I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1042 How could these scholars be so wicked!

Zhu Yijun suspected that Hu Junde and Li Le were putting on an act; as the heads of Songjiang Prefecture, they were being too weak.

He suspects this is also a play that creates sin and then blames the victims.

This is a very common phenomenon, not only in England, Spain, and the Ming Dynasty, but in fact, it is prevalent in almost every place observed in the Ming Dynasty.

For example, every year, Annamese people would enter Zhennanguan to cut sugarcane and earn wages. During this process, the Ming people would give the wages to the foreman who led the group out, and the foreman would usually deduct a large amount from the wages.

When these powerful figures could not shift the blame to the Ming Dynasty, they would usually begin to blame the victims for their forced labor.

The reasons given for withholding wages include: not working diligently, taking unexcused breaks, chatting idly, talking back, disobeying instructions, not doing the work well or not finishing it, and broken tools. There are many reasons in total.

Those who commit crimes often loudly accuse their victims of guilt, while the victims, for various reasons, are usually powerless to refute them.

Just like the scene Zhu Yijun saw, these cotton textile merchants were so arrogant and domineering, and even looked down on the laborers who created value for them from the bottom of their hearts, while several foremen and sharp-tongued craftsmen were arguing with flushed faces.

The reason for this phenomenon is quite simple; from the perspective of the theory of contradiction, it is easy to understand at a glance.

Human cognition is contradictory and fragmented, which inevitably leads to cognitive paradoxes.

People say that human will can conquer nature, yet they also say that the will of heaven is hard to defy; they say that money is not everything, yet they also say that money can make the devil turn the millstone; they say that a good man would rather die than submit, yet they also say that a great man can bend and stretch; they say that in heaven they wish to be birds flying wing to wing, yet they also say that when disaster strikes, they fly away separately.

Specifically, for artisans, they struggle with the pain of having most of the value created by their labor exploited, while at the same time they are grateful to these workshop owners for providing means of production, tools, and space, as well as a somewhat respectable job that allows them to support their families.

This contradictory perception, coupled with overgeneralization, leaves craftsmen with only two choices: either work diligently and live day by day, or pick up a hammer and smash this rotten world to pieces.

They fought in Sochi, occupied factories, killed the landlord's entire family, and Tian Bing gathered and attacked the county towns of Ruijin and three other counties.

Neither of these two extreme outcomes was acceptable to the Ming Dynasty court. The court's duty was to mediate conflicts between different classes, and obviously, extreme choices made it difficult for the court to mediate.

Zhu Yijun came to take a look. He did not interfere in the conflict between the government officials and the wealthy merchants, nor did he instruct Hu Junde on what he could and could not do. Any unnecessary instructions would only complicate matters further.

This is also an established law from our ancestors, as stated in the Great Proclamation written by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

In August of the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign, General Fu Youde, the General Who Conquers the South, and Mu Ying, the Right Deputy General and Marquis of Xiping, led an expedition to Yunnan. After fighting for some time, the two wrote a memorial to Nanjing, asking for advice on what to do next, how to set up defensive cities, how to prevent the rebellion of various ethnic groups, and how to establish military garrisons and outposts in Yunnan.

Zhu Yuanzhang replied: "How can we know everything from thousands of miles away? If it is convenient for the army, then it is up to you, General, to handle it yourselves."

Zhu Yuanzhang's original words roughly meant: "What's the point of asking? It's been half a year since we came back and forth, the opportunity is already gone! You decide for yourself, we only want Yunnan!"
In the first year of Wu, Xu Da and Chang Yuchun began the Northern Expedition to recover lost territories. Before their departure, Zhu Yuanzhang gave them some instructions, saying: "However, when circumstances change, we must not fail to consider them. General, please think about it."

It means that you shouldn't ask for orders for everything, you shouldn't miss opportunities, you should make decisive decisions when necessary, and you shouldn't be too rigid or dogmatic. Winning is the most important thing.

Zhu Yuanzhang left these two ancestral instructions in his Great Proclamation to tell future emperors that if they are not absolutely certain that doing something will make things develop according to their plans, they should not use an unquestionable, arbitrary, or "I have already made up my mind" tone to directly order the other party to do specific things.

Because you are not him, you don't fully understand the situation, let alone their predicament and the difficulties they face. Such instructions will only make things worse.

When Zhu Yijun left the Songjiang government office and rushed back to the Huangpu River Palace, he had a furrowed brow. He said to Feng Bao, who was sitting in the carriage with him, "Feng Bao, I feel like I've been tricked?"

"Your Majesty, I was confused," Feng Bao said, feigning surprise as he looked at the emperor.

"Still pretending!" Zhu Yijun was so angry that he laughed. Feng Daban had been serving the emperor for twenty-one years, and he still looked surprised. It was too fake!
"That might be it," Feng Bao said hesitantly.

The fact that Songjiang Governor Li Le and Songjiang Prefect Hu Junde were so provoked by a group of merchants that they lost their composure is itself questionable.

Back then, Li Le outmaneuvered Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei, but Hu Junde managed to capitalize on Li Le's mistakes, resulting in a happy ending for everyone on the day the Wensu Pavilion of Shanghai University was completed.

The scholars of the Ming Dynasty could be called bad, but they could never be called stupid.

How could an idiot pass the imperial examination? Back then, there were only three hundred successful candidates every three years.

These merchants brazenly offended the governor and prefect, so it became perfectly reasonable for Li Le and Hu Junde to do what they did next: commit crimes and blame the victims, just like these wealthy merchants did.

It was only when Zhu Yijun made his southern tour and stayed in Songjiang Prefecture that Li Le and Hu Junde would have been too lazy to put on such a show.

As expected, after the public council meeting on July 10, Hu Junde seemed to be enraged and began to retaliate. He began to strictly enforce all cases of the Salary and Wage Arbitration Office without showing any leniency. Moreover, if anyone refused to comply, the case would be transferred to the Tax Audit Institute for tax review.

This immediately caused widespread panic. Shi Yingtai, the head of the Suzhou-Songjiang merchant group, began to beg and plead, running around everywhere, hoping that Prefect Hu would show leniency. Unfortunately, Shi Yingtai couldn't even get an audience with Prefect Hu's advisor.

Prefect Hu remained silent, relentlessly pushing forward with his decrees.

"How could these scholars be so wicked!" Zhu Yijun slapped his forehead after reading the results. He had to admit that these scholars were masters of such dirty tricks, practically ancient ancestors.

Hu Junde knew that the first public council meeting would not be very good. The only thing he did not expect was that His Majesty would come. Hu Junde was unaware that His Majesty liked to watch a spectacle.

"That's right!" Feng Bao said sincerely. If His Majesty weren't here, he probably wouldn't even bother to put on an act.

Zhu Yijun gained a deeper understanding of the book "Deep Cultivation". Hou Yu Zhao was not completely unreserved; he had hidden some things that were already widely known.

In the book, he embellished both himself and the Shanyin County government, using subtle language to conceal the dirty tricks within the words.

It's human nature; people even deceive themselves. Hou Yu Zhao couldn't portray himself as a villain in his own book.

In mid-July, Songjiang Prefecture held its third fast-paced race, covering 85 li (approximately 42.5 kilometers). The race had been bustling since the beginning of July, with heroes from all over flocking to Songjiang Prefecture to compete for first place and win flowers, applause, and honors.

Xing Yanqiu, the young master of Mingyi Shoes, who was highly regarded, missed the fast-paced race this time. Due to overtraining, he suffered a muscle strain and had to go to recuperate. Strangely, the place where he strained his muscle was his shoulder, not his waist or leg.

When running, people need to swing their arms back and forth to maintain balance. Xing Yanqiu is not naturally gifted. In order to achieve faster speed and improve his running posture, he increased his upper body strength training, which led to this muscle strain. The injury occurred during the duration of the competition.

Pang Xian was very interested in this matter and brought several senior medical officers to visit him. He concluded that participating in this competition was out of the question and that he could only think about it next time.

"This Xing Yanqiu is too thin. He is only 178cm tall and weighs only 120 jin (60 catties)?" Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial written by Pang Xian and acknowledged Pang Xian's discovery.

Pang Xian discovered that if someone was large, they would have a lot of fat, meaning their body fat percentage wouldn't be low. The elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's capital garrison were either fat men with potbellies or lean, muscular men.

Low body fat percentage means you won't be a big guy. Even if you run fast and for a long time, you won't be a big guy. Your body fat percentage is not high, and you have a lot of thin muscles.

The more one tries to get to the bottom of things, the more eager Pang Xian and other high-ranking physicians were to find out the reason why this situation had occurred.

In fact, Zhu Yijun did know a little about the answer: the human body is a hybrid machine, with the three major nutrients—carbohydrates, proteins, and fats—providing energy simultaneously.

Large muscles consume a lot of energy. Without sufficient energy reserves, it is impossible to have the high strength of large muscles. Once the energy reserves are insufficient, the body will consume muscle protein to reduce overall energy consumption.

If you want a big, muscular build and a low body fat percentage to look good, you either need to put in a lot of willpower to gain and lose weight repeatedly over many years, or you need to take a shortcut: taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Zhu Yijun discovered that the fast-track release system implemented by Songjiang Prefecture also made a significant contribution to medical progress.

He didn't plan to participate in the competition with several pistols, thinking he could shoot whoever ran ahead of him. With his size, he couldn't outrun professionals.

Interestingly, Songjiang Prefecture held a fast-walking event, while the six prefectures of Shandong, along with Xuzhou Prefecture, a total of seven prefectures, would gather at the foot of Mount Tai in the golden autumn of September to hold the Mount Tai Climbing Race.

The Taian Prefecture Mount Tai Climbing Race starts from the forest farm and ends at the Jade Emperor Peak. The entire route is only about 17 li (approximately 8.5 kilometers), but the time limit is three hours, which means the race can be completed in six hours. The climbing race is short, but the elevation gain is significant.

Compared to Songjiang Prefecture, which had the freedom to decide the race schedule, Shandong Governor Song Yingchang took a different approach, setting multiple finish points, such as finishing at Nantianmen, Zhongtianmen, or even Hongmen.

After finishing the race, you can continue climbing and enjoy the scenery along the way.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Tai'an Prefecture enjoyed more than two hundred years of development. Since the Wanli Reforms, the emperor demolished the Confucius Mansion in Yanzhou, removing a mountain that had been pressing down on Shandong. He also changed the canal from a river canal to a sea canal, releasing the canal's transport capacity.

Agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce in Tai'an Prefecture developed rapidly.

During this period, the prefect of Tai'an Prefecture, the prefect of Jinan, and the governor of Shandong have been working hard to upgrade Tai'an Prefecture from a prefecture to a provincial-level prefecture. Now that this mountain climbing competition is over, they can start working on that next step.

Zhu Yijun approved the memorial, granting permission for the mountain climbing competition to be held.

Feng Bao delivered a miscellaneous newspaper.

Chen Zhun, a student at the Guangwen Academy of Shanghai University who was granted a special pardon by His Majesty the Emperor, wrote another article about the difficulties faced by cotton mill workers.

As always, the story focuses on cotton textile artisans and describes their experiences over the past few years.

A few years ago, after the cotton textile industry in the Ming Dynasty encountered a bottleneck, this cotton textile craftsman went through a very painful period until the establishment of the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance brought some changes.

Finding fault with his work was a minor matter; he was diligent and conscientious. When his father passed away, the neighborhood forbade him to return to his hometown for the funeral, entirely to force him to leave voluntarily. Two or three local thugs harassed him for as long as three months, throwing excrement, stones, and banging on his door, among other things. His wife and children suffered greatly as a result.

In the workshop, the workshop owner assigned three people to watch him. If he blinked or became even slightly distracted, they would deduct his pay.

The purpose of this torment was solely to get rid of him. He had been with the cotton mill since its inception, was a senior craftsman, and commanded a high price. He was highly skilled and had the mill's dyeing formulas. The mill owner wanted him to leave voluntarily and hand over all the dyeing formulas, hence the difficult treatment.

With the establishment of the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance, the cotton textile business suddenly boomed again. The cotton textile craftsman immediately left as the workshop owner wished, but was immediately sued by the workshop owner.

The workshop owner demanded that the craftsman return all his wages and cease his cotton spinning business. The case dragged on for a full six months, and the craftsman, embroiled in legal trouble, was forced to leave the workshop.

The craftsmen lost their livelihood and had to wait for the imperial court to summon them for questioning. They could not leave Songjiang Prefecture, and every day felt like a year.

These agonizing days only ended after the imperial court took action. At that time, Wang Qian was still alive. Wang Qian used to be a playboy in the capital and a scoundrel in Songjiang Prefecture. He even went so far as to arrest people in Suzhou Prefecture. If it weren't for his father being the second-ranking minister, he would have been impeached long ago for making such cross-regional arrests.

In Wang Qian's judgment, the craftsman was not only exempt from having to return his wages, but also received compensation for twelve months of lost work time. As for the unspoken rule that he could not continue to work in the same industry, Songjiang Prefecture directly abolished this unpleasant rule and submitted it to the Emperor for review, which received the Emperor's approval.

The story of the artisan took place in the weaving workshop of Shi Yingtai, the head of the Suzhou-Songjiang cotton textile merchants' guild.

The publication of this article caused a great uproar, and the public was indignant, especially the literate artisans who rushed to spread the word.

Zhu Yijun summoned Zhao Mengyou, the military commander, because he suspected that Chen Zhun, the scribe, was colluding with the Songjiang Prefecture government.

Shi Yingtai had just gotten too cocky in the Gongchen Hall of the prefectural government office when he was exposed by the scribe. There must be some connection between them.

Zhao Mengyou's investigation was swift, and it was indeed related to the Songjiang Prefectural Government.

This article was commissioned by Songjiang Prefecture, and it made Chen Zhun, the scribe, completely offend powerful and wealthy people, and make him completely sever ties with them, so that he would no longer accept money to write articles, in order to be worthy of the Emperor's favor.

His Majesty has pardoned Chen Zhun, but Chen Zhun continues to accept money to write articles, which puts Songjiang Prefecture in a very difficult position. On the one hand, there is His Majesty's pardon, and on the other hand, there is the possibility of the public opinion spiraling out of control. Therefore, Songjiang Prefecture commissioned Chen Zhun to write articles.

Chen Zhun immediately agreed. He used to be able to be vague, but after being pardoned, he still didn't follow the rules and refused to draw a clear line. He truly couldn't bear the words "to betray the Emperor's grace." In the loyalty screening at Shanghai University, His Majesty only pardoned him.

This article was written a long time ago; it was just waiting for the right time to be published.

"There is no way for the people to get ahead," Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and realized that Hu Junde dealt with Shi Yingtai, a very powerful businessman, as easily as catching a snail with three fingers. He had no trouble at all.

Officials appointed by the imperial court, having fought their way through countless battles, are backed by the court. It would be very easy for them to deal with local gentry, powerful figures, and influential figures, because power is in the hands of these officials appointed by the imperial court.

When Hou Yuzhao returned to the court from Zhejiang, the biggest lesson he shared with Zhu Yijun was that there was never a way to help the people, and there was never any situation where people were forced into a corner.

Zhu Yijun carefully considered the whole matter and discovered something interesting: Li Le and Hu Junde were actually Shen's faction, that is, Shen Shixing's cronies.

Shen Shixing is just a symbol, representing a way of thinking.

Shen Shixing believes that to combat the alienation of money, we must start with basic necessities like food, clothing, housing, and transportation, giving people the power to choose. This is true freedom within limits.
To continuously improve productivity and increase the utilization rate of machinery, people must be more valuable than objects.

For example, in Southeast Asia, slaves were a cheaper, more efficient, and more useful tool than steam engines.

Why should a bulky, expensive, and maintenance-required iron lump replace slaves who can be beaten and scolded at will, work even when hungry, and are numerous and easily acquired?

If the Ming Dynasty had not allowed people to be more valuable than objects, then all the achievements of the Wanli Reforms would have been lost.

This is self-evident. Material things are the foundation of everything. If people are always cheap, then the use of machinery will decline. For example, Lin Fucheng saw an abandoned windmill in Baoding Prefecture.

The machine won't move without coal.

One person is roughly equivalent to 1.2 horsepower, and one Shengping No. 11 is roughly equivalent to 1200 laborers. Only when the cost of the Shengping No. 11 iron horse, including purchase, depreciation, maintenance, fuel and other costs, is less than 1200 laborers, will the Shengping No. 11 be widely used.

Improving the horsepower, thermal efficiency, ease of maintenance, and miniaturization of steam engines takes time, especially maintenance, which cannot be rolled out in a short period of time. Increasing labor costs becomes an important way to promote machinery and improve productivity.

Li Le, Hu Junde, and others shared the same thinking: dealing with Shi Yingtai and showing favoritism towards poor laborers were all for this fundamental purpose.

To improve the living standards of the people, we must counteract the moral alienation caused by the transformation of the commodity economy, promote development through increased productivity, cover up social contradictions, and solve problems in the process of development.

This approach differs slightly from Zhang Juzheng's approach of treating the root cause of illness. Zhang Juzheng left no room for ambiguity in his actions; once a problem was discovered, it was to be solved.

Zhang Juzheng's methods were more suitable for the situation in the early Wanli period. A serious illness naturally requires strong medicine, otherwise the patient will die. The Wanli Reforms lasted for twenty-one years, accumulating enough national strength for the Ming Dynasty, which allowed for a more moderate pace and rhythm of reform.

In August, the Songjiang Prefecture began celebrating the Emperor's birthday and held a naval review to demonstrate His Majesty's majesty.

After entering September, Songjiang Prefecture began to experience continuous rain. The rain that had not fallen in the summer was concentrated in the autumn. In the golden autumn of September, His Majesty the Emperor left Songjiang Prefecture, took a boat to Yangzhou, and then took a train back to the capital.

On the third day of the ninth month, all the escorts packed their bags and prepared to return north.

"Wang Qian did a very good job in Luzon." Zhu Yijun finished reading the last memorial and, after processing it, he was about to return to the capital.

After Wang Qian was transferred to the position of Governor of Luzon, he followed the old system and completely continued all of Yin Zhengmao's policies without making any major changes. The biggest change was in the military rotation and troop rotation.

However, Wang Qian plans to conduct a comprehensive census in Luzon, carrying out a general survey of the population in Han towns.

The purpose of the land survey and population census is to ensure that the imperial estates remain imperial estates, that His Majesty's assets are still functioning effectively and well, and to have a clear understanding of the scale of land in Luzon in order to prepare for the larger-scale relocation to come.

Wang Qian mentioned a problem that Yin Zhengmao hadn't paid much attention to: Luzon's salt production was not self-sufficient, with a self-sufficiency rate of only about 15%, and the rest of the salt had to be purchased from the Ming Dynasty.

Luzon boasts a coastline of 40,000 miles, which offers numerous suitable locations for salt production. However, the weather is uncooperative, with frequent rains making salt production extremely inefficient. Salt production requires a continuous period of good weather, and Ming Dynasty salt workers also had a habit of rushing to harvest their salt.

Before the Ming Dynasty conquered Luzon, Luzon relied mainly on Ming merchants for salt production, with hundreds of salt ships arriving in Manila every year.

Before the establishment of the Governor-General's Office in the second year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, there were not many import and export documents for the port of Manila, so the scale of the salt trade at that time was not clear.

Today, Luzon is under the control of the Ming Dynasty, and the annual salt transported from the Ming Dynasty to Luzon amounts to a staggering 100 million catties.

Wang Qian suspended the local salt production in Luzon, citing very valid reasons: the investment was too large and the output too low. However, his true intention was not hard to guess: if things changed in Luzon and salt exports to Luzon were stopped, the people of Luzon would have no choice but to lick bricks.

This would increase the Ming Dynasty's means of controlling Luzon's economy.

In Luzon, local salt production involves soaking coconut shells in water for a certain number of days before burning them. The resulting ash is then filtered and boiled in small earthenware pots. This process is time-consuming, laborious, and slow to produce results. Given Luzon's unpredictable weather, boiling salt is indeed faster than sun-drying it.

After replying to Wang Qian's memorial, Zhu Yijun boarded a boat at the small dock on the Huangpu River in front of his gate and headed towards Songjiang Prefecture.

This was probably the most dangerous part of the emperor's southern tour. From the Huangpu River Imperial Palace Wharf to the Yangzhou Wharf, falling into the water was extremely dangerous, and the ship was an enclosed space, making it the perfect opportunity for assassination and arson.

No assassination attempt occurred, and the ship arrived at Songjiang Prefecture smoothly. Because there were too many ships that set sail together, it was difficult to determine which ship His Majesty the Emperor was on.

Assassinating the emperor is a matter of either not doing it at all, or it must be a fatal blow. If there is any possibility of failure, one must be cautious, because if one fails, when the emperor's iron fist comes down, it really means the extermination of nine generations of one's family.

On September 16th, the Ming Emperor's entourage returned to Shuntian Prefecture. Crown Prince Zhu Changzhi, Regent Zhu Zaiyu, Minister Ling Yunyi, Shen Shixing, and other cabinet ministers went to Chaoyang Gate to welcome the Emperor back to the capital.

After a three-day break, His Majesty the Emperor convened a grand court assembly in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, met with his ministers, and began the monotonous life of grinding grain.

The absence of court deliberations was something that not only the ministers found difficult to adjust to, but even the emperor was not comfortable with it.

No one is perfect, and no one can be right all the time. Zhu Yijun knew very well that he was a human being, not an all-knowing prophet, and he needed his ministers to help him identify and correct any shortcomings in his decisions.

Therefore, he began to frequently summon his ministers to Tonghe Palace to discuss state affairs.

To facilitate the emperor's summons of ministers, Zhu Yijun built a new study on the west side of the imperial study in Tonghe Palace on September 24th. The new study was not large, consisting of only eight rooms.

Zhu Yijun would select the memorials that required an audience with the emperor a day in advance. The Directorate of Ceremonial would then compile a list of ministers who needed to be summoned based on the memorials. The next day, these ministers would wait in the Western Study for an audience.

This undoubtedly increased His Majesty's workload, but the establishment of this error correction mechanism made His Majesty's decisions more reasonable.

Error correction mechanisms are an extremely important part of organizational development, regardless of the organization.

This place is called the Western Study. Ministers who are summoned here are called "Walking Ministers of the Western Study." The more times a minister walks here, the more the Emperor values ​​him, the more the Emperor favors his opinions, and the greater the chance that the minister will be admitted to the cabinet.

The closer one is to the center of power, the greater one's power—this ironclad rule has remained unchanged since ancient times.

The ministers who were called most often were: Shen Shixing, Gao Qiyu, Hou Yuzhao, and Wang Yie. These men were also called Grand Secretaries of the Western Study by the officials in the capital.

"Gentlemen, I've called you here today for no other reason than to stop your bickering. It's making the censors and officials tremble with fear, lest you two really start a fight and cause collateral damage." Zhu Yijun gestured for Shen Shixing and Gao Qiyu to sit down before explaining the purpose of his summons.

It's back, everything is back.

Back then, Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu fought fiercely, sometimes to the point of real conflict. Officials in the capital were all in a state of fear, afraid that the conflict between the two leaders would spread to them.

Now, the struggle between Shen Shixing and Gao Qiyu is no less intense.

"Grand Secretary Shen, what an arrogant official you are! You've only just become Grand Secretary, and you've already started forming cliques and eliminating dissidents. It's one thing to conduct screenings at the university, but now you're doing it at the government factory. This is absolutely unacceptable." Gao Qiyu also made his stance clear.

Shen Shixing extended the loyalty screening to government factories, which Gao Qiyu believed was going too far and overreaching.

"It's not about screening craftsmen, it's about screening officials. The chief manager, the acting manager, the assistant manager, the clerk—all of these people should be investigated!" Shen Shixing said righteously. "The official factory is one of the sources of revenue for the Wanli Reforms. If these parasites drain it dry, how will you and I explain it to His Majesty?"

Intentionally causing difficulties for government-owned factories to enrich themselves at public expense, or even seizing government-owned factories for their own use, is something Shen Shixing will never allow to happen.

In particular, Hou Yuzhao's proposal to tentatively delegate power to the three provincial departments to establish local government factories requires even stricter supervision.

"You make it sound nice, but we've all been officials for years. You say you'll only investigate officials, but guess how chaotic and disorderly it will get when you actually do it?" Gao Qiyu didn't mince words and said directly.

Universities are one thing, but government offices that don't engage in production won't cause any trouble no matter how much scrutiny they undergo.

The official factories were the cornerstone of the Ming Dynasty, and were closely related to military, political, economic, and people's livelihood.

(End of this chapter)