I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 286 There are tigers in front and wolves behind

Liu Tao and Liang Menglong were soon taken to a side hall.

Zhu Yijun and Hai Rui also hurriedly finished their dinner, rinsed their mouths, wiped their mouths, asked the eunuchs to remove the dishes and drinks, and sat aside waiting for the two of them.

"I, the Minister of War and Governor of the Navy Bureau Liu Tao, and I, the Vice Minister of War and Assistant Director of the Navy Bureau Liang Menglong, pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

The two men entered the side hall, took a few steps forward, and saluted Zhu Yijun who was sitting at the top.

"Both of you please stand up and take your seats!"

Zhu Yijun waved his hand, and after the two men thanked him and stood up and sat down, he asked, "What emergency military matter has occurred?"

"Your Highness," Liang Menglong stood up and reported after receiving Liu Tao's gaze, "The Navy Bureau received an urgent report that something big happened in the South China Sea. The Spanish fleet colluded with the Annan Mo family and attacked the ships of our Shunfeng Society Guangzhou Branch at Longtou Island in Wanli Shitang.

"Of the four of our ships, three were damaged, but they managed to escape and hurried back to Guangzhou. The other ship, which was trying to cover the escape of its comrades, was severely damaged and sank under siege by the enemy ships."

Liang Menglong briefly described the situation and then handed over the urgent report.

Qi Yan stepped forward, took the urgent report, and handed it to Zhu Yijun, who had a gloomy face.

Zhu Yijun read the entire article quickly and slammed the urgent report down on the desk. A huge noise rang out in the side hall. Everyone was startled and lowered their heads, not daring to breathe.

Hai Rui stroked his beard, squinted his eyes slightly, and looked at Zhu Yijun.

It is rare to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince angry, and today is the first time.

Zhu Yijun stood up, waving his hands around and speaking angrily.

"This is too much! The kid from the Annan Mo family has repeatedly invaded our Lingnan border and instigated the mountain people to rebel. I didn't go looking for him, but he came to bully me again!
And the Spaniards, do you really think that we in the Ming Dynasty are Indians? You are so arrogant, you really think you are the illegitimate children of Christ! "

Zhu Yijun walked around the hall several times, his pace gradually slowed down, and his anger slowly subsided.

"This matter must be resolved as soon as possible! Summon the four elders of the cabinet, the gentlemen of the Military Affairs Supervisory Office, the six ministers of the six ministries, and the five ministers of the five temples to the Taiji Hall to discuss the matter.

Mr. Daichuan and Mr. Mingquan, go to the Taiji Hall together."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hai Rui stood up, bowed and said, "Your Highness has important military and national affairs to discuss. I will take my leave."

Zhu Yijun came forward, took Hai Rui's hand, and sighed, "Mr. Hai, I originally wanted to take a walk by the lake after dinner and have a good chat with you.

Sorry for the delay. Let’s talk about it next time.”

"Okay, thank you, Your Highness."

"Qi Yan, please see Lord Gangfeng off for me."

"Yes."

After Hai Rui's back disappeared, Zhu Yijun turned to Liu Tao and Liang Menglong and said, "Gentlemen, let's go to the Taiji Hall and wait for everyone."

After waiting for two quarters of an hour, four cabinet ministers, Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng, arrived.

Zhang Rong, Gu Yuan, Xue Han, Tang Shilong, Qi Jiguang, Ma Fang, Xu Wei and other people assisted in the Military Administration Supervision Office.

Five ministers including the Minister of War Hu Zongxian, the Minister of Revenue Gao Gong, the Minister of the Imperial Household Wang Guoguang, the Minister of the Imperial Household Wei Xueceng, the Minister of the Imperial Household Liu Cai, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites Fang Fengshi, and the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Rites Li Zhi, arrived at the Taiji Hall one after another.

After everyone sat down, Zhu Yijun asked Liang Menglong to give everyone a detailed account of what happened in the South China Sea.

The Spaniards colluded with the Annan Mo family to attack our Ming Dynasty merchant ships in the South China Sea!

Everyone was shocked and felt embarrassed.

The northern part of the Ming Dynasty is now in a turbulent time.

In the eastern vassal state of Korea, a civil unrest broke out that swept across the country. The emperor and his ministers cried day and night, begging the Ming Dynasty to send troops to quell the rebellion.

This matter can be delayed, but Tumen Khan's military attack on Liaodong is imminent, and the Ming Dynasty must find a way to defeat the enemy.

Everyone present knew that His Royal Highness was discussing with the people of the Military Administration Office how to eliminate the Chahar tribe, a serious threat. At this time when a large-scale war was needed, the Spaniards and the Annan Mo family joined forces to wreak havoc in the South China Sea.

Especially the Mo family. The mountain people in Guangxi have been causing chaos repeatedly, and the pirates in Guangdong have been causing trouble from time to time. They are all behind the scenes. Now they are mixed up with the Spanish, which is not a good thing.

It will pose a huge threat to Ming Dynasty's maritime trade.

"Minister Liang has explained the situation clearly. Gentlemen, please discuss how to deal with it."

Zhu Yijun glanced at everyone and asked.

Everyone fell into deep thought.

This matter is of great importance, and everyone needs to think carefully about it.

After a while, a loud voice sounded: "Your Highness, I think this matter must be fought back! According to the regulations on managing vassal states, we can issue a proclamation to the world that the Annan Mo family and the Western barbarians and Spain are fighting against our Ming Dynasty without declaring war, and anyone can kill them.

Then mobilize the main force of the navy to go south and attack the Annan Mo family with all our strength, wipe out the Spanish forces, avenge the victims, and promote the power of the Ming Dynasty! "

Zhu Yijun never expected that the first person to speak up and advocate an iron-blooded response would be the Minister of Revenue Gao Gong.

He did not immediately agree because he saw opposition on the faces of some ministers.

"Gentlemen, do you have any other suggestions?"

Chen Yiqin was a little hesitant.

After the Baoen Temple incident, he and Gao Gong had fallen out, and their former colleagues in the palace had no contact with each other. He wanted to speak out, but was worried that others would think he was being unfair to people.

Li Chunfang glanced at him and said, "I think it is better to keep quiet than to act. The South China Sea is isolated and the situation is unpredictable. There is a precedent of the military campaign against Annan during the reign of Emperor Chengzu Yongle.

After repeated military campaigns, he suffered heavy casualties and finally won a victory by a narrow margin. He set up the Three Divisions of Jiaozhi. However, within 20 years, the situation changed and he had to withdraw his troops and abolish the Three Divisions. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers shed their blood in vain, and millions of taels of silver were wasted.

Now, we are launching a war against Annan because of a merchant ship. I am worried that we will repeat the same mistakes and waste people’s money and resources.”

Chen Yiqin immediately echoed, "Your Highness, I second what Li Ge Lao said. Right now, to the east of Ming Dynasty, there is civil unrest in Korea, which is turbulent and difficult to control; to the north, there is the Chahar tribe, which will soon come south to plunder.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was determined to make new things happen and worked hard. He negotiated peace with Altan Khan, conquered Kalaqin, and cleared out Jianzhou and Haixi. Since the 44th year of Jiajing, there was no more smoke of invasion from the northern barbarians at the North Gate, and the military and civilians in the nine borders enjoyed several years of peace.

This situation is hard to come by, and I implore you not to lose the big picture for the sake of the small, and to focus on the south and abandon the north."

Wang Guoguang, the Minister of the Imperial Household, frowned and said, "After the prosperity of the maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty, the customs duties for the national treasury increased by more than 4 million taels a year. Among them, the South China Sea trade accounted for the largest share. The customs duties paid by Shanghai, Ningbo, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and other ports for goods sold to the South China Sea amounted to more than 3 million taels.

From the current perspective, there is a trend of increasing year by year. Once the Annan Mo family and the Spaniards join forces to seize the South China Sea and cut off our Ming Dynasty's South China Sea trade, the impact will be huge! "

Gao Gong immediately agreed, "Your Highness, everyone, Wang Taifu is right! Your Highness the Crown Prince has promoted commerce and industry, rectified the salt administration by sea, and eliminated corruption. The tax revenue and expenditure of the court have gradually improved. In the second year of Longqing, the Ministry of Revenue finally no longer has to worry about money.

Now the Annan Mo family and the Spaniards are causing trouble in the South China Sea, cutting off maritime trade there. The loss of three million taels of silver in customs duties is a small matter. The real problem is that the mountains of silk, cotton, porcelain and tea in the southeast, Lingnan and Huguang cannot be sold.

That involves the income of millions of households, at least tens of millions of taels of silver. A small move affects the whole body, and the income of millions of people will be reduced, and the loss will be huge!"

Zhu Yijun couldn't help but look at Gao Gong with admiration.

He had a bad temper, but he was reliable and good at learning. After he was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Revenue, he was able to understand without any guidance that trade, in addition to the tariffs on the surface, also involved the rise and fall of tens of thousands of large and small merchants and factories, and the livelihoods of millions of people.

The tit-for-tat dispute between the two sides has clearly exposed the current dilemma.

There was a brief silence in the side hall.

Xu Jie said quietly, "There is a tiger in front and a wolf behind. It is difficult to make a decision on this matter."

Zhang Juzheng looked at Hu Zongxian and asked in a deep voice: "The current dilemma is that if the Ming Dynasty focuses on one place, it will be very confident; if it divides its strength to deal with two places, it will be insufficient. But these two places are military and national affairs, and we cannot afford to lose.

Hu Bingbu, can you slow down a bit? For example, we can slow down the Chahar Tribe and focus on dealing with the South China Sea issue; or we can slow down the South China Sea issue and focus on dealing with the Chahar Tribe. "

Everyone turned their heads at the same time and looked at Hu Zongxian with expectant eyes.

(End of this chapter)