Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 364: Southeast Coastal Defense Is Ineffective
As the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, Yuan Shouzhi had never felt such great humiliation.

In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Hongzhi was having lunch with Chen Ce and Zhu Houzhao. When he heard that the Minister of Rites was looking for him, he said to Huai En, "Go and call Minister Yuan."

Huai En was slightly stunned.

In the past, even when the emperor was having a meal, he would go to the main hall to receive the Minister of Rites. Today was the first time that he received the Minister of Rites in this way, and it was a bit against etiquette.

This clearly shows that Emperor Hongzhi had deeper meaning behind this.

Yes, Emperor Hongzhi wanted to let the Ministry of Rites know Chen Ce's status. He was now pushing Chen Ce to the forefront little by little, and Emperor Hongzhi would naturally not let go of this opportunity.

When Yuan Shouzhi arrived at the side hall, he respectfully paid his respects to Emperor Hongzhi and the Crown Prince. However, when he saw Chen Ce, he was slightly stunned, but did not ask much about Chen Ce's identity.

Emperor Hongzhi asked Yuan Shouzhi, "Has Lord Yuan had his meal yet? Do you want to join me?"

Yuan Shouzhi hurriedly refused. How could he dare to have dinner with the emperor?

"Your Majesty, we have received a reply from the Japanese island."

Emperor Hongzhi said calmly, "Oh, what did they say? Did they say they would punish the Japanese pirates in the southeast?"

Not long ago, Emperor Hongzhi made a bet with Chen Ce that the letter sent to Wa Island should be returned in the next few days, and there should also be news on the letter from Emperor Hongzhi admonishing the Emperor of Wa.

The Ming Dynasty is a great country, and the Japanese islands are just tiny islands. According to Emperor Hongzhi's idea, the emperor of the Japanese islands would never dare to challenge the Ming Dynasty, and would definitely strictly control the Japanese pirates in the southeast.

But Chen Ce doesn't think so.

Look, there’s news from the Ministry of Rites.

Yuan Shouzhi looked a little unhappy, and said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Your Majesty, the Japanese island... has detained our envoys."

"The doctor of the Ministry of Rites took great pains to return."

"The Japanese islands were very rude to our Ming Dynasty and did not give us any positive feedback or solutions."

After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi's expression suddenly changed, the chopsticks in his hand were suspended in the air, his face gradually darkened, and he said in a deep voice: "The Japanese slaves are too arrogant!"

"You really don't take the Ming Dynasty seriously?!"

Emperor Hongzhi did not say much to Yuan Shouzhi. The two of them could not reach a conclusion on this matter, so they had to work together at the small court meeting tomorrow.

After the Minister of Rites left, Emperor Hongzhi looked at Chen Ce deeply, thinking about how he had just made a bet with Chen Ce. It had only been a short time and he was slapped in the face. He felt a little embarrassed and looked very humiliated.

Fortunately, I only mentioned betting and didn’t say what the stakes were... No, it’s fortunate that Chen Ce didn’t respond to my bet at that time, otherwise I would have been embarrassed.

Chen Ce had known that this would be the result, so there was not much point in making a bet with Emperor Hongzhi.

The Emperor of Japan could not control the shoguns of the Japanese islands at all, so naturally he had no way to control the Japanese pirates who invaded the southeast of the Ming Dynasty.

He wished that the Ming Dynasty could send troops, and it would be best if they could completely defeat the power of the shogunate, so Chen Ce expected the Ming Dynasty to be rude and tough.

Emperor Hongzhi did not understand the Japanese system and thought that they were centralized like the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao snorted and said, "Father! These Japanese slaves are too arrogant! If we continue to swallow our anger, how will the foreign nations view our Ming Dynasty?"

Emperor Hongzhi was also filled with anger, but he suppressed it with reason, otherwise he would not have told the Ministry of Rites that they would come up with a solution after tomorrow's talks.

"What do you think?"

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Chen Ce. Now he no longer needed Zhu Houzhao as a middleman, so he simply asked Chen Ce face to face and wanted to hear Chen Ce's thoughts.

Chen Ce pondered for a moment and said to Emperor Hongzhi: "If we want to deter the Japanese, we need to show our military strength. I don't know the military strength of the Ming Dynasty's southeastern navy." "I can't give you any suggestions. Let's wait for Censor Hong to come back. He should know about the southeastern coastal defense."

In recent years, the Ming Dynasty's main national defense forces have been in the northwest and the nine borders, and it has not paid attention to the construction of maritime forces at all. It is even a problem whether there are enough warships for cross-sea operations.

If Chen Ce guessed correctly, the southeast's coastal defense force was already very weak at this time, especially the maritime fleet, which had not been to sea for many years, and it was uncertain whether the old ships could still be used. Otherwise, Chen Ce would not be studying the construction of ships in the Economic Bureau today.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "Father, listen, my little brother also agrees with me. We in the southeast must show our military strength!"

"If these Japanese slaves dare to cause trouble in our southeast, we will crush them to ashes! We will attack their islands directly and destroy their country!"

Zhu Houzhao seemed extremely excited. It would be fine if he adopted a defensive policy towards the Nine Frontiers, but now a tiny country like Japan was getting too arrogant. How could he not teach them a lesson?

Chen Ce rarely agreed with Zhu Houzhao. He said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Your Majesty, what the Crown Prince said may not be impossible."

"This is a good excuse to start a war. Taking down the Japanese island will bring us a lot of benefits."

Emperor Hongzhi narrowed his eyes and said, "For example."

Chen Ce said: "There are copper mines, gold and silver resources in the Japanese island, this is one of them."

"The vassal issue has not been completely resolved. The Japanese islands we conquered need people to govern them. This is the second reason."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Chen Ce in astonishment and blurted out, "You mean, we should take down the Japanese islands and then send our vassal lords to the islands to govern the Japanese people?!"

Chen Ce did not comment, but smiled and said, "Your Majesty has to make your own decision."

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Chen Ce with deep eyes and said earnestly: "Could this be another trap set by you?"

Chen Ce pretended to be confused and said, "I am stupid, what does Your Majesty mean by this?"

Emperor Hongzhi laughed and said, "It's nothing interesting. OK, let's eat first."

……

Early the next morning, Emperor Hongzhi convened a meeting of the six ministries of the cabinet.

When the six ministries of the cabinet heard the reply from the Japanese Emperor and the officials of the Ministry of Rites being detained on the Japanese island, they were all indignant. Liu Jian was a loyal minister after all, and he first suggested that the Ministry of Rites continue to negotiate with the other party and bring the officials back first to prevent the Ming Dynasty from losing its national status.

Liu Jian then asked the Ministry of War whether he could transfer a part of the Southeastern naval forces to the Japanese islands to promote the country's prestige.

Ma Wensheng said confidently that he could.

However, at this moment, Huai En came to Emperor Hongzhi and whispered a few words. Emperor Hongzhi waved his hand and said, "Let him in."

After a while, Hong Zhong entered the hall.

Hong Zhong arrived in the capital today, and before he returned home, he was summoned by Emperor Hongzhi without delay.

He has been in the Southeast long enough to understand the actual situation in the Southeast.

When Hong Zhong entered the hall, Emperor Hongzhi told him what had just been discussed.

After hearing this, Hong Zhong immediately said, "Your Majesty! No!"

"The Ming Dynasty's naval forces in the southeast are... useless!"

When these words were spoken, everyone in the hall was shocked!

(End of this chapter)