Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Hearing Zou Changrui's answer, Zeng Tai's body began to tremble with excitement.

You can refine silver by knocking off any piece of stone. What a huge silver mountain that would be!

However, in order to ensure that nothing unexpected happened, Zeng Tai suppressed his excitement and continued to ask.

"This matter is of great importance, so we must not speak carelessly. Can you be responsible for what you say?"

Hearing Zeng Tai's questioning, Zou Changrui was extremely upset, and his tone naturally became low.

"Master Zeng! This is the imperial court. How dare I, Zou Changrui, speak nonsense and deceive His Majesty in front of Him?"

"My Zou family has been passed down since the Li Tang Dynasty. Our ancestors have all been miners. I can tell whether there is a mineral vein at a glance."

"This is about the two gold mines and silver mountains owned by the Japanese pirates. I guarantee with my life that what I said is completely true!"

Although Zou Changrui's tone of voice was indeed a bit excessive, Zeng Tai was, after all, a second-rank official, the Minister of Revenue.

But Zeng Tai didn't care about Zou Changrui's tone. Instead, he patted Zou Changrui's shoulder with a smile on his face.

Then, he suddenly turned around and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, without the slightest hesitation, he said righteously:

"Your Majesty, as the ancient saying goes, wherever the sun and moon shine, wherever the rivers flow, all is Han territory. Those islands in the East China Sea have been part of our Chinese territory since ancient times."

"This is an ironclad fact, indisputable! Now, our Han Chinese land has been brutally occupied by bandits. It's time to settle accounts!"

As the Minister of Revenue, Zeng Tai was in charge of the financial affairs of the entire Ming Dynasty. To put it bluntly, he was in charge of the Ming Dynasty's purse.

The Ministry of Revenue officials of any dynasty have one characteristic, which is to deduct money, to deduct money as much as possible, and to hold the purse tightly.

Many officials in the Ministry of Revenue would even withhold a penny from the emperor's expenditures.

Of course, this is also for the good of the country. After all, the money in the treasury is needed to maintain the development and construction of a country.

If the officials of the Ministry of Revenue do not deduct any amount, then when the time comes to use the money, not a single cent will be available.

But on the other hand, if anyone can make the national treasury more prosperous, the Ministry of Revenue will worship him as the God of Wealth.

This is also the reason why Zeng Tai did not hesitate to support the Eastern Expedition after hearing that the Japanese pirates had a silver mountain.

I’m really scared of poverty!

After Zeng Tai changed his tone, Tang Duo, the Minister of War, also spoke up immediately:

"Your Majesty, the Japanese pirates have repeatedly invaded the borders of the Ming Dynasty and even killed our Ming envoys. They are destined for death!"

"The laws of nature are cyclical, and justice is clear. If we do not demonstrate the majesty of the Great Ming, how can we intimidate the surrounding vassal states?"

"I believe we should send our royal army out to sea to sweep away the Japanese pirates with lightning speed, to demonstrate the might of our Ming Dynasty!"

If Zeng Tai's transformation was for money, then Tang Duo's transformation was for fame.

The reason is simple. As the Minister of War, Tang Duo is in charge of all internal and external military affairs of the Ming Dynasty.

In later generations, the position of Minister of War was basically equivalent to the Minister of National Defense.

When Japanese pirates invaded the coastal borders, the Ministry of War was the first to receive the news and had the most comprehensive understanding of the situation.

Although it was just a tiny country, it repeatedly invaded the Ming Dynasty, burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of atrocities.

As the Minister of Defense of the Celestial Empire, he felt very frustrated when he was humiliated by a small country but could not punish it.

If the Minister of Revenue Zeng Tai was the one who was blinded by money, then the Minister of War Tang Duo was simply full of anger and ready to vent it.

The fact that there were mountains of silver hidden in the Japanese pirates' territory was a huge shock, and Zhu Yuanzhang was obviously determined to take action against the Japanese pirates.

In addition, the two ministers have changed their minds, and the other officials are not fools. If they sing a different tune at this time, they will only cause trouble for themselves.

As long as they are not corrupt, the emperor will not easily deal with the officials of the six ministries, but they, the little Karami, will not be treated like this. If they anger the emperor, they cannot bear the consequences.