Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 423: Opening up to the good and the navy
Obtaining food from the ocean was one of Zhu Youjian's purposes in developing the navy.

In later China, seafood accounted for half of its aquatic products and about one twentieth of its total grain output.

If the Ming Dynasty's seafood can reach this ratio, it means that he can allocate more food to help the victims of floods and droughts.

Moreover, after the relocated victims adapted to marine food, they would reduce the food consumption in the immigration camps and coastal supply points. After immigrating to Southeast Asia, many people were able to survive on fish.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian planned to vigorously develop fishing and encourage coastal aquaculture.

However, there is another problem with the caught fish: it is difficult to transport them inland without a cold chain.

The reason why he proposed using fish meal to make feed or even directly feeding pigs with seafood is because too many fish were caught and the coastal areas could not digest them.

It can only be converted into live pigs for easy transportation to the mainland.

In order to solve this problem, Zhu Youjian ordered:
“The Marine Research Institute will set up a Marine Food Research Institute to study methods of making food using marine fish, shrimp, kelp, seaweed, etc.”

“We will try to develop food products that can be preserved for a certain period of time, such as fish floss, fish balls, edible fish meal, oyster sauce, etc., which can be transported inland.”

"In terms of feed, the Marine Research Institute needs to communicate with the Agricultural Science Branch to research and promote the finished products."

At this point, Zhu Youjian felt that there was a lot of room for cooperation between the two research institutes, and it was not appropriate to keep the Institute of Oceanography outside. So he ordered the Institute of Oceanography to be transferred to the Royal Academy of Sciences Marine Science Branch, becoming one of the branches of the Academy of Sciences, specializing in marine research.

This change was to incorporate the Navy Department's institutions into the Royal Academy of Sciences established by the inner court. However, Yuan Keli, Yu Anxing, Yu Zigao and others did not care at all.

First, they did not realize the importance of the Ocean University of China; second, they felt that research was too expensive and were not willing to allocate funds.

If the Navy Department had not allocated too little funding, the previous Ocean Research Institute would not have achieved so few results. Zhu Youjian also included it in the Royal Academy of Sciences for this reason.

He decided to use the income from the inner court to support marine research, and then let the Marine Science Institute raise funds on its own after the results were achieved.

Because of this, he had another motivation to establish the Royal Shipping Group, which was to put the results of the Marine Science Institute into practical use and promote the linkage between industry, academia and research together with the Naval Academy.

In addition, he also targeted the fishermen who made their living by the sea. After thinking about some issues, Zhu Youjian asked the officials of the Navy Department:
"In the future, the navy will establish three fleets with approximately 150,000 personnel."

"Can the officers and soldiers of the coastal garrisons provide sufficient manpower?"

Navy Minister Yu Anxing calculated and said:

“The coastal garrisons are responsible for coastal defense, and the personnel of the coast guard, customs, and shipping companies are also mostly drawn from them.”

"It is difficult to meet the needs of three fleets by relying solely on the officers and soldiers of the garrison."

Zhu Youjian frowned and said:
"So what's the Navy's plan?"

"Where can we get enough troops?"

Yu Anxing had not thought about this matter yet. When asked by the emperor, he thought about it carefully and replied:
"I think we can recruit soldiers from coastal fishermen."

"During the Hongwu period, Japanese pirates invaded coastal counties, and Taizu recruited fishermen, islanders, salt workers, and Tanka households as naval forces numbering tens of thousands."

"If there is a shortage of soldiers in the future, you can recruit these people as soldiers."

Zhu Youjian praised him and thought the solution he proposed was very good. He then asked:
“The cost of recruiting soldiers is still too high.”

"Can we incorporate some people into the Military and Civilian Guard and make them compulsory for service?"

Expanding the source of soldiers is what Zhu Youjian has always wanted to do.

In order to avoid a shortage of reserve troops when the navy was built up in the future, he planned to incorporate some people into the garrisons.

After hearing this, Yuan Keli said:

"Your Majesty, we should be cautious when expanding the garrisons."

"If we force the people to serve as soldiers, I am afraid there will be unrest among the people."

This was something Zhu Youjian had known for a long time, so he turned the original guard post into a military and civilian guard post.

When organizing the migration of people from Shaanxi this year, all the people's identities were registered as civilian households in the garrison, and then the military households were allowed to organize their migration.

Otherwise, some civilian households would probably make trouble if they knew that they had become military households for no reason.

But if everyone becomes a civilian household of the military and civilian guards, that would be a different story.

Most people accepted this change silently, and after arriving in Dongning and being allocated land, they wholeheartedly supported the status of military and civilian households.

Some families even applied to join the military households in order to get more land as hereditary land.

Now, among the 50,000 households in Dongning Prefecture, the number of military households has reached 10,000.

Those military households who voluntarily joined the army were very enthusiastic about making achievements. Most of the 1,000 soldiers recruited by Huo Weihua to go to Liaodong were selected from them.

Now, he plans to turn the coastal garrisons into military and civilian garrisons to attract fishermen and boat people to join:
"I have often heard that fishermen are heavily taxed. If we can reduce their taxes by joining the guard post, can we attract some people to join?"

"They join the guards as civilians and only need to serve for three years. Those who continue to serve for more than three years will be promoted to sergeants and receive military salary subsidies."

Yuan Keli knew this, and after thinking about it, he said:

"It has little effect on fishermen, who are more worried about being exploited by officers after becoming military households."

"Those boat people who want to go ashore may choose to go to the guard post."

Zhu Youjian's target included the Tanka people, so he immediately said:
"Then recruit soldiers from the Tanka people!"

"Tell them that as long as they are willing to join the garrison as civilians and their children serve in the military when they reach adulthood, they will be no different from other civilians in the garrison and enjoy all rights."

"The management of the military and civilian households of the garrisons will be the responsibility of the Protectorate General. Currently, the local Protectorate General has not been established yet, so we will send a lieutenant general to be in charge of this."

Yu Anxing immediately said:
"I think that the captains of the guards in each coastal defense area can be responsible for this matter, and a mobilization office can be established in the coastal defense area to manage the reserve troops."

"There are hundreds of thousands of Tanka people. If every family sends someone to serve, they can provide enough seafarers."

Obviously he also understood the emperor's purpose, and he didn't even care about the wishes of the boat people, and directly classified them all as reserve soldiers.

Yu Zigao also agreed with this proposal, believing that the boat people who had always lived on the sea could be a good source of soldiers for the navy.

Apart from other things, these people are at least good at swimming and are suitable for sea operations. When the navy needs them, they can recruit soldiers from them.

As for the wishes of these people, Yu Zigao did not care either, believing that turning the Tanka households into civilian households was a gift to them.

However, they didn't care, but Zhu Youjian couldn't help but care. He wanted to turn all the Tanka households into civilian households, but some Tanka households had been at sea for a long time and might have strange ideas. Forcing them to become civilian households might lead to their resistance.

To prevent any trouble, he insisted:
“Don’t force them to change their household registration.”

"Those who are unwilling to become civilians, let them continue to drift on the sea."

"For those who are willing to become civilians, we will allocate land to them along the coast and on islands, allowing them to live on the shore and develop tidal flats and offshore aquaculture."

"The same goes for the fishermen of the Nine Families, as well as the fallen people, beggars and other lowly people who are willing to join the army."

Zhu Youjian did not simply leave these untouchables alone, but instead incorporated them into the garrisons as soldiers. These people had to serve in the military before they could enjoy the rights of civilian households.

Then, regarding the islanders, Zhu Youjian ordered:
"For offshore islands with less than 100 households or smaller than a certain area, all islanders must be registered as garrison households."

"Strengthen management of them to prevent pirates from lurking."

"These islands will be put under military control in the future, and the officers of the coastal defense zone will manage the defense zone under their jurisdiction." Previously, the Tanka people were not forced to change their household registration, but these islanders were forced to do so. Yu Anxing said:

“What should we do if some islanders do not want to join the guardhouse?”

Zhu Youjian glanced at him and responded:
"If they don't want to join, they can move away. We can let them go to other large islands. We can also move them overseas and allocate land to them."

"The same is true for the Tanka people and other low-class people. If they want to move overseas, they will also be allocated land."

After finalizing these policies, Zhu Youjian believed that they were sufficient to incorporate most of the boat people and islanders.

As for the fishermen who could also serve as a source of soldiers, he planned to bribe them:
"Although the civilian households incorporated into the garrisons will not be allocated land like the military households, their taxes will be reduced to a certain extent."

"What I mean is that fishing boats under 100 tons will not be taxed when they go out to sea to fish."

"Only when the goods are sold at the market will a certain tax be levied, not exceeding one tenth of the total value of the original tax burden."

"If you don't sell them at the market and just eat them at home or use them for breeding, then you don't have to pay taxes."

This is a measure to encourage fishing at sea. He hopes to attract fishermen to join the garrison through this.

Yu Anxing heard this and asked:
"Your Majesty, do you mean that after they join the guards, they can still fish and do not have to pay fishing taxes?"

"Are there any other levies?"

Zhu Youjian nodded in approval:

"All taxes and levies are gone."

"They served as soldiers and were paying blood taxes to the imperial court."

"This applies to the officers, military households, and civilian households of the guards. They only need to pay one-tenth of the tax on their land. If the burden exceeds one-tenth, then the local guards are unqualified and need to be strictly investigated for taxation."

"The court needs them to fight, and taxes can be collected from the people who don't serve."

"It's impossible for them to serve in the army and at the same time bear the same tax burden as other citizens."

If these words were heard by other ministers in the court, many would probably object.

But most of those present were Privy Council officials, and the source of troops was more or less related to their power.

So even if they disagreed with the emperor's words, they did not dare to openly oppose them.

Otherwise, if word of opposition spreads, they will be boycotted by all the guards.

Whether he can stay in the Privy Council in the future is another matter of debate.

People like Yu Zigao, who came from a military base, were even happier. He was not happy that he could pay less tax.

In fact, even without this policy, he had paid very little tax before. Most of the tax burden he needed to bear was passed on to the military households.

He was happy because this policy showed the emperor's love for the guards and his concern for the soldiers.

In this way, he would not have to worry about the source of soldiers, or even morale. Those soldiers who were favored by the emperor would be willing to die for him.

Zhu Youjian clarified this policy at this time in order to appease the nobles and hereditary officials.

Previously, he had designated the garrisons as being under the management of the Protectorate-General, depriving military officers of the power to govern military households. In recent days, quite a few nobles have submitted memorials to the emperor and even visited the palace, arguing that civil officials should not be allowed to interfere in the management of the garrisons.

Zhu Youjian could not change this decision and let the military households continue to serve as serfs for the officers. However, in order to appease them, he decided to offer preferential treatment in taxation. This policy, which was originally intended to be implemented on the hereditary land of the guards, was announced in advance.

At the same time, the fact that civilians in the guards could be fishermen also showed that there were no restrictions on their employment. As long as they served as soldiers and paid the tithe tax regularly on the land they were allocated, there were no restrictions on fishing or working.

After confirming this, Zhu Youjian also gave a policy for fishing vessels over 100 tons, saying to his ministers:

“Fishing vessels over 100 tons must be registered with a classification society.”

"To make sure their vessels are used for fishing and not for other purposes."

"These large fishing boats will be exempted from tax for the time being for ten years. We will see whether to collect tax after ten years. In principle, the tax shall not exceed one tenth."

"For fishermen who sell a certain amount of catch to the government and the inner court, we will also provide loans to help them replace their small fishing boats with large ones and engage in deep-sea fishing."

Today's deep-sea fishing is subject to great restrictions due to the lack of refrigeration capabilities.

Only whale oil could be processed on board, and a large number of whaling ships emerged.

Zhu Youjian was not against whaling, but he did not support it either.

Because whale oil can be replaced by various petroleum products.

He would rather develop the oil industry than whaling.

He also believed that hunting whales for whale oil and baleen and throwing the whale carcasses into the sea was a very wasteful act.

When Ming Dynasty develops whaling ships in the future, he will definitely ask to bring back whale carcasses.

Whether refrigerated or pickled, the whale carcass cannot be thrown into the sea in vain.

When thinking of pickling, Zhu Youjian thought of salted fish.

Before the processing technologies of canning, fish meal, etc. matured, only pickled salted fish was suitable for long-distance sales.

However, there is a problem with the sale of salted fish, which is that too much salt is used, which greatly affects the salt tax.

If people buy salted fish instead of salt, the salt tax of the entire Ming Dynasty will be greatly affected.

But this problem cannot be left unsolved because canned products also require a lot of salt.

So Zhu Youjian raised this issue to his ministers to see if they had any good solution.

Yu Anxing said:
"We can issue salt permits specifically to fishermen so that they can collect salt for pickling salted fish."

"Or use a kind of salt that is not edible, specially for pickling salted fish."

Zhu Youjian was not optimistic about these two methods. If these two methods were effective, there would not be so few salted fish.

After thinking about it, he said:
"I will let the Ministry of Revenue take care of the salt administration."

"We have to find a way to not delay the pickling of salted fish and not affect the salt tax."

"We will now implement a special salt permit, allowing fishermen who join the garrison to purchase a certain amount of salt at a low price every month."

This is another move to attract fishermen, who can buy salt at a low price and make a lot of profit. I believe some fishermen will not be able to resist this temptation.

Zhu Youjian’s greatest hope was to allow those who made a living on the sea to become naval reserves.

In this way, the Ming Dynasty’s navy will have enough support, and its voice will be louder when competing for resources in the court in the future.

In the future, if the Ming Dynasty wants to fight for and maintain maritime power, it will also need sufficient personnel support.

These people who make a living at sea are the best source of naval officers and soldiers.

(End of this chapter)