Chapter 295: General Commentary on Volume B, Trading

   Calm down, Feng Ziying certainly knows that opening the sea is an extremely sensitive topic within the Great Zhou court.

   It’s not that no one has mentioned opening the sea, but the pros and cons of opening the sea have been debated endlessly within the court.

   Similarly, even among the groups that support Kaihai, there are also different opinions.

It is more inclined to support the selection of one or two ports for limited sea opening. All foreign sea trade can only be limited to these two ports. Other places still urgently need to strictly implement sea bans to prevent pirates, Japanese invaders and The infiltration and harassment of the Western barbarians.

  In both his essays on the imperial examination and the palace examination, he mentioned the relationship between Japanese invasion and opening the sea, especially in the essay on the imperial examination, he also spent a lot of time explaining the positive significance of opening the sea to finance.

  Feng Ziying estimated that these two articles should have been noticed by some people within the imperial court.

  However, due to the lack of sufficient field research, Feng Ziying also has difficulty in judging how much direct tax revenue Kaihai can bring to the finance, and this is precisely what Emperor Yonglong values ​​most.

  As for how much direct and indirect benefits it will bring to the local people, Feng Ziying estimates that this is not what Emperor Yonglong and the cabinet elders care about now.

The gentry and merchants on the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang and related to maritime trade may have consciously or unconsciously reached a consensus or tacit understanding with some officials who have the same views, but the views of officials within the imperial court on the ancestral system of maritime bans are still very strong, and the mainstream view is still firm. , To put an end to Japanese invaders and pirates, this makes not many people in the court willing to talk about Kaihai.

  Especially the recent appearance of Western barbarians in Guangdong, especially the appearance of Jesuit priests has caused quite a shock, making some people in the imperial court more insist on the sea ban.

   "Brother Zixun, it seems that you are also very concerned about Kaihai and Japanese pirates." Feng Ziying chuckled.

   "Ziying, you have to pay attention. Brother Yu is from Fujian. No Fujian scholar will not pay attention to this." Xu Xie emphasized the word "Fujian scholar".

  Feng Ziying's heart moved slightly, "So, Brother Zixun also agrees with Kaihai, so what do you think of the pirates?"

"Opening the sea has a lot to do with it. Brother Yu is also very contradictory and difficult to make a decision, but he still feels that if this continues, will the pirates and Japanese invaders be eradicated? But from the Ming Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, the imperial court has insisted on The ban on the sea almost caused the people along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang to move inland, but is the price too high? Since it cannot be done and the result of the ban on the sea is still unsatisfactory, can we change our strategy?"

Xu Xie's eyes were burning, and his tone raised a little, "However, the imperial court has banned the sea for so many years, and there is a lot of opposition to the opening of the sea. They all think that opening the sea will bring danger and threat, especially now that the appearance of Xiyi, Ziying should know, right? There are more and more people in Guangdong, even in Nanzhili and Fujian and Zhejiang, and the court doesn't know what to do,..."

  Feng Ziying has basically been able to confirm that Xu Xie should be speaking on behalf of a certain person, a few people, or even a certain group.

   Well, Fujian Scholars, although this group is not too many in the imperial court, their interests are relatively consistent, but they don’t know what they want.

  Xu Xie is just a scholar who has not yet become an official. Whatever you say, it will not have much impact, at least it will not have much impact on his appointment. Even if there is, someone will help him eliminate it.

  I am the same, but why do I have to find myself? Is this a deal?

   "Brother Zixun, from my younger brother's understanding, if we want to discuss the strategy of opening the sea, we first need to understand one issue, and that is the pros and cons." Feng Ziying replied after a little thought.

   "Pros and cons?" Xu Xie chewed the word for a while, then calmed down, "Ziying is worth a thousand words, and she has spoken the truth."

"Hehe, Brother Zixun is overrated. In fact, everything in the world is like this. No matter what you do, there are pros and cons. The key lies in the size of the pros and cons. To give the simplest example, is it a good thing to build water conservancy? Is it a good thing to open a school? Surely everyone knows that this is a good thing, but what about the money that can be spent? Maybe the money for building water conservancy needs to be spent on military pay to defend against foreign invaders, or the money for starting a school should be used to build a bridge to facilitate people’s lives. How to weigh the pros and cons ?”

Feng Ziying gave an example casually, and then went on to say: "Where are the advantages and disadvantages of opening the sea? It is the same thing for the imperial court and the same thing for the local people. Many people think that this may be inconsistent and contradictory. Then This requires specific analysis of specific issues, bit by bit to figure it out, and only then can we judge whether it is good or bad.”

"The sea ban in our dynasty is a continuation of the former Ming Dynasty. The original reason for the sea ban in the former Ming Dynasty was that pirates from Fujian and Zhejiang were rampant when the Zhu family started their business, and they had always opposed the Zhu family. Therefore, after the founding of the Zhu family, they deliberately suppressed it, and then formed In the early days of my dynasty, there was a call to open the sea, but with the civil strife in the Japanese land, a large number of exiled Japanese people fled to the sea, with no livelihood, and began to develop from smuggling to plundering,..."

"..., and because of our sea ban policy, the interests of some maritime merchants along the coast have also been damaged, and some maritime merchants have become convenient for the Japanese to collude with them and become smuggling dens on land. In turn, this kind of smuggling and pirates have directly damaged and affected the court. and the interests of the people, it is natural to crack down even more, and this cycle will naturally intensify until today,..."

"..., fortunately, it was the Imjin Japanese Invasion that had an impact on the Japanese ronin, and now the Tokugawa clan is still in a stable ruling stage in Wadi, so the sea area is relatively stable. Once the Tokugawa clan intends to consolidate through foreign wars If I rule by myself, or be subject to internal pressure and hope to obtain benefits from the outside, then I will face severe challenges towards the sea and the border,..."

  Xu Xing also had to admit that Feng Ziying had a thorough understanding of the situation in the sea and border areas, but he was a little confused as to how Feng Ziying knew so much about the internal situation in the Japanese region. I'm afraid that the Ministry of War may not be able to understand the situation in such a nuanced way, right?

   I heard that the Feng family makes a living in Shandong. Could it be that the Feng family also makes a living at sea in Shandong? If so, it would be better explained, and more advantageous.

  Xu Xie's mind became more and more agile.

   "What do Ziying think about the pros and cons of the current sea ban?"

"In my humble opinion, the disadvantages of the sea ban far outweigh the benefits." Feng Ziying is very frank. This is the attitude she also expressed in the article about the imperial examination. There is nothing to hide. This is also the person behind Xu Xie who found himself for the sake of it.

   "Oh, I would like to hear more about it." Xu Xie said patiently.

"Let's talk about the disadvantages first. Most of the opponents feel that if the sea is opened, it will intensify the smuggling of maritime merchants, but this is based on the premise that only one or two ports will be established when the sea is opened. Didn't they propose to open Yuegang and Ningbo in the early days of the founding of the country? Set up a city ship department? But my Dazhou is from Liaodong to Annan, a vast territory, involving seven or eight provinces directly, with more than tens of millions of people. Does the sea trade in Guangdong and Liaodong also have to go to Yuegang and Ningbo? What's the point? They will definitely want to smuggle, but if we can reasonably arrange the location of the Shibo Department, then at least this point can be greatly improved,..."

"There is also the worry that opening the sea will strengthen the power of Japanese pirates and intensify their harassment, but in fact unless all the coastal people are moved inland, you will not be able to cut off contact with Japanese pirates at sea. This worry itself is meaningless, brother Zixun You should be clear about this, under the current state of sea ban, don’t those Japanese pirates get enough supplies from our mainland?”

  Xu Xie nodded slightly. There are many islands along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang, the coastline is tortuous, and the people and merchants are uneven. It is too difficult to cut off these Japanese pirates from the mainland.

"Of course, the most important point is that the tribute system followed by the imperial court at the beginning made Dazhou unbearable, especially the tribute from the Japanese land, so the imperial court cut off the tribute, which eventually led to the collusion between these so-called tribute missions and pirates at sea. ..."

"Of course, there are still some people. Opening the sea may allow more Xiyi people to come in, endangering the rule of the court, but won't they come if they don't open the sea? Now they have arrived around our Great Zhou, Wodi, Nanyang, we are deceiving our ears by rejecting them, why don’t we contact and understand them frankly?”

"These so-called disadvantages actually come down to the fact that the imperial court felt that this would damage the majesty of the Great Zhou court, and the management was troublesome. There was no clear and standardized management system, and they did not realize the benefits that the ban on opening the sea could bring, or they did not feel that the benefits were beneficial at the beginning. No matter how big it is, it is simply a matter of sea ban."

   "What about Li?"

"Lee, from the current point of view, opening the sea can solve the livelihood of many poor people in coastal areas, whether it is running boats, maritime trade, or wharf livelihoods, it can at least bring a job to fill their stomachs. , we can sell more of our Dazhou’s products, and at the same time exchange for the things that our Dazhou people need, um, even the things that the court needs, such as spices, silver and copper materials, but this is based on a Under a new trade model, instead of the original tribute,..."

   "Ziying, you mean to change from sea trade smuggling to public smuggling?" Xu Xie's eyes lit up.

"If you can provide taxes to the imperial court, then it is not called smuggling. Brother Zixun, this concept needs to be clarified. If you can provide considerable taxes and income to the imperial court, it is considered smuggling, and it is our responsibility. The Zhou Dynasty should support smuggling, right?"

  Feng Ziying smiled slightly, this smile fell into Xu Xie's eyes, but it was so weird.

  The content and meanings contained in these words are so rich that it is difficult for Xu Xie to comprehend them for a while, but the impact they bring is even greater. Xu Xie needs to digest them before passing on these views.

   "Ziying, can you write a more detailed policy theory?" Xu Xie pondered for a while before asking.

   "Do I need to submit it to the court?" Feng Ziying laughed, probably this is the real deal, "But I am not a student of Qingtan Academy now."

   "Then you are a second-class Jinshi now." Xu Xie also smiled back.

   Ask for a monthly pass!

  

  

  (end of this chapter)