"I accept the order!"
A group of ministers knelt down in front of the closed bedroom, led by Niu Yuan. He dragged his legs and moved forward, put his knees on the last step, shouted long live, raised his hands, and received the imperial edict from the prince.
"Everyone, please accept the order and thank me!" He turned around and stood up, looking down at the people at the foot of the steps arrogantly. No one dared to raise their heads and look at him, and no one dared to say anything strange.
"Hong Shaobao, I didn't expect the progress to be so smooth..." Niu Yuan returned to the lobby of Zhongshu Province and said proudly to Hong Lisan, "Who do you think should be entrusted with this matter?"
"Ye Shangshu has always been favored by you, are you going to let him take over today's matter?" Hong Lizhen asked.
Niu Yuan sighed and smiled coldly: "In my opinion, this person is really useless."
Hong Lisan showed a puzzled expression.
Niu Yuan saw his thoughts and immediately said: "I will never tell anyone the reason, but I trust Hong Shaobao, so I will tell you everything. At first, I thought he was sincere. He admired me, but as time went by, I found that he was not willing to take orders from his own officials. He always wanted to use my new policy as a cover to implement his own policies. This man was very ambitious and difficult to control. It took a lot of scheming on my part to make him stop in time. Now I am really afraid of him, and I have made up my mind to never let this person take charge again! This is not Niu's sectarian opinion. I can even say bluntly, keep that person Ye Yongjia, we, the criticized 'Liu Party', will die without a burial place sooner or later!"
Hong Lisan looked at him in surprise, his face turned pale - obviously frightened by these harsh words.
Niu Yuan was speaking enthusiastically and impassionedly, but suddenly caught a glimpse of his expression, and realized that he had made a mistake. He immediately relaxed his tense face and gradually regained his composure: "I'm sorry, I was too angry... Tinglong, after all, He is someone who was cultivated by Prime Minister Liu, and he does have some merits, I am not denying that."
Hong Lishen didn't answer, pretending not to hear, arranging the documents in his hand, looking around.
Niu Yuan knew that he was deliberately avoiding it, so he stopped discussing the topic and returned to business: "That's why I have to carefully consider the candidates." At this point, he took a tea bowl from the side and blew it carefully. He looked at him sideways and said, "If Hong Shaobao is willing..."
"Everything is at the disposal of the Prime Minister!" Hong Lisan immediately understood what he meant, stood up and made a deep bow.
Niu Yuan smiled: "Shaobao still knows my feelings! You are from the south, and you can adapt to the land of Fujian and Guangdong. But do you understand my strategy?"
Hong Lizhen nodded and said: "I have been with the Prime Minister for many days. Although I cannot learn your clever methods, I still have this memory. I just don't know whether to go to Guangdong or Fujian first?"
Niu Yuan frowned, stroking his goatee, and said slowly: "I think we should learn from Yan Wen's lesson. He appointed a superintendent and took over the local school affairs with full authority, and did not allow local officials to interfere. Finally, It will cause disharmony between the superiors and the subordinates, and it will be very disappointing. In this case, you might as well not go to the site for inspection, and sit down directly in Zhangzhou to take charge of the matter. You only order Fuzhou and Guangzhou provinces to submit documents, take care of the general outline, supervise the actions, and do not interfere unreasonably; If officials are no longer harshly punished, the morale will not be bad, and things will be done much faster."
Hong Lizhen just nodded without thinking: "The Prime Minister is wise!"
"I'm going to send you an order." Niu Yuan drank the tea in a big gulp, pushed the bowl to the side, and laid out the paper. "It's about the forbidden sea. I'll write it down and you can take it. You don't have to submit it to me." The emperor has seen it and asked Taiwei Gui to stamp it."
Hong Lisan was not surprised by the decision to ban the sea, so he stopped disturbing him and stepped aside silently, waiting quietly for him to finish writing.
"Your Excellency, the Minister of Rites has brought a foreigner to ask for an audience!"
Niu Yuan heard the call from outside the lobby. After pondering for a moment, he put down his pen, stood up and shouted: "Tell the two of them to come in!"
He himself hurriedly walked out from behind the desk, stuffed the written document into Hong Lisan's arms, and patted him on the shoulder: "Please wait with me first."
"The envoy of the Atlantic Kingdom, Lian Chongyi, is here to pay homage to the Prime Minister."
Niu Yuan took a quick look and saw a slightly fat man standing in the hall, with serious eyes and clenched fists.
"Your name is Lian Chongyi?" he asked in a disdainful tone.
"I don't have a Chinese name at all. This is the name I was given temporarily by the Minister of Rites." Lian Chongyi bowed slightly and glanced at Lu Zhixian, the Minister of Rites.
"What does he do?" Niu Yuan ignored him and turned to ask Lu Shangshu.
Lu Zhixian said: "According to his own claims, he came to negotiate with the Celestial Empire on the release of Wu Sijing on the orders of the leader of the Atlantic Kingdom."
"Who is Wu Sixing?" Niu Yuan knocked on his forehead, unable to remember clearly.
"I report to the Prime Minister that he is a Westerner who deceived the imperial court under the guise of opening a factory."
"Oh, it's that person! Just keep talking."
Lu Zhixian then went on to tell Lian Chongyi's experience: "He arrived in the capital five days ago, met Wu Sijing in the prison, and then followed the jailer to the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Punishment handed him over to me."
"Does Duke Liu know about this?" Niu Yuan asked.
"I will take this person to see the Prime Minister first. The Prime Minister did not comment and said he wanted to see your opinion first."
"Me?" Niu Yuan snorted, "How can you let a sinner of the Celestial Empire be released as soon as you say it? Go back and tell your king that the divine power of the Celestial Empire cannot be violated!"
After hearing this, Lian Chongwen not only did not get angry, but smiled slyly: "Fengxiang, Wu Sijing has no effect on you anymore, but after all, he is the bishop of our country, and it is related to the face of our country, so it is very urgent for us. "
"Do you mean to bring some benefit to the court?" Niu Yuan's tone softened.
"It's all up to you."
Niu Yuan pinched one of his fingers and thought carefully: "This country occupies the Southeast Asia and frequently engages in merchant ship trade. If the court can take the opportunity to make good friends with them, it can eliminate a large enemy country and purchase muskets from them." Artillery to complete the armament. But...' He suddenly shifted his gaze to Hong Lisan, staring at the sea ban order that had just been issued.
'Now is the time of war, how can we start another incident? ' He was thinking rapidly in his mind, but he couldn't think of a solution that would satisfy both parties, which made him extremely confused. 'It's better to take it one step at a time... I'll talk to him first and see how it goes in the future. '
Thinking of this, Niu Yuan finally made up his mind. He stretched out his hand and gave a slap: "How about five hundred cannons as ransom?"
