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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 324: Sea Ban and Sea Trade

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    "All the township officials have entered the palace!" A loud voice from the West Hall announced, interrupting Chen Tian's thoughts. Like the other township officials, Chen Tian hurriedly got up, tidied his clothes and hats, and followed the queue of more than a hundred township officials to the west.  Go to the main hall of the palace.

    In the main hall of the Western Prince's Mansion, Chen Tian lowered his head and his heart was pounding. He had never seen the Western Prince before. He heard from the defeated generals of the remaining Qingyao soldiers that the Western Prince had a bronze forehead, an iron face, and a green face with fangs. He could tear apart enemy soldiers with his bare hands on the battlefield.  .  But according to veterans of the Taiping Army, the King of the West was majestic, majestic, and loved his soldiers as much as his son.  I also heard from some people in Suzhou that the King of the West was as amiable as his eldest nephew.

    Chen Tian bowed his head and followed all the township officials to salute. Chen Tian was still wondering why the West Palace leader did not let them kneel down. He only heard a loud shout with a broken gong: "Haha, everyone has come so far to thank you for your hard work."  , everyone, sit down and talk."

    This voice was so loud that Chen Tian was startled and almost forgot to thank everyone in return.  Fortunately, Chen Tian could be considered a clan leader who had managed hundreds of people and had seen a lot of the world. He hurriedly bowed down and thanked everyone, and then sat on the stool next to him.

    After sitting down, Chen Tian raised his head slightly and saw a fierce man in his thirties sitting there with a smile on the steps of the main hall, under the plaque "Han style remains the same".  Wearing a dragon-yellow robe and a dragon and phoenix hood, he wrote the title "King of the West".  Although the King of the West was smiling, he gave off a depressing sense of calmness and authority. Chen Tian just glanced at him and quickly turned his eyes away.

    "I already know your purpose of coming. Who is Luo Bingcheng, the township official of Xiwan Town, Yanghu County, Changzhou County?" King Xi said loudly with a broken gong voice, and the loud and powerful voice echoed in the hall.

    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? off out of Chen Tian, ??an old man in his sixties stood up tremblingly and responded. Chen Tian was a little jealous of Luo Bingcheng, who was so old and could be the first to be called by the King of the West.

    I heard a thin man in his thirties next to him whisper: "This Luo Bingcheng is the patriarch of the Luo family in Xiwan. He has worked as a canal transport business. The main reason for coming this time is for the canal transport. Xi Wangfang  With the opening of river shipping in various places, their Luo family¡¯s water transportation is almost out of food.¡±

    Chen Tian didn¡¯t know the thin man, so he didn¡¯t expect him to talk to him. But when he saw the sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, and a goatee under his chin, he looked like a talkative man.  Chen Tian did not dare to say much in this hall, but just nodded slightly.

    Who would have thought that the thin man clasped his fists slightly and said in a low voice: "Brother Li Dingzhao from Wangyue Township, Tenghua Town, Wuxi, is the head of the Wangyue Li clan."

    Chen Tian somewhat dislikes this talkative Li Dingzhao, but he has already introduced himself.  He could only return the greeting slightly and lower his voice: "I am Chen Tian, ??the leader of the Chen family in Dahe Township, Zuowang Town, Hangzhou."

    Li Dingzhao said oh and looked up for a long time before he finished his words. A leader of the West Palace shouted sternly at the foot of the steps: "Above the main hall, no whispering!"

    Chen Tian was startled and saw everyone looking towards him.  He couldn't help but blush on his face.  He hurriedly sat upright, secretly hating Li Dingzhao for causing him to be embarrassed in public.

    Unexpectedly, King Xi stood up on the steps and laughed loudly: "Rural officials are used to dealing with the people in the countryside. I think that all the affairs in the countryside are discussed in the ancestral hall, and the people in the countryside are standing or sitting.  Whatever you say, there are no rules. Today in the main hall of my king, everyone is very cautious. To be honest, I am also very bothered by these troublesome rules. My surname is Xiao. I used to have mud legs.  I was born as a son, and when the heads of the Xiao family held a meeting, I was also the master who caused trouble below!"

    Hearing this, all the township officials laughed together, and the solemn and coercive atmosphere in the palace couldn't help but weaken a bit. Chen Tian also laughed, feeling that this King of the West was just as the people said, he had no airs and was amiable.

    He followed the King of the West for a few steps and said, "But I am the King of the West now. If I want to govern all the people, I must set an example for them. These rules must be observed. And you are also our township officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  Now, we have to abide by the rules. We all have to manage hundreds of households. We can¡¯t sit here anymore. It¡¯s not the same. If Qingyao finds out, he will laugh at us.  The dragon robe doesn't look like the prince's. What's more, you all represent the face of a famous family, so don't let it be spread out and become a joke."

    After hearing this, all the township officials put away their smiles and sat upright one by one, not wanting to be looked down upon and lose the face of their family name.  Chen Tian sat up straight and couldn't help but glance at Li Dingzhao beside him. This kid actually sat like a human being, which made Chen Tian secretly amused.

    I heard King Na Xi grunt with satisfaction, and looked at Na Luo and said: "Mr. Luo, I know that your Luo family depends on water for food. Our ancestors have been engaged in water transportation business since the Kang and Yong years. After our Taiping Army came,  The water transportation route to the north was cut off, and the water transportation was changed to inland water transportation in the New Deal. The jobs of your old Luo family were all taken away, right?"

    Na Luo adheres to the tremblingHe bowed majestically and said weakly in an old voice: "I don't dare, little old man."

    The King of the West waved his hand and said with a smile: "This is not your fault, it is the poor consideration of this king and the ministers of the Kingdom of Heaven. Many of you sitting here are engaged in water transportation business. As the saying goes, you can only rely on the mountain to support you.  Relying on water to draft water, without water transportation, the way out for the tens of thousands of farmers in the south of the Yangtze River who rely on this to make a living is indeed a problem. Today, I will tell you where the way out is!"

    Having said this, the King of the West clapped his hands, and a Taiping officer came into the palace. The King of the West pointed at the man and said: "This is Tang Zhengcai, the minister of the Shipping Department of the Ministry of Industry in our West Palace. He was also engaged in shipping in his early years.  It is up to him to talk to the township officials related to water transportation as to where we will find our way out in the future."

    Chen Tian felt happy in his heart. Although the King of the West never mentioned the decision to change the New Deal, judging from his tone, he would have other arrangements. Since the King of the West could find a way to solve the livelihood problem of tens of thousands of Caoding people transported by water transport in the south of the Yangtze River, he could divide it himself.  This trivial matter in the clan field should be able to be solved.

    I saw Tang Zhengcai salute to all the township officials, who also hurriedly returned the salute, and then heard Tang Zhengcai say: "Our Shipping Department will open a sea ban, form an ocean-going trade fleet, sail north to Japan, south to Siam, and sail to our oceans outside the Taiping Heavenly Country."  Trade! Everyone who was originally a Caoding household can be classified as a fleet sailor. A powerful family can also build a sea ship and follow the fleet north and south. The family sea ship can transport goods for sale by itself, or it can also undertake  Merchant freight and passenger transport. We can also undertake inland water shipping, but we must set up an inland water shipping company and go to the Shipping Department to register for shipping. Our Shipping Department collects a certain amount of tax based on the number of registered ships every year!"

    As soon as these words came out, all the township officials in the palace were like a frying pan exploding. They no longer ignored any rules and started talking among themselves.

    In order to maintain its rule, the Qing court took extremely strict precautions against the Han people. This was even more obviously reflected in the maritime ban. In the 59th year of Kangxi's reign, it was stipulated in the 59th year of Kangxi that when a merchant ship going overseas was first built, it must first be reported to the customs supervision and the local palace.  The fruit to be visited is a good and honest man, and the chiefs of the Aojia tribe and the neighboring Wu Baoxu will be taken to get the quantity accurately.  At the end of the day, the local official personally inspected the ship and found that there was no excess beam head and no excessive water on the rudder. The ship's direction was not allowed to be rented to the bandits. The ship's hull was branded with a name, and then a license was issued.  In the photo, the age, appearance, and place of origin of the person on the ship must be analyzed and filled out.  When the ship owner accepts the ship and opens it for loading, the customs supervisor will verify the original ship length and length, and take out the rudder and connect the water links with each other.  Officials and merchants must bring capital goods, and the helmsman must inquire about his family's origins before he is allowed to board the ship.  After verification by the supervisor, the ship's dimensions, names of merchants, number of passengers, reason for going somewhere and date of departure are filled in in the ship's photo.

    In the ninth year of Yongzheng's reign, in order to ensure that "no one can pretend to be a bandit", it was also stipulated: "In the future, each merchant and fisherman's ship will have their identity verified and noted under the appearance of the helmsman and sailor on the invoice at the import and export.  When checking by name, if there is any discrepancy, we will investigate it."  The reason why the Qing court imposed such strict rules was because it was afraid that Han people would gather overseas to rebel against the Qing Dynasty.  Therefore, in the fifty-ninth year of Kangxi's reign, when Kangxi learned that "there are more than a thousand people building ships and going out to sea for trade every year. Only fifty-six out of ten come back, and the rest are sold overseas and return with money", he immediately ordered "the Nanyang Luzon  , Kalaba (now Java) and other places, they are not allowed to trade."  In fact, in the overseas trade activities with a capitalist flavor at that time, it was common for maritime merchants to stay and do business in Nanyang, so there was no need to be neurotic.

    However, the Qing court, which originated from the Jurchen tribe, regarded overseas Chinese doing business as aliens. For example, in the sixth year of Qianlong's reign, the Dutch massacred overseas Chinese businessmen in Madavia (today's Jakarta) on Java Island.  When this incident spread to the country, the government and the public were agitated. However, Emperor Qianlong actually supported the fallacy of Qingfu, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and others, believing that these murdered Chinese businessmen were "those who violated the order and refused to be recalled, and were willing to leave for a long time."  The Celestial Empire should have rectified the law, but it caused troubles and was killed overseas, and it is the fault of itself."

    The Qing government's policy of lightening and suppressing commerce to prevent maritime trade as well as thieves formed a strong contrast with the mercantile and business-facilitating policies of European countries at the same time. For example, in the early 17th century, the Dutch killed several people in Ambon in Southeast Asia.  Some British merchants and civilians, and the British government immediately declared war on the Netherlands, defended the merchants and civilians, and forced the Netherlands to pay compensation of 85,000 pounds and cede an island.  However, when faced with an incident of the same nature, the Qing government deliberately showed the massacres "lenience" and did not even offer the minimum "punishment".  Under this policy of trying to restrict Chinese businessmen from going to sea or preferably not going to sea, the doom of China's maritime trade is inevitable.

    In the following dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, the maritime ban reached its peak step by step. During the Jiaqing period, the Qing government included tea, which was popular overseas, as one of the goods prohibited from export, and ordered the governors of Anhui, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces to "  Strict orders were issued widely, and all merchants selling tea to Guangdong were still ordered to travel by inland rivers and ridges as usual. Trafficking abroad was forever prohibited. Anyone who had paid for illegally exporting tea to the sea would be punished once caught.  , and bring the tea into the officialdom. If there is no force to stop it, it is still smuggled overseas. If someone discovers it and finds out where the leakage came from, in addition to having the mouth guard Benyan severely punished, the governor will be punished without mercy  "

    In addition, exports of grain, ironware, saltpeter, gold and silver, etc. are also prohibited.  In particular, the Qing government had extremely strict control over food, and even the crew members were not allowed to bring too much food. Each ship could take one liter of rice per person per day according to the population and the round-trip voyage period.

    But everyone in the world understands the huge profits of sea trade. When they heard that the Taiping government would lift the sea ban and give priority to the original Caoding households to join the sea trade, Luo Bingcheng and other village officials with the majority of Caoding households all cheered loudly with joy.  stand up.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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