Chapter 337: Tax Inspection Institute, Expansion!

The commercial tax of six percent was a rule set by Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang during the Emperor Hongwu years, and it was that traveling merchants did not pay taxes, while stationary merchants paid taxes.

Later, during the Emperor Longqing opening of the seas, the complex ship taxes, price taxes, quota taxes, and guide taxes of the past were all integrated into commercial taxes, which was the ancestral rule of six percent. This simplification was to ensure that taxes could be collected.

The more complex the items, the more tricks there were, and the more room for operation. For example, guide taxes: various shipping offices sold the documents privately, and private opening was repeatedly prohibited. Just like the "Blank Seal Case" and "Great Ming Treasure Notes" of the Emperor Hongwu years, the current ship guides were directly verified by the Great Ming Ministry of Revenue. Quota taxes were additional levies on some items, and silk and porcelain were within the scope of additional levies, which caused strong dissatisfaction among merchants.

The opening of the seas during the Emperor Longqing years finally decided to unify the collection of these numerous tax items, changing to the "extraction method," hence the six percent.

Zhu Zhu Yijun had never adjusted this extremely low tax rate. Even though Li Ya-shi and Antonio repeatedly expressed surprise at this extremely low tariff, the Emperor and the court never intended to increase or add taxes. The purpose was to encourage maritime trade, increase exports, and exchange for more silver to alleviate Great Ming's "money famine."

With such a low tax rate, they still wanted to evade taxes. Zhu Zhu Yijun was out of his mind with anger.

Was there no justice under heaven! Was there no law of the land!

"Because the goods they sell are all contraband, they dare not pass through the customs." Zhang Zhang Juzheng answered His Majesty's question directly: "Great Ming Law, Volume 15, Military Law 3, stipulates: 'Those who privately take horses, cattle, military supplies, iron goods, copper coins, silk, silk, cotton, etc., out of the border for sale, or go to sea, shall be punished with one hundred strokes of the heavy staff; if they take people or military weapons out of the border or go to sea, they shall be strangled.'"

Zhu Zhu Yijun asked suspiciously: "I remember that when the seas were opened in the second year of Emperor Longqing, horses, cattle, silk, and cotton were unbanned. In the first year of Emperor Wanli, silk, that is, raw silk, was strictly prohibited again. Are they evading the extraction because their ships are loaded with raw silk?"

"Or are they loaded with people?"

Zhang Zhang Juzheng said quite definitively: "Their ships are carrying military weapons."

It was neither raw silk nor people, but military weapons.

The Great Ming Li Zhizao's purchase price for raw silk was not low, and the Great Ming Emperor did not prohibit the sale of finished silk products overseas. The purpose of prohibiting raw silk from going overseas was to let the wealthy families build more workshops to weave silk and increase employment. Great Ming itself did not have enough raw silk; some officials even shouted the "change rice to mulberry" plan, a desperate measure to increase raw silk.

"So they are carrying military weapons. No wonder they dare not pass through the customs." Zhu Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Zhang Juzheng, his expression gradually calming down from anger.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng had once discussed this problem with Zhu Zhu Yijun. This problem was the decline of Great Ming's overseas trade, the result of having no armed maritime merchants.

Japanese pirates had weapons, red-haired barbarians had weapons, desperate people had weapons, Arabs had weapons, Persians had weapons, and even the natives had weapons. But Great Ming's maritime merchants, because of the prohibition, had no weapons. Once they went to sea, it was a matter of life and death, wealth and fortune depending on Heaven. When everyone met at sea, was it a friendly greeting, or was it "rob first, talk later"?

Without weapons, there was no qualification for trade. It was destined that the scale and quantity of Great Ming's maritime merchants would gradually decrease, and sea routes and ports would be handed over to others.

In actual inspections, the Great Ming Shipping Office actually turned a blind eye to defensive items. Once a gray area appeared, "unspoken rules" would emerge. To make the inspectors and captains of the Shipping Office close one eye, they had to spend some silver. And sometimes, silver was not very effective; they needed some connections.

For maritime merchants, silver was more or less available, but connections were complicated.

Hai Rui frowned and said: "If we lift the control on military weapons, will they pay taxes? If our Great Ming's wealthy families were really that obedient, could our Great Ming still be trapped by land annexation? The court asked the gentry to settle down and shepherd the people, and even gave them privileges in taxation, justice, etc., but they didn't do it either."

"I don't think that if we lift the control on military weapons, they will honestly pay taxes. They will definitely intensify their evasion."

"What are the wealthy families like? If the court gives them an inch, they want a foot; if they are given a foot, they dare to want ten yards. As long as the court takes a step back, they want to advance a hundred steps, climbing on the nose and face, greedy enough to swallow an elephant."

Hai Rui was very clear about the faces of the powerful and wealthy.

"Censor-in-Chief Hai's words are reasonable." As the Minister of Finance, Wang Wang Guoguang knew the appearance of these guys too well. These wealthy families evaded whenever they could, avoided whenever they could. If they couldn't evade or avoid, they would think of ways to pay as little as possible. Otherwise, where did all those "ghost-deposited" fields under the names of temples, Daoist temples, Prince's mansions, and gentry come from?

What about the low tax of six percent? They wouldn't pay if they could, and they even wanted the court to pay them back.

Zhang Zhang Xueyan looked at Zhang Zhang Juzheng and echoed: "If it weren't for the life-threatening... tax-collection tickets of His Majesty's Tax Inspection Institute, the national and imperial treasuries would not be full. Since Master returned to court, the Ministry of Revenue began to come into contact with the accounts of the Tax Inspection Institute, and I can only say it was shocking."

Zhang Zhang Juzheng smiled and said: "No, even if we lift the control on military weapons, they won't be honest. So, we must inspect taxes. We must open the Tax Inspection Institute from the southern region to the seas, to the Shipping Offices, and to the Maritime Defense Inspection Offices."

"Expanding the scale of the Tax Inspection Institute is imperative."

Zhang Zhang Juzheng stated the primary task of the New Deal in the seventh year of Emperor Wanli: Tax Inspection Institute, expansion!

The Tax Inspection Institute was currently still in the pilot stage within the southern region, and the results were excellent. The number of Great Ming's maritime defense inspections was relatively small, and it was necessary to start investing heavily in expansion to ensure the normal collection of Great Ming's taxes.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng looked left and right and said: "The maritime defense inspections, the 'water-flying' guards, and the distant beacon-tower guards will be incorporated into the Embroidered Uniform Guards. We will select them into the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Red-Helmet Generals, Great Han Generals, etc. The maritime defense inspections will concurrently hold the power of tax inspection. For merchant ships at sea that lack ship guides, lack flags, or lack tax tickets, they will urge or force them to dock and pay taxes. If there is resistance, they can be subdued as appropriate or summoned for the navy to surround and sink them."

"If necessary, a low-to-medium intensity war can be fought to ensure Great Ming's financial taxes are normal and stable."

"What is the intensity of a low-to-medium intensity war?" Qi Qi Jiguang frowned and asked.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment and said: "Pacifying the Japanese pirates during the Emperor Jiajing years."

"No, absolutely not!" Qi Qi Jiguang immediately expressed his opposition. He had told the Emperor many times that he opposed war. As the leader of all Great Ming's military honors, Qi Qi Jiguang had expressed his attitude of opposing war more than once. The scourge of war was absolutely the most cruel human disaster in the world.

Even though Qi Qi Jiguang himself was a good warrior.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng and his former subordinate had a conflict. This contradiction was quite strange. One was a civil official advocating war, and the other was Qi Qi Jiguang, who had just chased the Northern Tatars around like rabbits, advocating opposition to war. And as the Emperor's left and right arms, the civil Zhang and military Qi, this contradiction erupted extremely suddenly, catching everyone off guard.

In everyone's eyes, although Qi Qi Jiguang no longer had the waist tag of the Quanchu Guild Hall, Qi Qi Jiguang was still Zhang Zhang Juzheng's man.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng was not angry. He had not known Qi Qi Jiguang for just one day. Qi Qi Jiguang's phrase "Report to the Son of Heaven above, save the common people below" was not an empty slogan, but a solid practice. He patiently said: "The national treasury is in great deficit, and nothing can be done. A war can immediately determine the rules. The merit will last for a thousand years."

"Merit for a thousand years, but what about now? The common people in the southeast have just caught their breath. It has only been ten years of stability, and now they have to face the scourge of war again. This is not merit for a thousand years, but sin for the present. Master, you cannot always be like this!" Qi Qi Jiguang looked at Zhang Zhang Juzheng and clearly stated his attitude.

Qi Qi Jiguang's sword was never aimed inward. Facing internal squeezing, he could only find Zhang Zhang Juzheng for help in the past; now he could find His Majesty for help.

"Master, General Qi, calm down, calm down." Wan Wan Shihe immediately stepped forward, smiling, and said: "It's all for the sake of our Great Ming's country, all for the Great Ming court, all for His Majesty. War—Master doesn't like war. Once there is a war, Master becomes very nervous. Even when Wu Dui reported falsely, it made the capital restless and the monarch shocked."

"Master Zhang Yuanfu, General Qi is also for the sake of Great Ming's country. Doesn't Master always say, 'The people are the foundation of the country; when the foundation is solid, the country is peaceful'? General Qi has seen with his own eyes the suffering of the people in the southeast due to the Japanese pirates. Wishing for the sea waves to be calm is General Qi's long-cherished wish. Everyone is for Great Ming, so there is no need to be angry, no need to be so furious."

"Calm down, calm down, drink some tea."

Feng Bao waved his hand, signaling the little eunuchs to quickly add tea for the two. Drink tea and talk later. The little eunuchs even specially brought freshly boiled water from the stove. Angry? Wait for the tea to warm up, drink it, and then argue.

Wan Wan Shihe had always been a person who could handle both sides. Seeing that the argument was getting heated, he immediately exerted his original function, and the effect was excellent. He pulled everyone in one direction. Many times, arguments are like this: words chase words, words are spoken to the end, and after the matter, because of the concern for face, they eventually drift apart.

Zhu Zhu Yijun always believed that there should be such a slick person in the court.

"Your Majesty, I think both Master Zhang Yuanfu and General Qi have their points. This is a dilemma. The sea tax is already so low, yet the wealthy families still refuse to pay. If we press their heads to pay, they will take the people hostage. I am really at my wit's end. It's difficult, a dilemma." Wan Wan Shihe saw that the two were not speaking, and immediately pulled the referee over.

Your Majesty, stop watching the excitement on the platform with wide eyes, exert some influence!

Zhu Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "No matter. Master and General Qi are not arguing for the first time. Even a husband and wife on the same bed have times when they argue. It's not a big deal. Discussing politics in the Zhao Wenhua Hall—discussing politics, discussing politics—naturally there will be different opinions. Just arguing a few words."

"Ah?" Wan Wan Shihe was stunned. Zhang Zhang Juzheng and Qi Qi Jiguang also argue?!

Zhu Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said: "The second year of Emperor Longqing."

Everyone immediately understood.

Zhu Zhu Yijun had indeed been curious about whether Qi Qi Jiguang and Zhang Zhang Juzheng had ever blushed since the thirty-second year of Emperor Jiajing. He asked Qi Qi Jiguang directly, and Qi Qi Jiguang told the truth.

In the second year of Emperor Longqing, Qi Qi Jiguang, who had just won a great victory in pacifying the Japanese pirates in Fujian, was preparing to go south to Guangzhou again to completely pacify the Japanese pirate scourge and clear out the poison. He received an imperial edict requiring Qi Qi Jiguang to take his guest troops north. Qi Qi Jiguang had no choice but to obey the order. After arriving in the capital, Qi Qi Jiguang had an argument with Zhang Zhang Juzheng at the Quanchu Guild Hall.

Qi Qi Jiguang believed that he should continue to go south to pacify the Japanese pirates, as the opportunity for battle was fleeting. At that time, he was in a position of hot pursuit, and the Japanese pirates were panicked. However, Zhang Zhang Juzheng still transferred Qi Qi Jiguang to the north. The reason for the transfer was naturally that in the first year of Emperor Longqing, the Northern Tatars invaded the capital.

When Zhang Zhang Juzheng made certain choices, what he preserved first was the court. This was his choice. If the left and right wings of the Tatars really joined forces to attack the capital and besieged the capital, the world would be shocked. Between the court and the Japanese pirate scourge in the two Guang provinces, Zhang Zhang Juzheng preserved the court.

This time, the argument was the same as before. For the sake of tax revenue, Zhang Zhang Juzheng could tolerate a war equivalent to the Japanese pirate scourge in the southeast, but Qi Qi Jiguang clearly opposed it again.

Who was wrong, Zhang Zhang Juzheng or Qi Qi Jiguang? Neither was wrong. Zhang Zhang Juzheng was the Zhang Yuanfu Grand Preceptor; he had to ensure the survival and operation of the Great Ming court. Qi Qi Jiguang was also not wrong; he was a Grand General, and his mission was to ensure that war happened outside the country's gates, allowing the Great Ming people to live and work in peace.

"A dilemma." Zhu Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair, his eyes slightly narrowed, and said: "I actually have a good way, the dilemma will be solved by itself."

Zhang Zhang Juzheng, Lu Lu Diaoyang, Wang Wang Chonggu, Wan Wan Shihe, and all the court officials looked at each other. No wonder His Majesty watched his left and right arms argue without any panic, even with the appearance of watching a show. It turned out he already had an idea. The court officials in the Zhao Wenhua Hall knew the Emperor in front of them very well. As long as His Majesty said he had a way, someone would definitely be unlucky, and it would be a big disaster!

Zhu Zhu Yijun looked around and didn't sell it short. He said: "Actually, the focus of the dispute between Master and General Qi is to reduce the risk of war. Starting from the theory of contradictions, we must shift the contradiction, changing the single opposition between the court and the wealthy families into a complex contradiction between the court and the wealthy families, and between the wealthy families themselves. Simply put, stir the water."

"How to stir it? The Tax Inspection Institute urges tax tickets. If the sea tax is not paid within the time limit, the goods, ships, and vehicles will be confiscated. Ten percent of the goods will be paid as a reward to the informer. What do you think?"

"Gaomin Order!" (Order of Informing on Property)

Three words flashed through the minds of the officials instantly: Emperor Wu of Han's "Gaomin Order," allowing the people to supervise and report each other. If the tax was paid within the time limit, there would be a thirty percent reward. If they refused to pay within the time limit, all the goods, ships, and vehicles would be confiscated, and thirty percent would also belong to the informer.

The most overbearing part of this decree was that the reporting was anonymous. As long as there was an "informer ticket" issued by the Tax Inspection Institute, one could get the reward. Anyone—it was anyone, including these tax-evading families—could find a beggar on the roadside to report. When the matter was over, they could take the ticket to collect the reward.

Some unfilial descendants, for the sake of a little silver, even dared to stage a drama of a son reporting his father.

Wan Wan Shihe had to say, ruthless, His Majesty was still ruthless.

"Your Majesty, isn't this a bit too... too... overbearing?" Ma Ma Ziqiang really organized his language seriously, not saying words like sinister, ruthless, or vicious. The Emperor's anonymous reporting even bypassed the convention of "hiding for relatives" in ritual law. Anyway, it was anonymous, so he didn't care who you were. If there was a clue, and the clue was true, it would work.

Zhu Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said helplessly: "I don't want to either. If the wealthy families paid taxes honestly, wouldn't there be so many things? The sea tax of six percent—a low tax rate that even Western maritime merchants would kneel and thank the imperial grace for—and even then, the wealthy families refuse to pay. Even if I let them carry weapons for self-protection, as long as they don't draw bows and load medicine when entering the port, they still refuse to pay. Then what can I do?"

"I have no choice either. They are difficult, Master is difficult, General Qi is difficult, and I am difficult. Everyone, just... make do with the difficulty."

Once, twice, but not a third time.

The first and second times could be discussed. The third time, there was no need to discuss. Zhu Zhu Yijun's style of doing things was like this: the low sea tax was the first time, and allowing self-protection weapons was the second time. If they still refused to pay, then just fight.

"Your Majesty, this..." Zhang Zhang Juzheng was at a loss for words for a moment. He frowned and said: "Your Majesty, the court's financial resources are not in great deficit. Why not... not be so urgent? Think of other ways?"

Tan Lun immediately clapped his hands and said: "Good! His Majesty's method is good!"

"How would the poor commoners know the petty tricks of these wealthy families? We must let these wealthy families fight among themselves. If I were to say, we should learn from those wealthy families, spread some ambiguous news, say the Zhang family has fallen, the Li family reported it; the Li family has fallen, the Sun family reported it. Let them fight among themselves, fight to the death, that would be best!"

The conservative faction thought His Majesty was too radical, and the radical faction had already started singing praises. Tan Lun wished he could slap the table twice. His Majesty had learned the theory of contradictions very well.

Wang Wang Chonggu looked left and right and said: "It seems there is no better way. His Majesty's method is excellent."

"I think it's okay." Wang Wang Guoguang didn't care about the risk of war; he just wanted to collect silver. The Ministry of Revenue was so poor that they were wearing pants, and the entire Ministry of Revenue was crawling on the ground as officials, trampled by others. Did the Ministry of Revenue that couldn't collect taxes still have a need to exist?

After the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Justice expressed their attitudes, Wan Wan Shihe, as a staunch imperial party member, naturally supported and upheld all of His Majesty's decisions. As for cleaning up the mess, Wan Wan Shihe was already racking his brains.

Four of the six ministries agreed. Even Zhang Zhang Juzheng, before his mourning period, would have hesitated.

"What does Master think?" Zhu Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Zhang Juzheng. At this point, Zhu Zhu Yijun still respected Zhang Zhang Juzheng's opinion very much, and his opinion weight was still extremely large.

"Why not... try it? If it really causes any irreparable disaster, then clean it up." Zhang Zhang Juzheng finally chose to agree. Great Ming now had the capital to try and fail. If it really went wrong, he could just quietly, secretly, and unknowingly cancel the decree.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng wrote down the floating ticket, and Zhu Zhu Yijun stamped it. The court deliberation was passed like this.

Expanding the scope of tax inspection, expanding the Tax Inspection Institute, expanding the maritime defense inspection "water-flying" guards, and encouraging the people to anonymously provide valuable clues—these contents were written on the memorial. The first court deliberation of the New Year was to determine a direction. As for how to execute it specifically, the six ministries needed to produce a specific set of rules before execution.

"Actually, our Great Ming dynasty also had tax inspection offices during the Emperor Hongwu and Yongle years." Wan Wan Shihe looked at everyone and talked about the past.

"Did it?" Zhang Zhang Juzheng frowned and asked.

"No, right." Wang Wang Guoguang raised his own doubts. He was the Minister of Revenue; he didn't even know when Great Ming had a tax inspection department! If there was a tax inspection department, could the Great Ming court still be so poor?

"This really exists. Everyone, listen to me carefully." Wan Wan Shihe signaled everyone to be calm, don't be anxious, listen to him tell it slowly.

"Chongwen Gate, it was called Wenming Gate during the Yuan Dynasty. The common people called it Hademen, because the Prince's mansion of Prince Hada was inside the gate. In the fourth year of During Zhengtong, the great construction was completed, and nine city gates were built in the capital, changing Wenming Gate to Chongwen Gate. Since then, that city gate has been called Chongwen Gate. It was originally a tax gate and a wine gate, a place where traveling merchants entered the capital to pay taxes."

"In the early years of Yongle, the capital restored the Metropolitan Tax Department and the Jiumen Revenue Department, specializing in all kinds of cargo taxes, verifying the value as the difference."

"The Metropolitan Tax Department and the Jiumen Revenue Department were the earliest tax inspection offices in our Great Ming. They were first established in the fourth year of Emperor Hongwu, abolished in the twenty-third year of Emperor Hongwu, and restored in Yongle."

"I don't know when, but the more remote gates were abolished and merged into the Metropolitan Tax Department. The two revenue departments of Zhengyang Gate and Chongwen Gate, and the two tax departments of Anding Gate and Desheng Gate, five in total, were all under the jurisdiction of the Household Bureau, known as the Revenue Department, collecting miscellaneous taxes from merchants, butchers, and markets. Later, revenue departments were established in various prefectures and counties in the capital, and later renamed tax departments."

"Abolished in the fourth year of Tianshun."

Wan Wan Shihe did not explain too much, but no one felt it was outrageous when it came to Emperor Yingzong's affairs.

"In the sixth year of Honghongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong established tax departments in the three alleys of Chongwen Gate Street, and abolished them in the eighth year of Hongzhi." Wan Wan Shihe added the history of Great Ming's tax departments.

It was not that Great Ming had no tax inspection offices. On the contrary, Great Ming's tax inspection offices had extremely powerful tax collection powers during the Yongle years. But with the passing of Emperor Yongle, the wind of "promoting literature and suppressing martial arts," "restoring the ancient," and "gathering wealth and profit" slowly unfolded, and the tax departments finally became a grain of dust in the long river of history.

"Ah, this, Minister Wan is so thoughtful." Zhu Zhu Yijun was stunned. Wan Wan Shihe had obviously done a lot of homework. Even the Ministry of Revenue didn't know these things. Wan Wan Shihe knew them so clearly. It was obvious that someone had attacked the Tax Inspection Institute for causing public anger, and Wan Wan Shihe had found the ancestral rules to wash the ground.

The ancestral rules and the laws of the three generations formed a hedge. Everyone was at the moral high ground, so they could point fingers at each other. Whoever attacked Great Ming's Tax Inspection Institute was attacking Great Ming's ancestral rules.

Wan Wan Shihe used professionalism to wash the ground for the Emperor, not sophistry. The ancestral rules were truly ancestral rules.

After reading it, Zhu Zhu Yijun showed a smile. As long as Wan Wan Shihe was in this court, the petty Confucians would only have a bone in their throats. They couldn't argue, so they could only be bullied by Wan Wan Shihe. Reading books really required effort.

"Emperor Emperor Chengzu was repairing the Yongle Li Dadian, conquering the grasslands five times, and going south to the Western Ocean. He had money. It turns out there was a reason!" After reading it, Wang Wang Guoguang was slightly annoyed. They all blamed the Ministry of Revenue for not providing funds. The Ministry of Revenue was kneeling and being an official. When the national treasury was so poor that mice would cry when they went in, what could the Ministry of Revenue do?

And it wasn't that there was no way; the methods were all written in the ancestral rules!

Zhang Zhang Juzheng looked at Wan Wan Shihe, then at those old cases. This guy, being able to be a staunch imperial party member, had some skills.

"I remember that in the Great Ming Law, there is also 'paying the informer with rewards.' I will go back and check it carefully." Wan Wan Shihe looked at everyone. He remembered seeing it somewhere. Encouraging mutual reporting and denunciation among the people and taking the court's gains to pay rewards to the informers had precedents.

It didn't matter if he couldn't find it. If he couldn't adapt to the ancestral rules, he would adapt to the new ones. Wan Wan Shihe was so slick that he wouldn't walk himself into a dead end.

"Then that's good, then I won't bother you anymore." Wan Wan Shihe stood up, swayed, left the Quanchu Guild Hall, and returned to the Ministry of Revenue to sit in the office.

The old case brought by Wan Wan Shihe came just in time. Expanding the Tax Inspection Institute and allowing the people to report each other were both things that would be widely opposed. But Wan Wan Shihe brought the highest point of public opinion of the ancestral rules, allowing tax inspection work to proceed normally.

One side was the ancestral rules, and the other side was the law of the three generations. This was a debate, rather than being at a disadvantage from the beginning.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng sat in the Taishi chair under the plane tree, looking at the lake that had not yet thawed, thinking about a problem: the Central Plains dynasty, since Qin Shi Huang, had not explored any new social systems. For generations, they had all followed the Qin political laws, all repairing and patching within the framework of the Qin imperial system.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Zhang Juzheng immediately felt annoyed. His Majesty's tricky questions were really untouchable. On the matter of the unity of monarch and father, it was clearly he, Zhang Zhang Juzheng, who won the argument, and even His Majesty recognized it. But when he was idle, Zhang Zhang Juzheng could occasionally think of this problem.

Exploring new social systems, what is the cost?

Zhang Zhang Juzheng drove this matter out of his mind, stood up, and walked toward the Zhao Wenchang Pavilion. As the Zhang Yuanfu, he had many things to be busy with.

The Nagasaki Governor's Office sent many memorials. Among these memorials were Chen Lin's memorial of thanks, Xu Wei's observations on Japan, and Sun Sun Keyi's report on the expected amount of silver imported this year. This year's silver forecast was still not as good as the Western galleons, but the absolute amount was still rising, and it could stabilize between 1.2 million and 1.5 million taels of silver.

What made Zhang Zhang Juzheng feel interesting was that after the Great Ming navy broke the Shimazu clan, Chen Lin turned the Shimazu clan upside down and interrogated the prisoners again and again. Chen Lin discovered that the Shimazu clan's attack on Ryukyu had no purpose at all, no strategic goal, no operational termination point, and no strategy. It was just fighting wherever they could. If they couldn't win, they would continue to increase troops. It had a feeling of adding water when there was too much flour, and adding flour when there was too much water.

The day the water and flour overflowed was the day they were finished.

This was very similar to the situation during the Japanese pirate scourge in the southeast. The Shimazu clan's dispatch of troops to Ryukyu was entirely for the sake of fighting. There was no planning at all, and it was entirely to alleviate internal contradictions, as Japan had too many people and too little food.

Therefore, to conquer Japan, one must deeply understand this characteristic of Japan.

And Great Ming's goal from the beginning was very clear: silver.

From Sun Sun Keyi's memorial, it could be seen that Japan's biggest gap was not anything else, but food. Grain that sold for one in Great Ming sold for five in Nagasaki, and from Nagasaki to Owari Province, it could sell for ten. Grain could completely influence the pattern of Japan's civil war.

And Great Ming maritime merchants had mastered the method of maritime grain transport. However, Great Ming also had no grain to export. The only places in Great Ming with surplus grain were the southern region, and the southern region had to be responsible for 4 million piculs of grain transport.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng keenly discovered the problem, opened a blank memorial, and began to write furiously.

The next day, an imperial edict was sent from the capital's guild hall along the Jiulong post station to various shipping offices and inspection offices. The content was very little: prohibiting grain from going overseas.

Great Ming's merchant ships could only dock in Nagasaki, because the Japanese were Japanese pirates. If your grain ships did not arrive in Nagasaki, they would be looted by the Japanese. And this Great Ming prohibition had a very strong effect, prohibiting grain from going overseas to Japan.

Japan lacked grain, and Great Ming had no surplus grain. In order to earn huge profits, what would Great Ming's maritime merchants do? They would take a part of Great Ming's grain and transport it to Japan to earn this profit.

But the prohibition also clearly stated that it did not prohibit the transport of grain from the "Ten Thousand Mile Sea Pond" to Japan for profit. Grain from overseas could pass through the Great Ming Shipping Office and be transported to Japan to earn money, encouraging Great Ming's maritime merchants to actively build more plantations on the many islands of the "Ten Thousand Mile Sea Pond."