Liu Wenxiu continued to interrogate Yang Xi and Mark who were locked in the cabin that day.

He wanted to dig out something from their mouths.

At this moment, Zhang Jingyi was thinking about... what impact this matter had on the Ming Dynasty.

After this peace talks, how can Wang Wenjun ensure the consent of the court?

If peace is made privately, it is obviously not possible.

When we were about to approach the Yangtze River Port, the sixth boiler among the ten boilers had also failed.

Zhang Jing was confused, because the ship speed had dropped significantly, and he slowly walked towards the river mouth.

Zhang Jingyi had already asked someone to investigate the water patterns near the river estuary, and this steam iron armored ship can actually enter the inland river directly.

Moreover, because it is steam powered, it can go up directly against the current without worrying about the impact of water flow.

Therefore, the people on both sides of Songjiang Prefecture and Nantong Prefecture saw a very strange behemoth that appeared at the Jiangkou.

At the same time, letters and reports have already been delivered to the capital.

In Beijing, Huang Liji, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, was already worried.

Several provinces along the river are no better than Liaodong. It is not only the most important source of wealth in the world, but also an important grain base.

The money and food of the entire Ming Dynasty need them to supply.

Therefore, any disturbances occur in these several savings will be unimaginable.

The Ministry of Revenue has already started calling.

The autumn grain that should have been delivered in previous years was not delivered to the capital because the water transportation was not available.

In the capital, the grain is used to support hundreds of thousands of officials and soldiers inside and outside the capital.

The casualties reported from various places in the Ministry of War are increasing day by day.

Of course, these problems are not all problems, because problems are not scary, just solve them.

But now I don't know how to solve it.

As a result, the cabinet and the six ministries became in chaos.

They had seen such an enemy before, that is, the Japanese pirates who had plagued the Ming Dynasty for many years, but now in this situation, the opponent's strength is ten times, or even a hundred times that of the Japanese pirates.

Facing such an enemy... I am only in a state of turmoil.

But at this moment, a report was delivered, which suddenly aroused Huang Liji's vigilance.

The three bachelors of the cabinet, Huang Liji, Sun Chengzong and Liu Hongxun, each circulated the memorial, and then the ministers of each department also arrived.

The content of this report makes people confused at first.

Because... the pirates have surrendered...

Reduced...

Yes, they are willing to accept the requisitions of the Ming Dynasty and are willing to truce.

It is obvious that the Ming Dynasty cannot come up with an effective method now, but the other party... is actually willing to seek peace?

Obviously, this is something that everyone dares not imagine.

But slowly, everyone began to figure out the taste.

This is not for peace, it is clearly a signing of the alliance under the city.

The foreign merchants were allowed to land, give them some land along the coast, and ask for the right of residence to be given to their merchants and others, hoping to allow them to govern themselves, that is, the affairs of foreign merchants should be handled by themselves.

In addition, I hope to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and all countries come to see the emperor with tribute.

Another thing is... Since the Ming Dynasty opened the sea, many sluts went into the sea, which seriously affected the security in the sea. I beg the Ming Dynasty to continue the previous sea ban in order to prevent sluts from causing trouble. The Ming Dynasty's military and civilians were not allowed to go into the sea.

Each of these three points is high-sounding, but if you think about it carefully, it will not be so pleasant.

Isn’t this the first one just to want land? The second one is to take the opportunity of tribute to ask for money. And this the third one is to ask for the Ming Dynasty’s Wastewater Army?

Huang Liji looked up, glanced at everyone, and said, "What do you think?"

Sun Chengzong pulled a sneer on his lips, and then said, "Wang Wenjun was in trouble with the country. Does this memorial mean to imitate Qin Hui?" Gu

He revealed the mystery in one sentence.

Everyone looked at each other.

In fact, everyone is smart, so naturally they all have a clear mind and they will know the tricks here at once.

But the problem is that knowing that it is one thing, and whether it is revealed is another thing.

Huang Liji nodded, but stroked his beard and said, "Although Mr. Sun's words are intense, they may not be unreasonable."

At this time, Zhou Yongchang, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who was standing in the corner, spoke.

Because the Minister of Revenue was sick at home, the Left Minister could only attend the cabinet meeting. He said with a sad face: "It's just that the grain will not be delivered again, I'm afraid... the official Lumi this year, as well as the food of the soldiers in the border town, will not be able to be expelled."

As soon as he finished his words, Li Hong, the Minister of Personnel on the other side, said: "I heard that when the pirates attacked, many people destroyed their families, and it was terrible. The pirate was cruel, ten times more than the bandits at the time. The bandits only attacked the big families, and wherever the pirates passed, they burned, killed, robbed, and kept no chickens and dogs."

Sun Chengzong said coldly: "It is precisely because the chickens and dogs are not kept that peace must never be made."

"I just want to continue to fight, how can I defeat the enemy?" Liu Hongxun looked at the Minister of War and asked.

The current Minister of War is Wang Cha. Wang Qia was born with a talented person and even wrote the "Ten Memorials of Military Affairs" himself, which was praised by the court. It is said that he is far-sighted and full of talent.

But now, Wang Qia, the new Minister of War, who is full of talent, is a little confused.

In fact, before this, the Ministry of War had made countless discussions about the pirates and came up with an idea almost a day, but found that the Ming Dynasty coastline was too long and its troops were limited, so it was impossible to deploy defense warnings everywhere in this thousand-mile coastline.

When I defend the west, the enemy attacks the east, and when I defend the south, the enemy attacks the north, it can be said that it is passive everywhere. Moreover, the army is exhausted when it is mobilized back and forth. People come by boat, and it can take hundreds of miles in a few days. However, when the marching on the land, the soldiers were all out of breath and could not be mobilized within dozens of days. Even if they were mobilized to the place, the pirates had already burned and killed them and left.

Even powerful brigades like the Donglin Army can only use this good steel on the blade now and dare not mobilize them easily, so they have to let them station in Nanjing, Fengyang and other places, for fear that once they are mobilized to other places, these military and political centers will be in trouble.

So Wang Qia smiled bitterly and said, "Oh... I, the Ming Dynasty, never expected that the real troubles came from the vast ocean. The country has been in the 250th anniversary of the reign of the country, and it is all focused on preventing the enemy in the northern desert. Now it is... caught off guard, and it is hard for a skilled woman to cook without rice!"

"At this moment, if you want to defeat the enemy... the officials say something that should not be said... it will take at least decades of hard work. One is to renovate the army and establish coastal defense with important ports. The second is to build ships, which will take thirty years to greatly improve the scale of the navy. The third is to continue to expand powerful brigades like the Donglin Army. If we have 300,000 Donglin Army in the Ming Dynasty, we can station ourselves everywhere in the world. Once there is something wrong, we can attack the thief head-on."

"Thirty or fifty years?" Li Hong frowned and said, "Not to mention that the building will be poured out by that time. Even if it is not counted at this time, how much money will the strategies mentioned by the prince cost? The Ministry of Revenue is not a treasure pot, and it will not produce silver."

Wang Qia said: "Now it is a big change, how can you just focus on that mere silver!"

Li Hong immediately retorted displeasedly: "If you don't take charge of your business, you don't know how expensive your food and rice are."

I was about to fall into endless quarrels again.

Huang Liji frowned slightly and then said, "Enough, at this time of crisis, we should unite and be united, why should we talk here?"

After saying that, he said in a deep voice: "I still need to give Wang Wenjun a letter to tell him a brief explanation of whether this battle can be fought and how much chance of winning? Even if it is two or three percent, I will have to fight bloody battles to the end!"

"The lessons of peace in the past dynasties have been covered in blood. How can we be such sinners? If there is really no way, let's discuss it again."

After hearing this, everyone had to nod.

Huang Liji is actually very clear that many people still hope to make peace in their hearts, some are for business and some are for personal gain.

However, at this moment, Sun Chengzong couldn't help but say, "Wang Wenjun is a supervisor, but he has no rules. Even if the coastal defense reaches such a level, he is also responsible. Now he asks him, I'm afraid he will also leave the house. This memorial is for peace talks, and then asks him what's the use of?"

Sun Chengzong was obviously dissatisfied for a long time. He did not support Wang Wenjun at the beginning, thinking that Zhang Jing should be more secure as soon as he took office.

Now that the situation is so corrupt, Wang Wenjun has a lot of ties. If he hadn't been afraid of changing generals at the last minute, he would have caused more trouble and given the pirates an opportunity to take advantage of it, he would have ordered Wang Wenjun to return to Beijing to be punished.

Sun Chengzong's old story is re-reported.

But it immediately aroused the disgust of many people. You know, when we asked Wang Wenjun to go, we were essentially afraid that the ministers would come to control the six provinces.

This is not a joke. Using culture to build martial arts is the fundamental reason. Once this regulation is broken, it will really violate the bottom line.

But many people remain silent, and although they are unhappy, they are inconvenient to say it.

But Wang Qiayi said righteously: "But Governor Zhang is also the general officer of Liaodong. Both of them are civil and military, and they are both responsible for coastal defense matters. But now it seems that Wang Wenjun is in vain. Has Governor Zhang offered another suggestion? So far, where has he been... he has not given an explanation yet!"

"Mr. Sun... I don't know much about military affairs, but this coastal defense is everyone's business. It's not Wang Wenjun or Zhang Jing can defeat the enemy with just one example. Now everyone is ineffective. Why is Wang Wenjun guilty of being punished by Governor Zhang?"

Sun Chengzong just snorted coldly, but said nothing.

On that day, a note from the cabinet was delivered to Zhenjiang in a hurry.

On the Zhenjiang side, Wang Wenjun, who had been waiting for a long time, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

Obviously, there is a dispute between the court and the middle of the country, and there is a dispute over whether to fight or to reconcile. Now... it is finally his turn to take action.
Chapter completed!