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Chapter 323 The New Deal Begins

The emperor, who had won a great victory, did not stop there. He held five imperial meetings in succession and issued two imperial edicts in mid-August.

With Guangdong and Fujian as special zones, we will comprehensively implement the New Deal, vigorously promote the cultivation of potatoes, sugar cane, rubber trees, and cocoa trees, and encourage government-supervised and private-owned factories to build factories. Incorporate sweet potatoes and barley into the scope of grain tax collection, and replace rice and barley with taxes at a ratio of four to one.

Open the two ports of Guangzhou and Fuzhou, restore the Municipal Shipping Department, accept Southeast Asian and Western merchant ships for trade, and allow private ships from the two places to trade overseas.

It took three years to abolish half of the water transport offices and ships, and to replace canal water transport with sea transport. The new maritime governor is concurrently appointed by the naval governor, and the four ports of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Weihai are tentatively designated as transshipment gathering points.

When these two imperial edicts reached Guangdong and Fujian, firecrackers went off all night in many coastal state capitals like a festival, and most of the wine shops in the city were overcrowded.

In addition to celebrating the lifting of the maritime ban, the first batch of merchants who were willing to go to sea had to get together to discuss where to build and buy ships, what kind of goods to prepare, which ship bosses to hire, and where to find acquaintances in Southeast Asia.

Some people are happy and some are worried. This is an eternal truth. Although the contents of the emperor's two new policies were different, they were both highly targeted. Businessmen, craftsmen, and farmers became the biggest beneficiaries, while bureaucrats and gentry became the biggest victims.

In the past, there was a sea ban policy that prevented most people from going overseas for trade. Only they could openly engage in smuggling through money and power transactions. They didn't have to pay a copper coin in tax, and they didn't even have to pay their own capital. They could earn their money back at home.

Now not only can we no longer monopolize the market, but we also have to pay taxes. From making money lying down to running, we may not be able to make money. The changes have been too great. There are only a few people who can really continue to work in this industry.

In addition, farmers were allowed to use sweet potatoes and wheat as tax credits, which also caused considerable losses to the local gentry families. They relied on the tax-free advantage to annex a large amount of farmland and then rented it to farmers for farming, making money on the side.

Once farmers can open up land and sow new crops, their dependence on them will immediately decrease, and some tenants will be lost. The family's acres do not have enough manpower to cultivate them, so they cannot abandon them. The only option is to lower the rent to retain the tenants. It’s all expenses inside and out, and you can imagine how uncomfortable it is.

Those affected in the second wave were the official families along the canal, mainly those in South Zhili, Zhejiang, Shandong, and North Zhili. These families have used the canal as a cash cow for generations, relying on water transportation and royal allocations to make a living. Now the emperor cut off half of the water transportation share with one stroke, which was as painful as cutting off their legs.

But no matter how painful or reluctant it is, the implementation of the New Deal cannot be stopped. With Li Zhi, Yuan Yingtai, and Li Rumei in charge of Guangzhou, anyone who dared to openly oppose the New Deal would be committing suicide. It's not like the local officials and gentry have never tried. Even Hu Guifang, the leftist governor-general, was imprisoned. It is no longer possible to manipulate officialdom.

Come in secret, let alone do it. The black sailing ship is stationed at Lingding Yangkou. If anyone thinks he is better than the pirates who have been roaming the coasts of Guangdong and Fujian for many years, go out and challenge the black sailing ship. I guarantee that no one will stop him.

The sea is not like land, and there are still officials who can reason. Not to mention that they don't dare to come out openly. As long as the black sailing boat suspects who is causing the obstruction, unless they never go to sea, they will never come back, and they will not see people alive or dead, nor corpses.

The conservative forces in Southern Zhili were indeed very powerful, but they were also helpless in the face of the emperor's New Deal. They have no contact with you at all, directly reducing the canal water transportation ration, and loading large ships from the four nearby ports directly to Tianjin Wei.

Even though they are all navy, the tankers who can dominate in the canal are not as useful as turtles on the sea. Whether they can find the navy fleet is a problem. There is a high probability that they will not come back, and they will become the most miserable people in history. pirate. The only way is to secretly make a small paper figure of Yuan Keli at home, and recite the incantation every now and then, hoping that the sea will be rough every day and drown the entire naval fleet, forcing the emperor to return his share of water transportation.

However, anyone whose mind is not full of water would not have high hopes for the curse. The navy has been established for five years. It cannot be said that a ship has never capsized, but the sea seems to take special care of Yuan Keli and has never shown its power.

Not only did they go to the coast of Japan to vent their anger on the emperor, they also sailed to Annan and robbed the palace. No, the Navy's second shipyard has been built in Songjiang Prefecture. I heard that the ships to be built will be larger and stronger.

What? Was the Annan Palace robbed by Nanhai giants pretending to be the Ming navy? Anyone with such thoughts is not worthy of the title of Jinshi, let alone serving in the imperial court.

This is an obvious thing. It was Yuan Keli and Haijun who robbed the Annan Palace, and they must have been approved by the emperor. The reason why Hu Guifang stole the chicken but lost the rice is not because the facts are not established, but because she was unable to prove it and was eager to impeach her, so she fell into a trap.

As the saying goes, there are no fathers and sons in casinos, so bets are willing to admit defeat. In fact, it is the same in official circles. If you know something clearly in your heart, you must have evidence or the power to be unreasonable.

He had no choice but to endure it. Even if the emperor personally admitted in private that he had sent troops to rob Annan Kingdom, but turned around and immediately refused to admit it in court, he was still innocent.

Of course, the emperor's behavior also has side effects. At least in terms of character, he will be looked down upon by all civil and military officials. When he gets along with him in the future, he will be more vigilant and lack a sense of trust.

But then again, does the emperor need this kind of character and trust? is that useful? In official circles from ancient times to the present, there are only two things that are really useful, power and interests. What benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and trust are nothing more than ways to gain support and recognition, the ultimate goal is still power and interests, smooth communication and common destination.

Just watching the money in hand go away, who can face it calmly? It must not be possible, but this time the officials did not rush to play confrontation with the emperor, but changed their tactics, or learned a trick from the noble generals, and joined if they couldn't defeat him.

In the past two years, the reason why the throne has become more and more stable is that controlling the royal guards and the navy is definitely the main factor, but there is also a secondary factor that must be mentioned, and that is the change in attitude of the noble generals.

In the Wanli Dynasty, the civil servant group occupied a dominant position, and the noble military generals were overwhelmed. The emperor's refusal to hide in the harem aggravated the situation, so that the noble generals had to follow the lead of the civil servants.

However, since Emperor Jingyang ascended the throne, a series of surprise victories not only undermined the arrogance of the civil servant group and strengthened the imperial power, but also gave the noble generals hope to turn around.

(End of this chapter)