What's going on outside?
Suddenly, a woman in one of the houses along the street frowned, opened a window, and looked out.
After the man understood what was happening outside, he didn't relax; instead, he became even more nervous.
"It's so late, why are there still ministers coming to the palace?"
"And it seems that it wasn't just one or two ministers, but a whole group."
"I hope nothing serious has happened!"
The woman's husband came out.
With a displeased expression, he quickly said, "What are you talking about?"
"Our Great Ming Dynasty is currently under the reign of the Holy Emperor, and the land is peaceful and the rivers are calm. What could possibly go wrong!"
The woman was still a little nervous.
"That's hard to say. Just a few months ago, there was news that the Emperor had fallen into the water and it was only with great difficulty that he was cured."
"Perhaps it's a lingering effect from that incident? The late emperor was one..."
"You gossipy woman, are you really not afraid of death?" Her husband was startled and rushed over to cover her mouth.
"How can you say such nonsense?"
The woman knew she was in the wrong, so she quickly shut up.
Seeing this, the husband stopped covering his mouth and whispered:
"It would be best if the emperor lived to be a hundred years old. No, His Majesty must live to be a hundred years old."
Not only this man, but the residents of the other houses around him had similar thoughts.
It wasn't that they particularly liked Zhu Youjian; rather, they knew that if anything happened to the emperor at this time, the Ming Dynasty, like a dilapidated ship, would truly be in trouble.
Meanwhile, at the palace gates, many of the ministers who had been summoned overnight looked puzzled.
"Why did the emperor suddenly summon us here so late?"
However, Zhu Youjian was prepared. When he sent the eunuch out to summon people, he had already told several high-ranking officials his purpose.
Those people didn't hide it and announced the news directly.
The courtiers were even more puzzled upon hearing this.
"Wasn't this already settled? Why are you calling us over again!"
Qin Liangyu and Li Ruolian also huddled together, discussing the matter in hushed tones.
Qin Liangyu said in a low voice, "General Li, don't take His Majesty's words too seriously."
"Your Majesty is still young, and it's inevitable that you'll go a bit too far in your actions."
Although Qin Liangyu was Li Ruolian's elder, she valued the bigger picture and was afraid that Li Ruolian would become disheartened, so she kindly advised him.
Li Ruolian gave a wry smile.
"General Qin, I understand what you're saying. I'm not angry with His Majesty, I'm just helpless."
He sighed and said, "It's true that I don't know how to train troops!"
"If I were more skilled at training troops, I could train those new recruits in six months. At that point, why would I need to oppose sending troops?"
Seeing that Li Ruolian was actually blaming herself, Qin Liangyu inwardly praised her.
"Your Majesty has a good eye for people; Li Ruolian is indeed a very loyal minister."
She smiled and said, "General Li, you're being too modest."
"You've done a very good job with this training."
"It's really... what's that saying? Right, it's that plans can't keep up with changes."
"But don't worry too much. I suggest we send troops now, as we are still confident of success."
At this moment, Wang Chengen trotted out and led the ministers into the main hall.
Zhu Youjian sat on the dragon throne, and upon seeing the assembled officials enter, he stood up first:
"My beloved ministers, I have summoned you to the palace tonight because I have two things to tell you."
The courtiers were all somewhat surprised.
"How come this has become two separate issues?"
Ignoring their hushed whispers, Zhu Youjian declared loudly, "The first thing I must do is to blame myself."
“Recently, I have been somewhat disobedient and stubborn, which is contrary to the way of a ruler.”
“From tomorrow onwards, I will broaden the channels for expressing opinions and learn from King Qi Wei.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the assembled officials were shocked and horrified.
"Why does Your Majesty say such a thing?"
"You've been working diligently lately, and you've never blocked any channels of communication!"
However, Qin Liangyu's eyes lit up, and she winked at Wang Chengen and gave him a thumbs up.
She never expected Wang Chengen to be so helpful.
Wang Chengen quickly shook his head, pointed his finger in the direction of Taiye Pond.
Qin Liangyu immediately understood.
"So it was Master Gao who made the move. It is truly a blessing for our Great Ming Dynasty to have such a person by His Majesty's side."
At this moment, Qin Liangyu heard Li Ruolian start to sob softly.
It turned out that Zhu Youjian had apologized to Li Ruolian again.
"General Li, I was wrong to kick you out during the day."
Li Ruolian knelt on the ground and wept, saying, "Your Majesty is wise, Your Majesty is wise."
Even if Zhu Youjian ordered him to go and die alone against the Jurchens, he would definitely go without hesitation.
Zhu Youjian waved his hand, telling him to stand up first.
Then he continued, "As for the second matter, it is the matter of conquering the Jurchens."
This time, he looked at Qin Liangyu.
"General Qin, you once said that now is the best time to go to war."
"Then I shall ask you, what makes this timing so opportune?"
Qin Liangyu remained calm as she walked before the assembled officials and said earnestly, "Even if Your Majesty doesn't ask, I must make this clear."
She took out a memorial from her bosom and handed it to the eunuch serving beside her, asking him to give the memorial to the emperor.
Then he explained it to himself.
"The first reason is that there were problems within the Jurchens themselves."
"Gentlemen, since the death of Nurhaci in Ningyuan two years ago, the Jurchens have had three Khans in the past two years."
“There must already be many contradictions within the Jurchens.”
"That's why the new Great Khan of the Jurchens, Hauge, was slow in his southward march to Goryeo. The reason is that someone was hindering him from the rear!"
Although Qin Liangyu was unaware of the internal situation of the Jurchens, and had never even met Yue Tuo.
But when she talked about these things, she did it with great clarity and expertise.
The ministers all nodded in agreement.
"Internal strife? We're good at that."
"If we want to trick a military general, we do like to cut off his supply lines."
At this moment, Zhu Youjian also took the memorial. Without even looking at it, he asked directly:
"Does General Qin have any other reasons?"
Qin Liangyu nodded.
"Of course!"
"The second reason is that although the Jurchens have launched attacks on all sides in the past two years, they have not gained much."
"The Jurchens have suffered repeated losses on our side of the Great Ming, so let's leave that aside for now."
"Even though they invaded Goryeo twice, they didn't actually gain anything; they only plundered some people."
"As for food, we didn't get much at all."
"As long as our Great Ming strikes now, the Jurchens will not be able to harvest any grain this autumn!"
Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty were not skilled in military command, they were quite knowledgeable about the basic principles of warfare.
Someone clapped and said, "I understand!"
“As long as we prevent them from harvesting in the fall, even if we fail to wipe out the Jurchens in one fell swoop, the Jurchens will still face famine next year.”
"Either we take the initiative and come to Ningyuan to our deaths, or we starve to death in Liaodong!"
These people immediately became excited.
"General Qin truly deserves to be called a pillar of our Great Ming Dynasty!"
Qin Liangyu didn't take it to heart.
She knew that these people were praising her now mainly to curry favor with her.
He could cling to her powerful backing and rise to great heights.
Qin Liangyu did not speak, but looked at Zhu Youjian: "This is the reason why I advocate attacking."
"I implore Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly."
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