When Yu Shiyue arrived at Wuying Hall, the emperor had not yet arrived.
In the side hall, the elders gathered in groups in twos and threes, talking about something unknown.
At the front were King Zhennan, Duke Feng, and Bo Jing'an. The three of them were gathered together. It was obviously King Zhennan who was the leader. They talked happily, but you could still hear laughter.
Looking back, Yu Qian, Chen Yi, and Xiao Yi stood together, their faces more serious, their voices seemed to have been deliberately lowered, and they all frowned. For some reason, Xiao Yi looked quite dissatisfied.
The last few are Wang Wen, Shen Yi and Jin Lian.
In fact, it stands to reason that Wang Wen should be on Yu Qian's side in terms of status and position.
However, this Otsuka Prime Minister is willful. Although they are both members of the Emperor's Party, he and Yu Qian have never dealt with him. Especially the matter of preparing the palace in the East Palace last time made Wang Wen quite dissatisfied with Qian.
Therefore, he would rather be with Shen Yi and Jin Lian, whom he has no close friendship with, than go over there.
Compared with the liveliness of the first two groups, this place is obviously deserted. With Wang Wen, a big killer who can turn off the air conditioning at any time, Shen Shangshu and Jin Shangshu can only stand beside it, with their sleeves rolled up and their eyes closed to meditate.
Seeing this situation, Yu Shiyue and Wang Ao looked at each other and hesitated for a moment.
Logically speaking, it was most appropriate to go to Yu Qian at this time. After all, they all knew in their hearts that the emperor's summons was most likely due to the military camp incident.
So, it would be good to get some information from Yu Qian in advance, at least so that he can be more confident when playing the right song.
However, before they could move forward, they saw Xiao Hao in the distance leaving Yu Qian and Chen Yi and walking towards them.
"Scholar Xiao."
When everyone comes, they naturally want to say hello.
During this period of time, Yu Shiyue had a lot of dealings with Xiao Tan due to matters in the East Palace, and it seemed that Xiao Tan came early and had obviously gotten some information from Yu Qian.
Therefore, Yu Shiyue smiled and cupped his hand.
Xiao Tan is fifty-eight years old this year. He is not very old, but he is very elegant and has a long beard that adds to his easy-going attitude.
Although he is now a Hanlin bachelor, his status is still slightly lower than that of the first and second leaders of the cabinet. Therefore, Xiao Tan also kept his posture very low and politely returned the greeting and said.
"I've met the first assistant and the second assistant."
Xiao Tan came over on his own initiative, obviously because he had something to say. In addition, from the moment Yu Shiyue and his wife entered the palace, the servants on the side saw that everyone was here, so they quietly retreated to report to the emperor.
In other words, there is obviously not much time left for them to talk.
Therefore, after seeing the ceremony, Xiao Tan didn't talk much and just lowered his voice and uttered two words.
"Chun Wei!"
Yu Shiyue and Wang Ao looked at each other and saw the confusion in each other's eyes.
Isn’t what we are discussing today about military settlements? What does it have to do with Chunwei?
Just as he was about to ask in detail, footsteps came from outside the hall.
Then, the figure of the eunuch Huaien, the eunuch Bingbi, appeared outside and said with cupped hands.
"Everyone, His Majesty has summoned you, please come with us."
So, they could only suppress the doubts in their hearts and walked out of the side hall together.
"I will see you, Your Majesty."
In the Hall of Wuying, the earth dragon had already risen. The emperor was sitting on the throne, wearing a bright red robe woven with dragons and gold. Behind him stood the two chief ministers of ceremony, Cheng Jing and Hua En.
Seeing everyone coming in, the emperor raised his hand with a smile and said.
"Your Majesty, please excuse me and take a seat."
Seats had been prepared in the hall, and when everyone was seated, Wynn took a stack of memorials from the table beside him and handed them to the few servants beside him, and then distributed them to the ministers one by one.
Then, the emperor said: "It will be the first day of the new year in two days. After the New Year's Day, the top priority of the imperial court is to organize the military camps. The Ministry of War has been busy with this matter for a long time, and finally drafted a rough charter yesterday.
I have called you gentlemen here today because I want to hear your attitude before the New Year and try to straighten out the regulations so that after the seal is released, the court discussions can go more smoothly."
So, all the ministers below nodded, and then opened the memorial in their hands.
Obviously, the memorial is not the original, but a copy.
Normally, in order to avoid wasting time in such memorials before the imperial court, the chamberlain would read out the memorial, and then the ministers would start deliberating directly.
But obviously, out of concern, the emperor gave everyone a copy so that they could refer to it at any time during the discussion.
While everyone was immersed in reading, Yu Qian stood up. After getting the emperor's permission, he turned around and faced the ministers and said.
"The issue of military settlements this time is of great importance and is complicated. I will briefly summarize the contents of this charter and tell you a few words about it."
No matter what the rumors about Qian are outside these days, no matter how hard Yu Shaobao is busy with his marriage, in the end, Yu Qian is still Yu Qian.
When it comes to government affairs, he is always meticulous, prudent and conscientious.
"On this border patrol, Yu personally went to various towns to check the conditions of the military camps. What he found was shocking. The detailed information has been clearly written in the memorial in your hands, so Yu will briefly describe it."
"Taking only a few military towns in this inventory, and taking the number of military camps recorded by the Ministry of War in the first year of Xuande as a reference, compared with the registered number, the number of military camps in each location is less than 50%, and the remaining 50%
Either they were hidden, or they were sold privately, or they were occupied by the local area, or they were abandoned as wasteland and difficult to cultivate. All these kinds of things are not kept by one general in one place, but are actually the property of the frontier army."
"At the same time, during the inspection process, Yu discovered a large number of privately cultivated fields that had not been registered with the Ministry of War. The number of these fields, according to preliminary estimates, has exceeded the number of military fields that are still under cultivation."
“These privately cultivated fields were either reclaimed by local generals and enlisted by sergeants and then taken back as their own, or they were converted by local yamen into private fields through concealment methods, or they were reclaimed by sergeants on their own initiative to avoid imperial taxation. The situation was different.
, but they are all farmed by soldiers and do not pay taxes from the imperial court."
"The abandonment of military camps and the rampant private reclamation of land are parallel problems, and the problems derived from them include concealing deserters, misappropriating sergeants, abandoning drills and other ills."
"It can be said that in recent years, the combat effectiveness of the border troops has declined and they have repeatedly failed when fighting foreign enemies. The source lies in this."
"In addition, the decommissioning of the military garrison has put tremendous pressure on the imperial court. The military expenditures our imperial court has spent on the border have been increasing year by year over the past few years."
"Take the 12th year of Zhengtong as an example. The military expenditures for the border troops accounted for 40% of the taxes for that year. Last year, the Supreme Emperor personally went on a campaign and the Oara army pressed on the border. In order to break the siege, the imperial court had to continue to increase military expenditures. Last year alone,
Expenditures for border troops have exhausted the accumulation of the national treasury in the past five years."
"It can be said that if the border troops are allowed to behave like this again, the defensive situation of our Ming Dynasty at the border will become increasingly worse, and there may even be another incident like last year, and the imperial court will become increasingly overwhelmed."
"Therefore, it is imperative to rectify the military garrison!"
This chapter has been completed!