Xiao Ruxun's memorial was a request for war, so it was naturally written with more passion.
It was written that since the reign of Jiajing, many coastal residents had left their homes and fled to Nanyang to survive. This was caused by the Japanese pirates. Although they were not physically in China, their hearts were still in China.
Since the Japanese pirates' rebellion was over, people wanted to return home. However, Franco Jiyi in Luzon made up excuses and obstructed people, not allowing them to return home. What's more, he even used troops to kill people!
Our people opened mines in Luzon, cut trees to build towns, or were sailors. All the dirty and tiring work was done by our people. Franco Jiyi enjoyed the fruits of their labor and oppressed our people. The old, young, women, and children were not allowed to rest. They had to work for more than 18 hours a day. It was really heartless!
Zhao Zhigao frowned as he watched. He knew the inside story of the Wokou rebellion, and he also knew the reason why Xiao Ruxun described the coastal residents of the Lower Southeast Sea in such a manner. It was to cover up the shame of the imperial court. However, he really didn't know that the Lower Southeast Sea's Great Ming citizens were living such a miserable life in Luzon.
Xiao Ruxun said that Myanmar was sparsely populated and needed people to develop. When he sent people to Luzon to do business, the Luzon Chinese cried and begged him to bring them to Myanmar to live again. It was really impossible to live in Luzon, so Xiao Ruxun sent a message to the Spaniards to take these people away.
However, the Spaniards not only did not cooperate, but also obstructed. They clearly agreed on the surface, but secretly arranged troops to stop them. They also colluded with the local Chinese merchants to hide the people and not let Xiao Ruxun take them away!
Xiao Ruxun sent people to look for them. On the way, they were attacked by the Spaniards. They were despicable and shameless. They used 200 troops to attack the Ming Dynasty Army, causing one Daming soldier to die and dozens of people to be injured. They fought to save the people, but hundreds of people were also killed and injured. He could not swallow this anger no matter what!
Spain was slapping Daming in the face, slapping His Majesty in the face. A small barbarian country dared to openly defy Daming, it was simply courting death.
He, Xiao Ruxun, was guarding the southern border for the country, he had the responsibility to ensure the peace of the land and sea in the southern border. When something happened in Luzon, he was duty-bound. He requested the imperial court to allocate funds for the army so that he could send troops to Luzon to subjugate the disobedient subjects. He wanted the Spaniards to bow their heads and admit their guilt, and pay tribute to the Daming.
After reading the memorial, Zhao Zhigao was furious. He slammed the table and shouted, "Bastard! He simply has no respect for the law! "
Other than Zhang Wei, Emperor Chen Yu and Shen Yicheng were both present in the Cabinet. After Zhao Zhigao seized control of the country, these two were summoned to the Cabinet by a court meeting in order to disperse Zhang Wei's power. Naturally, they were grateful to Zhao Zhigao. Usually, they were close to Zhao Zhigao and knew that the Emperor favored Zhao Zhigao. Zhao Zhigao's position could not be changed for the time being.
However, such an old man who usually did not have much of a temper, why was he angry today?
Shen Yicheng stepped forward and asked cautiously, "Yuanfu, why are you angry?"
Zhao Zhigao took a deep breath and said angrily, "Francesco from Luzon Island in Nanyang actually dared to openly attack the Ming Dynasty Army, causing one of our soldiers to die and dozens of them to be injured. They are simply courting death!"
"Ah?"
Shen Yicheng was quite shocked and quickly took the memorial to read. Emperor Chen Yu also walked over in shock. The other people in the Cabinet were also shocked by the news and gathered around to watch.
After reading Xiao Ruxun's memorial, Shen Yicheng and Emperor Chen Yu looked at each other and realized that this matter was not as simple as it seemed.
"In the past, there were people in Luzon who came to the Daming for help, saying that their homeland was occupied by the Francesco people and they had no home to return to. They asked the Daming to send troops to help restore their homeland. However, the Daming was limited by the Japanese pirates and did not have extra troops to help restore Luzon. Luzon was still the territory of the Daming during the reign of Emperor Cheng Zu. It was later abandoned, but it was still a vassal state. It was destroyed by the Francesco people for no reason.
Emperor Chen Yu expressed his opinion.
Shen Yicheng also nodded in agreement, "Restoring Luzon is actually the duty of the Daming. If we want to send troops, it is justifiable. However, with the passage of time, the descendants of the King of Luzon are missing. Even if the country is restored, how can we send people to govern? However, the Francesco people brazenly attacked the Daming, killing one of our soldiers and injuring dozens of them. It is really abominable and we have to punish them severely. Otherwise, how can the Daming keep his face? "
Both Emperor Chen Yu and Shen Yicheng were in favor of sending troops. Zhao Zhigao himself also supported this view. Xiao Ruxun also proposed the scale of the war. It was not a big war, a local war. The purpose was to beat them into submission, make them pay tribute, and re-enter the tributary system. This was not a bad idea, but …
"The national treasury does not have enough silver to allocate …"
Zhao Zhigao sighed deeply, and with this sigh, the pro-war parties all stopped their banners and drums.
The lack of silver was a curse that haunted the Daming for the rest of his life. How much suffering had it brought!
However, Xiao Ruxun had previously obtained eight million taels of silver as war reparations from Japan, and she had also seized a silver mountain and a gold mountain. The war reparations were 1.6 million taels of silver every year, and they would be paid off in five years. The silver mountain could also provide a quota of one million taels of silver every year. Fifty years of mining rights, that was equivalent to 50 million taels of silver.
For the past three years, the commander-in-chief of Ishimi Town, Wu Weizhong, guarded Japan and faithfully fulfilled his duty in Japan. Every quarter, he would send hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to Daming to make up for the deficit.
Logically speaking, the Daming's finances had doubled, so they should be a lot more affluent. However, for some reason, after three years, the financial deficit did not improve much.
In the beginning, the finances were very affluent, so there was nothing wrong with it. However, after a year, the government offices suddenly asked for more silver. Not only the government offices in the capital, but the local armies also asked for more military expenses.
For example, Liaodong asked for three hundred thousand taels of silver as military expenses to prepare for the invasion of the Jurchens and the Mongols. Ji Town also asked for three hundred thousand taels of silver to defend against the invasion of the Mongols.
Every quarter, when the silver from Japan entered the national treasury, it would be taken away by various units with various reasons. Things did not seem to be much less, but the silver was much less.
Zhao Zhigao repeatedly asked the departments not to take away the silver, but the effect was limited. If you didn't give them the silver, they would come and make trouble, and they would not do anything. Anyway, they just wanted the silver. Without the silver, they couldn't even go to work normally.
Although the Emperor also wanted silver, the Emperor's palace treasury would be opened to the outside court when necessary. Zhu Yijun was not stingy, and Zhao Zhigao knew it very well. As for these rats, once they took the silver, they would hide it in the cellar of their hometown, or even in the coffin. Were they not afraid of bursting their stomachs!
Zhao Zhigao could not go against the whole court alone, so the silver was getting less and less, and the deficit did not improve. The money that could not be taken out was still not taken out. No matter how much silver was sent from Japan, there was still no improvement in Daming. Instead, there were people urging Wu Weizhong to get the silver as soon as possible. It was very shameless.
Now that Xiao Ruxun needed silver to fight the war, he should at least have one hundred thousand taels of silver, right? However, when Zhao Zhigao flipped through the accounts of the national treasury, he found that the next quarter's Japanese silver had been reserved by several departments. The reason was very beautiful, and no one could find any reason.
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