Qitai suddenly stood up, walked outside, looked around, and gently closed the concierge door.
"Be careful, walls have ears. What are you talking about?"
He looked deeply at Huang Zicheng and said, "You don't have any treacherous thoughts, do you?"
Qi Tai could not even think about colluding with Japanese pirates and rebels to kill the emperor's grandson.
It's one thing to fight for power, but it's another thing to actually kill Zhu Yunzhen.
Although he believed that Zhu Yunwen should be made the emperor's grandson and inherit the throne.
But now Zhu Yunxuan is the crown prince appointed by Lao Zhu himself.
He just wanted to help Zhu Yunwen ascend to power, not to rebel against Zhu Mingxia.
"What are you thinking? Am I a traitor and a traitor!" Huang Zicheng said in an upright tone.
He always believed that he was doing the right thing.
I am loyal to His Majesty and loyal to the Ming Dynasty, so I have to trace the origins and support Zhu Yunwen.
This is also considered a characteristic of Ming Dynasty.
Later members of the Donglin Party all said that they "can hear the sound of wind and rain, the sound of reading, and care about everything in the world, including family and state affairs."
In their view, everything they do is for the good of Ming Dynasty and the good of the world.
As for how many adverse consequences this has caused, we don’t care.
Anyway, my original intention is good!
Huang Zicheng is a typical representative and thinks so.
"What do you mean?" Qi Tai asked in a low voice.
"This Japanese pirate rebellion all originated from His Highness Taisun's proposal to impose additional commercial taxes."
Huang Zicheng was indignant and said: "When the plan to increase commercial taxes came out, I strongly opposed it."
"How can the imperial court compete with businessmen for profit?"
"I hate that Zhao Jing and Zhao Mian and their ilk are short-sighted, follow the trend, and blindly cater to the emperor's grandson. They only see that increasing commercial taxes can solve the court's temporary financial difficulties, but they don't see that this is destroying the foundation of our Ming Dynasty for all generations!"
He stamped his feet fiercely and said: "It's good now. The increase in commercial taxes has only been introduced for a long time, and they have caused such a big mess. If they continue to mess around like this, can the Ming Dynasty still be stable? ?”
He paused and then said: "The increase in commercial taxes is not over yet, and the maritime ban is about to be lifted. Can this be done casually?"
"The maritime ban has not yet been lifted, and Japanese pirates are already causing harm everywhere."
"Once the maritime ban is lifted, Japanese pirates can easily blend in among merchants. Coupled with the collusion of some unscrupulous people with Japanese pirates, the prosperous land south of the Yangtze River will never have peace again."
"In the reform of the Counselor's Office, everything is required to be kept secret. In the future, it will be difficult for scholars to control public opinion and put pressure on the court, so they can only watch him do whatever he wants."
Huang Zicheng was heartbroken.
Some reforms caused scholars to lose their power.
I am even more anxious about the future.
"I used to only know that he could write poetry, and he was somewhat talented."
"I never expected that I would be so tormented."
"He is so proud of his talent that he changes his ways at will and does whatever he wants. Unfortunately, His Majesty seems to be possessed by an evil spirit and has great favor and trust in him."
"If he continues like this and inherits the throne in the future, the Ming Dynasty will probably be destroyed in his hands."
Qi Tai remained silent. His thoughts were similar to Huang Zicheng's.
There is no doubt that Zhu Yunzhen is talented.
But being talented has little to do with being able to govern the country well.
Empress Li is also very talented!
In the eyes of these people, only those who are mature can run a country.
But Zhu Yunzhen's mind was unstable. Although he was smart, his various whims and whims were completely unconstrained.
This makes them feel uneasy and scared.
The establishment of the Advisory Office and the Military Affairs Office allowed them to see Zhu Yunxun's political skills, which further aggravated this fear.
A future emperor who firmly holds power in his own hands and is unwilling to be "restrained" by their scholars, who knows what he will do?
"What do you mean?" Qitai asked.
Huang Zicheng said: "The Japanese pirates are fighting and Songjiang Mansion is occupied. Now is the best opportunity."
"First, I mobilized all my colleagues in Beijing to write a letter to persuade His Majesty to give up the increase in commercial taxes, and at the same time promised to never lift the maritime ban."
Qitai nodded and said, "This is the right thing to do."
"The increase in business taxes has caused huge trouble. Giving up now is to make up for the situation. It is not too late."
"Until the Japanese pirates are pacified, it is absolutely impossible, and even more inappropriate, to lift the maritime ban."
"I will jointly submit a letter to remonstrate with His Majesty."
Huang Zicheng said: "You and I both understand this truth, but with His Majesty's favor and trust in His Majesty the Grand Sun, he may not be able to listen to it. We have to think of other ways."
He touched his beard and smiled slightly.
"Secondly, His Highness Taisun opened the Jinling Military Academy to train new troops. He claimed to be a special soldier. He also used military secrets as an excuse to prevent me from interrogating. I have never figured out what is so strange!"
"The way to ghosts and gods is far away, and it may not be useful on the battlefield."
"I heard that His Majesty has issued an edict to summon Duke Feng Sheng of Song Dynasty, Duke Ying State Fu Youde, Duke Cao State Li Jinglong, Founding Duke Chang Sheng, and Marquis Sun Ke of Quan Ning to return to the capital."
"In total, Cao Guogong Li Jinglong is closest to the capital and can be rushed back overnight."
"I still have some friendship with him."
"His Royal Highness Taisun is going to lead 500 new troops on an expedition. I'm afraid that this will harm the country. I can ask him to intercept the new troops on the road and test the truth. If so, he can open the cover of the new army."
"This strategy is feasible!" Qi Tai said: "Cao Guogong has won the trust of your majesty and is in charge of the governor's office of the left army. It is very appropriate for him to stop the new army and test the reality."
"Third," Huang Zicheng's voice became much lower.
"To be honest, Xu Dongjiang, the current magistrate of Jiaxing Prefecture, and I have been friends since the same age. I will write a letter to let him..."
"Absolutely not!"
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Qi Tai.
"Are you crazy? Really want to murder the emperor's grandson? I'm sorry that Qi can't accompany you on this matter!"
"No!" Huang Zicheng shook his head.
"It's just a matter of scaring him so that the battle will be defeated. He is protected by five hundred brocade guards led by Jiang Yu himself. If the situation is not right, he will naturally evacuate without any danger."
"That's not possible!" Qi Tai said seriously: "The people of Jiaxing Prefecture are so innocent. How can we ignore the hundreds of thousands of Jiaxing residents because of the imperial struggle?"
"Confused!"
Huang Zicheng scolded: "As ministers of the imperial court, we should be thinking about all the nine states and the whole world."
"Compassion does not control troops, and love does not establish affairs."
"Let me ask you, are the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiaxing Prefecture more important, or are the hundreds of thousands of people in Ming Dynasty more important?"
"What's more, I only mean to let the emperor suffer a defeat, and I don't mean to hand over Jiaxing Mansion to the Japanese pirates and rebels."
"If we can abolish his position as prince, even if ten thousand people die, a hundred thousand people die, or a million people die, what does it matter? Isn't it worth it?"
"Are we going to watch him ascend the throne and become emperor and bring harm to the Ming Dynasty?"
"If possible, I, Huang Zicheng, would be the first to die! Do you, Qitai, only know how to protect yourself? Did I misjudge you?"
What he said made sense.
There is a great momentum of sacrificing one's life to pursue the path. Even though there are thousands of people, I will go there.
I think I have the truth and everything I do is correct, but I don’t know that I have gone astray and gone further and further.
Qitai's expression slowly faded.
After a long while, he sighed and said, "Is this really the only way?"
Huang Zicheng said: "If you continue to cut off things, you will inevitably suffer from chaos."
Qi Tai was silent for a long time.
After almost half a quarter of an hour, he stood up, walked a few steps, and asked, "Tell me, what do you want me to do?"
"You are the left minister of the Ministry of War. All you need to do is..." Huang Zicheng's voice became lower and lower.
(End of chapter)
