Zhu Houzhao wants to be the emperor, is a carefree and can indulge in lustful dogs and horses, in the mind of this bear child, he does not understand any family and country responsibilities at all, he was born with a golden key, no need to think about food, clothing, housing and transportation, and do not need to worry about future work and family, the first half of his life to be a carefree prince, and the second half of his life to be a happy emperor. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

From the very beginning, the bear child regarded being an emperor as a fun thing, and he had no idea how difficult the profession of emperor was.

At this time, in the Qianqing Palace, cabinet ministers Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, as well as Zhang Mao, Ma Wensheng, and Zhang Heling, a total of five ministers, were being summoned by Emperor Hongzhi.

Liu Jian, as the first assistant to the cabinet, was supposed to attend this important meeting, but because Liu Jian said that he couldn't afford to be sick, Zhu Youji did not force it, so he let Liu Jian stay at home temporarily to recuperate.

Zhu Youzhi held several war reports from the northwest in his hand.

In the war report, Liu Daxia said that he had sent troops to Ningxia Town, and while recovering Yulinwei, he might also fight a few reasonable victories at the end of the war, and by the way, exterminate some Tatar tribes, although it could not have a fundamental impact on the battle situation, and it would not hurt the Tatar fundamentals, but fortunately, it was a Jedi counterattack of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Youzhi rekindled the hope of establishing Wenzhi martial arts.

Li Dongyang said: "Your Majesty, the battle in the northwest is coming to an end, Liu Shangshu is fast with his troops, if he can meet the remnants of Tatar in Ningxia, Shaanxi and other places, the border army has a high chance of winning, or he can recover the lost territory in one fell swoop and raise the prestige of my Ming Dynasty!" ”

What Li Dongyang said was all clichés and empty words, so that Zhu Youzhi didn't like it very much.

painstakingly prepared for a year's war, recruited hundreds of thousands of soldiers, gathered on the border, but was broken into by the Tatars, hundreds of thousands of troops spilled blood on the battlefield, and only mixed a "consolation prize" to kill a few Tatars to fool people, blocking the mouths of the people, Zhu Youzhu couldn't help but feel that he was a very cowardly emperor.

In Zhu Youji's view, he can look forward to recovering the lost territory, the Tatars have no intention of operating the Daming city, and as for the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, he will not believe it.

The series of defeats in the northwest before is already a fact, unless the Tatars can be beaten like lost dogs, as in the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, the defeat is turned into victory and annihilation of tens of thousands of enemies, or the long drive straight into the grassland, this is the real "raising the prestige of the country", otherwise it is self-deception.

Zhu Youzhu lay on the sickbed, slowly turned his head sideways, looked a little helpless, and sighed leisurely: "Ma Shangshu, you used troops in the northwest more than ten years ago, and you have a unique judgment on the situation in the northwest for a few years. ”

Perhaps Emperor Hongzhi asked too directly and reversed the declining trend, but the voice outside the strings was that the emperor did not admit that the restoration of Yansui was "raising the prestige of the country", because Liu Daxia was probably just a group of stragglers.

If Ma Wensheng blindly emphasized that it was only a temporary setback, and could not satisfy the emperor, he could only change his tone and admit that there were indeed omissions in the northwest that led to the defeat, and this responsibility obviously could not be borne by the emperor.

Ma Wensheng said: "Back to Your Majesty, the war in the northwest has entered the final stage, if you seek victory in stability, recover the land near Yulin Weizuo, and repair the damaged city wall, it is really not appropriate to raise troops on a large scale." After many years, the people's livelihood in the northwest has recovered, and then the troops will be transferred north, or they can take advantage of the unpreparedness of the Tatars and step on the grassland in one fell swoop! Even if it is not good, it can also recover the Hetao! ”

Zhu Youzhu listened to Ma Wensheng's words and was silent for a while.

Although Li Dongyang and Ma Wensheng were a generation of famous ministers, they both adopted a similar point of view when it came to the battle of the Northwest, that is, to help the emperor exonerate and not face the fiasco head-on.

Li Dongyang advocated that the northwest still have a chance to turn the tide of the war and promote the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, while Ma Wensheng advocated seeking stability for the time being, first ending this war with dignity, and then going to level Tatar next year, saying such an unrealistic statement as "stepping on the grassland in one fell swoop."

When the army is strong and the horses are strong, they cannot conquer the Tatars, but they are beaten by the Tatars all over the ground to find teeth, and when the Tatar soldiers are more prosperous in the next year, what qualifications do they have to say such things?

Although Li Dongyang and Ma Wensheng are both putting forward unrealistic goals, they have a similar point of view, that is, the battle in the northwest has come to an end, and the land that has fallen in the northwest can be recovered through the war in the next month or two.

As for the safety of Gyeonggi, no one mentioned it from beginning to end, which shows that the capital is impregnable in their eyes.

Zhang Mao didn't speak for a long time, and at this time he took the opportunity to put forward his opinion: "Your Majesty, since the war in the northwest has come to an end, and the places around Jingshi have been on fire for a long time, why don't you lift the martial law in Gyeonggi, so that the flow of goods can be smooth, and the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and don't let the hoarders and strangers cause trouble to the people!" ”

Zhu Youzhu was originally thinking about Ma Wensheng's words, and when he heard the words, he asked, "Is there an illegal businessman in Jingshi who hoards Juqi?" ”

Zhang Mao didn't know where to start for a while, he mentioned this matter because he learned from the report of the generals under his command that the Zhang brothers took advantage of the martial law in the capital to make a fortune, and opened the city gate privately in the middle of the night to transport goods from outside the city into the city, taking advantage of the shortage of materials in the city to buy low and sell high.

Zhang Mao still didn't know that this matter was only done by Zhang Yanling alone, and it had nothing to do with Zhang Heling, even if he knew it in his heart, but he knew that Zhu Youzhu had always been partial to the two brothers-in-law, so he was unwilling to tell the emperor about it, which not only made the emperor and the Zhang brothers unable to get off the stage, but also seemed to be too talkative and made trouble for the royal family.

Zhang Mao just nodded affirmatively: "Yes!" ”

"That ......"

Zhu Youzhu hesitated for a while, in fact, in his heart, he didn't want to ban the Beijing division for the time being, which had nothing to do with the intensity of the war in the northwest, he was afraid that he would have something to do with his three strengths and two weaknesses, others coveted the throne, and martial law in Beijing was the most conducive to the inheritance of the throne.

Zhu Youzhu felt that his health was deteriorating, so he thought about letting Jingshi be under martial law for a few more days, which was also an expedient measure when he felt that he could not control the government and military power.

Only when martial law is imposed will the military power be firmly in the hands of the emperor.

Zhu Youzhu is an emperor who is good at accepting advice, and when he hesitated, he wanted to ask other people's opinions, but Zhang Heling, who was in charge of the Beijing camp, suddenly stepped forward:

"Your Majesty, the war in the northwest has not yet subsided, Your Majesty is in good health, and now the surrounding area of the capital is generally peaceful, if the martial law in Beijing is lifted, or there are young people who take the opportunity to make trouble, why not maintain martial law for the time being, and wait until the end of the year after the northwest is completely calmed down, and the Tatars are defeated and retreated to the grassland, then they will be dealt with!"

At other times, the words of the Zhang brothers were very unpopular with Emperor Hongzhi, mainly because the Zhang brothers did not have much talent and learned, and it was easy to "embarrass the emperor" in front of others.

Zhu Youzhu didn't like this pair of brothers-in-law who didn't have much ink in their stomachs talking nonsense, but this time it was different, Zhang Heling's words sounded very good to Zhu Youji.

Because Zhang Heling's words happened to hit Zhu Youji's thoughts.

In this kind of link similar to court deliberations, the emperor can be appreciated, not the upright minister who puts forward effective suggestions, but the minister who can figure out the holy will, so all dynasties, whether it is a holy monarch or a dumb emperor, need not only a minister who is upright and can do practical things for him, but also a minister who can figure out the king's mind and do things that the minister can't reach.

If all of them are courtiers who don't smile and preach theories and rules all day long, they can die of exhaustion when they become an emperor.

Zhu Youzhi wanted to agree with Zhang Heling's proposal to continue to maintain martial law in Beijing, but now only two people put forward their opinions, Zhang Mao proposed to lift martial law, and Zhang Heling said that he wanted to maintain it, but Zhang Mao's identity and status are far above Zhang Heling, Zhang Mao does not listen to the opinions of such old ministers, but listens to the opinions of his brother-in-law, which will make people think that he listens to slander.

At this time, someone needs to stand up and affirm Zhang Heling's suggestion, as long as a two-to-one situation is formed, then Zhu Youji can logically agree to Zhang Heling's proposal.

This person can only be Xie Qian, who is good at observing words and feelings, and can say beautiful scenes.

The reason why Zhu Youzhu liked to use Xie Qian in the past was not because Xie Qian had a lot of ability, on the contrary, Xie Qian had a relatively weak ability among the three scholars in the cabinet before Shen Xi helped, and he was only known for being able to speak well.

Xie Qian is not much stronger than Zhang Heling in terms of figuring out people's psychology.

Zhang Heling is just from his own point of view to maintain the interests of the emperor, while Xie Qian has the ability to perceive people's hearts and can completely take care of the emperor's face and dignity.

Zhu Youzhu asked, "Xie Qingjia, what do you think about the martial law in Jingshi?" ”

This kind of thing, when asked to Li Dongyang or Ma Wensheng, most of them will say their truest statement, agree or disagree, and not only put forward their views, but also put forward appropriate reasons.

But when it comes to Xie Qian, no matter what Xie Qian thinks, he will first think about what the emperor thinks, or which statement is most in line with the emperor's mind.

When Xie Qian heard this, hey, no, a question of martial law in Beijing, as for the emperor, will he hesitate?

Zhang Mao and Zhang Heling have a conflict of views, if the emperor is inclined to adopt Zhang Mao's opinion in his heart, and will definitely not ask him, a minister, to speak, then there is only one explanation, the emperor is more inclined to Zhang Heling's point of view, but because Zhang Heling has a gap with Zhang Mao in terms of identity and status, a person needs to come out to echo Zhang Heling's statement, so that the emperor can make a "suitable" choice between the two opinions.

"Back to Your Majesty."

Xie Qian said, "The old minister thinks that it is better for the Jingshi to maintain martial law. ”

"Oh, how could the Xie Qing family have this opinion?"

As soon as Zhu Youzhu heard it, he knew that Xie Qian was very sensible, and his answer was exactly what he wanted, and he said it very directly, which was convenient for him to adopt his suggestions.

Generally speaking, as long as it is Xie Qian's point of view, others will not have much opinion and will not refute it, because Xie Qian has done a better job of understanding the holy will than others. Usually Xie Qian said this, which means that the emperor's original intention is like this, and there is no need to anger the emperor.

Xie Qian said: "The war in the northwest is still unstable, the Beijing division is now in order, if martial law is lifted, it will definitely affect the people's livelihood in the short term, at this time, it is better to be still, it is best to continue to maintain martial law, just open the city gate and market for an hour in the morning and evening, so that it is convenient for merchants in the city to stock up and people to buy food and vegetables!" ”

Zhu Youzhi used to think that it would be good for Xie Qian to put forward an opinion that matched him, and he didn't expect Xie Qian to put forward any good suggestions.

But now hearing Xie Qian say that "the city gate and market will be opened for an hour in the morning and evening", Zhu Youzhi feels that it is very reasonable, which not only maintains the martial law of the Beijing Division, but also ensures the people's livelihood, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

"That's a good suggestion, I'll take it!" Zhu Youzhu said happily.

In Zhu Youji's heart, Xie Qian's status has been invisibly elevated, but he doesn't know that Xie Qian's suggestion is nonsense at all, because even if Xie Qian doesn't mention this suggestion, the Jingshi will still open the city gate for an hour in the morning and evening, and at the same time, the major markets will also open trade, otherwise martial law will be imposed for a few months, and the people in the city will go to drink the northwest wind?

It's just that the emperor doesn't know much about martial law, so he let Xie Qian easily fool him. (To be continued.) )