Chapter 603: Throwing Out the Baby with the Bathwater

Their little boats certainly didn't have kitchens; Zhang Ning meant the ships they seized from Wu Dahai.

Wu Dahai's bandit gang was large; after years of operation, their old, broken boats had long been replaced with large ones.

These ships could accommodate a hundred or more people and carry several small boats along their sides.

They used the large ships to carry the small ones, sneaking close to merchant vessels, then boarding to kill and plunder.

Sometimes, to chase merchant ships, their vessels would sail out for ten or even fifteen days at a time, so naturally they had kitchens onboard.

They couldn't prepare elaborate dishes, but simple ones were possible, so Zhang Ning assigned Pan Yun's team to manage the kitchen.

Wangyue Island was not nearby; it was estimated they'd need three days to reach it. He had already sent someone back to report, instructing the follow-up reinforcements to locate them according to the sea chart, while they took Wu Dahai ahead.

Pan Yun squatted in the kitchen, staring blankly at the shelves of rice and flour.

Xue Shao walked in, rolling up his sleeves, and lightly tapped her shoe with his toe, urging: "Go stare somewhere else."

Pan Yun stood up, sat on the kitchen threshold, and sighed with her back to Xue Shao: "How did I end up as head cook?"

Xue Shao had already measured out the rice, carefully rinsed it, and poured the rinse water aside for reuse.

"Let's cook porridge today, but we used up too many vegetables on the island—only two baskets made it aboard. With so many people for three days, it won't be enough." Xue Shao said: "I heard that after long periods at sea, people develop scurvy; Grand Eunuch Sanbao once said it was because they ate no vegetables…"

"Just three days…" Pan Yun paused, then corrected herself: "Then again, three days to get there, who knows how long the fight will last, and three more to return—it's indeed a long time. Even if we don't get scurvy, peeling skin on hands and feet is uncomfortable. I'll sprout some bean sprouts later."

Xue Shao blinked: "Bean sprouts?"

"Yes, didn't we seize several sacks of soybeans from the island? We moved them all aboard."

Xue Shao fell silent for a moment: "I thought you planned to make soybean rice for everyone."

Pan Yun turned to look at him with disdain: "As pirates, do you think they can't even afford rice and white flour? You're underestimating pirates too much."

Xue Shao fell even longer silent, then finally said: "According to my investigation, along the coast, only three out of ten pirate groups have surplus wealth, four barely maintain subsistence, and three can't even do that."

Pan Yun froze: "Then why do they become pirates?"

"That's why they often desert home and go legitimate."

Pan Yun grew serious, brought over a small stool, and sat with him in the kitchen cooking porridge: "You've noticed too, haven't you? Except for a very few who are utterly vicious and turned to piracy after fleeing the authorities, most sea bandits took to the sea because they had no other way to survive."

Xue Shao lowered his eyes and nodded slightly.

Pan Yun: "Besides robbing merchant ships, they actually do more of smuggling goods from land to foreign countries for sale. Calling them sea bandits is correct, but calling them smuggling merchants is also correct."

Xue Shao: "You want to lift the maritime ban?"

Pan Yun smiled and asked in return: "Do you have a better way to deal with piracy?"

Xue Shao said: "The imperial court has always believed lifting the maritime ban breeds piracy, and past data shows that every time it's lifted, Japanese pirates surge. But everyone knows that at least half of these so-called Japanese pirates are actually Great Ming people in disguise. Merchant ships are constantly plundered—not just merchants, but the court can't bear it either. To eradicate sea bandits requires enormous manpower, resources, and funds. The southwest and north are unstable; the court clearly lacks spare strength to resist pirates in the southeast. Banning the sea is the least effort-intensive state policy."

Pan Yun said: "That's because after lifting the maritime ban, the court acted too crudely—the profits never reached ordinary people, ordinary merchants, or ordinary landowners. Yet the profits from maritime trade are so tempting that they spawn even more pirates."

"Banning the sea does reduce pirates, but only because fewer merchant ships sail—they have nothing left to plunder, so they naturally disband. As you said, three out of ten pirate groups can't even feed themselves—what are they doing as pirates?" Pan Yun shook her head: "But using a maritime ban to suppress piracy by cutting trade—that's not throwing out the baby with the bathwater?"

Pan Yun stared intently at him: "Do you know how huge the profits from maritime trade are?"

Xue Shao paced two steps and said: "I understand your point, but every time the court lifts the maritime ban, the gains are small while the costs are high."

Pan Yun sneered: "That's because the big profits are all siphoned off—by the imperial clan, by court officials in Jingcheng. They bypass customs and the Maritime Trade Office; how much revenue does that office actually collect? When maritime trade opens, the Navy Office's expenditures skyrocket, creating the illusion of deficit. But look: since the Yongle era, when tribute missions ceased, private smuggling surged. How many people along the southeast coast quietly rose to wealth through maritime trade?"

Don't tell me you don't know how the Chen family grew to what it is today."

Xue Shao certainly knew—the Chen family's smuggling was no secret to him. One reason he'd concealed his identity to join this anti-piracy mission was precisely to investigate the Chen family.

"But the Chen family's rise hasn't benefited their neighbors; instead, the people living nearby have grown poorer. Their fields slowly became Chen family property; their shops were absorbed into one continuous stretch—the Chen Street," Pan Yun whispered: "The profits from maritime trade should have benefited coastal people, even all of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi. Which regions in the empire produce more silk, porcelain, and tea than these?

But look: today, which ordinary people in these places have tasted the benefits of maritime trade? Only the Chen family, the Pu family—these people secretly exploit the people, profiting from both ends. Their cruelty surpasses oppressive governance. As a censor, don't you want to solve the root problem, instead of just catching one or two families?"

Pan Yun said with pain: "Without the Chen and Pu families, there'll be Huang and Qian families. You can't arrest one after another, can you? The people suffered terribly before; they'll suffer just as terribly now and in the future. What's the point of solving this case?"

"Alright, alright, I get it, stop that expression on your face," Xue Shao said helplessly.

Pan Yun's expression instantly softened into a smile: "So does that mean you'll try to solve the root problem?"

Xue Shao sighed: "It's not something lifting the maritime ban alone can fix."

Pan Yun looked at him intently.

Xue Shao explained: "The court has tried lifting the maritime ban several times, but each attempt collapsed at the pilot stage—because the state treasury is empty, opposition in court is strong, and even if His Majesty wishes it, he lacks the power."

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow: "Are you saying the current Emperor wants to lift the maritime ban?"

Xue Shao nodded: "Yes, he wants to."

He looked outside.

Pan Yun waved dismissively: "Don't look—no one's out there. Pan Xiaohei is squatting outside sunbathing; no one will come near."

Xue Shao then said: "His Majesty said that to lift the maritime ban, the imperial clan must first be reformed, the state treasury must be filled, and both the Maritime Trade Office and the Navy Office must be strengthened simultaneously to ensure smooth trade."

"You're right—the profits from maritime trade are staggering. His Majesty has long wanted to reclaim it, but never had the chance. The treasury is empty; the Luchuan campaign drained vast manpower, resources, and His Majesty's energy, leaving the southeast coast stuck in its current state."

Pan Yun pressed her lips together.