The weather is gradually getting warmer. After more than a month of adaptation, the elders have finally regained their energy, and the government affairs of the court are gradually getting back on track.
Of course, part of the reason is that the ongoing inspection of Beijing by the Ministry of Civil Affairs has made everyone feel nervous.
However, these have little to do with the bosses of the cabinet. The Jingchao faces Beijing officials below the fourth rank and cannot control them.
Since the emperor changed the daily dynasty to a two-day dynasty, the cabinet has become much more relaxed. Early in the morning, Takatani slowly entered the public room, made a cup of tea, and then laid his eyes on the thick memorial in front of him.
After taking a sip of tea, Takatani took down the top book and took a quick look. His originally loose body instantly tensed up.
After reading the memorial twice carefully, Gao Gu frowned deeply. After pondering for a moment, he closed the memorial, stood up, and went out to the public room of Wang Ao, the first assistant.
After entering the door, I saw two people already sitting in the room. Apart from Wang Ao, the other person was Zhang Min, the bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion.
The two were talking, and when Gao Gu came in, Zhang Min stood up first, held his hands in greeting, and said, "I've seen Ci Fu."
Then, Wang Ao also stood up and greeted with a smile: "It's time to sit down."
Gao Gu each returned the gift, then took out the memorial from his sleeve, handed it to Wang Ao's case, and said.
"First Assistant, this is the memorial that has just been issued by the Ministry of Revenue. It is of great importance. I am a little unsure. Come and discuss it with the First Assistant."
Wang Ao nodded, ordered someone to serve him a cup of tea, then lowered his head and quickly browsed through the memorial.
As he watched, Wang Ao couldn't help but let out a soft "Huh", then put down the memorial, raised his head and said.
"It's a coincidence. Zhang Ge came here just for this matter, but the memorial he brought was not from the Ministry of Finance, but from Honglu Temple."
With that said, Wang Ao picked up another memorial from his side, handed it to Gao Gu, and continued.
"This matter is of great importance, and I'm afraid it will have to be discussed by the cabinet. I have just sent people to invite Mr. Yu Ge and Mr. Jiang Ge. Please take a look at this memorial first."
With doubts, Gao Gu opened the memorial handed over by Wang Ao and immersed himself in reading it.
Not long after, Yu Shiyue and Jiang Yuan came hand in hand.
Because it was a temporary meeting, there was no time to copy copies to everyone, so we could only circulate them to each other.
After the orderer handed over the two memorials, Wang Ao spoke.
"Today's cabinet meeting has two memorials. One is from Honglu Temple and presents a letter brought by the Mongolian envoy. There are six letters in total. In addition to the letter from Totuo Buhua himself, Chaha
The five tribes of Er, Tumut, Horqin, Asu, and Ordos also submitted letters."
"In these letters, it was mentioned that the Ming Dynasty had sent envoys to reach an agreement with Tuotuo Buhua. Tuotuo Buhua agreed to withdraw, but the Ming Dynasty had to accept tribute from the five ministries and return goods. Now that the war has stopped, the request
Ming Dynasty fulfilled its agreement."
With that said, Wang Ao took out a document and said.
"This is a copy of the document provided by the Mongolian envoy. It is said that the original is stamped with the emperor's seal."
After saying these words, the expressions of all the ministers present, whether they had read the Honglu Temple memorial or not, became quite ugly.
Wang Ao circulated the document in the same manner, and then continued.
"In addition to Honglu Temple, another memorial comes from the Ministry of Household Affairs. The memorial is about please reopening border trade."
The matter was of great importance, and he knew that everyone needed time to accept it. After Wang Ao finished speaking, he sat back and waited quietly for everyone to read the memorial one by one.
There was silence in the public room, the elders' brows were deeply furrowed, and it was obvious that they were all quite uneasy.
After a while, Jiang Yuan and Yu Shiyue, who came last, also finished reading the memorial, and Wang Aofang asked.
"This is a matter of great importance to the imperial government. When it comes to your majesty, it will have to be discussed in court. However, before submitting it to the court in the morning, we need to take a breath first. If you have anything to say, please say it without being formal."
It is no longer just the cabinet that cannot make a decision on such a major matter. Even the emperor cannot make arbitrary decisions and must go through court deliberation before it can be implemented.
Therefore, this cabinet meeting is not actually discussing how to vote, but the cabinet itself is discussing its own position.
Everyone knew this, but even so, no one spoke immediately.
Seeing this, Wang Ao pondered for a moment and said.
"Since everyone is silent, I will first offer some advice. I believe that in order to maintain peace on the border, mutual trade can be opened as appropriate, but the conditions proposed by the Mongolian envoy are unacceptable!"
With Wang Ao raising his head, the atmosphere in the public room became slightly more relaxed. Zhang Min also frowned and said.
"Yes, in these letters, although they said they were willing to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, they did not mention the matter of surrender, and their tone was so tough that they even dared to decide the quantity of goods in return. It simply did not put me, the Ming Dynasty. In the eyes."
This is the place where the elders feel the most uncomfortable.
In the letters sent by several Mongolian tribes, they claimed to pay tribute, but in fact, they planned to open a mutual trade.
Not only that, their tone was very tough, and they even demanded that the items "given back" by the Ming Dynasty include refined salt, silk, iron pots, grain and other materials that were strictly prohibited from being traded on the border by the Ming Dynasty.
Gao Gu also squinted his eyes and said coldly.
"Yes, this is coercion. Tuo Tuo Bu Hua not only sent the letter himself, but also asked several major tribes under him to send letters respectively. This is telling the Ming Dynasty that they are working together in an attempt to force the Ming Dynasty to reopen the mutual market. .”
"There is also the Ministry of Household Affairs. As soon as the mission arrived in Beijing, the Ministry of Household Affairs requested the reopening of the mutual market. I am afraid it is not a coincidence. According to my wishes, not only cannot we agree, but we also need to check whether there is anyone in the Ministry of Household Affairs who has colluded with Mongolia. .”
The atmosphere was a bit tense. No one expected Takatani's reaction to be so violent, and he directly targeted Tobe.
So Yu Shiyue couldn't help but speak and said.
"What Cifu said is wrong. The matter of mutual trading has been discussed by the Ministry of Revenue as early as a year ago, and there have been rumors in Beijing for a long time."
"The reason for this discussion is simply that the national treasury is currently insufficient, and the relationship between our Ming Dynasty and Mongolia has tended to ease. For the sake of harmony between the two parties, how can we be involved in colluding with foreign enemies?"
Wang Ao also said: "Yes, there is no need to say more about catching wind and shadow. Even if there is really an inside story, it was changed by Dali Temple and Jinyiwei. We still need to focus on the two memorials in front of us."
"Now that the state treasury is insufficient, it is normal for the Ministry of Revenue to have this discussion. It can indeed be discussed whether border trade should be reopened, but my attitude is very clear. Even if it is to be reopened, the initiative must be in the hands of Ming Dynasty, and we cannot be coerced by Mongolia.
"
"Furthermore, it is absolutely impossible to allow the transaction of the ironware, refined salt, tea and other urgent supplies mentioned by the other party."
After being criticized tactfully, Gao Gu looked quite unhappy and continued.
"Having said that, don't forget that when the Mongolian envoy came this time, he claimed that he had the document agreed with Ming Dynasty. If I remember correctly, the person who sent the envoy to Liaodong was Lord Tianguan, right? This Wang Jianzhai, when
You are so audacious that you even dare to agree to such a thing without permission!"