Now that there is an opportunity to eradicate the remnants of the White Lotus who fled north to the south of the desert, even if this important matter is finally finalized, none of the important ministers present will jump out and say stupid things like "the remnants of the White Lotus are nothing to be afraid of" - they have no political consciousness at all. If so, it would be better to take the initiative to resign as soon as possible.
After the meeting, Gao pragmatic quietly approached Gao Gong, and first apologized to his third uncle for "making his own decisions" without asking for permission. Gao Gong was silent for a moment, sighed and said, "I know you are different from ordinary children, but this kind of In the future, you must warn me about major events and don’t make such sudden attacks again." He glanced around and lowered his voice: "You have to know that our uncle and nephew are a thorn in the eyes and flesh of many people right now. .”
Gao Pragmatic promised again and again, saying that he understood that he was wrong, and then changed his tone and said: "Third uncle, has the memorial that the cabinet wants to present to His Highness the Crown Prince selected today? If not, can you adjust the memorial of Duke Wang Jianchuan? Come and use it?"
Gao Gong's face suddenly became serious, he stared at Gao Pingshi and asked, "How are you doing? What other evil ideas do you have?"
Gao Jingshi coughed dryly, pretending to hesitate, and said: "This...nephew wants to...want to persuade His Highness the Crown Prince to ask for a decree for me to go to Baihu Fort."
Gao Gong was startled, stared at him and asked, "You want to defeat Fort Hu? What are you doing? Go to see Han Naji?"
"I'm not just going to see Hannaji..." Gao pragmatically explained: "Third uncle, I predict that there will be a follow-up to the incident of Hannaji's surrender, which may give our Ming Dynasty a good opportunity to stabilize northern Xinjiang. .”
Gao Gong suddenly looked at her directly, thought for a moment, and said, "Come to the cabinet with me and come to my room to talk."
"Ah? Yes, Third Uncle."
Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but be surprised. After all, this was the first time they met in Gao Gong's cabinet duty room when they both "worked" in the palace. Gao Gong usually pays more attention to influence, and is not like Yan Song back then. Like Yan Shifan, there is no distinction between public and private affairs.
Fortunately, today there was an incident involving Gao Pragmatic. When others saw Gao Gong expressionlessly taking Gao Pragmatic to the cabinet for check-in, they thought he was going to teach his nephew a lesson, so some people snickered and some secretly felt happy. Yes, but no one thought that Gao Pragmatic had other tricks, and no one thought that Gao Gong was indifferent between public and private affairs - after all, what some people thought in their hearts was: scold that boy hard. !
When the uncle and nephew arrived at the cabinet for duty, Gao Gong sat down in his seat. Gao Pragmatic did not get approval and had to stand.
Gao Gong took a sip of tea and then asked: "You just said that inviting Han Naji to surrender might give Ming a good opportunity to stabilize Northern Xinjiang... What's the rationale?"
Gao Pragmatic was well prepared and asked instead: "Third uncle, my nephew wants to ask first: What do you think of Anda's frequent attacks on Ming Dynasty in recent years? I mean, why do you think I did this? He wants to , what exactly is it?”
If it had been other officials who were too stupid to read and heard this, their responses would probably be the following:
I am ambitious and want to invade the Central Plains and restore the Yuan Dynasty; I am greedy for profit, envious of China's wealth and take pleasure in plundering; I am aggressive by nature and feel uncomfortable if I don't fight...
But Gao Gong's answer was different. He snorted softly and said, "Do you think that Third Uncle is a nerd and the truth behind this is not as clear as yours?"
He cast a sidelong glance at Gao Pingshi and said calmly: "In the final analysis, my answer to the southern invasion is just to make a living." He sneered: "Otherwise, why every time he raises troops, it almost always happens when the Ming Dynasty refuses his permission. After the tribute?"
His tall body leaned lightly on the backrest of the Grand Master's chair, and he said leisurely: "The Northern Captives sent envoys to ask for tribute, but they were just greedy for rewards and the benefits of mutual trade. However, the ministers on the border were in a hurry and did not know what to do, and the ministers in charge of the temple were afraid. As a master plan, he refused his request and killed his envoys. The cunning captives were resentful and started to invade in large numbers, either in Shanxi, in Jizhen, or as far as the capital. For more than thirty years, there was no peace. So the envoys The people on the border are in ruins, fathers and sons and couples cannot protect each other, the sacred land is abandoned and uncultivated, the farmland is deserted, the salt law continues to be blocked, the ministers on the border are suffering greatly, and the money reserves are exhausted to provide hundreds of millions, and the soldiers and horses are exhausted With dispatch, the Central Plains is also wide open. This is a clear proof of the miscalculations made in previous years."
This statement is a bit harsh, because it is tantamount to saying that "the imperial court's past policies have seriously made mistakes", and the main reason for the mistakes is "fear of the master plan", which means that Gao Gong believes that the fault lies with Jiajing! [Wufeng's note: These words are Gao Gong's original words in history and are not made up by the author. ]
Although the words were very serious, Gao pragmatic knew that these words were absolutely to the point.
Because after the rise of Anda, this grassland hero not only had a side that was "shrewd and fond of soldiers", but also had a side that was different from other Mongolian nobles, that is, he clearly realized that in order to maintain his strength, he must have enough To provide material guarantee, it is necessary to maintain a tribute and mutual market relationship with the Ming court.
Therefore, he took the initiative to request tribute from the Ming court many times. In the 21st, 25th, and 26th years of Jiajing, he repeatedly requested tribute, but was rejected by the Ming court.
Especially in the 26th year of Jiajing, even though the Ming court had already killed his envoys twice, I still told the Ming court to "clear Ou and take off the plow tools and plow seeds for returning to farming." He also ordered his subordinates to "If you wait to cross the fortress and dare to offend anyone who has blocked the fortress, I will listen to you and seize his dome, hut, horses, cattle and sheep." At the same time, he also repeatedly stated that if he refused to pay tribute, he would lead his troops to the south and invade.
Obviously, it is difficult to achieve the goal by using this threatening method to ask for tribute from the Ming court, which regards itself as the "Celestial Dynasty". So whenever his request for tribute was rejected, Anda would invade on a large scale, causing great losses to the lives and property of the people along the Great Wall each time.
Therefore, it can be seen from this perspective that if I answer the tribute but refuse to accept it, I will commit a large number of internal crimes. It should be said that the main responsibility lies with the Ming court. The Ming court stubbornly refused to pay tribute, and even frequently killed Anda's envoys sent to ask for tribute. However, it was unable to stop Anda's attacks. This was the main reason for the long-term conflict between the two sides.
Since Gao Gong had already seen the problem, Gao Pragmatic felt more relieved. He immediately laughed and said, "Third uncle, my nephew thought that according to my historical habits and the situation in Monan in recent years, , I believe I will definitely ask for tribute again this time!"
Gao Gong's heart was moved, but he was not in a hurry to answer. Instead, he asked: "What's going on in Monan in the past few years? What's going on?"
"It's a disaster!" Gao Pingshi was a little surprised, thinking that these situations are obvious. Cao Gan mentioned it several times in his report to me, saying that if Monan hadn't been hit by disasters in recent years, he wouldn't have been able to Got so many horses from Monan.
But seeing that Gao Gong seemed to be really unaware, he had no choice but to explain the situation.
Only then did Gao Gong understand why Anda had invaded the south twice in a row this year. So the roots were here?
"Pa!" He slapped the table and said angrily: "What on earth do Jinyiwei and Dongchang do? They didn't report such important information at all, they just reported useless things! How many troops did I mobilize? He went hunting somewhere, married a concubine, etc. I know what the use of these is, why did I send someone to assassinate him?"
After he was angry, he calmed down and thought about what Gao Pragmatic had just said. He pondered for a moment and then said: "You mean, you want to take the lead... or guide this tribute issue with me?"
