Chapter 641: Emperor Jiajing’s Ambition
The relationship between Jiang Qingzhi and Xu Jie was very complicated.
Originally, they disliked each other. Xu Jie felt that Jiang Qingzhi was a favored minister and a leader of the Mohist school, so they were naturally mortal enemies.
Jiang Qingzhi was somewhat disgusted by the historical interpretation of Xu Jie. He felt that this person was a hypocrite and not worth approaching.
After Zhou Xia became Jiang Qingzhi's disciple, undercurrents began to emerge between the two.
Xu Jie was good at forbearance, and Jiang Qingzhi would not provoke Xu Jie unless necessary. After several exchanges, the two sides lived in peace with each other.
After Zhang Juzheng broke through the wall and joined the Mohist school, Xu Jie could no longer bear the humiliation and the relationship between the two took a sharp turn for the worse.
Expel the Portuguese within five years!
I will destroy Japan in this life!
With just two sentences, he blocked all the attacks from the Ministry of Rites.
Logically, the officials of the Ministry of Rites should be frustrated or angry, right?
Do not!
Wherever Xu Jie looked, most of the officials showed looks of intoxication.
An old official trembled and said, "When the Former Zhou Dynasty was the common ruler of the world, it was the duty of the princes of the Central Plains to expel the four barbarians. At that time, any prince could frighten the four barbarians. Once upon a time, the four barbarians who feared the Central Plains like a tiger could actually frighten the Central Plains. I am deeply ashamed! Deeply ashamed!"
The old official looked at everyone and said, "As officials of the Ministry of Rites, don't you feel ashamed when you wake up in the middle of the night? Don't you think this is a great shame and humiliation?"
Everyone lowered their heads.
After the Han and Tang Dynasties, the former Song Dynasty was suppressed by foreign races and lost money year after year. The emperor became a plaything of foreign races.
The Central Plains fell into decline and was ruled by foreign races for many years.
During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Chengzu were still able to chase the enemy north and terrify the foreign races. After that, the Ming Dynasty was like Wang Xiaoer's New Year, getting worse and worse every year.
The Battle of Tumu!
Yesen captured the emperor and surrounded the capital.
Altan Khan was wreaking havoc, and the people of the nine borders were terrified.
The Japanese pirates were rampant along the southeast coast, and the officers and soldiers were vulnerable...
"I think this is the greatest shame for the Ming Dynasty and for my generation. If you can't avenge yourself, what's the point of studying? What's the point of being an official? Do you have the nerve to do it? Do you have the nerve to do it?"
The official was a well-known old angry young man in the Ministry of Rites. He was dissatisfied with the status quo in the past and kept complaining. No one in the Ministry of Rites liked him. But at this moment, he roared in anger and everyone blushed and dared not look at him.
"I will drive out the Portuguese in five years, and I will destroy Japan in this lifetime." The official looked at Jiang Qingzhi and saluted. "If I don't die, I will follow Chang Wei Bo. Even if I can't lift a knife, I can kill the enemy with my teeth."
He looked at everyone and said, "I am here for no other reason than to go to the underworld and meet my ancestors. Then I can proudly say that my life has not been wasted!"
"Who is willing to join me?" the official asked.
No one said anything, and there was more disappointment in the official's old eyes.
"I!"
An official raised his hand.
Another official raised his hand. He hesitated, then finally shouted, "Count me in!"
"And I!"
"I am willing to go out to sea with the army and show our strength in foreign lands! I won't let our ancestors take all the credit!" a petty official shouted with a flushed face.
"Damn it, even if I die in battle, it's a worthy death!"
Jiang Qingzhi looked past these people and looked at Xu Jie calmly.
This is not the Ming Dynasty you hope to see.
For your own selfish reasons, what you hope to see is that everyone keeps their heads down and lives like zombies according to your orders.
What's the point of revitalizing the Ming Dynasty? How can it compare to our own interests?
Xu Bancheng!
Once you enter the government hall, people all over the world will respect you and expect you, the elder cabinet member, to bring down the Yan Party.
You did it.
What can be exchanged for?
It’s Xu Bancheng!
The amount of corruption committed by Yan Song and his son shocked the world and everyone wanted them to be punished.
But why didn't anyone want to kill Xu Bancheng?
Just because he represents Confucianism.
Yan Song only represented Emperor Jiajing.
Double standards have never been the exclusive domain of later generations.
Confucianism’s superb application of double standards has astonished later generations.
Xu Jie bowed calmly.
He felt the passion of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, but what was the use of passion?
In the past, Xu Jie was also passionate, but it wouldn't be long before all this passion was frozen into ice by reality.
So, your efforts, Jiang Qingzhi, are in vain!
Xu Jie closed the door.
Bah!
The two people's line of sight was blocked.
The last thing Xu Jie saw was Jiang Qingzhi pointing at himself with the medicinal smoke, and a confident aura wafted towards him from the crack in the door.
It seemed as if he could definitely do all this if he said it out loud.
I'll wait and see, old man!
"Mr. Ge!"
Fang Sheng turned around and subconsciously wanted to seek Xu Jie's protection.
What he saw was Jiang Qingzhi's hideous grin.
"You let my disciples be bullied by me. Are you proud of that? Do you know why I just stood by and watched?" Jiang Qingzhi looked at Zhou Xia. "You are just a whetstone. To be honest, I have to thank you for helping me sharpen this dull knife."
Zhou Xia came over and said, "I am incompetent and I am sorry to trouble you, teacher."
"I'm not embarrassed at all!" Jiang Qingzhi laughed, "Ministry of Industry, Ministry of War, it's up to you to choose, the position of doctor. But before that, repay kindness with kindness and revenge with revenge. As a disciple of Jiang Qingzhi, I should distinguish between gratitude and resentment!"
Zhou Xia walked up to Fang Sheng and said, "You have repeatedly stabbed me in the back. I have been patient not because I am afraid, but because of my teacher's instructions... I regard the Ministry of Rites as my own whetstone. Before we part, I have to give you a gift, right?"
Fang Sheng subconsciously covered his face. Zhou Xia smiled. He had no intention of taking action. "I just want to ask you a question. In your mind, is the Ministry of Rites a place to serve the country, or a treasure pot for personal profit?"
After asking, without waiting for Fang Sheng to answer, Zhou Xia turned around and saluted Jiang Qingzhi.
Everyone was looking at Fang Sheng.
With Zhou Xia's words, they knew that Fang Sheng was finished.
Unless Xu Jie comes out to support him.
But the door of Xu Jie's duty room was closed.
Obviously, the elder minister would not conflict with Jiang Qingzhi over Fang Sheng, a fallen man.
Fang Sheng's eyes were filled with panic. He looked around, but the looks that had once shown him kindness now turned into disgust. "Lord!"
The duty room door remained closed.
"Mr. Ge!"
……
"Chang Wilbur said that the Portuguese will be driven out within five years and Japan will be destroyed in this lifetime."
This time, Rui Jingxian obtained the news before the Jinyiwei and hurried into the palace to report.
"Within five years?" Jiang Qingzhi had told Emperor Jiajing many times about the many benefits of overseas, but at that time there was a powerful enemy, the Altan Khan's tribe, so the matter was put aside by the emperor and his ministers.
Within five years, that is to say, within five years, Jiang Qingzhi was confident that the Altan tribe would no longer be a deadly threat to the Ming Dynasty.
Only in this way could the Ming Dynasty go on a naval expedition.
Go on an expedition to the sea!
Thinking of the huge fleet during the reign of Emperor Chengzu, Emperor Jiajing's breathing became rapid.
At that time in the Ming Dynasty, the remnants of the Mongols in the north were gradually weakened by Emperor Chengzu's repeated expeditions. It was precisely because the north was no longer a fatal threat that Zheng He made several voyages to the West.
Later emperors all wanted to reproduce the military glory of the Chengzu Dynasty, but they were unable to do so.
If I...
A strange light flashed in Emperor Jiajing's eyes.
The grassland can be completely suppressed, and the fleet will go out to sea again...expel the Portuguese and bring that sea area back under the control of the Ming Dynasty.
That is……
Is that a prosperous age?
Who dares to say that it was not a prosperous age?
"Your Majesty, Long Wilbur requests to see you."
Emperor Jiajing came to his senses and nodded.
Jiang Qingzhi came in and bowed, "Your Majesty, I promised at the Ministry of Rites today that I would expel the Portuguese within five years... I am here to apologize."
These words, which have not been approved by the court, are taboo.
The lighter case is recklessness, and the worse case is usurpation.
Rui Jingxian glanced at Jiang Qingzhi and found that this guy looked calm.
"Celebrate it."
"The minister is here."
"Do you think that within five years, the grasslands can no longer be a deadly threat to the Ming Dynasty?"
"can!"
Jiang Qingzhi's answer was decisive.
"Then..." Emperor Jiajing looked at him, "I am looking forward to that moment!"
The sails covered the sky and the sun. Wherever they went, foreign races knelt down in submission and worshipped the Ming Dynasty as if it were a god.
Jiang Qingzhi knew about the ambition of Emperor Jiajing, but this ambition was reduced to a melancholy in his midnight dreams after years of self-imprisonment and the hostility of scholars and officials all over the world.
Now another possibility has emerged in the Ming Dynasty.
The Beijing Guards were rebuilt, the Altan tribe was defeated... the Japanese pirates were wiped out, and the flintlock rifle appeared...
All this gave Emperor Jiajing the courage to rediscover his former ambitions.
What Jiang Qingzhi needs to do is to find an opportunity to let his courage burst out.
Today, he apparently did it.
Otherwise, he would not have to go to the Ministry of Rites in person and could just ask Xu Wei to pass on the message.
"I will not let your majesty down!"
Afterwards, envoys from various countries requested a meeting.
After Emperor Jiajing consoled them, the envoys were filled with gratitude and said that the Ming Dynasty was still the same father and they would remain loyal to him from now on.
But there are constant rumors in the outside world at this moment, saying that Zhou Xia's counterattack in the Ministry of Rites this time is particularly sharp, and Jiang Qingzhi will definitely take the opportunity to find a new place for this disciple.
At the Bo Mansion, Jiang Qingzhi personally cooked a fish feast today.
Xia Yan had caught a cold a while ago and had seldom gone out recently. Today, his condition improved, and the old man said he wanted to eat sashimi. Jiang Qingzhi said that freshwater fish could not be eaten. The old man cited a lot of evidence and pushed the history of eating sashimi back three hundred years, leaving Jiang Qingzhi speechless.
"Aren't you afraid of worms growing in your stomach?" Jiang Qingzhi said.
"Chen Deng also had worms in his stomach, didn't he..."
"Go on!" Jiang Qingzhi glanced at the old man, "Please continue."
Chen Deng passed away at the age of thirty-nine.
"Sea fish is the best for sashimi." Jiang Qingzhi warned again.
Xia Yan muttered as he left the kitchen. Fu Cheng smiled and said, "My uncle once said that an old man in the family is like a treasure. Without you in charge of the mansion, my uncle is unsure."
"Then I will live another twenty years?" Xia Yan said.
"Thirty, maybe!" Sun Chonglou joked.
"In thirty years, I will be almost a hundred years old. A hundred years old is a demon..."
"We are not afraid of you, a monster!" Sun Chonglou squatted down.
Xia Yan also squatted down, "Boy, you are not young anymore, marriage..."
call out!
Sun Chonglou disappeared in an instant.
The fish feast was very enjoyable. Li Tian once again used the excuse that she didn't have enough for lunch and ate until her stomach was full. Jiang Qingzhi was frightened and quickly pulled her up to take a walk, and asked someone to prepare some digestive soup.
On the second day, just as Jiang Qingzhi was about to go to the Ministry of Personnel to discuss Zhou Xia's whereabouts with Xiong Jia, Zhou Xia came to eat again.
After breakfast, Jiang Qingzhi and Zhou Xia entered the study.
As soon as he entered the study, Zhou Xia knelt down.
"What are you doing?" Jiang Qingzhi was stunned.
Zhou Xia looked up. "Teacher, I want to resign!"
(End of this chapter)
