Seeing Zhou Chong actually stood up and spoke, Li Dongyang and others were also very surprised. They all looked up at Zhengde and found that Zhou Chong should have received Zhengde's acquiescence, so they were also standing there looking at Zhou Chong.

, want to hear what he has to say?

Zhou Chong cleared his throat and said, "You may not know that the Portuguese are not good at this time. They originally lived in Europe, which is the continent where the Qin Dynasty is recorded in ancient books. Our Daming

The porcelain, silk and tea, and spices produced in Southeast Asia are very valuable gifts in Europe. For example, tea of ​​the same weight is even more expensive than gold of the same importance. This is why

So Europeans have always wanted to open a route to the Nanyang of the Ming Dynasty..."

Zhou Chong tried his best to use a language that Li Dongyang and the others understood, and slowly explained the reasons why the Portuguese arrived in Nanyang and the Ming Dynasty, and emphasized that Europeans always put interests first, and were also very cruel and easy to kill. In order to emphasize this

One thing, Zhou Chong specifically described the Portuguese's actions in India and other places in detail, without exaggerating them at all. In the eyes of Li Dongyang and other Confucian scholars who value benevolence, righteousness and morality, the Portuguese are simply a group of extremely cruel beasts, and they can even

Compared with the Yuan and Mongolian army back then.

After talking about the cruelty of the Grape Man, Zhou Chong explained the importance of Malacca City again, and finally concluded: "My lords, the words above the servants are absolutely true. Wu Shan, the Jinyiwei Qianhu, has been following me,

He can prove that I was not lying. In addition, I believe everyone has understood now. As long as the Portuguese are prevented from occupying the city of Malacca, they can prevent them from invading the South Ocean. As long as Portugal cannot occupy the South Ocean, it will not pose a threat to the coast of our Ming Dynasty. Therefore, this

The second aid to Malacca City is not only to protect the vassal state, but also to protect the coastal security of our Ming Dynasty. I believe that you don’t want our Ming Dynasty to become the second India, right?”

After listening to Zhou Chong's exaggerated descriptions of seven-point true three-point, Li Dongyang and others also frowned. Like Zhengde before, they discovered for the first time that the coastal areas in the south had more than the Japanese turmoil in the early years.

If a powerful enemy, if Portugal occupy the South Ocean and arrives at the coast of Ming Dynasty, and burn and kill and loot like on the coast of India, then the Ming Dynasty may have to pay a heavy price for these robbers who have come from afar.

Several cabinet ministers pondered for a while, and finally Li Dongyang said: "Thank you for the information provided by Mr. Zhou. According to what the Portuguese did, when they arrive at the Ming Dynasty, it is indeed very likely that they will become a treacherous person.

The great danger is that the court naturally needs to take precautions early, and it is naturally an excellent way to prevent them from entering Nanyang. However, the treasury is empty now and I really can't afford to support the Navy's expedition!"

Seeing that although Li Dongyang agreed to his analysis of the Portuguese, he still did not want to send troops on the grounds that the treasury was empty. Zhou Chong sighed helplessly and did not speak because Zhengde needed to perform next.

"Mr. Li doesn't have to worry about military pay. All the expenses of the navy's aid to Malacca City this time will be funded by my inner treasury. At that time, the cabinet will do its best to do a good job of dispatch!" Zhengde said with a smile.

While he was talking, his eyes looked at Zhou Chong with some jealousy.

Hearing that Zhengde was willing to use the inner treasury to fund the dispatch of troops, Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and others also showed confusion, because as far as they know, although there was some money in the inner treasury of the palace, the expenses of His Majesty, the emperor, who had eye diseases, were the same.

It is also very huge. The little money in the treasury is not enough to support the navy's expedition.

However, Li Dongyang soon noticed Zhengde's eyes looking at Zhou Chong, and immediately understood in his heart that although there was no money in the inner treasury in the palace, Zhou Chong was a smuggling merchant who dominated the southern coast, and brought it to the smuggling station

I believe Zhou Chong must have huge wealth in his hands, and it is not difficult to support the navy to go to war.

Zhou Chong felt blood in his heart at this time. Zhengde had said before that Li Dongyang and the others would probably refuse to send troops on the grounds that the treasury was empty. In the end, Zhou Chong made a cruel decision and said that he was willing to pay for his own money. This made Zhengde again

It was both happy and jealous. It was because of this money that he was sure to convince Li Dongyang and others. However, he was jealous because he was an emperor and he was not as rich as Zhou Chong. You should know that those navy commanders should at least go to the expedition.

Spending hundreds of thousands of taels, the inner treasury in the palace could not take out so much money at once.

Of course, although the money was paid by Zhou Chong, it must be in the name of the inner treasury. Otherwise, under the identity of Zhou Chong, he would actually donate privately to the army. This is simply a ill-gotten plot for the officials of the Ming Dynasty, and it is likely that he would even be punished.

People were charged with treason. Therefore, Zhou Chong could only give the money to Zhengde first, and then let Zhengde pay in the name of the Neiku.

Since all the words are said, and Li Dongyang and others were fooled by Zhou Chong's previous words, they thought that the Portuguese were a potential threat, so they had no reason to object. At that moment, several people discussed in a low voice.

After a few words, they finally nodded and passed the resolution to send troops.

Finally, Li Dongyang said again: "Since Your Majesty uses the silver from the inner treasury as military pay, I will naturally do my best to do this. However, sending troops is a major event. I don't know which general you want to appoint,

How should the navy dispatch after the expedition?”

Hearing Li Dongyang finally asked the right time, Zhu Houzhao smiled proudly at Zhou Chong and said to several ministers: "This time the dispatch of troops is different from the past. After all, this is the first time that our Ming Dynasty sent troops to aid the country in Nanyang.

, and the army is mainly naval forces, and the journey is long, so there must be a dedicated person responsible."

Emperor Zhengde paused at this point, and then said with a serious expression: "I plan to temporarily appoint a Sihai Admiral to lead the Ming Navy. As for all matters of this army, it will be supervised by the Sihai Admiral and along the coast.

Officials from all over the country must cooperate with the military orders of the Admiral of Sihai. If anyone dares to disobey, the Admiral of Sihai has the right to temporarily detain him and appoint other officials to take over the local government affairs. I will send a censor to verify it in the future. If it is true, I will punish him severely.

Don't lend!”

Li Dongyang and the others were not surprised to hear that Zhengde was going to appoint a special official to manage the dispatch of troops. However, when they heard that the so-called admiral of the Four Seas could actually order officials from all over the coast, they even had the right to punish them.

He was shocked and thought that the power of the admiral of the Four Seas was too great, even greater than that of the governor who was known as the chief magistrate.

Thinking of the admiral of the Four Seas holding such great power, Li Dongyang and the others were also cautious, and they were also planning the candidate for the admiral of the Four Seas. Among them, Yang Tinghe took the lead and said, "Your Majesty, the admiral of the Four Seas holding such great power, I think I must send a loyal Geng Geng.

I don’t know if there is anyone in your heart to choose the minister. If not, I would be willing to recommend one person!”

Regarding Yang Tinghe's candidate who took the initiative to recommend the admiral of the Four Seas, Zhengde laughed and said, "No need, I already have a candidate in my heart." Zhengde said as he reached out and pointed at Zhou Chong, "Zhou Chong warned the court to the Portuguese to attack Nanyang and the court.

It is also a great achievement, and he is very familiar with maritime affairs, so I decided to appoint him as the admiral of the four seas and lead the general of the troops this time!"

"What?" Li Dongyang and the others were shocked by hearing that Zhengde had broken the rules and promoted a smuggling merchant to be the admiral of the four seas, and the other party was only a young man of sixteen or seventeen years old. He didn't dare to do so anyway

Believe in your own ears. Although the Admiral of the Four Seas is just a temporary official position, he is also a rank-level official. How could he let a young man with only scholars be the one who has a fame and fortune in this way be the one who can be the one who has only a scholar?

"Your Majesty must not be. Although Prince Zhou has made contributions to the court, the court can reward him in other ways. Moreover, the admiral of the Four Seas must be held by an experienced old minister. With Prince Zhou's age, it may be difficult to comply with this important task!

"Li Dongyang had a good impression of Zhou Chong before, so he was kind of polite, just saying that he was too young and inexperienced.

However, in comparison, the others were talking more directly. Yang Tinghe also advised: "Your Majesty, think twice. Zhou Chong is not an official of the court. At most, he only has the fame of a scholar, and he also participated.

If Your Majesty handed over an important position like the Admiral of the Four Seas to Zhou Chong, it would probably cause a big uproar in the court and the people. At that time, not only will Zhou Chong be criticized by the people of the world, but even Your Majesty will be criticized!"

As soon as Yang Tinghe finished speaking, Liu Zhong, Liang Chu and others also opposed it. There are three reasons for the opposition. The first is that Zhou Chong was born too low and was not an official of the court, so he could not take on heavy responsibilities rashly. The second is Zhou.

Chong was too young to take on great responsibilities. The third point was that although Zhou Chong made contributions to the court, he was not enough to take on the important responsibilities of the admiral of the four seas.

Zhengde and Zhou Chong had already prepared for the opposition of several cabinet ministers, and their reasons for opposition were sufficient. If they changed the positions of both sides, even Zhengde and Zhou Chong would object like Li Dongyang and the others.

However, Zhengde and Zhou Chong had already discussed this kind of objection, and had even thought of reasons to refute one by one. Emperor Zhengde suddenly snorted heavily, which made Li Dongyang and the others calm down, and then he spoke:
Chapter completed!