I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1040: Like two dogs fighting over a bone in their master's hand.
Unbeknownst to him, Chen Zhun revealed his class identity.

Because the articles he wrote for money were all clichés and stale, not to mention young people like Zhu Yijun, even lowly scholars wouldn't bother reading them.

However, all seven of his articles concerning the poor and laborers were written with genuine feelings, full of sympathy and pity for them, and filled with accusations against exploitation. One of them was even published in the imperial gazette by His Majesty the Emperor.

The bamboo basket is a tool for carrying children, and it is also the title of Chen Zhun's article.

Last autumn, on his way home, Chen Zhun saw an old woman. She was quite hunched over and looked exceptionally old. She had a limp in her right leg and could not walk steadily.

The autumn wind was strong, the west wind was fierce, and gusts of cold wind blew. The old woman was barely clothed, and her only cotton coat was worn on the child in the basket on her back. The child poked his head out of the basket, his big eyes looking around curiously.

In Songjiang Prefecture, which had undergone a transformation into a commodity economy and was known as the "Cotton Capital," this old woman had only one dirty cotton coat, which she put on the child.

The old woman carried a paper package printed with "Zhao's Pear Syrup Candy" in her hand, and walked with difficulty in the cold wind, leaning on her cane.

The gentlemen were all kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see this. Some gentlemen simply turned a blind eye and pretended not to see it. But Chen Zhun was clearly not such a gentleman. He followed the old woman back to the shack she had built outside the city and inquired about her situation.

The old woman looked to be in her fifties or sixties, but she was actually only thirty-six. She was from Huguang and had come to Songjiang Prefecture from Huguang to work and make a living. Her husband was very capable and worked for a security escort company, responsible for transporting various goods. Two years ago, her husband and her eldest son died on the way to transport the goods.

The child sitting in the basket on her back is the old woman's third son.

Her husband died on the road while escorting goods. The case was slow to be solved, so the escort agency gave her fifteen taels of silver as compensation for the lives of the father and son.

The old woman was naturally dissatisfied, so she went to the security escort agency to cause trouble and was beaten by the agency's staff. That's when she became lame, and because she didn't receive timely treatment, she remained crippled.

The old woman had another son. Her second son took all fifteen taels of silver and, because of his daughter-in-law's nagging, kicked her and her third son out of the house.

She also has a daughter who has been married for many years. When she was desperate, she went to live with her daughter, who took her in.

But her daughter was already married. These days, a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup. Although her son-in-law hadn't said anything harsh, his family wasn't wealthy. Besides, she had a son. If she didn't have a son, she could have lived with her daughter in her old age.

As time went on, the old woman had no choice but to leave with her third son.

The old woman made a living by weaving bamboo baskets. The bamboo baskets she wove in a day were only enough to cover her food expenses, and she could not afford anything else. She could only live in a shack, drink raw water, and eat thin porridge. Any copper coins she had were given to her third son in the basket.

Filial impiety is a serious crime, so Chen Zhun naturally asked the old woman why she didn't go to the yamen to file a complaint. The old woman retorted, "What kind of mother sends her son to jail?"
Hearing this, Chen Zhun became even angrier.

The Zhao's pear syrup candy the old woman was carrying was for her third child in the basket. He had been clamoring for candy, and the old woman had saved up for a long time to buy some for him to enjoy. Originally, she had planned to use that money to buy a cotton coat.

Chen Zhun recorded all of this, and between the lines he expressed his accusations against the escort agency, his anger at such exploitative practices, his dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the court's investigation, and his denunciation of his unfilial second son.

In addition, he also expressed his resentment towards himself in the article, resenting that he had studied the classics for so many years but was powerless to change everything, and that he could not even think of a way to solve these human sufferings.

Chen Zhun became even angrier when he thought about how incompetent he was!
The Ming Dynasty did indeed undergo tremendous changes during the Wanli Reforms, but it could not yet be described as great.

"That self-pitying fool, in fact, as a scholar, as a professor at the university, his willingness to see, to care about the poor and laborers, and to write, is itself a way of changing this terrible world." Zhu Yijun put down all the files and began to deal with state affairs; he still had to continue working.

The Imperial Guards verified the seven articles and confirmed the follow-up: the old woman carrying the basket on her back had her problem resolved.

After Chen Zhun finished writing this article last autumn, the yamen runners of Songjiang Prefecture found the old woman's second son. After a friendly exchange and the restoration of his memories, the second son remembered his mother's kindness to him and said he would take his mother back.

The constables warned again that if any mistreatment was discovered, the imperial court would file a public prosecution, as filial impiety was one of the ten unpardonable crimes.

As for the escort agency, if someone dies and they fail to pay compensation as agreed, and the bereaved family comes to their door, they will beat them again, injuring them. The escort agency then gets into a public prosecution case. They quickly pay compensation as agreed and also pay thirty taels of silver for medicine to compensate for the beating.

The seven articles written by Chen Zhun all had different follow-up outcomes. Some of the problems published in the local newspapers of Songjiang Prefecture were resolved to varying degrees. Of course, due to the rigidity of the imperial court, the resolution of these problems was not so fast.

Gao Qiyu kept telling His Majesty the Emperor that the law is not fair, and justice delayed is justice denied.

For the owner and manager of the escort agency, the total compensation of 100 taels of silver was nothing, but for the woman, it was a devastating blow.

Just like in the early years of the Wanli Emperor's reign, when the Emperor was giving a lecture, he asked the teacher, "If punching someone only costs two coins of silver, or even nothing at all, and there is no cost to be paid, then what exactly is a person in the eyes of the powerful and wealthy?" The final result was that a person is just an object.

The alienation of people accelerated after Songjiang Prefecture underwent a transformation into a commodity economy, as the commodity economy exacerbated this alienation.

Shen Shixing's approach is correct. Starting with people's basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, people can make choices based on their own conscience and resist various forms of alienation once they have basic survival guarantees.

Chen Zhun's seven articles all express the same idea to varying degrees: fate is particularly unfair and cruel to some people, but as long as they can survive, most people in the Ming Dynasty still adhere to their kindness.

On the last day of June, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty received all the envoys from the West. Because the envoys were numerous and the affairs were very complicated, the meeting lasted for a full three hours.

The Portuguese envoy, Paulino, made a very strange request: he hoped the emperor would bestow a name upon Lisbon, naming it the City of Light.

Patriarch Marien of France was doomed to defeat; the Grande Luminaire would cease to exist and be renamed Le Havre.

The Church of the Great Light needed a new holy city, and Portugal hoped to obtain the status of a holy city and use it as a base to spread its mission widely.

Lisbon, as the capital of Portugal, is more suitable to be called a holy city than Le Havre, both in terms of its size and defenses.

This conflicted with the request of the French envoy, Leon.

Leon came representing Henry IV, the new king of France. In his view, the existence of the Great City of Light was an obstacle to the friendship between the Ming Dynasty and France, like a fishbone stuck in his throat.

His Highness Henry IV hoped that the suppression of the rebellion in the Great City of Light would not affect the friendship with the Ming Dynasty, and that the goods of the Ming Dynasty's global trading caravans would continue to be collected and distributed in Le Havre.

Henry IV somehow learned of Portugal's request and set a trap for them.

Portugal once bribed local officials in Guangdong and Guangxi to seize the precious land of Haojing in the Ming Dynasty. They occupied it for decades until Yin Zhengmao drove them out.

The existence of the Great City of Light was to France what the Hao River was to the Ming Dynasty. This analogy both affirmed the legitimacy of the French king's suppression of the rebellion and sowed discord between the Ming and Portugal.

If the Ming emperor is willing to maintain the friendship with France, then His Highness Henry IV will naturally express his friendship, issue a decree of amnesty for Le Havre, allow the Church of the Great Light to conduct its missionary work in France in a moderate manner, and retain the name of the Great Light City and the statue of the embodiment of wisdom in the city.

This statue is of the same standard as the emperor statues in Luzon, Palembang, the Governor's Palace of Golden Pool, and Golden Mountain City. They are all of the emperor's name. The only slight difference is that the statue in Great Bright City holds a sword in his left hand and has a book in his right hand.

After the fall of the Great City of Light, France and Portugal fought over the ownership of the holy city of the Great City of Light.

What they seem to be fighting over is something ethereal and intangible, but the real focus of the game is the power to distribute goods from the Ming Dynasty. Whoever wins the title of Holy City will gain the power to allocate goods from the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty's global caravan could not stay in the West for long; it needed an agent to collect and distribute goods on its own.

The envoy from the Shinra Empire jokingly remarked that it was like two dogs fighting over a bone in their master's hand.

The Ministry of Rites deliberated and ultimately concluded that it was not important to whom the power was given, but rather that it should be given to the Ming Dynasty.

Officials in the Ministry of Rites were like that; they attached great importance to etiquette and had an obsessive desire to control it. For example, the officials in the Ministry of Rites improved the Latin alphabet, adding letters and correcting the logic, and then extended it to other languages.

Zhu Yijun bestowed the name "City of Light" upon Lisbon, Portugal, and conferred upon Antonio, who was wearing the five-chapter robe, the title of Patriarch.

This was also the suggestion of the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Rites believed that, judging from the past conflicts, Antonio's throne was still not very stable. The Portuguese nobles had no choice but to accept it, but they did not agree with Antonio.

When Felipe's phalanx invaded Portugal, these nobles did not help Antonio.

By making Lisbon a holy city and Antonio the Patriarch, his authority could be enhanced, and he could gain wider recognition and support.

What's interesting is that the term of the Holy City is only five years, which is clearly stated in the edict. After five years, it needs to be reissued.

As long as the Ming Dynasty retains its commodity advantage, and as long as the world still needs Ming Dynasty goods, then the bestowal of the name "Holy City" will have meaning, and people will compete for it.

Similarly, the Ming Emperor also informed the French envoy, Leon, that the Ming Global Caravan would no longer stop in Le Havre to distribute goods starting next year, and that if needed, they could purchase goods themselves in Lisbon.

The Ming Dynasty's reasoning was that the terrible English had created too many pirates in the waters off the West. For the safety of the Ming Dynasty's global caravan, reducing the time spent stopping in the West and only staying in Lisbon, instead of heading north to France, would be a wiser choice for the Ming Dynasty.

The reason was so compelling that when Leon left, all he could do was curse the damned British.

The Dutch envoy, Houghtman, met with His Majesty the Emperor, hoping that the Ming Emperor would allow Dutch merchant ships to pass through the Strait of Malacca to trade spices in the archipelago.

The "Land of a Thousand Islands" is the Yuanxu Islands mentioned by the Ming Dynasty, which is also the Chijunshan Port where Yin Zongxin was stationed.

The Ming emperor told Hotman that the spice trade was permissible, but spices could only be purchased in Malacca; Dutch caravans were not allowed to pass through the waters off Malacca.

The reason given was that to ensure the production of spices, it was necessary to maintain the trade environment in Southeast Asia and strictly prevent foreign ships from entering, in order to prevent pirates from infiltrating and creating chaos in Southeast Asia.

The Strait of Malacca is not wide or deep. The Ming Dynasty's coastal defense patrols were able to ensure that no large-scale Dutch or English people would enter Southeast Asia before the city of Malacca was captured, thus ensuring the Ming Dynasty's maritime power and the security of its maritime borders.

Houghtman repeatedly stated that the activities of the Dutch in Southeast Asia would certainly comply with the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ming emperor stated that the Dutch would not disobey, but the Englishmen on the ship certainly would.

This is a fact that Houghton cannot refute: there were too many Englishmen in the Dutch fleet. The two countries were already very close, and the first king of the Netherlands was English. When Houghton left, he also cursed the Englishmen.

The terrible English left Hartman unable to refute the Emperor's reasoning, even though everyone knew it was just an excuse; essentially, the Ming Dynasty viewed Southeast Asia as its backyard and wouldn't allow anyone to intrude.

As the Ministry of Rites stated, the South Seas were the most important interest of the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli Emperor's opening of the seas, and all maritime policies would revolve around the South Seas.

Envoys from the Hanseatic League, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Rus' Kingdom came to pay their respects in turn, all with the same old requests.

The Lufthansa Alliance hoped that the Ming Dynasty would continue to grant them permission to purchase goods in Lisbon; otherwise, the Portuguese would not give them any goods at all, or would demand more taxes.

The envoy from the Holy Roman Empire, as always, came to watch the spectacle. He didn't make many requests, merely informing the Ming Emperor of some changes within the Holy Roman Empire. Meanwhile, the Rus' Kingdom still demanded that the Ming withdraw from the area east of the Ural Mountains. The Ming's adventure team, led by the Marquis of Duntai, caused considerable trouble for the Rus' eastward expansion, especially in terms of furs, which were all bought up by the Ming.

Zhu Yijun had met with the Western envoys for an hour. He drank some water, rested for a quarter of an hour, and then began to meet with the envoys from the various governor-general's offices, namely the governor-general's offices of Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Brazil. He met with the envoys in turn.

The envoys from the governorates of Mexico, Chile, and Peru expressed their gratitude. They praised Yan Shixuan, the general director of the Pan-Pacific Business Alliance, and Yao Guangqi, the vice director, for their impartiality and unbiased judgment based on facts in mediating trade disputes in the Pacific, which brought peace to the Eastern Pacific.

Through the mediation of the Ming Dynasty, the three governor-general's offices discovered that many of the past looting and conflicts were completely unnecessary, and some were even misunderstandings. It was just that there was no place for them to communicate (argue) with each other in the past.

There were two envoys from the Governor-General of Brazil, one from Portugal and one from Spain. These two envoys argued in the Gongchen Hall about who was the true envoy of the Governor-General of Brazil.

The emperor watched the spectacle for a while. The two envoys' Latin was not quite standard and was mixed with dialects, so Zhu Yijun only understood about 80% of what they said.

The Portuguese Viceroyalty was located in El Salvador, while the Spanish Viceroyalty was located in Rio de Janeiro.

The Portuguese felt that the Spanish had seized the land they had developed and that the governor's residence they built was illegal, while the Spanish argued loudly that the Portuguese had sold it to Spain!
Both sides share the same demand: to allow the Brazilian Viceroyalty to join the Rim of the Pacific (ROP).

As for how to cross the Strait of Magellan, the Ming emperor need not worry about it; they have their own methods. In the words of the two envoys, the Strait of Magellan is like a prostitute's belt—you can get in if you have money.

Although the metaphor was somewhat crude and drew a stern warning from Gao Qiyu, the Minister of Rites, it was indeed the truth.

Zhu Yijun granted the request, reiterating key points from the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance charter: no harassment of Ming fleets; complaints should be filed with the Ryukyu General Affairs Office first; and that fighting should not be initiated at the drop of a hat, in order to maintain the maritime trade environment.

Strengthening the forces of order to combat the increasingly chaotic marine environment is the primary task for the Ming Dynasty's maritime expansion.

Of course, if a real war broke out, the Ming Dynasty could only mediate, as it was too far away to send troops.

The Governor-General's Offices of Angola, Mozambique, and Goa also sent envoys. Zhu Yijun met with them but did not reach any consensus. They only had a friendly exchange. The focus of the Ming Dynasty's opening of the sea was still the Pacific Ocean, rather than the Western Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean.

After being asked by the Ministry of Rites, the Angolan envoy laid his cards on the table, no longer using the shell of the Kingdom of Congo to deceive or launch a sneak attack on the five-thousand-year-old Ming Dynasty.

Envoys from Siam, Cambodia, and other places came to pay their respects in turn. They didn't have any demands, but they hoped that the Ming Dynasty would restrain its efforts in its southwestern campaigns and not kill them all.

The attack on Bozhou by 280,000 Han troops had a far greater impact than the court had anticipated. This large-scale campaign finally brought the countries of the Indochina Peninsula to their senses, and they stopped talking nonsense.

Zhu Yijun spent three hours meeting with all the envoys, and the diplomatic month of the Ming Dynasty officially ended. On the fourth day of the seventh month, the envoys from various countries who had purchased enough goods left the port with the goods of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming emperor took out his golden abacus and calculated the accounts; the profits were considerable.

In just one month, more than 7.5 million taels of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty. The annual inflow of silver into the Ming Dynasty is still slowly increasing, and it is expected to reach about 16 million taels in the 21st year.

This brings us back to the previous question of whether the gold-backed paper money would be over-issued. It is known that the paper money circulating overseas does not need to be exchanged, and with the increase in the inflow of silver, the gold-backed paper money will not collapse in five years. In fact, the current issuance of 12 million strings of cash is lower than the inflow of silver.

The issuance of paper money was orderly and healthy. The emperor needed to guard it closely to prevent those in power, especially fools, from taking advantage of the situation to profit from the paper money and undermine the great cause of the Ming Dynasty's paper money system.

"If it weren't for this little bit of silver, who would want to see these envoys who can't even speak proper Latin!" Zhu Yijun tossed aside his abacus, leaned back in his chair, and said with satisfaction.

Zhu Yijun felt that there was nothing better than a miser watching silver flow into the Ming Dynasty.

The golden abacus in his hand was a gift from Deng Zilong of the Jinchi Governor's Office. It was not pure gold, but the gold content was not low. Gold is too soft and has too much ductility, so it would not be easy to use if it were made of pure gold. Therefore, it was a gold-silver alloy, decorated with kingfisher feathers, enamel, and jade. It was indeed very exquisite.

There aren't many emperors who personally do the accounting; Feng Bao certainly hadn't seen one. He poured the emperor some water and said with a smile, "I don't know how these Westerners can speak Latin so poorly."

"Didn't Rome fall anyway?" Zhu Yijun took a sip of water, perked himself up, and began grinding grain with renewed enthusiasm.

Another public opinion storm similar to the recommendation of filial piety and integrity has emerged in Songjiang Prefecture.

There was a poor man's child in the east of the city who could walk at three months, speak at six months, read at one year old, ask questions at three years old, and write poetry at six years old. Because of his exceptional talent, he was adopted by the Liu family of Huating and carefully nurtured.

This child prodigy was a prodigy for eighteen years, but he still failed to get into Shanghai University.

The Liu family of Huating went to the Songjiang government office to make a scene, saying that their child was so clever and intelligent that he could not pass the exam and demanded a retake. This caused quite a commotion and even alarmed the emperor.

When Zhu Yijun heard about it, he inquired about what exactly happened in Songjiang Prefecture.

This wasn't a child from a poor family; he was Liu's eldest son. The story of a child prodigy was deliberately fabricated. Too many people were eyeing the imperial examinations, so Liu set his sights on Shanghai University. Even if he couldn't pass the provincial or metropolitan examinations, passing the university entrance exams would still be a great way to enhance his resume.

The Songjiang Prefectural Government did not tolerate this at all. They posted a notice announcing all the details, and even posted Liu's son's exam paper. He was not a child prodigy at all, but a complete waste of space.

Liu wanted to use the recommendation system to promote her child, but her plan backfired. She was severely reprimanded by the Songjiang Prefecture government, and the whole area of ​​Songjiang Prefecture knew about this farce, causing great negative public opinion against Liu.

Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty had suffered greatly in this regard. In the early years of the dynasty, there was a shortage of scholars, so the recommendation system had to be used. People like Fang Xiaoru and Yang Shiqi usurped high positions, promoted literature while suppressing military affairs, and almost brought the Ming Dynasty to its knees.

The imperial court had no tolerance for the practice of recommending filial and incorrupt officials, and thus chose the most direct approach.

Recommending candidates for the civil service exam is addictive. If serving tea and water to one's parents isn't filial enough, and giving pears to one's younger siblings isn't fraternal enough, then one might lie on ice to catch carp or jump off a cliff to save one's mother.

It all boils down to the same thing: fame and fortune.

Liu used child prodigies to gain fame, and the court didn't care; whoever wanted to be fooled could be fooled. However, such promotions should never be included in the court's official selection mechanism, as it would cause great trouble.

The newly appointed Minister of Revenue, Hou Yuzhao, submitted a very strange memorial. The main content of his memorial was that the Ming Dynasty's finances were too reliant on customs revenue centered on Songjiang Prefecture.

This over-reliance may not be immediately apparent, but the more goods and the wider the scope of overseas sales, the greater the imperial treasury will become. In the long run, the imperial court will inevitably become more inclined to expand overseas, because everyone can profit greatly from import and export trade.

Hou Yuzhao believes that this type of export-oriented economy is very, very unhealthy.

This is already very evident. Before the establishment of the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance, the cotton textile industry in the Ming Dynasty had entered a bottleneck period. Instead of turning their attention to the huge market in the heart of the Ming Dynasty, the cotton textile workshops in Songjiang Prefecture began to compete on low prices.

There are many reasons for this.

For example, when transporting goods from Songjiang Prefecture to Chengdu Prefecture in Sichuan, there were so many wolves and tigers along the way. Every obstacle was difficult to overcome, and each one was a painful experience.

For example, the booming development of the shipbuilding industry in the Ming Dynasty and the 20-year development of the export-oriented economy have made the cost of sea transport far lower than the cost of river transport in the hinterland.
For example, the Ming Dynasty established many Han towns and hundreds of thousands of plantations in Southeast Asia, possessing a huge market and stable shipping routes. The return of raw materials from the plantations also generated profits.

For example, the Ming Dynasty government was strict in its control, but going to sea was more free. The government did not allow price gouging on rice, flour, and oil, nor did it allow the carrying of contraband such as opium. However, overseas circulation was not under the control of the Ming Dynasty.

Once they went to sea, the Ming Dynasty court had little control over what kind of business they did.

These reasons all seem to be reasons, which can be summarized as the habit formed by the opening of the sea for twenty years and the export-oriented economy. However, Hou Yuzhao pointed out that the fundamental reason was that there was no silver in the heartland of the Ming Dynasty.

Money revolves around goods, and goods always circulate around money—this is a fact that has been discussed for a long time and is no longer being discussed.

To resolve or alleviate these symptoms, Hou Yuzhao prescribed three remedies.

The first prescription was the continuous construction of imperial roads and the Dinghai school system, which used taxation as an important tool to transfer the abundant silver from the coastal areas to the hinterland.

The second prescription is to further enhance the importance and status of the Ming Dynasty's gold and silver notes. The specific approach is to establish more official post stations in the Ming Dynasty, ensuring that at least every prefecture has one, so that the Ming Dynasty, both inside and outside, fully recognizes the notes.

This is about building a comprehensive monetary network for the Ming Dynasty, and its importance should be on par with official roads, post stations, and relay stations.

In his memorial, Hou Yuzhao emphasized the importance of the second prescription: without currency in the hinterland, goods would not flow to the hinterland, and gold and paper money became the key to breaking the deadlock.

Gold and paper money should be elevated to the same level of importance as the security of the Ming Dynasty's northern border and maritime security, that is, to the status of national security.

The third prescription is to increase support for local industries. The circulation of currency is essentially the circulation of goods. If there are no goods to exchange in the hinterland, merchants will naturally not go there.

The hinterland must have goods to exchange with the coastal areas, that is, it must have the ability to produce goods.

In terms of specific implementation, fifty-one official factories in the north are far from sufficient. The Three Departments should be allowed to establish official factories of a local nature.

Another purpose of appropriately delegating power to local governments is to provide them with broader sources of income, rather than allowing them to exploit the people, especially local government offices that are struggling to survive and are planning to plunder the people's basic needs.

In the past, the imperial court was in financial deficit, so the imperial court exploited local government offices, and the local government offices exploited the people.

After the Wanli Reforms, the imperial treasury was no longer in deficit, but the changing times and the large-scale reduction of land taxes made the finances of local governments precarious.

At this point, it would be necessary to appropriately delegate authority to the three local government departments and establish local government factories.

"Sir, have you read this memorial?" Zhu Yijun was surprised to see Zhang Juzheng's draft proposal. He rarely managed affairs anymore, yet he was willing to spend time reading the memorial and writing the draft proposal. This showed that he considered the memorial very important.

"Before Hou Yu Zhao wrote his memorial, he went to the Grand Secretary for advice, citing his unfamiliarity with the duties of the newly appointed Minister of Works and his inability to shoulder such a great responsibility. The Grand Secretary couldn't very well turn him away, so he took a look for him," Feng Bao explained the reason behind it.

The "floating vote" given by Zhang Juzheng was not for the memorial, but for Hou Yuzhao. The content of the floating vote was: "Hou Situ, you govern the world and bring glory to the Ming Dynasty."

In fact, the phenomena, problems, and causes raised by Hou Yuzhao had been discussed many times in court meetings, but no one had come up with a general plan. The reasons for this were complex and varied, and in fact, it was a matter of taboo.

What kind of talent did Zhang Juzheng have? What strategic plans did he formulate? Who are you to spout nonsense about?
In fact, the ministers and vice ministers of the six ministries had a general idea of ​​how to resolve these issues, but since Zhang Juzheng was still alive, it was really inconvenient to say these things.

When someone needed to step forward, Hou Yuzhao was willing to speak out, provide concrete plans, correct some mistakes, and supplement some measures, making the foundation of the Wanli Reforms more solid.

Zhang Juzheng's assessment meant that he affirmed Hou Yuzhao's talent and character, and that he was qualified to join the ranks of the Ming Dynasty's weightlifting champions, to help His Majesty uphold the heavens and the earth, and to shoulder the wishes of the people.

The fate of the nation is incredibly heavy, and the emperor bears it all alone; it must be exhausting.

(End of this chapter)