The guards in the Heart Cultivation Hall have long been retired, and even Lu Fang, who has been following behind Jiajing, has disappeared, and in the huge Heart Cultivation Palace, only Jiajing and Zhang Juzheng remain, and the two monarchs and ministers sit opposite each other.

"Come, tea."

With a warm smile on his face, Jiajing picked up the teapot and poured a cup for each of them.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhang Juzheng obviously didn't expect this to be the scene, the whole person looked very restrained, picked up the teacup, took a sip, his eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise: "The aftertaste is extremely sweet, good tea!" ”

"Naturally, this is the first batch of West Lake Longjing this year, I don't want to drink it, if Aiqing likes it, I will send some to your house later." Jiajing also picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said casually.

"Minister, Zhang Juzheng bows to His Majesty Longen!" When Zhang Juzheng heard what the emperor said, his face showed gratitude, and he quickly knelt down to thank him.

"Alright, get up, I have some questions for you."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhang Juzheng immediately got up.

"After the Imperial Meeting, did your military department receive the warships that were appropriated by the Ministry of Ministers and Works?"

"Your Majesty, after the Imperial Council was over, the elder of the small pavilion sent someone to hand over the remaining twenty-three warships to the Ministry of War, and the warships are all docked at the City Ship Division."

"In addition, how have you implemented the expansion of the army and the reorganization of the Great Ming Naval Division that I proposed at the Imperial Council earlier?"

"Your Majesty, the minister has selected 15,000 brave men from all over the country and trained them, and ships suitable for sea combat are also being built, and it is expected that they will be able to form combat effectiveness in half a year!"

"Good, good."

Jiajing nodded after listening to Zhang Juzheng's answer, and then pretended to be careless, and asked: "As the secretary of the military department, do you know what the current shortcomings of my Ming Dynasty are?" ”

"Your Majesty, the current malaise of my Ming Dynasty lies in the corruption of officials, the excessive taxation and miscellaneous taxes, the low combat effectiveness of the soldiers, the Japanese in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the invasion of the northern Tatars from time to time......

Zhang Juzheng didn't dare to answer Jiajing's questions directly, so he could only avoid his eyes and look at him left and right.

Just when Zhang Juzheng wanted to continue to talk along this vein, he was interrupted by Jiajing impatiently: "Okay, stop these clichés!" You Zhang Juzheng don't dare to say it, then it's up to me to say. ”

"Please forgive your majesty!" Zhang Juzheng hurriedly knelt on the ground.

"There are three shortcomings of my Ming Dynasty, one is the financial deficit, the second is the erosion of the health system, and the third is the extravagance of the clan!"

Jiajing put down the teacup in his hand and looked directly at Zhang Juzheng: "Everyone knows these ills, but everyone dares not say it!" What about temporary reforms? As long as I don't touch the roots, my Da Ming's illness will never get better! ”

"You are the secretary of the military department, I will take the guards in various places first, I have already sent people to investigate, and some of the guards record the soldiers in the booklet that says that there are two thousand people, but in fact there are not even a thousand people! Even the gunpowder of the guns could not be fired due to moisture, and most of the soldiers spent their days in gambling houses, tired from their training, and could only cope with things, with no combat effectiveness to speak of. ”

"That's why I'm going to abolish some of the guards." Jiajing's words changed, and the flat voice came into Zhang Juzheng's ears, like a thunderbolt on a sunny day.

"Your Majesty, no! Although the guard system is so erosive, it should still be slowly planned, if it is hastily abolished, it may cause dissatisfaction among the soldiers, cause trouble, and thus shake the imperial court! After Zhang Juzheng came to his senses, he hurriedly admonished.

"Who told you that I was going to be laid off now? I plan to select the brave soldiers in the guard first, form another battalion, train them diligently, and make them pay a step higher than ordinary soldiers! It's a long-term thing, and I hope you can do it. Jiajing chuckled, helped him up, and then patted Zhang Juzheng's shoulder and said seriously.

"In addition, after the Daming Navy Division is reorganized, we can go to sea to fight against the Japanese and keep the enemy out at sea, so that the people along our coast can suffer less!"

"Minister Zhang Juzheng, I am willing to smear your majesty's liver and brain!"

"Where did you just go? Oh yes, I remember, the clan spends too much! Zhang Juzheng, do you know how many vassal kings I have in the Ming Dynasty? Jiajing said, knocking on his head.

When Zhang Juzheng heard this, he thought for a moment and gave an answer: "Your Majesty, there are more than 85,000 people in the records of the current vassal kings!" ”

Jiajing nodded and said with emotion: "Yes, more than 85,000 people!" You also know that the titles of my Ming Dynasty are hereditary and do not downgrade, and every year, their various expenditures account for 40% of the expenses of the imperial court. ”

"Do you know how the people scold? My Ming Dynasty spent so much silver to raise a group of pigs who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun, rob people's daughters, enclose land and give birth to a large number of children! The key is that this pig can't be eaten yet, they are the moths of my Ming Dynasty. There was no emotion in Jiajing's tone, as if he was talking about an extremely ordinary thing.

"But Your Majesty, doing so will make you ......" Zhang Juzheng stopped talking stiffly, not daring to say any more.

"Afraid of what? I am the Emperor! Theoretically, my power is infinite, and I don't care what I will say about me in the history books in the future, whether it is mean or unkind, or it is cruel to the clan. ”

"It's impossible for me to act without asking, but if I ask if I should or not, as long as I feel that I should do it, I will do it!" After Jiajing finished speaking, he stood up from the chair, waved his sleeves, and looked into the distance with a deep gaze.

"It's impossible to act without asking, but asking should you ...... it" Zhang Juzheng chewed on the words Jiajing said repeatedly, for a long time, only to see his eyes slightly red, and slightly hide his face with his cuffs, and said loudly: "Minister, Zhang Juzheng is willing to swear allegiance to Your Majesty!" ”

"As for how to make up for the financial shortfall, this is also the reason why I must lift the sea ban and implement the policy of changing rice to mulberry, why do I not know what they are implementing this law for?"

"One tael of silver, six coins to the treasury, I admit it, four coins to the treasury, I also admit it! If they still want to catch more, don't blame me. ”

Jiajing said silently in his heart, and then leaned over to help Zhang Juzheng up.

"It's not too early, you can go back first."

"Your Majesty, the minister retires!"

Zhang Juzheng reluctantly left the Heart Cultivation Palace, Jiajing did not answer, just waved his hand, and didn't seem to care about it.

Walking out of the Heart Cultivation Palace, I don't know when, a bright moon hung in the sky, Zhang Juzheng walked alone under the moonlight, his steps were steady, his heart was confused, and his eyes were full of determination.

……

In the study, Jiajing picked up the pen for a long time, but still couldn't leave it down.

"What do you think I'm supposed to write? I thought about it for a long time and still didn't know where to start, so I knew that I would have asked the cabinet to write it! Jiajing put down the brush, looked at Lu Fang, who was standing on the side, and asked.

"Your Majesty may wish to write some words of encouragement, the content does not need to be too complicated, Hu Zongxian will understand." When Lu Fang heard this, he thought for a moment and gave his own proposal.

"Words of encouragement? Let me think about ......"

"There it is!" After thinking about it for a long time, Jiajing finally found a suitable sentence and patted his head excitedly.

Jiajing re-laid the paper, looked solemn, and slowly wrote on the paper: Thousands of miles to serve the king, I want nothing, and I know the hardships of the side, how can I seek for my wife? What you do, I will not be disappointed!