In the cold winter of the 17th year of Jingtai, the tribes outside the pass, including the Jurchens, experienced an extremely miserable life, and many died of starvation and freezing. However, because the country was well prepared, the impact was almost insignificant.
Comparing the inside and outside, Da Ming looked at the excitement with a dark heart and felt that the winter of Jingtai's seventeenth year was particularly enjoyable!
Even Hami was happy to see the people outside the gate starving and freezing.
Well, there is also strife in the imperial court in Gyeonggi.
Most of them are intrigues between ministers.
The relationship between the imperial power and the ministers was surprisingly harmonious. Except for Chen Xun who would pretend to be dead when asking the Ministry of Revenue to get money, for other matters, as long as Zhu Qiyu and Zhu Jianji requested it, all the ministries in the court would fully cooperate.
Finally, before the end of the year, Zhu Jianji and his son achieved their original ideal.
Military power is in hand!
The regimental camp, the Twenty-six Guards of the Pro-Army, and the local guards of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, all belonging to the Ming army, the appointment and dismissal of all generals are vested in the Qianqing Hall.
The military pay and deployment of troops and horses of the three major military forces also need to be approved by the Qianqing Palace.
The Minister of War, the Governor-General of the Five Armies no longer has the authority to mobilize troops.
After this move was implemented, Zhu Qiyu could finally sleep peacefully.
From now on, no matter who it is, there will be no way for them to start an army and cause chaos.
Starting from the first year of Jingtai, after seventeen years, Zhu Qiyu took advantage of the good news and finally solved this hidden danger, and the Emperor of Heaven once again became the true master of the world.
In the blink of an eye, it is the eighteenth year of Jingtai.
Because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was about to go on a personal expedition again, all the departments in the court were operating and supplies had been prepared long ago. However, the previous contraction of the Ming Dynasty's maritime strategy resulted in not many naval warships being available for deployment.
That's not bad. Transporting the Donggong infantry troops across the strait to land in Taiwan is not a big problem.
All warships mobilized were first transferred to Dengzhou Guard. The Donggong Infantry Army set off to Dengzhou Guard after the Spring Festival. Worrying that the soldiers would be acclimatized to seasickness or other acclimatization, they conducted a month of sea drills in advance.
On the other hand, it also allowed the young army to become familiar with naval warfare and worry about encountering pirates when crossing the strait.
In fact, I thought too much.
The nine ministers in the court, especially Yu Qian, the Minister of War, would never let anything happen to the Ming prince.
When the Donggong Young Army goes out for the expedition, almost half of the Ming Dynasty's naval battleships and naval soldiers will be deployed to the waters around Fujian and Guangdong. Will the pirates be savvy?
I'm just afraid that if there is too much noise, it will be noticed by Taiwan.
Therefore, he has been holding back his troops for a long time.
Even so, the actions of the Ming Navy in the Dengzhouwei waters frightened North Korea and Japan so much that they thought the Ming Dynasty was going to take military action against them.
After the Shangyuan Festival in the eighteenth year of Jingtai, two major events happened.
First, the Ming Dynasty court issued a notice to the world, imposing a sea ban, but as long as we, the Chinese people, have the ability, they can register with the offices of the "Marine Transportation Department", a new department of the Ministry of Household Affairs, in coastal ports, and can form caravans for overseas trade, and The Shipping Department sends personnel to supervise and verify the goods transported to sea for trade. The goods are registered and sent to the "Sea Tax Department" of the Ministry of Household Affairs. The Sea Tax Department counts and calculates the profits after returning from sea trade and collects a certain tax in proportion.
This matter is subject to the supervision of the local Metropolitan Procuratorate.
This reform caused an uproar as soon as it came out.
In the past, the central court and the local nobles behind them, although some of them were robbed of one million taels by His Highness the Crown Prince, they already had the experience and strength to go to sea and could continue to conduct overseas trade. However, they were robbed in vain by His Highness the Crown Prince. The money you spend can be earned back.
Therefore, he finally succumbed to the imperial power and agreed to open the sea. Otherwise, he could use Taizu's ancestral system of sea ban and argue with Zhu Qiyu and his son for several years about opening the sea. Maybe Liu Daxia would appear.
As a result, as soon as the imperial notice came out, taxes would be collected.
And it’s a stepped tax!
For profits below RMB 100,000, 20% will be charged.
The profit from 100,000 to 150,000 yuan is 25%.
Profits between 150,000 and 200,000 yuan are taxed at 30%.
Profits between 200,000 and 250,000 will be taxed at 35%.
For profits above 250,000 yuan, 40% will be collected.
This is simply a naked money grab!
Everyone had thought about collecting taxes before, but they didn't expect it to be so heavy, let alone that this tax collection was not the responsibility of the local government, but the Customs and Excise Department, a department directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Taxes are paid directly into the national treasury!
This means that the tricks that the local gentry wanted are gone.
As a result, the civil servant group in the court, which was the spokesman for the interests of the nobles, and even most of the military generals and noble groups, began to frequently report on this matter.
Zhu Qiyu will all stay in China.
He is also worried.
This tax policy was not decided by him, it was the prince's wish.
The courtiers' backlash had long been expected.
Therefore, Zhu Qiyu was informed, but some court officials reported the matter, but they all ignored it. If someone mentioned it at the court meeting, they would pretend to be deaf and dumb. Therefore, you can see a very strange scene at the court meetings in recent days.
In the Fengtian Palace, a group of civil and military officials presented a report on the issue of sea taxation, and then a lot of seconded opinions were made.
But the one sitting on the dragon chair looks like a sculpture.
No matter what you say, just don't say anything, and at worst, you'll just stay in peace until the end of the day.
In the end, it was basically Jiu Qing who came out to resolve the embarrassment.
Regarding the issue of taxation, Jiuqing's attitude was clear.
Especially Chen Xun of the Ministry of Revenue, that is 10,000 support. As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty, he knows the finances of the Ming Dynasty very well. How can he be so poor? If the sea taxes are collected, the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue will be able to increase at least a year.
An income of several million taels.
This is a good thing.
Although the family behind Chen Xun also sent a message asking him to submit a memorial, how could Chen Xun not understand the importance of it.
The other nine ministers are almost the same as Chen Xun.
It has been announced to the world, is there any use in opposing it?
Besides, as Jiuqing, I understand the country's difficulties better. Now that His Highness the Crown Prince can fundamentally change the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, which has been poor for nearly a hundred years, why not do it.
But there is one exception.
Chen Ruyan, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice.
This minister has always been the backbone of the opposition to Kaihai's excessive taxation. In this game between kings and ministers, he won over many people and became the leader of the civil official group under various momentums.
The court is playing games, and the court's announcement has come into effect.
Unlike the wealthy gentry who had people in the court, the declining gentry in the country and the merchants whose status had been low since ancient times were very happy when they learned about this policy of the imperial court.
They have no right to interfere in court games.
Hurry up and take advantage of the policy to launch a few overseas trades first.
As for taxes...
Their economic strength does not allow the scale of sea trade to be too large. A single profit is less than 100,000 yuan. Even if they pay 20% of the tax, the income can still be tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of taels. It is a huge profit.
So while the Fengtian Palace in Gyeonggi Province was still engaged in a protracted confrontation, private trade along the coast was already in full swing.
The second major event was Yu Qian's resignation.
The male is in and the female is in full. Yu Shaobao, who was born in the 31st year of Hongwu, will hold his 70th birthday party in May of the 18th year of Jingtai, and it is rare in ancient times for people to live seventy years.
Yu Qian is old.
In addition, due to the recent tax expansion of the sea, when the monarch and his ministers are competing, the civil servant group always involves Yu Qian intentionally or unintentionally, hoping that he can speak for everyone.
Yu Qian was tired.
Your Majesty is kind and diligent, while the Prince is strong and wise.
With such a partnership, Yu Qian is relieved.
Simply resign.
When Zhu Qiyu heard about Yu Qian's resignation, he was very happy. However, he was not happy until a few hours later. After learning the news, Zhu Jianji hurried back to Qianqing Hall from the Military Research Institute and said without a doubt that he did not agree with Yu Qian's resignation.
Zhu Qiyu immediately became unhappy.
The two father and son started fighting each other again.
