Chongzhen Chat Group

When the memorial was opened, Emperor Chongzhen's eyes lit up when he saw the title. The title turned out to be "Open Ocean Discussion"!

Who is this person who has such foresight and knows how to impose a sea ban? Emperor Chongzhen thought about it and couldn't help but be very curious. He quickly pulled it to the bottom to see the signature, only to find that it was He Qiaoyuan who had retired and returned to his hometown.

Emperor Chongzhen had an impression of this man, and knew that he was named Xiaoxiao and was from Jinjiang, Fujian. Born in the 37th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1558), he is now seventy-two years old, which is quite old.

When he thought of this person, he immediately remembered that at the beginning of last year, when He Qiaoyuan resigned, he had also submitted a memorial called "Small Discussion on the Sea".

It's just a pity that the Emperor Chongzhen at that time was not the current Chongzhen Emperor who was transported by the souls of later generations. He Qiaoyuan's "Small Discussion on the Sea" memorial did not pay attention to it.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen remembered that maybe it was due to the fusion of souls. His memory was very good, and he suddenly remembered the content of the "Small Discussion on the Sea" memorial at that time.

At that time, He Qiaoyuan mentioned in the memorial that the Ming Dynasty had collected sea taxes before, but after pirates became rampant, the court did not have the money to exterminate pirates, so the number of merchants using normal channels was decreasing. People in Luzon saw that the goods trafficked by Ming Dynasty were decreasing day by day, so they made deals with people in Taiwan. All the tax money was earned by pirates and red barbarians.

He Qiaoyuan suggested that the court should re-collect sea tax and ask Zheng Zhilong to eliminate pirates. This man knows where the pirates' lairs are, and is often used to engaging in naval battles at sea. If he comes forward, he will definitely be able to wipe out the pirates.

However, after Zheng Zhilong surrendered, the court had no money to pay him, so Zheng Zhilong had to pay for the bandits himself. This kind of thing cannot continue for too long, otherwise what will Zheng Zhilong do if one day he runs out of money? If he rebels again, who will destroy this pirate? In the past, there was a decree for the three provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong to jointly destroy pirates, but in the end, no province took action on this matter because they had no money to send troops.

The law of the day is that whoever kills must die! But if we don't find out why the murder was committed, it would be unfair to just judge the case based on the death of the murderer. He Qiaoyuan even gave an example to illustrate this argument, and then immediately talked about pirates.

He said in the memorial that pirates cannot be killed with one stroke, and there are various situations among them, and he hopes that the court will treat them with caution. Hearing that Li Kuiqi also wanted to be recruited, he suggested accepting the offer. At least after recruiting Li Kuiqi, we can control him and deal with him whatever we want afterwards. If he doesn't agree, even if Zheng Zhilong is allowed to destroy him, it will still cost money, food and lives. This kind of thing is not cost-effective.

When Emperor Chongzhen recalled this, he couldn't help but secretly sigh that He Qiaoyuan was indeed a Fujianese. He knew much more about maritime affairs than most people in the Ming Dynasty. What he said made sense, but it was a pity that the original Emperor Chongzhen did not pay attention to it. Otherwise, even if the maritime ban is imposed and taxes are collected, there is no need to increase Liao’s salary, and the Ming Dynasty may be able to continue for a few more years.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen sighed secretly in his heart, and then he couldn't wait to read the memorial "Opening Oceans and Sea Discussions" in his hand.

"Taking the name of the sea is the land of the Fujian people. The land of Fujian is narrow, and there are no rivers for boating. To move trade between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the only way to make a living is to trade along the sea..."

He Qiaoyuan started with an analysis of the actual situation in Fujian, starting with Emperor Taizu's ban on the sea, and first demonstrated a point of view. It's just that banning the sea is of no use. No matter who or whoever took it, no matter how stringent measures they took to implement the national policy of banning the sea, the final result was that pirates were rampant and people were in dire straits.

However, starting from the early years of Wanli, the imperial court began to impose foreign taxes in Haicheng County, Zhangzhou. At that time, the tax collection collected a total of more than 130,000 gold, the people were happy, and the military pay was sufficient. At that time, the profits from selling in Nanyang were very high, and the silver mountains overseas were overflowing, unlike the Ming Dynasty, which had to dig wells and so on. The implication is that there are many benefits to establishing a sea ban.

But later Hong Yi got in the way and robbed the goods, causing more and more thieves to follow suit. At that time, the local government reported to the court that only by cutting off the overseas tax could the pirates get nothing.

So, the forbidden sea began again. But as a result, pirates began to come ashore and plunder, and there was still no peace. In addition, there were more people smuggling, and the ban on the sea only caused the court to lose income, nothing more.

He Qiaoyuan then introduced the so-called Hongyi in detail, saying that the name of the Hongyi country was Jialiuba, and the name of Luzon's country was Folangjiye. His understanding only stayed at the Nanyang level, and he did not know the situation in Europe. However, this understanding is already rare for people in the Ming Dynasty.

At the beginning, these red barbarians engaged in forced buying and selling in Luzon, which was disliked by my Ming people. For this reason, most of them do not trade with Hongyi. So, those red barbarians started to rob. He Qiaoyuan believes that the original intention of these Hongyi is to gain profits through trade, and they do not really want to rob from the beginning. Now those red barbarians occupy Taiwan, cooperate with pirates, and collect sea trade taxes.

Regarding Taiwan, He Qiaoyuan was afraid that no one in the court would know about it, so he also explained it, and even explained how long it would take to get there by boat, so that people could have an idea. But it is true that at this time, Ming actually didn't care about islands like Taiwan at all.

He Qiaoyuan also introduced the basic situation at sea today: According to the fact that Luzon and Hongyi have entered our immediate area today, these are the so-called Oriental ones. In addition, there are Siam, Cambodia, Guangnan, Hue and Japanese Japanese, so-called Western countries.

He specially introduced the specialties of these places. For example, Siam produced rhinoceros horns, ivory, sappan wood, and pepper, as well as Siluba, and Western rice and bird's nests, which he did not know. Cambodia, Guangnan, and Hue also produce sappan wood and pepper. Although Japan has a maritime ban, some people still smuggle out its specialty silver. These trades are now in Taiwan, but our country, Ming Dynasty, does not receive a penny of tax. It is really a pity.

He Qiaoyuan even gave his idea of ​​opening up the sea after telling so much: If the big sellers are introduced to Luzon, the hawkers should be introduced to chicken coops and fresh water; those who live in the red barbarians should be introduced to Taiwan to avoid unnecessary trouble. If the traitorous people help me and bring benefits to me, I will make Quanzhou and the whole coastal defense know the master. The foreign barbarians from the East and the big merchants from Luzon were still introduced to Zhangzhou, so that Zhangzhou and its coastal defenses knew their master. A prosperous business, a smooth life, and few thieves and thieves are great benefits for China.

He said in the memorial that although going to sea is indeed risky, nine out of ten people who go to sea will fail, and one or two out of ten people who get married, people will still compete for it. To this end, he gave an example that everyone in Ming Dynasty knows, to prove that this matter does not need to be too alarmist.

To be honest, when I found this information, I was quite surprised. I didn't expect that someone would make these suggestions in the late Ming Dynasty. I believe many readers have never heard of it. And this matter is also very important, so I use my own words to be more straightforward and quote more information in this chapter. If you are interested, you can search for the title of the memorial on your own and you should be able to find it. You can read the original text of the memorial.