My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 96

"Call him in!"

Zhu Di hesitated for a while, and finally gritted his teeth.

The eunuch rushed away immediately, and after a while, he saw a thin middle-aged official striding towards the Hall of Martial Arts.

"Chen Xia Yuanji pays homage to my emperor!"

Xia Yuanji went forward to salute, and saw that he was about 40 years old, with a square face and regular features, but he was very thin, and he seemed to have little flesh all over his body.

"What are you doing again?"

Zhu Di looked very impatient.

"Your Majesty, please stop sailing to the West!"

Xia Yuanji faced Zhu Di without any fear, and directly explained his intentions.

Zhu Zhanhe next to him was also shocked, he knew that many ministers in the court disapproved of the voyage, but he did not expect Xia Yuanji, the Minister of the Household Department, to take the lead in opposing it.

"Enough! As I said last time, the voyage to the West is of great importance. It can not only promote the national strength of our Ming Dynasty, but also promote our country's prestige overseas. How can we give up so easily?"

Zhu Di slapped the table angrily and said angrily, it seems that this is not the first time he and Xia Yuanji have had a dispute on this matter.

"Promoting the prestige of the country once or twice is enough, but now His Majesty has gone to the West again and again, and every time it consumes a lot, the treasury can no longer support it!"

At this time, Xia Yuanji also said heartbroken.

As the chief financial officer of Ming Dynasty, Xia Yuanji had a particularly heavy burden on him. Expeditions to the north, construction of Beijing city, and voyages to the west were all costly. Xia Yuanji had tried his best to make money, but he still couldn't make ends meet.

"Going to the West is indeed costly, but it also has huge benefits. Don't you know all of this?"

Zhu Di asked sharply.

"The voyages to the West do have profits, but nothing goes into the treasury!"

Xia Yuanji also had a tough temper, and even complained in front of Zhu Di.

"What's the difference between internal funds and the national treasury? During the Northern Expedition, didn't we mainly get money from internal funds?"

Zhu Di said again annoyed that he collected the money from the voyage to the West mainly because it was more convenient to use and he didn't need to argue with the ministers.

"However, as far as I know, Zheng He's voyage to the West this time cost a lot, but the income continued to decrease. If this continues, I am afraid that the voyage will lose money. Instead of this, it is better to stop as soon as possible!"

Xia Yuanji argued again without giving an inch.

"you……"

Zhu Di was left speechless, obviously what Xia Yuanji said was the truth.

Zhu Zhanhe next to him also suddenly realized at this time, no wonder Zheng He wanted to present the giraffe as a unicorn to Zhu Di when he came back this time, and he played such an auspicious trick because he didn't make any money from the voyage this time.

However, Zhu Zhanhe couldn't figure it out. With the popularity of Ming products overseas, no matter how expensive the fleet of sailing to the West is, it is impossible to lose money?

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhanhe quietly tugged on Yao Guangxiao's sleeve, and asked in a low voice: "Young Master, didn't you make a lot of money in the previous trips to the West, how could you lose money?"

Yao Guangxiao lowered his eyes, and replied in a low voice with the same expression: "Your Majesty has rewarded Fanbang too much, no matter how much money you earn, it is not enough to spend!"

When Zhu Zhanhe heard the words, he suddenly realized that when Zheng He went to the Western Seas, he brought goods and traded overseas, and indeed brought back a lot of gold and silver treasures.

But at the same time, he also brought back many envoys from small overseas countries. In order to show that Ming Dynasty was rich all over the world, Zhu Di rewarded these small countries heavily.

When Zheng He went to the Western Seas a few times ago, the number of small countries in Fanbang was still relatively small, and the trade was also profitable. However, as more and more small countries paid tribute to Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di was embarrassed to earn money from these tributary countries. For a penny of tribute, he wished he could give back a hundred penny.

The rewards were too heavy, and after the establishment of the tributary system, Zheng He would not be able to make high profits when he traded with them. As a result, the fleet going to the West naturally did not have much profit.

"I don't care what you say, anyway, Zheng He will go to the West again next year, and your household department must be prepared by then!"

At this time, Zhu Di was also angered, and pointed at Xia Yuanji very forcefully and ordered.

Xia Yuanji still wanted to argue, but under Zhu Di's coercion, he finally didn't dare to speak again.

But at this moment, Zhu Zhanhe suddenly took a step forward and said, "Grandfather, if the imperial court is short of money, I have a way to solve this problem for sure!"

"Do you have a solution?"

Zhu Di was taken aback for a moment. Originally, Zhu Zhanhe was not qualified to express his opinion on such a national event, but when he heard that he could solve the money problem, Zhu Di couldn't help showing curiosity.

Xia Yuanji looked at Zhu Zhanhe in astonishment, even Yao Guangxiao didn't expect Zhu Zhanhe to speak at this time.

"Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and the four perform their own duties. Among them, the merchants are responsible for the circulation of commodities, thus accumulating a lot of wealth. For example, some well-known big merchants in the capital have huge wealth. Since doing business makes so much money, why doesn't the court take When the business is nationalized and run by the state, it will definitely be able to accumulate a lot of wealth like a businessman at that time!"

Zhu Zhanhe put on an excited expression, as if he truly believed that he had come up with a good solution to the financial problem.

Zhu Di felt something was wrong when he heard half of it, because he knew Zhu Zhanhe well, and this kid would never come up with such a way to lose his head.

But Xia Yuanji met Zhu Zhanhe for the first time, and now hearing his suggestion, he couldn't help laughing and said: "If you follow your suggestion, my son, I'm afraid I won't be able to make money, and it will cause a big mess instead!"

"How is it possible? Merchants can make money by doing business. How can the imperial court control the business route and not make money?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked again with a look of disbelief.

"Your Majesty, you also said just now that scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen perform their own duties. Merchants can make money by doing business, but we officials don't know how to do business. How can we make money? Businesses should be left to businessmen!"

Xia Yuanji probably saw that Zhu Zhanhe was young, so he explained patiently.

"Oh~, I understand. Special tasks need to be handed over to special people. For example, making money needs to be done by businessmen."

Zhu Zhanhe first showed a dazed expression, and when he said this, he suddenly asked Zhu Di and Xia Yuanji with a smile.

"Since the fleet sailing to the west can't make money, why not let the merchants participate and let them help the court make money?"

Xia Yuanji was taken aback when he heard the words, and then looked at Zhu Zhanhe suspiciously. The prince in front of him seemed to be completely different from what he had imagined.

"Stinky boy, just speak up if you have something to say, don't play tricks on me!"

But Zhu Di scolded angrily, he knew that Zhu Zhanhe must have had other purposes for playing stupid just now.

"Grandfather, calm down. When I was chatting with Zheng Neigong before, I heard him mention that some merchants violated the sea ban and smuggled Ming's goods overseas, earning ten times or even a hundred times the income, and thus became rich. , since they can make so much money from sea trade, others can too!"

Zhu Zhanhe paused at this point, and then said again: "The fleet going to the West is all official ships, although they also carry some cargo, but doing business is only secondary, so I think it is possible to organize some merchants and let them Bring your own ships and cargo, go to sea with the fleet going to the west, and collect taxes from their transactions at that time!"

Going to sea in this era, apart from natural disasters, the biggest danger is man-made disasters. In addition to pirates that can be seen everywhere, one must also be on guard against other sea merchants, because the other party may turn into a pirate at any time, and the big fish will eat the small fish.

In addition, even if the goods are transported to the destination, it is necessary to guard against the difficulties of those small overseas countries. Sometimes these small countries are darker than pirates and can swallow even people and ships. Therefore, in this era, overseas trade not only requires ships, people, If you have a way, you need to have considerable strength.

But if you follow Zheng He's fleet, except for natural disasters, you don't have to worry about the above problems at all.

It can be said that as long as the goods can be transported to a certain place, huge profits can be made immediately. If this kind of good news spreads, I am afraid that all the businessmen will snap their heads.

"Wait, if merchants are allowed to go to sea, this...isn't this equivalent to banning the sea?"

Xia Yuanji suddenly realized at this moment, and immediately asked with a frown.

The sea ban is a national policy set by Emperor Taizu, so strict that people are forbidden to go fishing in the sea, let alone do business.

Zhu Di also frowned. He was not in the right position, so he followed Lao Zhu as an example everywhere, and naturally it was impossible to break the sea ban. As for Zheng He's voyages, they were all official ships, belonging to the Ming Navy, and were not restricted by the sea ban.

"Where did I say that the sea ban is going to be opened?"

Unexpectedly, Zhu Zhanhe asked with an innocent face.

"Isn't letting a merchant ship into the sea count as a sea ban?"

Xia Yuanji suddenly felt that this son of the King of Han was a bit of a rascal.

"Grandfather raised an army in the early days to calm down, and many nobles made great contributions. Now the profits from sailing to the West are huge. Grandpa's imperial grace is so great that he rewarded each noble with a few ships. Isn't it right?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked again as a matter of course.

In fact, his method is really a bit of a rogue, rewarding the honored ones with the quota to go to sea. The honorables will definitely not be able to go to sea in person, and they don’t know how to do business, but it doesn’t matter. Or the merchant ships led by these merchants.

Xia Yuanji felt that Zhu Zhanhe was a bit preposterous, but Zhu Di showed a pensive look, as if he was weighing the pros and cons of this matter.

As for Yao Guangxiao, he always had a calm expression on his face, and it seemed that he was not surprised that Zhu Zhanhe came up with such a method.

Zhu Zhanhe looked at the pensive Zhu Di, feeling far less relaxed than he appeared on the surface.

The sea ban is like a city wall built along the coast of Daming, or a shackle, which firmly trapped Daming on land. Even Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Seas failed to break this shackle.

What Zhu Zhanhe has to do now is to open a small opening in this solid city wall. As the saying goes, "a dike of a thousand miles is destroyed by an ant's nest". possible.

(End of this chapter)