After retiring from the court, several scholars in the cabinet returned to the office one after another, which was a side hall of the outer court, which was called Zhongshutang, that is, the cabinet.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a formal Chinese study hall, which was specially used for the prime ministers to discuss government affairs and dinners, and the emperor had to give the imperial banquet to the prime ministers at noon every day, which was equivalent to a working meal.

The cabinet of the Ming Dynasty was far less majestic and extravagant than that of the Tang Dynasty, but compared with the Qing Dynasty, it was still extravagant.

The desks and chairs in the palace are all of the royal level, which is similar to the one given to him, which can also be said to have enjoyed the treatment of a cabinet scholar in advance.

Xu Jie was the first to return to the cabinet, he was a scholar of the palm seal university, and he had to sit here to handle government affairs, although the power had already been transferred to Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, this façade still had to be held.

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng walked in one after another, and the last one to walk in was another university scholar, Li Chunfang, who was a person from Xu Jie, and he was also very low-key in the cabinet, and he was unwilling to have a dispute with Gao Gong Zhang Juzheng.

After a few people came in, they all walked to their tables and sat down, and each of their servants brought tea, and all the items here were given by the emperor, and there was no difference from the emperor's own use.

Xu Jie first looked at the Di newspaper, then read two official documents, picked up the pen and commented on something.

Gao Gong snorted coldly with his nose, and said in his heart: The person who has already rolled up the cover and is about to leave, what else is there to pretend, what do you need to give instructions?

Zhang Juzheng pretended not to see it, and also read a file with him.

Li Chunfang looked at a few people and felt that the atmosphere was wrong, but he couldn't turn around and leave, then he was so sorry for Xu Xiang, he was pulled into the cabinet by Xu Xiang, so he had to pretend.

It's funny to say, in fact, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were both pulled in by Xu Jie, but these two people were not grateful to him at all, thinking that they were destined to enter the cabinet.

Xu Jie doesn't want to do this kind of thankless thing, but he has to do it, he can't help it, the harm of doing it is always less than not doing it, it can only be said that the lesser of two evils is the lesser of two evils.

Gao Gong turned his head to Zhang Juzheng and said, "Taiyue, how about relaxing the terms of the peace agreement with the Tatars?" I think it would be okay to be a little more lenient with those remnants of the White Lotus Sect, as long as they don't continue to help King Altan do evil. ”

Zhang Juzheng raised his head and thought about it, and said firmly: "I will never give in on this matter, if the Tatars want to negotiate peace, there is no problem if they want to exchange markets, the prerequisite is to bring the heads of Zhao Quan and others, as long as they can do this, they can immediately reach peace terms, and even make profits in the mutual market." ”

Gao Gong smiled bitterly: "If you insist on the heads of Zhao Quan and others, I estimate that it will be impossible to negotiate peace, and those people in the main hall proposed to relax the terms, although they all have ulterior motives, but one thing is still right, negotiating peace is a matter of mutual benefit, and attacking each other is a lose-lose situation." Taifu Temple occupies too much silver to buy horses every year, and it is also related to the fact that the funds in various places follow this closely. ”

Zhang Juzheng said: "I don't know this, but as long as Zhao Quan and others are by the side of the king of Alda, negotiating peace is just a means of deception, once they buy enough materials, it is inevitable to start a war again, rather than this, it is better to keep it as it is, although we spend several times more silver to buy horses, Tatars spend more silver for various materials, our finances are tight, and their silver is more scarce than ours, as long as we hold on, consume it with them, and when they can't stand it, the heads of Zhao Quan and others are not so important." ”

Gao Gong sighed, he wanted to persuade Zhang Juzheng to let the people of the White Lotus Sect go, and it was best to reach a peace agreement within the year, so that not only could the border pass be relieved, but also a lot of manpower and material resources could be saved for coastal warfare, so that the matter of lifting the sea ban at the end of the year would be more certain.

He believes that the opening of the sea ban and the establishment of open ports are the most important, which can alleviate the silver shortage to the greatest extent and is equivalent to a blood transfusion for the country's economy.

However, he knows Zhang Juzheng and has a strong personality, as long as he believes in something, he basically can't persuade him to change his mind. The emperor now also felt that the coast was more important and was inclined to negotiate peace with the Tatars, but Zhang Juzheng resolutely disagreed, and the emperor had no idea.

Previously, at the court meeting, the emperor directly expressed his attitude, that is, he unconditionally supported Zhang Juzheng's opinion.

Of course, Gao Gong also hopes that Zhang Juzheng's plan can be realized, but in this case, the coastal area will be too tight, and the provinces are guarding their own one-third of an acre, and it is basically impossible to let them fight together, so it will leave some loopholes for the pirates to exploit.

Gao Gong's idea was to alleviate the situation at the border passes, and then send a large number of troops to fight along the coast, first, to drive the pirates and pirates into the sea, and then to stay in Fujian to protect the open ports.

He still didn't dare to imagine that he would be able to hold a city for a long time with 20,000 men and horses, and even if he could hold it for a while, the port would actually become a dead port, and the policy of opening up the sea ban would fail.

"Didn't I hear that Yunming was going to Saiwai? In fact, you can send Yunming as the minister of the Qincha to have a good talk with the king of Alta, maybe there will be some progress. Xu Jie suddenly spoke.

Gao Gong was stunned, almost slapped the table, and said in his heart: Where do we have the right for you to interject when we speak?

Gao Gong is this kind of person, arrogant and boundless, when he talked to Zhang Juzheng, he directly regarded Xu Jie and Li Chunfang as air at all, and he never thought that Xu Jie would interject.

Zhang Juzheng hurriedly smiled and said, "Xu Xiang's suggestion is not bad, but Yunming's decision to go to Saiwai has not been decided, right?" ”

Xu Jie smiled indifferently, meaning that what is the use of hiding this kind of thing from me, everyone on the street knows about it.

However, Xu Jie also couldn't understand the famous hall here, besides, if he really wanted to go to the outside of the city, it must be a secret operation, and now the city is full of turmoil, everyone knows it, so how can he go?

Li Chunfang said helpfully: "Yes, I have heard about this in the next place, it seems that it was appointed by the emperor, since it was hand-picked, of course, it is the minister of the Qincha, so why go secretly, how good it is to negotiate with King Alta openly, even if the negotiation fails, at least you can come back safe and sound." ”

"Master Li, which ear did you hear that the emperor ordered Yunming to go outside? Do you believe this rumor? Gao Gong scoffed.

Li Chunfang's old face flushed: "What is there that I can't hear, not only people outside say this, but everyone in the inner palace knows about it." ”

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng glanced at each other, and they also wondered, where did this kind of thing come from? Could it be the wind deliberately released by the emperor? Why did the emperor do this?

"Taiyue, Yunming is your person, do you know this?" Gao Gong asked with a smile.

"I don't know, besides, Yunming is not my person, he is the commander of the three-grade brocade guard, and he can only be the emperor's person." Zhang Juzheng sneered.

Xu Jie and Li Chunfang also glanced at each other, although both inside and outside the court knew that it was Zhang Juzheng's person, but what Zhang Juzheng said was right, besides, as the commander of the sixth guard of Jinyi, he could only be the emperor's person, and it could not be anyone's henchman, otherwise the emperor would not use him so much.

"Maybe everything about Brother Yunming is run behind the scenes by Old Master Chen, right?" Li Chunfang said with a smile.

Moreover, the teacher Chen Musa and Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Longqing all had friends with cloth clothes, and everyone in the court knew about it, and it was a beautiful conversation.

"This is even more impossible, if it were according to Brother Chen's intentions, he would have brought his disciples back to study a long time ago, and he would not have been allowed to stay in the capital as an official at all." Zhang Juzheng said lightly.

"Xu Xiang, don't worry about this matter, your old man, have you hidden all the field books at home? Don't let the sea master copy it out. Gao Gong said with slanted eyes.

Xu Jie was so angry that he almost spurted blood, this is not a pot that is not opened, it is simply a knife to stab the heart, as the saying goes, hitting people does not slap the face, Gao Gong's habit is to slap the face. Xu Jie had already written to the emperor to ask for guilt and resignation, but he was comforted by the emperor's gentle words, and he did not accept his resignation.

He had lost his power in the court, and as soon as this matter was exposed, he couldn't even raise his head.

"Xu Xiang was just deceived by the villain in the family, and he didn't know about it at all, it was all done behind the scenes of the slaves in the family." Li Chunfang hurriedly defended Xu Jie, but he himself felt that this defense was too weak.

"Xu Xiang is in charge of state affairs, and it is inevitable that he can't take care of his family's affairs, and it is understandable that he has been deceived by villains for a while." Zhang Juzheng smiled and found a step down for Xu Jie.

"It's like, people like us who have ever taken care of the affairs of the family, don't all the time of the day be spent here. Where to figure out the big and small things in the family. Li Chunfang followed Zhang Juzheng's words.

"Yes, Yan Song thought so back then." Gao Gong sneered.

Xu Jie's face turned purple, his lips trembled a little, and he wanted to say something but didn't say it.

Zhang Juzheng hurriedly smiled and said, "Gao Xiang, you want to avenge Yan Song." ”

Gao Gong laughed: "What kind of revenge did I avenge him?" Also, Xu Xiang is a great hero who brought down Yan Song, think about what that turtle son made it difficult for our brothers in the first place, Xu Xiang, thank you. ”

Zhang Juzheng's words stabilized the scene of the imminent explosion.

Xu Jie felt better, but just smiled bitterly.

Gao Gong listened to Zhang Juzheng's words, but he was embarrassed to continue to make things difficult for Xu Jie, he was against Xu Jie today, and it was also because Xu Jie wanted to negotiate with the Tatars as a messenger, obviously for the sake of those powerful families. Since they can negotiate outside the city as a messenger, then the people of the White Lotus Sect who infiltrated the capital can of course be justifiably the Tatar negotiators.

Gao Gong wasn't very sure that Xu Jie was looking for a reason for this matter, but he had something to do with those families, so he didn't run away. Probably Xu Jie also knew that he was about to leave his job, and he wanted to leave a way out in Beijing.

Li Chunfang breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and admired Zhang Juzheng very much, to say that this ability to balance interpersonal relationships, Zhang Juzheng is definitely not under Xu Jie.