Before Youshi left the Rouyi Palace, Zhu Gaoxu received a copy of the music, and his face changed on the spot. Because he didn't take the initiative to talk about it, Miaojin didn't ask much about the military, but she guessed that what was said in the chapter was not good news.

The two went back to the Guifei Palace together, and Miaojin accompanied Zhu Gaoxu to dinner, and walked around the Guifei Palace again.

She could perceive that Zhu Gaoxu seemed to be affected by the previous recital. The two of them were together, and although Gao Xu would echo her words and sometimes smile, he would talk a little less, and he was often a little absent-minded.

In early summer, the daylight hours have become longer. The sun seems to have set for a long time, but between the palaces and the places where the lights have not shone, you can still see the road clearly at this moment.

When they returned to the dormitory, Miaojin dismissed all the palace maids. The two were already very familiar with each other, so Zhu Gaoxu didn't deliberately say much, he was sitting on a Taishi chair thinking about something. Miaojin also does some chores on her own.

Miaojin sat in front of the dresser, turned her head and glanced at Zhu Gaoxu, who was still a little distracted. Miao Jin turned her head and looked at her face in the bronze mirror. I saw that the face in the mirror was very beautiful, and the eyebrows retouched by Fan Dai were even more charming. The fat powder on her face is light, but it does look better than plain noodles.

So she got up from the dresser, took off the streamer, took off her shoes, went to the big bed to make the bed, and lowered the curtain to keep the mosquitoes out. Miaojin remembered that Zhu Gaoxu praised her waist and other contours many times; And the posture of lying on his stomach to arrange the bedding seems to be very much in line with his heart. What's more, such a casual gesture has an excuse and will not appear to be deliberately flattering.

As expected, when Miaojin turned around by chance, she found that Gao Xu was admiring her intently. She knew that her posture was a little indecent at this time, so she felt embarrassed, and her heartbeat gradually increased.

Gao Xu's gaze gave Miaojin a very wonderful feeling. She thought about it for a moment, probably in Gao Xu's eyes, she seemed to be better than herself. There are many concubines in the palace, and there is no shortage of stunning and beautiful women, and Miaojin is sometimes a little angry; But because of this, at this moment, her beauty is recognized by the emperor, and I am afraid that it is more credible than any compliment. Sensing that Gao Xu was blaspheming her with his gaze, she did not resist in the slightest.

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and walked straight to the bed, he seemed to be a little impulsive, and suddenly pressed Miaojin on the futon. Miaojin snorted lightly, with a hint of a smile in her eyes, but said coquettishly: "Does Gao Xu want to bully me?" ”

Sure enough, he slowed down a little. Miao Jin lay on his back on the futon, looked at Zhu Gaoxu's eyes, and saw that he was looking at his face and neck unscrupulously.

"It's a little hot in the afternoon, I'm sweaty, and I haven't showered yet." Miao Jin said again.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "I'll talk about it later." ”

Miao Jin looked up at Zhu Gaoxu, and couldn't help but slowly stretch out her slender hand and reach through his collar. She pressed her hand on Gao Xu's chest, and vaguely felt his mania.

…… When he is restless, Zhu Gaoxu will have a great appetite and want to repair the car frantically, which is indeed uncommon.

But his troubles seem to be self-inflicted. The piece of music received yesterday evening, Li Bin from the Governor's Office of Annam, is indeed not a good thing. Zhu Gaoxu didn't go to the early dynasty today, he first summoned Liu Ming in the Dongnuan Pavilion, and then summoned the minister to come to discuss the matter.

There was a "buzzing" in the partition door, and civil and military officials were discussing. Zhu Gaoxu sat behind the imperial case, silently thinking nonsense, waiting to listen to everyone's opinions.

The content of the report of Li Bin, the left deputy governor of the Governor's Office of Annam (the governor is nominally Chen Zhengyuan), has nothing to do with Annanguo; Rather, it is about Chenla, Siam, the kingdom of Malacca, etc. It was because the Ming mission to the south took the Songtai Acropolis at the mouth of the Baiteng River as a base, so Li Bin summarized the results of the southern affairs and reported to Beijing.

Last year's missions to Chenla and Siam did not work.

Among them, the Ming envoys who landed from Saigon Port suffered the worst. On their way overland to Angkor Thom, the kingdom of Chenla, they were attacked and all their men were slaughtered. After that, Zhenla returned the corpse, explaining that the incident was committed by the rebel bandits in the country, and promised to catch the criminals and hand them over to the Ming Dynasty.

However, Tang Jing, the general of the Ming navy, thought that it was after the Zhenla Kingdom obtained the letter of the Ming Dynasty that he was unwilling to cede the territory, so he instructed the men and horses to slaughter the Ming army mission. Tang Jing's reason was that among the corpses returned by Zhenla Kingdom, the Ming State Book was not found.

And the mission to Ayutthaya of Siam waited in Ayutthaya for more than a month, and did not see the king of Siam at all, and every time they asked to see him, they were blocked by various excuses. After that, everyone was forced to return to the mouth of the Chao Paiya River, but in vain.

Further south, the Sultanate of Malacca (Manchuka) is even taking the initiative to make trouble.

Li Bin received a letter from Shi Jinqing, the envoy of the Old Port, and the king of Malacca, "Baili Misu Thorn", was sending people to persuade him from all sides to try to form an anti-Ming alliance. The Old Port Xuanwei Division was in danger of being besieged, and Shi Jinqing hoped that the Governorate of Annam would send more troops south to protect his territory and the Han people in his stronghold.

In the Dongnuan Pavilion, Qi Guogong and others were angrily scolding the leaders of various states for not knowing what to do.

However, the civil official Lu Zhen expressed doubts, he said: "At present, there is only one side of Fengcheng Marquis (Li Bin), and other documents have not been sent to Jingshi, and things may be different." Zhenla, Siam, Manchu and other small countries, how dare they easily offend the Ming Dynasty? ”

Admiral Tang Jing is not of high rank, but he is also present today because of his position. He reminded Lu Zhen: "For the distant countries, there is no need to consider how strong the Ming Dynasty is. The Ming Dynasty could only threaten the military power of various countries, with a naval fleet and a maximum of 20,000 land divisions. ”

Immediately, several civil and military personnel seconded the proposal, and they all thought that Tang Jing's words were reasonable.

Although Zhu Gaoxu did not say anything, he also agreed with Tang Jing's remarks. At present, the only way for the Ming army to threaten the southern countries is to attack by sea. It is basically unrealistic to travel by land through tropical jungles to Chenla, Siam and other countries.

Xia Yuanji, the head of the household department, said: "What General Tang said is extremely true, Manchurian and other countries are thousands of miles away. The imperial court clearly asked them to cut land and pay taxes, but it was difficult to get people to obey if they sent envoys. ”

At this moment, Liu Ming strode up from the end of the line and said loudly, "Everyone......"

Liu Ming's voice was very loud, and all the civil and military officers gradually quieted down a little, and they all looked sideways. Liu Ming said: "Colleagues, the imperial court's desire to include the sea route east of the Strait of Malacca into the tributary relationship of the Ming Dynasty is a national policy set a few years ago, and it must not be easily abandoned. First of all, it is necessary to control the eastern sea route, so that the sea trade can be greatly developed, which is one of the key strategies of the new policy. ”

Xia Yuanji didn't look at Liu Ming with his eyes, and went straight up and said: "Zhenla, Siam, Java and other countries are far away from the Ming Dynasty, and they are not small in the south. The Holy Mingjian, many places rebelled against our dynasty, and it may not be a day's work to use troops to crusade. ”

Liu Ming said: "We don't want the territory of other countries, just the sea route and port strongholds. Occupy Saigon Harbor first, then destroy Manchu Thorn, and then slowly settle all other matters. ”

There was another round of discussion. At this time, Qi Tai, the secretary of the Ministry of War, seconded the proposal: "The minister thinks that Liu Ming's words are not unreasonable. ”

Qi Tai looked back and said, "My dynasty doesn't need to pay attention to the meaning of the Chenla royal family, and just build a fort and garrison in Saigon Port." The imperial court had promised to occupy the land north of Saigon as a Champong state; Now, once the official army sends troops to occupy Saigon, it can show the sincerity of the Champa state.

The Champa state wanted the promised land, and it was very likely that it would be willing to send troops and join forces with the official army to deal with the counteroffensive of the Chenla state. It can make up for the lack of strength of the Ming official army.

The so-called 'anti-Ming alliance' of Manchu and Gyanga, which the ministers found very difficult, may only be able to form an alliance with Muslim areas. When we defeat Manchu, we will also kill two birds with one stone, and stop the expansion of Muslims. ”

At this moment, the eunuch Wang Jinghong bowed down and said, "Emperor, the slave and maid are brave, I don't know whether to say more or not." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Let's talk about it." ”

Wang Jinghong said: "The royal family of Manchurian is a man who came south from Persia and is close to the Sultan dynasty of northern India. If we resort to force against the Manchurian countries, the future voyage of the fleet to the West may cause more hostility among the countries to the west. ”

"Hmm......" Zhu Gaoxu made a noncommittal voice and glanced at Liu Ming with his spare eyes.

Liu Ming took over the topic without hesitation and said: "Our dynasty has neither hostility nor friendship with Western countries, only trade. ”

Wang Jinghong bowed down and said no more.

Xia Yuanji said: "Shengshang, the weaving bureau and courtyard originally set up by the imperial court in Guangdong to produce silk were originally to trade with Muslim countries. Now that the official army is going to attack the country of Manchuria, I am afraid that the ocean silk business will be interrupted. ”

Liu Ming retorted again: "Silk and porcelain are only produced in the East, and it is very profitable to transport them to the Muslims in the West, and if they can be transported to the Nestorian (Christ and God) region, the profit will be about 20 times." If there is huge profits, why worry about business? Xia Butang was too worried. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded quietly again.

Xia Yuanji seemed to be quite dissatisfied with Liu Ming. Maybe the people who oppose Xia Yuanji, replaced by Hou Haiqian Xun and others, Xia Yuanji may feel better; Liu Ming is a new jinshi, what qualifications does he have?

Zhu Gaoxu also felt it at this time, and he made a mistake in doing things this morning.

Civilian officials and military generals have their own opinions, and there is a mess. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu said, "Let's discuss it later." ”

Everyone listened and thanked them for their gratitude, and walked out of the door one after another.

Although the opinions of the court and the central government were confused, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but not express his opinion, because once the emperor made his attitude clear, everyone had nothing to say. However, Qi Tai and the others may have seen that Liu Ming's remarks were what the emperor meant.

Let the ministers put forward their proposals first, then discuss them in court, and then let Zhu Gaoxu make decisions, such a process is more in line with the rules.

After the people left, the Dongnuan Pavilion quickly became deserted and became silent. Zhu Gaoxu sat alone in the chair, looking thoughtful, and did not move for a long time.

……

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(I feel guilty about my book friends and my support for you.) Maybe it's still poor ability and energy, and things have been arranged badly lately.... ）