Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 973: Peeling off the cocoon
The rain continued to fall.

Yantai Customs Branch.

The atmosphere in the office was a little depressing.

Chen Jing's face was gloomy as he stared at the files in front of him. The middle-aged and young men standing beside him all had complicated expressions on their faces.

"Director, perhaps I remembered it wrongly."

The young man hesitated, glanced at the files again, and said, "Those ships that left the port may have Westerners on board, but..."

"Your memory is well-known in this department."

Chen Jing glanced at the young man and said in a low voice: "If you can remember it wrongly, it would be strange."

"I~"

The young man was speechless for a moment.

He never doubted himself, but what happened before his eyes was so shocking that he didn't dare to think further. If the files before him were true, then how many similar things happened before and after?

"The places where they forged their identities as Western barbarians, or where they arrived or departed from, were mostly concentrated in the ports of Liaodong and Korea. There may really be something fishy going on."

The middle-aged man spoke at this moment, glancing at the young man from the corner of his eye, and said to Chen Jing: "Dong Weng, if we want to find out the truth about this matter, it may be difficult to do it with only the Yantai branch office. We need to go to Tianjin, Weihai and other places for further investigation."

"Yes."

Chen Jing narrowed his eyes and said, "You are right. What we really need to verify is actually the ports in Liao and Zhao. No wonder His Majesty proposed integration earlier."

"The Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and there are many coastal areas. If the General Administration of Customs is to be governed by each local authority instead of being directly controlled by the central government, I don't know how many people will take advantage of this loophole."

During the years he worked in the customs, Chen Jing always maintained his sharpness, which was why he could become the chief officer of a local branch at such a young age.

"Zhang Kai, I need you to run something."

Having said this, Chen Jing looked at the young man and said.

"Please give me your orders, Director!"

Zhang Kai bowed immediately.

"Take these files I have compiled, the letters I have written, and another package to Jinan." Chen Jing said seriously, "This matter must not be known to the people in the branch office. Do you know how to deal with this matter?"

"I understand."

Zhang Kai immediately said, "I have an emergency at home, so I need to take a few days off to rush back."

He is a smart man.

Chen Jing showed a look of relief. He had been paying attention to this young man since he took office in Yantai. This was the one who impressed him the most among the group of people he inspected.

The General Administration of Customs has been developing extremely fast, which has led to internal promotions much faster than other government agencies. Therefore, each branch office at all levels has a responsibility to regularly supply talents. Anyone who passes the assessment and review will be promoted to a new position.

The process of Ming Dynasty opening up its seas seemed to be uneventful, but in fact the speed was extremely fast, it was just overshadowed by other things.

The current General Administration of Customs has spread all over the northern coast of the Ming Dynasty. There may be some branch offices that are still in a situation of shortage of population, but they have all performed their corresponding duties. Beyond the southeastern coastal areas, the General Administration of Customs is also planning to build a corresponding agency in Dongfan, but this agency is not under the jurisdiction of the General Administration for the time being, but under the control of Dongfan officials. Anything is not accomplished overnight, it must be a process, and in this process, there must be some exploration paths.

In Zhu Youxiao's mind, the Ming Dynasty's policy of opening up the seas remained unchanged, but if the Ming Dynasty wanted to become a hegemonic force in maritime affairs, it must have a complete maritime system.

It does not mean that having a strong naval force to support the country's external maritime trade, and obtaining continuous profits and advantages from both the military and economic levels, can make the Ming Dynasty stand proudly in the era of great navigation.

This must be supported by systems from top to bottom and bottom to top, otherwise it will be a makeshift team that will rise in a certain period but will inevitably decline in a new era.

Zhu Youxiao didn't want this to happen.

This is also why Zhu Youxiao always showed great patience and policy support in corresponding areas related to the sea. The root cause was that Zhu Youxiao wanted the Ming Dynasty to explore a complete system.

The Ming Dynasty has no shortage of talents.

Therefore, he had to use policies to guide batches of talents to get involved, so that when the Ming Dynasty was exploring and moving forward, these talents would also be able to develop in familiar fields. Of course, some of them would inevitably fall behind, but so what? As long as the talent team was there, it would not affect the exploration and development of the Ming Dynasty.

Under Zhang Kai's gaze, Chen Jing wrote a letter, sealed it carefully, and handed it to Zhang Kai along with a package, "Be careful along the way."

"Don't worry, Director."

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After Zhang Kai took it, he said seriously: "I will take care of this matter."

Chen Jing nodded.

Looking at Zhang Kai's departing back, the middle-aged man's brows were filled with worry, and he said to Chen Jing: "Dong Weng, have you found any of these files that are related to the case in which the noble was arrested among the sea merchants from the southeast?"

"That's probably true."

Chen Jing frowned and said, "Otherwise, why would they go to such great lengths to disguise their identities and make a short stopover in order to confuse the public and conceal their true purpose of going to Liaodong or Korea?"

"If that's the case, this might be a big case."

The middle-aged man's heartbeat quickened. "Even now, the unrest in the southeastern provinces is still going on. But what is strange is that the number of southeastern merchants heading north is increasing. This also includes the Western Yi merchants going north through the southeastern coast."

"Even though the exclusive right to sell silk, tea, porcelain, etc. to foreign countries is only in Tianjin and the Thirteen Factories, the prices have increased too much because of the unrest in the southeast."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man suddenly widened his eyes.

“Perhaps the unrest in some places was fanned by someone from the very beginning.”

Chen Jing said with a sharp look in his eyes: "If this is true, then even if we kill all nine of their clans, we can't wash away the sins they have committed!!"

"If this is true, it is beyond our ability to investigate. We must report this matter to our superiors. At the same time, we must ask the Denglai Navy to get involved."

"You go to Denglai Town now and make sure you meet General Shen. I will go to the Yantai Navy Camp in person and ask them to send troops to track down those ships."

"In such weather, even if they leave the port to avoid random inspections, it is absolutely impossible for them to leave safely."

The middle-aged man wanted to say something but stopped himself, but when he saw Chen Jing's determined eyes, he knew that he could not persuade him about this matter. He even prayed secretly in his heart that all these speculations were false. If they were true, it would inevitably implicate many people, and there was no guarantee that someone would not take action secretly during this period.

(End of this chapter)