Above the court, it was silent for a while, and I was afraid that even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard at this time, so everyone was waiting for the next step of the situation.
Among the officials, some officials looked at each other in confusion, but no one dared to jump out and say a word of disagreement.
Since the second prince dares to propose the idea of expanding fifty thousand black armored knights today, he must have something to rely on even if he is not 100% sure of success.
Maybe he’s already had an affair with the person sitting above him!
The first person to stand up at this time will definitely be targeted by the second prince. Later, when everyone starts to present evidence to make sense, the first person to stand up now will definitely not get any good results.
It is estimated that Zhao Yunqing, who was standing in the middle, was a little numb at this moment. No matter how much the Holy Emperor trusted him, it would do no good to offend the second prince.
He originally thought that this time the civil servants would share their hatred and help him stand up and speak out, but at this time, Su Wang, Lu Xiangrui and others who could really speak up closed their eyes and rested.
It was as if what happened today had nothing to do with them, even Cheng Yijie, the minister who had always been willing to stand by his side, did not speak.
Su Wang, Lu Xiangrui and Cheng Yijie are all extremely smart people. The three of them can be said to be the weather vanes in the Chu court. Every time there is a court meeting, you can tell whether something big is going to happen or not from their faces.
And these people have always been favored by the emperor, and they are old people who started their careers with the late emperor, so what they say has great weight in Chu Zheng.
But today the three of them didn't speak, which made the whole court look a little weird.
However, the behavior of the three people really made Zhao Yunqing a little disappointed. It is estimated that if these people want to instigate him to stand out and be the leader in the future, it will be difficult for Zhao Yunqing to agree.
But at this time, no one knows what Su Wang and others are thinking, or have they already received a hint from the emperor telling them not to interfere in this matter?
As for why he is not the second prince, it is because he cannot control these old ministers.
Those who could speak did not speak, and those who wanted to spoke did not dare to speak. The atmosphere in the court was extremely awkward at the moment.
But this is not the first time for the ministers. For some insignificant officials, this is actually not a big deal.
All they have to do is lower their heads a little further, and the board won't be able to hit them anyway.
If the sky falls, there will still be tall people holding it up.
Chu Zheng supported his chin with one hand and rested his hand casually on the dragon chair. He seemed to be about to fall asleep. He seemed to enjoy watching the lowly ministers quarreling in this state.
It was not until this time that it was too quiet down there that he woke up from his sleep.
"My dear sirs, I wonder if you have any opinions on the matter of military expansion. Ministers, you can speak boldly. I promise that I will not pursue you for the crime of improper words."
Just when all the ministers were silent, Chu Zheng's light words came down from the top.
Until then, there were some whispers among the ministers, but no one dared to stand in the middle of the Golden Palace.
"Tang Li, what do you want to say?"
In the past two years, the Yushitai has changed its chief officer, and the young man named Tang Li has been replaced. But in fact, he is not young at all. He is just a young man who has just turned forty years old.
After becoming the chief official of the Censorship Office, it must be said that he still has a long career ahead of him. Of course, it is unclear whether he will be held in the position of Censorship for the rest of his life.
As for the old man who was upright, radical and dared to impeach hundreds of officials and even accused Chu Zheng of being wrong in court, he has retired and returned to his hometown.
When the old man became an official, he was less than sixty years old, but his body and bones were indeed about to collapse. It is estimated that half of them were made popular by the people in the court, including Chu Zheng.
The old man has worked hard for the country all his life. Even some of Chu Zheng's foolish actions in his youth were scolded by this old man. In order to allow the old man to enjoy a few years of peace at the end of his life, Chu Zheng finally did not
At the end of his life, he forced himself to stay by his side.
This old man sees it too clearly, but is unwilling to recognize the reality, so he often curses in the temple, but never
Unexpectedly, the old man's reputation in the court has always been the best, and everyone who serves as an official in the court has to say that he is honest.
The old man has gone home to enjoy his old age, so we won't go into details here.
Let’s go back to Tang Li, the now quite young chief official of Yushitai. This man received five points of true inheritance from the old man. As for why it was only five points, it was because half of him was upright and the other half was from other people in the court.
Locally learned tact.
If today's situation happened to the boss, I'm afraid he would have cursed him a long time ago, even if it was the second prince in front of him, who would still need to be named by Chu Zheng himself just like the one in front of him.
"Your Majesty, I feel that the expansion of the army is not impossible. Everyone has seen the decline of the border in the past two years. I believe that all the princes in the court have no objection to the expansion of the army, but how to expand it, how many troops to expand, and where to recruit from,
Where to train, all these matters still need to be discussed, and I don’t dare to speak nonsense if I don’t understand military affairs.”
Come on! I said a lot but nothing was useful. No wonder the current Yushitai is no longer as radical as it was two years ago.
As the saying goes, one soldier is raging, and the generals are raging. If the chief officer is so smooth, how can he expect his subordinates to do anything?
Chu Zheng actually didn't like Tang Li's smooth character. He preferred the uprightness of the old master.
It's not that Tang Li couldn't see the situation clearly, it's just that he always liked to play some self-righteous tricks. He had some wisdom, but in Chu Zheng's eyes, he still needed to be polished for a few years.
However, Tang Li's words opened the mouths of all the ministers present. Anyway, the first bird was already there. Even if the emperor himself pulled out the first bird, then they didn't care.
"Your Majesty, I also feel that the expansion of the army is not impossible, but according to the past, the military expenditure required for these 50,000 black-armored black knights for three years... It is not an exaggeration to say that it is an astronomical figure, but I am very aware of it.
The national policy established by the founding of the country is to live in harmony with the people. Although this military expansion is to guard the border, the number of 50,000 is still too much."
The person who stood up this time was Xie Duanyou, the right minister of the Ministry of Finance, who had to stand up under Zhao Yunqing's signal.
As for why he is not Zuo Shilang, first of all, it is because Zuo Shilang is none other than Su Ruyu, the son of Prime Minister Su Wang.
It was understandable that he didn't stand up and speak for his commander when he was not in the spotlight just now, but now Tang Li has spoken first, and if Xie Duanyou doesn't stand up and go back, he will be beaten by Zhao Yunqing.
Su Ruyu may not care about Zhao Yunqing, but Xie Duanyou must consider him.
And after seeing two more people finally around him, Zhao Yunqing could finally take a breath.
However, what Tang Li and Xie Duanyou said was probably what most of the civil servants present thought.
The second prince wants to expand the army! Yes! No matter what, everyone must give him face, but these civil servants will not agree to expand the army by 50,000 black-armored black cavalry.
Even if everyone can grit their teeth and get by in terms of funds, it is impossible to give those generals an advantage.
On the other side of the court, the old marshal Dou Xianzhang closed his eyes and meditated like Su Wang and others. This old man who had made great contributions to Chu was even better than Su Wang when he was silently meditating, and even reached Chu.
He will never speak until the government opens his mouth.
As the leader of the army in Beijing, Dou Xianzhang has not made any big moves for nearly ten years. To be serious, it is not an exaggeration to say that Dou Xianzhang has done nothing.
But even in this inaction, the civilian officials failed to take away much power from the military generals. It must be said that Dou Xianzhang's efforts have led to the peace and harmony of civil and military officials over the years.
However, except for Dou Xianzhang, some of the old generals behind him were looking longingly at Chu Zheng at the top.
Life is not easy for the army! Zhao Yunqing is in charge of Chu Zheng's money bag and is notoriously stingy.
In previous years, when it comes to military expenditures, these old generals have dealt with this old man. But every year, when these old generals are about to lose their temper, Zhao Yunqing can always come up with a price that everyone can barely accept.
For several years, some old generals were preparing to read Zhao Yunqing's book in front of the emperor, but they punched the cotton again.
Someone started talking, and from time to time someone stood up and spoke, but the general idea was that it was okay to expand the army, but not as many as 50,000.
two
The prince watched all this quietly and did not rush to speak. It was not until Chu Zheng waved his hand to signal everyone to quiet down that Chu Tianxiong took a step forward and spoke.
"Father, in recent years, military fatigue has reached the point where there is no need to delay. The soldiers on the border guarding all sides are miserable. However, you must know that the prosperity of our country comes from the stability of the border. If our country does not pay attention to border matters, I am afraid that it will
It will shake the foundation of the country!"
"Second Prince, be careful. Our country has been peaceful and peaceful for several years, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. How can the expansion of the army be related to the foundation of the country?"
Tang Li could be tactful about the expansion of the army, but at this moment he could boldly criticize the second prince. This is why Chu Zheng saw his tact, but he could still sit in the position of chief official of the Yushitai.
It is true that Tang Li was a little smart and self-righteous, but he could still see clearly what was right and wrong.
However, just after Tang Li finished speaking, the old Marshal Dou Xianzhang, who had been closing his eyes to rest his mind, opened his eyes.
Looking at Tang Li, this old man who had displayed an indomitable spirit for the entire ten years spoke.
"Master Tang said that our country is peaceful and the people live and work in peace and contentment, but I don't know how Master Tang knew this?"
"The capital is prosperous! People everywhere are well fed and clothed. A prosperous age that has not been seen in a century is right in front of us. Can't you see the old marshal?"
Dou Xianzhang stared at Tang Li. Although his eyes were calm, Tang Li still felt a little scared in his heart.
This veteran who had not spoken for ten years finally decided to say a few words for the border soldiers and people.
"The capital is prosperous. I have indeed seen it. Compared with the previous dynasties, it is indeed a prosperous scene that has not been seen in a century. However, Mr. Tang said that people everywhere can have enough food, clothing, and live and work in peace and contentment. I don't know where this conclusion comes from. Mr. Tang
Have you ever left Beijing and really gone to various places in Dachu to see if the people are living and working in peace and contentment?"
The old marshal Dou Xianzhang, who was old but still powerful, suddenly raised his voice.
"On the border between the Chu, Liao and Jin states, five thousand soldiers are killed every year!"
Some among the civil servants were in awe. No matter what conflicts and conflicts of interest they had with these generals, these heroes who sacrificed their lives for the country deserved their respect.
"Originally, it doesn't matter. Soldiers eat military rations and receive military pay. If they don't die on the battlefield, where will they die?"
Dou Xianzhang lowered his voice, but suddenly raised it again the next moment.
"But what you civil servants don't know is what consequences the lack of military strength at the border will lead to! In the past few years, my country, Chu, has been invaded by barbarians from the grassland every year due to insufficient troops. Some villages and small towns have been invaded every year. Every year, a large number of people have
They were massacred by the grassland barbarians, or taken captive from the grassland and turned into slaves. By the time our army rushed over, those villages or towns had already been slaughtered by the grassland barbarians."
At this point, Dou Xianzhang's speaking speed slowed down again.
"If there are 5,000 border soldiers every year, then the number of border civilians who die is more than ten times that of the dead soldiers! If the soldiers who died on the battlefield deserved their death, then how innocent these people are! Mr. Tang just said that the people in all parts of Da Chu live and work in peace and contentment.
But I never knew that some people on the border have reached the point where they don’t have enough food to eat!”
After Dou Xianzhang finished speaking, he no longer looked at Tang Li, but looked directly at Emperor Chu Zheng above the main hall, and strode to the side of the second prince.
"Your Majesty, regarding the expansion of fifty thousand black-armored black knights mentioned by the second prince, I second my opinion!"
No one spoke anymore in the main hall, even Zhao Yunqing, who had been crying about poverty, stood aside.
These officials usually fight against each other, but they still want to do something for the people.
If the data listed by Dou Xianzhang were only 5,000 soldiers killed in battle every year, they would admire him, but they would not make too many concessions on the expansion of the army. At this time, it is related to people's livelihood, and finally no one will stand up to oppose it.
"Your Majesty, I second your proposal!"
During the silence, Lu Xiangrui, who had been sleeping with his eyes closed, stood up from the crowd of civil servants.
"My son seconded the proposal!"
"I second the proposal!"
"I second the proposal!"
Then came the prince Chu Wushuang, the prime minister Su Wang, the minister Cheng Yijie, the Zhongshu minister He Ren'an, the censor Ling Lu Lingxuan, the military minister Ma Suiliang, the military veteran Li Shiping, and the chief officer of the censorship station Tang Li.
, it’s Su Ruyu, the left minister of the Ministry of Finance, also...