Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 987: Maritime Authority
The General Administration of Customs is holding intensive discussions on the additional tariffs in response to the smuggling discovered in Shandong to ensure that the interests of the country are not harmed.

At the same time in Xiyuan, a court meeting on maritime-related powers was held quietly.

Ok Hee Palace.

"Since I issued the decree to open Tianjin to trade and allow European merchants to dock, we have uncovered many cases of smuggling every year."

Zhu Youxiao pointed at the piles of files in front of him with a serious expression, and scanned the ministers gathered in front of him. "This is the smuggled maritime trade seized by the three fleets, coastal navy, and local maritime patrols, after the court allowed the opening of the sea, set up a special customs bureau, and gradually restored and strengthened the taxation of maritime trade."

"Look carefully, this is so shocking. Sometimes I wonder how much tax silver is lost when the country collects corresponding taxes?"

The officials of the Military Affairs Council headed by Chen Shiqi and Zhang Guowei, the officials of the Upper Study headed by Jin Xuan, and the officials of the Southern Study headed by Chen Mingyu, all stared at the files in front of them with different expressions.

The files were piled up in piles.

But it looks so frightening.

Moreover, all the ministers gathered together were aware that these anti-smuggling files were mostly related to the northern sea borders. South of the Yangtze River, no, to be more precise, after the Shandong waters, there was very little involvement in anti-smuggling. It was not to say that there was no smuggling outside these places. On the contrary, there was probably more smuggling in these places. However, the maritime forces directly under the central government, even now, were mostly concentrated on the coasts of the northern provinces.

In fact, many ministers are aware of this.

The root cause of the unrest in the southeastern provinces is that the emperor wants to investigate some things, like taking back the scattered things one by one, which led to this situation.

"I know the character and faces of some people too well, so on the basis of the navy, I specially set up the Ming Royal Navy, planned to build three fleets in the north, and later added three fleets in the south, in order to clarify the navy's authority over the distant seas and oceans."

Looking at the reactions of the ministers, Zhu Youxiao continued, "The navy is responsible for the coastal and nearshore duties. It supports the shipbuilding industry with all its strength, allowing the Ship Cleaning Department to expand the various workshops and factories, and even ordering some officials to take out part of the tax silver as special military expenditures. This is to develop maritime power and reduce the occurrence of such things that harm the interests of the country."

"But what's the result?"

"It's still the same as before. Even though the navy and the admiralty conduct anti-smuggling operations every year, there are still people who choose to take risks. After all, isn't it all about profit?"

It would be a lie to say that I'm not angry about what happened in Shandong.

But Zhu Youxiao also knew that it was impossible to solve the problem once and for all.

Therefore, we need to clarify the system and standardize the institutions so that everything can be traced and the corresponding officials can be asked to do the corresponding things. In this way, when corresponding things happen, we can find the corresponding people instead of asking everyone to pass the buck.

"I summoned you here today for no other reason than to discuss one thing!"

Zhu Youxiao said with a sharp look in his eyes: "From now on, we will appoint a special department to be responsible for maritime anti-smuggling. I have thought about it and call it the Coast Guard General Administration!!"

"The respective powers of the navy, admiralty and coast guard must be clearly defined. As for anti-smuggling, once the Coast Guard General Administration has reached a certain scale, the navy and admiralty should gradually withdraw from anti-smuggling."

A word stirred up a thousand waves.

After hearing this, all the ministers in the hall showed expressions of surprise.

Setting up a Coast Guard General Office specifically for the purpose of combating smuggling is clearly a big deal. "Your Majesty, would you please consider this matter again?"

Jin Xuan hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and bowed, saying, "We need to further strengthen anti-smuggling efforts at sea. This is indeed what the country needs to do, but setting up a new agency to manage it will probably cause a lot of trouble."

"Let's not talk about anything else. Just take the Coast Guard as an example. If we set up a Coast Guard Administration, some of the powers of the two will overlap. If we do this, we will even have to add a number of ships to the sea, which will be a huge burden on the court."

"I second the proposal."

"I second the proposal."

Some ministers came forward and echoed.

In fact, since the establishment of the Ming Royal Navy, there have been some overlaps in matters involving the sea, such as the existing Coast Guard Road and Coast Defense Road. This has caused some trouble along the coasts of the northern provinces, but due to some turmoil, the incident did not cause much impact.

Jin Xuan and others stood up to oppose, not because they opposed the decision, but because they were afraid that new problems would arise before the previous ones were effectively solved.

this is not good.

But obviously, they were not clear about their emperor's overall conception of the sea.

"The special establishment of the Coast Guard cannot be questioned!"

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Zhu Youxiao said in a firm tone: "After the establishment of the Coast Guard General Administration, the navies of the northern coastal provinces should carry out military exercises and elimination in a planned manner. Those who are not suitable to stay in the navy will be dismissed and transferred to the Coast Guard General Administration. Transfer first, then reorganize."

"At this time, the various coast guard and coastal defense departments should be transferred or abolished. Since the navy is in charge of the coastal waters, there is no need for these. In the future, if there are any problems in the coastal waters, we should find the corresponding navy."

"Similarly, if there are any problems with anti-smuggling, we should contact the Coast Guard."

"The old system of our dynasty's maritime powers is obviously no longer suitable for today. Since it is not suitable, it must be adjusted and changed in a timely manner."

"I summoned you here today not to listen to you talk about various problems, but to ask you to solve them. The Military Affairs Council will be in charge of this matter, and the two study rooms will be in charge. Please give me specific rules for what I have said, and then send them to the corresponding departments to be responsible for implementation."

It's a big deal.

When Jin Hyun and the others heard this, they all showed shocked expressions. If they did as the emperor said, the maritime patrol and coastal defense would probably be gradually abolished, and the powers involved in the sea would be further refined. War would be war, coastal defense would be coastal defense, and anti-smuggling would be anti-smuggling... There would be no connection between them. If any problem occurred in any place, the court would hold the corresponding officials accountable and would not leave any chance for shirking responsibility.

But this is easier said than done, after all, there are too many aspects involved.

But Zhu Youxiao had plenty of time and patience.

After all, according to Zhu Youxiao's idea, if the Ming Dynasty wants to fully open up the sea in the future, or even expand outward, it must have clear responsibilities and powers when it comes to the sea.

While there is still time, we should hurry up to improve and perfect it. When the Ming Dynasty starts to take the initiative to engage in maritime affairs, whoever is responsible should be responsible for the corresponding part. Only in this way can a complete system be built, so that the Ming Dynasty will not collapse quickly before gaining corresponding benefits after making progress and breakthroughs at sea. This is not what Zhu Youxiao wants.

(End of this chapter)