Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Daoyan and Xia Yuanji are quite capable in getting things done, so having them go to Taicang Port is one of the most appropriate arrangements.

Many people say that Zheng He's voyages to the West were a huge burden on the imperial court, but in fact, the vassal states that received the imperial permit from the Ming Dynasty also imported imported goods into the Ming market.

According to estimates by some scholars, the trade profits brought by Zheng He's voyages to the West amounted to at least 200,000 taels of gold and tens of millions of taels of silver, which was more than ten times the revenue of the Maritime Customs in the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Although these statements have been questioned by many people, they do have a certain market.

In the final analysis, Zheng He's voyages to the West in history were more of a political mission and had very limited impact on the economy.

Once the royal needs were met, once they heard the news of peace and prosperity, they completely blocked the ocean from the national level to the people's level.

This was obviously not possible. Zhu Yunhuan did not intend to allow China's history to experience another brief absence in the ocean.

The Tang and Song dynasties and even the Yuan Dynasty had a good maritime civilization and good foreign maritime trade, which should not have stopped during the Ming Dynasty.

Daoyan hurried back to Yingtian Prefecture, looking a little tired. "Your Highness, I will return to the capital to report."

Zhu Yunhuan laughed and said, "Master, did you feel that you gained a lot of knowledge during your trip to Taicang?"

Daoyan quickly replied, "Your Highness, I pride myself on being knowledgeable, but now that I have been to Taicang, I feel that I was a little complacent. This world is vast, and my vision is still short."

This is Daoyan's true feelings, and of course there is a certain reason for flattery. In the final analysis, Daoyan has a very clear understanding of his own position, he is now a counselor.

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said to Daoyan, "Since you have been there, you should also gain some knowledge. It is said that hearing is not as good as seeing, so it should be so."

These are also Zhu Yunhuan's inner thoughts. In the final analysis, many people now believe that the Central Plains dynasty like the Ming Dynasty is the richest in the world, and they simply look down on some small countries around it.

Those so-called foreign small countries are truly barbaric and do not respect the king. Everyone has a strong sense of superiority when facing these countries.

Daoyan said with some sincerity, "Your Highness, I didn't understand before why people said that the overseas barbarians were barbaric and wild, but why some previous dynasties were able to get many good things from overseas."

Daoyan continued, "Let's not talk about other things. The Silk Road still existed during the Han Dynasty. If those barbarians didn't have some good things, how could they take away the silk and porcelain of our Central Plains Dynasty?"

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and nodded, "That's true. Those wild places may not be really wild."

Zhu Yunhuan counted on his fingers, "I have thought about this before. There are many good things coming from overseas, such as glass, pepper, etc. In addition, there are also gold, silver and other good things. It's not too much."

Daoyan was well aware of this, especially the ship that returned from overseas this time, which brought back a lot of goods, which gave Daoyan a lot of new insights.

He also asked carefully, and this was not some place like Persia. Even places like Annan were actually not too far away from the Ming Dynasty, but he still brought back a lot of good things.

Among the many things brought back, there were many that made Daoyan feel that his worldview had been refreshed. The wild land might not be that wild.

Especially when I heard that the accompanying army wiped out several small tribes and bandits, and obtained a lot of gold, silver, jewelry, etc., many of the barbarians had no idea what those good things were used for.

Zhu Yunhuan listened carefully. He thought that the Ming navy must have wiped out some bandits. After all, piracy was rampant in Southeast Asia, and it was unlikely that they would just destroy a few small Southeast Asian countries.

Daoyan also handed over a list of goods to Zhu Yunhuan, including 13,000 taels of gold, 200,000 taels of silver, and more than 50,000 taels of copper.

There were also a lot of pearls, corals, gems, etc., all of which made Zhu Yunhuan very satisfied.

Not to mention the low purity of gold and silver, it is not bad to have such a large quantity.

Zhu Yunhuan looked at the list of goods and asked, "I remember taking a lot of things out, but I can't sell them at this price, right?"

Daoyan looked very calm, "Your Highness, the goods of our Ming Dynasty are sold all over the world, and they are worth a fortune. Those barbarians have never seen good things, so they will naturally beg for them with a huge sum of money."

Zhu Yunhuan still expressed his doubts and said with a smile, "I'm afraid there are a lot of captured items here. Let's forget about it this time. Be more careful next time and don't destroy them all in one go."

Because the cargo lists were real, and the spoils were indeed not small, and along with them were the military merits that reported the merits of the soldiers.

What does this mean? It means that on the surface it seems that the Ming navy has gone out to trade, but it is entirely possible that it is half selling and half robbing. If some small countries in Southeast Asia disagree, the Ming army will arrive.

This is of course not a real trade, but there is no need to pay special attention to these small details. From the results, this is a very good thing.

Zhu Yunhuan was very satisfied with this. Daoyan and others also felt that the court had found a new way this time. Perhaps the Ming Dynasty would really have an additional good source of income.

Handing the invitation to Zhang Fusheng, Zhu Yunhuan said, "Give it to His Majesty and make him happy."

Since it is good news, it naturally means that some good news needs to be shared. This is what is truly worth being happy about. After all, we have achieved some results and now seem to have enough confidence.

Daoyan continued to flatter, "Your Highness, I think that this time the navy went out to sea, not only brought back a lot of goods, but also brought with them a lot of foreign envoys."

This is not surprising at all, after all, there are some civil servants in the fleet. Zhu Yunhuan's arrangement of this fleet is really a way of killing two birds with one stone.

In name, their mission was to eliminate pirates and Japanese pirates, so it was normal for them to have some military exploits. These navy officers did not disappoint, and they killed some bandits when they saw them.

Of course, they were also doing trade. After all, they not only brought some popular goods, but also a lot of merchants who were proficient in maritime trade, and these people naturally came to make money.

Sending in envoys like Lian Zining was to promote the country's prestige, and bringing back some envoys from foreign countries was also reasonable.

Strengthening some ties with Southeast Asia and getting to know them better is not necessarily a rush for all nations to come to the court, but for the purpose of being able to better control those regions in the future. Zhu Yunhuan was in a good mood. This move seemed to be the right one, and it had made a very good start. He could also continue to work hard and thoroughly consolidate the subsequent matters.

After all, we can't always send a large army to support us when we go for maritime trade, and we can't just destroy others if they don't buy our troops.

There is still potential to be explored, and this is something worth doing in the long run. We need to form an industrial chain and scale, and we need to take a long-term approach rather than killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

The cargo list and so on can be handed over to Lao Zhu, but there are other things to do, "Call the people from the Five Military Commandery, and summon the King of Qin, the King of Jin, the King of Yan, the King of Zhou, and the King of Chu back to the capital."

Daoyan immediately spoke up, "Your Highness, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to summon the kings back to the capital. This is a matter of the court. What does it have to do with the kings?"

This is a question of stance. Daoyan is now an official appointed by the Ming Dynasty court. He is now serving the crown prince Zhu Yunhuan, and naturally what he is thinking about is further centralization of power.

"Of course I understand this. The benefits can't just be taken by the nobles, relatives and members of the royal family." Zhu Yunxun laughed and said, "But think about it, if members of the royal family never find something to do, how can that be?"

At present, it seems that the royal family of the Ming Dynasty is not being "raised like pigs", but it is estimated that it will be difficult for many of them to do anything in the future.

Zhu Yunhuan did not intend to follow the example of Zhu Di and Zhu Di in history and let the royal family of the Ming Dynasty only take money but not do any work. Preferential treatment is necessary, after all, this is also one of the basic forces of rule.

However, when it is time to impose restrictions, there naturally need to be certain restrictions. After all, once the royal family is freed from restrictions, it will quickly expand into a terrifying monster, which is obviously not a good thing.

People at the level of princes and dukes should continue to maintain their respected status. Even if they want to do something, it will not be an easy task. These people are not suitable to have too much power.

However, generals guarding the country, generals assisting the country, etc., these people might be able to get an official position, instead of the "beggar generals" in history. Some members of the royal family must be given the opportunity to make a living for themselves.

The constraints on the royal family are now quite strong, so some adjustments need to be made where necessary, and there is obviously no harm in that.

Daoyan had nothing to say, and naturally understood some of Zhu Yunhuan's concerns.

It may seem that it is too early to consider some things now. After all, some conflicts have not yet erupted, so it seems that we don’t need to worry too much.

But think about it more carefully, if you don't have vision and long-term perspective, and only look at things in the present, then the hidden dangers left behind in the future will be very great, which is obviously not a good thing.

The people from the Five Military Commanders' Office hadn't arrived yet, but Old Zhu came happily holding Zhu Wenyao in his arms, "No wonder he's so generous, our Wenyao can really roll pearls around!"

Although the list was shown to Lao Zhu before, it was just a rough draft. Now it has been carefully checked by Xia Yuanji, Daoyan and others, and it can basically be put into storage.

Zhu Wenyao still remembered his father and waved his hands happily. But when Zhu Yunxun reached out to hug him, the little guy turned around and lay on Zhu's shoulder, laughing. It seemed that he liked this little game very much.

Zhu Yunhuan teased Zhu Wenyao while saying, "He's my own son, how can I not be generous? I'll find seven-colored pearls for him, let him roll around however he wants, Wenyao deserves it!"

Daoyan felt that the royal family might be the most rule-abiding, but sometimes these rules were indeed the least binding for the emperor.

Didn’t you see that the emperor’s great-grandson was wearing a small yellow bellyband? If you took a closer look, you could see that the dragon claws on it definitely had five claws. The emperor’s great-grandson wore the five-clawed dragon claws before the crown prince.

Old Zhu smiled and put Zhu Wenyao on the table couch, and said, "What are your plans next?"

"When the civil officials see this, they will definitely clamor to take over the Maritime Customs. How can I let them do that?" Zhu Yunhuan said with a smile, "Grandfather has to speak up about the Maritime Customs before I can make arrangements."

Old Zhu nodded when he heard this, and then he also said, "After all, it can go into the national treasury. If these good things are taken back, the court will not lack money for major events in the future."

"I just sent someone to summon my second uncle and his men back to the capital." Zhu Yunhuan also spoke up, "The bulk of the money still has to go into the national treasury, as it's also a tax. But the royal family and others also have to share the benefits."

Old Zhu was naturally very happy about such an arrangement made by Zhu Yunhuan. In his opinion, this was the most suitable arrangement and plan, and he could not find any fault with it.

The crown prince that he chose was good at his job, and he put the country first. There was nothing to say about that. Such a huge amount of income really needed to be kept in the national treasury, and the court was going to do something big.

It is necessary to not forget your family when you get benefits. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang cannot bear to see his descendants suffer.

Zhu Yunhuan continued, "If the Maritime Customs Office is still under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Administration Office as before, I am afraid that it will not be long before those civil servants will embezzle the benefits."

When Old Zhu heard this, he immediately thought it made sense. He also didn't believe that some officials could remain calm in the face of such huge benefits, and such benefits should not be monopolized by civil servants.

Zhu Yunhuan added, "Besides, if these matters are left to the Provincial Administration Commissioner, some powerful people and wealthy businessmen may be able to curry favor with them. When they become rich, the court will work for them."

When Lao Zhu heard this, he became even more worried. Something like this was very likely to happen, so there was absolutely no problem in being careful.

Zhu Yunhuan naturally understood the truth that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish, and he also understood that some things may not be able to be completely avoided.

But no matter what, we must take precautions when necessary, and we must restrict when necessary, so as not to be caught off guard.

Zhu Wenyao picked up the jade seal and wanted to put it in his mouth, but Zhu Yunhuan quickly stopped him. This time, the fat baby was unhappy and started crying. This trick definitely worked for Old Zhu.

Xu Huizu had mixed feelings when he arrived at Wenhua Hall. His nephew was sitting on the table of the grandson, with chubby arms and legs, looking very pleasing to the eye. He was wearing a yellow bellyband and crying while holding the imperial seal.

That would be fine, the Emperor and the Crown Prince are still coaxing him, and there is no trace of their former majesty and power.

"Wen Yao, your uncle is here!" Zhu Yunhuan coaxed Zhu Wen Yao and said, "Ride the big horse, let your uncle ride the big horse for you."

Xu Huizu immediately stepped forward and said, "It's fine if my nephew rides a big horse. As long as my nephew is happy, it's worth it!" (End of this chapter)