“Second!”
Seven or eight officials came forward to express their views.
"It seems...it makes sense!" Chongzhen began to doubt his previous doubts.
"You are all wrong!" An elderly official coughed and said, "Just as the Prime Minister said, adding more ports will not only cause maritime disasters, but will also cause the Ming Dynasty's precious materials to be exchanged for cheap silver by the Japanese."
"Besides, the Ming Dynasty already has a Yuegang, which is full of foreigners and has a very complicated personnel situation. Fights and even murders often occur there! It is a headache for local officials to manage it!"
"Do you mean not to build more ports?" asked the official next to him.
"That's about right."
"What do you mean almost?"
"What I mean is not to add more ports, or to only add more ports in Fujian. After all, the officials there have management experience, and adding more ports will not cause trouble!"
"Second!" Three or four repeaters followed suit.
Chongzhen watched their performance quietly and stopped talking.
After listening for a while, he had a rough idea in his mind.
The officials under the hall are divided into four factions.
Most officials supported the establishment of an additional port in Songjiang Prefecture, Southern Zhili.
Chongzhen made a careful analysis and found that most of these officials were from Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and even Huguang.
The reason they supported it was not for the sake of the imperial court, but to make profits for the businessmen behind them.
Some other officials felt that new ports could be added, but they could not be located in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang.
Northern officials hoped to establish the port in Shandong or Southern Zhili.
Officials in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian had two attitudes: not to add ports or to set up ports in Fujian.
There are also some old-fashioned officials who neither seek profits for themselves or the businessmen behind them, nor take sides with others, but simply express their opposition!
The ministers in the court went back and forth, trying to convince each other with words.
However, the interests involved in adding more ports were too great. Everyone wanted to make profits for the gentry and merchants behind them, and were unwilling to give up their opinions.
So...
They started out with negotiations, which gradually turned into arguments and finally into personal attacks.
"You have ulterior motives and are not a good person!"
"You are not a good person either. You only seek profit for yourself and don't care about the court."
"Your Majesty, I impeach the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."
"Your Majesty, I impeach the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate!"
Seeing that things were spiraling out of control, the cabinet chief Fan Jingwen coughed loudly and said, "Shut up!"
After everyone calmed down, Fan Jingwen bowed to Chongzhen and said, "The establishment of new ports is of great importance. Your Majesty, please make your decision!"
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