My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 268 Water Transport Forced by the Imperial Court
"When you wrote the letter to abolish sea transportation and replace it with water transportation, what was your plan?"

Zhu Zhanhe looked directly at Song Li, and asked a question he had long wanted to ask.

Hearing this question, although Song Li tried his best to conceal it, his eyes still flickered a little, and finally he forced a smile and said: "At the beginning, the sea transportation had many problems, and the canal was fully opened, so it was better than the sea transportation in all aspects, so I will Letter to abolish shipping."

"Song Li, it's time like this, are you still unwilling to tell the truth?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked with a sneer.

No matter how much Zhang Rong tried to do with shipping, the advantages of shipping are still obvious, as long as you know a little bit, you can see it.

But at that time, Song Li wrote a letter emphasizing the various disadvantages of Haiyun, which led to Zhu Di, who was not aware of the situation, being deceived, and then Haiyun was abolished, so Zhu Zhanhe can be sure that Song Li was absolutely intentional at the beginning.

Sure enough, in the face of Zhu Zhanhe's questioning, Song Li's expression fluctuated, and finally he let out a long sigh: "Forget it, I'm going to die anyway, and if I don't talk about some things, I'm afraid I'm going to be taken into custody." In the coffin!"

"You really have ulterior motives!"

Zhu Zhanhe was even more annoyed when he saw Song Li admit it.

Compared with the three halls, the impact of the abolition of maritime transportation is even worse. To put it mildly, it created the blood-sucking bug of water transportation, which caused Daming to lose blood all the time. On a larger scale, it may affect the future national policy of Daming, losing the importance of the ocean. exploration.

"I do have ulterior motives, but I was also forced by the court!"

Unexpectedly, Song Li sneered and said with a dignified expression.

"Forced by the court?"

Zhu Zhanhe frowned, not understanding what Song Li meant?
"Your Majesty suggested the establishment of a Yanglian Bank before, and I know very well that the salaries of my officials in the Ming Dynasty are very low, so you must understand my approach better, which is why I am willing to tell you."

Song Li didn't explain directly, but looked at Zhu Zhanhe approvingly and said.

"The salaries of officials are low? Water transportation?"

Zhu Zhanhe extracted two important points from Song Li's words, and vaguely made a rough guess, but this guess was a bit too surprising.

"That's right. I suggest using water transport instead of sea transport. In fact, I want to give officials along the way a chance to embezzle!"

Song Li also seemed to see Zhu Zhanhe's thoughts, and directly admitted.

"Just because the salaries of officials are too low?"

Zhu Zhanhe raised his head, still looking at Song Li in disbelief.

"Yes, my son, you were born in the royal family. You may not know how the low-level officials survived. With the little salary from the imperial court, those low-level officials would have starved to death. So no matter how harsh the imperial court is on corrupt officials, The officials below will still be greedy, because if they are not greedy, they will not be able to survive!"

Song Li was also a little excited when he said this, he paused and continued.

"If the lower-level officials want to be greedy, they can only exploit the people. However, His Majesty has been going to the north, sailing to the west, and even building the city of Beijing. The burden on the people is already heavy. Their exploitation has made the common people miserable!"

"So that's why you used water transport instead of sea transport in order to give officials a chance to embezzle in an open and honest manner!"

Zhu Zhanhe heaved a sigh of relief, and seemed to understand Song Li's intentions.

"That's right, instead of letting the officials exploit the people, it's better to let them get money from water transportation!"

Song Li nodded in recognition.

"But a water transport only benefits the local officials that the water transport passes through. Officials in other places still want to exploit the people?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked again.

"Hey, my son, you still underestimate the water transport. The food and materials for the water transport need to be collected by officials from all over the country. During the collection process, they can definitely make money from it. Moreover, the officials along the route dare not take it for themselves. At that time, we have to pay respect to our superiors, and the officials in the DPRK will also be benefited. It can be said that a water transport can almost benefit most of the officialdom!"

Song Li explained with a proud face.

"But have you ever thought about it? The food and materials transported by water are all expropriated from the people. What is the difference between those officials corrupting these and directly exploiting the people?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked sharply.

"Maybe there is no difference, but at least the officials will focus on water transportation instead of how to exploit the people, so the burden on the people may be lighter!"

Song Li argued with reason.

In fact, his reason is also very simple. The salaries of officials are too low. If they want to support themselves, they have to be greedy. It is better than directly exploiting the people.

Although Zhu Zhanhe felt that the two were similar, he had no reason to convince others. Maybe Song Li was right. Although the two are essentially the same, there is still a difference in the way.

"Of course, you still have a way, my son, and proposed to raise a clean bank, so there is no need for water transportation. After all, compared with sea transportation, water transportation has too many disadvantages."

It was rare for Song Li to praise Zhu Zhanhe at this time.

Hearing these words from Song Li, Zhu Zhanhe also sighed secretly. Who would have thought that the emergence of water transportation was actually because Zhu Yuanzhang gave the officials low salaries, which gave birth to the corrupt line of water transportation.

At the same time, this also explains why although the Ming and Qing dynasties knew about the corruption of water transport, they could not abolish it, because water transport bound too many officials' interests.

Moreover, the bad influence caused by the water transportation is not limited to this. When corruption and bribery become the atmosphere in the officialdom, the entire administration of officials will be completely corrupted. Even if the emperor wants to rectify it, he will not be able to reverse the atmosphere in the entire officialdom.

Even if there are officials who don't want to be corrupt, they will be coerced by the people around them and do some things they can't help themselves, so they can't get it if they want to be a clean official. This is the main reason why Hai Rui is so famous in history.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhanhe was also secretly glad that he had figured out a way to raise money in advance. Although corruption could not be eradicated, it could at least reduce the trend of corruption and bribery in the officialdom.

In the end, Zhu Zhanhe left the imperial prison, but when he was leaving, Song Li begged him, if there was any new situation with Zhu Gaochi, he hoped that Zhu Zhanhe would tell him, and Zhu Zhanhe also agreed to this, after all, the general Death, his words are also kind, and in the matter of Zhu Gaochi, except for Song Li, he has no one else to discuss with.

A few days later, the household department finally counted the belongings of the voyage to the west, and after calculating the tax amount, Zhu Zhanhe directly paid the full tax in real money, and then notified all the families to come to the palace for a banquet, and share the money by the way.

However, besides sharing the money, Zhu Zhanhe had another purpose for this banquet. If those nobles knew about it, they might scold him behind his back that the banquet was not a good one.

(End of this chapter)