Zhu Xiong Ying was at her wits' end with this uncle. She had originally intended to groom him, remembering the storyteller's tale of Chang Mao, who called himself "Grandpa Mao," wielding the Yu King's Spear and possessing the courage of ten thousand men.
He is indeed a brave general, but this uncle seems a bit reckless. He's fine charging into battle, but expecting him to lead troops is questionable. Most importantly, Chang Mao's status is special; no one in the army dares to discipline him, and Chang Mao himself lacks self-awareness, acting recklessly because no one dares to control him.
Zhu Xiong Ying continued, "Uncle, have you found out anything about those Japanese pirates?"
Chang Mao immediately produced a memorial and said, “Your Highness, Japanese pirates have frequently harassed Goryeo in the past. Now that the Northern Dynasty of Japan has destroyed the Southern Dynasty, many warriors, politicians, and ronin of the Southern Dynasty have been forced to wander at sea and occupy islands. There are indeed genuine Japanese pirates, but the remnants of Zhang’s rebel forces and unscrupulous merchants often collude with the Japanese pirates and commit rebellious acts under the guise of Japanese pirates.”
Zhu Xiong Ying nodded, and Chang Mao continued, "Japan's maritime ban is only because Japanese merchants need goods from our Great Ming. These merchants and pirates are the same people; when trade is open, pirates become merchants, and when trade is banned, merchants become pirates!"
Zhu Xiong Ying nodded and said with a smile, "What Uncle said makes sense. These merchants and pirates should be dealt with. But Uncle, do you think we should use small boats or large boats?"
“We should certainly use large warships and Fujian-style ships. Our Ming Dynasty has a proven track record of large ships that can cross oceans!” Chang Mao immediately said. “Small ships can be used to suppress Japanese pirates in coastal waters, but that’s just a minor ailment! If we don’t get rid of the root cause, these Japanese pirates will never be eradicated!”
Zhu Xiong Ying nodded, then said, "Uncle, if I were to ask you to lead men to kill those sea merchants and salt merchants who are colluding with Japanese pirates, what would you say?"
Chang Mao nodded immediately, looking somewhat excited. "Your Highness, those Japanese pirates deserve to be killed! But those profit-driven, lawless merchants also need to be punished!"
In fact, during the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court allocated salt according to household registration, that is, determined the actual salt production quota and marketing catalog based on the population of the prefecture and county and other needs.
The supply of salt was determined by sales volume, while demand determined the scale of salt production. The country's salt-producing areas were divided into several major regions, and each major region was further divided into several salt fields. The salt produced by each salt field was strictly designated to be supplied exclusively to the salt-consuming populations of certain prefectures and counties.
In fact, there was also a method called "opening the middle" in the Ming Dynasty.
The main method implemented by the government was to recruit merchants to transport military supplies such as grain and horses, using salt and tea as intermediaries. This was primarily because border regions urgently needed military provisions, and the government recruited merchants to transport grain in exchange for salt permits, which were then used to transport and sell the salt in designated areas.
Therefore, when government-issued salt was hard to buy, smuggled salt emerged and persisted despite repeated bans.
Zhu Xiong Ying looked at Chang Mao and said, "If we encounter any corrupt salt merchants, we should deal with them as appropriate. Whatever is confiscated should be taken into the government, and whatever should be fined should be confiscated. But Uncle, please remember to keep some and allocate it to the shipyard and the Ordnance Bureau."
This is utterly outrageous! The Crown Prince is raising an army!
However, Old Zhu didn't care about such things. Crown Prince Zhu Biao probably wouldn't care too much either. Ultimately, it's because Old Zhu had already granted him some tacit authority. It wasn't a problem for Zhu Xiong Ying to have access to military power; small-scale access was perfectly acceptable.
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