Of course, most officials only discussed matters; after a small degree of separation was achieved between military and civil administration, they could only influence the army if they could use their opinions to influence the Emperor.
Because most of the Ministry of War was away fighting campaigns, no one from the Ministry of War was participating at this time.
Zhu Ci was the one who made the final decision; the only ones who could actually offer opinions were the Grand Secretariat.
Among them, Huang Daozhou and He Tengjiao were not particularly talented in this regard and could only remain silent.
Zhu Ci looked at the sand table, thought for a while, then placed a marker: Pei County.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Why does this place sound so familiar? *Cat paws chin in deep thought. jpg*
Next update at 6 PM~
Chapter 162
Your Majesty intends to fight all the way from Pei County through Jining, Yanzhou, Jinan, then take Shandong?
Zhu Ci nodded, "Correct. Although we have taken Xuzhou, the area along the Jianghuai is not safe. Only by taking Shandong can we have a strategic buffer zone."
He glanced toward Guanzhong and nodded toward Tongguan, saying, "I hope Chuangwang also shows some competence and captures Tongguan as soon as possible."
Li Chuangwang was certainly capable. Although he had complained to the Imperial Court about not being allocated any Dongfeng Cannons, he swiftly captured Tongguan and advanced rapidly, closing in on Xi'an.
Once Xi'an is taken, it will be equivalent to controlling the Guanzhong granary and mastering the entire Northwest.
Only at this moment did Great Ming finally possess the qualifications to contend for the Central Plains.
Well, even with all this territory, the Central Plains was not in his hands; after all, in the narrow sense, the Central Plains refers to Henan.
Zhu Ci was naturally delighted, the entire imperial court was even more jubilant. They had previously been discussing the battles against the Prince of Tang and the Prince of Lu, but now everyone felt that those were no longer an issue.
The Prince of Lu, Zhu Yihai, has already been in full retreat; his destruction is only a matter of time. It remains to be seen whether he will surrender first or continue down his current path until he is ultimately taken prisoner.
Seeing that everyone was very happy, Zhu Ci also expressed his happiness: "Very good. To ensure the army has no worries, I hereby issue an imperial decree appointing Zhou Fengwu as the General of Jinghai, to exert his full strength!"
Everyone??
What on earth? What did they just hear?
Taiwan? Why would he □□? What happened to Taiwan?
Huang Daozhou was the first to react and asked, "Your Majesty, why must we □□?"
Aren't we working towards unifying the world? Why must we fight a naval war?
Zhu Ci sighed and said, "It is not that I want to wage war, but that we have no choice. You think Zheng Zhilong is at total war with my Great Ming, but he has already blockaded the maritime trade routes; neither Zhu Ying nor the Grand Secretary's fleet can pass through now."
Everyone was stunned, He Tengjiao asked in surprise, "This.. I haven't heard of this before."
Fu said, "This happened half a month ago. At that time, I submitted a memorial to His Majesty, hoping we could intercept Zheng Zhilong at sea, but His Majesty felt that the more important task right now was to take Xuzhou and strike the Tartars, so he held back."
Zhu Ci stole a glance at Fu.
Good heavens, his Grand Secretary has taken the blame for him again.
It was originally his idea, but now it has become Fu's request, the Emperor, considering the big picture, has not agreed for the time being.
Now he feels the time is ripe to give it a try.
However, Zhu Ci still felt it was inappropriate. This blame could not be placed on Fu, otherwise it would easily make others think that Fu failed to separate his public and private duties.
After all, the one most affected was his fleet; there was no other significant impact.
What? The Emperor's fleet was attacked too? That is of no consequence. The whole world belongs to the Emperor; how could a tiny, insignificant fleet have any impact on him?
Although Zhu Ci had always treated being the Emperor as a profession, trying his best to separate his work from his family life, it was clear that most people still held old-fashioned views and saw no issue with the entire world being provided for a single family.
Thinking of this, Zhu Ci cleared his throat and said, "There are matters of varying urgency, but I was already prepared to go to war with Zheng Zhilong's navy back then. Now that everything is in place, it is time to settle this once and for all."
That being said, Huang Daozhou still said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, haste makes waste. Zheng Zhilong's navy is no match even for the Dutch; to start a war so rashly might be detrimental to our army. I wonder if it is possible to persuade him to surrender?"
Zhu Ci glanced at him and asked, "He will not surrender."
Huang Daozhou, however, said, "Your Majesty, why not give it a try? Back then, Your Majesty was able to persuade Chuangwang to surrender; now, perhaps you could even persuade the Duke of Ping to surrender."
The letter of persuasion written by Zhu Ci back then was no longer a secret now.
That letter of persuasion was truly sincere; anyone who read it would feel as though they had encountered a kindred spirit.
When the news first arrived that the Emperor had sent a letter urging Chuangwang to surrender, everyone found it unbelievable.
It was settled just like that, without a single soldier or scout? Once he saw the letter of persuasion, he felt that if he were in His Majesty's position, he too would feel the urge to sacrifice everything for him until his very last breath.
It was just a pity that he was not Chuangwang, thus could not make His Majesty write such a surrender petition.
The Little Emperor's literary talent might not be that great, but his choice of words and phrasing possessed a unique, rustic charm; the more so, the more sincere it seemed.
So, why not write a letter of persuasion to Zheng Zhilong as well? Perhaps Zheng Zhilong would agree then?
Zhu Ci looked at him with a hint of amusement. "Surrender requests depend on the situation. Back then, Chuangwang.."
He paused when he reached this point, looked around the room, continued, "Everyone present here is one of my confidants, so I shall be blunt. Back then, Chuangwang was in a difficult position due to the pressure from the Qing Army. To the north, Ajige was leading troops in pursuit; to the south was Zuo Liangyu; to the east, I was personally leading troops in Huangzhou; and to the west, the Dashun Army was watching him like a tiger. It would not be an exaggeration to say he was surrounded on all sides. Under such circumstances, as long as I was not harsh toward him, the choice was not a difficult one to make."
After he finished speaking, he looked outside and said, "But what can I promise Zheng Zhilong? He is already the foremost powerful official under the Prince of Tang, possessing both wealth and power; why would he surrender?"
He Tengjiao said after some consideration, "Prince of Tang is declining; Zheng Zhilong will certainly be able to see that."
Zhu Ci said very bluntly, "But he will be even more capable of seeing that once he surrenders, he certainly will no longer have military power. Moreover, his military power is deeply tied to his fleet; stripping him of his military power would be equivalent to cutting off the very means he relies on for his livelihood. Do you think he will agree?"
The crowd fell silent instantly. This was the first time the Emperor had clearly told everyone that no matter who they were, they would not hold any military power, for all military power under Heaven belonged solely to the Emperor.
The issue of military power was highly sensitive; everyone looked at one another in silence, none daring to suggest that the Emperor should grant special treatment to Zheng Zhilong.
If Zheng Zhilong is given preferential treatment today, will someone else be given preferential treatment tomorrow? Isn't saying this essentially asking the Emperor to relinquish his military power?
As far as civil officials were concerned, they did not actually want the Emperor to hold military power. An Emperor with military power was too difficult to deal with; he would have more than enough confidence to insist on his own thoughts and ideas, which would leave many officials in a very passive position.
However, for the person before them, it was no longer just a matter of military power.
It was no secret how the Emperor had risen to power. At only fourteen years old, he had started with nothing but managed to raise a force that was now brimming with talented individuals. With the hope of restoring the Great Ming, who could possibly contend with him for military power?
Right Censor Yan Yingyuan took a glance and said bluntly, "Your Majesty, let us hold a court discussion."
So-called court discussions were essentially held when major issues arose and the Emperor and his ministers held differing opinions, in which case more people would be invited to deliberate.
Small court sessions consist of relatively important officials, whereas imperial conferences expand the scope even further; in addition to the Grand Secretariat and the Censorate, the Six Censors and Supervising Censors also join in, increasing the number of participants from a dozen or so to over a hundred.
However, the scale was still slightly smaller than a Grand Audience.
If Zhu Ci were to speak, the court discussion would be even more like a modern-day vote.
He glanced at Yan Yingyuan and said indifferently, "Fine."
This attitude.. The crowd exchanged glances, feeling that the outcome of the court discussion might not necessarily affect the Little Emperor.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Discuss whatever you want, the military power is in my hands regardless. A kitty pulls the tiger tally under its belly. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock~
Chapter 163
Zhu Ci's thoughts were naturally not that easy to shake; even if the imperial court did not pass the motion, he could simply order Zhu Ying to take action directly.
When the time comes and the battlefield expands, the court officials will have to agree, even if they do not want to.
However, that was the worst course of action; it would be better to use a court discussion to see everyone's thoughts first.
The court discussion was naturally exceptionally lively; because so many Censors had come to participate, the many Censors of the Censorate, who had been quite suppressed for a time, could no longer hold back.
One Censor stated, "Your Majesty, a nation is great, but a nation that loves war will surely perish. Now is the time to fight a decisive battle against the Qing court; we must not provoke them blindly."
The Vice Director of the Ministry of War stepped forward and said, "Are we not the ones being provoked now? It was clearly the Prince of Tang and the Prince of Lu who launched the sneak attack first."
The second Censor stepped forward and said, "They are already retreating step by step and are no longer a match for our Great Ming. As long as General Liu and the others advance steadily, why must we engage them in battle at sea?"
Has Your Majesty not already said that Zheng Zhilong's navy initiated the war? Are we expected to just make concessions?
Zhu Ci listened to the back-and-forth below. At first, he could maintain the dignity of the Son of Heaven, but later, having grown tired of listening, he simply leaned his entire body against the back of the dragon throne, propping his chin on his right forearm which rested on the armrest, nearly crossing his legs.
Fu looked up and saw the Emperor in such a state. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, ultimately deciding not to remind the Emperor to mind his bearing.
He feared that if things turned out the opposite of what he intended, what if the Little Emperor actually lay down on the dragon throne? It wasn't as if he couldn't lie down!
Zhu Ci listened for a while but couldn't make out anything meaningful; in any case, both sides had their own reasons, neither could convince the other.
Both sides had their reasons, those with no opinions themselves would nod in agreement when hearing this side speak, then also find no fault when hearing that side speak.
This was Zhu Ci's situation; he was naturally on his cousin's side, but that didn't stop him from feeling that the arguments of the opposition made sense.
Anyway, he was just a Minister of Rites; he couldn't affect the overall situation, nor did he express any opinions. He was merely a bystander.
Zhu Ci watched Zhu Ci nodding incessantly there, nearly bursting into laughter.
Because they could not convince one another, Huang Chunyao finally could not help but ask, "Why does the Grand Secretary remain silent?"
Ever since his demotion, although Huang Chunyao still held the right to participate in court discussions, he no longer had the qualification to attend the small imperial assemblies, so he had been trying his best to minimize his presence lately.
At this moment, he truly could not help himself.
He knew very well that the fact that this matter could be brought to the imperial court session meant that the Emperor and the Grand Secretary had certainly reached an agreement, but they had failed to persuade everyone during the small court session.
Otherwise, this matter would never have appeared on the agenda of the imperial court, so to a certain extent, the Grand Secretary can represent the Emperor's will.
It would be one thing if the Emperor did not speak, but he only needed to act as a referee.
But it would be quite excessive if the Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat also remained silent.
Fu spoke up, "It is truly rare to have everyone speaking so freely, with such brilliant remarks being made, I find myself utterly captivated."
Everyone: I don't believe a word you say.
Fu brushed off the comments with a few words before saying, "What you all are discussing revolves around nothing but grain, fodder, military equipment. However, some colleagues might not have considered that if we lose the maritime trade routes, I fear our ability to deal with the Qing Army will soon decline as well."
The Vice Minister of Revenue immediately stood up and said, "It is exactly as he says. Over the past half month, tax revenues have already begun to decline. It is currently the peak season, so it should not be like this."
Hmph, alarmist nonsense." The Left Vice Censor of the Censorate stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to submit.