Qianhu official who personally oversaw the cannon test on the treasure ship came down from the treasure ship and greeted Li Huan with an excited look on his face, even Li Huan could feel the excitement on the other side.
After bowing to Li Huan, Pang Wan from Qianhu said respectfully: "I will pay my respects to you. I will live up to my command and come here to report back to you."
Li Huan looked at Pang Wandao and said, "Pang Qianhu, in your opinion, what is this Hongwu number like?"
Pang Wan was slightly startled and turned to Li Huan like a conditioned reflex: "Back to my father-in-law, this ship is a powerful weapon for the country. I have been dealing with various ships for more than ten years. I have seen no less than a hundred ships of the Ming Navy."
, but none of them can compare with the Hongwu."
As he said this, Pang Wan looked at Li Huan, but his face showed a hesitant expression. When Li Huan saw it, he said, "Does Pang Qianhu have something to say?"
Pang Wan took a deep breath and said respectfully to Li Huan: "I am brave enough to ask you to let me be the admiral of the Hongwu. If...if that doesn't work, please allow me to let you be in charge of the Hongwu when the number of treasure ships increases in the future."
If the admiral of such a treasure ship can fulfill his wish, the general will be able to rest in peace even if he dies!"
It can be seen that what Pang Wan said was very emotional. After all, he and his nearly a thousand troops were also carefully selected from the Ming Navy. It is said that these elites
Controlling the Hongwu is also a matter of course.
But Pang Wan knew that he had nothing to do with Li Huan. Such a powerful weapon to control the country, especially a newly launched Ming Dynasty treasure ship that was rebuilt and named Hongwu by the emperor himself. The admiral of such a powerful weapon to control the country could only
He was Li Huan's confidant, and he asked himself that he had no qualifications. So Pang Wan only hoped that Li Huan would not forget him and give him a chance.
Li Huan heard the meaning of Pang Wan's words, and looked at Pang Wan with a slight smile on his face: "Pang Qianhu, would you like to take charge of the treasure ship Hongwu for me?"
"What? Master, are you joking with me?"
Pang Wan almost had a conditioned reflex, with a look of disbelief on his face, and looked at Li Huan stupidly with his eyes wide open.
Li Huan chuckled and said: "Pang Qianhu and the officers and men under your command can be said to be the most elite troops carefully selected from the Ming Dynasty Navy. Naturally, a powerful weapon such as the Hongwu to control the country must be made by the most elite troops of the Ming Dynasty.
The soldiers will take control."
As he spoke, Li Huan patted Pang Wan on the shoulder with his big hand and said slowly: "I will appoint you as the admiral of Hongwu. Are you willing?"
As if he was in a dream, Pang Wan stood there stupidly. It took him a long time to finally react. Then he saluted Li Huan and said, "I will, I will, I will!"
Zhang Huai, the newly promoted Changyang Bo who was following Li Huan, couldn't help but smile and said to Pang Wan: "Pang Qianhu, do you know that you can be valued by the Duke of the country? What a blessing this is."
Pang Wantang said to Li Huan with a respectful look on his face: "My father-in-law, I will never forget the kindness you show me so much. I will definitely die to repay you."
Li Huan stepped forward, helped Pang Wan up, and said with a smile: "There is no such thing as immortality. All you have to do is kill the enemy with your heart and be loyal to His Majesty."
In October of the sixth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty
Li Huan traveled almost everywhere during this year, and his travels covered almost the entire southeastern coast.
On the one hand, Li Huan wanted to inspect various parts of the southeastern coast on behalf of the emperor. On the other hand, Li Huan was very concerned about the conditions of several major shipping companies and personally inspected every place he went.
The Municipal Shipping Department is almost equivalent to the modern customs, but its functions are more extensive than the customs. However, nowadays the main focus of the Ming City Shipping Department is almost entirely on tax collection.
With the full opening of the sea in the Ming Dynasty, the prosperous maritime trade business along the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty was directly created, and the Shipping Department of the Ming Dynasty was responsible for collecting commercial taxes on these merchant ships going to sea.
Compared with the previous Ming Dynasty's commercial tax of thirty taxes and one, the commercial tax implemented by Li Huan now directly reached four taxes and one, which was equivalent to more than a quarter of the value of the goods.
A merchant ship filled with goods worth ten thousand taels has to pay at least two thousand five hundred taels of silver. It can be said that Li Huan's commercial tax is for merchants who have long been accustomed to paying a tax of thirty to one or no tax at all.
It's like a heresy.
That is to say, Li Huan relied on his power to confiscate his family, exterminate his clan, and kill thousands of people in the south of the Yangtze River. This was Li Huan. If it had been anyone else, let alone the commercial tax, he would have been able to implement it.
Anyone who dared to propose such a heavy commercial tax would have been impeached and killed by the civil service group a long time ago. Quanzhou Shipping Department, although the season has entered winter, the climate on the southeastern coast is mild and humid, but there is nothing
chill.
At this moment, Li Huan was surrounded by a group of officials from the Municipal Shipping Department, looking at the large and small merchant ships moored in the port.
In that port, at a glance, there are at least hundreds of ships about to leave and enter the port. Although it is less than Li Huan expected, it is relatively good. At this time
An official from the Municipal Shipping Department was explaining to Li Huan in a low voice: "Sir, last month there were more than 520 large and small merchant ships going to sea in Quanzhou Port, and a total of more than 38,400 taels of tax were collected.
"Li Huan raised his eyebrows. The Quanzhou Shipping Department collected nearly 40,000 taels of tax money in one month. To be honest, Li Huan was not surprised by this. Even in Li Huan's view, the Quanzhou Shipping Department was established in the Ming Dynasty.
Among the nine major shipping companies, it can definitely be ranked among the top three.
As a result, the shipping department in Quanzhou City only had tens of thousands taels of tax silver. According to this calculation, the nine major cities' shipping agencies may only collect two to three hundred thousand taels of tax silver per month, and they could only provide the imperial court with tax money in a year.
tribute
Donate two to three million taels of silver.
This was obviously lower than Li Huan expected. After all, in Li Huan's imagination, the nine major shipping companies would provide at least five million taels of tax money to the court.
After pondering for a while, Li Huan looked at the tax collectors around him and slowly said: "It has been almost a year since the imperial court opened the sea. During this nearly year, there must have been many problems, big and small. Now you can give me some advice.
Please tell me, what kind of problems is the shipping company facing today?"
Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, but no one dared to speak without permission.
Although everyone knew that Shibo Division had many questions, they did not know how to answer Li Huan. If the answers satisfied Li Huan, then that would be fine. If Li Huan was displeased, who would
Do you know if Li Huan will confiscate your home and exterminate your clan?
It must be said that Li Huan's evil reputation was quite a deterrent to these people.
Li Huan saw the reaction of everyone in his eyes and said calmly: "If you have anything to say, just say it directly. I will never get angry with you because of the questions you raised. Even if you mean what you say,
I will also generously reward you!"
Everyone, look at me, I look at you, and soon one of them had the courage to say: "There is a problem with Hui Gongye's official position, that is, many businessmen say that the government's taxation is too harsh, so that it is almost impossible for them to go to sea.
It’s so profitable, I hope the court can reduce the tax rate…”
When Li Huan heard this, he couldn't help but glance at the official, and sneered: "Then let me ask you, judging from your experience, is it really unprofitable for these businessmen to go to sea? Or do they not want to pay taxes at all?
"
The official's expression changed slightly and he said with a trembling voice: "I don't know, I don't know..."
With a slight snort, Li Huan said with a bit of disdain: "You don't know, I think you just don't dare to say it. Do you really think that I don't know the huge profits of these people's maritime trade? It can be said that as long as the goods of one tael of silver go smoothly
From the transaction, they can at least earn several times or even more than ten times the profits. I only collect a very small part of their profits. They are still so dissatisfied. Do you think I am easy to bully?"
An awe-inspiring power spread out with Li Huan as the center, making everyone feel as if they were in the cold winter. Many people shivered, and their eyes looking at Li Huan were full of fear. When they saw Li Huan,
Huan Da waved his hand and said: "Come here, I will capture him and investigate carefully who ordered him to do it, and whether he has provided convenience for others and accepted bribes while in the position of the Municipal Shipping Department."
"Master, please have mercy on me, Master, please have mercy on me!..."
The man was immediately dragged down by two tough-looking military captains in golden robes, leaving only the other party's shrill wails.
Many officials were frightened into silence when they saw this scene, but at this moment, someone stood up and greeted Li Huan without any fear on his face and said, "I have met your Excellency, I have something to say."
At this time, someone dared to stand up. Li Huan couldn't help but give him a high look, nodded slowly and said, "Speak."
Du Ming took a deep breath and said: "Everything has gone smoothly since the re-establishment of the Quanzhou Shipping Department, but there are inconsistencies at sea. Firstly, as a large number of maritime merchants go to sea, a large number of ships carrying various goods naturally attract a lot of attention.
Due to the prying eyes of pirates, especially in recent months, many ships have been robbed by sea pirates, causing many merchants to suffer heavy losses or even their lives."
Li Huan nodded slightly after listening to Du Ming's words, and Du Ming continued as if he didn't notice the change in Li Huan's expression: "Another point is that there are many unscrupulous businessmen who go to sea privately in order to evade the court's taxes. And this
The momentum of the stock market is getting stronger and stronger. If this momentum cannot be stopped, I am afraid that the Shipping Department will be reduced to a display in the future and will no longer be able to collect much tax revenue for the court." Du Ming continued: "Besides that,
"There are still many problems in the Shipping Department. For example, many officials in the Shipping Department accepted bribes from merchants and falsely reported the value of goods in order to pay less taxes..." As Du Ming talked about the problems within the Shipping Department,
Due to the problems and the shady secrets, many officials' faces turned pale, and some even had beads of sweat oozing out from their foreheads.
They never thought that Du Ming would dare to say so.
If Li Huan doesn't know anything about the situation in Shibo Division, it can only be said that he underestimated Jin Yiwei.
Strength, it can be said that the purpose of Li Huan's visit to Quanzhou Ship Division is to deal with these problems, and even to use Shi Ship Division as a chicken to scare the monkey. Otherwise, I am afraid that it will not be possible for nine to two years.
Big shipping companies will become corruption hubs.