The Yamen of the Ministry of Rites, not only the officials of the Ministry of Rites came to participate in the deliberations, but also people from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households, a total of more than 20 people, gathered together.

The layout of the main hall is a typical Jiangnan style, there is a table above the main hall, a chair is placed, and behind it is a Huanghuali wood carved screen, on which a large plaque with gold lacquer, on which the book "State of Etiquette" four big characters, this is the seat of the Ministry of Rites, but today it has to be left to Wang Yan.

The whole hall of the Ministry of Rites is divided into two sections, and only six chairs are placed in the inner hall near the inside, which are two waiters and four principal positions, but now it is only the three people of Gu Yuanjing, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Chen Bangyan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and the three chairs of the Hubu Shangshu, and the other section is the outer hall, which is only separated by a hollow round arch partition between the inner hall, which is full of more than ten seats, and now it is also full.

The three of Chen Bangyan in the inner hall were talking, and many officials in the outer hall were sitting upright one by one, without squinting and not making a sound, which could be described as a strict hierarchy.

At this time, the soldiers outside the hall suddenly shouted: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu has arrived!" ”

More than a dozen officials in the outer hall immediately stood up in unison, and the three scholars in the inner hall also stopped talking and quietly bowed to Wang Yan.

Wang Yan walked in, sat down in the main hall, waved his hand and asked everyone to sit down too, then glanced at it, and said with a smile: "Gu Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, the head of the Lifan Yuan, please also take a seat in the inner hall." ”

The two people who were named in the outer hall immediately got up, walked into the inner hall, bowed to Wang Yan, and took their seats in the remaining three chairs.

After everyone sat down, the little official came up and put down a cup of tea and a plate of Suzhou pastries at each table, and then retreated.

Seeing this, Wang Yan straightened up, and then officially entered the topic, "It's February, and the missions that are going to come should have arrived, and the rest will not give me face." The visit of the embassy to the DPRK this time is conducive to the revival of the people's morale in the DPRK, and the intention is to let the delegations of several countries pay homage to His Majesty in the near future. What is the situation of the three families in Annam now? Don't make any mess during the worship and make the court unable to come down. ”

Gu Yuanjing is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, he got up and replied: "Your Highness, the three families have been placed separately at present, but the problem has not been solved, the three families must pay tribute in the name of Annan, and the court accepts any party, and the other two parties will be dissatisfied." ”

Wang Yan had already known this, he frowned, and suddenly asked, "What is the plan for dealing with it!" ”

Seeing this, Gu Yuanjing could only sit down first, and Qian Binglu, who was sitting at the end, stood up and saluted: "According to the relationship, this time the imperial court made a move against the city, and the Annan Ruan clan contributed a lot, and they were the closest to my Daming, so they should be praised, but the lower officials thought that the three Annan families should remain as they are for now." ”

Qian Bingrup had been on an envoy to Nanyang with the sailor before, and he wanted to know more about the situation in Nanyang, Wang Yan heard the deep meaning in his words, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why is this?" If there is no reward for meritorious service, how will the imperial court drive the Nanyang feudal domains in the future? ”

"Your Highness, more than the Ming Dynasty, the more vassal states the better, but the stronger the vassal states, the better. The Ruan clan naturally wants to be rewarded, but it is not appropriate to support the Ruan clan to completely subdue the Li and Mo clans. Qian Bingrup said with a smile.

This is to split friends, not like the actions of the Central Plains, but this is compounding the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Yan thinks from his own point of view, naturally he hopes that the Ming Dynasty will be broken around, so that the Ming Dynasty is the most powerful core, in fact, the Central Plains Dynasty is doing this for the north, Emperor Wen of Sui is eloquent, and this is what the powerful Turkic Khanate did, the Ming Dynasty was also divided and disintegrated for Mongolia earlier, but the danger of the Central Plains Dynasty often came from the north, so the attention was more focused on the north, and he didn't care too much about the south, so he rarely used such a strategy for the south.

Wang Yan pondered, "The land of Annan is indeed a little troublesome, there has been more or less friction with the Central Plains Dynasty in the past dynasties, but it has rarely been conquered, although this dynasty has occupied more than 20 years, but it is also because of the cost is very much, it is not very cost-effective, and it has withdrawn." Now maintaining the current situation of the three families can allow the three parties to contain each other, and with the restoration of influence by the imperial court in Nanyang, the three families can only get close to the dynasty, which is indeed the best state, but the problem of this tribute has not been solved! ”

"Your Royal Highness, this is also simple, just divide it directly, the Ruan family still belongs to Annam in name, the Ruan lord Ruan Phuc is on the verge of calling himself the Duke of Yang County, and the imperial court can crown the Ruan lord as the king of Quang Nam and give the edict and gold seal, which can be regarded as a reward for the Ruan lord to send troops to occupy the city." Qian Bingrup continued: "The Mo clan is difficult to protect itself now, as long as the imperial court guarantees his safety, there will be nothing to say." Then only the Zheng lord, who holds the Li power, will be dissatisfied with this, but this is also the punishment of the imperial court for disrespecting the orders of the Zheng lord, not cooperating with the imperial court to attack the occupied city, and not severing contact with Heyi. ”

Wang Yan knows more about Annan than ordinary ministers, Annan can now be said to be in the Three Kingdoms period, Zheng Zhu is equivalent to Cao Cao, Ruan Zhu is Sun Quan, Mo is the weakest, and he can barely be regarded as Liu Bei.

Historically, the Mo clan took refuge under the Ming Dynasty, and during the rebellion of the three feudatories, the Zheng lord destroyed them on the pretext of assisting the Qing Dynasty in pacifying the three feudatories, and soon after the Zheng lord was destroyed by the Ruan lord in the south, and Annam completed the unification.

Wang Yan nodded, "Then it will be arranged in this way, let the envoys of the Zheng clan pay tribute in the name of Annan, the Ruan clan pay tribute in the name of Quang Nam, and the Mo clan pay tribute in the name of Gaoping State." This can be regarded as a warning to the Zheng family, if he is not convinced, the Li Fan Yuan will see if he can find someone close to the Ming Dynasty within the Li family, submit to his position, and drive the Zheng family directly from power. ”

This is tantamount to not only dividing Annan into three parts, but also meddling in the internal affairs of the vassal family, Gu Yuanjing frowned, got up and said: "Your Highness, rashly dividing a country into three kingdoms is not in accordance with the etiquette and law, causing the three parties to be disgusted with the imperial court, which will affect the trade of the imperial court in Nanyang." ”

"No one wants to let outsiders interfere in their own affairs, and there must be disgust." Wang Yan said in a deep voice: "But the past set doesn't work anymore. The question of whether it is legal or not, there is no need to talk about this, since the feudal domains recognize me as the suzerain, the canonization of the Ming Dynasty is the legal system of the feudal domains, without the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, he is illegal, there is the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, whoever dares to subvert is the enemy of the Ming Dynasty. As for meddling in the affairs of various countries, it is also a last resort, and everyone has not forgotten the last food panic! Nanyang is now the granary of the imperial court, and the merchants in Guangzhou reacted that the Nanyang states were too inefficient, and the imperial court wanted the Nanyang vassals to produce more grain and sell it to the Ming Dynasty, so it was necessary to ensure the control of the vassals, and the vassal countries needed to have obedient officials close to the Ming Dynasty. ”

A few days ago, Yunnan and Guizhou, about Sun Kewang's reform in Yunnan detailed report, transmitted to Nanjing, Wang Yan was very shocked, but Wang Yan's background and the class standing behind him did not allow him to be like Sun Kewang, so rough reform, can only be cooked slowly, in exchange for the gradual compromise of the gentry class, but the internal contradictions of the Ming Dynasty must have a cathartic outlet, Wang Yan thought for a long time, then he can only aim at Nanyang.

Now the biggest problem of the Ming Dynasty is that the gentry want to annex the land to plant mulberry and cotton in a large area, and the people chase profits, and they also want to plant mulberry seedlings in the rice fields, and the grain of the Ming Dynasty will become a big problem.

Gu Yuanjing listened to Wang Yan's words, and couldn't refute it, if he didn't interfere in Nanyang and control Nanyang, he was afraid that the court officials would be restless.

When Wang Yan saw him sitting down, he asked, "Do you have any opinions from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households?" ”

Chen Bangyan said: "The lower officials agree with the opinion of the Imperial Court and His Royal Highness, and divide Annam into three kingdoms, so as to facilitate the imperial court's control of Annam. ”

"The household department has no opinion, dividing it into three countries can reduce the risk of the imperial court, that is, one country is an enemy of the imperial court, and the household department can also transfer grain from the other two countries." Wang Fuzhi got up and said.

Wang Yan nodded, and when it came to grain, he had to explain, "From this year onwards, the household department will start to build grain storage, and only reserve a year's worth of military rations, so that even if the vassal is not satisfied, the imperial court can suppress it." ”

"Your Highness, I'm afraid it's not easy to reserve a year's worth of grain, the Nanyang domains are generally lazy, and the grain that the imperial court can buy at present is already close to the limit." Wang Fuzhi clenched his fists and said.

After hearing this, Wang Yan frowned, "In this matter, the household department and the cabinet will communicate first, and we will talk about it later!" ”

Wang Fuzhi sat back with his hand, and Wang Yan still returned to the topic of today's discussion, "The three feudal clans of Annan have been decided like this, and there are any problems with the envoys of the other feudal domains." ”

Qian Bingrup got up again and reported: "There are a few things to report to Your Highness!" ”

"Oh?" Wang Yan was a little puzzled, was there any trouble, "You say!" ”

"Your Highness, the envoy of Donghu asked the imperial court why it wanted to destroy the city, hoping that the court would restore the city!" Qian Bingrup saluted and said: "In addition, the envoy of the DPRK secretly arrived in Nanjing yesterday evening, and he has not yet had time to report to His Highness!" ”