Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 66

The Shibo Department, a management organization specially set up to manage overseas trade, originated from the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, because of the sea ban, the Shibo Department was closed and opened, and there was no fixed number.

In the early years of Hongwu, Taicang Prefecture originally had a shipping department, but Zhu Yuanzhang revoked it because it was too close to Jinling and it was not safe.

Later, in the first year of Yongle, three Shibo Divisions were set up in Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang to manage the Kanhe trade between the Fan Kingdom and the vassal states. , did not create much profit, until Longqing opened the sea, Zhang Juzheng implemented the New Deal, which increased the trade volume, and the Shibo Department was able to generate 50 million taels of tax revenue for the court every year.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, the New Deal was changed into a mess, and the Shibo Department was gradually controlled by the so-called inner ministers, that is, eunuchs, and the annual tax revenue was close to zero.

Taichang doesn't have time to visit Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang at the moment, and the mountains are high and the roads are far away. It is very troublesome to transport the porcelain, silk, cloth and other special products that are rich in Jiangxi and Nanzhili, and it is difficult to expand the scale.

Therefore, he decided to simply open the largest shipping company in Taicang Prefecture at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

In this way, porcelain and tea from Jiangxi, silk and cloth from Nanzhili, etc., can be transported by the Yangtze River, which is very convenient.

As for the specific location of the Shibo Department, he naturally had to go and investigate it himself.

He took five thousand forbidden soldiers, one thousand royal guards, and a group of cronies around the three military ports of Liuhebao, Wusongjiang Station, and Baoshan Station in Zhenhaiwei, but found that these three places were not suitable for setting up city ships. manage.

Because the Shibo Department in his plan is not a single yamen, but a city with trade functions. To be precise, it is a large city that can accommodate 10 people. And warehouses and other facilities, there must be a large number of military camps.

Doing overseas trade these days is not about building a few streets of shops and warehouses next to the port, and then letting people do business by themselves.

If you don't take any precautions, then pirates, Japanese pirates, and even fleets from European countries will definitely start robbing them directly!
After all, there is nothing faster than grabbing money, why not grab it if you can?
There are no rules between countries these days. If you want to fight, you can go to war for any reason. If you want to rob, you don't need any reason!
Japanese pirates and pirates specialize in robbing, and European countries also rob if they can. Anyway, after robbing and running to the sea, you will not be able to catch up.

This may be the reason why the emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not want to fully open the sea ban. If you dare to sell a large number of popular goods such as porcelain, tea, silk, and cloth in seaside ports, people will definitely try their best to grab them.

If someone came to rob him, it would be impossible not to fight back. It was not Daming's habit to not fight back. The problem, once the fight started, it would be protracted, and the loss of military expenses would be huge.

In other words, the money earned from the full liberalization of the sea ban may not even be enough for military expenditures.

If this problem is not solved and the sea ban is opened blindly, it will be a waste of money and waste of money. Not only will it not make money, but it will also have to lose money.

Taichang naturally thought of this, so he decided to build a majestic city by the sea, put up artillery, and station troops to garrison it, so that the robbers would be intimidated and dare not start robbing, so that business can be done.

The problem now is that it was impossible to build a large city near Liuhe Fort, Wusong River Station, and Baoshan Station, because Liuhe Fort was near the mouth of the Liu River, while Wusong River Station and Baoshan Station were near the mouth of the Huangpu River. both sides.

The Liuhe River is not as wide as the Huangpu River, and its tributaries are densely covered. If a city is built near these two big rivers, the bridges will not be built much. I can't build such a wide bridge.

In the end, he still decided to build the city between Liuhe Fort and Wusong River Fort. This has another advantage, that is, a large number of warships can be docked at the military ports on both sides as a deterrent. If anyone dares to grab it, it will be two sides. The artillery on the wall in the middle of the flanking belt bombarded.

However, this also has a disadvantage, that is, the port has to be rebuilt.

It takes a long time to build a city, plus the port, how long will it take to build!
Standing on a hill between Liuhe Fort and Wusong River, Taichang looked at the vast sea in front of him, and couldn't help but feel entangled in his heart.

He frowned and pondered for a while, then asked, "How long do you say it will take to build a city that can accommodate about 10 people?"

this!

All the cronies looked at me and I looked at you. In the end, Bi Maoliang said: "Your Majesty, it depends on how much labor you gather to build the city. If you have enough labor, it should take about two or three years."

Taichang asked again: "How much labor is enough?"

Bi Maoliang reckoned, "At least [-]."

Twenty thousand!

You know, the total number of guards in Zhenhaiwei is less than [-].

Taichang thought for a while and asked again: "How much money do you need?"

Bi Maoliang was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Your Majesty, do you mean to include only the city walls or include all the houses and courtyards in the city?"

Taichang said without hesitation: "All the houses and courtyards in the city are counted."

Bi Maoliang reckoned: "For the city wall, it's easy to say, you can mine the earth and rocks by yourself, and you can burn the bricks by yourself. The other materials add up to 10 taels. It's more expensive to build houses in the city. , at least two to three hundred thousand taels."

It's not a lot of money, it's just a waste of time and effort.

Taichang gritted his teeth and made up his mind to build!
You know, the profits from overseas trade at the moment are really astonishing. It is rumored that during Zheng Zhilong's heyday, the trade between Japan and Nanyang alone, plus the tolls collected from ships, earned tens of millions of taels a year. !
Regardless of whether the rumor is exaggerated or not, it doesn’t need to be as much as 1000 million taels. Even if it is discounted in half, it would be great to have a profit of 500 million taels a year. You know, at this moment, the entire Ming Dynasty The tax is less than 500 million taels.

Thinking of this, he waved decisively: "Map!"

The two royal guards quickly unfolded a map in front of him.

He pointed to the coast not far away, then pointed to the map, and then drew his finger on the map: "See, just here, build a port, and then build a city that can accommodate 10 people behind the port Two rows of city walls should be built on both sides of the port to connect with the city walls. Inside the city, a circle of military camps should be built along the city walls, which must be able to accommodate at least 2 horses. Ancillary facilities such as houses."

Bi Maoliang faintly felt that the emperor was speaking to him, so he listened very carefully, and even began to conceive in his mind.

Sure enough, Taichang immediately asked him: "Shigao, I give you three years, can you build it?"

Uh, three years!

Bi Maoliang thought for a while, and then estimated: "As long as there are enough manpower and money and food, three years is not a big problem."

It's easy to talk about money and food. After Sun Long's corruption is distributed to the machine and weaving households in Suzhou Prefecture, there is at least 50 taels left, in terms of manpower.

Taichang thought for a while, then made a decision and said: "I will give you the right deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the governor Su Song, who is responsible for building the city here, money and food, and Sun Long's corruption. The rest will be left to you. If you have manpower, I will order Sun Chuanting to mobilize [-] troops for you."

(End of this chapter)