Chapter 307 306 Sea Transportation

The memorial was submitted, and Wei Guangde's mission was over.

However, when the memorial was submitted to Emperor Jiajing, they would be called to the Western Garden for questioning as usual, and by then, the numbers that were concealed would not be covered up.

However, Wei Guangde had already figured it out. He was the one who uncovered the truth, and had nothing to do with the group that covered the truth.

He watched Tang Shunzhi leisurely as he hurriedly said goodbye to him and went back to the Ministry of War. Obviously, they had to discuss countermeasures in advance. If they didn't know anything when Emperor Jiajing asked them, it would be fatal.

After Tang Shunzhi left, Wei Guangde's relaxed expression quickly withdrew, and he looked towards the Forbidden City in the north with a serious face.

On the way back to the capital, he found that the memorial he sent back from Xuanfu did not seem to be spread in the court and the public. From this, Wei Guangde guessed that there were not many people in the officialdom who knew that he had been to Xuanfu.

However, such a big personnel change, with Dongjiang, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, directly taking over the power of the governor of Xuanda, could not fail to stir up a storm in the court and the public, not to mention that the person involved was the godson of Yan Song, the chief minister of Yan.

The Yan family must have known about it. Wei Guangde knew that Emperor Jiajing could not have made such a personnel adjustment without discussing it with Yan Song, and he had actually offended the Yan family.

Wei Guangde was now struggling with whether to go to the Yan Mansion in the next two days.

Although he had offended, he had not offended publicly. If he could ease the situation, even if it was just a little bit, it would be good.

At this stage, no one in the court was more powerful than Yan Song.

Wei Guangde was struggling in his heart, but he still made up his mind to take a gift to the Yan Mansion when he had time. If it was really irreversible, he could make plans early.

Wei Guangde first went to the Censorate to hand over his duties. He went to patrol the border as a censor of the Censorate, so he naturally had to hand back the prepared official documents.

Wei Guangde didn't know anyone in the Censorate. Everyone greeted each other according to official etiquette. Wei Guangde had a low rank, so he had to take the initiative to bow.

Accepting Wei Guangde's documents and files was considered a done deal. All the formalities were done by the lower officials. Wei Guangde didn't even see Zhou Yan, the Left Censor-in-Chief.

Wei Guangde didn't continue to run around in the government office, let alone return to the Hanlin Academy. According to Tang Shunzhi, he could stay at home for the next two days and wait for news. Whether it was a summons from the palace or something else, there would always be news.

Wei Guangde was very happy to finally return home after nearly three months of running around.

When entering the city, a guard had already returned to the mansion to report the news, so when Wei Guangde entered the gate, he saw Xu Jianglan coming out to greet him.

Wei Guangde went directly to the backyard to wash up. There were many inconveniences outside for the past few months, so it was better to be at home.

Wei Guangde had been home for only half a day when a servant from Prince Yu's Mansion sent a message, inviting Wei Guangde to that restaurant for dinner, which was considered a welcoming banquet for him by Prince Yu's Mansion.

Prince Yu's Mansion invited him, so even if Wei Guangde didn't want to go, he couldn't.

At the appointed time, Wei Guangde took a carriage to the restaurant near Prince Yu's Mansion.

Wei Guangde was not sure about the purpose of Prince Yu's Mansion's invitation.

He already knew about the big personnel changes in the capital last month, which not only involved Xuanda, but also the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Punishment. What surprised Wei Guangde was that the Minister of Punishment was changed to the Minister of Revenue.

Jia Yingchun had only been the Minister of Punishment in the capital for a short time, and he was transferred to the Minister of Revenue.

The Ministry of Revenue was a place that made Prince Yu's Mansion lose face, but now it is under the control of Prince Yu's Mansion.

Therefore, Wei Guangde had some guesses about the people who would attend the banquet tonight, that is, Jia Yingchun might also be among them.

Although he is now one of the Seven Ministers, for someone like him, he is actually nothing without the support of Prince Yu's Mansion.

Sure enough, the banquet was hosted by Gao Gong, and Wei Guangde really met Jia Yingchun here.

From Nanjing to Beijing, and then to the current Minister of Revenue, Jia Yingchun felt like he was dreaming, and the changes before and after were only a year.

"I heard that your servants had been to the Western Garden before, when you were on tour?"

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Gao Gong suddenly asked.

Wei Guangde knew that this was the reason why they were so anxious to summon him. The news that he went to Xuanfu had not spread in the court, and not many people knew about it.

However, after all, because it was too sudden, the various forces in the capital would naturally inquire about the news everywhere afterwards, trying to figure out the cause of the turmoil in Xuanda and the officialdom in the capital.

After all, the Prince Yu's Mansion came from the palace, so there were still spies in the palace, and they soon discovered that the servants who had followed Wei Guangde out of the capital had been to the Western Garden and met Chen Ju before.

This time, the Prince Yu's Mansion undoubtedly took advantage of the reshuffle in the court. Although Jia Yingchun's two positions before and after were both ministers, the responsibility of the Minister of Revenue was much greater than that of the Minister of Punishment, and his ranking in the court was also much higher, and the corresponding right to speak was also heavier.

However, at this moment, when the Yan family was the only one in power, Jia Yingchun could only choose to keep a low profile, at least he did not purge the officials below at the beginning.

Prince Yu's Mansion also holds grudges.

Gao Gong and Yin Shizhan had suffered enough in the Ministry of Revenue. Now that the person they supported has ascended to the position of Minister of Revenue, they naturally have to teach those snobs a lesson.

This is especially true for Gao Gong. Although he is a Jinshi, he has a bad temper. Like the tall Yin Shizhan, they are both people who hold grudges.

Wei Guangde thought for a moment and decided not to tell all the details. It was really unnecessary.

Emperor Jiajing has not been seen in person, and his memorandum has not been made public to the government and the public, which already represents some kind of hint from Emperor Jiajing.

"The day before I went on this tour, Eunuch Chen came to my house and delivered a secret order, asking me to inquire about the current situation of Xuan Mansion."

Wei Guangde said: "I wrote a letter to the generals who fought together in Baoan Prefecture to find out what the situation was in Xuanfu in the past two years. The reply I received surprised me. A large number of border forts were destroyed and civilians and military households were displaced. The most disgusting thing is that some people take advantage of the opportunity to kill good people and use their heads to exchange for the reward of the capital. "

The more Wei Guangde talked, the more depressed he became, shaking his head, "After learning this, I naturally wrote a memorial and sent it to the capital to deliver to Eunuch Chen. The changes in Xuanda University should be said to be related to my memorial. Relationship, as for the rest, I don’t understand either.”

"That's right, no wonder."

At this moment, Gao Gong and others all showed clear expressions. Sure enough, something happened here with Wei Guangde.

The changes in Xuanda have been explained, and as we continue to push forward, everyone can roughly guess what they are.

Yang Shun, the governor of Xuanda, killed good people and took credit for his deeds, and deceived the emperor. Among them, the Minister of the Ministry of War was guilty of lax supervision. Although the Ministry of Household Affairs only allocated silver rewards, he was probably resented by Emperor Jiajing and thought it was due to poor supervision. Let Xuanda take away three hundred thousand taels of silver in one year.

The topic of the official turmoil is over this time. We already know the ins and outs and there is no need to worry about anything else.

"By the way, you know about the shortage of national funds. Dongyang came from Nanjing and felt the disadvantages of water transportation. He used to be in charge of the Ministry of Punishment and naturally couldn't control it, but now he has been transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs, so he wants to go to Shu , please open the sea in Tianjin and use sea transportation to make up for the lack of water transportation capacity. What do you think about this? "

Naturally, Shandai was called Wei Guangde, while Dongyang was named Jia Yingchun. Jia Yingchun's courtesy name was Dongyang and his name was Qiao Village.

"Water transport? Sea transport?"

Wei Guangde looked at Jia Yingchun with wide eyes. Perhaps because of the spring breeze, Jia Yingchun looked at Wei Guangde with a smile on his beard. He did not have the official airs of a second-rank official in the imperial court at all, and looked very humble.

Although the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has solved the problem of cargo transportation between the north and the south, it actually has many disadvantages. But now, it has a bit of a long history that is hard to get rid of. At least that's how Wei Guangde sees it.

Nowadays, too many people in the Ming Dynasty are counting on the Grand Canal for food, not only the canal soldiers, but also the workers on both sides of the strait, which can be hundreds of thousands of people.

During the Song Dynasty, commerce was prosperous and maritime transportation was developed. A large number of Song Dynasty commodities were shipped overseas for sale one by one, and a large amount of wealth was obtained. However, the Southern Song Dynasty was able to persist in a corner of peace, which was related to its huge financial resources.

But by the Ming Dynasty, shipping did gradually begin to decline, and the once glorious voyages to the West had become a thing of the past.

In the current Ming Dynasty, transportation work still relies more on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

People were initially opposed to shipping, mostly due to the risk of high winds and waves. Although the cost of shipping is indeed lower than that of water transportation, it requires long-term practice and accumulation of a lot of shipping experience. Long-distance shipping is still considered very dangerous.

Although water transportation is safer than sea transportation, the construction and use of canals also have many disadvantages. The cost of repairing canals is huge, and canals are blocked every year, and construction is a waste of money.

Although the distribution of the water system was fully considered during the construction of the canal, and the original waterways were used to the maximum extent for communication, it violated the laws of the natural environment. In fact, the court would be extremely nervous during the flood season, fearing that the river would burst and the river would flow into the sea through a new channel, causing the canal to be damaged. Shut down due to lack of water.

Once something like this happens, the people along the river will need to bear heavy labor and dig new canals. At the same time, more and more sections of the canal will collect water fees, which directly drives up the cost of water transportation.

However, this high cost was not borne by the imperial court, but relied on taxpayers to pay for the freight, which increased the pressure on people in the Jiangnan region to pay taxes.

Water transportation also allocates the cost of its infrastructure, especially the cost of repairing the Grand Canal and shipbuilding, to the civilian governments and military units where the canal flows, and will eventually be passed on to the people along the river.

To put it bluntly, although the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has solved the north-south transportation problem, it has left a heavy burden on the people. Many supporters of shipping have also concluded based on economic accounts that maintaining canal shipping is actually a huge loss.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, in order to maintain military supplies for the Ming army in Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty maintained a powerful naval fleet to transport supplies by sea.

It was only after the Liaodong Ming Army's farmland became profitable and they were basically self-sufficient that Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a halt to shipping. This was also the first time that the Ming Dynasty banned shipping.

However, in the Yongle Dynasty, Zhu Di needed to send troops to the north on a large scale and transport a large amount of supplies. Therefore, sea transportation was not cut off but was strengthened during the Yongle period.

It was also at this time that the Grand Canal gradually took shape, and the Ming Dynasty began to gradually abandon sea transportation and specialize in river transportation.

However, the seemingly safe river transportation has been plagued by problems such as Yellow River intrusion and river blockage for decades after the passage. The interest groups that seek blood from water transportation have also become stronger and stronger. Every time ministers in the past proposed to resume maritime transportation, they were met with opposition from these interest groups. opposition, leading to giving up.

In fact, the current transport capacity of the canal has begun to decline. The main reason is the blockage of the canal, and the annual desilting pressure on the river section is huge.

"What Da Situ means is to increase the total transportation capacity of Zheyang?"

If it were before, Wei Guangde would have thought that Jia Yingchun meant to open the sea, and that the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban was very thorough.

But after entering the court as an official, Wei Guangde still found that in fact, under the jurisdiction of the Governor of the Canal Transport, the Zhaiyang General was still carrying out the maritime transportation task, but the annual quota was very small, with only tens of thousands of stones of transportation.

However, Jia Yingchun shook his head, "The canal has gradually become a burden on the prefectures and counties along the river. The annual dredging and silt removal costs a lot. I plan to make a petition to change half of the grain to go directly to Tianjin by sea, that is, to reduce the number of ships on the canal and the congestion of the links. It is good for those merchant ships to change the canal to sea."

After listening to Jia Yingchun's words, Wei Guangde knew that there were many benefits to changing the canal to sea transportation. Even if it was affected by the shipbuilding technology of this era, it was not technically difficult to build a usable Zhaiyang ship.

Although I don't know what the technical status of the Ming Dynasty's current shipbuilding technology is compared with that of Western countries, they are all driving those sea ships to do business all over the world.

Thinking of sailing to the West, Wei Guangde felt that it should not be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to quickly build a large number of ocean-covering ships, but the resistance was also obvious. The commercial interests along the canal and the civil service groups had long been deeply connected, and the impact of sea transportation on them was not small.

Wei Guangde did not speak, but looked at Gao Gong. He was the master of the Prince Yu's Mansion. Since Jia Yingchun's intention to submit a petition was mentioned, they must have communicated beforehand. Wei Guangde did not understand why he was told about this.

"The Grand Tutor has this intention, and we have discussed it for many days, but we still cannot make a conclusion. It happens that you are back in the capital, so you can also give some reference opinions. Let's chat casually. You have to be under pressure."

Gao Gong looked at Wei Guangde looking at him, raised his mouth and smiled.

"Who supports it? Who opposes it?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"I support Dongyang's intention, but they are not optimistic."

Gao Gong replied with a smile. He also wanted to hear what Wei Guangde's opinion was. They had been arguing about this matter for a long time in the Prince Yu's Mansion.

The reason why he wanted to submit this memorial was naturally because he was a new official. Jia Yingchun wanted to do something to show his presence.

"There have been people who have proposed this in all dynasties, but it has always been rejected."

Wei Guangde shook his head and looked at Jia Yingchun, saying word by word.

The drawbacks of water transport can be seen by taking a boat trip on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Later generations only marveled at the huge scale of the Grand Canal project, but they did not know that the maintenance of the Grand Canal was very expensive, which was actually not worth the loss.

"Most of them said that the sea was dangerous and unpredictable. In fact, didn't the river transport have the situation of boats capsizing and people drowning?

The reason they opposed it was because they might have their commercial interests in the prefectures and counties along the river, and there were also river officials. What would they do if they switched to the sea route?"