Chapter 2764
Chapter 2764
Chapter 2764
Zhu Zian took a sip of hot tea and continued to read the newspaper.Soon he found a follow-up report on the visit to North Korea and Japan on the second page, but his name was not mentioned in this report, and the main content was to explain the gains of the visit.
During the visit of the Haihan Mission, some agreements were reached with the two countries.Among them are not only new cooperation projects, but also some adjustments in trade policies, such as the standards and methods of tariff collection, all of which have made subtle changes that are beneficial to Haihan.
The most noteworthy thing is that Haihan will build an exclusive economic zone in the two trading ports of Busan Port in North Korea and Nagasaki Port in Japan. Haihan merchants who settle in the special zone will enjoy more preferential treatment trade policy.
The nature of this so-called exclusive economic zone is actually the same as the concessions that Haihan obtained in the countries of the South China Sea. It allows Haihan to exercise an independent administrative and judicial system in this area, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a small colonial point.The report gave a very high evaluation of this harvest, thinking that in the long run, it will greatly help Haihan to establish a stronger influence in these areas.
As a party involved in the entire process from planning to negotiation, Zhu Zian knew the inside story very well. Although the report did not mention his name, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.
However, Zhu Zian was a little surprised by the following content, because the news broke out that Hai Han and the shogunate were negotiating on the arms trade.As far as he knows, although the two parties have reached a cooperation intention in this regard, there is no consensus on the specific transaction content, settlement method, delivery cycle, etc., and follow-up negotiations are still needed to resolve differences. The shogunate sent envoys to Hangzhou. It is for this purpose.
Haihan sells arms and equipment to foreign countries all the year round. To Haihan, it doesn't matter whether this transaction is confidential or not, but the Japanese shogunate may not be willing to let this matter be made public prematurely.Because the purpose of the shogunate to buy arms from Haihan is very clear. One is to try to maintain the same level of arms as its neighbor North Korea, and the other is to deter those local vassal states that are not peaceful in the country.Once the news leaks, competitors will also take countermeasures, and the shogunate's plan to spend a small amount of money to do big things may come to naught.
But he thought about it again, this kind of operation may not be a mistake made by the editors of the Times, but may be intentional.Both Shi Chengwu and Tao Hongfang once said that selling arms to the shogunate is not the ultimate goal. To create an atmosphere of an arms race in the East China Sea, so that more potential buyers who are still waiting to see the situation will also pay to participate in this competition. It is the most ideal situation.
The more Zhu Zian thought about it, the more he felt that it made sense. The news broke in such a public newspaper, whether it was North Korea, which had a close relationship with Haihan, or the Satsuma clan, which secretly maintained a trade relationship with Haihan, they should be able to notice this quickly. information.From their respective standpoints, the shogunate's arms purchase plan will be quite a stimulus, and they probably won't turn a blind eye to it.
Zhu Zian's curiosity flared up, and he almost wanted to throw down the newspaper, and went to Tao Hongfang and others to find out the inside story and confirm whether his guess was correct.
However, it was the first day of the new official's tenure, and it would definitely not be appropriate to ask for leave immediately after meeting with his immediate superior.Zhu Zian quickly calmed down, put the newspaper aside, and decided to calm down and turn his attention to work.
Zhu Zian looked at the stack of files on the table, and took the top one casually.
He opened the file and glanced at it. The content recorded the conversation between the two, and some details of the conversation were also specially noted.
The time of the conversation was two days ago, and the place was a teahouse on Hanlin Street in the east of the city.There were only two participants, one was an employee of the Special Liaison Office, named Bi Xingsheng, and the person who was talking to him was named Cao Kun, who was a food chief in Suzhou Prefecture.
The identity of grain chief is rare, but Zhu Zian knows a thing or two about it.The so-called head of grain was a post specially appointed during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty to meet the manpower needs of the people to expropriate and transport land grain.Generally, the area where the grain is collected is about [-] shi is divided into a district, and then a large local household is assigned to act as the grain chief, who is responsible for requisitioning the grain.Later, even the tasks of urging food delivery, reporting tax evasion, and declaring disaster apologies were all handed over to the food chief.
Although the head of grain is only a semi-official position, but because of its considerable power and can be passed down from generation to generation, it was also a popular chasing among the people in the early days.As long as the big family wins this job, they can use their power to bully the villagers and fill their pockets. There are not a few people who take the opportunity to make a fortune.
However, in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the imperial court changed the rules of grain requisition, appointing multiple grain chiefs in one district, reducing authority, and hereditary inheritance was no longer allowed.In this way, the benefits of being a grain chief will not be so much, and the big households will naturally lose their motivation, so they forcibly transfer this position to those poor households who have no power and power, and control them behind their backs.All the benefits belong to oneself, and if something goes wrong, let others bear it.
In the late Ming Dynasty, internal and external troubles continued, and the imperial court increased the Liao, Lian, and Suppression rates, which made the folks bear more and more taxes.Even in many areas that have not suffered from war, taxpayers will choose to flee because they cannot afford to pay taxes.As a result, the position of grain chief became even more drudgery, and there were quite a few grain chiefs who were arrested and imprisoned because they could not complete the requisition task, or chose to abandon their families and properties to flee.
When Chongzhen was in power, the grain collection work in many places was already in a mess, and the position of grain chief became a symbol of being blamed.Back then when Zhu Zian was still in Prince De's Mansion, he often heard that a certain county in a certain prefecture had arrested several grain chiefs to take the blame because of poor grain requisition.But this way of dealing with it was of no avail at all, and could not change the predicament that Daming was in at that time.
Zhu Zian once thought that Jiangsu and Zhejiang were lands of plenty and riches. The work of collecting food and taxes should not be as difficult as in the north where natural disasters and man-made disasters continue, but after reading this file, he found that the south is actually not much better. The process of collecting food was also very difficult.
The grain chief Cao Kun said that although the grain harvest in his jurisdiction was not bad, it was also difficult to complete the grain collection task.The reason is also very simple. The imperial court has lost control over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the big households are unwilling to pay the imperial court any more grain. They should either stockpile the grain and wait for the situation to change, or sell it secretly to the grain merchants who work for Haihan.
If the big households don't take the lead, the small households will naturally not be willing to cooperate with the government.As for the grain chief, everyone knew that this was a scapegoat job, so who would give him face?During the period before Haihan took over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Cao Kun was able to complete one-tenth of the grain collection task, thank God.
But this is not the only difficulty Cao Kun encountered in the process of collecting grain. After all, his duty is not only to collect grain, but also to transport it.
(End of this chapter)
Zhu Zian took a sip of hot tea and continued to read the newspaper.Soon he found a follow-up report on the visit to North Korea and Japan on the second page, but his name was not mentioned in this report, and the main content was to explain the gains of the visit.
During the visit of the Haihan Mission, some agreements were reached with the two countries.Among them are not only new cooperation projects, but also some adjustments in trade policies, such as the standards and methods of tariff collection, all of which have made subtle changes that are beneficial to Haihan.
The most noteworthy thing is that Haihan will build an exclusive economic zone in the two trading ports of Busan Port in North Korea and Nagasaki Port in Japan. Haihan merchants who settle in the special zone will enjoy more preferential treatment trade policy.
The nature of this so-called exclusive economic zone is actually the same as the concessions that Haihan obtained in the countries of the South China Sea. It allows Haihan to exercise an independent administrative and judicial system in this area, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a small colonial point.The report gave a very high evaluation of this harvest, thinking that in the long run, it will greatly help Haihan to establish a stronger influence in these areas.
As a party involved in the entire process from planning to negotiation, Zhu Zian knew the inside story very well. Although the report did not mention his name, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.
However, Zhu Zian was a little surprised by the following content, because the news broke out that Hai Han and the shogunate were negotiating on the arms trade.As far as he knows, although the two parties have reached a cooperation intention in this regard, there is no consensus on the specific transaction content, settlement method, delivery cycle, etc., and follow-up negotiations are still needed to resolve differences. The shogunate sent envoys to Hangzhou. It is for this purpose.
Haihan sells arms and equipment to foreign countries all the year round. To Haihan, it doesn't matter whether this transaction is confidential or not, but the Japanese shogunate may not be willing to let this matter be made public prematurely.Because the purpose of the shogunate to buy arms from Haihan is very clear. One is to try to maintain the same level of arms as its neighbor North Korea, and the other is to deter those local vassal states that are not peaceful in the country.Once the news leaks, competitors will also take countermeasures, and the shogunate's plan to spend a small amount of money to do big things may come to naught.
But he thought about it again, this kind of operation may not be a mistake made by the editors of the Times, but may be intentional.Both Shi Chengwu and Tao Hongfang once said that selling arms to the shogunate is not the ultimate goal. To create an atmosphere of an arms race in the East China Sea, so that more potential buyers who are still waiting to see the situation will also pay to participate in this competition. It is the most ideal situation.
The more Zhu Zian thought about it, the more he felt that it made sense. The news broke in such a public newspaper, whether it was North Korea, which had a close relationship with Haihan, or the Satsuma clan, which secretly maintained a trade relationship with Haihan, they should be able to notice this quickly. information.From their respective standpoints, the shogunate's arms purchase plan will be quite a stimulus, and they probably won't turn a blind eye to it.
Zhu Zian's curiosity flared up, and he almost wanted to throw down the newspaper, and went to Tao Hongfang and others to find out the inside story and confirm whether his guess was correct.
However, it was the first day of the new official's tenure, and it would definitely not be appropriate to ask for leave immediately after meeting with his immediate superior.Zhu Zian quickly calmed down, put the newspaper aside, and decided to calm down and turn his attention to work.
Zhu Zian looked at the stack of files on the table, and took the top one casually.
He opened the file and glanced at it. The content recorded the conversation between the two, and some details of the conversation were also specially noted.
The time of the conversation was two days ago, and the place was a teahouse on Hanlin Street in the east of the city.There were only two participants, one was an employee of the Special Liaison Office, named Bi Xingsheng, and the person who was talking to him was named Cao Kun, who was a food chief in Suzhou Prefecture.
The identity of grain chief is rare, but Zhu Zian knows a thing or two about it.The so-called head of grain was a post specially appointed during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty to meet the manpower needs of the people to expropriate and transport land grain.Generally, the area where the grain is collected is about [-] shi is divided into a district, and then a large local household is assigned to act as the grain chief, who is responsible for requisitioning the grain.Later, even the tasks of urging food delivery, reporting tax evasion, and declaring disaster apologies were all handed over to the food chief.
Although the head of grain is only a semi-official position, but because of its considerable power and can be passed down from generation to generation, it was also a popular chasing among the people in the early days.As long as the big family wins this job, they can use their power to bully the villagers and fill their pockets. There are not a few people who take the opportunity to make a fortune.
However, in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the imperial court changed the rules of grain requisition, appointing multiple grain chiefs in one district, reducing authority, and hereditary inheritance was no longer allowed.In this way, the benefits of being a grain chief will not be so much, and the big households will naturally lose their motivation, so they forcibly transfer this position to those poor households who have no power and power, and control them behind their backs.All the benefits belong to oneself, and if something goes wrong, let others bear it.
In the late Ming Dynasty, internal and external troubles continued, and the imperial court increased the Liao, Lian, and Suppression rates, which made the folks bear more and more taxes.Even in many areas that have not suffered from war, taxpayers will choose to flee because they cannot afford to pay taxes.As a result, the position of grain chief became even more drudgery, and there were quite a few grain chiefs who were arrested and imprisoned because they could not complete the requisition task, or chose to abandon their families and properties to flee.
When Chongzhen was in power, the grain collection work in many places was already in a mess, and the position of grain chief became a symbol of being blamed.Back then when Zhu Zian was still in Prince De's Mansion, he often heard that a certain county in a certain prefecture had arrested several grain chiefs to take the blame because of poor grain requisition.But this way of dealing with it was of no avail at all, and could not change the predicament that Daming was in at that time.
Zhu Zian once thought that Jiangsu and Zhejiang were lands of plenty and riches. The work of collecting food and taxes should not be as difficult as in the north where natural disasters and man-made disasters continue, but after reading this file, he found that the south is actually not much better. The process of collecting food was also very difficult.
The grain chief Cao Kun said that although the grain harvest in his jurisdiction was not bad, it was also difficult to complete the grain collection task.The reason is also very simple. The imperial court has lost control over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the big households are unwilling to pay the imperial court any more grain. They should either stockpile the grain and wait for the situation to change, or sell it secretly to the grain merchants who work for Haihan.
If the big households don't take the lead, the small households will naturally not be willing to cooperate with the government.As for the grain chief, everyone knew that this was a scapegoat job, so who would give him face?During the period before Haihan took over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Cao Kun was able to complete one-tenth of the grain collection task, thank God.
But this is not the only difficulty Cao Kun encountered in the process of collecting grain. After all, his duty is not only to collect grain, but also to transport it.
(End of this chapter)