gnovel Chapter 236 The South Heavenly Gate Toll Station and the Great Han Treasure Note
Chapter 236 The South Heavenly Gate Toll Station and the Great Han Treasure Note
Author Fat Fish Is Not Afraid of Fire's latest work, "The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: Starting with an All-In Bet on Beijing," is exclusively released for the first time!
Since the Han Dynasty blockaded the Strait of Malacca, in order to prevent Western merchants from evading taxes, they began to look for the best blockade point, that is, to find the narrowest strait.
Ultimately, coastal defense passes were established in the place closest to the east, which is now Singapore, and the scattered islands opposite Singapore.
Liu Mu personally named it: Nantianmen (South Heaven Gate)
That's right, it means exactly what it sounds like. The Han Dynasty built the Southern Heavenly Gate, so the South Seas were their backyard.
If you look down from the air, you will see that between those islands, medium-sized Fujian-style ships are anchored and connected by iron chains as thick as an arm, remaining motionless at sea.
The bow of these Fujian ships was equipped with three flying thunder cannons and a small flag with twelve soldiers.
Once an unfamiliar ship passes by, the soldiers will immediately open fire. These large-caliber flying thunder cannons do not shoot far but are extremely powerful. Just one can cause a devastating blow if it lands on the deck.
Most merchant ships will turn around when they see this and then obediently go to Nantianmen to pay the fee. It's not expensive; it's calculated as a percentage: 10% for large merchant ships, 7% for medium-sized merchant ships, and 5% for small merchant ships and below.
Meanwhile, on the foremost Fujianese ship, Zhang Huai'an sat with his legs crossed on the gunwale, a sweet grass stalk, a specialty of Southeast Asia, dangling from his mouth, squinting at the sea.
He was a native of Guanzhong. He joined the army without really knowing what was going on, and because of his good performance in military training, he became a centurion at a young age. He even had the potential to become a chiliarch or a lieutenant general.
It's a pity that he was led into rebellion by that traitor Wang Fuchen, which resulted in him being hit in the calf by a lead bullet in front of the Lao Jun Temple. Although it was just a graze and his leg was saved, he would never be able to go to the battlefield again.
So, under Li Yong's arrangement, the Ministry of War found him a lucrative post, and he came to Malacca.
Zhang Huai'an never imagined in his life that he would one day be on the high seas, working as a tax official of the "C" class, which, to put it bluntly, meant collecting fees.
Although it sounds bad to outsiders, it was the most lucrative job in the Han Dynasty's navy. You didn't have to go out to sea to suppress pirates or patrol against the wind and waves. You just sat on the ship and waited for Western merchant ships to obediently deliver money.
"Boss Zhang, another one's coming!"
The lookout, perched atop the mast, shouted. Zhang Huai'an, hearing this, lazily stood up, pulled out a brass telescope from his waist, and scanned the area to the southwest.
A three-masted sailing ship was coming this way with its sails billowing. The ship was long and the deck was wide, but there were no gun ports. It was indeed a merchant ship.
Zhang Huai'an glanced at the blue flag with a white cross atop the mast, and a smile crept onto his lips.
"This is a privately owned French merchant ship."
"It's sourced from my great Han!"
After muttering a few words to himself, Zhang Huai'an put away his binoculars and called out to the back, "Brothers, we have guests! Prepare some tea!"
Upon hearing this, the twelve soldiers on the Bing-class Fujian ship all smiled and became more lively.
Someone brought out a small charcoal stove to boil water, someone else brought out a dish of pickled plums and candied fruit from the cabin, and someone else covered the cannon covers of the three flying thunder cannons at the bow of the ship again.
This is an internal rule among their tax collectors: French merchant ships are not allowed to have their cannons pointed at them.
Captain Leclerc of the French merchant ship "Iris" stood at the bow and saw tea smoke rising from the Fujian ships of the Han Dynasty navy in the distance. His heart, which had been hanging in suspense all the way, finally settled down.
The first mate next to him muttered, "Captain, why are they making tea?"
"You don't understand." Leclerc straightened his scarf, his tone carrying a hint of smugness from someone who had been there before. "The people of the Han Dynasty have always been polite to the French. Last year when I was working on this route, their tax collector even treated me to a pot of Tieguanyin tea, which is the tea that the emperor of the Han Dynasty drank."
The deputy general was also skeptical upon hearing this.
The Iris slowly approached the defensive line formed by iron chains, and lowered its sails and anchored about thirty feet away from the Fujian ship.
This is also the rule: all Western merchant ships must stop at least 30 zhang away and wait for the small boats of the Han Navy to pass by for inspection. If any ship dares to approach within 20 zhang, the flying thunder cannons will give it a warning.
A sampan was lowered from the side of the Bing-class Fujian ship, and Zhang Huai'an, with two soldiers, rowed over and easily docked at the Iris.
Leclerc himself lowered the rope ladder, greeting him with a broad smile. "My lord, we meet again!"
You heard right. The powerful ninth-rank tax official who occupies Malacca is a big shot in the eyes of ordinary merchants.
Zhang Huai'an climbed onto the deck, dusted the salt off his hands, looked Leclerc up and down, and laughed: "Hey, Captain Leclerc, haven't seen you in half a year, got a new ship?"
"Thanks to the Great Han, we made some money on that spice deal last year." Leclerc said, while pulling out a document stamped with the red seal of the Great Han Customs Administration from his pocket and handing it over. "This is an official letter from the Paris East India Company. The bill of lading and crew list are inside. Please take a look, sir."
Zhang Huai'an took the document and flipped through it. His gaze fell on the list of goods, which listed 800 shi of silk, 10,000 pieces of porcelain, and 3,000 shi of tea. He nodded, then returned the document to Leclerc. He took out a palm-sized copper abacus from his waist and made a few quick, clicking motions.
"The Iris is a three-masted ship, classified as a large merchant vessel. The estimated value of its cargo is about 200,000 taels of silver. If we accept ten, that's 20,000 taels."
Leclerc didn't even haggle over the price. He took out twenty large Han Dynasty banknotes from his pocket and handed them over. Each note was worth one thousand taels, so the twenty notes totaled twenty thousand taels.
The tariffs of the Han Dynasty were 10% for large merchant ships, 0.7% for medium-sized Fujian ships, and 0.5% for other small ships, which was considered fair.
As for the Great Han Treasure Note, it was naturally issued by the Ministry of Works of the Great Han Dynasty, using the same technology as the Great Ming Treasure Note, and was specifically used for tax collection in the coastal areas.
The banknote paper is made primarily of high-quality mulberry pulp, mixed with tough vines from the island and fine bamboo fibers. After being pounded hundreds of times, it is thick yet not brittle, does not disintegrate in water, and is difficult to ignite. It has a fine texture, and there is no such material in foreign lands.
The banknote is printed with fine black ink, and the border is carved with a five-clawed golden dragon with intertwined branches. The dragon's eyes are inlaid with extremely fine cinnabar dots, which are not visible unless examined closely under light. The characters "大汉宝钞" (Great Han Treasure Note) in the center are deeply carved in the Nine-Fold Seal script. The strokes are as twisted as iron and as sharp as a knife. Ordinary craftsmen would lose their shape if they tried to copy it even a fraction of the way. Western craftsmen do not even know the brushstrokes, let alone how to imitate them.
The west corner is printed with the characters "Han", "Jiang", "Hai" and "Ning", and next to it is engraved in small seal script: "Universally accepted, those who refuse to comply will be beheaded".
Each banknote has three seals: one is the seal of the Ministry of Revenue of the Han Dynasty, one is the seal of the Ministry of Works, and the last is a very small private seal, which is densely engraved with small characters in clerical script.
It is said: Emperor Hongwu of the Great Han Dynasty, Liu Mu, made this decree.
If you look closely at this last small stamp under the light, you can see fine silver threads hidden inside the paper. These are the fine vine fibers, a specialty of the island, mixed into the paper paste. It is unique and cannot be counterfeited.
Zhang Huai'an took the banknote, examined it against the sunlight, compared the watermark and date, and checked the emperor's private seal. After confirming that everything was correct, he pulled out a seal from his sleeve, breathed on it, and stamped a red stamp on the back of the banknote with the inscription "Verified by Bing".