During the Jingtai period, why did Zhu Qiyu choose Tang Xing, a relative of the Ming Dynasty emperor, as the commander of the capital to lead the fleet south to the West, instead of choosing eunuchs like he did during the Yongle period?

The eunuchs who went south to the West include not only Zheng He, but also Wang Jinghong, Hou Xian, Yi Shiha, etc. Most of these eunuchs who can do practical things were selected through the test of the Jingnan Campaign. In peacetime, they were selected

Eunuchs, in the end, whoever can flatter you will be favored.

There are three ancestors in the Tai'an Palace of the Ming Dynasty. The eldest ancestor is Xing'an, the second ancestor is Chengjing, and the third ancestor is Li Yongchang.

One of these three is the admiral eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremonies, one is the governor of the East Factory, and the other is the admiral eunuch of the Jiangwu Hall. They are all extremely important positions. No matter which one they are, they cannot be transferred.

Not everyone can do this position of commanding Pandu. Official ships and official trade not only have economic significance, but also have strong diplomatic and military significance. They must also be deeply trusted by the emperor. It is not possible to go to the vast sea.

He forgot about the emperor in the capital and the mission he carried on himself.

Therefore, this choice finally became Tang Xing as the capital of Pandu to command the southward voyage to the West. This was the result of careful consideration.

"Speaking of the official ships and official trade in the late Xuande years and the early years of orthodoxy, Commander Tang thinks why the official ship and official trade in the Ming Dynasty stopped like this?" Li Binyan and Tang Xing had a drink. Today was a farewell, and they had a quick drink.

I don’t know when we will meet again.

Tang Xing is going to the horizon, and whether he can come back or not is yet to be seen.

Tang Xing looked at the vast sea and said solemnly: "It's not just because the situation in Nanya is such that the powerful right-wingers can make noise in the court, it's also because even if it's the last time in the ninth year of Xuande

Go west

Foreign, that is, even the internal funds have been used to make no loss or profit. If you continue, you will only lose money and make a profit. Official ships and official trade cost a lot of money. One trip can cost a million taels of silver. Internal funds are just that.

Even if you are rich, you can’t compensate like this.”

"Loss of money, so I can't go on with it, it's that simple."

"That's it." Li Binyan showed a bit of a smile and said with a smile: "Commander Tang was delayed by the identity of this emperor's relative."

Tang Xing did not simply attribute the stoppage of the Western voyages to the fact that the powerful rightists were hindering the development of the Ming Dynasty for their own selfish purposes. Instead, he considered it comprehensively. From this perspective, it shows that Tang Xing is qualified enough to command Pandu.

Admiral of the Ming Navy, heading to Southeast Asia.

The efficiency of the imperial court is much lower than that of the private sector, which is an inevitable shortcoming of the bureaucratic system.

If the civil and military officials from other dynasties were also involved in the official ship and trade affairs, and civil servants, military generals, and eunuchs were at odds with each other, how could such efficiency compete with the smugglers all over the Ming Dynasty?

Now we should not call them smugglers but merchant ships.

How serious was the phenomenon of smuggling in the Ming Dynasty? By the Hongzhi period, even the princes were involved. For example, Liu Jing, the general military officer of Guangdong and Guangxi, colluded with Qin Lian, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, at Dianbai Port in Guangzhou to bring down the Japanese pirates.

Sulfur, saltpeter and other items were transported to Annan, and then grain was transported from Annan to the Japanese country in exchange for Japanese silver, making a lot of money.

How did this matter finally reach the court?

The spoils are unevenly divided.

Qin's prosecution revealed that Liu Jing had embezzled military pay and massacred good people, but Liu Jing said that Qin Hong was cruel and cruel. In the end, Emperor Xiaozong and Xi Ni, although Liu Jing was deposed and lived idle, Liu Jing's son Liu Wen continued to go out to Guangdong and Guangxi, and Qin Hong

He was dismissed from his official post, but soon went to Nanjing to serve as Minister of Household Affairs, and was appointed again not long after.

The nobles, eunuchs, civil servants, military generals, gentry, subordinates, and merchants of the Ming Dynasty were all participants in the southeast smuggling, and the imperial court's use of them to ban them was completely scratching the surface.

The Ming Dynasty made seven voyages to the West to open sea routes, reopening the sea routes that had been closed due to Hu Yuan's misconceptions at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. After several voyages to the West, the sea routes between Nanyang and the West were finally connected. The smugglers of the Ming Dynasty were faced with sea trade.

Of course he would take risks if he could make huge profits. During the Yongle period, even the prince-in-law would build ships privately and run this business to make money.

The trade routes are open, and the previous huge profits are becoming normal. The Ming Dynasty's expensive voyages to the West, hundreds of treasure ships, official ships and official trade, can only achieve a point where neither loss nor profit is achieved, which seems tasteless.

, it would be a pity to abandon it.

The cost of official ships and official trade of the imperial court must be higher than that of private trade.

Private commerce is just commercial activities, while the Ming Dynasty's official ships also had diplomatic and military functions, and the imperial government's official ships also had redundant and extremely high administrative expenses, which made the Ming Dynasty's internal funds seem to be unable to make ends meet. In addition, in the late Xuande years

The combination of the political situation in the early years of Orthodoxy and numerous reasons led to the cessation of the Ming Dynasty's southward voyages to the West.

Official ships and official trade have been around since the middle of the Tang Dynasty. Regardless of the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, these official ships and official trade were just like chicken feathers in the end, ending in a mess.

The reason why Li Binyan asked Tang Xing about these old things was because he wanted to know if Tang Xing knew one of the purposes of the official ship and official trade going south again this time, which was to anchor the price so that the official ship and official trade no longer had to pursue profits and could not pursue them.

Tang Xing put his hands on his hips and said quite proudly: "You, Governor Li, are the most popular figure in the emperor's heart, am I, Tang Xing, not the same? I tell you, your majesty has even solved the problem of my son.

!」

"Your Majesty has been teaching me about maritime trade for a long time. His Majesty made the truth very clear."

"Your Majesty said that our official ships and official trade do not seek huge profits, but only serve as referees. Regarding the disputes between the Fanyi countries, the replacement of the thrones of the Fanyi countries, the exchanges between Fanyi merchant ships, and the Ming Dynasty merchant ships and other matters, the Ming Dynasty

Even in the role of referee, it saves the officials in the capital from having to open their mouths and compete with the people for profit."

"Referee." Li Binyan nodded heavily and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Referee is actually order. The Ming Dynasty's southward voyages will bring a new order to Nanyang and the West. Only with order can we talk about such luxury things as development.

"By the way, your imperial decree also wants to go to the West with you, and further west?" Li Binyan said about Jin Shenju. This time Jin Shenju will go to the West together.

Tang Xing nodded and said: "Well, that woman is making a fuss about going together. She is afraid that I will bring back a bunch of women and children from the West. She has lost her favor, so she is making a fuss about going. How can she be afraid of me?

He brought people home because he was obviously afraid that I would die outside."

"She can't stay in the Ming Dynasty, and her children stay in the capital. If she stays in the Ming Dynasty, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty can't deal with me, and they can't deal with a womanly family?"

Tang Xing really wants to get a bunch of concubines back, and there is nothing he can do about it now. He seems to be a jealous woman, but it is just a matter of life and death, and death is the same.

Jin Shenju will definitely die if she stays in the capital to take care of her children. Even if the emperor is extra kind, as long as she is a Japanese and makes trouble, she will end up dying to thank God for her kindness. This has nothing to do with skill. Jin Shenju has done it.

As the imperial edict of Japan, this identity is destined not to fall into any political whirlpool.

Li Binyan hesitated for a moment, and then said in a joking tone: "This time, Your Majesty has given permission to allow Hosokawa Katsumoto and other Japanese merchants to follow the fleet south in the name of Shanye Yuan Gongfang. The Japanese are good at handling ships and are even more brave at sea.

It is indeed the help of the voyage to the West. You are a woman who cannot be bullied. With a wave of this imperial order, the Japanese warriors responded to the call. How do you treat me?"

Is Li Binyan kidding? He is worried about Tang Xing's safety.

Li Binyan was a very traditional scholar-official, and his obsession with being different from those of his own race was deeply ingrained, which made him believe that it would be easier for the barbarians to kill him.

"She dares! You can't even control a mother-in-law, so why would I go to the sea and become General Jinbeiha?" Tang Xing said with confidence, straightening his back.

"That's true." Li Binyan thought for a while, and it was indeed the case. Jin Shenju had abandoned his identity as an imperial edict, ran away with Old Tang, and then went to sea to mess around with something. So what exactly was Jin Shenju doing?

Tang Xing and Li Binyan chatted for a long time. After this trip, if everything goes well, they can see each other again. If not, it will be the last deep conversation between us.

When Tang Xing returned home, it was already the time when the moon was over the willow trees. He was not drunk, he was just drinking lightly, so naturally he would not be confused.

"You're back?" Jin Shenju bit his lip when he saw Tang Xing and helped Tang Xing change clothes and wash up.

Jin Shenju's cheeks were a little red with embarrassment. He held a pill and said, "Sir, take the medicine. This is a prescription I got from begging everywhere in the capital. It was prescribed by Concubine Ran Ning."

"What is this?" Tang Xing was stunned and asked strangely.

Jinshen Bureau whispered: "You use Rehmannia glutinosa and Cornus officinale to make the medicine, Jun and Chen are three tonics; when combined with Alisma, Moudan Bark, and Poria cocos, it can relieve dampness, purge turbidity, and three diarrhea; the three tonics and three diarrhea are tonic for weight loss."

For diarrhea, the three yins of the liver, spleen and kidney should be replenished at the same time."

"Although my husband is good at fighting, the future is long, so it is better to take good care of him, so that he can live in peace and harmony for a long time."

With these six herbs combined together, how could Tang Xing not know the use of this medicine? Just as what Shen Ju said now, although he, Tang Xing, is still young when it comes to bed matters, he has finally reached his age and pays attention to everything.

A long stream of water is the best, after all, his opponent is a temptress.

The morning of the next day was bright and sunny, but the new port in Songjiang Prefecture was full of people and noisy everywhere. Apart from the boatmen and sailors, there were only people watching the excitement on the pier.

The warm southeast wind blew a few days ago, and everyone knew that Ming Dynasty's official ships and official trade were finally setting sail after a year of planning.

Li Binyan led the officials of Songjiang Prefecture to first worship at the Martyrs' Shrine in Wanguo City, and then began to worship the mountains and rivers, praying to God for a smooth trip.

When Li Binyan arrived at Xingang, Tang Xing had already led a group of Ming navy generals, waiting to worship the goddess of the sky, the sea god Mazu.

Li Binyan stood on the three-foot platform and shouted loudly: "Rise the monument."

The title of this monument is "Record of the Spiritual Response of the Concubine Tian". It was an inscription erected at the Palace of the Concubine Tian Concubine on the Nanshan Mountain in Changle before Zheng He's last voyage to the West.

A red-robed eunuch flicked his fly whisk, his face turned red, and he shouted loudly: "The emperor and Ming Dynasty mixed together in the sea and the world for three generations and followed the Han and Tang Dynasties. They traveled to the sky and the ends of the earth, and they did not accept concubines. The west of their western regions and the north of the meandering north

, It’s a long way away, but the journey can be calculated.”

"Looking at the ocean, the huge waves are reaching the sky, and the huge waves are like mountains. I look at the foreign lands, separated by the haze and haze. But my clouds and sails are high, and the stars are galloping day and night. I wade through the wild waves. If you are walking on the thoroughfare, I will pay my respects to the imperial court.

This great blessing is due especially to the divine protection of Tianfei."

"When we come to foreign countries, if the foreign kings are disrespectful, we will capture them alive; if the barbarians invade and plunder them, we will destroy them."

"This seaway is clear and peaceful, and those who rely on it are all gifts from God."

Although the west of the Western Region and the north of Yibei are really far away, for the Ming Dynasty, it is still a long way to go. The Ming Dynasty ships visited foreign countries. If the Panyi princes were disrespectful, they would be captured alive and sent back to the capital. If the barbarians invaded, then

After the annihilation, there was Qingning, a sea route in the Yongle period, which the people relied on.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty had to erect such a monument for its official ship and official trade was to express the purpose of this trip. The sea route was clear and peaceful, and the people of the Ming Dynasty relied on it.

"The Emperor prays that everything will be peaceful." After reading the inscription, the eunuch Liu Yongcheng said the emperor's prayer, then he shook the fly whisk and shouted loudly: "Set the sails and set sail!"

Who is this eunuch Liu Yongcheng?

Liu Yongcheng was born in the 24th year of Hongwu. He joined the imperial court at the age of twelve. During the Yongle period, he accompanied Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty to conquer Mobei five times. His status in the army was not that of an imperial minister, but that of a general.

During the Xuande period, Liu Yongcheng even followed Xuanzong to quell the rebellion of the Han Dynasty, and then led his army to the Northern Expedition, defeating the Uuliangha tribe three times. In the end, he would repeatedly fight against the Uuliangha tribes who had the disease of sitting on the fence again during the Xuande period.

, bow your head and bow your head.
To be continued...