In Lu Jin's view, many of the many problems in the Ming Dynasty since the middle of the Ming Dynasty were caused by the sea ban. For example, the Japanese invaders are in trouble in the southeast, such as a large number of land annexations, in the final analysis, they are inseparable from it. Therefore, if he wants to prevent the imperial court from going back to the old way, he must think of ways to break this sea ban.

It's just that it's not easy to break the ban that has been in place for nearly a hundred years, because this rule was set by Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, which is the real ancestral family law, and it's not something that he can change casually as a small three-grade squire.

Not to mention him, even the current emperor, even if he has the intention to open the sea ban, he is bound to encounter great resistance. Only Emperor Taizong Yongle, because he forcibly seized the world, was able to send cronies like Zheng He to the sea several times at will, and changed the emperor, but he was already dissuaded by the Manchu courtiers.

However, it is man-made, in Lu Jin's view, now is a great opportunity to break the rules, as long as you can get the approval of the Son of Heaven and a little guidance, maybe you can really make this come true.

On the one hand, he has this confidence because the emperor and most of the courtiers are newcomers, so that there will be fewer outdated ideas. Moreover, at this time, the courtiers had not yet completely formed their own factions, and it was difficult for them to work together in many matters, as long as they handled them properly, they could be convinced.

Second, he knew that Zhu Qiyu still trusted him. As long as he can come up with some empirical evidence to show that opening the sea is very beneficial to Da Ming, it is not too difficult to convince the emperor to support him.

The third and most important point is that Lu Zhen knows that the imperial court is now overstretched with silver, and there is not much left.

Previously, for the sake of the Northern Expedition to the Mongols, Zhu Qizhen had scattered most of the silver in the treasury, otherwise he would not be able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops to go out with him. Then, after the defeat of Tumubao, both soldiers and officials, as long as they died, the imperial court had to allocate pension money, which was a huge expense.

And the subsequent defense of Beijing made the imperial court very rich, especially in the final victory, in order to reward the heroes, the emperor almost emptied the treasury. Therefore, now almost all the treasury of the Ming Dynasty can be used to run horses, and once something really happens, the court can only stare dryly.

The shortage of silver will inevitably make the Manchu monarchs and ministers feel uneasy, so as long as he finds an opportunity to propose to obtain silver to enrich the treasury by opening the sea ban, he must not have too fierce opposition to it today and those officials in the DPRK and China.

Now Lu Zhen is just looking for a suitable opportunity to say this in public. It's just that before he could figure out what to do, he was impeached by those Yanguan Yushi with amazing combat effectiveness, so he had no choice but to hold it down for the time being and wait for the limelight to pass.

It took almost ten days to hibernate for more than ten days, and the time had reached the end of March, and it was quietly the twilight of spring, when a matter of embarrassment came to everyone's door.

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At noon on March 28, after dealing with the matter at hand, Lu Zhen felt a burst of hunger in his stomach, so he walked out of the public house and called Lin Lie, who was waiting outside, to prepare for the two of them to go to a restaurant two blocks away for a good meal.

Of course, Lin Lie would not object to this proposal, so he strolled out of the yamen with Lu Jin, and after saying hello to several officials in the military department, they walked on the relatively idle street.

Because this street leads directly to the imperial palace, and there are many important places such as the six yamen on the side, except for the relevant officials and their servants, there are indeed few people walking around at will, and it is much quieter than the other streets and alleys in the capital.

Because of this, pedestrians on the street are also clear at a glance. Lu Zhen had only walked a few steps before his eyes were attracted by the group of people in front of him. I saw that the person leading the way was a handsome green-robed official, and he recognized this as a young secretary of Honglu Temple at a glance. Behind him, there were four stubby men with arrogant expressions and meaty faces, and just by looking at their faces, you can know their identities - they are actually from the Northland!

Seeing this, not only Lu Jin, but also the surrounding pedestrians, as well as Lin Lie, also showed strange expressions. That war had just ended, and when the Ming and Mongolian sides were hostile, these Mongolians actually dared to run to the capital of my Ming Dynasty.

muttering in his heart, Lu Zhen gave Lin Lie a look, and the latter immediately understood, and when the two sides passed by, he stretched out his hand and pulled a small official at the back of the other team, asking him about the intentions of these people.

Because they didn't even wear official uniforms when they came out, the little official was quite impatient at first. It wasn't until Lin Lie revealed Lu Jin's identity that the attitude of this little official changed one hundred and eighty degrees, and then he whispered something to Lin Lie.

After a long time, Lin Lie came to Lu Zhen with a face full of indignation and explained the matter: "My lord, these Tartars are here to extort from the imperial court. ”

"Blackmail?" Lu Zhen was slightly stunned, and then thought of something.

And Lin Lie also followed closely and said, "Isn't our Emperor Taishang still in the hands of the Tartars?" This is the idea they played, hoping that the imperial court can pay three million taels of silver to redeem the Emperor Taishang. These people came to the capital as envoys to talk about this matter, which is really unreasonable! ”

It's no wonder that Lin Lie felt angry, these practices are no different from ordinary kidnappers. And they are even bolder enough to dare to send people to the capital of the Ming Dynasty to carry out extortion, which is clearly not to take the Ming court seriously.

And after Lu Zhen frowned slightly, he regained his composure, and muttered softly in his mouth: "Three million taels of silver, they really dare to open their mouths." ”

"Who's to say it isn't? Now the officials who received them in Honglu Temple are also extremely dissatisfied with them, but because of the reputation of our court, they can only treat each other with courtesy, otherwise they will ......" Lin Lie nodded, obviously the little official also expressed what he thought.

"But since the Emperor Taishang is in their hands, of course everything has to be decided by them. It's just that they can make an offer, but it's not up to them to decide what we do. After Lu Jin said this, his heart moved again, this may be the opportunity he has been waiting for!

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The Mongolian people really acted like their character, which was quite straightforward. Within two days of coming to the capital, they had already proposed to Honglu Temple several times to meet the great tomorrow, and proposed to him in person to exchange the silver for Zhu Qizhen.

After two days of delay, the officials of Honglu Temple finally couldn't resist the pressure. Because these bold Mongols have already spoken out, if the court does not give them an answer, they will go all over the city to publicize it!

In the face of these scoundrel acts, the people of Honglu Temple had no choice but to report to the Ministry of Rites, and finally spread the news to the palace.

When Zhu Qiyu learned that the other party offered such a high price, he was also shocked. He remembered very well that when he was fighting with the Mongolian people before, they only proposed 300,000 taels of ransom, how could it be that it had increased tenfold in just a few months.

But when it comes to anger, things still have to be resolved. Zhu Qiyu is still extremely concerned about the imperial brother who is here, and he also hopes to take him back so that he will not suffer in the north. And this is also related to the face of the court and himself, otherwise the matter will spread out, who knows what the people will say.

Therefore, when he couldn't come up with any ideas, he naturally had to summon all the important ministers of the court and the central government to the palace to discuss how to deal with the current problems.

After hearing this, Shi Heng, as a general, immediately flashed forward and said, "Your Majesty, this matter must not be agreed. Not to mention that the imperial court couldn't take out so much silver for a while, even if it could really take it out, it would definitely not be coerced by this. As far as the minister knows, those kidnappers are insatiable, and even if they do give money, they may not be willing to release the hostages back, not to mention that they still control our emperor. ”

The minister seconded. Your Majesty, this wind will not last, and I have never been so threatened by the enemy. None of us flinched when the city of Beijing was surrounded by 100,000 Tartars that day, let alone today! ”

"The minister also seconded it!" Suddenly, a number of officials came forward to take a stand, and they all opposed the coercion of the blinds.

But then, a few more mature officials put forward different opinions: "That being said, the Emperor Taishang is His Majesty's brother after all, if we refuse to pay to save people, I'm afraid it won't be in line with etiquette." Besides, this matter can still be discussed slowly, although they ask for a very high price, we can still lower the price. ”

"Yes, let the Emperor Taishang suffer all the time in the north, even Your Majesty must be unbearable, if you can save him back to the capital as soon as possible, it is always good."

Lu Zhen looked down at these people who spoke, they were all people who had held important positions in the court before, obviously their loyalty to Zhu Qizhen was still there, but I don't know if Zhu Qiyu was aware of this, and what he felt in his heart.

In fact, Zhu Qiyu really noticed something, and he felt bad for a while. He has been the son of heaven for half a year, and he also led everyone to repel strong enemies and hold Beijing. I thought that I had been recognized by the Manchu courtiers, but now it seems that things are far from being as good as I thought.

At this moment, his heart was unconsciously shaken, should he really think about saving the imperial brother?

Half a year can change many things, many people. For example, Zhu Qiyu, he has changed from an idle prince who had no interest in the throne to an emperor who has a certain greed for imperial power. In front of this most honorable position in the world, any brotherly affection can actually be ignored.

Of course, all this is just a flash of thought in his heart, at least Zhu Qiyu is not ruthless enough to be disregarding the throne, or even sacrificing his brother's life.