Seeing Zhou Chong actually stand up and speak, this made Li Dongyang and the others very surprised, they all looked up at Zhengde at the moment, and found that Zhou Chong should get Zhengde's acquiescence, so they all stood there and looked at Zhou Chong, wanting to hear what he had to say?

I saw Zhou Chong clear his throat, and then spoke: "Your lords may not know, the Portuguese are not good at this time, they originally lived in Europe, that is, on the continent where Daqin is recorded in ancient books, our Ming porcelain, silk and tea, as well as spices and other specialties produced in the South Seas, are very valuable gifts in Europe, such as tea, the same weight of tea is simply more expensive than the equally important gold, and it is precisely because of this, So the Europeans have always wanted to open up a route to the South Seas of the Ming Dynasty......"

Zhou Zhong tried his best to use a language that Li Dongyang and they could understand, and slowly explained the reasons why the Portuguese arrived in Nanyang and the Ming Dynasty, and emphasized that the Europeans have always put interests first, and they are very cruel and easy to kill, in order to emphasize this, Zhou Zhong deliberately described in detail what the Portuguese did in India and other places, and he did not need to exaggerate at all, in the eyes of Li Dongyang and these Confucian scholars who pay attention to benevolence, righteousness and morality, the Portuguese are simply a group of brutal beasts, and can even be compared with the Yuan and Mongolian armies of the year.

After talking about the brutality of the Grape People, Zhou Zhong explained the importance of Malacca City again, and finally concluded: "Ladies and gentlemen, those words above the subordinates are absolutely true, Jinyi Wei Qianhu Wu Shan has always been by my side, and he can prove that I am not lying." In addition, everyone must have understood by now that the Portuguese were only to prevent the capture of Malacca. to stop them from invading the South Seas. And as long as Portugal cannot occupy the South Seas. Then it will not be able to pose a threat to the coastal area of my Ming Dynasty, so this aid to Malacca City is not only to protect the subject country, but also to protect the coastal security of my Ming Dynasty, presumably you adults don't want me to become a second India, right? ”

After listening to Zhou Chong's exaggerated descriptions, Li Dongyang and the others also frowned, like Zhengde before, they found for the first time that the coastal areas in the south had one more powerful enemy in addition to the wars in the early years. If those Portuguese occupy the South Seas and reach the coast of Daming, and burn and loot as they did on the coast of India, then the Ming Dynasty will probably have to pay a heavy price for these robbers who came from afar.

I saw several cabinet ministers ponder for a while, and finally Li Dongyang spoke: "Thank you Zhou Gongzi for this information, according to what the Portuguese did, when they reach the Daming Sea, it is indeed very likely to become a big problem, and the imperial court naturally has to take precautions as soon as possible, and it is naturally an excellent way to prevent them from entering the South Seas, but now the treasury is empty." I really can't come up with the money to support the expedition of the sailors! ”

Seeing that although Li Dongyang agreed with his analysis of the Portuguese, he still did not want to send troops on the grounds that the treasury was empty. Zhou Zhong sighed helplessly and didn't speak, because Zhengde was needed to perform next.

"Duke Li doesn't have to worry about military salaries, all the expenses of the sailor's assistance to Malacca City this time will be funded by my inner treasury, and the cabinet only needs to make arrangements at that time!" At this time, Zhengde said with a smile, but when he spoke, his eyes looked at Zhou Zhong with some jealousy.

Hearing that Zhengde was willing to use the inner treasury to fund this expedition, Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and others also showed puzzled expressions, because as far as they knew, although there was some money in the inner treasury of the palace, the expenses under the emperor's majesty were also very huge, and the little silver in the inner treasury was not enough to support the expedition of the sailors.

However, Li Dongyang quickly noticed Zhengde's eyes looking at Zhou Chong, and immediately understood in his heart that although there was no money in the inner treasury of the palace, the Zhou Chong in front of him was a smuggling merchant who dominated the southern coast.

Zhou Chong felt that his heart was dripping blood at this time, Zhengde had already said before, Li Dongyang They were likely to refuse to send troops on the grounds of the emptiness of the treasury, and Zhou Chong was ruthless at the moment, and said that he was willing to pay privately, which made Zhengde happy and jealous, happy because with this money, he was sure to persuade Li Dongyang and others, but jealousy was that he was an emperor himself, and he didn't have Zhou Chong's money, you must know that the expedition of those sailors in Lu Dao would cost at least hundreds of thousands of taels, The inner treasury in the palace could not come up with so much silver at once.

Of course, although the silver is from Zhou Chong, it must be in the name of the inner treasury, otherwise in the identity of Zhou Chong, he will privately donate to the army, which is simply a conspiracy for the officials of the Ming Dynasty, and it is even likely to be accused of rebellion. Therefore, Zhou Zhong could only give the silver to Zhengde first, and then let Zhengde pay in the name of the inner treasury.

Since everything has been said about this, and Li Dongyang and the others were also fooled by Zhou Chong's previous words, they decided that the Portuguese were a potential threat, so they had no reason to oppose it anymore.

After the last time, I saw Li Dongyang speak again: "Since Your Majesty has used the silver from the inner treasury as military salaries, the ministers will naturally do their best to do this well, but sending troops is a major event after all, I don't know which general Your Majesty will appoint to lead the troops, and how to dispatch the sailors after they go out to fight?" ”

Hearing that Li Dongyang finally asked on time, I saw Zhu Houzhao smiling proudly at Zhou Chong, and immediately said to several ministers: "This time the army is different from the past, after all, this is the first time that my Ming Dynasty sent troops to aid the country in Nanyang, and the army is mainly composed of sailors, plus the road is far away, so there must be a special person in charge." ”

Emperor Zhengde paused when he said this, and then continued with a serious face: "I plan to temporarily appoint a governor of the four seas, the general commander of my Ming Navy, as for all the affairs of this army, they are also supervised by the governor of the four seas, and the officials of all coastal areas must cooperate with the military orders of the commander of the four seas, if anyone dares to disobey the order, the governor of the four seas has the right to temporarily detain him, and assign other officials to take over the local government affairs, in the future, I will send the imperial history to verify, if it is true, I will be severely punished!" ”

Li Dongyang was not surprised to hear that Zhengde was going to appoint a special official to manage the affairs of sending troops, but when they heard that this so-called governor of the four seas could order officials from all over the coast, and even had the power to punish, they were all shocked, and secretly said that the power of this governor of the four seas was too great, even greater than the governor who was known as the governor of the feudal territory.

Thinking that the Admiral of the Four Seas held such great power, Li Dongyang and the others were also cautious, and they were also thinking about the candidate for the Admiral of the Four Seas in their hearts, among which Yang Tinghe took the lead in speaking: "Your Majesty, the Admiral of the Four Seas holds such a heavy power, and the minister thinks that he must send a loyal minister to serve as the minister, but I don't know if there is a candidate in Your Majesty's heart?" If not, the minister is willing to recommend one! ”

Regarding Yang Tinghe's initiative to recommend the candidate for the governor of the four seas, Zhengde said with a smile: "No need, I already have a candidate in my heart." Zhengde said and stretched out his hand to point at Zhou Chongdao, "Zhou Chong's warning to the imperial court that the Portuguese are attacking the South Seas is also a great achievement for the imperial court, and he is also very familiar with maritime affairs, so I have decided to appoint him as the governor of the four seas and lead the dispatch of troops this time!" ”

"What?" Hearing that Zhengde actually broke the routine and promoted a smuggling merchant to be the commander of the four seas, and the other party was only a sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man, Li Dongyang and the others were all stunned, and they couldn't believe their ears anyway. Although the Admiral of the Four Seas is only a temporary official position, he is also a feudal official, how can he be so childish to let a young man who is only a talent and fame hold it?

"Your Majesty must not, although Gongzi Zhou has meritorious service in the imperial court, but the imperial court can reward him in other ways, besides, the Admiral of the Four Seas has a heavy responsibility, and it must be served by an experienced minister, with the age of Gongzi Zhou, I am afraid it is difficult to be qualified for this important task!" Li Dongyang had a good impression of Zhou Chong before, so he said it more politely, just saying that he was too young and inexperienced.

However, in contrast, other people spoke much more directly, and I saw that Yang Tinghe also opened his mouth to persuade at this time: "Your Majesty thinks twice, Zhou Chong is not an official of the imperial court, at most he has only one talent at most, and he is involved in smuggling, if His Majesty hands over such an important position as the Governor of the Four Seas to Zhou Chong, I am afraid it will cause an uproar in the government and the opposition, and then not only Zhou Chong will be pointed out by the people of the world, but even His Majesty will be blamed!" ”

As soon as Yang Tinghe's words fell, Liu Zhong, Liang Chu and others also objected, and the reasons for the opposition were summarized in three points, the first is that Zhou Chong's background is too low, and he is not an official of the imperial court, so he can't rashly take on heavy responsibilities, the second is that Zhou Chong is too young to take on big responsibilities, and the third point is that although Zhou Chong has merit to the imperial court, it is not enough for him to take on the heavy responsibility of the governor of the four seas.

Zhengde and Zhou Chong have long been prepared for the opposition of several cabinet ministers, and they have sufficient reasons for opposition, if the positions of the two sides are reversed, I am afraid that even Zhengde and Zhou Chong will oppose it like Li Dongyang and them.

However, for this kind of opposition, Zhengde and Zhou Zhong have already discussed, and even thought of the reasons for rebuttal one by one, only to see Emperor Zhengde suddenly snort heavily, which made Li Dongyang and them quiet down, and then he spoke: "The reasons for your opposition are indeed very sufficient, but since I let Zhou Zhong serve as the governor of the four seas, I naturally have my own reasons!" (To be continued......)