Chapter 224: Court Affairs
"Oh! What else did you hear? Tell your sister!" asked Princess Kunxing.
"They also said that the emperor and the empress dowager should take away my sister's military power and let her return to the palace to take care of her husband and children! Li Sihong and Kou Baimen should not be allowed to stay in the army, saying that the Ming Dynasty does not need women like Liang Hongyu. The Ming Dynasty is not the Southern Song Dynasty!" Zhaoren said.
"They are really talking without any concern! Where were they during the Jiashen Rebellion? Where were they when my father needed them? Where were they when Zhu Guobi besieged Nanjing and Zuo Liangyu wanted to purge the court? Sister, do you know? Your brother-in-law once said, empty talk will ruin a country, but hard work will make it prosperous! If one day the Ming Dynasty wants us to be the boss, I will kill these people!" said Princess Kunxing.
Zhaoren nodded and said, "Yes! We will deal with them sooner or later! When my brother-in-law returns to the capital one day, I will arrest them all and vent my anger!" Princess Kunxing laughed when she heard this.
"What? No, Queen Mother! Zhao Xiaofei has been conferred the title of Prince of a County. There is no reason for him to be promoted to Prince!" Zhang Huangyan said.
At this time, in Wuying Hall, several cabinet members heard that the Queen Mother intended to give Zhao Xiaofei a higher rank, and everyone strongly opposed it. Li Banghua, Zhang Huangyan, the Minister of War, Wang Jiayan, the Right Vice Minister of War, and Meng Zhaoxiang, the Right Vice Minister of Punishment were the main ones. Wu Ganlai, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Wu Linzheng, the Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Imperial Households, and Fan Jingwen, the Grand Secretary, remained silent. They stood there knowing that without Zhao Xiaofei, these ministers would be left starving. Without him to support this half of Jiangnan, it is estimated that after the battle between the Jianlu and Li Zicheng, they would have retreated south. What's wrong with being a prince? As long as they don't rebel, what's wrong with being given some honor? It's much better than being a vassal king like Prince Fu! Those princes are like manure machines.
"Your servants object! Zhao Xiaofei now has military power and money! Even if he has no intention of rebelling, what about his subordinates? Especially Fang Xinyu, Wanshan and Zhou Shuai. They are Zhao Xiaofei's right-hand men and they are good at fighting. What if one day they have the intention of rebelling and want to make Zhao Xiaofei wear the yellow robe?" Wang Jiayan said.
"I think I can appease them more and choose a few more beautiful daughters from those princes to marry them as their wives. Except for Fang Xinyu. Wanshan and Zhou Shuai don't have wives yet, so we can pick some from them! As for Zhao Xiaofei, I have decided to marry Zhaoren to him. Now that both princesses are married to him, how can he still have any rebellious thoughts? This is the greatest honor in history, it can be said that there is no one before and no one after. I believe that Zhao Xiaofei will certainly be grateful for the kindness of our Ming Dynasty. I believe in the character of Prince Anqing!" said the Queen Mother Zhou.
"This! Empress Dowager, this honor is unprecedented, but human greed is endless. What if there is no more reward left?" said Grand Secretary Fan Jingwen.
"Do I have any solution? Are you silent ministers thinking that with the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, without Zhao Xiaofei, half of Jiangnan might not be able to be defended? Without Zhao Xiaofei, the court would probably be in dire straits, right? You are right, I can see the situation clearly! In addition to winning me over, is there any other way? Can you get more silver than Zhao Xiaofei? Can you train an army? If you can do all these, how can I give you this title so easily?" Queen Mother Zhou stood up and pointed at the silent ministers.
"We are incompetent! Please punish us, Your Majesty!" More than a dozen ministers knelt down and said together.
"Okay! You have figured out what I mean! But this decree must be issued. The cabinet should draft the imperial decree as soon as possible! You are all great scholars of today, so I will not say much about the content and wording. I hope that one day when we return to the capital, you can all come up with a solution to the issues of money, food and military training!" Queen Mother Zhou left after she finished speaking.
The current Queen Mother Zhou is very disappointed with the cabinet members of the court. They are all talk and have no idea when it comes to serious matters.
Seeing the Empress Dowager leave, everyone began to pay their respects. After Empress Dowager Zhou left, more than a dozen cabinet members began to argue. Li Banghua pointed at Ni Yuanlu and said, "Ruyu, why don't you persuade the Empress Dowager? Are you going to let Zhao Xiaofei become more powerful step by step?"
"Brother Meng An, I also want to reject the Queen Mother's opinion! But do we have the money? The Ministry of Revenue still owes Zhao Xiaofei a lot of money! Do you have a way to repay it? Why not give the court more benefits? Since he can marry another princess, why not let Zhao Xiaofei forgive all the debts and use it as a betrothal gift? If Zhao Xiaofei objects, it will prove that he has no intention of rebelling! A person who values money more than anything else, is it difficult for us to control him? Think of a way!" Ni Yuanlu said, pointing to his head. After speaking, he left Wuying Palace.
Ever since Liu Rushi's last reminder, Zhao Xiaofei had been constantly sending people to the Ministry of Revenue to demand the money. This had put the Ministry in a difficult position; if they didn't pay back the money, they'd probably be begging for food next month. But Ni Yuanlu also saw that Zhao Xiaofei wouldn't amount to anything.
Zhang Huangyan came to Li Banghua and said, "If not, go find Zheng Zhilong. I think he can find a way to get the silver!"
Li Banghua thought to himself: Zheng Zhilong and Zhao Xiaofei are both people who only care about money and not people. I guess Zheng Zhilong doesn't know what conditions to offer to appease them when the time comes!
"I think this strategy of driving away the wolf and swallowing the tiger may work!" said Wu Linzheng, Shaoqing of Taichang Temple.
"I'm afraid that the two of them will join forces!" said Zhang Huangyan.
"Since the Empress Dowager has ordered the search for wives for Wanshan and General Zhou, we can also find a princess as the wife for Zheng Zhilong's son! That can be considered winning him over!" Wu Linzheng said.
"When did the Ming Dynasty need to rely on marrying off daughters to survive? This is simply a sign of the country's demise!" Li Banghua muttered softly.
His voice was quiet, but everyone could hear it. No one paid any attention to him, and Wu Linzheng continued, "Huang Degong and Gao Jie's sons seem to be getting older. We could find some suitable-aged princesses to marry them off. This would also help divide Huang Degong and Gao Jie, and prevent them from becoming too dependent on Zhao Xiaofei!"
Everyone nodded, agreeing that this was indeed a good idea. So the cabinet shamelessly began drafting a plan to see which other princes and dukes had daughters who were suitable for marriage, and then submit a list.
Another matter at court was the discussion of Zhao Xiaofei's title as a prince. Because he was a prince of a different surname, everyone was very cautious. He couldn't be too domineering, but had to lean towards the gentle side. Originally named after a place, it was no longer acceptable to be a prince. Because the other princes named after places were all descendants of the Zhu family.
After much discussion, Li Banghua and Zhang Huangyan finally picked out the title of Prince Renheli from several names.
But Zhao Xiaofei, the mastermind behind all this, was unaware of it because he was busy preparing to send troops to Shaanxi!
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