It is well known that listening to someone speak for a while and saying it's equivalent to listening to them speak is essentially describing someone's meaningless talk. However, the prerequisite for judging whether it's meaningless talk is the person who says it.
Even if Emperor Zhu spoke a lot of nonsense, his civil and military officials like Zeng Cheng and Liu Heming would not dare to dismiss it as such.
Not only did they not dare to treat it as nonsense, but they also had to applaud and praise this pile of nonsense, then present a mountain of evidence to prove the rationality and necessity of Emperor Zhu's nonsensical words, and moreover, propose corresponding solutions.
Zeng Cheng was the first to speak: "Your subject believes that no matter how much those barbarians in Europa want to catch up with Great Ming's technology, someone must solve the problems that arise during various technological research and development—so, Commander Ke can first inquire about the technical talents in Europa and find ways to bring them to Great Ming."
Emperor Zhu Jinsong nodded with a smile.
This was a good tactic of undermining from the roots. After all, technology depended on human research and development. Without technical talents, even if the relevant technical documents were placed before them, they would be useless.
The Minister of Revenue, Liu Huaiwen, spoke next: "I report to Your Majesty that your subject believes that to suppress the scientific research progress of those barbarians, it is not as troublesome as Elder Zeng suggested. After all, Commander Ke cannot recruit all the technical talents in Europa. Therefore, your subject thinks it would be better to directly increase investment in the Royal Academy."
Zhu Jinsong continued to nod with a smile.
As Liu Huaiwen said, even if the Embroidered Uniform Guard was capable, they could not recruit all the technical talents in Europa. Instead of trying to find solutions in this regard, it would be better to directly increase investment in the Royal Academy to ensure Great Ming's lead in scientific research.
However, before Zhu Jinsong could be happy for two minutes, Liu Huaiwen added: "Our dynasty has many expenses now, and the national treasury is quite empty, Your Majesty..."
The big shots present were all stunned by Liu Huaiwen's statement—just a short while ago, you, Minister Liu, were still emphatically stating that some merchants had paid over 100 million dragon coins in taxes to the national treasury, and it seemed like that 100 million had directly added another 200 million?
Liu Heming even rolled his eyes and snorted, "Uncle Huaiwen, why don't you be generous for once and take out more military funds?"
Liu Huaiwen immediately became angry: "What are you doing? The national treasury is already empty, and you still want me to give you more military funds? How much is this 'more'?"
Liu Heming chuckled and replied, "Look, doesn't the national treasury have to invest money in the Royal Academy every year? Even if the annual budget is not particularly large, when added up over the years, it's still a staggering sum, right?"
"However, you could completely allocate this money to the Five Military Commissions as military funds—with this military fund, the Five Military Commissions are confident in leveling the entire small sphere within five years."
Liu Heming's tone and intonation were full of temptation: "Think about it, five years, just five years, and after enduring these five years, our biggest concern will cease to exist!"
"That is to say, after five years, you can cut the Royal Academy's budget as you please without worrying about anyone surpassing Great Ming's technological level, because the entire small sphere belongs to Great Ming."
"Is there any more profitable deal than this?"
With every sentence Liu Heming spoke, Liu Huaiwen nodded. After Liu Heming finished, Liu Huaiwen was completely immersed in the picture painted by Liu Heming.
Liu Huaiwen stroked his beard, constantly pondering the feasibility of this matter, and even muttered aloud by accident, "It's not impossible? Five years? Royal Academy? Military funds?"
Seeing Liu Huaiwen looking somewhat lost, Zhu Jinsong finally couldn't help but cough and say, "Uncle Huaiwen, you're listening too much to Liu Heming's nonsense. That scoundrel grew up under your watchful eye, don't you know what kind of person he is?"
Upon being told this by Zhu Jinsong, Liu Huaiwen immediately came to his senses. His gaze towards Liu Heming no longer held the same admiration as before, "Good job, Liu Heming, you scoundrel, you dare to trick even me, is that it?"
Liu Heming chuckled awkwardly and said, "Where did you get that idea? What I just told you are my true thoughts."
Liu Huaiwen let out a cold laugh and said, "Yes, this old man can allocate more military funds to your Five Military Commissions, but what about our five-year plan that we just agreed upon? His Majesty and those old scholars at the Royal Academy don't care about anything else; they will only come to me, the Minister of Revenue, for the budget!"
Having said that, Liu Huaiwen simply waved his hand, signaling Liu Heming, who still wanted to say something, to shut up. "It's fine if your Five Military Commissions want more budget, but you'll have to wait until the spring and autumn taxes are collected next year."
Seeing that he couldn't get any benefits from Liu Huaiwen, Liu Heming directly bowed to Zhu Jinsong and said, "Your Majesty, what I just said were all heartfelt words. I truly have the confidence to level all of Europa within five years."
Zhu Jinsong hummed in acknowledgment and asked, "And then?"
While Liu Heming was stunned, Zhu Jinsong continued, "Actually, it won't take five years, and it's not just Europa—I believe the Five Military Commissions have the ability to sweep the entire small sphere within three years. However, will Great Ming not need laborers after five years?"
This was the crux of the matter.
It was very easy for the Five Military Commissions to level the entire small sphere, and it wouldn't even take three years, because Great Ming's army far surpassed the average level of the entire small sphere in terms of numbers and equipment.
More importantly, all the county schools, prefectural schools, and universities in Great Ming conducted military training every year. Moreover, the military training was not just for new students but for all enrolled students. Although the intensity and standards of training were slightly lower than those of regular troops, one month of training each year was enough to give Great Ming the world's largest reserve of soldiers, capable of easily raising armies numbering in the millions or even tens of millions.
This was a game that only Great Ming could afford to play—even though France was learning from Great Ming in every aspect, with their school textbooks and systems basically copied from Great Ming, France couldn't handle this kind of military training.
This had nothing to do with being inherently romantic or disobedient; it was entirely because of the cost of such an endeavor.
For example, to organize a month of military training, students needed to be issued uniforms and equipment, right? And their food also needed to be adequate, right?
It wouldn't be noticeable with one or two schools, but once it involved the entire nation, this massive financial pressure could directly crush the financial systems of France and other European countries!
Even more frustrating was that such a massive reserve of soldiers was not of much use—unless it was a war of annihilation, what other country could mobilize such a large army? Therefore, the greatest possibility was that these reserve soldiers would never have a chance to truly participate in combat.
It was precisely because the Great Ming court was wealthy and Emperor Zhu's ambitions were particularly wild, and he was secretly preparing for a full-scale conflict in the small sphere, that Great Ming implemented this military training system.
It was also for this reason that Emperor Zhu said it was easy for the Five Military Commissions to level the entire small sphere.
The biggest reason why Great Ming had not actively initiated a full-scale conflict in the entire small sphere was because Great Ming needed a continuous supply of laborers.
The phrase "continuous supply" was key.
For example, more than ten years ago, when Great Ming was just established, Great Ming was desperately digging wells everywhere, building reservoirs, roads and bridges, and dredging rivers. Many of these infrastructure projects required sacrificing lives, either the lives of Great Ming's citizens, or the lives of Great Ming's soldiers, or the lives of laborers.
Emperor Zhu naturally chose to sacrifice laborers.
After more than ten years, Great Ming's infrastructure projects had shown some initial results, but Great Ming's demand for laborers had not decreased but increased, because the Great Ming Royal Academy had developed steam locomotives and asphalt-paved roads.
Emperor Zhu and ministers like Zeng Cheng, who had initially thought that the demand for laborers could be reduced, were suddenly at a loss.
After a series of meetings, Emperor Zhu and his ministers reached a consensus: Great Ming still needed a large number of laborers, and it was very likely that more laborers would be needed in the future.
If the entire small sphere was leveled as Liu Heming suggested, Emperor Zhu would indeed not have to worry about Europa surpassing Great Ming's scientific research level, but it would also mean that Great Ming would have no source of laborers in the future.
The people of Great Ming, in Emperor Zhu's eyes, were his own people, so it was fine for them to honestly go to construction sites to work and earn a living for their families. Being oppressed and exploited by the court was not a big deal, but sacrificing their lives to fill engineering projects was out of the question.
This was also one of the important reasons why Emperor Zhu had not attacked Xikunlun.
After carefully considering, Emperor Zhu smiled and said to Zeng Cheng, Liu Huaiwen, and other dignitaries, "Let's dismiss the suggestion made by that foolish Liu Heming. Let's proceed with the methods proposed by Elder Zeng and Uncle Huaiwen."
"Your Ministry of Rites also needs to figure out some ways," Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to the Minister of Rites, Meng Fanzhi, "Get more people to create things like opera, musicals, novels, shadow puppet plays, and export them to Europa. It would be best to make the barbarians in Europa addicted to opera and novels."
"In addition, describe male-female relationships more in operas and novels, and then find some effeminate actors to perform in Europa, so that those barbarians in Europa can establish a concept of beauty in effeminacy."
"Of course, these operas and novels should be exported to Europa separately. Great Ming does not need these things, especially those handsome and effeminate actors, who are strictly forbidden from developing in Great Ming."
Zeng Cheng, Liu Huaiwen, Meng Fanzhi, and other dignitaries stared blankly at Emperor Zhu, who was opening and closing his mouth. They couldn't tell if they were impressed or speechless—this was the dignified Emperor of Great Ming, who could come up with so many shameless tactics?
As Mr. Xia Fei once said: once a person lets go, you can never guess the bottom line.
Zeng Cheng and Liu Huaiwen, and other dignitaries, could never have imagined what Emperor Zhu, influenced by the internet, would do when he let himself go.
Emperor Zhu said with a smile, "In addition to making the barbarians establish a concept of beauty in effeminacy, we must also make them aware of the equal relationship between men and women, for example, it's the same whether they have boys or girls, and for example, women can also hold up half the sky."
Zeng Cheng was suddenly taken aback and asked, "Your Majesty, isn't that wrong? Many workshops in Great Ming also use a large number of female workers. If the barbarians learn from this, won't it increase the labor force of the barbarians in the workshops?"
However, Zhu Jinsong let out a laugh and said, "Minister Zeng, do you think I'm really going to tell the barbarians that they can use female workers? How naive!"
"Listen to me, I will tell the barbarians about the three matchmakers and six rites, and the eight-bearer sedan chair, the phoenix crown and the ceremonial robes, but I will not tell them about virtuousness and propriety, or the ten-mile dowry."
"I will tell the barbarians that men and women should be equal, and I will also tell them to yield to women. At the same time, I will also tell the women of Europa that as long as they are still giving birth, there is no fairness between men and women."
"I will tell the barbarians that women should bravely pursue their happiness, and should liberate their nature. At the same time, I will also let them know how disgusting European men are, but I will not tell them what it means to maintain one's chastity."
Zeng Cheng and other dignitaries continued to stare blankly.
Is Emperor Zhu today... completely letting himself go and starting to try to break the bottom line of human morality and conscience?
And just as Zeng Cheng and other dignitaries began to doubt life, Zhu Jinsong actually cast his gaze on Liu Huaiwen again: "I suddenly thought of a few other ways to play."
Liu Huaiwen was stunned and bowed, saying, "Please enlighten me, Your Majesty?"
Zhu Jinsong let out a laugh and said, "I've long heard that there's something called stocks in Europa? Since this thing can be bought and sold, it means it can be controlled—given the size of Great Ming's national treasury, and considering Uncle Huaiwen's calculations to make money, it shouldn't be difficult to manipulate their stocks, right?"
Next, Zhu Jinsong also roughly explained the game of futures to Zeng Cheng and Liu Huaiwen and other dignitaries—in fact, futures were not a new thing. Not only had similar games appeared in the Central Plains halls long ago, but even in Japan, similar games had appeared.
However, the Central Plains halls had never recognized this thing; as soon as a hint of it appeared, it would be suppressed.
Emperor Zhu Jinsong also did not approve of futures and stocks, but Emperor Zhu did not mind using these things on Europa.
Zeng Cheng and Liu Huaiwen, and other dignitaries, could finally confirm that His Majesty Emperor Zhu had completely let himself go today!
With such despicable tactics from Emperor Zhu, how could Europa fare well?