As for whether to let Sun Jiao return to Liaoxi, Zhu Youzhen did not give him a letter, but just asked him to go back and wait. Although Sun Ji was still a little apprehensive, when he thought that the emperor had agreed, it meant that Li Xin's persistence in Jinzhou had hope, rather than the previous gloom.

After thanking him repeatedly, Sun Ji withdrew from the main hall and returned to the house in Beijing full of hope. When I looked up, I found that it was already the middle of the moon, and it turned out that it was already the middle of the night. As soon as he arrived at the door, he saw Hong Chengchou waiting at the door at some point, and the family in the house didn't have the master's order, so he naturally didn't dare to let him enter the house.

"Why didn't Brother Heng go back to the pavilion, but waited outside Sun's door?"

Sun Ji looked at the strange Hong Chengchou in front of him, and suddenly found that this person is afraid that he is more interested in officialdom than in serving the country, and once he encounters a conflict between the two in the future, he will inevitably give up the big righteousness and take the small righteousness. But the anger has passed, and there is no need to color him, so he said indifferently: "If Brother Heng Jiu doesn't dislike it, he will rest in Sun's mansion for the night, how about it?" ”

Although Sun Jiao's face was as cold as ice, Hong Chengchou still felt that he still cared about the old feelings, so he gladly accepted the invitation.

"In this way, Chengchou is welcome, please!"

Sun Ji entered the house first, and asked the family to make two dishes and a bowl of soup, and the two of them had a great meal. Although the ministers set up a banquet to catch the wind before, it was just a formality, and the wine and food were cold and difficult to swallow, so they talked more than eating and drinking.

"It's still a delicious meal at home, Hong hasn't eaten a stable meal for many years!"

The first half of Hong Chengchou's sentence is a compliment that he has nothing to say, but the second half of the sentence is from the bottom of his heart. Unexpectedly, he was almost ruined in Liaoxi, which damaged the wisdom of this life.

As he was talking, the family brought another warm wine jug, and Hong Chengchou took the wine jug and filled the wine cup for both of them.

"Come, for the sake of the internal Jing thieves, the outer peace of the Tartars, you and my brother do this!"

Sun Ji also picked up the wine cup and touched the wine cup with Hong Chengchou, and with the crisp sound of white porcelain, the two of them raised their necks and dried up the wine. After a cup of wine, Sun Ji only felt that his stomach was hot, so he stretched out his chopsticks and put the vegetables in his mouth.

"Brother Hengjiu, the weight of Jinzhou, you and I both know, now I only need a word from Brother Hengjiu, you don't support Jinzhou!"

After finishing speaking, Sun Ji stared intently at Hong Chengchou's eyes, he wanted to see what this person thought for the first time, Hong Chengchou's eyes did not have a trace of abnormality, but they were full of determination and determination, he filled the wine cup one by one again and raised it.

"You and my brother are all thinking about it, that is, for the sake of this court, for the people of the world in the Ming Dynasty, Cheng Chou dare not say that he will die with all his might, but he is also willing to bury the bones of this body in Liaoxi. It's just that everyone's way is different, I don't know if my brother is satisfied with this? ”

Sun Ji couldn't detect anything unusual in Hong Chengchou's eyes, his words were even more sincere, and he even doubted his previous judgment on him for a while. Immediately, Sun Ji was relieved, the people of the time made a promise, although Hong Chengchou and others are quite scheming, but there are still principles of conduct, and since they agreed, they will never regret it.

So Sun Ji picked up the wine cup, "Okay! Sun Ji was also buried in Liaoxi with Brother Hengjiu! Just rush this, you and my brother should be drunk tonight! ”

Hong Chengchou laughed: "A drunk Fang Xiu, drink him a drunk Fang Xiu!" But the words changed, "But Hong has a chance to bury his bones in Liaoxi, but you don't!" ”

Sun Ji was overwhelmed by alcohol, and he was already drunk at this time, and his eyes focused on Hong Chengchou's face several times, and asked with a bit of suspicion: "What does Brother Heng mean by this?" ”

Hong Chengchou poured himself a full wine cup, drank it all, sighed again, and said, "Don't you know? After the Japanese and Korean meetings, he will officially go to Jiangnan and serve as the governor of Nanzhili and the governor of Zhejiang. ”

Sun Ji said indifferently: "When I entered the palace today, I saw the saint in front of him, and the emperor has already agreed to the strategy of Li Xin to keep Jinzhou!" ”

"If Hong didn't guess wrong, the emperor just promised to guard Jinzhou, but didn't promise to let you go back to Liaoxi, right?"

Sun Ji was speechless for a while, it was true, and when he made this request again, the emperor began to swear that he would solve the problem for him, and he talked about him left and right. Thinking of this, I can't help but feel gloomy.

Hong Chengchou continued: "After you left during the banquet, Zhang Ge said in person that the votes of the cabinet had been sent to the celebrant supervisor, and it was only necessary to officially ...... the red."

Seeing the change in Sun Jie's complexion, as if sad and angry, Hong Chengchou couldn't speak anymore halfway through his words. But I heard Sun Ji say suddenly: "Wherever Sun Ji goes, he is contributing to the imperial court, but it is Brother Heng Jiu, as long as you can return to Liaoxi, Sun Jiao believes that you will definitely do what you say, right, Brother Heng Jiu?" ”

These words were half drunk and half awake, but looking at Sun Jiao's expression again, it was already a smile.

Hong Chengchou will deliberately explain that if Sun Jiao's question is an ordinary person, he will have the ability to turn his face on the spot, and such a questioning is tantamount to insulting his personality.

"I'm getting drunk so soon, come on, help your family go back to your room to rest!"

The first half of his sentence was said to Sun Jiao, but the second half of the sentence was said to the family members standing aside.

After hearing this, the family was like a pardon, and left the hall with Sun Jiao. At this time, there was already another family member who came to guide Hong Chengchou to the guest room to rest.

Sun Ji and Hong Chengchou's meal is considered enjoyable, but it can be regarded as a displeasure, right?

At the court meeting the day after tomorrow, a group of officials above the four foreign grades in the Wenhua Hall stood together, and they were full of people at a glance. There was a lot of discussion among the officials, and there was a buzz inside and outside the store.

When the time came, with the sharp voice of the eunuch, the ministers and hundreds of officials took their places, waiting for the emperor to come to the court. In fact, the hearts of the hundred officials are like a mirror, and the general military affairs will not be called to the court to discuss, the emperor has already convened several cabinet ministers in advance to discuss, to this kind of crowded scene, the nature of the ceremony is more than practical, it is nothing more than a grand ceremony of major events, and then announce a series of heavy decisions.

Therefore, for this kind of court meeting, the officials are very relaxed, and the emperor will not be embarrassed by himself no matter what. Who knew that the emperor had just sat down and asked a question, which surprised everyone slightly. The emperor decided to use troops against Jiannu again, not only to use troops, but also to take the initiative to attack, and to respond to Li Xin, who was holding on to Jinzhou, to completely defeat the Tartars, so that this time the war turned defeat into victory.

However, before the emperor's words were dissipated in the hall, the cabinet ministers led by Zhang Sizhi, a cabinet scholar, spoke out one after another to persuade them.

"Shengshang, the court has always been cautious about the use of soldiers by Jiannu, and the previous time was a rash attack and almost failed, as a lesson from the past, the minister thought that he should be cautious!"

This time, the ministers were unanimous in their unanimous voice, and unanimously opposed the rash dispatch of troops. In addition to Zhang Sizhi, Li Shiwen, who belongs to the Ministry of Households, is the most happy to object. His reasons for opposing the rash dispatch of troops are the same as his reasons for opposing all decisions, there is only one, that is, two words, no money!

The household department has no money, so what can be used to recruit soldiers, and what can be used to pay military salaries and food salaries? If there is no military pay, no food, what can be used to win the war?

Li Shiwen shook his gray beard, trembling and trembling, and his reason was quickly supported by the ministers, not only several cabinet ministers, but even other low-level officials also echoed their words, and for a time there was a great posture of response. Seeing that the hearts of the people are like this, the old man Li Shiwen can't help but be proud, he has never been so majestic for many years!

Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting on the dragon chair, was squeezed by the ministers and couldn't say a word, yes, they all said that it was difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and now that the court has no money, what should she do to fight? You can't get out of the palace, can you?

If this opening is opened, it will not take two or three years, and the silver accumulated from his father and ancestors will be emptied and drained by these bloodsucking ministers, in the name of the household department, so if you want to use the money, you can only think of other ways.

I can't say it, so I have to revisit the matter of the courtier's donation.

Zhu Youzhen issued an edict in court, saying that all officials above the seventh grade in Beijing would borrow money for the state, and the money would be marked with an IOU in the name of the household department, and the money would be repaid in the future. At the same time, in order to take the lead, Zhu Youzhen took the lead in allocating 50,000 taels of silver from the internal funds!

However, the ministers responded one after another, and the scene of a flood of donations did not appear, on the contrary, the Wenhua Hall was unprecedentedly quiet, and all the courtiers did not even dare to come out of the atmosphere, and the previous relaxed mood had long been swept away, replaced by apprehension and uneasiness.

Seeing that the ministers were stingy with money one by one, Zhu Youzhen's face was gloomy, and he issued another edict, "All the officials above the fourth grade present today are not allowed to go home if they don't borrow, so stay in the palace."

After venting, Zhu Youzhen didn't even pay attention to today's major events, and left the Wenhua Hall with a flick of his robe sleeves, leaving only the uneasy ministers in the hall.

A large number of palace guards surrounded the Wenhua Palace, and if it was really a posture that no one would let leave without borrowing money, someone finally couldn't bear it, and promised to pledge to the eunuch in charge of accepting the loan in the palace, and wrote down the amount of money in public.

The first one who couldn't bear it was the cabinet scholar of the dynasty, Zhang Sizhi wrote 1,25 big characters of silver in the donation book with a stroke of his pen, and then left the Wenhua Hall with a shake of his head.

Since the cabinet ministers have set an example, the ministers below naturally cannot surpass him, so they have less than 1,000 taels of silver, 500 taels, 300 taels, and even 50 taels. After the ministers of the Wenhua Palace were gone, the eunuch sorted out the donation book, but he spread his hands and said that he did not dare to see the emperor.

Wang Chengen was ordered to check why the donation book was not submitted for a long time, and the little eunuch saw that he was coming, so he was pardoned and handed over the donation book to Wang Chengen.

"Look, Prince, counting the 50,000 taels of silver pledged by the Long Live Lord, the total amount is only 120,000 taels, this, how can I explain this to the Long Live Lord!"