"What?" Both of them were shocked, "What do you mean by that?" ”

The new dynasty attaches great importance to the army, and the nobles in the army are also the most, because of the separation of civil and military, over the years the arrogance has become more and more prevalent, the two courtiers have always been apprehensive about some of the military's domineering behavior, at first hearing the news, who is not shocked.

"Don't be afraid." "According to the emperor's wishes, there will be two additional departments in the cabinet in the future, one in charge of the army and the other in charge of the navy, and its head will also be elected from the army and navy as cabinet ministers." ”

As soon as they heard the news, they were shocked and the two courtiers also secretly complained, the military people were already so arrogant outside the cabinet, and they would not be the same arrogant when they entered the cabinet in the future?

"You also know that it is powerful, but this is the emperor's will, and we can only obey it." The prime minister sighed slightly, "Moreover, let me tell you again, the scheduled first Minister of War is Chen Sheng, the Duke of Ji Guo, and now that the crown prince has arrived in Liaodong, tell him what it means, I'm afraid it won't be long before he should return to Beijing." ”

This is not very unexpected, after all, Ji Guogong has made great achievements in war, he is one of the biggest heroes of the new dynasty, and his prestige is the highest in the army. It's just that...... It's even more of a headache, who can be separated from such a person?

"Don't put on such a look, don't you know Chen Sheng, it's a little stronger, but it's not an unreasonable person, it's a good thing that he can come in, maybe he can help me to suppress the army soldiers, after all, those tiger ben don't convince me." Besides, his younger brother is a minister of wealth and an old colleague of ours, will he not give his younger brother face? The prime minister unexpectedly made another joke, "So, since the facts are already in front of you, you have to think of a way to turn bad things into good things." ”

"From the prime minister's point of view, if you fight the Spaniards again after fighting Japan, is it turning bad things into good things?" Zhou Xuezhi seemed to understand something.

"Yes, now the navy has been gearing up, if you want to show your strength, if you want to fight the Spaniards, you must rely on the navy, they will definitely support it." The prime minister bowed slightly, "The ministers of the army and navy entered the cabinet at the same time, and they are all veterans who have accumulated years, either public or marquis, and their arrogance can rush to the sky, if they all stand together and speak, then is there still a place for you to speak in the cabinet?" So think of a way to pull and press on the side so that they don't lose their temper with the cabinet together. The navy is newly created, and its appetite and temper are not as great as those of the army, and it is the meat of His Majesty's heart, and as long as the Minister of the Navy has always supported the cabinet, the army will not make it too difficult for everyone to do even if they have any opinions. ”

The size of the army of the new dynasty is very large, and the military expenditure required every year is a huge amount, which has always made the cabinet feel that it is difficult to support, and the key is that the army has not appreciated it, but feels that the cabinet is dragging its feet, hindering their pace of conquering the city. After the Minister of Army and Navy joins the Cabinet, I am afraid that there will be more and more such quarrels, and it is better to plan early from the beginning, so that the voices of the military are not unified than to let them coerce the Cabinet.

It is conceivable that the cabinet may be busy in the future on the issue of targeting the two military ministers.

"I see...... I understand...... "Zhou Xuezhi has roughly understood the true meaning of the prime minister, and he doesn't dare to argue with the prime minister anymore," the prime minister is far-sighted, admire and admire. ”

"It's just a matter of taking advantage of the situation, where can we talk about foresight." The prime minister shook his head, "To be honest, as the Duke of Yongguo, I am not afraid of two more ministers of the army and navy in the cabinet, and this is also for the sake of those prime ministers in the future...... By the way, I want to make it clear to you, the containment of the army and navy is only for the sake of national justice, and there is absolutely no intention to target Ji Guogong, and when Ji Guogong returns to Beijing, you must not neglect him! ”

"Prime Minister can rest assured, what a prestige Ji Guogong is, what a hero, we can't admire and admire him, where dare to snub him!" Kong Zhang hurriedly said, "We are afraid that Ji Guogong has developed a prestige by leading his troops to fight for many years, and he will call us back!" ”

"Ji Guogong is not that kind of person, you don't know about him, he never cares about personal interests, but some Jun Ke is not very good at talking, you don't have to worry too much." The prime minister first defended, and then glanced at the two of them again, "So, do you disagree with my opinion?" ”

"But it's up to the prime minister to decide." The two of them replied at the same time, and Zhou Xuezhi no longer contradicted him. Since the prime minister has already said this, no matter whether he is justified or not, there is no need to argue with him.

"Alright, let's move on with that." The prime minister took another sip of tea, and then calmed down.

"Fighting the Spaniards, in fact, is the same as fighting the Japanese this time, the fight is just a means, not an end, and the fight is over for peace talks, not for the sake of fighting them to the death. Therefore, before we fight, we have to think about how to negotiate peace. It's up to the two of you, after all, you've always been able to deal with the Spaniards. You must now prepare for peace with the Spaniards. ”

Zhou Xuezhi secretly complained in his heart, he was originally against fighting with the Spaniards, but now he has to shoulder the responsibility of promoting peace as soon as possible, isn't this difficult for a strong man?

Of course, his hesitation also fell into the eyes of the prime minister. "Prime Minister Shang, I know that this request makes you a little embarrassed, but I also ask you to put national affairs first and not fall into a battle of wills."

"How dare I delay state affairs with selfish motives? The prime minister is relieved. "This hat is too heavy, of course the prime minister doesn't dare to carry it.

"Actually, the business minister doesn't have to worry too much, the Spaniards are thousands of miles away, and they can't really waste too much effort at war with the Spaniards, what needs to be bothered is how to coerce them to agree to our conditions. The business minister has been in charge of China's business for so many years, and he must be very good at negotiation. The prime minister still smiled slightly, "However, it will be a success, if the Spaniards will not negotiate peace at that time, Your Majesty and I will not blame you." ”

"Prime Minister Xie ......" Zhou Xuezhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. The lower officials should do their best. ”

After the prime minister accepted the prime minister's opinion in full, the three important ministers were speechless for a while, silently digesting the information they had just gotten.

"This matter has set the tone, but when I talk to you, I suddenly realize that there is still one place where we are not doing enough." After a while, the prime minister suddenly said in a deep voice.

"What do you mean by Prime Minister?" Kong Zhang was a little confused.

"We don't know much about the national conditions of Western countries, it's like a blind man touching an elephant, and we can only rely on estimates." The prime minister said unhurriedly, "This will not work, our dynasty will continue to expand to the sea in the future, and the economic and trade exchanges with Western countries will only get bigger and bigger. ”

"What do you mean by ......?" The two ministers glanced at each other.

"There are many Western countries, but we are dealing directly with only a few countries now, so we can only deal with the Spaniards and Dutch according to the scaly claws given by the missionaries, and there are many fewer opportunities to take advantage of. In fact, since there are many countries, there must be many contradictions between them, and there is a lot of room for our dynasty to use vertical and horizontal techniques to profit from it, isn't it a pity to waste it!? Qianming likes to close the door and not ask about the world, thinking that the Ming Dynasty is the world, and the West is just a corner, this kind of thinking we can't want. ”

In the West?

Because they were really shocked, Kong Zhang and Zhou Xuezhi both looked at a loss.

"I don't know...... I don't know how the prime minister plans to combine vertically and horizontally? Kong Zhang asked after a while.

"Where do I know now? I don't know as much about the situation in the West as you do. But because everyone doesn't know much, we need to know more, instead of being complacent. The prime minister's face became more and more solemn, "In this way, as a first step, we will send a mission to the West, so that they can see what the current situation of the Western countries is, and then see which countries are not on good terms with the Spaniards and can be used by our court......"

"Send a mission to the West?" The two courtiers were even more surprised.

"What, isn't that weird? How long ago did the Westerners come to our doorstep, but we were complacent, thinking that this small corner was the world, and as a result, people came directly to the door, and not only were the overseas people slaughtered, but the Westerners also went ashore and occupied Macao, not to mention the tigers everywhere. This situation can not be sustained, and from now on, Dahan should open his eyes and learn more about the outside world, and not be confined to a corner. ”

"The prime minister is right...... Makes sense. The two men had different thoughts, but they nodded their heads one after another.

"You guys just start preparing today, Kong Zhang, you first set up a mission in the Foreign Affairs Department, while we haven't done anything with the Spaniards, cross the sea to the West first, take good letters to go to one country by one, take a good look at the West, see where their good places are, and where their bad places are, don't just wait for others to come to the door." The prime minister began to give orders, "Pick a few Westerners who have attached to us, and let them bring them over to be guides, and be honest and reliable." In addition, the Ministry of Commerce has also selected some people to negotiate trade with these Western countries, and if we trade with several countries, we will have a little more capital to cross the West. ”

"Will it ...... Will it be too loud to stir up the crowd? Kong Zhang hesitated slightly. There are too few people under his command who are proficient in the affairs of Western countries, and if he wants to organize a mission, then there will be few such talents left under his command, and it will be much more troublesome to deal with Westerners here in the future.