The emperor Zhu Houzhao wanted to be a carefree emperor who could indulge in love with his emotions. In the mind of this naughty child, he did not understand any responsibility for family and country. He was born with a golden key in his mouth. He did not need to consider food, clothing, housing and transportation, nor did he need to worry about his future work and family. He became a carefree prince in the first half of his life, and became an emperor who enjoyed himself in the second half of his life.

From the beginning, naughty kids regarded being an emperor as a fun thing, and they didn't know how difficult the profession of the emperor was.

At this time, in the Ganqing Palace, the cabinet ministers Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Zhang Mao, Ma Wensheng, and Zhang Heling, a total of five ministers were accepting the news of Emperor Hongzhi.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian should have attended this important meeting, but because Liu Jian said he could not afford to get sick, Zhu Youzhang did not force him and asked Liu Jian to stay at home for the time being to recuperate.

Zhu Youzhang held several war reports from the northwest in his hand.

In the war report, Liu Daxia said that he had sent troops to Ningxia Town. While recovering Yulin Guard was expected, he might also fight a few reasonable victories at the end of the war and wipe out some Tatar tribes. Although it could not have a fundamental impact on the situation and would not hurt the Tatars fundamentally, fortunately it was a Jedi counterattack by the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Youzhang rekindled the hope of establishing civil and military achievements.

Li Dongyang said: "Your Majesty, the battle in the northwest is coming to an end. Liu Shangshu uses his troops very quickly. If he can meet the remnants of Tatars in Ningxia, Shaanxi and other places, the border army has a high chance of winning, and may recover the lost territory in one fell swoop and promote the prestige of our Ming Dynasty!"

Li Dongyang said all the clichés and empty words, so that Zhu Youzhang felt that it was not very pleasant to listen to.

He prepared for a year of war and recruited hundreds of thousands of soldiers to gather in the border, but was defeated by the Tatars and penetrated the border. Hundreds of thousands of troops sprinkled blood on the battlefield. As a result, he only had a "consolation prize" to kill a few Tatars and fooled people and blocked the people's leisurely mouths. Zhu Youzhang couldn't help but feel that he was a coward.

In Zhu Youting's opinion, he could expect the recovery of lost land. The Tatars had no intention of operating the Ming city. As for promoting the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, he would never believe it.

The previous series of defeats in the Northwest is a fact. Unless it can defeat the Tatars like a dog that is a broken family, just like in the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, turning defeat into victory and annihilation of tens of thousands of enemies, or driving straight into the grassland, this is the real "prominence of the country", otherwise it is deceiving oneself.

Zhu Youting lay on the sickbed, slowly turned his head, with a helpless look in his expression, and sighed slowly: "Shangshu Ma, you used troops in the northwest more than ten years ago, and a few years ago, you have a unique judgment on the situation in the northwest. The Qing family thinks that when you use troops, you can completely reverse the decline?"

Perhaps Emperor Hongzhi was too direct in his words and reversed the decline. The implicit meaning was that the emperor did not admit that the restoration of Yansui was to "enhancing the prestige of the country", because what Liu Daxia had dealt with was probably just a group of scattered soldiers and brave men.

Ma Wenshengruo blindly emphasized that it was only a brief setback and could not satisfy the emperor. He could only change his tone and admit that there were indeed omissions in the battle in the Northwest that led to failure. This responsibility obviously cannot be carried by the emperor.

Ma Wensheng said: "Return to Your Majesty, the war in the northwest has entered its final stage. It is better to seek victory steadily, recover the nearby areas of Yulin Guard, and repair the damaged city walls. It is not advisable to launch a large number of troops. After a year, the people's livelihood in the northwest will be restored. If the troops are transferred northward, you may take advantage of the Tatars' unpreparedness and level the grassland in one fell swoop! If it is not good, you can also restore Hetao!"

Zhu Youzhang remained silent for a moment after hearing Ma Wensheng's words.

Although Li Dongyang and Ma Wensheng were famous officials of a generation, they both adopted a similar view on the statements of the Northwest War, which was to help the emperor excuse him and not face the disastrous defeat head-on.

Li Dongyang advocated that the northwest still had the opportunity to turn the situation around the war and could promote the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, while Ma Wensheng advocated seeking stability for the time being, first ending the battle decently, and then pacifying the Tatars in the next year, and saying an unrealistic statement that "placing the grassland in one fell swoop."

When the troops were strong and the horses were strong, they could not conquer the Tatars, but were beaten to the ground and looked for teeth. When the Tatars' soldiers became more powerful next year, what qualifications would they have to say such things?

Although Li Dongyang and Ma Wensheng are both making unrealistic goals, they have a similar view, that is, when the battle in the Northwest is over, the land that falls in the Northwest can be completely recovered through the next one or two months of war.

As for the safety of the capital, no one mentioned it from beginning to end, which shows that the capital city is as solid as a soul in their eyes.

Zhang Mao had not spoken around him, and took the opportunity to make a point: "Your Majesty, since the war in the northwest is coming to an end, and the beacons around the capital have been on fire for a long time, it is better to lift the martial law in the capital and make the goods smooth, so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and not let the hoarding people harm the people!"

Zhu Youzhang was thinking about Ma Wensheng's words, and asked after hearing this: "Are there any illegal merchants in the capital who hoarded goods?"

Zhang Mao didn't know where to start for a moment. He mentioned this because he learned from the report of the generals and generals that the Zhang brothers made great money by utilizing martial law in the capital. They opened the city gate privately in the middle of the night, transported goods outside the city into the city, and took advantage of the shortage of materials in the city to buy low and sell high.

Zhang Mao still didn't know that this was just Zhang Yanling's actions and had nothing to do with Zhang Heling. Even though he knew it, he knew that Zhu Youzhang had always been favorable to his two brothers-in-law, so he was unwilling to tell the emperor about this, which not only made the emperor and the Zhang brothers unable to come to Taiwan, but also seemed to be too talkative and caused trouble for the royal family.

Zhang Mao just nodded with certainty: "Yes!"

"That……"

Zhu Youzhang hesitated for a moment. In fact, in his heart, he did not want to lift the ban on the capital for the time being. This has nothing to do with the intensity of the war in the northwest. He was afraid that he would have some shortcomings. Others covet the throne, and martial law in the capital was the most conducive to the inheritance of the throne.

It was rare to use troops in the northwest, which gave Zhu Youting the opportunity to be martial law in the capital. Zhu Youting felt that his health was getting worse and worse, so he thought about letting the capital be more martial law in a few more days. This was also a temporary measure when he felt that he could not control the government and military power.

Only when martial law is strictly followed can the military power be firmly controlled in the hands of the emperor.

Zhu Youzhang was an emperor who was good at accepting advice. He was hesitant and wanted to ask others for their opinions. Zhang Heling, who was in charge of the Beijing camp, suddenly came forward to report:

"Your Majesty, the war in the northwest has not yet been settled, and your Majesty is also ill. Now the surrounding area of ​​the capital is generally peaceful. If the martial law in the capital is lifted, or if a villain takes the opportunity to cause trouble, it is better to maintain the martial law temporarily. After the northwest is completely quelled by the end of the year, the Tatars will retreat to the grassland, and then discuss it!"

At other times, the words of the Zhang brothers were not favored by Emperor Hongzhi. The main reason was that the Zhang brothers did not have much talent to learn and could easily "embarrass" the emperor in front of others.

Zhu Youting didn't like this brother-in-law who didn't have much ink in his belly to talk nonsense, but this time it was different. Zhang Heling's words sounded very well to Zhu Youting.

Because Zhang Heling's words happened to be Zhu Youzhe's thoughts.

In this process similar to the court discussion, being able to be appreciated by the emperor is not an upright minister who makes effective suggestions, but a flattering minister who can understand the will of the holy people. Therefore, in all dynasties, whether it is a wise monarch or a foolish emperor, we need both a straightforward minister who can do practical things for him, and a flattering minister who can understand the intention of the king to be a thing that is beyond the reach of a sage.

If all of them are serious and preaching theories and rules all day long, being an emperor can be exhausted.

Zhu Youzhang really wanted to agree with Zhang Heling's request and continue to maintain martial law in the capital, but now only two people put forward their views. Zhang Mao proposed to lift the martial law, and Zhang Heling expressed his intention to maintain it. However, Zhang Mao's identity and status are far above Zhang Heling. If Zhang Mao does not listen to the opinions of such an old minister, but listens to his brother-in-law's opinions, it will make people feel that he believes in slander.

At this time, someone needs to stand up and affirm Zhang Heling's suggestion. As long as a two-to-one situation is formed, Zhu Youzhang can naturally agree to Zhang Heling's request.

This person can only be Xie Qian, who is good at observing words and speaking beautiful scenes.

The reason why Zhu Youzhang liked to use Xie Qian in the past was not because Xie Qian was very capable. On the contrary, before Chen Xi helped, Xie Qian had relatively weak ability in the three Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, but was known for his ability to speak and eloquently.

Xie Qian is much better than Zhang Heling when he is thinking about people's psychology.

Zhang Heling is just a person who starts from his own perspective to maintain the interests of the emperor, while Xie Qian has the ability to understand people's hearts and can completely care about the emperor's face and dignity.

Zhu Youzhang asked: "Xie Qing family, what do you think about martial law in the capital?"

When asked where Li Dongyang or Ma Wensheng, most of them would express their truest statements, agree or disagree. They can not only put forward opinions, but also provide appropriate reasons.

But when Xie Qian arrived here, no matter what his thoughts were, Xie Qian would first think about what the emperor thought, or which statement was most in line with the emperor's wishes.

When Xie Qian heard this, he said, "Oh, it's not right. As for the issue of martial law in the capital, will the emperor hesitate?

Zhang Mao and Zhang Heling had a conflict of opinions. If the emperor tended to adopt Zhang Mao's opinion in his heart and would definitely not ask him as a minister to speak, then there was only one explanation. The emperor was more inclined to Zhang Heling's opinion. However, because Zhang Heling had a gap in identity and status and status, he needed to come out and agree with Zhang Heling's words, so that the emperor could make a "suitable" choice among the two opinions.

"Go back to your Majesty."

Xie Qian said, "The old minister thinks that it is better for the capital to maintain martial law."

"Oh, how did Xie Qing's family have this view?"

Zhu Youzhang knew that Xie Qian was very sensible, and his answer was just right for him and his words were very direct, so that he could adopt the suggestions.

Generally speaking, as long as it is Xie Qian's point of view, others will not have too many opinions and will not refute it anymore, because Xie Qian did better than others in understanding the saint's will. Usually if Xie Qian said this, it means that the emperor's original intention was like this, and there is no need to anger the emperor.

Xie Qian said: "The war in the northwest is still unstable, and the capital is now in order. If martial law is lifted, it will definitely affect people's livelihood in the short term. It is better to keep martial law than moving at this time. It is best to continue to maintain martial law. Just open one hour in the morning and evening to facilitate merchants in the city to stock up on goods and buy food and vegetables!"

Zhu Youzhang used to think that it would be better for Xie Qian to put forward an opinion that matched him, and he did not ask Xie Qian to put forward any good suggestions.

But now when Xie Qian said, "Everyone opens sooner or later, the city gate and market will be opened for one hour", Zhu Youzhang felt it made sense. It not only maintained martial law in the capital, but also ensured people's livelihood, which was a killing two birds with one stone.

"This suggestion is very good, I will adopt it!" Zhu Youzhang said happily.

In Zhu Youting's mind, Xie Qian's status was invisibly higher, but he didn't know that Xie Qian's suggestions were nonsense, because even if Xie Qian did not mention this suggestion, the capital would open an hour in the morning and evening, and at the same time, major markets would also open trade. Otherwise, if martial law is in place for a few months, will the people in the city go to drink the northwest wind?
Chapter completed!