Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1738, Chief Assistant of the Cabinet

In the Study Room of the Qianqing Palace, as in the past, after the early court, Emperor Hongzhi called the main ministers over for a small meeting.

Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Liu Jin, Qi Zhong, Han Wen, Liu Daxia, Yang Yiqing, and Duke Cheng Zhu Fu.

Because Zhang Mao's health was getting weaker and weaker, he could no longer handle the military affairs of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion, so the affairs of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion fell to Zhu Fu, the Duke of Cheng, and Yang Yun, the Duke of Australia.

Zhu Fu is also very old, but he is in good health. Yang Yun, the Duke of Australia, is in the prime of life, in the prime of life, and he is a new type of nobleman. He relied on a series of foreign wars and expansions, and relied on his own achievements. He was named the Duke of the country for his military exploits.

And because of his military merits, he is still the Duke of the Iron Hat, and can be hereditary. This is the same for Liu Jin, the Duke of Liao.

It's just that Liu Jin is regarded as a civil servant, but he is awarded a title by military merit, so according to the rules, Liu Jin can no longer enter the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion.

After all, Yang Yun, the Duke of Australia, can be regarded as the pillar of the Ming army. He is young and powerful, and he fought step by step on his own. He has a high prestige, and has been in the Western Regions and Nanyun Province for many years, deterring the Ottoman Empire and other tribes in the Western Regions. It is also famous.

The year before last, he was transferred back to the capital to be in charge of the affairs of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and to assist the emperor in managing the millions of soldiers and horses of Ming Dynasty.

It is estimated that in a few years, when Zhu Fu is too old to handle things, it will be Yang Yun's turn to attend the small meeting.

Qi Zhong is the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Liu Jin succeeded Liu Jin after he entered the cabinet. Han Wen is the Minister of the Household Department.

Liu Daxia and Yang Yiqing, one is the minister of the Ministry of War and the other is the minister of the Ministry of Industry. The authority of the minister of the Ministry of War is already very small, and it can be regarded as the lowest among the six departments, not even the Ministry of Rites.

The Ministry of Industry used to have no status, and was mainly responsible for repairing the emperor's mausoleum, the imperial palace, etc., but now because the infrastructure of the Ming Dynasty is in full swing, there are roads, railways, and a large number of bridges.

The financial revenue of the Ming Empire is more than one billion taels of silver a year, most of which are used for the infrastructure of the Ming Dynasty. As the highest infrastructure institution, the Ministry of Industry holds such a huge amount of funds and projects in its hands, and its status is gradually highlighted. .

"Your Majesty, the Governor of Hong Kong, Tang Yin, has called. The war between Spain and France has made Spain more and more weak. For the benefit of our Ming Empire in Europe and to recover the principal and interest of the loan to Spain, it is recommended to give Spain more military aid and loan."

Liu Jin told the latest telegram sent from Hong Kong.

"How much is Spain's loan from Daming?"

When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he thought for a while and asked.

"There are already [-] million taels of silver, and almost all of the loans have been used to purchase arms, weapons and warships."

Liu Jin quickly replied: "Spain is indeed under a lot of pressure now. They are fighting fiercely with Persia and North Korea in West Africa. The two sides have been fighting around the West African colonies for several years."

"In addition, they are still competing with Egypt for the hegemony of Alexandria and the southern Mediterranean Sea on the Egyptian side. It is considered more wars."

"How do you think this matter should be handled?"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly, thought for a while and asked everyone.

"Your Majesty, if Spain loses the war, I am afraid that we will no longer be able to repay our Daming's loan at that time. I think it is reasonable to continue to support Spain. When necessary, we even have to directly send troops to help Spain win the West-French War."

Liu Jin naturally expressed his attitude very clearly.

If Spain was defeated, wouldn't the [-] million taels of silver that he loaned out be in vain?

You must know that this money was loaned out by the First Bank of Ming Dynasty, which is absolutely unacceptable, and the Spaniard must return all the principal and interest.

"Your Majesty, I think what Liu Jin said is reasonable. Spain has always had a very good relationship with our Ming Dynasty. It is an important friendly country of our Ming Dynasty in Europe."

"Besides, Spain has a very deep interest relationship with us, and it must not lose to the French."

Cheng Guogong Zhu Fu also stood up to express his support. He and Liu Jin wore a pair of trousers, and the First Bank of Ming Dynasty also had shares in his family. Of course, the most important thing was that the major shareholders of the First Bank of Ming Dynasty were the emperor and the prince.

In any case, this money must be returned by Spain, so he must not be defeated.

"Your Majesty, I think that I am a great Ming Dynasty, and I should conquer the world with virtue and spread benevolence and righteousness to the world. How can I always support the war?"

"I thought that I, Ming Dynasty, could come forward and be in charge of mediation, so that the two countries in West Africa ceased the war. At the same time, I could also come forward to mediate the war between Spain and Persia and Korea."

"With the chaos of war, it is the people of the world who suffer and suffer. It is better for the world to have less chaos."

Liu Daxia, Minister of the Ministry of War, stood up and expressed different views and opinions.

To actually say that Daming should be in the middle to mediate, this also made Liu Jin give him a high look immediately.

Sure enough, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, the children of Confucianism, have already become stupid in reading and studying. These things they believe in are benevolence, virtue, filial piety and so on.

There is even talk between countries that conquer the world with virtue and spread the world with benevolence and righteousness. If benevolence and virtue can conquer the world, why do you need a million troops from the Ming Dynasty?
Why didn't you serve the world with benevolence and morality in the past?

The reason why everyone is willing to listen to Da Ming now is because of Da Ming's benevolence?
It was fought by the Ming Dynasty after another war, by the millions of lions of the Ming Dynasty, by the garrisons and warships of the Ming Dynasty all over the world, without these things, without beating up all sides, who would listen to what you say Benevolence and morality.

"Liu Gong, what if I, Da Ming, fail to mediate?"

Liu Jin thought for a while and asked.

"I, Ming, want to live in harmony with each other, so that the common people of both sides will not suffer from the war. How can the two sides be unwilling to mediate?"

When Liu Daxia heard this, he immediately asked back.

"Your Majesty, I think there is some truth in what Liu Gong said. You might as well ask Liu Gong to go to Europe in person and go to mediate on behalf of my Ming Dynasty."

Liu Jin was speechless enough to him, and after thinking about it, he suggested it to Emperor Hongzhi.

If a war is so easy to mediate, then it is not called a war. War is a continuation of politics, and it is the last resort. Both sides have reached the point of war. How about mediation?
Moreover, Spain and France have been fighting for several years. For this war, the two sides have almost emptied their homes. Do you think that mediation can bring them to a truce?

Thinking too simple.

"No, no~"

"I'm getting old, but I can't stand this torment. I think it's more appropriate to send young and vigorous officials to Europe."

Hearing Liu Jin's proposal, Liu Daxia shook his head immediately. He was almost buried, and he was going to Europe, so he might have died on the way.

"I also think it is appropriate for Mr. Liu to go to mediate. Mr. Liu has a high moral character and advocates mediation. I believe both parties are willing to listen to Mr. Liu."

Zhu Fu also said hastily.

Mediation, adjust a hammer.

They stopped fighting, who did Daming sell his weapons to?

Relying on the demand of Daming's own army, the profit is very low, how can these military enterprises of Ming Dynasty make money?

How to maintain the vigorous development trend?

Also, if they stop fighting, they will focus on development. When they become stronger, Ming's interests in Europe will be damaged.

When they stopped fighting, they turned their energy back to exterminating the Japanese pirates that were raging in Europe.

When the time comes, where will Daming's slaves come from?

Without a large number of cheap slaves, how can the land of the Golden Isle be developed?How did Ming's population grow?
And how should Ming's overseas colonies and vassal states develop?
You want to mediate, right? Then go yourself, and see how many people's interests will be damaged, and see if everyone doesn't scold you to death.

Liu Jian and Li Dongyang looked at Liu Daxia slightly, and you are still stupid about benevolence and morality. Don't you know that the emperor and prince of the First Bank of Ming Dynasty are the major shareholders?

In addition to the arms companies and shipyards of Ming Dynasty, are the emperor and prince the major shareholders?

This mediation, how do banks and factories do business?
Don't think that everyone doesn't know your little abacus.

You are the Minister of the Ministry of War, and now you have no power in your hands, only the conscription and arranging for retired soldiers to change jobs. Now you just want to toss and see if you can expand the power of the Minister of the Ministry of War.

But this matter, that is what the emperor cannot tolerate.

The military power has finally returned to the hands of the emperor, how can it be put in the hands of your minister of war?
What's more, the nobles and the military in the world will not agree, they don't want to look at the faces of civil officials, and they don't want you civil officials and literati to call you stinky mounds.

I don't want the army's armament, logistics, salary, etc. to be killed by you civil officials. You civil officials will never be allowed to intervene.

Han Wen, Zhong Zhong and Yang Yiqing also looked at Liu Daxia. This man is old and always confused. You thought it was more than ten years ago, but the times have already changed.

"The ministers also thought it would be more appropriate for Liu Daxia and Mr. Liu to mediate."

Everyone thought about it and said in unison.

You want to mediate, right? Then I will send you to Europe to try it out. By the way, you will experience the situation abroad, so that you can clearly know what principles the barbarians believe in.

Benevolence, righteousness and morality are bullshit, and everyone believes in the truth only within the range of cannons.

Without Da Ming beating up the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire would not have done nothing to Da Mingqiu honestly.

Without the bombardment of London and Paris by warships, European countries would not be respectful to Ming Dynasty. Do you think that if you say something about benevolence and morality with your mouth, the other party will listen to you?
The reason why they are afraid of Da Ming is because Da Ming has troops stationed in Hong Kong, in the mainland, in Golden Island, and in West Africa, and has a powerful fleet, which can be dispatched anytime and anywhere to beat them up. tooth.

That's why they didn't dare to do anything to Da Ming, and they didn't dare to infringe on Da Ming's interests.

So they knew that the people of Ming Dynasty were behind the Japanese pirates, but they still didn't dare to do anything to Hong Kong, so they could only continue to exterminate the Japanese pirates.

They knew that all the people captured by the Japanese pirates were sold to Daming people, but they didn't even dare to fart, because Daming couldn't afford to provoke them.

If benevolence, righteousness and morality worked, the Japanese pirates and Tartars in the past would not have troubled Daming so much. Now the grassland people are grazing cattle and sheep for Daming.

All of these were won by Daming's fists. If you don't beat the pirates hard, can they be your little brother obediently?
"Since everyone thinks that it is more appropriate for Liu Daxia to go to Europe to mediate, then please Liu Aiqing to go to Europe to mediate in person."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Liu Daxia and gave the same order.

"The ministers lead the decree!"

Liu Daxia looked at Emperor Hongzhi, then looked at the crowd, and ten thousand draft horses walked by in his heart. At his age, he still went to Europe, so don't die on the way.

"I was just advocating lower mediation, but in the end it caused such trouble and I had to go to Europe."

But now, it seems like it's impossible not to go.

"Your Majesty, Egypt and the Persian Empire have won several victories against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, and now they are threatening to take back the Egyptian Canal, thinking that the Egyptian Canal was built on their Egyptian land, and when it was built, the main It was also built by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians."

"It is extremely inappropriate to say that we Daming people will take half of the ownership of the Egyptian canal just by paying some funds, and it is also said that we have already recovered our investment over the years, and they Egypt should take all the ownership of the Egyptian canal. Take it back."

After talking about the West-French War, Liu Jin talked about the things in Egypt.

The Egyptians are a little bit drifting now. They joined forces with the Persian Empire to win the Ottoman Empire several times, and they also won successive victories in the war with the Spaniards. They even started to float.

He even threatened to take back half of the ownership of the Egyptian Canal, which belongs to Daming.

"Humph~"

"It's unreasonable. We Daming paid the money and the technology to hire them Egyptians to build the canal. Now we are jealous of the profits of the canal, and we want to take it back. It's too fast to cross the river and tear down the bridge."

When Zhu Fu heard this, he immediately died of anger. He has a lot of stocks in the Egyptian Canal.

"Your Majesty, I think we should beat the Egyptians appropriately to let them know the interests of our Ming Empire. Having a good relationship with them doesn't mean they can make progress."

"If you dare to demolish the bridge for our Daming to cross the river, then they must pay a certain price, offend us, and directly snatch the other half of the canal."

"Your Majesty, I also think that the Egyptians should be beaten and beaten appropriately to keep them awake at all times."

He Zhong also followed suit and said that he also owns a lot of stocks in the Egyptian Canal, which is a lot of wealth.

"If the Egyptians want to take back the canal, our Ming Dynasty can directly send troops to defeat the whole of Egypt, and the entire canal belongs to our Ming Dynasty."

Hanwen also expressed his position, um, there are also a lot of Egyptian canal stocks.

Moreover, Han Wen, a civil official, is now more warlike than generals. Daming has not fought a war for several years, and he is worried that he has no place to train his troops, and he is also worried that he will not have a new colony.

If the Egyptian is ignorant, he can simply take the canal into his own hands. The stock price of the Egyptian canal will definitely skyrocket.

"Liu Jian, what do you think of this matter?"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly, then looked at Liu Jian, wanting to ask his opinion.

However, Liu Jian didn't seem to hear it at all. He closed his eyes and looked as if he was asleep.

"Liu Jian~Liu Jian~"

Emperor Hongzhi yelled twice, but he didn't recover.

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xiao Jing who was beside him, Xiao Jing was also getting older, but he didn't react for a while, and didn't know what happened.

"Liu Gong~"

Liu Jin reacted the fastest, and quickly pushed Liu Jian gently.

But who knew that Liu Jian fell directly to the ground, and Liu Jin who was so frightened hurriedly grabbed him.

"what happened?"

After being pulled by Liu Jin like this, he just woke up, not knowing what happened just now.

"Is this Alzheimer's disease?"

"It still belongs to the intermittent coma of the elderly. When we were talking about the West-French War, he didn't seem to be in a coma. In just a few minutes, he fell asleep."

Liu Jin looked at Liu Jian and was also speechless.

This old man in his 80s is really too old. Looking at the people present, everyone is in their [-]s and [-]s.

"Your Majesty~"

"I'm sorry, sir!"

"Just now, I must have committed an old problem. Recently, it has become worse and worse. I always feel drowsy, lethargic, and unconscious for no reason. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

After waiting for several minutes, Liu Jian came over slowly, and then got up and said to Emperor Hongzhi.

"It's okay, it's okay, you should pay more attention to rest."

"I'll ask the imperial physicians and professors from Imperial Hospital and Daming Medical College to show you later."

Seeing that Liu Jian was fine, Emperor Hongzhi also took a breath.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. Since the beginning of this year, the health of Liu Jian and Li Dongyang has been getting worse and worse. Liu Jian is old and dim-sighted. clear.

Li Dongyang is in poor health. He is often ill and can't come to court. He can only rest at home. Liu Jin handles almost all the cabinet affairs.

Although he came today, his mental state is also very poor, listless and sickly, he might as well just stay at home to recuperate like Zhang Mao.

"Your Majesty, I'm really too old, I have no energy at all, my eyesight is dim, and I'm confused. I can no longer assist Your Majesty in handling state affairs."

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask you to resign again today. I hope that for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, I will allow you to return to your hometown for retirement!"

Liu Jian smiled, and then very solemnly submitted another application for retirement to Emperor Hongzhi.

"Teacher~"

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Liu Jian, then Li Dongyang, thought of Zhang Mao, Xie Qian, Ma Wensheng, Zhou Jing and others, and wanted to keep Liu Jian again, but thinking about his situation, he didn't know what to do retained.

"Your Majesty, you are merciful and virtuous. You have taken care of me and kept me in every possible way. I am so grateful."

"I also hope that I can always share the worries for Your Majesty, but I am too old, and my health is really failing, and my Ming Dynasty is flourishing, and Your Majesty is magnificent and magnificent. He is the eternal sage, and what he has to do is to create an eternal life Unprecedented heyday."

"You must not delay the important affairs of the country and the grand cause of your majesty for the sake of one minister."

"I also invite your majesty's kind ministers to return to their hometowns to take care of their old age, and choose young and promising pillars of the country to assist your majesty in creating the eternal prosperity of our great Ming Dynasty!"

Liu Jian kept persuading him while he was still awake.

"Okay~"

"I'm ready!"

Emperor Hongzhi pondered for a long time, then looked at Liu Jian and Li Dongyang, then looked at Liu Jin, and nodded after thinking about it.

Now it seems that it is a foregone conclusion that Liu Jian and Li Dongyang will return to their hometowns to take care of their lives. Even if they can stay for one or two more years, it may really be harmful to Daming.

"Thank you, Your Majesty Ron!"

As soon as Liu Jian heard this, he immediately knelt down and thanked him.

A few days later, Emperor Hongzhi rewarded Liu Jian and formally accepted Liu Jian's resignation in the early court. At the same time, he also appointed Liu Jin as the new cabinet chief assistant, and added Zhong Zhong as the new cabinet minister.

PS: Today is a big chapter with more than 5000 words, I am too lazy to divide it into two chapters~~
(End of this chapter)