Huang Liji walked quickly into the main hall from the entrance of the corridor, and his agility surpassed that of Wang Chengen behind him, but it can also be seen how anxious he is at this moment.

Without waiting for Chongzhen to order the seat, Huang Liji had already hurriedly saluted and said, "Your Majesty, you asked the general manager of the king to transfer the information to the minister, and the minister has already read it." The minister is in such a hurry to see you, just want to ask Your Majesty in person, is it really necessary to fight this battle? ”

Zhu Youzhen motioned to Wang Chengen to move a chair for Huang Liji, and said with a smile: "Sir, this slap can't be slapped, if it weren't for the problems in Houjin, in fact, I don't want to start a war in Houjin at this time."

Now there are so many important things that I urgently need to deal with within the Ming Dynasty, and Shaanxi wants to appease the displaced people; Shanxi should control the illegal gentry who lured the displaced people of Shaanxi into the mountains to open mines or go out of the customs to reclaim; The Jiangnan region should solve the problems of social security and tax arrears; Although the rebellion in the southwest has been quelled, the aftermath must still be handled cautiously, otherwise after the official army leaves, the people and mountain people there may raise the banner of rebellion again; The water conservancy management in the south has just begun, didn't I just receive the plan for the straightening of the Yangtze River in the Jingzhou section that my husband approved?

In my opinion, each of the above matters is much more important than the war with Houjin, so how could I want to fight Houjin? However, Sun Tzu said: Soldiers, the major affairs of the country, the place of death and life, and the way of survival, must not be ignored. Although I don't want war, as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, I have to keep the Ming ready for war.

Because, whether the enemy dares to start a war against us is not because of how rich and powerful the Ming is, but because of how prepared we are for war. So, sir, whether or not we want to go to war with Houjin depends not on me or Huang Taiji, but on whether I and he both believe that the interests of keeping the peace outweigh the interests of the two countries in going to war. ”

Huang Liji thought about the meaning of Chongzhen's words, and finally put down half of the heart he had just raised. As the first chief assistant to promote the reform of the responsibility system of the Ming cabinet, he was still a little complacent at first, and no official would not like to have more power in his hands, and reduce the constraints from the inner court as much as possible.

He achieved all the pursuits of the Ming civil officials for more than 200 years, as Chongzhen mentioned when he persuaded him to reform, no matter whether this reform can succeed in the end or not, his name will eventually leave a heavy mark in history.

"Zuo Chuan: Twenty-four Years of Xianggong" said: "The leopard heard it, 'there is virtue in the Tai, followed by meritorious service, followed by speech', although it has not been abandoned for a long time, this is called three immortals." The ministers of the past generations have all longed to obtain these three immortals, so that their fame can be passed on to future generations.

However, Huang Liji also knew that he had no fate with these three immortals in this life, until he listened to Chongzhen's temptation and promoted the implementation of the cabinet responsibility system. With the slow improvement of the domestic situation in the Ming Dynasty, Huang Liji suddenly felt that his current actions might be able to rely on the immortality of meritorious service.

It is precisely because of such a little hope that Huang Liji is still very enthusiastic about the work at hand. However, for the Ming Dynasty that is about to slide to the bottom of history, there are some things that enthusiasm alone is not enough. And Huang Liji's talent is not as much as Zhang Jiangling, if it weren't for the emperor's strong support, he estimated that he would have been overturned by those clear streams.

In several critical seasons, if Chongzhen hadn't personally suppressed and divided the forces of the old Donglin Party and Qingliu, Huang Liji would not even be able to maintain the balance in the court. Although the current cabinet responsibility system has passed the most unstable period in the early stage of reform, the pressure brought by the cabinet responsibility system also makes Huang Liji often feel powerless.

After all, before the reform, the cabinet was nothing more than a staff body used by the emperor to formulate his will, and although in the history of the cabinet for more than 200 years, civil officials have stolen a lot of executive power, but this stolen power has not been regulated in writing, and it looks more like a convention.

And the power of the celebrant to approve the red greatly shares the responsibility for the civil servants of the cabinet. Therefore, if the cabinet ministers were such outstanding civil officials as Yan Song, Xu Jie, and Zhang Jiangling, they could unite with the celebrant eunuchs and exercise the power of almost a prime minister with the acquiescence of the emperor.

But if his own ability is not outstanding enough, and he has no desire for power, and he just walks to the position of the head of the cabinet according to seniority, then he can be a subordinate to the emperor. At this time, if there was any wrong policy in the imperial court, then it was the emperor himself who would be scolded.

However, after the reform of the cabinet responsibility system, if there is any problem with the policy issued by the imperial court, public opinion will be very clear to Huang Liji, the first assistant, and it will be difficult for him to put the responsibility for the policy mistake on the master of ceremonies or the emperor.

If he served the Wanli Emperor, with this emperor's troubled personality, his life would not be as difficult as it is now. Chongzhen's personality is obviously very different from his grandfather's, and he always has endless ideas in his head.

In the court, he promoted political reforms, in the social atmosphere he criticized the exquisite and extravagant daily life advocated by the southern gentry and literati, in education he adhered to Mencius's people-oriented thoughts, and in academics he advocated the application of what he had learned, and praised Zhang Heng, monk Daoyan and others. The encouragement of industry and commerce has led to the emergence of many new things and problems in the area.

This made Huang Liji not only have to keep an eye on the officials and gentry who opposed the New Deal, but also pay attention to whether the new problems that emerged in the market would have a bad impact on society. This feeling of walking on a single-plank bridge every day made Huang Liji really feel a little haggard.

And just as he was struggling to maintain the operation of the state apparatus of the Ming Dynasty, the news suddenly came that he might fight against the Houjin this year, which was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, so he hurried to ask for a meeting with the emperor.

Hearing that Chongzhen didn't seem to have much interest in the war, it certainly reassured him, but he still asked with some doubts: "Houjin Khan has just disposed of Erbeile Amin, shouldn't he stay in Shenyang City to prevent and eliminate those loyal subordinates of Amin, so as to consolidate his mastery of Houjin?" Why is His Majesty so sure that Houjin Khan can't wait to start a war? ”

After Zhu Youzhen told Huang Liji about his and the judgment of the General Staff, he finally said unsatisfied: "Mr. guesses that Houjin will stick to it, which is based on the historical experience of our Central Plains Dynasty, but the Jurchens are Hu people after all, and they worship strong and powerful monarchs even more. What's more, Huang Taiji is not a mediocre person, he will definitely choose a foreign war to eliminate the division within Houjin, so as to prevent a complete rupture between the Eight Banners. ”

Huang Liji was silent for a long time before he looked at Chongzhen and asked nervously, "Then what is the countermeasure discussed by the General Staff and His Majesty?" Is there no choice but to fight? ”

Huang Liji's attitude is obviously the attitude of most civilian officials, and it is obvious that most of the officials in the court do not want to fight with Houjin. However, now that the General Staff has been established, the interference of these officials in combat preparations has been minimized, so they have to dissuade themselves through the Cabinet instead of fighting the officials of the main battle faction first, as they did in the past.

While thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen said: "The suggestions put forward by the General Staff are all related to the war, and the mainstream opinion is to strengthen the defense of Dongjiang Town, Jinzhou-Lushun Garrison Area, and Liaoxi-Jizhou Defense Zone, so as to wait for the Jin army to attack.

Of course, there are also people who believe that instead of scattering resources and troops on the three border areas isolated by mountains and seas and waiting for the Houjin to attack, it is better to strike preemptively and assume an offensive posture in Liaoxi Town, forcing the Houjin army to have no time to take care of it, which can save resources..."

After listening to the two opinions of the General Staff, Huang Liji found that there was no one that suited his heart, and whether it was a scattered defense or a key offensive, it was obvious that a large amount of resources would have to be withdrawn, and the cabinet under his leadership would be anxious about it.

After lowering his head and comparing for a long time, Huang Liji finally looked at Chongzhen with anticipation and asked, "Then what does Your Majesty think of these two opinions?" ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while, and then cautiously said to Huang Liji: "If you don't consider other factors, I think that if you scatter resources and troops in three border areas that are not connected to each other, when the Houjin concentrates forces to attack one place in a short period of time, not only will it be difficult for our side to support each other, but it may lead to insufficient troops and resources due to the division of troops, and will eventually be taken advantage of by the Houjin army."

And if we take the initiative to attack, we have just carried out a rebellion in Liaoxi Town this year, and many Liaoxi generals and local bigwigs are dissatisfied because they have been suppressed by the imperial court, and some even simply defect to Houjin. Now the soldiers of Liaoxi are not fully committed to the imperial court, and it is okay to defend their homeland, if they are forced to attack Houjin, I will have to worry about whether the defeat of Guangning will be repeated. ”

Hearing the emperor's mind and himself, Huang Liji suddenly perked up and continued to ask: "Then does Your Majesty have any other ideas?" ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "I didn't have it before, but now, I have a vague idea." I thought that although Huang Taiji wanted to strengthen his position with a military victory, with the example of last year's defeat, he would definitely act more cautiously and not fight another war with no hope of victory.

Therefore, if you want to curb Houjin from launching a war, you must do two things, one is to make Houjin feel that it is unprofitable to provoke a war, and even have to lose something. Therefore, I want to make Dongjiang Town and Jinzhou-Lushun garrison area ready for winter defense, and after the autumn harvest, a military exercise will be held in Jizhou and Liaoxi to warn Houjin that our side is ready for war. ”

Huang Liji's eyes suddenly lit up and asked, "What about the second point?" ”

Zhu Youzhen hesitated for a long time before whispering: "Is this the second?" Huang Taiji wanted to start a war, in addition to wanting to make up for the division between the Eight Banners. Another purpose is nothing more than to loot supplies and people from us in order to buy the hearts and minds of the people in the country. Therefore, I intend to send people to reach a trade agreement with Houjin to meet the needs of some of Houjin's people on the premise that both sides can accept it, so as to dispel their support for Huang Taiji to start a war. ”

Huang Liji was a little surprised by Chongzhen's answer, he was silent for a long time before he flinched and said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this matter is not very easy to handle." It is estimated that no one in the DPRK and China is willing to take on this task, and even if someone is willing to take on it, once the contents of the agreement are leaked, I am afraid that there will be an uproar in the outside world. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "What Mr. said is good, so I don't plan to send officials there, since it is a trade agreement, it is natural to select a few businessmen to negotiate." Even if something goes wrong, it has nothing to do with the imperial court. ”

Huang Liji, who was still racking his brains to think of a workaround, suddenly looked at Chongzhen with some strange eyes and said: "Let's send some businessmen to talk, will the Houjin side recognize them as representatives of my Ming court?" ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a while before he said: "Of course ordinary businessmen can't, so I plan to let Tian Hongyu bring someone there, although he is just a businessman, but after all, he is my father-in-law, and Houjin can't find anything wrong with his identity..."