Start with Baihuguan

Chapter 494 Please Rebuild the Great Ming Armada
I could only hear Li Huan's resounding and incomparably loud voice echoing across the square: "Your Majesty, please open the sea so that my merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty can reach all over the world!"

"No, Your Majesty, absolutely no!"

All of a sudden, several old ministers came forward and kowtowed to the ground, kowtowing to the emperor with a look of fear, shouting no.

Regarding the matter of opening the sea, to be honest, even Zhu Houzhao did not expect Li Huan to bring it up suddenly.

Li Huan mentioned the opening of the sea with Zhu Houzhao more than once, but those were private conversations between the monarch and his ministers. Because of this, Zhu Houzhao was very aware of the problems facing Daming Kaihai.

If you don't know how big the interests of Daming Sea are, maybe Zhu Houzhao doesn't care about it, but because of Li Huan's introduction, now Zhu Houzhao knows very well how big the interests of Daming Sea are.

According to what Li Huan said, once Daming opens the sea, I dare not say that there are too many, and Daming can increase Daming's tax by several percent just by looking at the benefits obtained from opening the sea.

Of course, the resistance to opening the sea is also very great. In the past hundred years, a force has gradually formed above the Ming Dynasty Hall, and this force is extremely resolute in blocking Daming from opening the sea.

These people blocked the court's attention to the sea under the pretext of being dangerous and unprofitable at 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 was very clear about the direction of the court. The real purpose of the people who blocked the imperial court from opening the sea.

In the final analysis, it is nothing more than the word interest.

The interests of the sea are so great that these aristocratic families and local tyrants who have tasted the benefits of the sea desperately oppose the imperial court's opening of the sea.

All the courtiers knelt down on the ground, kowtowing to the emperor and shouting to persuade the emperor.

There was even an old official with white hair and beard, pointed at Li Huan with wide eyes and cursed angrily: "Li Huan thief, what is the purpose of you bewitching Your Majesty to open the sea? Opening the sea will do my Ming a hundred harms but no benefit. Emperor Wenzong seven Sailing to the west, emptying the national treasury, and the court has nothing to gain. The two emperors Renxuan took a long-term view and dismissed the maritime affairs. This is how we have the rule of Ming Renxuan. It can be seen that the strategy of opening the sea is actually a strategy that harms the country and harms the people. Now you are urging your majesty Kai Hai, even if I die, I will not allow traitors like you to trick His Majesty into doing things like this for our country and our people."

"The minister impeached Li Huan with ulterior motives and deceived the emperor!"

All of a sudden, at least dozens of ministers swarmed up to impeach Li Huan frantically, and what's more, they pointed at Li Huan and yelled at him, causing chaos on the square.

If there were uninformed people who saw this scene, they might think that these people had revenge on Li Huan for killing his father.

Of course, it was only some of the officials who stood up to attack Li Huan frantically, but many officials were looking at Li Huan and those officials who attacked Li Huan with great interest at the moment, looking like 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 the southeast coastal provinces and the south of the Yangtze River. These officials may not deal with them on weekdays, and they even belong to several A small interest group, but now they are facing Li Huan with an extremely unanimous position.

But Li Huan, who was the center of the chaos, had a smile on his face at the moment, as if he hadn't been affected by anything.

"enough!"

At this moment, a thunderous roar resounded above the square, suppressing everyone's roars and accusations at once.

The emperor stood up with an angry face, and looked at all the officials shouting angrily.

As the saying goes, when the emperor was angry, his blood flowed away. Although Zhu Houzhao did not have any murderous intent, but since he ascended the throne for several years, with the help of Li Huan, although he dare not say that he has kept his word, he has also established himself as the emperor. majesty.

Normally, Zhu Houzhao was kind to others and rarely got angry, but this time he yelled angrily and silenced all the officials.

When all eyes fell on Zhu Houzhao, all the officials who were frantically impeaching Li Huan shut their mouths obediently, and at the same time lay on the ground and tremblingly said: "Your Majesty, forgive me for your impoliteness!"

Zhu Houzhao's eyes swept over the officials as if they had any substance, and finally said slowly: "Li Qingzuo, please open the sea out of public interest, why do you react so violently, even disregarding your identity, and attack you with rude words? Li Qing, even if you object to Kai Hai, can you say that you can't speak well, or that you have left all the teachings of the saints behind, and you are really disciples of the saints."

Zhu Houzhao's words only caused many people to break out in cold sweat on their foreheads, kneeling there, their bodies trembling.

Li Huan looked at the officials who were restrained by the emperor, looked at the emperor with a smile on his lips.

As if feeling Li Huan's gaze, Zhu Houzhao and Li Huan looked at each other, and they smiled at each other as if they had a tacit understanding.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao said: "Since Li Qing proposed that the court open the sea, and the ministers object or have doubts, I will ask on behalf of the ministers, if the sea is opened, the sea is dangerous and there are many storms, waves and pirates, what should be done."

Li Huan resolutely said: "Although the sea contains dangers, it also contains huge benefits. In the former Song Dynasty, half of the country was used to promote sea trade, so that the national treasury was filled. As for the overseas bandits causing disasters, could it be that our Ming Navy is just arranging it?"

An old official who opposed Li Huan immediately said: "Absurd, extremely absurd. Maritime affairs were banned in the time of Taizu. This is the ancestor's precept. Do you want to confuse your majesty and violate the ancestor's system?"

Li Huan stared at the old official with a sneer and said: "If Li remembers correctly, Mr. Ding was born in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. His ancestors started their business with maritime trade. It has been nearly a hundred years. Your Ding family has dozens of merchant ships and travels all year round. In the sea, they have made a lot of profits, if according to Lord Ding's words, wouldn't the actions of the Erding clan violate the ancestral system of His Majesty Taizu..."

Hearing Li Huan tell the story of their Ding clan in detail, especially when Li Huan stared at him with cold eyes and said that their Ding clan violated the ancestral system of the Taizu, Ding Quan felt dizzy and his whole body shuddered. Endless cold, cold sweat broke out, trembling with fear: "You...you..."

With a thud, the white-haired Ding Quan swayed and fell to the ground, rolling his eyes and passing out.

Seeing this situation, many officials kneeling by the side couldn't care less about Ding Quan, and they subconsciously distanced themselves from Li Huan like avoiding snakes and scorpions, as if they were afraid that Li Huan's attention would be lost in the next moment. Average on them.

Gao Feng peeked at the Emperor's reaction, and immediately waved his hands, and saw several guards maintaining order stepping up to carry the unconscious Ding Quan down.

After Ding Quan was scared to death by Li Huan, there was a sudden silence in the arena, even the officials who impeached Li Huan just now became extremely silent.

A light cough sounded, and a figure came out, it was not Wang Yangming, whoever it was.

When they saw Wang Yangming coming out, some people couldn't help but their eyes lit up, especially those officials who were kneeling on the ground as if they were grasping at straws.

"Ge Lao, Ge Lao, you have to say something fair, Ming Dynasty must never open the sea, the strategy of opening the sea is really a disaster for 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 my Ming Dynasty opens the sea, it can be foreseen that sea trade will flourish, and overseas is no better than inland. What should we do if there are young people overseas who cause trouble?"

Li Huan couldn't help laughing out loud when he heard the words: "It's easy to kill, just kill it!"

Wang Yangming said again: "Mr. Qin is very courageous, but our Daming Navy is now capable of safeguarding our interests in the Daming Sea!"

Li Huan's eyes sparkled and he said: "What Mr. Shoufu said is also what Li will say next."

While speaking, Li Huan turned to the emperor and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, do you still remember that I asked Jiangnan to copy [-]% of the confiscated property for the time being, and it will be used later."

Zhu Houzhao nodded when he heard the words, and said, "I've always been curious about the use of the [-]% that Qing Jiazuo asked you to retain. Could it be related to maritime affairs?"

Li Huan nodded slightly and said: "Your Majesty, please open the sea, set up nine gates on the southeast coast, and set up nine shipping departments in charge of maritime trade. At the same time, build large-scale sea-going ships and reproduce the three treasures of the past The invincible navy of eunuchs sailing to the west, protecting my Ming's overseas interests."

The Hubu servant's expression changed slightly when he heard the words, and he exclaimed: "In the past, the invincible navy of the three treasure eunuchs spent tens of millions of dollars, but now if we want to reproduce it, I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money. Impossible..."

Li Huan chuckled and said, "It's just a mere coin. I asked His Majesty to leave no less than 2000 million taels of silver. Does it mean that we can't build a fleet at sea?"

With a grunt, I don't know how many officials swallowed subconsciously in surprise after hearing Li Huan's words.

There are countless rumors in the market, especially about how much property Li Huan confiscated in Jiangnan. It can be said that apart from a few high-level people in the court, even the middle and low-level officials do not know how much property has entered the national treasury and the emperor's internal treasury.

Now Li Huan blew himself up that just 2000% of the retention amounted to [-] million taels, which can be said to have directly suppressed everyone.

Spending 2000 million taels of silver on shipbuilding at a time, even a fool knows that if it is true what Li Huan said, let alone reproduce the invincible fleet of the former Sanbao eunuch, it will be nothing if it is doubled in size question.

Li Huan looked at Wang Yangming with a smile on his face and said: "The cost of forming the Daming Sea Fleet and recruiting soldiers is all paid out of this sum of money, and the court does not need to pay a single cent. I wonder if Mr. Shoufu has any questions?"

Many officials couldn't help but look at each other when they heard the words. With such a sum of money as a support, it is obviously impossible for them to obstruct it under the pretext that they will spend a lot and the court's finances cannot support it.

At the same time, Wang Yangming nodded slightly and said to the emperor, "Since that's the case, Your Majesty, I have no objection!"

Some officials subconsciously opened their mouths, but looking at those officials who were kneeling on the ground, Yang Ting and several senior cabinet ministers, they had no choice but to keep their mouths shut.

Zhu Houzhao said in a long voice: "Since this is the case, the matter of opening the sea is ready. The establishment of the Municipal Shipping Department, the construction of ships, and the recruitment of sailors will be headed by Li Qing, and the cabinet will send officials to assist in this matter."

Whether it is the establishment of a city ship department, the construction of treasure ships to reorganize the fleet, or the recruitment of soldiers, it can be said that it involves all aspects. If there is no support from the imperial court, it is difficult to implement it even if Li Huan has the support of the noble group.

Hundreds of officials dispersed, but the cabinet, six ministries, nine high-ranking ministers, and more than a dozen honorable cores were all left behind by the emperor.

After all, all the major events mentioned at today's Great Court Meeting are related to the implementation of the general direction of the government in the six years of Zhengde, not the next few years, and must be discussed carefully.

In the imperial study room, there are dozens of people in the cabinet, the six ministries, the nine ministers, and the nobles, which can be said to include eighty to ninety percent of the high-level core of the Ming Dynasty.

In this imperial study room, the decisions of dozens of people can determine the future direction of Ming Dynasty.

The emperor sat on it and listened to the cabinet ministers discussing specific strategies for more than a dozen administrative policies, such as repairing rivers and providing relief to local areas. If there was any doubt, Zhu Houzhao would ask questions, and some officials would explain to the emperor.

A full morning has passed, but only a small part of it has been barely discussed. Judging from this posture, there is no three to five days to discuss all the affairs.

The emperor held a banquet, and all the ministers returned to the imperial study room after lunch.

It seems that Zhu Houzhao was a little dizzy after listening to the civil 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, let's talk about the plan of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies. .”

Earlier at the Great Court Meeting, Li Huan mentioned that he wanted to weed out the old and the weak in the Nine Frontier Army, build ordnance, and rush into the frontier martial arts. Zhu Houzhao, who has always been fond of martial arts, is naturally more willing to listen to Li Huan and the other nobles. He described specific plans.

Li Huan couldn't help laughing when he heard the words, glanced at the people in the imperial study room, took a deep breath and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the previous Tatars knocked on the pass and violated our Central Plains. The minister and the old governor of Wangge's Bianzhen soldiers used it as an imperial guard." However, the Tatars found that the border towns were either old or the government had insufficient funding. The nine border towns that used to defend the borders of our Ming Dynasty were nothing more than appearances. Many border towns lacked soldiers, and there were many old, weak, sick, and disabled people. If the armor is not repaired, the weapons are not good enough, which has become a hidden danger for our Ming Dynasty. If we do not repair the armor soldiers to revitalize the border affairs, I am afraid that in the future it will be difficult to prevent the northern barbarians from invading."

Li Huan's words only made Zhu Houzhao nod repeatedly, even the civil servants present were silent after hearing this.

Although it was their instinct to suppress the Wu Xun family, they subconsciously wanted to object when they heard that Li Huan wanted to revive martial arts, but there was one thing they had to admit, that was what Li Huan said was true.

Li Huan didn't care what other people thought, and said to the emperor solemnly: "I ask the Ministry of Households to allocate 300 million taels of silver first, so that I can weed out the old and weak and recruit new soldiers."

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(End of this chapter)