Song Yingchang and Xing Jue on the side didn't seem to completely agree with the remarks of their bosses, but because of their identities, they forcibly held back the conversation; The four adults in the cabinet did not react when they heard Shi Shangshu's argument, and they all practiced "closed-mouth meditation"; And Zhong Nanguan was soft-spoken, and he didn't understand the emperor's intention to let him attend the talks, so it was even more difficult to speak at this time. The emperor who sat at the top seemed to be surprised by this kind of scene, and he was equally silent, and slowly, the atmosphere in the imperial study became strange.

The four auxiliary ministers are all old men in their fifties and sixties, and they are really good at qi cultivation, and they look at their noses and hearts with their eyes and noses, and their expressions are calm. Shi Shangshu is an eight-sided and exquisite character, and when he sees this situation, he also looks like an old god is there. The two waiters on the side seemed to have something to say, but they tried to endure it, and they were so cold for several minutes, and finally Song Yingchang couldn't help it and took the lead to speak, "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that it is difficult for the Mongols to give up, so it may be possible to negotiate peace...... There may be something wrong. ”

"Oh," the Emperor glanced at Shi Xing and continued, "What is Song Shilang's opinion?" ”

In the imperial study, the courtiers were divided into left and right according to civil and military affairs, and they were ranked according to their ranks, and everyone had to stand up to show respect when they spoke. This time, after Song Yingchang got up, he took two steps forward to face the emperor, and said: "Weichen thinks that it should be dealt with in advance, Jizhou and Xuanda are ready to go to war at any time, and the imperial court must also prepare money, grain and various wartime materials." ”

He knew that the treasury at this time was abundant or not, and he might have to ask the household department to pay for food, so he no longer remained silent, frowned and said: "Now the treasury is not full, and the two major battles in Ningxia and North Korea have cost countless people, if you go to war with the Mongols again, I am afraid it will be difficult to have enough money and food." ”

Of the nine people present, eight people except Zhong Nan knew that although Xu Gelao's words were watery, they were not untrue, but everyone's reaction was different. Shen Shixing, Xu Guo, and Wang Xijue all belong to Nanzhili, which can be regarded as fellow villagers, and the relationship is extremely close on weekdays. Wang Jiaping maintained a neutral attitude on the grounds that he did not know the war.

Shi Xing was the main peace faction during the war to aid Korea, although he himself was a secretary of the military department, but he often advocated peace during the war, this time it was still the main peace without exception, and Xu Guo's words gave him more reasons for peace talks. It's just that Shi Shangshu's two deputies don't seem to buy the account of the top boss, first Song Yingchang advocated the war, and now the waiter Xing Jue also expressed the intention of the main battle, Xing Shilang said: "Weichen thinks that even if the treasury is poor, when the foreign enemy invades our China, he can't be afraid of war, not to mention that it is autumn now, and the grain collected by the imperial court has also been put into the warehouse one after another, so the material should be safe." ”

At this time, the formation was obvious, Shen Shixing, Xu Guo, Wang Xijue and Shi Xing advocated that peace was precious, Song Yingchang and Xing Jue advocated teaching the Mongols a lesson, and Wang Jiaping remained neutral. As for Zhong Nan, who was also in the imperial study, he did not express his position, and the bigwigs also automatically filtered the opinions of the deputy commander-in-chief of Jizhou, and they looked at the person on the main throne together, because only the emperor was the one who finally decided to fight and make peace. Unexpectedly, Emperor Wanli at this time looked calm, and his eyes were also looking straight ahead, so that the bigwigs couldn't figure out his true thoughts.

In ancient times, it was not easy to be an official, especially the big officials who often accompanied the emperor, they had to figure out their intentions, except for those very few people who were in power, most of the rest had developed the habit of guessing the emperor's thoughts. It is said that during the Jiajing period, because the emperor practiced immortal arts all day long and often did not speak, when he made decisions, he used the size, length and rhythm of the sound of striking jade as the standard, and how to distinguish the meaning of each of his percussions became the primary task of the ministers and personal eunuchs. Of course, this special circumstance is extremely rare, and its authenticity is also up for debate, but this can show that it is not easy to be a minister under the monarchy system.

Emperor Wanli didn't speak, no one below dared to urge, and several adults who were familiar with his temperament thought that Zhu Yijun would let this kind of scene last for more than ten minutes, but this time the emperor greatly surprised them - without waiting for a minute, Zhu Yijun opened his mouth, "Zhong Aiqing, I don't know if you have any suggestions?" ”

Zhong Nan really didn't expect the emperor to let him express his views at this time, and the bigwigs also showed surprised expressions, Zhong Nan didn't know the emperor's intentions, so he could only get up and say: "Your Majesty, the last general is shallow, I'm afraid it will make you laugh." ”

"Aiqing doesn't have to be presumptuous," Emperor Wanli smiled, and then pointed at Zhong Nan Zhengse and said: "I am not a nepotistic faint monarch, I know that you have a deep understanding of the border situation, and I am not here to let you watch from the sidelines, I want to hear your true thoughts!" ”

Zhong Nan was a staunch main battle faction, he sorted out his thoughts a little, and then said: "Your Majesty, my lords, I don't know how much you know about the Mongols? ”

"It's just a bunch of barbarians!" Shi Shangshu replied disdainfully, and although the rest of the adults didn't understand why Zhong Nan had this question, they all agreed with Shi Shangshu's evaluation of the Mongols.

Zhong Nan didn't say anything, he said in a deep voice: "Mongolia is a nomadic people, they have no fixed residence, they live by grass, so they never farm, and they don't work, so where does the food they eat come from?" ”

Without waiting for everyone to answer, Zhong Nan asked himself, "There is no way to feed the Mongols just by relying on the little grain obtained from border trade, so except for the less winter, they will come to 'Grass Valley' in other seasons, because the winter is too cold." Every time I come, there are dozens of people and hundreds of people, burning, killing and looting, doing all kinds of evil, but this still can't meet their needs, what should I do? This requires a larger-scale 'grass valley' operation, and it is no longer the ordinary people on the border who are robbed, but the country of my Ming Dynasty! ”

The last sentence stunned everyone, it was a matter of Jiangshan Sheji, and no one dared to say it lightly. After a long while, Wang Jiaping, who had always been neutral before, asked tremblingly: "Is Deputy Chief Zhong exaggerating?" ”

"I'm telling you the truth," Zhong Nan responded, "Your Excellency, think about it, in addition to grain, silk, tea, ceramics, etc., which of them Mongolians can produce by themselves?" All of these supplies are not up to us. Counting the previous dynasties, which time the peace was not to give the Mongols money and grain, livestock and all kinds of materials, once they were exhausted, it was another round of southern invasion, and the cycle began, the later it was, the greater the appetite of the Mongols, and in the end it was not the Zhao Song Dynasty! ”

Zhong Nan took a breath and saw that the bigwigs did not speak out against it, so he continued his speech, "So in the opinion of the last general, if the Mongols really dare to invade the south, we should ruthlessly clean them up and beat them down, only when they are scared, they will not easily have the idea of going south." Your Excellency is right, the Mongols are a bunch of uncivilized barbarians, and fists and firecrackers are the most convincing against such people! ”

After listening to Zhong Nan's words, Song Yingchang, who was already in the main battle, applauded, "What Deputy Chief Zhong said is extremely true!" ”

Xing Jue, who was also the main battle, also agreed, and even the auxiliary minister Wang Jiaping also changed his previous neutral position, but Shi Xing still had doubts: "Although what Deputy General Zhong said is reasonable, it is not certain that the Mongols will go south at the moment, everything is just speculation." ”

Xu Guo also said: "Yes, it costs a lot of silver taels to prepare for the war, if it is just a false alarm in the end, it is not a waste!" ”

Zhong Nan knew that Xu Guo was not really against the use of force against the Mongols, and that the elder of the pavilion was only worried about affecting the already poor treasury, so he thought about it and said: "In fact, the most important thing at present is to raise the vigilance of the front line and really investigate the movements of the Mongols. As for the preparation of wartime materials, Xu Ge Lao may also wish to prepare in advance as appropriate, because in the opinion of the last general, there will be a big battle with Mongolia sooner or later, but it is only a matter of time sooner or later. What's more, the Japanese state is also eyeing our Ming Dynasty, and maybe it will make a comeback one day, so the wartime materials prepared will not be wasted. ”

Xu Guo is not pedantic, as the second assistant of the cabinet, he still has the ability and vision, and he couldn't help nodding after listening to Zhong Nan's words, and then said a few words to Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue. In this way, only Shi Shangshu needed to persuade the ministers present, and the discussion was about the war, and the opinion of the head of the military department was even more important.

Zhong Nan was thinking about how to impress this stubborn lord and faction, but he didn't want Shi Xing to take the lead in asking, "I don't know what Deputy General Zhong thinks of the strength of the Mongolian army?" ”

As soon as Zhong Nan heard the other party's question, he knew what the old man was worried about, and he replied with a straight face: "The most powerful thing about the Mongols is their cavalry, which is also the strength of the previous dynasty's army to fight to the west. ”

"It seems that Deputy General Zhong is also very aware of the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian iron cavalry, as far as I know, if there is a head-on conflict, my Ming cavalry may ......... I'm afraid it's hard to get the upper hand. Shi Xing didn't wait for Zhong Nan to continue, and continued the conversation, but when he said the last sentence, he was afraid that the emperor would be dissatisfied, so he added: "I am not belittling the combat power of the Ming army, but the combat power of the Mongolian iron cavalry is strong, I believe that the emperor and you have heard of it, and you should know that this is indeed the case." ”

Zhong Nan smiled and said: "I don't deny the strength of the Mongolian cavalry, but now it's the * era, and the guns and guns of my Ming army are not vegetarians, and no matter how powerful the iron cavalry is, they will only be defeated in the face of powerful artillery fire!" ”

"What hubris!" Shi Xing criticized sharply.