Nanjing Imperial Palace, the place of Kyoto in the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Liu De, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was left alone by Yingzong Zhu Qizhen after the early dynasty.

Compared with some time ago, Zhu Qizhen's face was much rudder, and his mental state was much stronger, and when he spoke to his courtiers, his tone was much kinder. "Liu Aiqing, how is the matter of the Jiaozhi Mission?"

"Back to the emperor, your majesty is preparing to report this matter to you. Just last night, through the concerted efforts of the officials of our Ministry of Rites, the Jiaozhi mission finally spat out, they are willing to submit to my Nanming, and if necessary, they can also send troops to attack the army of King Min. All it takes is the emperor's decree to disband the mercenaries. ”

When talking about these, Liu De can be described as gushing endlessly, foaming at the mouth.

The so-called Ministry of Rites was united, but in fact, they didn't do anything at all, and it was only because the battle situation in Jiaozhi made it impossible for the Jiaozhi Mission to delay, so they took the initiative to retreat. But others don't know all this, Liu De can naturally count all the merits on his head and put gold on his face.

"Oh." When Zhu Qizhen heard that Jiaozhi was not only willing to surrender, but also could send troops to help him deal with the rebel Minwang family, his eyes suddenly widened, and then he shouted, "Okay!" The raised hands slapped hard towards the dragon shore in front of him.

It's no wonder that Zhu Qizhen is so excited. If there was a small cross-toe before, it was not in his eyes. But since the defeat of civil engineering, he has not been smooth once, almost step by step, he can hold on to it until now, he feels a little physically and mentally tired.

After staying up for so long, he finally saw where the hope was, how could he not be excited? How can you not get excited?

Zhu Qizhen was really happy. King Min had to help the Jiaozhi army to gain momentum to this point, so why can't he get their help to defeat the other party? Once King Min is defeated, Nanming will regain Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan. Not only that, but they also got the friendship of Jiaozhi, and when the time comes, let them send troops to help them deal with Zhu Qiyu, the servant king of the Northern Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that even if they unify the Ming Dynasty, it is not impossible.

Thinking that he finally saw the hope of reunifying the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qizhen wanted to cry this time. In the past two years, he has rarely been able to sleep peacefully, and even more often it is nightmares. Now that I can finally get rid of it all, it doesn't feel too good.

Zhu Qizhen's cheerful and happy look was all seen by Liu De, and on the surface, he was also smiling, as if he was happy for the emperor, but in his heart he was thinking about how to take the opportunity to deal with Yang Chendong's affairs.

Not to mention that he confronted Yang Chendong because of the matter of the prefect of Hangzhou before, but later the other party proposed to take the throne, and even the emperor Zhu Qizhen at that time deliberately agreed, and he also took the initiative to stand up and make suggestions, on the grounds that he needed to notify the Emperor of the Northern Ming Dynasty, and the matter was stirred up.

From this point of view alone, the contradictions between the two sides are irreconcilable.

A while ago, when I heard that the mercenaries had actually killed the Lang Son area and arrived in the hinterland of Cochin, he was most worried about him. Liu De is really afraid that Yang Chendong will be powerful, in that case, he can look for his own trouble at any time.

was anxious and hesitant, and even Liu De himself was thinking about whether to send someone to contact Yang Chendong in private, and take the initiative to give in to ensure the safety of the future, when the Jiaozhi delegation appeared at the right time, just forgave the other party for two or three days, and the people were completely soft, which also made Liu De see the hope of solving the matter.

Now seeing that Zhu Qizhen was so happy, he rolled his eyes, clenched his fists and said: "Your Majesty, Jiaozhi is willing to be a minister, and he is also willing to help the emperor send troops to quell the rebellion, but there is a premise for all this, that is, the need for the loyal and courageous public to disband the mercenary, but since ancient times, there are generals, and the military order is not granted, will he agree?" ”

"Huh?" After Zhu Qizhen heard this, a flash of anger flashed in his eyes. He is the emperor today, his words are the holy decree, if anyone wants to disobey, then he is resisting the decree, and he will be punished by the nine clans, is there anyone who dares not to listen to the holy decree?

Of course, this anger was only fleeting. Even Zhu Qizhen himself knows that his so-called imperial authority is naturally a great existence in the eyes of other courtiers, but it may not really be able to play any role in Yang Chendong. Didn't he order the loyal and courageous duke, who had resolved the rebellion in Guangdong, to disband the mercenaries and return to Kyoto to do errands? But people didn't say yes.

Not to mention that Jiaozhi is now thousands of miles away, and there are even more conditions for fully disobeying the holy order.

Thinking that if he made a holy decree, but Yang Chendong didn't respect it, once this was spread, wouldn't his face be ugly as the emperor? I'm afraid that at that time, Jiaozhi will not be looking for himself even if he is soft, and the good situation will be lost in an instant, and he will feel a big head for a while.

But no matter how you say it, he is also a person who is the emperor, even if Zhu Qizhen has no confidence in his heart, he can't show weakness in front of his courtiers, so he just said with an ambiguous attitude, "What Liu Aiqing said is extremely true, the loyal and courageous prince is now fighting a bloody battle on the battlefield, and I don't know what the situation there is?" If something important is delayed because of the decree, isn't it mine? ”

It's not confident at all, but now he is so high-sounding by him, or how can he be the emperor. The official word has two mouths, and you can really say whatever you want.

Although he understands these things in his heart, Liu De will never expose it, this act of slapping the emperor in the face is impossible unless he doesn't want to live anymore. Not only that, but he also pretended to be very understanding and said, "Emperor Shengming, the situation in the Zhonggang Gong is indeed not the first time we can know, maybe there are any difficulties there for him." ”

Seeing Liu De on the road like this, Zhu Qizhen was of course very happy, and hurriedly nodded and said, "Yes, yes, Liu Aiqing still understands me." By the way, but I wonder if there are any other statements in the Cochin Mission? ”

would ask out loud like this, obviously Zhu Qizhen wanted to find another way. After all, he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to say that Yang Chendong would be able to make an order, and he wanted to find a way from the now weak Jiaozhi Mission.

"This..."Liu De, who understood Zhu Qizhen's intentions, was embarrassed. I'm afraid this won't work, if we are loyal and brave and don't withdraw our troops, and we are still flawless in taking care of ourselves, how can we have the ability to help us do things? ”

"That's right, that's what I said." Zhu Qizhen nodded when he heard this, and then stopped making a sound.

Liu De, who was standing below, was talking about Zhu Qizhen's whimsy in his heart. That is, there is no 100% certainty that Yang Chendong will withdraw from Jiaozhi, and he also wants Jiaozhi to send troops to help him deal with the rebellious Min Wang family. How is it possible to take advantage of all the good things in the world?

Not to mention that Liu De really has no way to convince the Jiaozhi Army, even if he has, he will not contribute. I wish Yang Chendong was unlucky, he finally found an opportunity, how could he take the initiative to retreat?

The so-called shot when it was time to make a move, seeing that Zhu Qizhen was hesitating there, Liu De was ruthless, and finally decided to add a fire, but if he did this, I was afraid that the hatred between him and Yang Chendong would never be resolved.

But unless that's the case, he has to bow his head to Yang Chendong, which is too embarrassing for Liu De, who is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to bow to a junior. That would be no different from killing him.

made up his mind to offend Yang Chendong to the end, Liu De spoke again after seeing Zhu Qizhen silent, "Your Majesty, in fact, there is no way to say that you are loyal and courageous. ”

"Huh?" When he was still thinking about how to take advantage of the current good situation to gain the best advantage for himself, Zhu Qizhen, who suddenly heard Liu De's words, instantly came to his senses, "Liu Aiqing, you said you have a way?" What's the solution? ”

"Your Majesty, there is a way, but if you do this, it will inevitably attract displeasure in the hearts of the loyal and courageous princes. However, compared to resolving the rebellion of King Min and restoring my Nanming and Qingming, a person's gains and losses are nothing, in short, everything has to be decided by the emperor. didn't say the way directly, but Liu De still looked embarrassed, in order to get rid of himself as much as possible.

Zhu Qizhen didn't think about it so much, he just wanted to solve the problem, so he looked at Liu De with an urging face, "Liu Aiqing, if you have any idea, just say it, if it doesn't work, I have my own decision." ”

"Yes." After Liu De agreed tightly, he said: "Your Majesty, as far as the minister knows, the relationship between the loyal and courageous prince and his fourth brother is excellent. And this person is now in Jianning Mansion, Fujian. If it is possible to move this person, presumably under the care of family affection, the loyal and courageous prince will not withdraw from the army, but in this way, it is inevitable that there will be resentment..."

Liu De didn't say much about the next words, he believed that under his hints, Zhu Qizhen must have understood. To put it bluntly, it is just using Yang Chendong's fourth brother as a hostage to do something to coerce. Although this approach is a bit unfair, it is worth it compared to what you get.

Zhu Qizhen did understand what Liu De meant, but he did not make a decision immediately. Of course, he knew that once he did this, it would be tantamount to offending Yang Chendong to death.

Yang Chendong is not an outsider, if it is his other courtiers, even if there is such a way, Zhu Qizhen will not even hesitate, and immediately give an order to arrest people. But after all, Yang Chendong now has heavy troops in his hands, once he is really forced to push him to the side of King Min, isn't it worth the loss, isn't it moving stones to shoot himself in the foot?

If the wicked do it, if they fail to achieve their previous goal, then they are really asking for their own boredom and asking for their own hardships.