The ministers suddenly lost their composure. The emperor actually promised to help Lin Dan Khan regain the Monan Grassland and various Mongolian tribes in the future? Did they hear it correctly?
Chief Assistant Wang Xiangqian dragged his old body forward slowly and quickly asked the emperor:
"Your Majesty, I have no objection to the peace talks, but what is the promise behind it? I ask your Majesty to think again!"
Zhu Youxiao smiled bitterly to himself, knowing that his words had misunderstood them.
How could he help Lin Dan Khan unify Mongolia? Isn't this just shooting himself in the foot?
"You have all misunderstood what I meant. It's my fault that I didn't make it clear!"
"What I mean is to stabilize Lin Danhan first and transfer his anger and resentment to Jiannu and Horqin!"
"We can use his hatred for the Horqin tribe and Jiannu to our advantage!"
"The old slave's road to progress in Liaodong has been blocked by us. Based on his temperament and ambition, he will definitely not sit still and wait for death."
"Unable to profit from Liaodong and North Korea, his vision and ambition must be directed at the extremely weak Monan Lin Dan Khan's troops!"
"You have also seen that Lin Dan Khan is no match for Lao Nu. If we still ignore him, Lin Dan Khan will either be completely defeated by Lao Nu, or he will escape to other places!"
"Although the grassland is not a rich land, it is more advantageous because of its vast territory. If Lin Dan Khan is here, it will be the barrier of our Ming Dynasty's northern border and defend our Ming Dynasty from military threats from the northern border!"
"If the old slave is allowed to occupy the huge Monan grassland, then his troops can point directly at the Great Wall, which will be extremely detrimental to us."
"The initiative of the war is in his hands. Like the Mongols, he will look for fighter planes and breakthroughs, launch raids, and carry out looting and destruction!"
"That will be another catastrophe for my people living on the border!"
All the ministers agreed that the grassland is so vast that it would be really troublesome for Lao Nu to cross Liaodong and send troops from here to attack the Great Wall border of Ming Dynasty.
With Lin Danhan in the north, I don't expect him to be able to defeat Lao Nu, but he can also serve as an outpost and containment.
He brought out Shen Weijing, who had made great contributions in resisting Japanese aggression and aiding Korea during the Wanli period, to give a more thorough explanation.
In short, the purpose is to deceive Lin Danhan as much as possible.
As long as it is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Youxiao, everything is easy to say and any promise can be guaranteed.
But whether it will be fulfilled afterwards is another matter.
The ministers immediately understood what the emperor meant and stopped asking further questions.
"Sooner or later, I will send troops to pacify the Mongolian tribes, but not now. Mongolia is now a mess with constant internal fighting. We can't waste time and energy on them!"
"And the threat from the old slave is much greater than the current chaos in Mongolia!"
"Although the old slave does not have a large territory and does not have many soldiers and horses, his victory is due to his strong fighting ability and his ability to endure hardships and stand hard work."
"This is the only serious concern of our Ming Dynasty. If the slaves are not peaceful, Liaodong will never be peaceful!"
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
All the ministers shouted in unison.
"You must be careful when selecting people. Those great Confucian masters who can only talk rhetoric should not go there and die. If they talk in such a tone, they will be killed by Lin Dan Khan without even saying a few words!"
"What I want is someone who is bold and careful, has a smart mind, can speak well, and is good at adapting to circumstances, just like Master Shen Weijing, who can manipulate the opponent at the palm of his hand!"
"The most important thing is, if you are not afraid of swords, armor, axes and axes, those who tremble when they see the Mongols should not go out and embarrass themselves!"
"If there is no one in the court, you can go to the private sector to select and recruit suitable people, and then bring them to see me. If there is no problem, give him a ninth-grade official status and arrange for him to leave the seclusion!"
"I understand!"
After the military deliberations are over, it's time for political affairs.
In the Ming Dynasty's state affairs, the most important issue now was the treasury taxation. This matter was causing quite a stir, and all the officials in the Ming Dynasty knew about it.
Because the Ministry of Finance has been suppressing it tightly, it has not spread too widely. Except for the civil servants in the court, the rest of the people don't know the inside story at all.
Because he was eager to eliminate Shanxi merchants, Zhu Youxiao didn't have time to understand it carefully. He only knew that there was something wrong with the tax revenue this year, but he didn't know what happened specifically.
Cheng Guoxiang, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, first handed the text of the report that had been prepared long ago to Wang Chaofu to submit it, and then waited quietly.
After briefly reading the tax and grain report, Zhu Youxiao felt a headache.
These Jiangnan nobles really would not let him rest for a moment.
The tax revenue in other places is not much different from last year, but the tax revenue in Jiangnan provinces is very bad, nearly half less than last year.
What puzzled him the most was that Cheng Guoxiang not only presented him with the tax receipts, but also presented him with a thick stack of IOUs.
That's right, they were IOUs. He also read some of the signatures on these IOUs. They were all wealthy gentry families in the Jiangnan area.
Everyone in the school was dumbfounded. Why did the tax collector collect so many IOUs?
He suppressed his anger and put the tax book and IOU aside, and then asked in a low voice:
"Da Situ, I won't ask you about taxes first. First, please explain to me, what are these IOUs about?"
Cheng Guoxiang swallowed, then strode forward, bowed to Zhu Youxiao who was sitting on the throne, and then shouted:
"Your Majesty, I am incompetent, derelict in my duties, and guilty. I really cannot collect the tax, grain, and money from the imperial court. Please ask Your Majesty to remove me, the Minister of Household Affairs!"
Zhu Youxiao's eyes tightened, he sat up slightly and said extremely seriously:
"Tell me clearly what's going on!"
Cheng Guoxiang immediately reported the specific matter to Zhu Youxiao.
These IOUs were indeed written by the gentry in Jiangnan.
This is also the reason why there is so little tax, food and money this year, because everything has been replaced by IOUs.
"Your Majesty, the officials from the yamen went to collect taxes, but they gave them various excuses. Either they said that this year's harvest was not good, or they said that the family had no food left and could not afford to pay the heavy taxes!"
Zhu Youxiao became angry when he heard this and immediately scolded:
"What kind of bullshit reason is this? Even a three-year-old child wouldn't believe this kind of nonsense. Are the people under your command so stupid?"
Seeing that the emperor was furious, Song Yingxing immediately stepped forward and spoke up for Cheng Guoxiang:
"Your Majesty, please calm down. I understand that I know a little bit about the inside story. It's really hard for Da Situ to tell you. I hope your Majesty can listen carefully to what Da Situ has to say!"
Zhu Youxiao also realized that he had lost his composure, so he took two deep breaths, controlled his emotions and said:
"I was excited just now. Don't take it off, Master Situ. Please continue speaking. I am all ears!"