I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 287 I Announce

Hu Zongxian shook his head, "You can't have the best of both worlds."

Gao Gong frowned, like two pairs of pliers twisted together, staring at Hu Zongxian and asked bluntly: "What do you mean by 'can't have the best of both worlds'? Hu Bingbu, can you explain to everyone what 'can't have the best of both worlds' means?"

Hu Zongxian glanced at Gao Gong.

All the ministers in the court knew Gao Gong's temper. The more important the discussion was, the worse his temper became, and he was quite confrontational. But this was just one of his strategies, to overwhelm his opponent with momentum, shock the audience, and then make everyone agree with his move.

Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng knew this when they were in Prince Yu's mansion.

The other ministers knew how powerful he was when they met with him in the same hall for many meetings.

Hu Zongxian began to explain: "The Chahar tribe is about to use military force against our Ming Dynasty. In the first year of Longqing, our Ming Dynasty wiped out the Jianzhou Jurchens. In the spring of this year, we began to use military force against the Haixi Jurchens and achieved great success. It will only take one or two years to pacify the Haixi Jurchens.

By then, with the three cities of Luanhe in the west and the garrison of Haixi in the east, the Ming Dynasty would have surrounded the Chahar tribe on three sides. Tumen Khan was the powerful ruler of the southern desert and would surely be able to see through this.

So this year he will definitely launch an offensive to contain and hinder the Ming Dynasty from using troops against Haixi. If he does not use troops this year, it will be useless to use them later, and we will lose the initiative. "

Zhang Juzheng asked, "What about the South China Sea issue? Why can't we slow down a bit?"

"The South China Sea issue has been going on for a long time. The Annan Mo family has always had evil ambitions. In order to contain the Ming Dynasty, they have repeatedly instigated the Guangxi mountain people to riot and encouraged pirates to harass the Guangdong sea.

Now that they are mixed up with the Spaniards, it is even more difficult to suppress their ambitions.

It is said that the Spanish are much stronger than the Portuguese. They have been operating in the New World and have no time to care about other things. Now they are making a lot of money in the New World, their national strength is stronger, and their ambitions are even greater.

They have entered the South China Sea with the intention of becoming the king and monopolizing trade with the Ming Dynasty. Now they have joined forces with the Mo family to attack Ming Dynasty merchant ships, intending to establish their authority and force the Ming Dynasty. "

"Force the Ming Dynasty? What does that mean?" Li Zhi asked.

Liang Menglong explained: "The Western barbarians do not know etiquette and are barbaric and crude. Especially the Spaniards, who are arrogant and conceited. They like to defeat their enemies at the first move, either killing them or making them surrender and then let them do whatever they want."

"absurd!"

"Barbaric and vulgar!"

Everyone couldn't help but curse the Spaniards.

Gao Gong stood up, shook the wide sleeves of his official robe, clenched his fist and waved it in the air, "Okay, everyone, stop scolding. Scolding them won't make them lose any more meat!

What Hu Butang and Liang Shilang meant was that if we don't take action in the South China Sea as soon as possible, the Mo family and Spain will most likely launch a large-scale attack on our Ming merchant ships in the South China Sea, which will cause huge losses.

whether?"

Hu Zongxian and Liang Menglong looked at each other, and Hu Zongxian answered affirmatively: "Yes, Gao Butang."

Gao Gong spread his hands and swung his sleeves, "Okay, the situation is all here. Uncle Zhang's suggestion of whether we can temporarily hold off on one end and concentrate our forces on the other end doesn't seem to work.

The northern barbarians Chahar, the southern barbarians Mo clan and the western barbarians Spain, one in the north and one in the south, seemed to have made an agreement to attack the Ming Dynasty together. There is no room for maneuver.

Your Highness, I suggest that since we have all come together by chance, we should just take care of them all at once. We need to fight Chahar in the north, and we also need to fight the Mo family and Spain in the south!"

Chen Yiqin could no longer hold back, and stood up, angrily shouting at Gao Gong: "Gao Xinzheng, do you know what you are saying?

The North and the South are at war at the same time! What do you want to do? Don't you know that if there is any mistake in either the North or the South, disaster will come and shake the foundation of the country? "

Gao Gong glanced at him with some disdain in his eyes, then turned to Zhu Yijun, clasped his hands and said solemnly: "Your Highness, I have lived for more than fifty years and have been in the officialdom for twenty to thirty years. I understand one thing, that is, things in this world will not go according to our expectations.

Today this thing comes, tomorrow that thing comes, so that we can deal with it calmly. Such a situation can be said to be wishful thinking. Things in this world either don't come, or they come one after another.

Misfortunes never come alone; blessings never come in pairs!
The Ming Dynasty has been plagued by problems for many years, and Your Highness is determined to make new things happen. In recent years, you have vigorously reformed and eliminated problems, solving one problem after another. I would like to ask, are these problems all appearing one after another in a queue? "

Gao Gong looked around and scanned the faces of his colleagues on both sides.

"Your Highness always says that the Ming Dynasty's administration is terrible and that officials are lazy. They are not familiar with practical matters, but they always talk about taking things easy. But is there anything in this world that can make us take things easy?
I am in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and am so busy every day that I have to deal with problems one after another. But when problems arise, I cannot delay them, so I can only grit my teeth and face them head-on, and find ways to solve them.

If you plan for the long term, you often end up with nothing to plan for; if you try to have the best of both worlds, you will soon lose both. "

Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng smiled bitterly.

Gao Gong's words were still so sharp, leaving no one with any face.

"Mr. Gao, what is your opinion?" Zhu Yijun asked Gao Gong, who was standing straight. "Your Highness, my opinion is that if they want to fight, we will fight with them! When things come, we will do our best to deal with them. We will cut through mountains and build bridges over rivers!"

What a great Gao Xinzheng!

Zhu Yijun nodded calmly and glanced at the other ministers: "Mr. Gao has put forward his opinion, what are your opinions, gentlemen?"

His eyes fell on Xu Jie's face, and he hesitated before answering, "Your Highness, I think stability is the most important thing."

Next was Li Chunfang, "Your Highness, I also think that it is best to be cautious."

Chen Yiqin could not wait to express his opinion: "Your Highness, I oppose the simultaneous use of troops in both the north and the south. It is too dangerous and will not benefit the country or the people."

Zhang Juzheng replied, "Your Highness, this is a military matter. The Military Affairs Supervisory Office feels confident that we can win the wars in the north and south, and the treasury has enough money and grain to pay for it, so I think we can fight."

Zhu Yijun's eyes moved from Zhang Juzheng's face to Hu Zongxian: "Minister Hu, what do you think?"

"Your Highness, this happened suddenly, and I need to think about it. As Lord Zhang said, the Supervisory Office and the Ministry of War need to calculate whether they can win the wars in both the north and the south at the same time."

When asked about Li Zhi, the lowest-ranking official, the Minister of Rites, said in a clear voice: "Your Highness, I second the opinion of the Minister Gao. To be brave in taking on tasks means not asking how many tasks there are, but only asking what the tasks are."

Everyone was surprised.

After asking for everyone's opinions, Gao Gong's opinion was the most radical. Beat him up, why waste your time talking!

Li Zhi seconded his opinion.

Chen Yiqin, Ge Shouli and Liu Cai firmly opposed fighting on two fronts.

Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and Gao Yi remained neutral, but tended to oppose a war on two fronts.

Zhang Juzheng, Hu Zongxian, Wang Guoguang and others said they were neutral, but they were inclined to fight a war on two fronts. As long as they could win, they would fight a war on three fronts.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Zhu Yijun.

"Regarding the battle against the Chahar tribe in the north, the Military Affairs Supervisory Office has already discussed it thoroughly, and the military strategy has long been formulated and has begun to be implemented. There is no question of whether we can win the battle before fighting.

Now that the South China Sea incident has suddenly occurred, the key lies in whether our Ming navy can seek justice for the victims in the South China Sea and restore face for me and the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Yijun looked at Liu Tao and Liang Menglong.

The two of them had just been spectators, silent.

Now the prince asked the question directly to the door, and Liu Tao stood up and answered.

"The most powerful navy of the Ming Dynasty is the Xuanwu Navy, which has 25 large sailing ships and 1,700 cannons. The one with the most warships and the second strongest is the Weihai Camp, which has more than 120 Wusong ships with 3,000 tons of cargo and 3,600 large and small cannons.

Next were Dinghai Camp and Zhenhai Camp, each with more than 100 warships and more than 3,000 artillery pieces.
Your Highness, the Ming navy only needs to keep one naval force, Dinghai Camp or Zhenhai Camp, to watch over the Eastern Japanese and protect the capital, and the rest can be transferred south."

Gao Gong suddenly jumped up, "Does the Ming Dynasty have so many warships?"

"Have!"

"According to this calculation, we can mobilize 25 of the prince's large sailing ships, and the remaining 3,000 Wusong warships, more than 400 ships, and more than 10,000 artillery pieces!"

When Chen Yiqin mentioned this number, he was shocked himself.

When did the Ming navy become so powerful!

He asked hesitantly, "Isn't it a bit too much to transfer so many warships to the South China Sea?"

Liu Tao replied without hesitation: "Even a lion will use all its strength to fight a rabbit. Since the Ming Dynasty is going to fight the Annan Mo family and the Spaniards, we must use all our main forces. We cannot use the tactic of adding fuel to the fire!"

Zhu Yijun saw a subtle change in the atmosphere in the side hall and stood up from his chair.

"In this case, I have made up my mind."

He glanced at everyone, taking in their expressions, and said firmly: "I declare..."

(End of this chapter)