The emperor has made up his mind about the affairs of the south, and the specific responsibility is Dongchang, and the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Economic Survey and Statistics Bureau are responsible for assisting. However, the question under discussion has not yet reached a final conclusion: whether or not to recover the eastern territories.

The emperor and the generals could only exchange opinions, and in the end it was the emperor and the cabinet that played a decisive role. So the next day the emperor convened a limited meeting of officials, called a hearing.

The people who attended the hearing were the cabinet and the seven ministers, which was a regular requirement for various major discussions, but this time it was unusual to include all the officers at the rank of lieutenant general and above in Beijing.

Since Tumubao, the military generals of the Ming Dynasty have been suppressed by civilian officials and have become subordinates of civilian officials. After Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne, he first let Lu Qin and Zhou Yuji Changjing camp, and later established the Guards Army to be managed by the emperor himself, which put an end to the previous bad habit of using literature and military power, and greatly improved the status of military generals. In particular, Lu Xiangsheng became a military general with the respect of Tanhua, and was also named the first general of the Ming Dynasty, which completely made Wenchen understand that the days when civil officials were like military generals are gone forever.

But even if the civilian officials no longer have the opportunity to directly command the military generals (Sun Chuanting cannot directly command them), the general trend of the Ming Dynasty is still what the civilian officials decide to do, and what the military will do in the future. Now that military generals can participate in the formulation of the country's basic policies, the trend of the juxtaposition of civil and military forces is irreversible.

Before the meeting, Zhu Youxiao said: "Today's discussion is whether the eastern territory mentioned earlier will be recovered. This matter is related to the country, so this meeting needs to be attended by military generals. In the future, it will be like this, and which departments are involved, these departments will participate in the meeting, and this is what I call a hearing. Everyone presents their evidence and then votes. ”

Fang Congzhe said: "Your Majesty, how is this vote decided?" The ministers were also very interested in this question, and they all looked at the emperor and answered.

Zhu Youxiao pondered for a long time and said: "After all parties state their reasons, we show our approval of a certain plan by raising our hands, and the plan of the party with the largest number of raised hands wins, and the plan is officially implemented." ”

Fang Congzhe thought for a while and said, "The minister thinks that after raising his hand like this, it will be up to His Majesty to make a decision. If His Majesty agrees, the matter may be carried out, and if His Majesty objects, the matter will be discussed at a later date. ”

Ye Xianggao, Xu Guangqi, Bi Ziyan, Sun Chuanting, Yang Lian and others said together: "The first assistant is high, and the ministers second. The first time the generals participated in such a meeting, everyone was a little curious and a little nervous, and only Lu Xiangsheng was humane: "The minister seconded the proposal." ”

After thinking about it for a while, Zhu Youxiao understood that this revision was indeed necessary. If, according to his own method, in the end a plan that he does not want to win out, for example, the majority of the people in this discussion do not agree to take back the city of Nuergan, then will he not agree not to take it back? After adding this article, he can disagree with the results of the ministers' discussions, which is tantamount to denying the ministers' non-retraction, which seems to be the emperor's decision.

And even better, this is not the case, if the ministers are unanimously against the recovery of the city of Nurkan, then there is no way to demand that the city of Nurkan must be recovered, because they can only deny the conclusions of the ministers, and cannot use the negative side of the conclusions of the ministers to implement them. In this way, the ministers are no longer echo worms, and they can have a certain way to confront the emperor.

He had been looking for a compromise that would allow the opinions of the ministers to play a role without greatly weakening the emperor's authority, and when he heard Fang Congzhe's words, he couldn't help but be very happy, this method can be implemented in many aspects, and it is really an excellent inspiration for the democratic system he wants to implement.

He laughed, "Since everyone thinks so, so be it." I may reject your conclusion, but I cannot implement what you oppose, and it will only be valid if we agree with it. ”

At this time, not only the civil officials, but also the military generals also reacted, and bowed together: "Your Majesty is sage, only Your Majesty can be powerful." ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "In the future, there will be a person to preside over the hearing, of course, it is not me, but I will appoint a civil minister or military general who is closely related to this matter, and this host can be called the chairman." This matter is mainly related to the military, and also involves civil affairs, so the chairman of this hearing is Sun Chuanting, the secretary of the military department. ”

Sun Chuanting came out of the ranks, and at this time, the eunuch moved Sun Chuanting's seat to the right under the steps of the emperor's dragon chair, at a forty-five degree angle to the dragon chair and the ministers' seats. Sun Chuanting first bowed to the emperor and saluted: "Obey the holy decree." Then he said to the following colleagues: "By the Holy Decree, Sun Chuanting, the secretary of the Ministry of War, presided over this hearing. Unless designated by the person, the rest of the people are not allowed to speak, and others cannot be interrupted during the speech, if there is a violation, it will be regarded as a failure of honor in front of the king, and the deduction of one month will be deducted. ”

The ministers returned the salute, and Sun Chuanting sat on his seat and said, "First of all, please ask Lieutenant General Yan Siqi, the governor of the East China Sea, to tell him about the process of going to Nuergan City." ”

After Yan Siqi finished speaking, Sun Chuanting said: "Civilian, military generals, if there is anything you want to ask Yan Dudu, you can raise your hand and ask questions with my permission." ”

Yang Lian said: "Yan Dudu, can you grow rice in Nuergan City?" ”

Sun Chuanting said: "Yang Shangshu spoke without permission, let alone permission, and should be deducted for one month according to the regulations." ”

Yang Lian smiled bitterly, he was only concerned about figuring out what he was most concerned about, but he didn't hear the rules that Sun Chuanting just said. Zhu Youxiao interjected at this time: "Sun Qing, the restraints are unclear, the order is not familiar, and the crime is not related to Yang Shangshu." This sentence is very interesting, because this was originally said by Sun Wu, and Sun Chuanting happened to be surnamed Sun, so many ministers who understood it laughed.

Sun Chuanting's face was slightly red and said: "The minister's failure to give orders is the minister's fault." Colleagues, if you say it again, you must first raise your hand and ask questions, and then you can ask questions with your consent...... The emperor said that important things have been said three times, and the court has already said it four times, and if there are any more people who do not abide by the rules, they will really have to be deducted. ”

Yang Lian raised his hand again, and Sun Chuanting said, "Yang Shangshu, please speak." ”

Yang Lian said: "Yan Dudu, can Nuergancheng grow rice?" ”

Yan Siqi said: "You can grow rice or wheat. And there is a large amount of flat land around it, with sufficient water sources, and a little reclamation is fertile land. The locals mainly live by fishing and hunting, and these flatlands have become the most useless places. ”

Yang Lian asked again: "So can you turn the locals into farmers who farm the land?" ”

Yan Siqi thought for a while and said, "As long as you lure it to your advantage, it should be okay." In fact, he still wanted to say that he was coerced by force, but he knew that civil officials didn't like such words, so he only said that he would induce him to take advantage.