Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 529 Hongyi Special Envoy Joint Visit to Ming Dynasty
At noon on the day when Wen Tiren had a cordial conversation with Li Huanxiu, a Fujian Zheng's ship arrived and docked at Tianjin Wei's wharf after sailing day and night for more than ten days.

Not long after the ship stopped, a tax official stationed at the Tianjin Wei Wharf from the household department boarded the big ship with a dozen book offices and helpers, began to check the goods on board, and finally issued a tax bill to the owner of the Zheng family. .

Most of the Zheng family's ship is loaded with sulfur and saltpeter from Japan, and only a small amount of spices from the South Seas, ivory, tortoise shell, gemstones and other goods, so it will not be too much to pay taxes according to the ratio of [-] to [-] in the end. many.

Because according to the policy formulated by Zhu Youjian, no tax is charged for bulk commodities such as ore, grain and cotton, and these raw materials will be uniformly purchased by the Ministry of Households at market prices, so there is no need to worry about sales.

This move is to encourage maritime merchants to purchase a large amount of overseas raw materials, so as to prevent the various mineral resources in Daming from being over-exploited. This is also a common method used by a certain country in later generations, and it is now embezzled by Zhu Youjian.

For the development and utilization of mineral resources in Daming, Zhu Youjian already has a preliminary plan, and is going to launch a series of related policies and supporting measures at the right time.

In the second half of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian ordered the establishment of the Tax Department of Tianjin Customs to manage related affairs of Tianjin Wharf while collecting taxes.

The Taxation Department is subordinate to the Department of Cleaning Officials of Guangdong Province of the Ministry of Household Affairs. There is one chief executive, who ranks from the sixth grade.The Taxation Department levies a tax of [-] per cent on merchant ships traveling to and from Tianjin Wei Wharf. Afterwards, the cargo owner will not be taxed repeatedly in Daming territory by virtue of the tax bill.

In addition to Tianjin, after the end of the war, Zhu Youjian also planned to set up similar institutions in Hangzhou, Mingzhou and other ports to fully lift the sea ban.

Unsurprisingly, when the tax collection was first started, there was still resistance from the gentry interest groups, but this measure was finally implemented firmly.

There used to be some merchant ships who refused to pay taxes on the basis of their backgrounds as prefects and envoys of such and such, but under the patient persuasion and education of the lieutenants of Jinyiwei Hundred Households stationed on the wharf, the merchants still swallowed and paid in full. taxes.

Because the captains in Jinyi persuaded them with pistols, bows, crossbows and steel knives.

A businessman surnamed Zhang who refused to pay the tax was broken by the captain of Jinyi with a pistol. After wailing in pain, he bled to death. The backer behind him didn't dare to do anything.

Due to the large increase in the middle class in the capital over the past few years, the demand for various commodities is increasing day by day. The supply of commodities on the canal alone is far from being able to meet the demand. In the largest cities, goods are often rented out to Tianjin Wei after purchasing goods, and then transported by land to Jingshili for sale.

Since the goods sold by maritime merchants and Cao merchants were different, this move did not arouse protests from the Cao merchant group.

The goods shipped by sea are all goods from Southeast Asia, Japan, and even the West, such as spices, rhinoceros horn, ivory, tortoise shell, sumac, cotton, rice, copper and iron ore, sulfur, saltpeter and other overseas commodities. Although there are also Cao merchants who ship to the capital for sale, the price and variety are much different than those shipped by sea merchants. Therefore, after several attempts and huge profits, the sea merchants quickly increased their demand for popular products. Quantity and type of purchase and sale.

"I didn't expect the Ming Empire to have a customs! This is a window for fair trade! But why didn't it be set up in Zheng's territory? It turns out that Mr. Representative is right. The Ming Empire is indeed not comparable to those ignorant and barbaric South Asian countries. of!"

After the tax collectors left, three people walked out of the cabin on the second floor of the Zheng ship. One of them was the trade representative of the East India Company, Pahlavit. Negotiating envoy Van Bronhorst.

Another one who is not tall and arrogant is Etro Monta, special envoy of the Spanish government. His focus is different from Van Bronhorst. The built fort, and the dark muzzle on the fort facing the sea.

After Pahlavit returned to the Netherlands and brought the news that the 800 troops stationed in Taiwan had been annihilated, senior Spanish government officials were shocked.After more than a month of discussions, the Spanish government decided to send a special envoy to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty due to the strong fighting power displayed by the Ming army.

The nature of the special envoys sent by Spain this time is similar to that of the Dutch, but they are not here to negotiate, but to demand compensation.

After learning that the Dutch had suffered a great loss, the general of the Spanish army stationed on Taiwan Island miscalculated the situation. He thought that the Ming army must have suffered heavy losses, so he specially arranged forty soldiers to come to Taichung by boat with weapons Landed on the coast near the county, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity.

But what I didn't expect was that these 40 people never returned.

After waiting for ten days, the Spanish garrison general knew that these people were in danger, so he immediately sent one of the two gunboats to Manila to report the defeat of the Dutch and Spanish troops to the Spanish governor in Manila. Send the news back home.

After the Spanish government got the letter, it sent people to get in touch with the Dutch government, so the two countries decided to send special envoys to Ming Dynasty to jointly put pressure on the Ming court in order to strive for greater benefits.

The special envoys of the two countries and Pahlavit, who is the surface of the East India Company, arrived at Fuzhou Port after more than half a year of sailing on the latest Dutch gunboat.

They came here for Zheng Zhilong.

In the eyes of the two governments, the sea power controlled by Zheng Zhilong is very terrifying. If he didn't know the Zheng family and directly drove the gunboat to the sea off Daming Tianjin, he might be made things difficult and retaliated by the Zheng family afterwards.

Because the Europeans at this time believed that all the sea areas of Ming belonged to the Zheng family and not to the Ming court.In their cognition, whoever is stronger is the real king, rather than deciding the ownership of specific regions based on any righteous name.

Zheng Zhilong was somewhat surprised by the arrival of the special envoys of the two countries. After learning of the other party's intentions, Zheng Zhilong did not give any answer. Instead, he sent someone to inform the governor of Fujian and sent them to the governor's office in Fujian the next day.

This is a major event between the Ming Dynasty court and other countries. Although Zheng Zhilong is qualified to participate in it, he dare not intervene in this matter at all.

Following the news of the defeat and loss of the Houjin army outside the customs, Zheng Zhilong was horrified by the powerful force displayed by the officers and soldiers, and he behaved more strictly on weekdays, demanding himself everywhere as a nobleman of the Ming Dynasty. , for fear that Jin Yiwei and the governor's yamen who lived in Fuzhou would find out the wrong place and report it to the palace secretly.

After the secret discussion between the governor of Fujian and Zheng Zhilong, they decided to send someone to inform the court first, and then send him to the capital after the court had made sufficient preparations.

So Zheng Zhilong categorically rejected the Dutch and Western attempts to drive the gunboats straight to Tianjin on the grounds that the Dutch gunboats might disturb the Ming capital, taking the opportunity to show off their force.

Because of fear of Zheng Zhilong's strength, the two countries could only accept Zheng Zhilong's suggestion, and finally decided to take the Zheng family merchant ship to the Daming capital.

After procrastinating for more than a month with various reasons, the merchant ship pulled anchor and set sail under the urging of the impatient envoys of the two countries.

"You tell them that I want to disembark to discuss with Yousi, and then Yousi will report to the court, and then the court will decide how to make the trip, and you tell them to wait here patiently, and no one is allowed to disembark, lest they be like outsiders. Cause trouble because you don't understand the laws of Ming Dynasty!"

Just when Pahlavit and others were chatting together and some members of the mission also appeared on the deck, a Ming official wearing a green official uniform walked out of the cabin. He first looked at Pahlavit and the others with disdain. people, and lazily opened his mouth to give instructions to the general manager beside him.

(End of this chapter)