Summary of the Ming Dynasty
Huh! I am tired, Orz~ I will stop writing about the Ming Dynasty for now. In the past few days, I have carefully checked a lot of original data from the Ming Dynasty, trying to restore the national policy and current situation of the Ming Dynasty's sea ban, as well as the logic behind it. I have done it very carefully.
1494 was the seventh year of Hongzhi, which was the stage of "Hongzhi Restoration". The literati of the Ming Dynasty had overwhelmed the middle officials and military officers, and truly controlled the huge country. The starting point of the national policy of sea ban was actually very practical, which was to maintain the stability of the country. And the current situation of sea ban in this era is just like the classic comment of a book friend, "strict legislation, widespread violation of the law, and selective law enforcement"...
As a big country with hundreds of millions of people, the Ming Dynasty has expanded to the limit under the current system. "Agriculture-based thinking", "agriculture-oriented and business-suppressing", and ensuring agricultural production are the most important cornerstones of the Ming Dynasty. In this era, "the money and grain produced in the world" is really "self-determined". The disadvantages of maritime trade to the country's agricultural production have been repeatedly discussed many times in the memorials of famous officials of the Ming Dynasty, and it is by no means groundless.
The imbalance between the north and the south of the Ming Dynasty was already very prominent at this time. In order to maintain the food supply of the nine borders and the imperial capital, it is necessary to transport grain from the south, especially from the south of the Yangtze River. This is also the reason why the grain transport is so critical and is the real lifeline of the country. The political structure of the Ming Dynasty is "heavy north and light south", "heavy land and light sea", and the south must not be allowed to grow independently. Because after the south grows independently, it will definitely not be satisfied with the current situation of being bled. The dozens of Japanese pirates who were able to dominate the Jiangnan area with loose military equipment later, and the tragic end of the Qi family army of the southern army after the Japanese pirates were eliminated, this series of actions to suppress the military power of the south, it is hard to say that there is no will of the Ming central government in it. To suppress the south, the southern army cannot be too strong. During the Chongzhen period, the autonomy of the South grew stronger and began to resist taxes from the North. The Ming Dynasty immediately went to the brink of destruction...
In addition, the huge defects in the collection and distribution of commercial taxes in the Ming Dynasty, the overall lack of currency minting and regulation in the Ming Dynasty, and the stubborn problem of land annexation all made "maritime trade useless to the country" and could not bring much benefit to the country. According to the author's one-sided view, the prosperous coastal commodity economy actually stuck with the bug of the Confucian traditional experience in governing the country. In the history of the Celestial Empire, there has always been a lack of management experience in the commodity economy. The measures taken in the end were either rough and one-size-fits-all or turning a blind eye and letting the coastal gentry reap the benefits.
Many knowledgeable people saw these problems and hoped to make new reforms to the traditional system of the Ming Dynasty around the agricultural economy. And Zhang Juzheng was the one who went the farthest. Unfortunately, in the end, Zhang Juzheng "died and his politics ceased", and the "one whip law" he left behind was repeatedly harvested twice because the common people could not come up with silver and money, which accelerated the land annexation of the Ming Dynasty.
Reading various Ming histories always gives people a particularly heavy feeling. It is an empire with a population of nearly 100 million and extremely prosperous, but it is always like Xuanwu, unable to make even a little progress in the magnificent Age of Exploration. After carefully studying the civil service system of the Ming Dynasty, the author couldn't help but sigh that if he traveled to the Ming Dynasty, it would probably be the most difficult era in history to make a name for himself! …
Those Ming Dynasty travelers who want to open the sea, want to reform, and want to create a new era, have to face not just one or two stupid hereditary families, but the Ming Dynasty scholar-official civil service group that has studied hard for 30 years and emerged from millions of people, is extremely shrewd, and is connected to each other! It is very possible to seek wealth and honor in the Ming Dynasty. However, to change the fate of the Ming Dynasty, it requires the power to turn the world around, which is too difficult...
Ah, take a breath, and rub the cat for a while. Turn over the volume of the Ming Dynasty and return to the exploration, expansion and reform of the Age of Exploration! (_)
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