The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Jiaen's decree was not a sudden act by Emperor Longqing, but was made after communicating with the cabinet ministers and the six ministers.

For the original officials of Prince Yu's palace, they should have been upgraded after Prince Yu ascended the throne. This is why so many officials are obsessed with the merit of following the dragon.

Not only is there an opportunity to get closer to the new emperor, but it also has real benefits.

It's just that for Wei Guangde, before the copy of "Yongle Dadian" was copied, his yamen was still in the school recording hall. He only went to see Yang Bo, took a look at his duty room in the official department and left. .

The transcription work must be completed before the end of March. Using the statistical methods of later generations, Wei Guangde has directly assigned the task to every Confucian scholar who wrote.

Correspondingly, each branch office officer also assigned the number of manuscripts to be reviewed according to the previous review speed.

The entire school registration hall is like a precision machine that is continuously running, and the operator is Wei Guangde.

If nothing unexpected happens, Wei Guangde is still confident that he will complete the project at the last moment. However, after being directly assigned errands and accurate to the specific number, the workload of the following Confucian scholars will become larger.

In fact, Wei Guangde did not increase their workload. He felt pressure mainly because he was burdened with a lot of pressure.

If anyone else wakes up in the morning and thinks of how many words they have to copy today, they won’t feel the pressure.

Perhaps it was also because of the important matter of transcribing the ceremony that since Emperor Longqing sent Li Fang to the house to press for questioning, no one has been sent to him again.

At any rate, we have to ensure that Emperor Jiajing is buried in Yongling at the end of March. This is also the top priority of the current court.

The Ministry of Etiquette was the busiest. The day before, the ceremonial notes were issued for the registration of the queen. Two days later, three ceremonial notes were issued. , moved to the Empress Dowager Xiaoke's nephew's funeral, and the god's master returned to Beijing to pay tribute.

Emperor Jiajing granted three empresses in his lifetime, but Empress Zhang was later deposed and died in the cold palace, so it cannot be counted.

The last empress conferred by Emperor Jiajing, Empress Xiaolie, has been buried in Yongling and does not need to be moved. She only pays homage to her original wife, Empress Xiaojiesu. As for Empress Dowager Xiaoke, it was Emperor Longqing who conferred the title because she was the emperor's biological mother.

The mother is more valuable than the son. If the son becomes the emperor, the mother must be the empress dowager and be buried in Yongling.

The officials in court were now busy again, and Wei Guangde's normal plans were also disrupted.

Just kidding, appointing a queen is only a royal matter, but it is also a national matter.

When she was enthroned, the queen had to kneel down and kowtow three times from all the officials. Of course, Wei Guangde couldn't hide behind it.

No one can escape from these etiquette, they must go.

The queen's appointment ceremony began on the ninth day of February, and the imperial edict was issued on February 13. It was also on this day that Mrs. Chen of Prince Yu's Palace entered the palace through the Daming Gate and became the queen, her mother's honor to the world.

Five days later, there will be a ceremony for Zhu Yijun to give the prince his name.

After a few banquets with Emperor Longqing in person, Emperor Longqing presented himself to the Xian Palace and Emperor Daxing. Emperor Longqing was enthroned in the inner hall of the Imperial Palace in garb of wings and fine garb. The imperial concubine came to court in attire. After four bows, the imperial concubine stood to the east, and Fu Mu took the prince. The imperial concubine knelt in front of the emperor, held the name bestowed by the prince on his right hand, and said his words. The imperial concubine accepted the order, and Fu Mu returned to bed with the prince. The imperial concubine returned to the palace after four bows.

On the same day, Emperor Longqing came to the Xuanzhi Gate and issued an edict in the name of Prince Rui to the Ministry of Rites, Xingzong Mansion, to place it on the jade ultimatum.

Two days later, the wet nurse Chai was consecrated as a consecrated lady, and her husband Yu Bao was granted the title of Imperial Guard Commander Tongzhi. Later, the Ministry of Rites issued an order that the prince's two daughters were born to the Li family and could be canonized as imperial concubines, while Jiang could be canonized as virtuous people. Concubine, with the intention of bowing on the twenty-seventh day.

It can be said that Emperor Longqing was observing filial piety in January, and in February he began to lavish rewards on people who were originally members of Prince Yu's palace.

It's just that Wei Guangde only went to attend a few ceremonies. Although he was asked to work overtime a few times for free, there was nothing he could do. Being an official in the government was unavoidable in many activities.

As a vested interest, he can only suffer and be happy.

At this time, Wei Guangde finally felt lucky. Fortunately, Emperor Longqing assigned him to the Ministry of Personnel. Looking at Yin Shizhen who went to the Ministry of Rites, he was as busy as his grandson these days.

After finishing the work of conferring titles on the people in the palace, Emperor Longqing issued an order to follow the old system and add the posthumous title of Concubine Yuan to Princess Li as Empress Xiaoyi, Prince Yu as Prince Xianhuai, Prince Lantian as Prince Jingdou, the eldest daughter was posthumously granted the title of Princess Penglai, and the second daughter was posthumously granted the title of Princess Penglai. Princess Taihe

These activities were naturally the business of the Ministry of Rites, and in the end most of them fell on Yin Shizhen.

Concubine Yuan Li was the concubine chosen by Emperor Jiajing for Prince Yu. She died after giving birth to Prince Xianhuai.

Although she is gone, she is still the main wife of Emperor Longqing, so she should naturally be named the queen, and the current queen, Chen, is just the second wife.

Time passed day by day while Wei Guangde was busy, and the earth seemed unaware of the return of spring.

"Sir, Governor Tu has replied."

On this day, Wei Guangde dragged his tired body back to the house. When he entered the door, he took a letter from Tu Zemin, governor of Fujian, from Zhang Ji.

Wei Guangde felt uneasy for no reason.

From the previous correspondence with several governors, Wei Guangde gradually valued this person and felt that his ability and knowledge were quite good. At least he did not discriminate against sea trade.

In several letters to Wei Guangde, Wei Guangde only proposed in the first two letters, intentionally or unintentionally, that opening up sea trade might allow coastal people to do business instead of joining the Japanese pirates.

In Tu Zemin's reply, he got his affirmation. After all, he was in Fujian and saw the true situation of the so-called Japanese pirates.

Who are they?

Except for a few extremely vicious people who are wanted by the government, most of them are boat people who are just begging for food.

The government banned the sea, and these boat people had no way to survive. Naturally, they had no choice but to associate with Japanese pirates to survive.

If we really give them status and allow them to go to sea to trade, naturally no one will do anything like Japanese pirates.

In the previous letter, Wei Guangde had proposed to patrol a place in Fujian for a pilot project, allowing it to lift the sea ban and allow people to ship goods and sail overseas after trading here.

I just don’t know how Tu Zemin will choose this proposal in the end.

For officials in this era, most of them will pursue the concept of "do more and make more mistakes, do less and make fewer mistakes" for things that they are not sure about. In the absence of orders from superiors, most of them will take the initiative to push things out without giving any advice. Take care of things yourself.

What would Tu Zemin choose?

Wei Guangde was not sure. He was worried that in the letter, Tu Zemin would push the matter to Zhejiang or Guangdong. After all, the two places also had the foundation of shipping companies, so it would be much easier to do this.

Instead of opening the letter immediately to reveal the doubts in his heart, Wei Guangde just put the letter in his arms and went back to the backyard to visit his mother, wife and children as usual. After changing into regular clothes, he went to the study.

In a nervous mood, Wei Guangde opened the letter and immediately felt relieved after reading two paragraphs.

At the beginning of the letter, Tu Zemin expressed his support for Wei Guangde's concept, that is, "if the city is open, the bandits will turn into merchants, and if the city is banned, the merchants will turn into bandits."

With this idea in mind, Wei Guangde certainly doesn't have to worry.

Later, Tu Zemin analyzed the situation in Fujian in detail, quoting Tan Lun, the former governor of Fujian, who said, "Fujian people who live by the sea...mostly cannot eat unless they live in the sea." If "everything is forbidden...what will be the food and clothing?" So...why not follow suit and lead him to be a thief?"

It seems that this Tu Zemin is not a pedantic person and understands the principles of flexibility.

In fact, most people who can serve as officials in the court know how to adapt, but many people put their minds elsewhere, such as how to blatantly make money, and few focus on handling government affairs.

Faced with various situations that occurred in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, most of them chose to look for precedents to deal with them, thinking that doing so would ensure that everything was smooth and would not make mistakes.

As everyone knows, times are changing, and policies that were suitable for the past may not be effective today, or their effects will be greatly reduced until they will be completely ineffective in the future.

However, Wei Guangde was most concerned about the important matter, which was the suggestion he mentioned last time to choose a good port in Fujian to try to open sea trade. However, Tu Zemin's reply in the letter made Wei Guangde frown.

Tu Zemin was not opposed to choosing a port to try, but he did not think that a good port should be chosen for pilot development. He almost directly rejected Wei Guangde's idea of ​​opening a sea in Quanzhou.

As we all know, if a country or group wants to develop, it cannot do so behind closed doors.

Contact with the outside world and exchanging technical insights with others is the best way to learn, and it is also a necessary factor for a country to remain strong.

In fact, most dynasties in ancient times knew how to communicate with foreign countries.

The Silk Road formed during the Western Han Dynasty, the many countries sending envoys to the Tang Dynasty during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty setting up a shipping department to develop overseas trade, and Zheng He's voyages to the West in the Ming Dynasty have all demonstrated this truth time and time again.

According to "Huainanzi" records, after Qin Emperor Yingzheng unified the world, he sent people to Lingnan many times because the local "rhino horns, horn teeth, jade, and pearls" were what he needed.

According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty": "There are many precious products in the old Jiaozhi soil, such as Mingxian, Cuiyu, rhinoceros, Qimao, exotic fragrance and beautiful wood. They all come from themselves. The governors of the front and back are many and have no clear line. They are inherited from the powerful. , I am accumulating personal compensation, I am planning to give away the surplus, and I often ask for permission to change my generation."

It is not difficult to find that one of the main reasons for the prosperity of overseas trade is that unique goods imported from overseas have successfully been favored by wealthy families.

It is precisely because of their pursuit that these "exported goods" have become rare items that symbolize the status of the aristocratic class.

By the Three Kingdoms era, China's navigation industry had developed rapidly.

Although the Yellow River Basin is still very important and remains loyal to the whole country, the strategic position of the Yangtze River has become more important.

Sun Quan formulated the strategy of "occupying the Yangtze River and protecting the east of the Yangtze River", sparing no expense and vigorously developing the shipbuilding industry in Soochow.

Soochow's powerful shipbuilding technology was also used by Sun Quan in the navigation industry.

After regaining Jiaozhou, Sun Quan sent people south many times, and his fleet even reached tens of thousands of people. The form was similar to Zheng He's fleet, and both had national attributes.

Records about Taiwan actually first appeared in Soochow books.

The navigation industry of Soochow is very prosperous. It has reached Rome, Japan, Vietnam, North Korea, Cambodia and other places, and has started trade with these areas. The silk fabrics, ceramics and other items produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are even sold overseas, and once became the synonymous with China.

By the Tang Dynasty, maritime trade dominated by private traders gradually flourished, replacing the original state-dominated maritime trade.

As businessmen made profits, the taxes they paid also increased.

To this end, the Tang Dynasty court specially established the Municipal Shipping Department system.

However, the dynasty that really allowed Shibosi to flourish was the Northern Song Dynasty, and the system was relatively complete and continued into the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

After the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty, which established the remaining forces, paid more attention to the benefits of maritime trade.

Due to geographical reasons, Quanzhou's status gradually became prominent, and gradually formed a world maritime trade center during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, becoming the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road.

The reason why history chose Quanzhou is because Quanzhou is located on the southeast coast, facing the sea and backed by mountains. The land is barren, but it has a large population. The natural conditions seriously restrict the development of agriculture, but it is suitable for the development of handicrafts and commodity economy, providing Quanzhou's trade. Material basis.

It was also because of seeing these records that Emperor Longqing wanted to open the sea. The first thing Wei Guangde thought of was Quanzhou. He really couldn't find a more superior seaport than here.

Of course, according to the knowledge of later generations, Wei Guangde also considered Songjiang Prefecture, that is, the place in Shanghai, to develop maritime trade relying on the powerful transportation capacity of the Yangtze River waterway.

However, all this can only remain on paper for the time being. After all, no one knows the results after the sea is opened. Wei Guangde knows that he can't beat his colleagues when it comes to bickering, especially with the big stick of ancestral system.

King Yu supported him because he actually hoped that opening the sea would eradicate the soil where Japanese pirates could survive.

In the past twenty years, the Ming Dynasty was really exhausted by the Japanese pirates. Otherwise, the rebellions in Fujian and Guangdong were so powerful, one after another.

Of the two famous generals in the south of the Yangtze River, Qi Jiguang was okay. He was mainly engaged in suppressing Japanese invaders and occasionally teaching rebels, while Yu Dayou was constantly running back and forth on the battlefields of suppressing Japanese invaders and suppressing traitors.

Having rejected Wei Guangde's intention to use Quanzhou to open the sea, Tu Zemin certainly did not say that there was no alternative target, which was Yuegang.

Yuegang belonged to Zhangzhou Prefecture in Fujian. During the Jingtai Dynasty, Xie Qian, the governor of Zhangzhou, saw that there were "many people and goods for thieves" in Yuegang, Haicang, and Haicheng, so he ordered the implementation of the Baojia system, but the effect was basically ineffective.

The reason why it is difficult to manage is that first of all, these three places are more than 40 miles away from Zhangcheng, the state capital. This meant a trip of more than one day at the time, and it was difficult for the state capital to effectively manage them directly.

Secondly, the "inward relocation" left Zhangzhou Prefecture with no administrative structure in these three places. They are usually under the jurisdiction of Longxi County, Zhangzhou Prefecture. However, dozens of people in the county government have no spare time to supervise these three places. Therefore, the implementation of Baojia can only rely on Local wealthy families and village elders.

On the one hand, there is a lack of supervision by the local government. On the other hand, many of these wealthy families and village elders are also involved in smuggling to make money. In addition, they are not willing to block people's financial paths and offend their neighbors. Therefore, it is shameful for them to be passive and perfunctory about Baojia. It’s something you can imagine.

Of course, the Zhangzhou local government was not completely out of options. They proposed moving the Xunhai Road official office to Haicang, Zhangzhou, or even setting up a county in Haicheng, but they were all rejected because the court felt it was a loss of money.

Therefore, the pilot area proposed by Tu Zemin to Wei Guangde for opening up the sea was actually an area where smuggling was prevalent and the government had almost no control over it.

However, Tu Zemin did not want to dump the burden on Wei Guangde, but he felt that since this place itself has become a place for maritime smuggling, wouldn't it become an ideal sea-opening area if it is directly used and managed with a little management?