Chapter 8: Catch it all in one place (one)

In Wenhua Hall, Zhu Yinglong sat upright on the supreme dragon chaise, and the expression on his face was not at all relaxed.

The heavy snow has been falling continuously to this day. Although it has been much smaller at this moment, the snow has reached the knees and the disaster is quite serious. According to the report of the new Shuntian Prefecture Prefecture Song Shixiang, by the time he entered the Wenhua Hall, there were thousands of houses crushed by snow in the city, and more than 300 people were crushed to death. This is just the situation in the capital city. News outside the capital has not been able to be transmitted in time, and the losses are probably not small.

After listening to Song Shixiang's report, there was a heavy atmosphere in the entire hall. This was a natural disaster and could not be avoided by manpower. However, this caused many disasters and difficulties. The Ming Dynasty, which was slowly recovering from national strength, had a great blow. After the disaster, rumors might be slandered again. I don't know how many people would freeze to death and starve to death.

"Disaster relief, do your best to rescue disasters. Song Shixiang, no matter what method you use, you are not allowed to starve to death or freeze a person to death. If you have no money to come to me, you can transfer food to Beijing and warehouse. At present, everything is based on disaster relief as the primary purpose. All departments and government agencies must cooperate with each other and do not delay or ignore it." Natural disasters are inevitable. After major disasters, they are usually in chaos and the people are displaced. This is related to the people's will and people's hearts are facing north.

"Also, the Imperial Guards, the City Defense Forces, including the new Beijing Army, will all go to the streets to clear the streets for me to clean up the streets. I believe that people will defeat nature. As long as we work together, the capital will be the same as before in three days!" When he said this, Zhu Yinglong was already standing with an extremely firm expression.

"The emperor is wise!" The ministers were shocked, and even those officials with ulterior motives were a little moved. It was really a blessing for the people to have such an emperor who loved the people as much as his son.

Disaster relief is a major event, because of this, Zhu Yinglong immediately set up a disaster relief command team, with Song Shixiang as the leader of the command team, and some officials were drawn from various departments to coordinate. He directly asked them to rush to the scene of the snow disaster.

Although more than a dozen officials were removed, the court discussion had to continue.

"Report to the Emperor, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Lord Chang Yanlin, came to report that the Portuguese who occupied our Macau recently asked the court to clear the customs, allow them to enter the mainland for business, and demanded many privileges such as zero tariffs!" A minister of the Ministry of Personnel reported, "This is Governor Chang's memorial, please read it."

“Support it!”

Since the Portuguese helped the Ming Dynasty to train the army and bought red cannons for the court, although the Macau they occupied was just a small place. In the past, the imperial court wanted to send troops to recover, but the emperor was far away, and the local corruption often made thousands of troops unable to defeat hundreds of people. Over time, Macau was occupied by the Portuguese. The Portuguese government also sent a governor to manage it. Zhu Yinglong had always wanted to drive the extremely greedy Western colonists into the sea. Moreover, the Strait of Malacca controlled by the Portuguese was also what Zhu Yinglong had always dreamed of.

Due to the influence of Taiwan's return to the mainland, in order to maintain their status and influence in Taiwan, the Dutch originally sent troops to Malacca and eventually occupied Malacca this year, but this historical event did not happen. The Strait of Malacca was still under Portugal's control.

At this time, Portugal was still under the control of Spain, which was equivalent to a subordinate country of Spain. The current monarch was Philip IV of the Bragonsa Dynasty. The Portuguese had always wanted to get rid of the control of the Spanish and independent. This was a place that could be used. For this reason, Zhu Yinglong had never intended to touch Macau. He thought about how to get the greatest benefit at the lowest cost. Zhu Yinglong also knew that Portugal not only wanted independence, but also thought about how to connect with the Iberian Peninsula. Under this premise, the two countries had extremely broad areas of cooperation.

Macau is nominally led by the Spanish, but in fact Portugal is the most powerful. After all, Portugal is now in Macau. The Spanish, who now occupy Keelung, Taiwan, have secretly begun to unite with the Red-haired Dutch people in Rezhab City under the pressure of Hong Chengchou and Zheng Hongkui. If these two countries did not control the waterway for trade with the European continent, the imperial court will continue to earn gold and silver from Europeans through Japan's transit. This is also the reason why the imperial court has financial support. You should know that China is a major agricultural country and farmland.

Taxes occupy half of the country. Previously, for border wars, there were still layers of exploitation by corrupt officials. Taxes have been charged in the backbone for three to nine years. In this way, the people are greatly damaged and their national strength is damaged. This is the time to restore their national strength. Therefore, tax reductions and exemptions are not only to win the hearts of the people, but more importantly, to restore national strength. Without a large amount of money, the court will definitely not be able to operate and will still maintain so many troops. Therefore, if the money is not cut off, I will not offend me.

Zhu Yinglong dreamed that a sea channel could be controlled by himself, and Malacca was the throat channel that communicated between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. This water channel was a golden water channel. Before the Suez Canal was opened, it went south to the Cape of Good Hope and north to cross Malacca to the South China Sea. If such a golden trade route was controlled by the imperial court, it would be the source of wealth that rolled in, so how could people not be moved?

In Wenhua Palace, a group of important officials looked at the emperor sitting on the dragon throne and looked at the memorial in his hand. A very strange smile appeared on their faces. The smile was very strange, just like the pride of some kind of conspiracy to succeed. They felt aroused in their hearts, wondering why the emperor suddenly felt like this.

The experienced old ministers remained unmoved. They knew that the emperor was probably planning something with this expression. The emperor was a master who was unwilling to suffer losses. It seemed that Portugal might have sent himself to the emperor's mouth. At that time, even his bones would be swallowed by the emperor.

After a long time, Zhu Yinglong also found that he was stunned in front of so many ministers. He hurriedly spread his body and asked loudly: "What do you think about this matter when you are a beloved minister?"

"The barbarians are greedy and insatiable. As long as they give enough benefits, it is normal for them to sell their parents, wives and children. Our great country is a country of etiquette. How can we deal with such a country? The old minister suggested that the court take back Macau and expel these people." Yang He, the Minister of Justice, said that he is now a stubborn conservative, but the heart of maintaining the country's territorial integrity is good, and gentlemen like him are disdainful to join the vulgar business people.

"Where are you?"

"I believe that doing business is a sky-high price and paying back the money when it is put into the ground. Although the Portuguese are very arrogant and rude, trade transactions are a matter for both parties to benefit. Merchants pursue interests, and Portuguese loves money. As long as the court gives the other party a certain benefit while protecting its own interests, I think the court and the Portuguese can still talk about it." A clear voice said.

"Who said?"

"Huang Dingchen, the Foreign Minister." Huang Dingchen's official position was behind, so he stood relatively behind. Although more than a dozen people walked out of the hall, there were still many people. Zhu Yinglong didn't see him in his speech just now, so he had to leave the sequence and walk forward.

"You are talking. What would you do if I asked you to negotiate with the Portuguese?" Zhu Yinglong admired this young second-tier figure very much. First of all, his courage is something that many people do not have. This is something that an excellent diplomat must have. Diplomacy is actually that whoever has the big fist has the right to speak. Therefore, in the negotiation table, those skills and wisdom are irrelevant. The courage is the first to bear the brunt. Whoever occupies a strong and proactive position on the negotiating table will be the final winner. Otherwise, there is an old saying that "a scholar who meets a soldier cannot explain it clearly." In fact, when used in the negotiation table, rogues are sometimes more effective than telling the facts and reasoning, because if the other party wants to get more benefits, he will not reason with you. Power is politics, and politics is just a plaything for power.

"The empress will first ask the Portuguese to remove their so-called Macau Municipal Council, as well as officials such as the Governor and Chief Justice. Although it was the land leased by the court, it was still the territory of our Ming Dynasty, so the rules must be established by the court."

"Let's go!" Zhu Yinglong said with a smile. Huang Dingchen was still in line with his appetite, but it actually coincided with what he thought.

"As long as the Portuguese agree to this condition, the next court can discuss a series of courts such as residence, trade, and missionary." Huang Dingchen said frankly.

"How to talk?" Zhu Yinglong admired this young man more and more. With his calmness in front of him, it was worthy of vigorous cultivation. Liu Hongxun and others were already old. They were somewhat conservative in their thoughts, and history was still written by young people. Huang Dingchen was expected to become an excellent diplomat.

"Please forgive me, I can't say it." Huang Dingchen said with embarrassment.

"Why?" Zhu Yinglong looked at him with interesting interest.

"Wei, Weichen hasn't thought about it yet." Huang Dingchen became even more embarrassed.

"Haha..." A burst of laughter broke out from the hall, some were disdainful, some were contemptuous, some were jealous.

"What are you laughing at? What's ridiculous?" Zhu Yinglong's face darkened, and he was so scared that the officials who were laughing just now closed their mouths tactfully.

"After resigning from the court, you come to the Yangxin Palace. I have something to say to you." Zhu Yinglong walked down from the dragon throne and walked to Huang Dingchen and said softly.

Huang Dingchen's face was filled with excitement and nodded quickly and said, "I obey the order."

"Emperor, Sony, the Minister of the Later Jin Dynasty to Beijing, came to the cabinet yesterday to ask the court to change the horse farm from half a month to twice a month, and asked the court to provide some corn and sweet potato seeds." Sun Shenxing, deputy prime minister of the Inner Central Committee, reported that he was in charge of the ten cabinet ministries in finance and commerce, and the opening of the border horse farm was naturally within his jurisdiction.

"What do you mean?" Zhu Yinglong asked.

"It's not a big deal to change the horse farm. As long as the commercial goods are controlled in the hands of the court, it doesn't matter even if the horse farm is opened every day. However, the old minister thought that a single grain of corn, sweet potato seeds could not be given. The Later Jin wolf was ambition. The imperial court introduced corn, and sweet potatoes. I don't know how many people had saved. If the Later Jin mastered the cultivation of these two crops, their food would be self-sufficient. Huang Taiji was extremely ambitious. If he had enough food, it would definitely threaten the security of Liaodong. Therefore, the old minister believed that none of the seeds of these two crops could be obtained by the Later Jin." Sun Shenxing said firmly.

Zhu Yinglong did not agree. Some things can be blocked, but what is generally needed for food cannot be blocked. It is naturally impossible to obtain a large amount of food. But what the Jin people want is only seeds. How much seeds can be needed? Just a small bag can be expanded into a big sack. The land in the Northeast is fertile and it is a natural large granary that cannot be changed by manpower. Now Huang Taiji has obtained North Korea, which has obtained a large number of labor. Self-sufficiency in grains is no longer a problem. Instead, the Jin people who eat too much grains are more beneficial to the court, which helps to "improve" the physical condition of the Jin people. Although the effect may take decades or even hundreds of years before it will be noticed, how could Zhu Yinglong not do such a good thing as being assimilated by the Han people? Anyway, he will sooner or later flatten the entire Later Jin.

"Then let's handle it according to your wishes, Old Sun," although he thought so, Zhu Yinglong didn't want the Jinren to get what they wanted so easily.
Chapter completed!