Li Huan's resonant voice echoed in the square: "Your Majesty, please open the sea so that my merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty can reach the four seas!"
"No, Your Majesty, you absolutely cannot!"
Suddenly, several old ministers came forward and prostrated themselves on the ground. They kowtowed to the emperor in fear and shouted loudly: "No!"
Regarding the matter of opening the sea, to be honest, even Zhu Houzhao did not expect that Li Huan would suddenly bring it up.
Li Huan mentioned the opening of the sea to Zhu Houzhao more than once, but these were private conversations between the monarch and his ministers. Because of this, Zhu Houzhao was very aware of the problems faced by the opening of the sea in the Ming Dynasty.
If he didn't understand how big the interests were in the Ming Dynasty, maybe Zhu Houzhao wouldn't take it to heart. But because of Li Huan's introduction, Zhu Houzhao now knew very well how big the interests were in the Ming Dynasty.
According to what Li Huan said, once the Ming Dynasty opened the sea, I dare not say more. The benefits that the Ming Dynasty gained from opening the sea alone could increase the Ming Dynasty's taxes by several percent.
Of course, the resistance to the opening of the sea was also very great. In the past hundred years, a force gradually formed in the Ming Dynasty. This force was extremely resolute in blocking the opening of the sea in the Ming Dynasty.
These people used excuses such as the danger and unprofitability of the sea to block the court's sight of the sea. Perhaps Zhu Houzhao would have believed the words of these ministers in the past, but since Li Huan informed him of the specific situation at sea, Zhu Houzhao has become extremely clear about what is happening in the court.
What is the true purpose of those who obstruct the imperial court from opening the sea?
In the final analysis, it is nothing more than profit.
The benefits from the sea were so great that even the wealthy families who had tasted the benefits from the sea and local powerful people desperately opposed the imperial government's opening of the sea.
The uproaring courtiers knelt down on the ground, kowtowed to the emperor, and shouted admonitions to the emperor.
There were even veteran ministers with white eyebrows and beards, pointing at Li Huan with wide eyes and angrily cursing: "Li Huan, you thief, you have tempted Your Majesty to open the sea. What is the purpose of opening the sea? Opening the sea will cause all harm to our Ming Dynasty but no benefit. Emperor Wenzong's seven
The voyage to the West was a waste of the national treasury and the court gained nothing. Emperor Renxuan had a far-sighted vision and deposed the maritime affairs. This was the rule of Renxuan in the Ming Dynasty. This shows that the policy of opening up the sea was actually a policy that harmed the country and the people. But now you advise your majesty
Open the sea, even if I die, I will not allow you and other female thieves to seduce Your Majesty and do this to our country and our people."
"I am impeaching Li Huan for ulterior motives and to confuse the king!"
Suddenly at least dozens of ministers swarmed up and frantically impeached Li Huan. Some even pointed at Li Huan and cursed loudly. The square suddenly became a mess.
If some uninformed people saw this scene, they might have thought that these people had a grudge against Li Huan for killing his father.
Of course, it was only some of the officials who stood up and attacked Li Huan crazily. However, many officials were watching Li Huan and those officials who attacked Li Huan with great interest at the moment, as if they were watching a good show.
If you observe carefully, you can see that most of the officials who are madly attacking Li Huan at this moment are from several provinces along the southeastern coast and Jiangnan. These officials may not deal with them on weekdays, and even belong to several groups.
A small interest group, but now its stance is extremely unanimous against Li Huan.
But Li Huan, who was at the center of the chaos, had a smile on his face at the moment, as if he was not affected in any way.
"enough!"
At this moment, a roar like thunder sounded in the square, suddenly suppressing everyone's roars and accusations.
The emperor stood up with an angry look on his face and looked at the officials shouting angrily. As the saying goes, when the emperor is angry, blood will flow everywhere. Although Zhu Houzhao does not have any murderous intention in him, with the help of Li Huan since he ascended the throne several years ago,
, although I dare not say that he kept his word, but he also established his majesty as the emperor.
Zhu Houzhao was usually kind to others and rarely got angry, but this time he shouted angrily and silenced all the officials.
When their eyes fell on Zhu Houzhao, all the officials who were frantically impeaching Li Huan shut their mouths honestly, and at the same time they lay on the ground and said tremblingly: "I am rude, your majesty, forgive me!" Zhu Houzhao
His eyes swept over the officials as if they had substance, and finally he slowly said:
"Li Qing's petition to open the sea is out of public interest. Why do you react so fiercely, even disregarding your status, speaking rudely, and verbally attacking Li Qing? Even if you are opposed to opening the sea, don't you think you can't talk properly? Or should you say
You have completely forgotten the teachings of the saint, and you are really calling yourself the disciples of the saint in vain."
Zhu Houzhao's words only caused cold sweat to break out on the foreheads of many people, who knelt there and trembled.
Li Huan looked at the officials who were restrained by the emperor, and looked at the emperor with a smile on his lips.
As if sensing Li Huan's gaze, Zhu Houzhao and Li Huan looked at each other, and the two smiled at each other as if they had a tacit understanding.
At the same time, Zhu Houzhao said: "Since Li Qing proposed that the imperial court open the sea, and the ministers are opposed or have doubts, I would like to ask on behalf of all the ministers what should be done if the sea is opened and the sea is dangerous and there are many waves and pirates."
Li Huan said categorically: "Although the sea contains dangers, it also contains huge benefits. During the former Song Dynasty, half of the country developed maritime trade, which filled the national treasury. As for overseas thieves and bandits causing trouble, could it be that our Ming Navy arranged it?"
An old minister who opposed Li Huan immediately said after hearing this: "It's ridiculous, it's extremely ridiculous. Maritime affairs were banned during the reign of Taizu. This is the ancestral teaching. Are you trying to trick your majesty and go against the ancestral rules?"
Li Huan sneered and stared at the old minister and said: "If Li remembers correctly, Mr. Ding was born in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and his ancestors started their business in maritime trade. It has been nearly a hundred years, and your Ding family has dozens of merchant ships, traveling all year round.
They have made a lot of profits on the sea. If it is according to Master Ding's words, wouldn't the actions of the Erding family violate the ancestral system of His Majesty Taizu..."
Hearing Li Huan detail the background of his Ding clan, especially when Li Huan stared at him with cold eyes and told him that his Ding clan violated Taizu's ancestral system, Ding Quan felt like the world was spinning and his whole body was filled with excitement.
Endless chill, cold sweat broke out, and he trembled with great fear: "You, you"
With a pop, the white-haired Ding Quan swayed and fell to the ground, his eyes rolled and he passed out.
Seeing this situation, many of the officials kneeling beside him no longer cared about Ding Quan. They all subconsciously distanced themselves from Li Huan like they were avoiding snakes and scorpions, as if they were afraid that Li Huan's attention would be lost in the next moment.
It's average on them.
Gao Feng secretly glanced at the emperor's reaction and immediately waved his hand, seeing several guards who were maintaining order stepping forward to carry the unconscious Ding Quan down.
As Ding Quan was frightened to death by Li Huan, there was a sudden silence in the venue. Even the officials who had just wanted to impeach Li Huan became extremely silent.
There was a slight cough, and a figure walked out, who could it be if it wasn't Wang Yangming.
When they saw Wang Yangming coming out, some people couldn't help but their eyes lit up, especially the officials who were kneeling on the ground as if they were grasping at straws.
"Mr. Ge, Mr. Ge, please be fair. The Ming Dynasty must never open the sea. The policy of opening the sea is really harmful to the country and the people."
Wang Yangming took a deep breath, first bowed to the emperor, and then said to Li Huan: "Qin Guogong, I have a question. If the Ming Dynasty opens the sea, it can be foreseen that maritime trade will flourish. Overseas trade is not as good as inland. In the meantime,
What should we do if there are young people overseas who cause trouble?"
Li Huan couldn't help laughing when he heard this and said: "This is easy for you, just kill him!"
Wang Yangming said again: "The Duke of Qin is very courageous, but my Ming Navy is now capable of safeguarding the interests of our Ming Dynasty!"
Li Huan's eyes shone brightly and he said, "What Mr. Chief Assistant said is also what Li will say next."
As he spoke, Li Huan turned around and said respectfully to the emperor: "Your Majesty, you still remember that I asked Jiangnan to confiscate 10% of the property and leave it to others for later use."
Zhu Houzhao nodded when he heard this and said: "I have always been curious about the use of the 10% that the Qing family requested to retain. Is it related to maritime affairs?"
Li Huan nodded slightly and said: "Your Majesty has learned clearly that I would like to open the sea and set up nine gateways on the southeast coast, and set up nine shipping departments to deal with maritime trade. At the same time, large-scale maritime ships will be built to recreate the former Three Treasures Eunuchs.
The invincible navy that sailed to the Western Ocean protected our Ming Dynasty’s overseas interests.”
After hearing this, the Minister of Household Affairs couldn't help but change his expression slightly and exclaimed: "The former Three Treasures Eunuch
The invincible navy cost tens of millions of dollars. If we want to recreate it now, we will have to spend a huge amount of money. This is not possible, this is not possible."
Li Huan chuckled lightly and said, "It's just a mere amount of silver. I asked Your Majesty to retain no less than 20 million taels of silver. Doesn't it mean that we can't build a maritime fleet?"
With a grunt, countless officials were so shocked that they subconsciously swallowed their saliva after hearing Li Huan's words.
There are countless rumors, especially about how much property Li Huan confiscated in Jiangnan. It can be said that except for a few high-level people in the imperial court, even middle and low-level officials do not know exactly how much property has entered the national treasury and the emperor's inner treasury.
Now that Li Huan has revealed that just 10% of the retained amount is worth twenty million taels, it can be said that he has directly suppressed everyone.
Spending twenty million taels of silver on shipbuilding at one time, even a fool knows that if it is true as Li Huan said, let alone recreating the invincible fleet of the three treasure eunuchs in the past, it will not even be doubled in size.
what is the problem.
Li Huan looked at Wang Yangming with a smile on his face and said: "The cost of setting up the Ming Dynasty's maritime fleet and recruiting soldiers will all come from this sum of money, without any contribution from the court. I wonder if you have any questions, sir?"
Many officials couldn't help but look at each other after hearing this. With such a sum of money as support, even if they wanted to use the excuse that the cost was huge and the court's finances could not support it, it was obviously impossible.
At the same time, Wang Yangming nodded slightly and said to the Emperor: "In that case, Your Majesty, I have no objection!"
Some officials opened their mouths subconsciously, but looking at the officials kneeling on the ground, and then looking at Yang Ting and several senior ministers, they could only keep silent when the words came to their lips.
Zhu Houzhao said in a long voice: "In this case, the opening of the sea is ready. The Municipal Shipping Department is set up, the ships are built, and the navy soldiers are recruited. With Li Qing as the leader, the cabinet sends officials to assist in this matter."
Whether it was setting up a municipal shipping department, building treasure ships, reorganizing the fleet, or recruiting soldiers, it can be said that it involved all aspects. Without the support of the imperial court, even if Li Huan had the support of the Xungui Group, it would be difficult to implement it.
All the officials dispersed, but the emperor kept the cabinet, the six ministries, the nine ministers and more than a dozen nobles and nobles.
After all, every major event brought up in today's court meeting is related to the operation and implementation of the general direction of the government in the sixth year of Zhengde and the next few years, so it must be discussed carefully.
In the Imperial Study Room, there were dozens of people including the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Nine Ministers, and all the nobles. It could be said that they included 80 to 90% of the high-level core of the Ming Dynasty.
In this royal study, the decisions of dozens of people can determine the future direction of the Ming Dynasty.
The emperor sat on it, listening to the cabinet ministers discussing more than a dozen specific policies such as repairing rivers and providing relief to local areas. If he had any doubts, Zhu Houzhao would ask questions, and some officials would explain to the emperor. A full morning passed.
, they only managed to discuss a small part of it. Looking at the situation, if there is only three to five days, I am afraid that we will not be able to discuss all the matters.
The emperor held a banquet, and after lunch, the ministers returned to the imperial study.
It seemed that Zhu Houzhao was a little dizzy after listening to the civil affairs affairs all morning, so in the afternoon, before the cabinet ministers could speak, Zhu Houzhao turned his attention to Li Huan and said: "Li Qing, please tell me about the plan of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.
.”
Previously, Li Huan mentioned at the Great Court meeting that he wanted to eliminate the old and weak of the Nine-Border Army, build ordnance, and rush into military affairs in the border towns. Zhu Houzhao, who had always liked martial arts, was naturally more willing to listen to Li Huan and other nobles.
He talked about specific plans.
Li Huan couldn't help but smile when he heard the words. He glanced at everyone in the imperial study, took a deep breath and slowly said: "Your Majesty, the former Tatars are knocking at the pass and attacking our Central Plains. I and the soldiers of the border town, the old governor of Wang Ge, will defend them."
The Tatars, however, found that the border towns were either too old or too old, or the court allocated insufficient funds. The nine-border towns that used to be able to defend our Ming border were no longer what they looked like. Many border towns lacked soldiers, and there were many old, weak, sick and disabled people.
If the armor and stomach are not repaired, the military will be disadvantaged, which has become a hidden danger for our Ming Dynasty. If we do not repair the armor and strengthen the border affairs, I am afraid that it will be difficult to stop the invasion of northern barbarians in the future." When Li Huan said this, Zhu Houzhao nodded repeatedly, and everyone present
All the civil servants were speechless after hearing this.
Although it is said that suppressing force
It was their instinct to join the Xun clan. When they heard that Li Huan wanted to revive martial arts, they subconsciously wanted to object, but one thing they had to admit was that everything Li Huan said was true.
Regardless of what others thought, Li Huan said to the emperor solemnly: "I ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate three million taels of silver in advance so that I can eliminate the old and weak and recruit new soldiers."