In the Ming Dynasty, no matter what you did when entering the city, you had to pass through the city gate; when transporting boats on the canal, you had to pass through the banknote pass.
"So why not set up customs for maritime operations?"
His Majesty the Emperor's words shocked all the ministers.
Seeing that Li Dongyang and others were looking at him, Zhu Shou was a little confused, and he was a little worried: Could it be that he said something wrong? Who cares, I am the emperor, and if I say something wrong, I will say it wrong. Who is not wise?
If anyone dares to accuse me, I will immediately drag him out and spank him.
Liu Jin recovered from the shock, and was about to go to the dragon throne to remind the emperor, but realized that it was not in line with the etiquette of the court, and he would be impeached, or his head would fall to the ground. He winked at Jiao Fang several times, but found that his leader
I was stunned there, feeling anxious in my heart.
Li Dongyang was the first to react. His heart was in a turmoil, but his face was calm. He said: "Your Majesty is wise, and I will arrange the arrangements for the establishment of the customs."
Although Yang Tinghe was also a civil servant, his relationship with the emperor was closer after all. Hearing this, he sighed and knew that the emperor had jumped into a trap, and the trap was dug by the emperor himself. He solved the problem of Mr. Ge in one fell swoop.
and the eunuchs' insurmountable dilemma.
Why? Where did Zhu Shou go wrong?
We can analyze it from the perspective of Chaoguan, and we will know that the otaku who came through time is really a guy with no political sense.
Chaoguan was an agency established during the Ming Dynasty to collect ship taxes on inland river routes. It was established in the fourth year of Xuande (1429). Initially, it collected Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, so it was named Chaoguan. Later, the banknotes became waste paper.
, began to collect copper coins and silver coins, but the name of the banknote pass did not change.
The banknotes were mainly set up along the canal between the north and the south, divided into five sections. Later, banknotes were also set up on the Jiangnan Canal, the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, with a total of more than ten.
So which departments are responsible for banknote customs?
Let’s first look at its composition: “One commissioned censor, one each for the household department, one royal guard, and one military and horse officer”; then let’s look at where its tax revenue goes: “Both goods and taxes go to the household department.”
Therefore, it is not difficult for us to see clearly that Chaoguan is actually a subordinate organization of the Ministry of Revenue, which sets up branches in various places to manage tax collection matters.
The Jin Yiwei and the Soldiers and Horses Division are only responsible for "searching for those who hide and fail to report" and use violence to maintain the operation of the banknotes. The censor is mainly responsible for supervising the normal management of the banknotes and preventing internal and external collusion and tax evasion.
In other words: Chaoguan has nothing to do with the emperor’s inner treasury!
So everyone knows where the emperor went wrong?
The customs is very easy to set up. Depending on the amount of materials carried by the ship, the distance of the journey and other factors, Jinyiwei, nearby military guards, Donghai Company, the Yamen where the port is located, etc. will jointly send personnel, and then send a few eunuchs and censors to visit the place.
Customs agencies can be quickly established in twenty trading ports, and the collection of money will be weak.
However, there is a very important question: does the money collected by the customs go to the emperor or the court? Or, what percentage goes to the emperor and how much goes to the court?
No one can solve this problem, because no one knows where the emperor's bottom line is, and no one dares to say it.
This is also the starting point of Li Dongyang's question: Who dares to speak? After the emperor understands, it would be strange not to deal with him.
Therefore, Boss Liu, Prime Minister Li, Prime Minister Jiao and Prime Minister Yang all had the problem of the Shipping Department and had no way of starting.
When everyone was having a headache, Zhu Shou actually stood up and shouted loudly: "I don't want money! Give it all to Chaoting!"
What kind of spirit is this?
To use a modern terminology, this is a kind of guilty spirit, a spirit of trembling to the extreme.
Problems that countless talented children throughout the Ming Dynasty could not solve, as well as tall, rich and handsome men, were solved by His Majesty the Emperor himself with just one sentence...
What a noble and upright person! While Li Dongyang lamented the emperor's mistake, he also had to admit the emperor's generosity. He struck with a knife, thinking that the emperor would continue to resist, and finally fell into a dilemma between reason and reason. You must know that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not
Some people don't love money.
He never thought that with this slash, the emperor would be beaten to the point of self-destruction. Such a slap in the face was too unsatisfactory? Prime Minister Li sighed and prepared to welcome the fruits of his victory.
No one knows how much money the customs can make in a year. However, in the early years of Hongzhi's reign, the customs duties of the nine gates of the capital could reach more than 660,000 guanbao banknotes and more than 2.88 million copper coins a year. So.
The combined customs taxes of twenty ports can be equal to the taxes of Shaanxi?
Jiao Fang also came back to her senses at this moment. She had no time to lament the emperor's stupidity. Seeing the look in Boss Liu's eyes, she hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the emperor's sage, changed the shipping department into the customs. It is an unprecedented feat. The customs duties in various places are divided into points.
For several months, Donghai Company has been fully responsible for the customs affairs. There are many things involved in the customs. In a hurry, there may be mistakes and omissions. I dare you to ask Donghai Company to continue to do it for you. After the customs settings in various places are completed, the two parties can hand over again?
"
After he finished speaking, he glanced at Yang Tinghe, trying to gain the latter's support.
Yang Tinghe sighed and had no choice but to preface: "I second my proposal."
The two prime ministers agreed. Even though Li Dongyang had many heads and six arms, he had no choice but to agree with them.
Jiao Fang's strategy hit the nail on the head: Donghai Company will collect taxes first, and the customs will receive the payment later. As for how much to pay to the customs, how much float will be lost, how much fire will be consumed, etc., it is not all decided by Donghai Company.
?After the emperor understands his mistake, how can he be willing to spit out the fat meat that he has eaten? Then the customs will get half of the commercial tax, and the civil servants will have to laugh.
Jiao Fang, a senior middle schooler in the Three Pavilions, collaborated with Eunuch Liu. Although Yang Tinghe did not get along with Jiao and Liu, he was only a political ally with Li Dongyang. As a member of the imperial party, it was impossible for him to dig a hole for the emperor to jump, at least not
Dig holes in this kind of thing.
Liu Jin breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his head. In the past, the little emperor ignored political affairs and threw everything to himself. It didn't matter if he messed around. Anyway, he could handle it properly and easily kill Prime Minister Li's strange tricks.
But in the past six months, the emperor has been involved in more and more things, and has become more and more noisy. Just by wiping his butt, I have gained countless whiteheads. It seems that I still have to teach the emperor political lessons when I have time.
, we can’t take him out all the time to fool around.
Just when Mr. Liu was about to make up his mind to become a conscientious traitor, Zhu Shou started to make trouble again.
The aforementioned Qin Dongyi was disrupted by that dead old man Zhou Nan before Qin Dongyi could make arrangements. Next, nothing happened to Qin Xiongxiong, because the Ming Dynasty's political arena ushered in a major earthquake.
One purge after another, the elders showed their bravery and chopped down the officials from all over the country. At the same time, they also let the emperor do it himself, leaving Qin Dongyi standing by and watching in stunned silence.
After all the pavilion elders finished their big meal, wiped their mouths clean, and rinsed their mouths to wash away the bloodshot blood between their teeth, they then remembered that there was still a Japanese traitor that they had not dealt with.
"This son kills the people of the Ming Dynasty. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, he must be questioned and killed." The person who said this was actually Prime Minister Jiao Fang.
At this time, the ministers were talking a lot. Some of them did not understand what Prime Minister Jiao meant and were worried about him, worried that he would follow in the footsteps of Zhou Nan. It should be noted that Zhou Nan was killed by Prime Minister Jiao himself.
As for Li Dongyang and other treacherous people, there was a sneer on the corners of their mouths, secretly despising Prime Minister Jiao's eating appearance, which was too ugly.
Zhu Shou was also stunned for a moment, thinking: Isn't Lao Jiao my younger brother's younger brother? When did the dog-legged dog-leg have such courage to question my plan to destroy the Japanese?...
He glared at the dogleg Boss Liu. Seeing Old Liu's calm and calm look, he wished he could kick this old dog in the face and tell you to pretend to be mysterious!
"However, the emperor can always pardon his sins and send him as an envoy to the Japanese country to promote the etiquette of our heavenly dynasty." Jiao Fang revealed the mystery himself. There was no other way. The emperor's political consciousness was too low. I didn't say it directly for fear that he would not understand.
The so-called regular pardon refers to ordinary pardons, or pardons according to routine, generally with extremely strict restrictions. According to the Ming Dynasty Law, all crimes listed in the article "Unforgiven by regular pardons" will not be pardoned, including intentional homicide. However, the law
The regulations also stipulate that, in addition to several items such as treason and treason, "the imperial edict can grant special pardons", but murder is not among them.
This was an honest and upright attempt to clear Qin Dongyi's name. As an envoy, a sixth-grade Zuosi Cheng from Honglu Temple who was given a surname and official title by the emperor himself, he could not go to the Japanese country to plan a rebellion on the back of the crime of murder.
This is related to the face of the Ming Dynasty, so the emperor needs to personally clean up the murderer Qin Dongyi.
Some people may find it strange that killing dozens of officers and soldiers is not considered rebellion?
Come on, the country belongs to the emperor, and he didn’t even say it was a rebellion. Prime Minister Jiao didn’t say it was a rebellion either. Look at Mr. Jiao’s words, it was “the common people” who were killed!
Then who else would be troublesome enough to point out: Emperor and Prime Minister, you have made a mistake!
That's why Li Dongyang laughed at Jiao Fang's ugly appearance and his lack of demeanor as a prime minister. He was indeed the most educated gangster in the Ming Dynasty.
What about the daily notes? What about the actual records? Will they be recorded truthfully?
One of the usual hobbies of countless emperors, represented by Li Er of the Tang Dynasty, was to mess up things like daily notes and historical records of previous dynasties.
Therefore, Zhu Shou in the second year of Zhengde was no exception. Omissions were inevitable, and some minor mistakes made by the emperor gradually disappeared into the official history.
As for unofficial history, whoever likes to believe it can believe it. Anyway, 90% of the students who dare to use unofficial history to write papers for future generations have a self-destructive mentality.
Customs has been established and Qin Dongyi has become an innocent person, so what should be done next?
According to the plot of a normal emperor, it is time to return to the palace to play with Concubine Zhao. However, Zhu Shou is not a normal emperor, so after he cleaned up Qin Dongyi and sent Zhou Nan and others to prison, he issued another imperial edict: "Established.
North and South Navy".
What is the navy? According to the imperial edict: the army that guards the customs, hence the name navy.
Where did the personnel come from? With a stroke of his pen, Zhu Shou ordered the current Minister of Rites, Liu Ji, to be the governor of the navy, the censor of Zuodu, also known as the naval governor. He was responsible for transferring 20,000 people from the Coast Guard, 10,000 from the north and the south.
.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was no quota for Zuodu Censor. Liu Yu, who was appointed as the Maritime Governor, is also the Zuodu Censor. As for the vacant post of Minister of Rites, it was left to Bai Yue.
Where did the ships come from? In the past six months, hadn't Longjiang Bao Shipyard produced two new six-masted ships? Zhu Shou made the decision, one for the north and one for the south.
As for the location, Zhu Shou had already thought about it. Doesn't Yizhou Donghai Corporation have two dedicated ports? Yes, Weihai and Penghu, which happen to be the bases of the northern and southern navies.
Liu Ji was very depressed when his name was called. It would be fine if the noble Minister of Rites turned into an empty-handed naval governor. These two stations and the eighteen customs had nothing to do with each other. How could they protect the customs?
It is normal for Mr. Liu to have doubts. He is the son of Liu Zhongfu, the hero of the Jingnan War. He was born in Jinshi and has great strategic ideas. He is a rare all-rounder in both civil and military affairs.
Zhu Shou didn't bother to explain to Old Man Liu. As an emperor, he was famous for his nonsense anyway, and this was not the case.
So an empty Ming Dynasty navy was born on October 18th in the second year of Zhengde.
The first political task of Navy Governor Liu Ji was to organize a group to escort the imperial envoy Qin Dongyi, the minister of Zuosi of Honglu Temple, on his mission to Japan.