Chapter 1 Trade Envoy (I)

Zhu Yinglong had long planned to establish an institution engaged in maritime trade, but it was not revealed for various reasons. It was not until Sun Yunhua built a treasure ship of two thousand materials and wrote to the court to equip it with artillery, which made the conditions mature a little. Pirates in the sea were rampant in the 16th and 17th centuries, and it was quite difficult to do maritime trade without powerful force and durable ships. In the original history, Western powers knocked on China's door with cannons and warships, and they had to use their small sailboats for a tooth to smash their dreams of the sea Empire with cannons and warships, and honestly use their small sailboats.

"I want to set up a Trade Envoy, specializing in maritime trade. My dear friends, what do you think?" After the day of the dynasty, Zhu Yinglong summoned several ministers of the cabinet and the ministers of the Military Museum to the Nanshu Hall of Yangxin, and made a clear idea.

The chief assistant of the cabinet, Han Du, was the first to stand up and said: "The emperor had set up customs offices in Yangzhou, Tongzhou, Tianjin and other places, and now he has a trading envoy. How dare the old minister ask if the emperor wants to fully unleash foreign ban?"

"My elder meant that foreign bans should not be abolished?" Zhu Yinglong asked a little unhappy.

"The ban on the coast has been implemented for more than two hundred years, and has always been the established national policy of our Ming Dynasty. If the ban is rashly opened up, the old ministers are worried that the Japanese pirates' troubles will be rekindled, which will cause the coastal areas to be peaceful forever." Han Yu thought about it. How many years have passed since the Japanese pirates' troubles. In order to ensure the peace of the coast, at least he believes that the ban on the coast is necessary.

The policy of prohibiting private overseas trade, also known as the "foreign ban". It began in the early Ming Dynasty. Although it was sometimes relaxed and sometimes relaxed in the Ming Dynasty, it was not revoked until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

For political needs, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in foreign trade, except for being a "responsible person" and allowing some countries or tribes to trade through "tributive" methods, other private overseas trade was prohibited. During the Hongwu period, the "ban on the border" was repeatedly declared, stipulating that "coastal residents are not allowed to trade with foreign foreigners", and promulgated severe laws such as "those who use population and military weapons to leave the country and go into the sea," and other severe laws. He also built coastal defense fortifications in coastal areas from Shandong to Guangdong, and established a strict "inspection" system.

.After Chengzu, the Ming court still repeatedly applied for "strict affair between foreign countries". However, it was far less severe than the Hongwu period, and the scope of the ban gradually narrowed. During the Yongle period, the ban was relatively tolerant of the ban on tribute trade and the Chenghua period. During the Zhengde and Jiajing period, Western colonists gradually went to the East to find colonies. In the 32nd year of Jiajing, Portuguese colonists forced themselves to borrow Macau on the grounds of drying water and staining goods. They occupied Macau and were not convinced of "scoring points".

, Slave traded, endangered the sovereignty of the Ming Dynasty, and turned to Fujian and Zhejiang to engage in illegal trade activities. At that time, those engaged in maritime trade made huge profits, so bureaucratic landlords mostly colluded with merchants, relying on their power and wealth, colluded with the government, evaded the ban, and lured bankrupt poor people to go to sea. Or illegally banned "privately brigged and went into the sea", while some "publicly brigged, lived in accumulating goods, and thought they were the owners of the nest". Some ship owners were "named as vendors, and sometimes robbed", both smugglers and pirates. Some were rich

The family and the tyrant merchants were obsessed with profit. They not only engaged in illegal trade with the Portuguese colonists, but also colluded with Japanese pirates to plunder and kill the Chinese people in the southeast coastal areas, which constituted a "Japanese pirate disaster" of the Ming Dynasty. In the first year of Jiajing, Xia Yan, the minister of the Ministry of Justice, believed that the Japanese pirates originated from the market (i.e., the tribute ship), and suggested that the market be stopped and the sea ban be strictly enforced. The court accepted the suggestion, blocked the coastal ports, destroyed ships to sea, prohibited fishing and shrimping, and cut off sea traffic. Any violators of the ban must be punished according to law.

The Ming court's strict maritime ban policy could not stop the development of private overseas trade. On the contrary, more and more people participated in foreign trade, and the imperial court could not ban it. At the same time, the maritime ban policy during the Zhengde and Jiajing periods was different from that during the Hongwu period. The restricted tribute trade was still carried out during the Hongwu period, while all foreign trade during the Zhengde and Jiajing periods were banned. This is actually a manifestation of seclusion, which hindered the commodity exchange between China and neighboring countries and the development of domestic industry and commerce. Therefore, local officials in Guangdong and Fujian advocated the opening of maritime ban. At the beginning of Longqing, the old maritime ban policy could no longer be maintained, and the Japanese disasters on the southeast coast had generally subsided. Under the influence of public opinion, the court approved the suggestion of Fujian Governor Tu Zemin, the Censor of Fujian, to open the maritime ban, "regardless of selling to the East and the West", to collect commercial taxes and increase fiscal revenue.

Opening up the foreign ban means that the Ming government allowed the legal existence of private overseas trade, which greatly increased the number of small and medium-sized merchants participating in overseas trade. They gathered funds, built sea ships, loaded local products, went east and west, and traded with overseas countries. The court's commercial tax also continued to increase. Zhangzhou Prefecture collected 6,000 taels of silver in the third year of Wanli; in the 22nd year of Wanli, it collected about 30,000 taels of silver, an increase of five times. The development of overseas trade promoted the prosperity of commodity agriculture and handicrafts in the southeast coastal areas, and was the beginning of capitalism.

The long-term provided favorable conditions. However, the opening of the sea ban was also restricted. In the early stage of the relaxation of the ban, fifty "invoices" were issued, and in the Wanli period, it increased to eighty, and forty each in the east and west. Those who went to trade must obtain "invoices", trade in designated areas, and return to the port within the prescribed time limit. There are also certain restrictions on the countries and regions that go to trade, and Japan is among the prohibited trade. In addition, there are also restrictions on the types of exported goods. Such regulations still seriously restrict the normal development of overseas trade.

It can be said that several customs exclusive yamen that Zhu Yinglong had previously ordered were the predecessors of the coastal defense yamen. Their power was to issue so-called "citations", but they had just changed their name. Moreover, some areas that implemented the Western ban at that time were on the southeast coast and were not under the jurisdiction of the court. Zhu Yinglong issued an order to open several trading ports, and it was acceptable for all civil and military officials in the court to open up the ban. Now it is not a trivial matter, and it is even related to their own personal interests. For example, although they themselves cannot do business due to court regulations, they can use relatives and friends to smuggle at sea to obtain high profits.

Once the court unveils the foreign ban, it will crack down on maritime smuggling and will allow more people to participate in maritime trade. At that time, the profit margin of these people will be greatly reduced. The court unveils only ordinary people, and it is useless to the powerful and powerful gentry officials and nobles. In the face of interests, everyone is equal. Even if they are not in the officialdom, they can still exert huge force to oppose the unveiling of the foreign ban. Of course, there are also differences between public and selfishness. After all, Han Yu is old and his thoughts are rigid. Even if he is unveiled, it will inevitably become an obstacle for Zhu Yinglong to decide to unveil the "foreign ban".

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were two crazy centuries. In the past two hundred years, the emerging maritime powers in the West carried out global colonial and plunder. Although the impact on the sleeping ancient China was not very big, it greatly promoted the Ming Dynasty's "foreign ban" policy, such as slave trade. Although its number was far less than that of African blacks, on the one hand it also prompted the Ming court to pay attention and decisively implemented the "foreign ban" policy to protect the people on the coast, as well as the Japanese pirates. They colluded with pirates from various countries, and even the Chinese themselves, frantically invaded the coastal areas, burned, killed, looted, and did all kinds of evil. This is also an important reason for the "foreign ban". So after the Japanese ban on the southeast coast was generally quelled, after the imperial court opened some foreign bans in Fujian and Guangzhou, Japan was still a country where the Ming court explicitly prohibited the ban.

What makes Zhu Yinglong a headache is that the only one who can start maritime trade is Japan. At present, the imperial court has no ability to break out of Zheng Zhilong's maritime blockade. For Zhu Yinglong, Japan is just a springboard. He wants to take advantage of Japan as the springboard to buy goods such as the Netherlands to earn a large amount of pounds and francs, and he can also use this to attack Japan's industry and commerce, carry out limited economic aggression, dump its own goods, and earn a large amount of silver. He can't do these alone, and he needs the support of his own officials!

"Emperor, I also agree with the opinion of Master Han. Once the foreign ban is opened, foreign barbarians collude with pirates to disrupt the sea defense, and there are endless troubles. My great and great country is so bright, why do you need to trade with those barbarians and small countries? I think to show the demeanor of my great and great country, why not exchange it with him in the name of "tributing". That's what I, Emperor Taizu, did. The emperor is a wise king. Please think twice!" Yang He put down a huge hat and actually brought Zhu Yuanzhang out. Zhu Yinglong felt very worried.
Chapter completed!