"A naval battle broke out between Spain and Persia and North Korea on the Gold Coast of West Africa. Spain won a tragic victory. Persia and North Korea lost more than 70 warships and more than a dozen colonial strongholds."
"The Ottoman Empire defeated the Egyptian and Persian coalition forces in the Mesopotamia and re-captured the city of Baghdad!"
The morning in Beijing gradually became lively and noisy with the shouts of newsboys. People going to work hurriedly bought a few steamed buns and steamed buns, and while eating, they rode bicycles to the factory. A spectacular bicycle procession formed on the road.
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A few people drove on motorcycles, blasting the streets with roaring sounds, leaving a puff of black smoke under the envious eyes of countless people.
As for the Yiwu Teahouse, it was already overcrowded, and cars were parked next to the teahouse. Only the wealthy people could leisurely drink tea, read newspapers, and chat in the teahouse.
As for ordinary people, they are still running around for life every day.
Here in the palace, the ministers in the court have prepared for the morning court early. Emperor Hongzhi is no better than His Royal Highness Zhu Houzhao, he is a diligent emperor.
After traveling for almost a year, he became more active and more meticulous in his work after returning to the capital. He had seen many things and knew that it would be difficult to deceive him as easily as before.
Already.
Moreover, no one knows where Emperor Hongzhi went to the Ming Dynasty in the past year, inspected the provinces, places and areas of the Ming Dynasty, and whether he found out anything. Everyone has no idea at all.
No, so everyone is also trembling with fear, fearing that they will make some mistakes at this time and be exiled to the Black Earth Province.
"If you have something to do, start to act, if nothing happens, leave the court!"
In the Jinluan Palace, a eunuch raised his voice.
Xiao Jing was already old and could no longer serve Emperor Hongzhi. He was replaced by a eunuch named Li Quan to serve Emperor Hongzhi. However, Xiao Jing was still the chief ceremonial officer, but he was too old, had difficulty moving, and was in poor health.
This Li Quan did not leave any record or reputation in history. Of course, he was promoted by Xiao Jing. He was similar to Xiao Jing. He was one of the very few eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty who were relatively upright and not too greedy for money.
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"Your Majesty, the King of Korea and the Emperor of the Persian Empire have asked me, the Ming Dynasty, to mediate the conflicts in the colonies on the Gold Coast of West Africa!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Mao Ji, the Minister of Rites, stood up and began to speak.
The original old minister of the Ministry of Rites, Fu Han, died of illness due to his old age. Then Liu Chun, who was the minister of the Ministry of Rites, met Ding You and went home, so Mao Ji became the minister of the Ministry of Rites. He is relatively young, and he is only now
In his fifties, he was already an official in the Sixth Ministry of Finance, and he was on par with Li Dongyang back then.
There are basically old men above the court, and everyone is struggling. It depends on who can't stand it any longer first and has a vacant seat. Then he can move up.
He is already the Minister of Rites in his fifties. It can be said that he has a bright future. He has great hope of joining the cabinet as a cabinet minister in the future.
It's just that the current three cabinet ministers are Liu Jin, Wang Shouren and Zhong Zhong. Liu Jin is only in his thirties and Wang Shouren is only in his forties. It is estimated that as long as they make extraordinary mistakes, they can still work for decades.
Only Zhong Zhong is over seventy years old, and his health has become increasingly poor recently. He can no longer come to the court in the morning. Emperor Hongzhi is already considering letting him return to his hometown to rest in his old age.
However, Han Wen, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, is already over seventy years old. If Zhong Zhong goes home to take care of his old age, he will almost definitely join the cabinet.
So he is still too young, so he needs to continue to study hard. After studying Korean, he may have a chance.
Because there are still outstanding people like Yang Yiqing and Jiang Mian waiting in line and enduring, Mao Ji may never have the chance to join the cabinet in this life, and he has reached the extreme of being an official and reaching six ministers.
There is no way, who made Liu Jin, the chief minister of the cabinet in his thirties, and Wang Shouren, a cabinet minister in his forties, appear in the court now.
These two outstanding men were promoted too quickly. They only started serving as officials in the twelfth year of Hongzhi. Now it is only the twenty-ninth year of Hongzhi. In two years and seventeen years, they have already reached a height that no one can achieve in their lifetime.
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The most important thing is that both of them are too young.
Liu Jin is in his thirties. At this age, many people are still struggling to take the scientific examination. Wang Shouren is in his forties. At this age, many people may still be working as minor officials somewhere.
The two of them went directly to the cabinet.
This made countless veterans in the court vomit blood, because all the cabinet ministers in the Ming Dynasty were old people, and Li Dongyang was considered a very young man when he entered the cabinet in his fifties.
Most people who join the cabinet are at least over 60 years old, and they basically wait until they are over 70 years old before they can join the cabinet as cabinet ministers.
Because I'm very old, I won't be able to work for a long time if I join the cabinet. I might work for a few years before my health fails, and then I go home to take care of myself.
Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian have all been working for a long time, especially Liu Jian. He was the teacher of Emperor Hongzhi. Emperor Hongzhi promoted him to the cabinet not long after he became emperor. He has been the chief minister of the cabinet for more than ten years.
time.
A few years ago, it was also because his health was really bad and he was too old, he was over 80 years old, so he went home to take care of his old age, so Liu Jin was made the chief assistant of the cabinet.
Originally, everyone is older. After you have worked for a few years and retire, others will come up. Everyone will have the opportunity to become a minister and join the cabinet. Let’s not talk about the issue of power. At least, this is the six ministers.
, the cabinet minister can be regarded as a very human minister and a person of great honor to his ancestors.
Going to my hometown this time can be a very beautiful thing.
Now I have met two young men, Liu Jin and Wang Shouren, in the cabinet. If nothing else happens, they will probably work for more than ten or twenty years.
This made countless ministers in the DPRK burst into tears. When faced with this situation, many people's hopes of joining the cabinet were immediately shattered.
Can people in their 60s and 70s survive through their 30s or 40s?
Although Mao Ji reached the position of Minister of Rites in his fifties, compared with these two outstanding men, he is far behind. I guess if he wants to join the cabinet in this life, he still has to pray that his health is good enough to be able to
I can survive people like Han Wen, Yang Yiqing, and Jiang Mian.
I estimate that I may have to endure this for more than ten or twenty years. I will be almost seventy years old by then, so I still have some hope.
"This matter has been discussed many times before. There is no need to discuss it again. We will do it according to what was decided before."
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he said without thinking.
North Korea and Persia both wanted to eat meat in West Africa and provoked the Spanish, but they could not defeat Spain. Now they came to the Ming Empire to show their support. How could such a good thing happen in the world?
The Ming Dynasty sold a lot of warships to North Korea and Persia, and also sold a lot of arms and weapons. They still couldn't defeat the Spaniards. It was really a shame for the Orientals.
There is no need for the Ming Empire to get involved at all. It is only a good thing for them to continue fighting, so that the Ming Empire can continue to sell arms and weapons to both sides. This is in the best interest of the Ming Empire.
"Yes~"
When Mao Ji heard this, he quickly replied.
In fact, he had received a lot of benefits from North Korea. There were beauties from North Korea, ginseng, and gold and silver jewelry at home, so he was willing to help mention this matter to the court. The result was actually already expected.
The Ming Dynasty will not interfere in the affairs of West Africa because it is not in the interests of the Ming Empire.
"Your Majesty, the Ottoman Empire has prohibited the entry of cloth, sugar, grain, etc. from our country, which has seriously violated the Erzinjan Agreement, which stipulates that our businessmen from the Ming Dynasty have free trade rights."
"Originally, my Ming Dynasty has sent a warning letter to the Ottoman Empire, but the Ottoman Empire Sultan ignored my Ming Dynasty's warning and still went his own way, prohibiting the entry of Ming Dynasty-related products."
"At the same time, the war reparations that the Ottoman Empire should pay to me this year and the Ming Empire have never been paid. They have been making excuses to push back and forth, with the intention of tearing up the armistice agreement signed that year."
At this time, Jin Gui, the Minister of Household Affairs, stood up and began to speak.
Originally, the Ministry of Rites was responsible for external affairs, but because it involved war reparations, it had something to do with the Ministry of Household Affairs. In addition, the Ministry of Household Affairs was in charge of major matters such as money, food, and taxation, and worked closely with the capitalists, factory owners, and merchants of the Ming Dynasty.
After having more contact with it, I also learned about the Ottoman Empire’s ban on the entry of Ming products.
For this reason, Jin Gui also discussed with Mao Ji, the Minister of Rites, and the cabinet, and issued a stern warning to the Ottoman Empire. But who knew that within a few months, the Ottoman Empire would not even bother with the Ming Empire, and for
They don't seem to want to pay this year's war reparations.
This is not okay. War reparations are now also an important income for the Ming Dynasty's treasury. Japan, Siam, Malacca, the Ottoman Empire, England, France, Portugal, etc. all owe war reparations to the Ming Empire. They add up to
Tens of millions of taels of silver is a huge amount.
If the Ottoman Empire took the lead in not paying war reparations, other countries would most likely follow suit, and the Ming Empire would lose tens of millions of taels of silver in revenue a year.
Of course, with the Ming Empire's current treasury income of more than one billion silver a year, tens of millions of taels of silver are nothing. What is really unacceptable is that the Ottoman Empire is now provoking the majesty of the Ming Empire.
This is not just a matter of commodity trade or war reparations.
What is at stake is the hegemony and majesty of the Ming Empire!