Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 987 Seaport
In fact, there are still many seaports in Ziqing.

The Ziqing mentioned here refers to Daziqing Town before Yuanhe cut down the vassal, and the five prefectures of Qing, Lai, Deng, Mi and Hai are mainly concentrated in the seaport.

As far as Mizhou is concerned, it is mainly a trade route to the south and Silla.

To be precise, there are two places for ships to berth and set sail. One is Pimapu near Dazhu Mountain, which is located at the junction of Zhucheng and Jimo counties.

This port is not only connected to Haizhou in the south, but also has routes to Silla. There is even a Silla village in the local area, where many Silla people live.

Another port in Mizhou is Laoshan (now Laoshan), which is also a place for sea-going ships to berth, repair and trade.During Emperor Xuanzong's reign, Jiang Fu, an alchemist, deceived the world with the technique of immortal immortality, but when he failed, he asked to gather herbs to exhaust the mountains, and then fled—probably by boat.

During the Five Dynasties, the Qian family in Liangzhe used the name of paying tribute to the Central Plains to engage in smuggling trade in the ports of Qingzhou and Mizhou, and made a lot of profits. At that time, the trading port had gradually shifted to Banqiao Town (in Jiaoxian County).

All in all, it is actually a series of ports in Jiaozhou Bay.This natural harbor is very rare in northern China.

Haizhou is actually the Lianyungang of later generations, and it is also a good port in the north.But in terms of status at this time, it is still not as good as Mizhou.

There are two most important ports in Dengzhou. One is Penglai Town, one mile north of Dengzhou City, which is the main trading port leading north to Silla and Bohai Sea.

The second is Chishanpu, a hundred miles southeast of Wendeng County. It goes out to sea from Moxie Island in the southeast of Pupu, and arrives in Silla in three days with good wind.

Chishanpo and Moye Island are located in Rongcheng today, and they are important ports of entry and exit for official missions and private business groups of Silla.

"At this moment, the prosperity of Chishanpu is far better than that of Penglai Town?" Shao Shude didn't know much about Dengzhou Maritime Trade, so he was a little surprised when he heard it for the first time.

"Returning to Your Highness, Chishanpu is crowded with people, prosperous in commerce, ship building, and goods exchange, far surpassing Qingzhou, and Qingzhou is even better than Dengzhou." The identity of the speaker is very interesting. His name is Wang Shilu, the younger brother of Wang Shifan.

He was bored staying in Chang'an, so after seeking his elder brother's acquiescence, he ran to Luoyang, begging Bai Lai to work for King Xia.It happened that Shao Shude also wanted a consultant who was familiar with Ziqing, so he agreed, incorporated him into Yin'anzhi, and came to Dengzhou together.

What Wang Shilu said really challenged Shao Shude's inherent impression.

The prosperity of Dengzhou Port in the Ming Dynasty was too dazzling. Unexpectedly, Qingzhou and Chishanpu, not Dengzhou City, were the most prosperous sea trade business at this time.

"Where is Chishan Puqiang?" Shao Shude asked.

"Your Highness, most of the envoys of the imperial court who entered Silla sailed from Pu, and the people of Silla entered Silla, and most of them went ashore here." Wang Shilu said: "The south coast of the two states of Denglai, and the coastal areas of Mizhou and Haizhou, There are a lot of people in Silla, and the local people are also good at sailing. And in the seaside area of ​​the four states, if there are the most people in Silla, it is Chishanpu. There is a temple in Pu called Fahuayuan, commonly known as Silla Temple, and the people of Silla It was built by Zhang Baogao. The temple has fields, and the yearly income is hundreds of dendrobium, which is dedicated to the Silla monks. There are more than [-] monks in the temple, and hundreds of people gather during the ceremony.”

By the way, this Zhang Baogao is also a strange person.During the Yuanhe period of Emperor Xianzong, he and his fellow countryman Zheng Nian were familiar with martial arts. It is said that they were invincible all over Silla. , became a martial artist of the Tang Dynasty.

The martial arts of the two of them are indeed not bragging, and they are also second to none in Xuzhou, and they gradually accumulated meritorious service and rose to the position of generals.

Later, Zhang Baogao heard that there were people selling Silla maidservants in the two states of Denglai in Ziqing Town to engage in the human trade, and the number was still very large.So he resigned and returned to China, and used his status as a general of the Wuning Army to write a letter to King Aizhuang of Silla, and obtained an army of more than [-] people to fight against human trafficking in the coastal areas. So this evil trade slowly disappeared.

Of course, Zhang Baogao did not end well.

His family background was too low, if he did not go back to the country after being gilded by Wuning Army in Xuzhou, he probably would have no chance at all, and in the end he was killed under the hostility of the nobles of Silla—that is an extremely corrupt and dying man dynasty.

"There are dozens of Silla monks alone, so how many Silla people are there?" Shao Shude asked, "Wendeng County has a very small population..."

"Returning to Your Highness, it is really difficult to count the number of Silla people, and they have not been registered in the Yellow Book of Household Registration." Wang Shilu said: "The King of Silla specially sent envoys who sell goods to stay in Chishanpu, with more than [-] disciples. The shogunate is also in Chishanpu Permanently set up the Silla office, and sent a yamen to manage the affairs of the Silla households in Wendeng County, mainly for the purpose of collecting taxes. The last time General Qibi attacked Dengzhou, the Silla people also recruited more than a thousand young men, planning to Rescue Dengzhou came, but halfway, all he heard was the news of defeat, so he ran back again."

Shao Shude laughed loudly and said, "The people living in Silla, please count them out as soon as possible. Let him come to see me as soon as possible. By the way, is there a ship repairing place in Chishanpu?"

"Of course there are." Wang Shilu said, "The craftsmen are mainly from Silla, and there are also Japanese."

Fuck!Shao Shude felt that he was a bumpkin who came out of a valley in the northwest, and he didn't know much about the outside world.As for Li Tangbin, the envoy of the Ziqing Festival, alas, he has been fighting outside all year round, so he probably doesn't know much about the locality, and he is basically autonomous by the governor.

"There are Tianmen Temple and Chishan Temple near Silla Temple. Some monks have been to Japan, and Japanese monks also came to this temple. In the fourth year of its opening (839), Japanese state-owned envoys brought [-] dendrobium rice to pay tribute, and it was also here. to go ashore, but there are not as many Japanese as in Silla." Wang Shilu said.

"Oh? Why?" Shao Shude asked.

"Because the Silla people are powerful, even if Japanese merchants want to sell goods, they have to see whether the Silla people agree. Generally speaking, most of the Japanese goods are resold by the Silla people." Wang Shilu replied: "Japan, Silla They are all small countries, but small countries are also divided into strengths and weaknesses. At present, it seems that Japan is not as good as Silla."

Shao Shude nodded.

Wang Shilu didn't know the actual situation in Japan and Silla, he only judged based on the strength of the Silla people in Dengzhou, so he was naturally biased.

"How much are the goods sold in Silla and Japan?" Shao Shude asked.

"I don't know." Wang Shilu said in embarrassment: "The Silla office pays [-] yuan a year, which has always been the case."

If you really want to collect tariffs, there must be more than that.Twenty thousand coins is a fixed amount, which must be seriously distorted.

Shao Shude used to think that Zi Qingbing was "spineless", "not tough enough", and a little too obedient.Now I feel that if Wufu Ziqing is as domineering as Wufu Wei Bo, the sea trade business in Chishanpu will probably not be able to continue, and the goods of Silla merchants will have been robbed long ago.

That's fine, I'll always do business with outsiders in the future, and it won't work if I scare everyone away.

"I want to set up a new yamen in Chishanpu, called Customs, which will be in charge of tax collection." Shao Shude said.

The term customs is not difficult to understand. The customs on land already have the function of collecting taxes, and of course there are customs at sea.

Guochao had a city envoy in Guangzhou, which was concurrently served by the Jiedu envoy of the Qing Navy.The responsibilities of the city ship envoys are threefold: first, to collect taxes; second, to purchase in-demand goods and monopolize sales; third, to manage the tributes brought in by foreign merchants.

These three responsibilities are very "money".

Taxation is mainly based on immobilization taxes, and there is no clear tax rate. According to the records of Arab merchants in the Tang Dynasty, it is generally 30%, which is 10%, which is much higher than the [-]% tax rate in the middle and early Song Dynasty.

The second job pays quite well, too.Foreign commodities, especially spices, are in great demand, but the Shibo Envoys, on behalf of the imperial court, negotiated prices with foreign merchants, bought them in advance, and then wholesaled them to merchants large and small for profit.That is to say, on some high-value special commodities, only Shiboshi has the monopoly right, and others can only be second-hand dealers.

As for the gifts offered by foreign businessmen, they mainly belonged to the emperor.The Arabs are very comfortable, because they also have this rule.

"The customs only collects one kind of tax, called the customs duty. Two out of ten taxes are collected to attract more merchants to come to do business." Shao Shude said: "Chishanpu was the first to set up a customs office. What is it that is the yamen of Silla? It seems that there is no need to exist, just let it be abolished, and those who can be used will be merged into the customs and Wendeng County, and those who are not used will be sent home."

After Wang Shilu heard this, there was no disturbance in his heart.It has nothing to do with him, just abolish it.

"Did the Silla households living overseas ever collect taxes?" Shao Shude looked at Wang Shilu and asked.

"No." Wang Shilu replied.

Shao Shude nodded.

This is not as good as Guangzhou and other places. They came here according to the two-tax law, and strictly taxed the property of Arab businessmen living in Datang.

"Denglaimi and other places, are there bandits along the coast?"

"Return to Your Highness, there are fewer now, but there were many before."

"Why?"

"It's still a matter of banning the purchase of Silla maidservants." Wang Shilu replied: "In the first year of Changqing, the purchase of Silla maidservants was banned for the first time. In the first month of the third year of Changqing, after the arrival of Silla envoys, the purchase of Silla maidservants was banned for the second time. Gone."

In March of the first year of Changqing, Xue Pingzuo, the envoy of the Pinglu Army Festival, said that there should be pirates who plundered Liangkou in Silla, and would come to manage the border of Denglai Prefecture and the various roads of Yuanhai, and sell them as slaves.

After hearing this, Mu Zong ordered to prohibit trading.As a result, the ministers, generals, and even the local tyrants in the countryside dismissed the Silla maidservants one after another.The life of these people is very difficult. "There is no home in the habitat, and most of them are sent to the villages near the sea, and there is no way to return."

Fortunately, the people of Datang were kind to them, they were more sympathetic, and gave them some humanitarian assistance to prevent them from starving to death.

After Mu Zong learned of this situation, he decreed again: "Every time there is a boat trip in the prefectures and counties near the sea, they will be given back, and the prefectures and counties will not be restricted."

It is to let these Silla maidservants return to their home countries on trade ships.

Buyers were banned at one end, and the "source of goods" was attacked at the other end. The prosperous Silla maidservant trade gradually disappeared.

And with the end of this slave trade, the pirates couldn't get along anymore, they became rarer day by day, and they went to Japan to rob their houses - if they came to Tang Dynasty, they probably wouldn't have any good fruit to eat, and the warriors in the feudal town could make them cry .

"It's fine if there are no pirates." Shao Shude smiled wryly.

If there are too many pirates, wouldn't it be necessary to establish a navy to maintain order.To be honest, he doesn't want to spend the money for the time being, and he will wait two years.

But sooner or later it has to be built.

I heard that there are pirates in the Guangzhou area in the south, but not in Dengzhou and Mizhou, purely because the trade volume is not large enough.Some money is hard to save.

(End of this chapter)