"There are no ways...but it depends on Junchen whether you dare to try it."
"Don't dare!" After hearing Zhou Shangjing's question and seeing Zhou Shangjing looking at him meaningfully, Zhao Junchen suddenly frowned, but without any hesitation, he answered simply: "Junior
I'm afraid I must disappoint you, the First Assistant. This junior is very timid. If you are behind me, everything will be fine. However, if it is a method that even the First Assistant does not dare to try, I will never be as good as the First Assistant. Naturally,
I don’t dare to try it anymore!”
This time, hearing Zhao Junchen's answer surprised Zhou Shangjing again.
In this world, there are not many things that can surprise Zhou Shangjing, but Zhao Junchen made such situations happen one after another today.
Zhou Shangjing originally thought that he had found Zhao Junchen's weakness and could use this weakness to influence and even control Zhao Junchen to achieve some of his own unknown purposes. However, he did not expect that Zhao Junchen did not even ask about the plan proposed by Zhou Shangjing.
Asked, he directly rejected it and avoided it.
It was as if Zhao Junchen, who was eager to solve the hidden dangers in the northwest border and looked worried about the country and the people, was a completely different person.
"It seems that I have underestimated him after all. Although there is still some undue kindness and naivety in my heart, I have not lost the most basic vigilance."
Zhou Shangjing, who was secretly thinking this in his heart, raised his gray eyebrows. He was about to say something more to try to persuade Zhao Junchen, but Zhao Junchen suddenly stood up and saluted Zhou Shangjing: "This junior is visiting the Chief Minister just to pay homage to you.
You informed me of the hidden dangers of the northwest border defense and asked you for advice on countermeasures. Now that you have been informed of the situation, and you are not willing to interfere in this matter, my lord, I will not dare to disturb your rest anymore, so I will leave first."
Seeing Zhao Junchen like this, Zhou Shangjing sighed softly, looking very regretful. He nodded slowly and said, "Since you don't want to talk more, Junchen, I won't keep you here."
After receiving Zhou Shangjing's reply, Zhao Junchen bowed to Zhou Shangjing, then said nothing more and left the living room of the Zhou Mansion.
On the other side, Zhou Shangjing sat on the main seat. He silently watched Zhao Junchen leave without getting up to see him off. There was a faint fluctuation in his eyes, but he didn't know what he was thinking.
Until Zhao Junchen's figure disappeared from his eyes, Zhou Shangjing suddenly raised his voice and ordered: "Come here."
"Master, please give me your orders." As soon as Zhou Shangjing finished speaking, a servant of the Zhou family came to the living room and asked Zhou Shangjing respectfully.
"Go and send a message to Wu Zhenyi, the Minister of War, saying that I want to see him for questioning, and ask him to come to the house to see me immediately."
"As commanded."
The corrupt status of the three-border defense in the northwest related to the bad military system of the Ming Dynasty, and also vaguely touched the taboo in Emperor Deqing's heart. It affected the whole body. If it was touched rashly, although there would be little benefit, there would be a lot of trouble, so
Even Zhou Shangjing, although he was extremely shocked after learning about the situation, was not far from taking action to change the status quo easily.
However, Zhou Shangjing is Zhou Shangjing after all. As the chief minister of the dynasty, the stable situation between the government and the public over the years is absolutely inseparable from his contribution and hard work. Although he looked very embarrassed in front of Zhao Junchen just now, in reality
After all, Zhou Shangjing will not sit idly by - without endangering himself, Zhou Shangjing still plans to try his best to make amends.
Of course, only on the premise of not endangering yourself.
However, before doing anything, Zhou Shangjing still needs to understand some situations in more detail to be prepared.
Therefore, as soon as Zhao Junchen left, he sent someone to summon Wu Zhenyi, the Minister of War!
Emperor Deqing has firmly controlled the military power of the Ming Dynasty over the years, and will never let anyone interfere or share it. The ministers of the Ministry of War in the past few decades have all been the absolute confidants of Emperor Deqing.
However, after decades of running the government and the public, Zhou Shangjing finally placed some cronies in the Ministry of War and the army - although the number was small and most of them had no real power, there were still some of his own.
Wu Zhenyi, the left minister of the Ministry of War, was one of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Master, how was the discussion with that old fox Zhou Shangjing? Has he agreed to intervene in this matter?"
As Zhao Junchen just left Zhou Mansion, Xu Qingyan couldn't wait to ask.
"Since he is an old fox, how could he agree so easily to take action on something that has no benefits but obvious disadvantages?" Zhao Junchen shook his head and said: "This time, not only did I fail to persuade him to join in the northwest border defense matter, but I actually
I also exposed some thoughts in front of him that I didn't even notice, but it was a bit more gain than loss."
While speaking, Zhao Junchen was thoughtful.
Just now in the living room of the Zhou Mansion, Zhao Junchen was uncharacteristically uncharacteristic because of the inexplicable impulse in his heart. Even though he knew that the gains would outweigh the losses, he still asked Zhou Shangjing for advice on how to solve the hidden dangers in the northwest border defense.
This kind of impulse would appear in his heart, but even Zhao Junchen himself had not thought of it.
Looking back now, Zhao Junchen quickly understood where his impulse came from.
Zhao Junchen came from a later generation, and the education he received in later generations made him more nationally aware than anyone else in the world, and he also valued national justice more - after all, most people in this era have not yet formed the concept of "country" - however
This kind of national consciousness and national justice will unknowingly affect Zhao Junchen's choices and judgments.
Deep in Zhao Junchen's heart, he still remembers the "Two-legged Sheep" tragedy during the Five Husbands' Rebellion in China, the looting and raids after the Mongols destroyed the Song Dynasty and the "four classes of citizens" system, and the "Ten Days in Yangzhou" after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs.
" and the "Three Jiading Massacres" are both regarded as a great shame and human tragedy.
Not to mention the various crimes committed by the Japanese invaders when they invaded China.
Zhao Junchen knew very well that the Ming Dynasty had been at peace for a long time, and the martial spirit had long since disappeared. Once aliens invaded, it would bring great catastrophe and humiliation, and it would still not be forgotten and washed away thousands of years later, so after learning about the hidden dangers of border defense
Finally, I will do my best to avoid such catastrophe and shame from appearing in front of myself.
But when you calm down and think about it, this idea like a passionate young man is not a good thing for Zhao Junchen today.
Zhao Junchen is not yet qualified to "worry about the world's worries first".
Passionate young people are certainly worthy of admiration, but throughout the ages, at home and abroad, most of them cannot escape the fate of being exploited by politicians, and Zhao Junchen is the last person who wants to be a pawn in the hands of others.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen simply refused to listen to Zhou Shangjing's next proposal and directly rejected Zhou Shangjing.
…………
On the other side, after hearing Zhao Junchen's answer, Xu Qingyan showed an "as expected" expression and said: "I knew it would be like this. Zhou Shangjing, that old fox, was originally cautious. Now he is getting more and more fearful as he gets older. How could this happen?
Take the initiative to intervene in such troublesome matters."
"Be careful!"
While scolding, Zhao Junchen turned around and glared at Xu Qingyan.
Now the two of them have just left the gate of the Zhou Mansion, but there are still many guests of the Zhou Mansion and servants of the Zhou Mansion who are responsible for welcoming them around. Once Xu Qingyan's comments fall into the ears of others and Zhou Shangjing finally learns about it, Zhao Junchen will definitely
A lot of trouble is coming.
Although he is dissatisfied with the outcome of this meeting, it is not the time for Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing to break up.
Seeing Zhao Junchen's dissatisfied look, Xu Qingyan finally noticed something wrong with the surrounding environment and quickly shut up.
Fortunately, Zhao Junchen has a distinguished status now. When people around see him talking to Xu Qingyan, master and servant, even if they are curious, they will actively avoid it to avoid offending Zhao Junchen, so they are not afraid of being overheard.
"From now on, you'd better change your arrogant, domineering and talkative temper, otherwise you'll get into trouble sooner or later and harm yourself and others!" With a frown, Zhao Junchen returned to his sedan chair.
As the bearer opened the curtain, Zhao Junchen sat in the sedan. Looking at Xu Qingyan, who was looking promising outside the sedan, he suddenly sneered and said: "This meeting with Zhou Shangjing, I originally just wanted to do my best.
That's all - it's just that now that Zhou Shangjing knows the hidden dangers of the northwest border defense, if he doesn't do anything next, if something unexpected happens in the future, then don't blame me for putting a big blame on him!
The chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, one person is less than ten thousand people, it is not that easy to be!"
"Then... we don't care about the military towns on the three northwest sides? Then Xu Wenqing, the staff of Liang Fuchen, the governor of the three northwest sides, is still living in our house to wait for the result." Xu Qingyan hesitated and asked again.
.
"Mongolia is used to going south to plunder after autumn every year. It's not long after the beginning of spring, it's still very early, so why bother? This kind of thing, although thankless, will benefit the country and the people, since Zhou Shangjing doesn't care
, but there is always someone who will take care of it! We can just go with the flow when the time comes!"
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen showed a meaningful smile, just like Zhou Shangjing's expression just now when he was about to take advantage of Zhao Junchen.
When Xu Qingyan heard what Zhao Junchen said, he became smarter for once and asked hesitantly: "Master, you mean... let the prince take care of this matter?"
Zhao Junchen nodded and said: "Except for our righteous Crown Prince, who would really take care of this kind of troublesome matter?! And who would really dare to take care of it?! Who else would leave it to him?
?Speaking of which, His Highness the Crown Prince has been away from Beijing for many days to investigate the case, and he will be back soon, right?"
"The young master is wise."
Zhao Junchen smiled slightly, but suddenly a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes. He changed the topic and said: "However, our focus next is not this!"