Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Oh." Zhang Shikang said honestly while sitting at the dinner table.

Only then did Emperor Chongzhen stop being angry.

"If you want to open the sea, I will not stop you. If you want to increase the revenue for the court, I will of course strongly support you. No matter what other court officials say, I will not listen.

The Ming Dynasty has turned around because of you, and I only trust you.

But now that the court has just stabilized, you need to focus more of your energy on the domestic situation.

There are still bandits in the southwest and the Jianlu in the north who are eyeing us covetously. These are hidden dangers that need to be resolved urgently.

The elders in the cabinet have repeatedly urged me to convene a financial meeting. I am just waiting for you to come back." Emperor Chongzhen said calmly.

"Your Majesty, after a year of hard work, the people of the world are now at peace. Both Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng have lost their greatest support for rebellion.

Without a steady supply of reserve troops, they are nothing but lambs to be slaughtered. As soon as I have time next year, I will destroy them in one fell swoop.

As for the Northern Tartars, there is no need to be impatient. It has to be said that the fighting power of the Jiannu is quite fierce.

What I mean is that, on the one hand, we should improve our armaments, for example, by asking the Ministry of Industry to produce more heavy armor.

Secondly, our court now has money, so we can take out some of it. I will take the trouble to go outside the Great Wall and see if there is any chance to win over some wavering guys.

If they are really determined to fight against the Jiannu, then we will fight them together.

Otherwise, we could try to win them over. Your Majesty should know that our court used to love playing the political game of pulling one against one.

We can also go to the Guanningjin Defense Line to see what is going on between Zu Dashou and Xiao Guizi, the uncle and nephew."

It must be said that ever since the last time he had a head-on confrontation with the Jianlu and experienced the power of the Jianlu's heavy armor, Zhang Shikang has been extremely envious.

The imperial court was extremely poor at the time, but now it is finally able to get some heavy armor for the Beijing Army.

"Your Majesty, I think the Jianlu are more anxious than us.

They must have spies in my Ming Dynasty. I think the reason they invaded the border this year is that they knew about the unrest in Ming Dynasty this year.

But now the unrest has been basically settled. If we let the Ming Dynasty catch its breath, they will have even less chance.

Therefore, we should first delay them, and it would be best if they can attack us on their own initiative, or we can force them to attack us," Zhang Shikang analyzed.

No matter what, the cost-effectiveness of a defensive battle is higher than that of an active attacker. In this era when artillery power is not strong enough, if you want to capture a city wall, you will have to sacrifice countless lives.

After all, the Jianlu were not seriously injured. If I took the initiative to attack with a large army, there would be many variables and the losses would definitely be huge.

It would be better to develop domestic demand and expand armaments and wait for the opportunity to tire out.

"All military affairs are decided by you. I will not interfere. The most important thing right now is this year's financial meeting. Since you have had your fill, I will summon them to discuss it." Emperor Chongzhen said, and ordered Wang Chengen to convey the order.

"You have made great contributions in the campaign against the Southern Army this year. Tell me, what reward do you want?" Emperor Chongzhen asked again.

Emperor Chongzhen said it casually, but in fact he was quite troubled.

His contribution to suppressing the rebellion was naturally not small, but it was not enough to warrant a promotion to a higher rank. After all, the next level up from Marquis of Champion would be to Duke of the State.

If it was any other noble, he could just reward them with some gold, dragon robes or something like that, but Emperor Chongzhen knew very well that Zhang Shikang was not interested in these things at all.

He also didn't want Zhang Shikang to feel that he was being perfunctory. After all, this guy was lazy to begin with. If he were to accuse him of being stingy and then use that as an excuse to cheat, that would not be what he wanted to see.

It would be better to give it directly to that boy.

“I went to suppress the rebellion not for reward, but if Your Majesty really feels bad about it, then give me some more honorary positions.

Oh, I also want a whole outer house." Zhang Shikang thought for a while and said.

Although he has a lot of titles now, compared with that Dragon Queen, he still seems not impressive enough.

As for the outer residence, he was a hereditary marquis after all, and now he was almost twenty-one years old, it was time for him to have his own marquisate in Beijing.

Of course, Zhang Shikang had no plans to separate the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion for the time being. He built an outer house purely to facilitate his trade and to eat, drink and have fun with his brothers.

Although the Duke of England's mansion is not small, his parents are always at home watching over him. If they knew about his affairs, they would inevitably nag him.

"I have an idea in mind. There are many vacant houses in the capital now. You can choose one.

If you are not satisfied, I will ask the Ministry of Works to allocate funds to build it specially for you.

Are there any others?" Emperor Chongzhen asked again.

Although his contribution in the campaign against the Southern Army was not enough to warrant a promotion, it would be insufficient to merely reward him with a house and some honorary titles.

"It's gone, there's no need to make a new one. Money doesn't come easily, so we have to spend it sparingly."

This made Emperor Chongzhen very pleased. When he first learned that Zhang Shikang had spent more than 20 million taels on maritime affairs, his heart almost stopped beating.

Fortunately, Emperor Chongzhen never spent any money on maritime affairs since he ascended the throne, so he certainly didn't understand how much the navy cost.

"Think about it again and see if there is anything else you need. The Ministry of Revenue still has a lot of jewelry, calligraphy and paintings that were seized during the confiscation of property that have not been sold yet. If you like anything, go and take it yourself.

After the court has finished discussing the financial affairs, your coming-of-age ceremony should be held immediately. I have promised you that I will have the Ministry of Rites and the Duke of England prepare for this later."

Emperor Chongzhen added.

Actually, this was something Emperor Chongzhen had agreed to at the beginning of the year, but this year has been too busy.

Since the Lantern Festival this year, dramatic changes have occurred one after another. Not only was Zhang Shikang busy putting out fires everywhere, but Emperor Chongzhen was also very busy.

The coming-of-age ceremony is held at the age of 20, but the Chinese New Year is only five or six days away, so it must be completed before the New Year, otherwise it will not be in accordance with the etiquette.

"Hehe, thank you, Your Majesty. Let's keep it as simple as possible to save money!" Zhang Shikang said with a smile.

"Are you trying to save money? You're just afraid of trouble!" Emperor Chongzhen saw through Zhang Shikang's thoughts at a glance.

"Your Majesty, nothing can be hidden from me. There is one more thing. The Beijing troops will probably return to camp around the Lantern Festival next year.

There are also many prisoners of war who participated in the Jiangnan rebellion with the army. I think there will be no need for any ceremony to present the prisoners, we can just chop them off directly." Zhang Shikang said.

"Why?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned.

The prisoner presentation ceremony is an honor for the generals. Although it is a bit troublesome, it is useful not only in making a declaration to the court but also in warning those with ulterior motives.

At this time, Wang Chengen came over in small steps to report that the cabinet ministers were already waiting outside the hall for a summons.

Zhang Shikang remembered his mother's warning and whispered:

"Your Majesty, I am worried that my achievements will overthrow the Lord!"

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he felt a surge of anger rising from his coccyx to the top of his head.

……