"Take a look!" Zheng Zhilong's hands were shaking like an old man who had suffered a stroke, and he thrust the kraft paper envelope into Li Xiao's hand.

Li Xiao didn't understand. With Zheng Zhilong's magnanimity, what could make him like this? After taking the envelope and opening it and looking at it for a while, Li Xiao's face began to turn red. The letter in his hand shook like a leaf falling in the wind!

Sun Chengzong was very surprised and took the letter and read it again.

"What a shame! What a shame! What a shame!" Sun Chengzong was so angry that his beard trembled automatically. If it weren't for the heavy Confucian crown, his hair would stand on end.

"In this tragedy in Java, more than 40,000 people of our Ming Dynasty lost their lives. Only less than 300 people escaped the disaster. My nephew died in a bloody battle. After his death, his body was chopped into eighteen pieces by Javanese barbarians and thrown into the sea.

Feed the fish. On the coast of Java, the corpses of my people from the Ming Dynasty are hanging everywhere. The women were brutally humiliated, and the children were like chewing dogs. Miserable! Miserable!" The veins on Zheng Zhilong's neck popped out, and the teeth in his mouth were almost broken.

.

"Brother!" Li Xiu rushed into the yard like a leopard and roared, staring straight at Li Xiao. As long as Li Xiao nodded, he would rush to the South China Sea with his warship to carry out the cruelest revenge.

This guy must have heard the news from the eldest lady of the Zheng family!

Li Xiao held the letter in his hand, and his body felt like he was in an ice cellar. You can imagine how miserably the 40,000 people of the Ming Dynasty were bullied at the hands of the Javanese barbarians. Li Xiao, who came from later generations, had seen those bloody photos!

He didn't even want Li Xiu to go to Java. He wanted to go to Java himself. He would catch the natives one by one, throw them into the sea to feed the fish, and throw them into the fire to burn them into charcoal.

Everyone looked at Li Xiao, and as long as Li Xiao nodded, the Ming Dynasty, which had just experienced a civil war, would immediately dispatch arrogant soldiers and generals to attack Java, thousands of miles away.

"Let's hold a cabinet meeting and see what everyone has to say. Sun Chuanting returns to the capital to report on his work and ask him to come too." Sun Chengzong said slowly, pulling on his shoes and walking slowly towards the Moon Gate.

The Ming Empire is not a play house, something that can be decided by just one word from the parents. For things like declaring war, the cabinet must be mobilized and all ministries must work together to win the war. A war where decisions are made by slapping one's head on the head does not exist.

Today's Ming Dynasty.

The twelve-year-old Longwu Emperor Zhu Yihai was sitting in the middle wearing a crown. Li Xiao and Sun Chengzong were sitting on both sides. This is the current Ming Dynasty. If we follow the previous rules, everyone has to stand. If you can sit,

Yes, only the little brat Zhu Yihai.

"Everyone has read the letter brought by Zheng Shangshu. It concerns everyone about the state, so you can speak freely." Sun Chengzong, the chief minister, spoke first.

No one spoke, and the scene was extremely solemn.

"The massacre of 40,000 people of the Ming Dynasty at one time is really a great shame and humiliation for our country. I believe that we should send elites to fight into the South China Sea. Go deep into the barren land, wipe out the bandits and redress the injustice of our people." When no one spoke, Zheng Zhilong took the lead to speak.

Sun Ruyou just wanted to speak, but swallowed again. He looked around twice, but finally did not open his mouth.

Shi Kefa kept wagging his thumbs and looked up at the patterns on the caisson. He was very fascinated.

Lu Xiangsheng, who had just been transferred to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, did not say anything and became an old monk.

No one spoke at the venue, and the atmosphere became a bit strange.

"Why didn't you say anything? The people of the Ming Dynasty were slaughtered like rotten dogs. In the face of tens of thousands of martyrs, you were indifferent." Zheng Zhilong roared angrily. At this time, he no longer cared about official etiquette. As for the emperor, everyone knows

That’s a tablet!

"Zheng Shangshu, please be patient! My people of the Ming Dynasty were massacred for no reason. All the gentlemen here feel the same. But war requires money! Everyone knows that Guanzhong suffered a disaster. Sichuan is still pacifying the remaining troops of Zhang Xianzhong, and Jiangnan is undergoing land reform.

Except for the three provinces of Shandong, Hebei, and Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, which can pay taxes, the remaining provinces are in the process of recovery, and the others are not counted. The three provinces of Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu alone will not be able to recover in five years.

Not to mention the dilapidated Guanzhong, which is not only frequently harassed by the remnants of Dorgon. It is also repeatedly hit by natural and man-made disasters. Shaanxi and Gansu provinces may not be able to recover in ten years. It is already stretched to deal with these households. If there is another expedition,

If so, the Ministry of Revenue really can't come up with that much money and grain.

I also support the expedition to fight against the Javanese barbarians and avenge our people. But where does the money come from? A bullet is worth three copper plates, and an ordinary naval gun shell is worth a hundred taels of silver. The main gun shells are as high as five hundred taels of silver.

A single shot of a heavy rocket launcher costs four hundred taels of silver.

Mortar shells are cheap, costing only ten taels of silver. But a dozen of those things can produce hundreds of rounds, not to mention the logistical supplies after the expedition, the increased food and salary for the officers and soldiers during the expedition, etc. Zheng Shangshu, this is not

We will exterminate pirates in the Bohai Bay. Instead, we will go thousands of miles away and attack hundreds of thousands of local indigenous people." Ai Husheng said helplessly. Everyone here could stay out of the matter, but he, Ai Husheng, could not.

If a fight really breaks out, everyone will come to him and ask for money. Even if Ai Husheng is made of gold, how many golden melon seeds can he break out?

"How can you waste the lives of more than 40,000 people of the Ming Dynasty by saying that you have no money? How can I, the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, be controlled by a Korean like you?" Zheng Zhilong roared angrily.

Li Xiao's eyelids twitched, Ai Husheng was appointed by him. Zheng Zhilong was angry because Ai Husheng was telling the truth. It was a bit excessive to talk about Ai Husheng being a Korean.

"You...!" The issue of identity was Ai Husheng's problem. He pointed his finger at Zheng Zhilong and was about to go crazy.

"Everyone sit down, this is a cabinet meeting, don't get too angry." Li Xiao said coldly, and Ai Husheng sat down bitterly.

"Mr. Ai is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. This is my eclectic way of employing people in the Ming Dynasty. Zheng Shangshu should not make trouble about this matter in the future!" Li Xiao warned Zheng Zhilong with a cold face.

Zheng Zhilong also sat down with a sullen expression. He did not have the strength to fall out with Li Xiao in the capital.

After Li Xiao said this, he stopped talking. Sun Chengzong on the side lit a cigarette and slowly started smoking. The old fox was very excited after reading the letter, and now it seemed that he had only been excited for ten minutes.

"Gentlemen! Mr. Sun just listened to what everyone said. In fact, they all make sense. Mr. Zheng advocated an expedition to Java to avenge the people who died in the Ming Dynasty. Mr. Sun thinks that he should be punished. If a country was massacred with 40,000 people,

People, if you still do not declare war and take action, you are too cowardly, and it will seriously damage the prestige and morale of our Ming Dynasty." When everyone was silent, Sun Chuanting stood up.

After listening to Sun Chuanting's words, Zheng Zhilong immediately cast a grateful look. This was the first person to stand up and clearly support him.

"Of course! The household department also has difficulties. I just came from Guanzhong to deal with the locust plague. Now the locusts in the Guanzhong disaster area are covering the sky and the sun, and the crops in many counties have been eaten up. There are basically eleven counties in total.

No harvest!

There are eleven counties, and the people in each county are desperate for food. In order to prevent the victims from being displaced, the court is opening granaries every day to release grain. But in our Guanzhong granary, there is almost no food to distribute. Now we all rely on the support of the Ministry of Household Affairs

Only with enough rice can we survive the famine.

If Guanzhong is like this, how can it be better if we look at the whole country? It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, and it is difficult for Ai Shangshu, the Minister of Household Affairs, to be tight."

Li Xiao's nose was almost crooked with anger. This guy was talking in both directions. That's not the way to be two-faced. It's too unskilled.

"What did Governor Sun want to say?" Li Xiao asked dissatisfied.

"I wonder how much money the Ministry of Revenue can squeeze out if we go on an expedition?" Sun Chuanting asked Ai Husheng with a confident smile on his face.

"The Ministry of Household Affairs can at most provide 500,000 taels, and if it's more, it will have to be done by this time next year. The total population of Java is one million, and it is mostly tropical jungle. The barbarians are native there, and it is impossible for our army to complete it in a short period of time.

Mission. If a division of troops is dispatched, half a million taels of silver will not last for a year anyway. Again, this is not in the Bohai Bay, this is in Java thousands of miles away." Ai Hu reminded angrily.
Chapter completed!