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Volume 1: Dragon Trapped in the Shoals Chapter 84: Great Increase in Strength

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    During this period of time, the capital has been very lively, and two things have particularly attracted people's attention.

    One thing is the widely circulated matter of selecting a concubine for the eldest prince.  The ministers came to the emperor one after another and unanimously requested to crown the eldest prince and select a concubine. Somehow, it became known that the emperor was about to issue an order to select a concubine for the eldest son, causing panic in the capital.

    In the Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent relatives from interfering in politics, concubines were not allowed to be selected from the families of noble relatives and officials. Only common people girls with clean financial status were selected. After the selection, concubines were selected based on their talent and appearance, not family status.  In addition, the selection of concubines in the Ming Dynasty was rarely conducted nationwide. Since the capital was moved to Peking during the Yongle period, concubines were generally selected near the capital. Daxing and Wanping counties in Shuntian Prefecture of the capital were the main concubine selection places.  The further ones are Hejian Prefecture and Baoding Prefecture.

    As the saying goes, once you enter the Hou family, it is as deep as the sea, let alone the more complicated palace!  So whenever I hear rumors that the palace is about to select a concubine, most girls between the ages of thirteen and sixteen in Daxing and Wanping counties of the capital will get married in a hurry under the arrangements of their families, and they will not  They don¡¯t care about betrothal gifts, dowries and being well-matched.  This is often the happiest time for the poor families in the capital who cannot afford the bride price, and it is also the happiest time for those who want to marry concubines!

    Therefore, over the years, when the palace chooses a concubine, it has always not shown any signs at first, but suddenly issued an order to stop marriages in the world, so as to select a concubine.

    This time, word got out that the eldest prince was to be selected as a concubine, so the capital was extremely busy, with people getting married everywhere. It was estimated that they could go through the process of accepting, asking for names, accepting, accepting, and applying for dates.  , very few people personally greet these six traditional rituals.

    Another thing that has become a topic of conversation is the current uproar caused by Shi Xing, Minister of the Ministry of War, causing trouble in the cabinet.  In the past few days, Shi Xing has been going to the cabinet to "report" basically every day, and every time he has to block the door of the room where the chief assistant Zhao Zhigao is on duty. He has to have a big quarrel, which makes the cabinet, especially the chief assistant Zhao Zhigao, abnormal.  passive.

    News came from the General Affairs Department and the Supervisor of Rites, and memorials for impeaching each other between Shi Xing and Zhao Zhigao appeared every day. They started fighting back and forth. Even local officials as far away as Jiubian heard about it and knew that  Shi Xing, the Minister of War, and Zhao Zhigao, the chief minister of the cabinet, got into a fight.  Most officials also knew about Shi Xing's "grand" plan and played a big game of chess, preparing to teach the arrogant Japanese country a lesson.

    In this regard, the DPRK was also divided into several factions. Those who supported Shi Xing's so-called plan to lure the snake out of the cave were clamoring for Japan to accept the canonization of the Ming Dynasty. They were considered wise; otherwise, if they dared to invade Korea a second time, they would be punished according to the Minister of War.  Master Shi said, destroy his main force and beat him to the point where he will not dare to cross the border again for hundreds of years!  Most of the people who supported it were military attaches and officials.

    There were those who supported it, and of course there were those who opposed it. Among them, the opposition from the Ministry of Household Affairs, where Shi Xing once served as minister, was the most intense.  Even some of the former Hubu officials who had respected him before were quite critical of Shi Xing's huge plan.  Without exception, the cabinet is firmly opposed to Shi Xing's plan. After all, they have to coordinate the overall situation. How can they fight without money?  And Shi Xing¡¯s plan is to burn money!

    In fact, Zhao Zhigao, the chief minister of the cabinet, and several other bachelors have also thought about using the palace's inner treasury. After all, everyone knows that the palace's inner transportation treasury has been saved by dozens of generations of emperors, and they have also saved a lot of money.  , although I don¡¯t know the exact number, but there should still be tens of millions of taels.

    Unfortunately, this money is nominally the private property of the emperor and is used for emergencies to cope with the kind of catastrophe that will subjugate the country and destroy the species!  What's more, Zhu Yijun has already spent millions of taels of silver in the past few years. The Korean War obviously did not reach the level of emergency use of the silver in the internal transportation warehouse.

    Therefore, the chief assistant Zhao Zhigao is so worried!  If someone else dares to challenge the cabinet like this, Zhao Zhigao has many options. The cabinet below the fourth rank can issue a document and directly send him out, or it is not impossible to simply find a reason to dismiss him.  Even if they are above the fourth rank, even if they are ministers or something like that, they can be removed or transferred away if they think of a way, but the person who makes the challenge is Shi Xing!  He was Shi Xing, who served as Minister of the Ministry of Works, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and currently serving as Minister of the Ministry of War!

    Not to mention that Shi Xing has served as an official in so many departments and has many disciples and former officials, but the constant wars nowadays have highlighted the power of the Minister of War.  In addition, because of Zhang Juzheng's lesson, the cabinet has not dared to be too authoritarian since then, and its power has been weakened a lot, which is also an important reason.  What's more, the chief minister of the cabinet, Zhao Zhigao, was over seventy years old. He was soft and cowardly, and was underestimated by the court officials. This was also the reason for the widespread criticism.

    Although Zhao Zhigao and Shi Xing impeached each other, and supporters from all sides were waving flags and shouting, and consistent memorials continued, Zhu Yijun did not express his position.  He neither issued an order to rebuke the cabinet nor punished Shi Xing, and allowed the situation to develop.

    In fact, Zhu Yijun was also in a dilemma. He ordered the cabinet to approve a series of plans of the Ministry of War, but??Have you got that much silver?  Do you want to spend the war emergency funds that were previously misappropriated from the Taipu Temple and the Nanjing treasury?  That's simply impossible!  What's more, this is inconsistent with his plan to wipe out the unstable tribes in Liaodong and then mobilize the troops from Liaodong to the DPRK.

    But if he disagrees with the Ministry of War's series of plans that have the same ultimate goal as his own, and issues an order to rebuke Shi Xing for his nonsense, then when the peace talks fail and the Japanese invade Korea for the second time, wouldn't it mean that Shi Xing has a long-term strategic vision, and he becomes a  A short-sighted clown?  That is unacceptable under any circumstances.  It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t expect the ending, how could I let others misunderstand me?

    So Zhu Yijun simply didn¡¯t express his opinion. If you want to argue, then argue. If you want to argue, argue. As long as it doesn¡¯t affect the normal operation of Ming Dynasty, feel free to make trouble as much as you like!  Anyway, it won't be long before the envoys who went to Japan to confer the title return. If the peace talks succeed, the quarrel will be meaningless; if the peace talks fail and Japan invades North Korea for the second time, you will automatically shut up by then.

    As for who will be responsible for Japan¡¯s second invasion of North Korea if the peace talks fail, it seems that Shi Xing is out of the question.  Now that everyone knows about his "big plan" and everyone is clamoring about the so-called Japanese invasion of North Korea for the second time, how can he be "taken as the scapegoat"?  In fact, there is no need to make people responsible for this. Even if North Korea knows that Shi Xing supports Shen Weijing's random promises to Japan, they should know something about the "plan" that Shi Xing has been clamoring for recently, right?  What else do they have to complain about?  This is to eliminate the main force of the Japanese country and eliminate the Japanese troubles that have existed for hundreds of years in both Korea and the Ming Dynasty coast. It is a matter of immeasurable merit!

    Even if this plan is to set the battlefield in North Korea and they are the biggest victims, they can only admit it with their noses pinched!  Without the Ming Dynasty, they would have perished long ago. Eliminating the Japanese invasion is probably what North Korea most urgently hopes to see.

    After Zhao Zhigao submitted several impeachment memorials to Shi Xing, it was like a stone sinking into the sea. Zhu Yijun did not express any opinions on how to deal with it. This made him, the chief minister of the cabinet, even more embarrassed and helpless.  Although he is the Young Master and Crown Prince Tutor, the Grand Bachelor of Jianji Palace, and is of the same first rank as the Prince Taibao of Shi Xing and the Minister of the Ministry of War, he is the chief minister of the cabinet, nominally the head of the hundred officials, and now he is considered a subordinate.  The Secretary of the Ministry of War challenged him, but he actually had no way to deal with him. This had to be said to be a huge blow to the prestige of the chief minister of his cabinet.

    However, fortunately, Zhu Changluo recently discovered that he had almost achieved his goal, so Shi Xing restrained himself a lot and no longer placed pain on the "poor" chief assistant for the sake of his goal.  Shi Xing now only goes to the cabinet once a day and no longer deliberately quarrels, so Zhao Zhigao and everyone in the cabinet can feel relieved.

    However, whether it was Zhao Zhigao or the other bachelors in the cabinet, they had already hated Shi Xing to death. It was Shi Xing's messy behavior that greatly reduced the prestige of the cabinet!  Shi Xing also became the most unpopular person in the cabinet.

    And Zhu Changluo has initially achieved his goal. Both Shi Xing and him, now that everyone knows the "big plan", know that Zhu Yijun's plan to make Shi Xing take the blame will not work.  This series of actions did not offend Zhu Yijun. After all, after this series of actions, even if North Korea or the country knew about Shen Weijing's promise, they would not say anything. This completely eliminated the hidden danger.

    Because of this life-saving matter, Shi Xing completely and sincerely stood by Zhu Changluo's side.  Zhu Changluo also had the support of a minister of the Ministry of War who held real power without the knowledge of everyone, including Zhu Yijun, which laid a solid foundation for his next plan!
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