The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Zhang Juzheng had an impression of the housekeeper in Wei Guangde's house. After all, he would go to his house to drink from time to time.

However, Zhang Juzheng would certainly not be so foolish as to believe Wei Guangde's statement that Zhang Ji was responsible for participating in the business.

When Wei Guangde asked about this matter, Zhang Juzheng just thought about it for a moment and said: "The teacher is not opposed to Liaodong Shipping and believes that this move can strengthen the connection with Liaodong."

Wei Guangde nodded slightly when he heard this.

After all, when Jia Yingchun handled this matter, Xu Jie also made great efforts.

Emperor Jiajing didn't like shipping, so Jia Yingchun started with consumption, and Xu Jie assisted from the side, finally getting Emperor Jiajing to relent.

Although it only lasted a few years, it really saved the court a lot of money.

It can be imagined that if a cart of grain and grass is transported from inside the pass to outside the pass, even half a cart of grain and grass may not be left.

But shipping by sea is different. It costs very little on the way and even saves half the time than traveling by land. It is naturally a great good governance.

It is not that the Ministry of War is unaware of this matter, but it has so many health posts in Liaodong, so it is naturally unwilling to let the Liaodong health posts become lazy because of the support from the mainland, so they give up farming and just ask for food from the capital.

When Zhu Yuanzhang terminated sea transportation to Liaoning, his purpose was naturally to make the various military posts in Liaodong as self-sufficient as possible and allow them to truly take root there.

Once the sea route is open, they will ask for help from the court from time to time. With the temperament of those arrogant soldiers, they may have stopped cultivating the land for a long time and clamored for help from the court every day, or simply gave up that area.

Who would want to live in a bitter and cold place without staying in the warm Guan Nei?

"However, before this matter triggers discussion between the DPRK and the Communist Party of China, he can still suppress it for the time being. But once the matter becomes clear and His Majesty knows the details, he may abolish the shipping matter."

Zhang Juzheng analyzed.

Wei Guangde also understood that Xu Jie was not opposed to shipping, but he could not reason with the emperor.

Before the emperor knew about it, he could speak for Liaodong Shipping when the court was discussing it privately, but once the emperor knew about it, he would stand aside and watch.

Everything is at your Majesty's discretion.

Wei Guangde was still thinking about how to suppress this matter, avoid spreading it among the officials in the capital, and control the situation before a consensus could be formed. However, Zhang Juzheng whispered: "Shandai, let me tell you, if this matter If I could suppress it, my teacher would have taken action long ago."

"What's the meaning?"

Wei Guangde looked up at him hesitantly and asked.

"This matter is not only promoted by Shandong local authorities, but also by the Caoyun Yamen secretly adding fuel to the flames. It is impossible to suppress it. The most it will do is delay it for some time."

Zhang Juzheng said in a low voice, "The only people who benefit from this are the businessmen and Liaodong military leaders. The imperial court will not let them profit from it."

Zhang Juzheng's words were like enlightenment, and Wei Guangde suddenly understood.

In fact, before making this decision, it was not about whether sea transportation or land transportation was more cost-effective, but how to effectively control Liaodong.

How to reassure the court?

It seems that the only way is to let the imperial court change Liaodong to other provinces in the country. In addition to the existing Liaodong Dusi, newly establish the Liaodong Chief Envoys Department and the Liaodong Envoys Department, and change the control of military towns to the management of the three departments.

However, Liaodong is a place with vast land and sparse population, which is why the Third Division was not established in the first place. Most of the local people came from the defense station, and there were few civilians.

In fact, Shandong wanted to ban the sea again. One of the reasons was that these ships were accompanied by not only mountain goods from Liaodong, but also people who fled south.

Liaodong is bitterly cold and it is difficult for the Han people to survive there.

In the past, it was difficult to get back to the pass on two legs, and the hurdle at Shanhaiguan was definitely impossible to pass.

Things are different now. As long as you can get on the ship, you can reach Shandong when you get off the ship. Not only can you avoid the pass along the way, but you can also reach places like Shandong.

At first, Shandong didn't have anything to say about the arrival of Liao ships. The imperial court agreed to come to Shandong to buy grain, and the grain transported by the Grand Canal was directly transferred to Denglai and sent to Liaodong.

But as time went by, the number of refugees in Denglai and other places increased dramatically. Upon closer inspection, they discovered their origins, even though they desperately tried to hide it.

In fact, not only civilians were unable to escape, but many of them were military households.

There are hundreds of people from hundreds of families who have been discovered alone, and even more have been hidden by big families.

Cheap labor can work as long as they have food to eat.

As for the dissatisfaction with water transportation, Zhang Juzheng didn't even bother to explain.

Others are also smart. If the sea-going ships from Liaodong to Shandong operate well, it will inevitably affect the unsafe sea-going ships they advocated before.

Goods from Jiangnan can be shipped directly to Shanghai and go all the way north along the coastline to Tianjin.

Taking the sea route, there will be no congestion from the canal fleet, nor will it be affected by dry seasons or floods.

Only by completely eliminating shipping can they continue to make a fortune around the canal.

"We clearly know that opening up sea transportation is good governance and is beneficial to the court. Do we have to give up just because of these obstructions?"

At the end of their conversation, Wei Guangde said with some reluctance.

"What the teacher means is that with His Majesty in charge, the sea transportation may not be preserved. With the power of the people behind the water transportation, my teacher can only retreat behind the scenes."

Zhang Juzheng sighed in a low voice, "All he can do is try his best to delay it for some time."

"Good work."

Wei Guangde cupped his hands and said.

"Originally, after the water transport department made efforts, my teacher would also communicate with Prince Yu's Mansion about this matter, but now they are just communicating in series below.

But since you asked about this matter today, I want to tell you first, let it go.

Taking the land route, although you earn less, is much safer. "

Zhang Juzheng finally said to Wei Guangde seriously.

The whole day, Wei Guangde was not in a good mood.

His financial path was cut off before his eyes, and he would be damned if he could get better.

The good life he is living in the capital now depends entirely on the dividends from the Liaodong line. Thinking that without this way of making money, his family will seem to be mediocre in the future, Wei Guangde feels extremely unwilling to accept it.

In the end, Wei Guangde could only sigh in his heart, no wonder in the past, those pig feet were worn on the emperor's body, and then he dared to change the world and create an empire on which the sun never sets.

If you dress like a commoner, even if you succeed in the imperial examination, it seems that it is really difficult to accomplish anything except joining in the same trap with your colleagues.

As for those who climbed up from the bottom and still want to rebel and become emperor, they are just making random nonsense.

Of course, if it was in Chongzhen's era, it seemed possible. With that pig teammate assisting, the probability of success was indeed very high.

However, in this era, perhaps it should be regarded as the middle period of the Ming Dynasty, everyone's thoughts were loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. In their minds, the Zhu Ming Dynasty was the orthodoxy.

If you think you can get people to give up on the imperial court by giving them certain favors, then you are thinking too much, unless you are uniting with bandits.

Only these people do not have the imperial court in their hearts, because the imperial court is their reminder.

Wei Guangde, who returned home, was still thinking about this matter because it related to his family's future life.

Over at Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde did not intend to go there so early to ventilate the situation, because Prince Yu had no say in the matter at all.

Thinking of the information he had asked Lu Bu to copy before, it involved data on water and sea transportation from the Yuan Dynasty to the Zhengde Dynasty.

To transport one million shi of grain from the south to the north, if transported by water, it would have consumed about 3 million shi of grain in the Yongle period, and about 3.3 million shi in the Chenghua dynasty. But now, this number is only higher.

In other words, transporting food from the south to the north requires more than three times the transportation cost, not counting the time consumed during the process.

But what if we take the sea route?

Then the cost is about one million stones.

That is to say, under the premise that nothing changes, just by changing water transportation to sea transportation, the grain sent to the capital can be doubled.

Even though it is only doubled, it can make the Jiubian soldiers no longer worry about their rations, or the money of the officials in the capital can be guaranteed, and they no longer need to be favored by the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Of course, Wei Guangde could only think about these.

If Emperor Jiajing adopts it and all this becomes a reality, there will be no guarantee that there will be countless construction sites in the capital and new temples will be born.

In fact, when Wei Guangde saw these data, he keenly discovered that he could make a lot of money by doing shipping.

As for the method, of course it is to transport by sea despite the consumption of water transport.

The watercraft did not enter the Grand Canal, but went down the river into the sea, traveled north along the coastline to Tianjin, and then transported it to Tongzhou through tributaries such as the Haihe River.

This is huge profit.

It is equivalent to sending one ship of food to earn two ships of food back. Even taking into account shipbuilding and maintenance, it is a very profitable business.

However, this is only a disaster for shipping merchants and for those who rely on water transportation.

Think about the prefectures and counties that the Grand Canal flows through, and how many people depend on it for their livelihood. Let alone other things, the Cao Army is a force that cannot be underestimated.

It's not about how powerful they are, but their terrifying destructive power after being released.

How much will the canal army be reduced by changing water transportation to sea?

Wei Guangde doesn't know, but at least tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Of course, they can also be used by the Ministry of War to supplement other guard posts, but what about the countless people on both sides of the strait who rely on the canal for their livelihood?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde scratched his head, water transport was really untouchable.

Water transportation has been implemented for hundreds of years. The livelihoods of countless people along the canal depend on water transportation. Traffickers, trackers, boatmen, and even singers and other people. Moreover, the middle and lower class managers along the river can also take advantage of the opportunity. Everyone works together to maintain this system.

On a narrow river, the livelihoods of too many people, from the imperial court to water transportation officials, from water workers to ordinary people, were hijacked on this river.

The existence of water transportation has actually transcended economic constraints. It is a major policy related to the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty and the long-term stability of the country.

At this moment, Wei Guangde finally realized it.

As long as the Ming Dynasty did not relax the maritime ban, the status of water transportation could not be challenged at all.

The interest groups surrounding countless towns along the canal and the countless people who made a living in this way were powerful enough for Emperor Jiajing to make a wise choice.

What Wei Guangde didn't know was that what would end water transportation in the future was actually a peasant uprising that affected the starting point of the canal - the Taiping Rebellion.

After 1853, the Taiping Rebellion occupied Nanjing and Anhui, and major cities along the canal were severely damaged or even burned down. The Qing government had to choose sea transportation to transport grain to Beijing. At this point, water transportation, which had been popular for hundreds of years in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, completely ceased from the stage of history.

If he knew that the force that would end water transport in the future would be this, Wei Guangde might consider assisting, and let Zhang Lian's troops simply sweep the southern Zhili area, so that the Ming court could fully see the fragility of water transport.

Of course, this is impossible.

Not to mention other things, but right now Qi Long and Yu Hu in Jiangnan are enough for Zhang Lian to drink. With these two people in charge, it is really difficult for ordinary rebels to become big.

As for what Wei Guangde saw, the gradual replacement of water transportation by sea transportation through the establishment of sea bans was also based on the development of coastal ports.

As long as the north and south seaports were established, they would of course be mainly engaged in maritime trade at the beginning. However, when merchants discovered the low cost of sea transportation, they would inevitably switch goods that were previously transported by water to the sea route.

Even if the vested interests in the imperial court continue to insist on the transportation of grain, they will have no choice but to continue to compromise as the general trend goes. In the end, they will have to accept the plan of mainly shipping by sea and supplementing by water transportation.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but feel that he was so great.

I just wanted to make some money, but I actually thought of serving the country and the people.

After retracting his thoughts, Wei Guangde called Zhang Ji and told him the news that Liaodong Shipping might be banned in the coming year. He also asked the Chamber of Commerce to make plans in advance, otherwise they would be caught off guard when the decree was issued.

Make preparations in advance, transport the goods as soon as possible, and don't think about suppressing the goods.

Hearing that Liao ships might be banned, Zhang Ji immediately became anxious.

As the steward of the Wei Mansion, Zhang Ji can be said to be very familiar with the money receipts and expenditures in the mansion.

"Sir, if the waterway from Liaodong to Shandong is stopped, the dividends of our house will be at least halved."

Zhang Ji reminded carefully.

"I know."

Wei Guangde reluctantly replied: "I know everything you said. I asked someone about it before I heard the news. This matter is very involved. I estimate that there will definitely be a clear decree issued by the court by the end of next year at the latest."

When Zhang Ji heard what Wei Guangde said, he lowered his head and thought for a while before looking up at Wei Guangde and whispered: "Master, when the time comes, should we prepare our own ships to transport goods quietly and pass through some small fishing villages?"

"Can you avoid the patrol of naval warships?"

Wei Guangde interrupted Zhang Ji angrily.

In fact, Wei Guangde had heard from Zhang Ji before that before there was sea transportation to Liao, there were businessmen doing this secretly.

It's okay if you don't get caught. Once you get caught, it will be very troublesome, but it won't just be as simple as losing a batch of goods.

As for the current governors of Liaodong and Shandong, one is Jicheng and the other is Xie Dongshan. Wei Guangde is not familiar with these two people.

If something really happened, it would be difficult to suppress it.

The opponent's power was too strong, so Wei Guangde decided to give in and not engage in shipping.

However, his influence on King Yu was obviously effective. King Yu was very enthusiastic about the pilot project. Wei Guangde had already submitted two plans, but King Yu seemed to be dissatisfied and asked him to continue improving.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Ji and said: "Although the sea transportation is not allowed, don't be idle over there and find out more about what your favorite products are overseas."