prosperous age

"A four-way alliance? I think we'll need at least 10,000 people, preferably 20,000. The Portuguese can also contribute at least 5,000, or even more, and the Japanese will need at least 6,000. As for the natives, we'll need to recruit 10,000 to 20,000 people to help us transport supplies."

Haralro began to calculate.

"Unite the four forces?"

Sander was very interested and unconsciously stroked his chin as he spoke.

“We can formulate such a plan. The first step is to occupy the most prosperous southern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty. These places are coveted not only by us, but also by the Portuguese and the Japanese.”

In the end, we occupied the better parts of these wealthy places, while the rest were given to the Portuguese and the Japanese.

The Japanese, being the weakest in military strength, would certainly occupy the most barren regions.

However, I think they certainly won't be satisfied with just that.

Therefore, we can then force them to mobilize more troops and begin the second step: the occupation of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Haralro continued, “I heard that the Ming king initially occupied the south of their country, and then moved north to occupy a much larger territory.”

At that time, these most fertile lands will all become part of my Spanish territory.

"Based on this land, it's reasonable to expect that our Governor General's Palace in Manila could become an administrative unit at the same level as the Governor General's Palace in Mexico."

"That's right. All the reports we send back to China need to be approved by the Mexican Viceroyalty, which is really too troublesome."

If we can truly persuade His Majesty to approve the use of force against the Ming Dynasty, we could even conscript Ming and Japanese soldiers to march west and attack the Ottomans.

Sand also began to use his imagination. He commanded tens of thousands of troops to march out of the Hexi Corridor through the Jade Gate Pass, across the Caspian Sea, and launch a surprise attack on the heart of the Ottoman Empire, encircling and capturing Constantinople from both the east and west.

The Ottoman Empire was a nightmare for all European countries because it was too big and had too large a population.

Once the Ottoman Empire is conquered, its massive population can be used to deplete its manpower advantage.

The two men thought about it more and more and felt it was feasible. Even though Sander knew that 20,000 Spanish expeditionary troops was the limit of the forces Spain could mobilize at this time, he still felt that the plan was feasible.

"Let's finish the report as soon as possible, before the large sailing ship sets sail, and have them take the report back."

Sander finally made his decision.

"Okay, let's start now."

Wei Guangde, in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, had no idea that on Luzon Island, two ambitious men were writing diligently, devising a plan to attack the Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, his eyes were blurry with drunkenness as he reached out and embraced a beautiful maid, while in his other hand he held a wine cup and frequently clinked glasses with Zhang Xueyan, Jiang Zhi and others.

The reason that sparked this crazy plan was simply that the Ming army in Luzon defeated a group of Japanese pirates, who fled in panic to the southern part of Luzon.

The two thousand Ming troops stationed in northern Luzon did not truly deter the Spanish. Perhaps it was because their journey had been too smooth, and Spain's colonial expedition had hardly encountered any major defeats. Against this backdrop, the Spanish ambitions had grown infinitely.

The following day, Wei Guangde entered the cabinet and asked Lu Bu, who was waiting there, at the door of the duty room: "Is there any news from the palace?"

"Master, not yet."

Lu Bu knew what Wei Guangde was asking about; it was naturally the memorial he had submitted before the end of the day's court session.

Unfortunately, it's unknown whether Emperor Wanli saw it or not; in any case, he didn't see the memorial sent back.

Wei Guangde remained expressionless as he stepped into the duty room. He glanced at the desk on his right, where another stack of memorials lay high on top.

Lu Bu knew his master's habits very well, so he quickly smiled and said, "These memorials are all from various places regarding the collection of summer grain this year, so I kept them all."

In fact, some places have already started collecting autumn taxes this season. However, due to the existing prefecture and county system, the situation in each place is reported by the government layer by layer after the government collects the taxes, so it is always two or three months later than the collection time.

In later generations, this would be considered a sign of inefficiency.

However, in ancient times, when everything had to be counted and delivered by people, being only two or three months late was already considered very efficient.

Even in the southernmost provinces, when documents were sent to the capital, it would take a month or even longer to arrive via ordinary postal services, since they were not important military or national affairs.

This problem was not something that Zhang Juzheng could solve by implementing the performance evaluation system; rather, it was caused by the backwardness of communication technology.

This method of communication will remain in use worldwide for at least another hundred years.

If someone from later generations were to travel back in time and become the King of Spain, they would probably have a heart attack from the stress.

Reports from the Philippines, once they reach the King, can take anywhere from a year to two years to arrive; this is quite normal.

If something unexpected happens along the way, it wouldn't be surprising if it didn't reach Madrid for three to five years, or even forever.

Meanwhile, in the Qianqing Palace, a memorial was laid out on the emperor's desk. The Wanli Emperor had picked up his pen several times, but put it back down each time.

His eyes, however, remained fixed on the two posthumous titles on the memorial, gazing back and forth.

"Wencheng, Wenzhong."

His mouth moved with his eyes, and he unconsciously muttered to himself.

Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he picked up his pen and began to write in the upper right corner of the memorial, the red cinnabar turning into characters.

This is the final verdict on the memorial; the final judgment has been made.

"Zhang Jing, you personally deliver this memorial to the cabinet and give it to Master Wei."

The Wanli Emperor spoke wearily, then leaned back, closed his eyes to rest, as if the memorial had exhausted his energy.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhang Jing walked over from the side, picked up the memorial with both hands, and brought it to his mouth, seemingly blowing gently to dry the red ink on it.

However, his gaze quickly swept over the text that Emperor Wanli had just approved, and he learned of the emperor's decision.

He turned around, a smile playing on his lips, and strode out of the Qianqing Palace.

Before long, Zhang Jing entered the cabinet, surrounded by two young eunuchs.

Although his rank has not yet been promoted by the emperor, his demeanor is no less imposing than that of the chief eunuchs in the palace, and he is always followed by two junior eunuchs who run errands for him.

As Zhang Jing entered the cabinet, he gave a wink to a young eunuch behind him. The eunuch nodded in understanding. As Zhang Jing strode toward the Grand Secretary's office, the young eunuch stopped at an intersection and turned into another corridor.

"Grand Secretary Wei, this was sent by His Majesty. Please have the Grand Secretariat handle it as soon as possible."

Wei Guangde was in his duty room reviewing memorials, all of which were reports on grain taxes from various provinces. He only needed to write the word "review" on them; there were no requests or formalities involved.

However, as he looked at these memorials, Wei Guangde also silently memorized the amount of grain tax recorded on them.

Although the Ministry of Revenue would record and summarize the information in detail and send it to the Cabinet, this was first-hand information. Sometimes the data compiled and summarized by the Ministry of Revenue might not be as much as that in the memorials, and it might be reduced for various reasons.

Of course, there is a limit to this loss range, and it cannot be filled in arbitrarily.

It was at this moment that Lu Bu came in and said that someone from the palace had arrived, and Wei Guangde naturally came out to greet them.

After Zhang Jing was invited into the duty room, the imperial edict was delivered to Wei Guangde. Wei Guangde glanced at it and saw that it was personally approved by the emperor, bearing the inscription "Wen Zhong" (meaning "loyal and upright"). History had not changed anything.

However, he still managed to show a slight surprise on his face before agreeing.

After that, it was no longer Zhang Jing's business. He had completed his mission of delivering the message and naturally had to hurry back to the Qianqing Palace to serve the emperor.

After seeing Zhang Jing off, as he was walking back, a secretary quickly walked up to him and whispered a few words in his ear.

Lu Bu nodded, and the man turned and went back to the front. Lu Bu went directly into the duty room and whispered to Wei Guangde, "Master, when Eunuch Zhang came over just now, a young eunuch with him went to Grand Secretary Zhang's place, said a few words, and then left."

"Ah."

Wei Guangde knew what was going on; he was simply relaying the emperor's decision to Zhang Siwei.

After all, the two are already allies. If this information is leaked out, it won't be of any use to me, but Zhang Siwei might find a better use for it.

In any case, Emperor Wanli's comments were somewhat unexpected.

Wei Guangde had already laid out the paper and begun drafting the imperial edict; this time, he did not have anyone else do it for him.

After writing the imperial edict and checking it, Lu Bu sent it to the Directorate of Ceremonial. At the same time, he also sent a note to the Ministry of Rites regarding the emperor's final posthumous title of "Wenzhong" for Zhang Juzheng. The Ministry of Rites needed to know this first.

Lu Bu took the draft imperial edict and memorial out. Those that needed to be registered still had to be registered with the cabinet. He also arranged for someone to deliver a note to the Ministry of Rites.

With these actions underway, news of Zhang Juzheng's posthumous title being finalized spread like wildfire.

This has become the fastest-spreading gossip today, because the posthumous title given by the emperor was the worst among those submitted by the Ministry of Rites, which is bound to shock people.

Only a very few people thought the emperor might choose "Wenzheng" (文正), most people thought the Ministry of Rites' choice of "Wencheng" (文成) was actually very suitable, and almost no one would have thought it would be "Wenzhong" (文忠).

Upon hearing the news at the Ministry of Revenue, sweat involuntarily beaded on Zhang Xueyan's forehead.

He couldn't help but think of Wei Guangde's "assertion" from yesterday. He knew that Zhang Juzheng must have angered the emperor in some way to have such an outcome.

Zhang Juzheng was extremely strict in educating the Wanli Emperor, which was praised by the upright officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy. However, as any normal person would know, this kind of treatment might be acceptable when the emperor was young and ignorant, but when a young emperor had a memory, he might become dissatisfied or even resentful when he grew up.

Unexpectedly, this resentment arose so quickly that it was already revealed before Zhang Juzheng was even buried, when he was choosing a posthumous title for him.

Moreover, Wei Guangde had clearly already noticed something, which is why he made such a judgment yesterday.

"Fortunately, I sought refuge early, otherwise, if an imperial censor had impeached me, I might have been in trouble."

Zhang Xueyan thought this way, and many officials who chose to change allegiances actually had the same thought in mind: they were all glad they had made their previous choice.

However, Wang Guoguang, the Minister of Personnel, and Zeng Shengwu, the Minister of Justice, disagreed, believing that the emperor had acted improperly in treating meritorious officials.

Instead of considering why this was the case, they picked up their pens to prepare a memorial to the throne to discuss the matter.

Inside the Censorate, Chen Kai sat in his seat, lost in thought.

He was considered a breath of fresh air in his position, and he had previously supported strict education of the emperor.

But the news coming out today has made him very anxious.

Yes, it is fear.

The emperor has grown up eventually, and many things can no longer be viewed through the lens of the past.

Although he had never wanted to get involved in court affairs before, he hesitated at this moment.

Whether or not to align oneself with Wei Guangde became an important choice.

He was actually quite old, and he wouldn't be able to hold the position of Censorate for more than a few years before he had to step down and hand over the reins to a more capable person.

Previously, he only wanted to do his job well and didn't meddle in anything else, which allowed him to stand out from his competitors and become the Left Censor-in-Chief.

But what about now?
Once he retires from office, who will his good-for-nothing descendants rely on?

Ultimately, they still needed the help of their colleagues in Jiangxi, and Wei Guangde was clearly their leader.

Showing goodwill to him is not for your own sake, but for the sake of your children and grandchildren.

Finally, Chen Ti, who had never sided with anyone before, had quietly changed his heart.

He knew in his heart that if Wei Guangde could figure out the emperor's thoughts, then he could secure his position as chief minister.

At his age, he could easily remain in the court for another twenty years. With him looking after them, the stability of at least two generations of their family could be guaranteed.

That evening, Wei Guangde was reading in his study, while servants were bustling in and out of the side gate of the Wei residence.

News from all sides of the capital flooded back to his residence and reached his ears.

This was the best time to control public opinion. In the afternoon, Wei Guangde passed notes to many people, and Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing did similar things.

Wei Guangde couldn't be sure what Shen Shixing was planning, but Zhang Siwei would definitely use this news to undermine his prestige as prime minister.

As expected, the news that came back showed that people everywhere were discussing the emperor's decision. Some people mentioned that the emperor had clearly rejected the cabinet's proposal. Although the memorial also included the option of "Wenzhong", it was obviously not the cabinet's first choice.

The cabinet should have thought the same as the Ministry of Rites, which was to bestow upon Zhang Juzheng the posthumous title of "Wencheng".

Does His Majesty's choice indicate his dissatisfaction with the current Grand Secretary, Wei Guangde?

No one discussed whether the emperor was dissatisfied with Zhang Juzheng; it was an open secret, otherwise the emperor would never have chosen the lowest posthumous title for Zhang Juzheng.

What they are considering now is whether the emperor's attitude towards the chief minister is also involved.

Of course, there are many people who oppose this view, which is understandable, since Wei Guangde was prepared.

However, the enthusiasm for the discussion was still quite high.

According to the news that came back, many officials who usually went straight home after leaving their posts broke with tradition today and went to restaurants and teahouses with their colleagues.

After all, they had a premonition that the court was about to be plunged into turmoil, and no one wanted to miss the opportunity to rise to power.

"My lord, Imperial Censor Chen has sent a letter."

While Wei Guangde was reading, Zhang Ji came in, placed an envelope in front of him, and whispered something.

"Ah."

Wei Guangde folded the book page, put it down, and then picked up the letter, took out the letter paper, and read it once.

"Go down and keep an eye on anything that happens outside."

After giving his instructions, Wei Guangde got up, took Chen Kai's letter, walked to the bookshelf, put it in a box, and then continued to pretend to read.

Yes, he was just putting on an act, because all he could think about was the seventeen censors of the Censorate today, either individually or jointly, submitting a petition to impeach Pan Sheng.

These censors weren't stupid; they wouldn't act rashly based on rumors and directly attack him. However, those recommended by Zhang Juzheng couldn't be let off the hook. (End of Chapter)