prosperous age

In the cabinet, in Wei Guangde's duty room, the Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan, the Minister of Works Zhu Heng, and the Minister of War Tan Lun were all there. Also present were the assistant ministers and doctors in charge of the affairs of the three ministries, making Wei Guangde's quite crowded.

Sitting on one side of Wei Guangde was Zhang Siwei, and on the other side was Chen Zan, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

"That's it. The warships that have been built will accompany the fleet out to sea for protection. When they reach Jiugang, they will be placed under Yu Dayou's command."

At this point, Wei Guangde looked at the second person on the left, a thin old man sitting below Chen Zan, and said with a smile, "Mr. Shi Ting, do you think this is appropriate?"

"Lord Wei, this arrangement is perfect. There is no point in raising Shi."

The old man stood up, wearing a scarlet official robe, and Le Hehe said to Wei Guangde.

"As we travelled a long way, I was actually most worried about Mr. Shi Ting's health and whether he could bear it.

This journey will probably take two years, and most of the journey will be by water."

Wei Guangde said with a little concern.

"Haha, Lord Wei, you are worrying too much. I, Yin Yangshi, am in good health. I just arrived in the capital the day before yesterday and didn't feel any discomfort.

To be honest, I have been to both the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, and I really want to go out and see the world in my lifetime.

The recommendation from the Ministry of Rites makes Yin very happy.”

The person who spoke was Yin Zhengmao, who had just arrived in Beijing from Nanjing. Today was a cabinet meeting convened by Wei Guangde to discuss the Ming Dynasty's second voyage after a hundred years.

Now, it has been half a year since Wei Guangde proposed sending the Ming navy southward and then to the West Ocean, and the fleet is about to set off.

Yin Zhengmao was recalled today not only for the final discussion and to check for omissions and shortcomings, but also because the palace wanted to give Yin Zhengmao some instructions.

Although Yin Zhengmao is now over 60 years old, he is in good spirits and in good health. There is no sign of the general deterioration of physical functions seen in most officials after the age of 50 or 60. It is obvious that he has always been in good health. No wonder he has become a pillar of the Ming Dynasty in the southwest region.

No matter how chaotic the southwest was, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng would think of sending him to maintain the local situation.

It is worth mentioning that Zhang Juzheng was the same age as Yin Zhengmao. It was not without reason that he was able to remain active in the court and ignore the outside world's suspicion of his corruption.

"That's good. Shi Tinggong, please take care of your family affairs as soon as possible and leave as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Revenue has already gathered all the goods in Ningbo, the Navy Department has also made preparations, and the sailors are all strong and capable, so the fleet can be guaranteed to be safe. "

Wei Guangde smiled.

"Lord Wei, there is one more thing that Yang Shi must ask clearly."

Yin Zhengmao nodded. Although there was a welcoming banquet last night, everyone spoke in a reserved manner and did not mention any other official business.

Now that we are in a public place, naturally we have to say some things first.

"Yang Shi had read the records of Eunuch Sanbao's voyages to the West sent by the Ministry of War in Nanjing before, and many of them mentioned his experiences during the initial voyage.

There are people with ulterior motives who are eyeing the treasures loaded on our Ming Dynasty ships and want to cause trouble.

If I encounter this person during this trip, how should I deal with him?"

Wei Guangde was stunned by Yin Zhengmao's words. Wei Guangde certainly knew what he was talking about, but he never took it to heart.

At that time, information was blocked and the sea was like a natural barrier that isolated countries from each other.

Even if there were maritime merchants at that time, they mostly traveled along the coastline, so the dangers Zheng He encountered mostly came from island countries, which had almost no knowledge of the Ming Dynasty.

"What does Shi Tinggong mean?"

Wei Guangde asked hesitantly.

"Can the imperial court exercise the power to make arbitrary decisions on the spot and punish countries with ill intentions?"

Wei Guangde was shocked by Yin Zhengmao's words.

He knew that Yin Zhengmao was good at fighting, but he just wanted him to travel around the West. On the one hand, he could conduct trade in an official name to break the isolation that had lasted for more than a hundred years. On the other hand, he naturally wanted to bring back the rulers and envoys of those countries to make the little emperor's wedding a grand occasion and enhance the country's prestige.

But what are you thinking, Yin Zhengmao?

"Mr. Shi Ting, this trip to the West is not for fighting.

With the reputation of the Sanbao eunuch, who would dare to do anything to my Ming navy?"

Wei Guangde said hurriedly, trying to dissuade Yin Zhengmao from his plan.

"Lord Wei, I am just taking precautions.

You also said that this trip to the West might take two years. If any emergency occurs, there will be no time to report to the court.

Although I have the power of Linji, I have encountered Western countries during my overseas trip. If I do not punish some disobedient kingdoms, how can I exercise my rights? "

Yin Zhengmao asked sternly, "Besides, you said before that this trip is dangerous and we must be most careful of the Western barbarian ships.

If the Western Barbarians really send warships to attack me, can we just passively defend ourselves?

This is a loss of national dignity."

Yin Zhengmao's words were reasonable and well-founded, but Wei Guangde felt that they were inappropriate when he first heard them, especially at this time.

Yin Zhengmao's fleet went out to sea under a banner that announced the good news of Emperor Wanli's wedding. How could they just attack at will?

"Mr. Shi Ting, what exactly do you want? Do you want His Majesty to issue an order allowing you to decide on your own whether to destroy the Western countries?"

Wei Guangde understood the meaning behind Yin Zhengmao's words, which seemed to have other implications, so he could only ask directly.

"What the cabinet wants is nothing more than to show the strength of our Ming Dynasty and invite Western countries to come to our Ming Dynasty to watch your majesty's wedding.

When the Tang Dynasty was strong in the past, envoys from all nations came to pay tribute, and more than 200 countries went to Chang'an to pay homage.

But such fame was also accumulated by the Tang Dynasty's conquest of thirty kingdoms.

Our dynasty is benevolent and righteous, and we have never liked such things that cause the people to suffer. But if there are people who are blind and despise our dynasty, can't we punish them?"

Yin Zhengmao asked.

Upon hearing this, Wei Guangde raised his hand and immediately said: "Does Lord Shi Ting mean that we should punish the vassal states in the West that do not submit to our dynasty and force their leaders to come to our Ming Dynasty for an audience?

Not really, not really.'

"Not necessarily, Elder Wei. According to what you said earlier, the Western barbarians and Portuguese barbarians have the most powerful weapons in the ocean.

I think that during the hundred years when the Ming Dynasty did not go out to sea, many Western countries have already sided with them, so it is entirely possible that they would despise the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

I am afraid that I will encounter malicious sabotage by the Portuguese during my journey westward, so I will take the lead in resistance.

Just imagine, if one country does this, other countries will follow suit, and my trip to the West will certainly be in vain. The imperial court is looking forward to the grand occasion of all nations coming to pay tribute, but I am afraid something unexpected will happen. "

Yin Zhengmao explained.

The Ming Dynasty had been away from the ocean for too long. Although it had recently returned, its power was not as great as before.

With the examples of Spain and Portugal, Western countries do not necessarily have to rely on the Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps in the eyes of some people, cooperating with the barbarians is better than cooperating with the Ming Dynasty, which suddenly cut off relations with them. Their conversation made the others who were whispering in the room stop talking and listen attentively.

Wei Guangde only thought about the great success of this trip, but he did not consider that someone might interfere and sabotage their actions, causing them to return empty-handed.

The key point is that it can be said that the Ming Dynasty has lost all its dignity, which is unacceptable.

Whatever his purpose was, Yin Zhengmao had to speak out the ugly truth in advance to avoid becoming a scapegoat in the end.

Wei Guangde thought for a while before reluctantly speaking: "If someone interferes, Lord Shi Ting can make a decision on the spot and punish the evildoer, but don't learn from the Tang Dynasty, where the border guards act on their own and destroy the country before taking revenge.

This decree was originally intended to announce the happy news of the emperor's wedding. You don't want the decree to end with the words 'no country can be destroyed without permission', that would be a joke."

What Wei Guangde said was actually a "joke" he had seen on the Internet before, which said that the Tang Dynasty's border guards were too powerful at the time, and they would destroy small neighboring countries at any time, forcing the Tang emperor to write "no destruction of countries" into the Tang Dynasty's laws.

In fact, the actual situation is quite different from what netizens imagine.

The Tang Dynasty did destroy more than 30 countries, greatly expanding China's territory in later generations.

This is actually one of the reasons why there are not many countries around China.

Also because of the reputation of the prosperous Tang Dynasty for destroying countries at any time, more than 200 countries, big and small, went to Chang'an to surrender during the Tang Dynasty.

At that time in the Tang Dynasty, the central military was not strong, but the border troops were overpowered. This was also the reason why the Anshi Rebellion directly led to the rebellion of the Tang army's most elite troops, and the Ming Dynasty had to mobilize other border defense forces to quell the rebellion. The Tang army in the country was simply vulnerable.

After the melee among the border guards, the Tang Dynasty lost its military power to deter the outside world. Coupled with the subsequent separatist rule of the local warlords, although there were signs of revival, it was still unable to recover.

During the Tang Dynasty, destroying a country seemed easy and could be accomplished in the blink of an eye, but subsequent dynasties were very cautious about this, mostly out of fear of "retribution."

Think about the Anshi Rebellion. After it was put down, the Tang Dynasty continued for more than a hundred years and experienced more than ten emperors. Among them, the 16th emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Wuzong of Tang, Li Yan, created the great situation of "Huaichang Restoration" during his reign.

Wuzong adhered to the concept of "controlling the feudal lords at home and subduing the barbarians abroad", strengthened the restrictions on the Jiedushi, used military force to attack the Uighurs, and at the same time weakened the power of the eunuchs, demolished Buddhist temples and confiscated land, and ordered more than 200,000 monks to return to secular life in order to increase tax revenue for the court and consolidate the source of troops.

Unfortunately, he died at the age of 33 and was unable to restore the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

What Yin Zhengmao meant was that he was worried that if the Western countries were not as submissive to the Ming Dynasty as they were in the early years, he would find a chicken to scare people.

After all, Wei Guangde had taken great pains for this trip to the West, mobilizing the main fleet of the South China Sea Navy to accompany him and demonstrate the military power of the Ming Dynasty.

Yin Zhengmao has been working on suppressing rebellions, and he is probably used to speaking with his fists.

At this time Wei Guangde suddenly realized that the person recommended by the Ministry of Rites did not seem to be the best choice.

Although Yin Zhengmao was not very satisfied with Wei Guangde's reply, it basically met his requirements.

The accompanying fleet is not a ceremonial guard, so it is a good thing that they can take action to punish those who are disobedient.

"Okay, Yangshi knows what to do."

Yin Zhengmao nodded and said.

After this conversation, the slightly tense atmosphere relaxed. Lu Bu, who was standing outside the door, saw the right moment, walked in quickly, and whispered to Wei Guangde, "Master, the Ministry of Rites has a document from the Xinzheng government arriving in Beijing."

"What's the matter?"

Wei Guangde frowned and asked in a low voice.

At this time, important affairs of the cabinet in the capital once again returned to Wei Guangde's hands. Two months ago, the Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng requested permission to return to his hometown in Huguang to bury his old father. Wei Guangde once again temporarily took over the power of the central government.

Unlike the original history, Zhang Juzheng did not need to continue handling state affairs when he returned this time, and the scene of reporting all cabinet affairs, big or small, to the prime minister did not happen in this life.

Lu Bu whispered a few words in Wei Guangde's ear, and Wei Guangde's expression quickly changed.

"What's wrong, Lord Wei?"

Jiang Zhi, who was standing by, noticed the change in Wei Guangde's expression and asked hurriedly with concern.

At the same time, he was actually muttering in his heart, what Xinzheng, what official documents, should be sent to the Ministry of Rites.

But in just a moment, he thought of something and his expression changed slightly.

In fact, it was not just him. Zhang Siwei, Chen Zan, Tan Lun and others all changed their expressions.

"Gao Suqing is gone."

Wei Guangde explained the doubts to the people present in a low voice.

After hearing Wei Guangde's words, the officials from the other six ministries understood what was going on.

Although Gao Gong was ousted by Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng, he still had some influence.

Even though Zhang Juzheng not only gradually changed the strategies formulated when Gao Gong was in power, but also carried out some purges of Gao Gong's faction, it was impossible to expel all of them from the court after all.

Otherwise, the way you eat would be too ugly.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng often directly sent those left behind by Gao Gong to other places instead of finding real reasons to dismiss or transfer them.

But even so, the strength left by Gao Gong was still huge, but they were temporarily leaderless and there were no important officials in the court to speak up for them, so they were in a very embarrassing situation for a while.

Now that Gao Gong is dead, the power he left behind should have completely collapsed.

In this regard, both Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde should have been celebrating, but at this moment their faces looked very ugly.

There was no other reason. After all, they had been friends for more than ten years. Although Gao Gong had secretly attacked him many times when he was alive, he had helped him a lot in the past.

Moreover, in Wei Guangde's opinion, the people who hated Gao Gong the most should be Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizun and others.

Wei Guangde had always been avoiding a head-on conflict with Gao Gong because he knew clearly that in front of Emperor Longqing, his weight was far inferior to Gao Gong.

That is to say, he entered Yu Ju a little later and did not block Gao Gong's way, so Gao Gong never regarded him as a stumbling block to be eliminated.

But even so, Wei Guangde was actually very nervous when facing Gao Gong. Even if his men were driven back to Xinzheng, Wei Guangde did not dare to take it lightly.

Now that the person is gone, Wei Guangde doesn’t know how to feel at this moment.

Happy? Or regretful?

"Lord Wei, Prime Minister Gao was once a high-ranking official in the imperial court. You should still summon the officials from the Ministry of Rites to discuss the matter, so as to avoid other rumors outside."

Jiang Zhi didn't have much contact with Gao Gong, but he knew this person.

After all, Gao Gong was once the biggest topic in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, regardless of whether people's views of him were positive or negative.

There was a grudge between Wei Guangde and Gao Gong, and he heard a lot about it from Zhu Heng.

Zhu Heng experienced the turmoil in the court during that period, and knew very well about Gao Gong's expulsion of Chen Yiqin, Li Chunfang and others, so he naturally mentioned it when chatting with Jiang Zhi.

Jiang Zhi reminded Wei Guangde at this time because he was worried that he would act on impulse.

The most important issue was with the Prime Minister. The conflict between Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong was public, and the one with Feng Bao was even more so.

In order to prevent Feng Bao from ascending to the throne, Gao Gong had put many obstacles in his way. Feng Bao hated Gao Gong to the core. (End of this chapter)