Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 75 The patient has lost too much blood and may die at any moment.

The moonlight, like water, washed over the glazed tiles of the Wuying Hall, but could not wash away the chill permeating the four extremely long shadows cast on the stone steps of the hall's entrance.

Zhang Weixian, Tian Ergeng, Zhou Quan, and Wei Zhongxian, who was hunched over and looked as if he could be blown away by a gust of wind at any moment.

Four people, four shadows, silently walked out of the palace gates, and then silently parted ways in the palace corridors.

The menacing lines drawn in red ink on that map were like a brand, deeply etched into their minds.

It turns out that the empire's body was not just riddled with holes, but that a knife had been silently pressed against its heart.

After the initial shock came an unprecedented clarity.

……

Only Zhu Youjian remained in the hall.

The candlelight of the palace lantern flickered quietly, casting his young figure onto the huge "Nine Borders Map" behind him, where light and shadow intertwined and merged into one.

That picture depicts his empire, a massive, bleeding wound.

All military preparations—reorganizing the Beijing garrison, repairing the border walls, and forging weapons—were like going to the mountains to collect precious medicinal herbs, then carefully brewing them to cure a serious illness.

The problem is that the patient has already lost too much blood and could die at any moment.

A distant source of water cannot quench an immediate thirst!
Zhu Youjian's gaze slowly shifted from the shocking red line to the vast and chaotic southern grasslands beyond the Great Wall.

The wall collapsed.

We should help.

If you can't lift it up, you have to immediately plug the gap with something, even if it's just sandbags, straw bags, or anything else you can use!

He needs to buy himself the most valuable time for his plans.

And time, at this moment, lies in the choices made by those Mongol tribes.

Huang Taiji used a knife, which instilled fear in them.

In contrast, there must be something more useful than a knife.

Money, food.

The most practical things are also the most effective weapons.

Since ancient times, the only things that can make the so-called eagles of the grasslands bow their heads, besides sharper claws and teeth, are the foods that allow them to survive.

Zhu Youjian stretched out his finger and gently touched the Kharachin, Khorchin, Tumed and other tribes on the map.

If this continues to be ignored, these tribes will be the first to turn to the Later Jin due to famine, becoming Huang Taiji's guides for his incursions.

Let's start here!
"Rewards, relief, and trade"—Zhu Youjian has been pondering this for days and has already formulated a strategy.

These three are interconnected: using rewards to stabilize those who are still observing from the sidelines, using relief to leverage those tribes that have already sided with the Later Jin but whose foundations are unstable, and using the trade market as a sweet treat to whet everyone's appetite.

This is a contest to win hearts and minds with Huang Taiji; it's a competition of speed, but even more so, a test of determination!
Zhu Youjian was well aware of the turmoil that would ensue if this decision were brought to the court.

The national treasury is empty.

The laws of our ancestors.

Ligdan Khan broke his promise; barbarians cannot be trusted.

Those well-read civil officials would come up with countless plausible reasons to oppose it.

Their eyes couldn't see the smoke of war beyond the Great Wall; they could only see the ever-thinning ledger of the Ministry of Revenue. Their world was built upon rules and moral codes, and any attempt to break them was considered heresy!

……

The following day, the morning court session was held in the Wenhua Hall.

The air was filled with the fragrance of incense, and the sounds of elegant music had long since faded away. Only the officials, holding their court tablets, stood with their heads bowed, displaying the dignified and solemn atmosphere of the imperial court.

The unpleasant ending of yesterday's court assembly did not seem to affect the solemnity and order of the imperial center.

The officials still stood according to their ranks, their eyes exchanging unspoken understandings that only they themselves could comprehend.

On the throne, Zhu Youjian's voice rang out, clear and calm, without any emotional build-up, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

"I have a plan that I would like to discuss with you all."

Everyone's ears perked up.

"The threat to Liaodong lies with the Jurchens. The strength of the Jurchens lies in their ability to coerce the Mongols into submission. Now that the Chahar tribe has been defeated by the Jurchens, the southern Gobi Desert is in turmoil. This is a critical situation, but also an opportunity."

Zhu Youjian's gaze swept across the area below, his eyes as calm as a bottomless lake. "My intention is to restore the pacification and rewards given to the tribes south of the Gobi Desert and reopen the trade markets. In addition, allocate 100,000 shi of grain from the Imperial Stud's granary to provide targeted relief to the famine-stricken tribes such as the Kharachin, in order to reassure them and strengthen our northern border defenses."

After he finished speaking, the hall fell into a deathly silence.

Then, just like pouring a ladle of cold water into a calm pan of oil, it exploded instantly!
A buzz of discussion arose from the back of the queue and quickly spread throughout the entire hall.

Shock, bewilderment, absurdity... a variety of emotions alternated on the faces of the officials.

Zhang Zheng, a supervising secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, was the first to step forward and spoke eloquently: "Your Majesty, this is absolutely unacceptable! The national treasury is empty, the floods in Southern Zhili still require relief, and the salaries of the nine border garrisons are still in arrears. Where would we find the extra money to subsidize those fickle barbarians?"

"What Lord Zhang says is absolutely right!" Wang Jiazhen, the Vice Minister of Revenue, immediately echoed. "The case of Ligdan Khan serves as a stark warning! Our Great Ming spends countless amounts of gold and silver on him every year, only to be met with indifference during the Battle of Guangning! It is already merciful not to pursue and annihilate such wolves after their defeat; how can we continue to fund them with national treasury?"

These words expressed the sentiments of the vast majority of officials in the palace.

In their view, Ligdan Khan's defeat was a great thing, as it would save the court a huge amount of money every year, which was like a windfall.

As for the emperor's talk of a "northern border barrier" and a "critical situation," they saw it as nothing more than the young emperor's excessive worry and alarmist talk.

The Ming Dynasty has formidable passes and natural defenses; how could the Jurchens possibly fly over here?
Qian Longxi slowly stepped forward. Unlike the others, he did not act impassionedly. He simply bowed and said calmly, "Your Majesty, pacifying the Mongols is the way of our ancestors. However, our ancestors also said that we should use both kindness and severity. Now that Ligdan Khan has just been defeated, the tribes in southern Mongolia are afraid of the Jurchen army. This is the time for our Great Ming to demonstrate its might. If we were to suddenly bestow kindness upon them at this moment, it would only make them look down on us and think that our Great Ming is weak and easy to bully. I believe that this matter should be discussed later and should be considered at a longer time."

What a good long-term plan!

These four words are truly the gentlest yet sharpest knife in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom; they can delay any swift and decisive decree until the end of time!
Zhu Youjian listened quietly, without the slightest anger on his face.

He even found it a little funny.

A group of people sitting inside the house were arguing about whether or not to repair the roof, which had been blown with a large hole by the strong wind. Some said they didn't have the money, some said it would be useless to repair it, and others said they should wait until the wind stopped before slowly figuring out how to repair it.

But no one realized that the next thing to come would be a blizzard powerful enough to destroy the entire house!
"Qian Longxi," Zhu Youjian murmured his name.

"The minister is here."

"I ask you, if a wall collapses, should you prop it up first, or wait for the thief to break in?"

Qian Longxi was taken aback, then replied, "Your Majesty, of course we should support the wall first. But state affairs are like a game of chess, and we must be careful when making moves. There are countless ways to support the wall, and we should not be too hasty."

"Alright." Zhu Youjian nodded. "Then let me ask you again: if the Jurchen cavalry bypasses the southern Gobi Desert, does not attack Shanhaiguan, but instead marches straight to Jizhou and Xuanfu, and besieges Beijing, how will you respond?"

As soon as these words came out, the whole hall was shocked.

Qian Longxi frowned deeply and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, this is mere conjecture and nothing short of alarmist. Our Great Ming's nine border towns are heavily fortified, with layers of defenses. How could the Jurchens possibly come here so easily?"

"Alarmist?" Zhu Youjian laughed, but there was no warmth in his laughter. "What a fine alarmist statement!"

It's futile to describe how terrifying a tsunami is to a group of people who have never seen the ocean.

They wouldn't believe it until the floodwaters reached their necks.

"This matter need not be discussed further." Zhu Youjian's voice suddenly turned cold. "My mind is made up. The cabinet shall immediately draft a proposal, and the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War shall immediately implement it."

This is the final ultimatum.

Inside the main hall, the air seemed to freeze.

All eyes were on Qian Longxi.

Qian Longxi raised his head and looked directly at the young emperor on the throne. He saw an unquestionable determination in those eyes, but he did not back down.

As the leader of the civil service, he decided he had his responsibilities and pride.

Qian Longxi bowed slowly and said in an extremely respectful yet firm tone:

"Your Majesty, please reconsider. This matter concerns the very foundation of the nation and is no child's play. We, your subjects, dare not obey the imperial edict."

Behind him, several officials knelt down in unison.

"Your Majesty, please think again!"

This is the power of civil officials.

They expressed the most arrogant resistance with the most humble posture.

Zhu Youjian looked at the group of kneeling figures below the steps and remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he slowly rose from his throne, a cold laugh running through his mind. He had actually harbored a sliver of delusion toward these rotten wood men whose hearts had long been hollowed out by selfish desires and factional strife!
When you speak to them about the dangers on the frontier, they worry about the deficit in the imperial treasury; when you describe the nation's grand strategy to them, they get bogged down in ancestral rules.

In this Wenhua Hall, reasoning is the most useless thing.

They couldn't understand human language, they could only see swords.

They were not afraid of imperial power, but only of death!
(End of this chapter)