I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1050 Knowledge gained from books is ultimately superficial; true understanding requires personal experience.

The controversy surrounding Wang Yi'e was quickly quelled with Shen Shixing's intervention. It wasn't that Shen Shixing was particularly capable, but rather that some things needed to be said.

It means that when needed, someone needs to step on the brakes.

Taking a break and waiting is relatively rare in the vortex of power.
Normally, once a struggle begins and develops into a factional conflict, it will continue until one side is completely victorious and the other side is utterly defeated and wiped out.

Even so, the struggle will not end. The victorious side will continue to divide and fight until the country collapses.

The fact that the Party Proscription was listed as one of the four signs of national collapse was not mere speculation. The other four signs were: forced to flee the capital due to defeat, captured by the enemy, and the emperor being taken prisoner, leaving the country leaderless.

If any one of these four signs appears, it is a sign of the country's demise.

Any political system, whether it be a traditional tribal system based on witchcraft, a feudal system based on enfeoffment, a prefecture-county imperial system, or a representative parliamentary system, needs to establish appropriate checks and balances to prevent excessive decision-making, the spread of power struggles affecting the general public, and violent conflicts that could ultimately lead to the destruction of production.

Once this system of checks and balances fails, the struggle will escalate into chaos, eventually spiraling out of control and leading to a complete societal fracture.

Under normal circumstances, the imperial system of prefectures and counties would disperse the concentration of power upwards through a decentralized structure, lengthy decision-making processes, majority consent of ministers, and multiple channels for expressing interests, in order to prevent decision-makers from acting arbitrarily or on a whim.

Such checks and balances exist both in the imperial court and at the local level.

However, this constraint and balancing mechanism has led to procedural rigidity. The overly complex procedures make decision-making difficult, and things often drag on for a very long time. It also leads to inefficient decision-making, as everyone has their own ideas and opinions, resulting in endless arguments and disputes.

Rigidity and inefficiency, if left unresolved for too long, will naturally fade away; the problem remains, but no one tries to solve it anymore.

Since the Wanli Reforms, under the authoritarian and strongman politics of Zhang Juzheng, who emphasized sovereignty and issued a single decree, the power-sharing structure of the Ming Dynasty had become somewhat ineffective, and the Ming court had undergone a transformation.

If Zhang Juzheng was merely a subject, his regency would be illegitimate; but Your Majesty, as the monarch who holds military power, has the right to rule.

While this solved the problems of rigidity and inefficiency, it also created new problems: the lack of buffer and redundancy between the ruler and his ministers made it easy for them to clash directly.

With the change of version and gameplay, Shen Shixing's role became apparent. As a kind-hearted person, he stepped in the middle, spoke his mind, and stepped on the brakes to prevent the conflict from escalating, which made him particularly important.

Sometimes, for the sake of the greater good, His Majesty the Emperor has to compromise; other times, for the sake of their own lives, ministers have to back down a little to avoid a complete falling out between the ruler and his subjects.

This has always been the duty of prime ministers: to act as a lubricant between the power of the emperor and the power of the ministers.

Gao Qiyu was not suited for this task. As a minister with absolute authority, he could only cater to the emperor's wishes. Moreover, his bluntness would anger the scholar-officials, who also had to save face.

Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with Shen Shixing. He even felt that it was good to make decisions without restoring the court council system or directly facing the ministers. When encountering difficult matters, he could summon the ministers to speak, and with Shen Shixing usually acting as a mediator, the decision-making was very efficient.

His Majesty the Emperor picked up a memorial from Grand Minister Shen Li.

As an upright and outspoken official, Shen Li recounted an old story in his memorial.

In the second year of the Yongle reign, Zhu Di made up his mind, appointed his son Zhu Gaochi as crown prince, and enfeoffed Zhu Gaoxu as the Prince of Han. The fiefdom that Zhu Di gave to Prince Zhu Gaoxu was in Yunnan.

At the investiture ceremony, Zhu Gaoxu expressed his dissatisfaction on the spot, looking at his father and asking: What crime have I committed to be banished to Yunnan? Zhu Gaoxu refused to take up his post in Yunnan. Zhu Di remained silent for a long time before answering, "You are innocent," and allowed Zhu Gaoxu to stay in Nanjing.

Zhu Gaochi played a pivotal role in the Jingnan Campaign; otherwise, there would have been no subsequent struggle for the throne.

After recounting this old story, Shen Li immediately brought up the matter of Prince Lu, Zhu Yiliu. Shen Li argued that Zhu Yiliu had committed no crime, yet he was exiled for 20,000 li.
Shen Li disagreed with the Prince of Lu's decision to be enfeoffed in Jinshan Kingdom from the very beginning. Now that the die is cast, Shen Li still disagrees, saying that doing so would be contrary to familial ties. Of course, the die is cast, and His Majesty has made this decision despite the opposition. Moreover, the Prince of Lu himself chose this place.

Shen Li's memorial did not propose recalling the Prince of Lu. The Prince of Lu was well-connected and established in Jinshan Kingdom, and had repeatedly expressed in his memorials that he was doing well in Jinshan Kingdom and was now preparing to undertake a large-scale construction project to build Jinshan Palace.

Shen Li meant that since they had already been granted a distant fief, they should not be treated unfairly.

According to the Hongwu ancestral system, the following should be implemented in a coordinated manner: the presence of vassal kings, the establishment of military garrisons, the resettlement of immigrants, the influx of people into the Jinshan Kingdom, the establishment of grassroots schools, the implementation of enlightenment education, and the promotion of Han Chinese learning. It is not enough to have only the presence of vassal kings and the establishment of military garrisons.

"Tsk tsk, the Grand Minister of Rites thinks I haven't treated Prince Lu well enough, not providing him with any children, teachers, community schools, or basic education. The Grand Minister of Rites is right to criticize him." After reading the memorial, Zhu Yijun ordered the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites to draft regulations to relocate people and establish community schools at the grassroots level.

The present-day Kingdom of Jinshan is very similar to many places in northern China during the Hongwu era.

When Xu Da reached Datong Prefecture, he couldn't even find a single person who could speak Chinese. If Han people can't speak, are they still Han people? But can we blame the local Han people for forgetting their ancestors? Datong Prefecture, as Yunzhou of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, had been lost for four or five hundred years.

When Feng Sheng reached Gansu, he couldn't find a single Han Chinese; all he saw were Hu people. Feng Sheng had no choice but to abandon the territory, give up Gansu, and return to the capital.

During the Hongwu and Yongle reigns of the Ming Dynasty, there were several proposals to reopen the Western Regions, but none of them came to fruition. The Ming Dynasty could only govern the Western Regions through the Seven Guards of Guanzhong.

It was a complete system of vassal kings in the early Ming Dynasty that brought together the fragmented Ming Dynasty.

The current system of vassal kings is a system of restrictions on vassal kings, rather than the old system of the Hongwu Emperor. From this perspective, Zhu Yijun, the emperor's elder brother, has indeed treated Zhu Yiliu very badly.

Moreover, the reason is quite reasonable: mining gold and silver. The Kingdom of Gold Mountain really has mountains of gold and silver, so relocating people there wouldn't be considered mistreating them.

Shen Li was mainly afraid that if Luo Shangzhi, this Lou Hu, returned from Jinshan Kingdom, Zhu Yiliu, the Prince of Lu, would lose his greatest support, and Jinshan City, Zhenyi Pass, and Maiden Silver Mountain would fall into enemy hands again.

If His Highness Prince Lu is in danger and has to flee back to the Ming Dynasty in a sorry state, that's one thing. But what if he doesn't make it back? History is like an iron pen; how will it judge His Majesty for sending Prince Lu to Jinshan?

The Ministry of Rites' proposal was intended to fill any gaps in His Majesty's reputation and safeguard his posthumous honor.

"Grand Secretary Shen's reform of the university has caused a great stir." Li Yougong hesitated as he placed the memorial in front of His Majesty and said, "Many people oppose it. Although there are many reasons, the most important one is that the Ming Dynasty is currently in need of talented people. If we follow the imperial examination system and make the selection process too strict, it may be detrimental to the overall situation of the country."

The Ming Dynasty faced a shortage of people in all sectors, especially highly educated individuals. The purpose of the Dinghai Education System was to cultivate enough talent to meet the needs of the Wanli Reforms.

Now, Shen Shixing is demanding stricter graduation standards, including methods like anonymizing papers, copying, cross-checking papers, and closing the examination hall. While the intention behind these methods is good, doing so would hinder the Wanli Reforms.

“What they say makes sense.” Zhu Yijun flipped through several memorials, and found that Zeng Tongheng, Minister of Works, Xin Zixiu, Vice Minister of Works, Shi Xing, Vice Minister of War, Chen Younian, Vice Minister of Personnel, Sun Long, Vice Minister of Justice, and others had clearly opposed them.

The Ministry of Works opposed it because large-scale construction projects required geographers.
The Ministry of Personnel opposed this because of the system of selecting officials, hoping to cultivate these officials into talents to fill the increasingly short-staffed government offices. With the increase in population, the expansion of city size, and the improvement of town management, the need for officials is also increasing.
The Ministry of Justice objected because local prisons lacked officials who had studied the law.

What they said makes sense; the Ming Dynasty is desperately short of talent in all walks of life.

For example, the Ming Dynasty's naval forces were always in short supply. In the past, the naval forces even opposed the expansion of the Songjiang Maritime Academy. Now, the naval academies built by the five Maritime Trade Offices are still not enough to train enough naval forces.

For example, Zeng Tongheng said that in fact, you can't learn anything practical in a university. There is a huge gap between theory and practice. The education in school is just an introduction. You need a lot of practical experience to go from theory to practice.

There's absolutely no need to be overly strict; learning through practice is also a way to accumulate experience.

The talents cultivated by the university are not for selecting officials. Of course, the selection of officials should be strict. If the selection is not strict, the officials will be useless when they arrive in the local area. They can hardly protect themselves, let alone manage the local area. It is not excessive to be strict in the selection of officials. The university's strictness in producing officials is completely unnecessary.

Zeng Tongheng, of course, did not shy away from discussing the matter of local gentry and powerful figures sending their children to universities to gain prestige. He felt that this was a matter of weighing the pros and cons, and that quickly replenishing the talent pool in all walks of life was the most urgent need for the Ming Dynasty.

Only when there is a sufficient, or even surplus, talent pool should stricter exit requirements be implemented; this is a choice that aligns with historical trends.

After a comprehensive analysis of the pros and cons, Zeng Tongheng concluded that Shen Shixing's actions were unnecessary.

Because it involved Shen Shixing himself, Shen Shixing could only affix a blank slip to the memorial without expressing his own attitude. However, this was also a kind of attitude. The blank slip indicated that he had read it, but did not intend to change his policies unless His Majesty issued a clear imperial edict.

In his previous memorial, Shen Shixing had already made his reasons very clear: the university was still in the process of being established, and its rules and regulations were still being explored. It was still possible to do it now, but it was not worth thinking about doing it in the future.

The local authorities are deeply entrenched and powerful; does the imperial court really want to interfere at will?
There is a lot of opposition to this matter. If Shen Shixing insists on going his own way, the opponents will not be able to correct him from the emperor, so they will correct him on their own. For example, if Shen Shixing wants to impose strict restrictions on going out, then when it is implemented, he will make it so that no one goes out at all. He will expand the restrictions and double them. This is the best way to resist a government order.

Everyone was acting entirely according to Grand Secretary Shen's instructions, so what was wrong with that?
This is also a concern for Zeng Tongheng.

A decree can only be successfully implemented if it gains the approval of the majority, rather than leaving a mess.

After careful consideration, Zhu Yijun decided to convene a special court meeting to determine whether the decree should be implemented. If the decree was passed, and someone still deliberately went against it, then the emperor, Zhu Yijun, could not be blamed for being ruthless.

The court council is called a meeting; it is a concrete manifestation of power to hold meetings and guide the direction of the meetings. Since most people agree, if someone secretly opposes it after leaving the Wenhua Hall, then they are a traitor.

When it was necessary to kill the entire family of a rebel, Zhu Yijun never hesitated.

Zhu Yijun set the time for the court meeting on the 21st day of the first month of the 22nd year of Wanli. In addition to the strict requirements, there was another matter to be discussed, namely the promotion of Li Rusong to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Ming Capital Garrison.

As Qi Jiguang grew older, his health deteriorated. Although he could still lead troops into battle, he was overdrawing his life force. Zhu Yijun still remembered how painful it was for Tan Lun to die. Qi Jiguang remained a great general of the Ming Dynasty, but he no longer participated in conquests.

This matter was proposed by Qi Jiguang himself.

Of course, Qi Jiguang's departure from the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Beijing Garrison did not affect his prestige in the army. If it were that simple, there would have been no problem of violence spiraling out of control since ancient times.

To put it bluntly, without an imperial edict, one cannot mobilize troops; what kind of general are they?

However, General Qi Jiguang never overstepped his bounds. This was Qi Jiguang's personal integrity. He was always the same person. He did not desire to be ennobled, but only wished for peace on the seas. He was willing to exchange his personal honor and disgrace for the glory and prestige of the Ming army.

The principle of a great man is always the same: he seeks peace and stability for the world, not personal honor or disgrace. Furthermore, even if the emperor were to execute him now, he would die without regret, for he witnessed the might and power of the Ming army, rather than dying in despair.

If Yue Fei really wanted to rebel, he would have a no-holds-barred fighting tournament in Lin'an City with Zhao Gou. Zhao Gou couldn't beat Yue Fei, and even the eight hundred Beiwei soldiers couldn't defeat him.

Eight hundred trusted followers were more than enough; Zhu Di only had eight hundred men when he raised his army.

Soon, the court meeting on the 21st of the first month began. Zhu Yijun appeared in the long-absent Wenhua Hall. The twenty-eight court officials looked at each other and finally breathed a sigh of relief. It had been more than a year since Shen Shixing entered the cabinet and the ministers voted to stop the court meeting.

His Majesty is ultimately a man who will not break his word. The reason why the court meeting was not held was indeed due to the special circumstances between Zhang Juzheng's retirement and the end of his life.

"Your Majesty, we pay our respects! Long live the Emperor!" The ministers bowed in greeting. "No need for formalities," Zhu Yijun waved his hand, sat on the dragon throne, and looked at everyone with a smile, saying, "Sit, sit, sit, there's no need to be so formal."

Most of the ministers haven't seen His Majesty much in a year, which is completely different from when His Majesty saw them every day.

The closer one is to the center of power, the greater one's power becomes. Since they cannot see the emperor, the ministers feel that their power lacks legal support.

"Our Ministry of Rites has written a book, which you may all take a look at." After everyone was seated, Shen Li made an opening statement, without going straight to the main topic. Before getting down to business, she would always make an opening statement to warm up the atmosphere.

The official in charge of ceremonies brought over many books and distributed them to the ministers. The emperor also received a book compiled by the Ministry of Rites, "Records of Foreign Countries: Mozambique".

Even after Wan Shihe's death many years ago, the Ming Dynasty is still compiling a history of overseas foreign countries, and it is being done at the same pace as before.

Zhu Yijun flipped through it for a long time, and found it to be exactly the same as when Wan Shihe was there. Although it was titled "Records of Foreign Countries," it was actually written about its reference value to the Ming Dynasty.

Mozambique didn't really have anything that would attract the Ming Dynasty's attention, but the fact that the Kunlun slaves in Mozambique had no fathers still drew the court's attention.

“In Mozambique, more than 85% of children do not have fathers, and more than half of the children do not have either parents,” Shen Li said with deep emotion as he opened the memorial.

This statement sparked a great deal of discussion among the officials. The miscellaneous reports contained many discussions about adopting the husband's surname or taking the father's surname, and the officials knew a little about it, since everyone read the miscellaneous reports.

The Tang and Song dynasties are long gone, and the Ming dynasty scholars can only glimpse them through written records. However, the Ming dynasty did not allow children to take their husband's surname. Most scholars generally accepted the discussion in the newspapers that the mother was a blood relative and the father and son were social relatives.

But the ministers did not expect that more than 85% of the children in Mozambique's red clay people did not have fathers, and more than half of the children had neither parents.

The answers are all in this book, "Records of Foreign Countries".

Zhu Yijun felt that the Ming Dynasty officials were too concerned with saving face and too polite. The local chronicles they wrote gave these people too much face and didn't explain things clearly enough. Zhu Yijun called this a vicious cycle of being fatherless, which was vividly demonstrated in Mozambique.

Because they don't know if their offspring are their own, most men do not assume the obligation to raise children.

However, childbirth and reproduction are human instincts. In Mozambique, women are always heavily pregnant because they are physically weak and unable to protect themselves, so they are forced to become pregnant like animals.

Such complicated relationships make it even harder to determine who the father of the offspring is, making these fathers even less likely to raise their children.

However, it was unrealistic for a mother to raise multiple children alone, which ultimately resulted in half of the children being orphaned and abandoned.

Fortunately, Mozambique has relatively good natural endowments and plenty of food, so children without parents can barely survive.

It is self-evident that civilizations with fathers have a greater survival advantage than those without, because children with fathers are more likely to survive.

This vicious cycle of fatherlessness leads to another problem: the inability to establish order.

By the standards of the Ming Dynasty, the red clay people of Mozambique were all criminals. Only when they arrived at the castle in Portugal did they begin to follow some rules. Outside the castle, it was a complete animal world.

This vicious cycle of endless downward spiral kept these Kunlun slaves under a witchcraft-based tribal system, preventing them from effectively establishing order.

Establishing a father-son relationship is establishing a family relationship, and each household and each family constitutes the smallest unit of society. Therefore, the entire social structure of the Ming Dynasty was built on the foundation of the father-son relationship.

Once this relationship goes from stable to fragile and then to collapse, it will only be a matter of time before the overall social structure of the Ming Dynasty collapses.

As the smallest unit of society, the integrity and health of the family are directly related to the overall stability and development of society.

In fact, Confucian culture has a more direct description. The Book of Rites, "The Great Learning", directly states: "Only when one cultivates oneself can one regulate one's family; only when one regulates one's family can one govern the state; only when one governs the state can one bring peace to the world."

Cultivating oneself, regulating one's family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world—only by cultivating one's own virtue can one ensure the stability of one's family. If one cannot even ensure the stability of one's family, one certainly cannot govern the state well, let alone assist the emperor in governing the world well.

"The Western Merchant Alliance has been established. Does anyone have any suggestions?" Wang Jiaping spoke of the major event recently undertaken by the Ministry of Revenue. The success of the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance allowed the Ming Dynasty to temporarily escape the industrial crisis caused by insufficient markets, and also bought the Ming Dynasty enough time to improve its internal market.

The Western Merchants Alliance was an attempt based on the Pan-Pacific Merchants Alliance.

"Losing it is my fate, gaining it is my fortune." Gao Qiyu looked at Wang Jiaping and shared his views. Oil and black gold could certainly become the core commodity of the Western Merchant Alliance, but this core commodity would take too long to develop.

Gao Qiyu's words were lowering the expectations of His Majesty, the court, and the people for the Western Merchant Alliance. Even a little success, such as expanding the market for cotton cloth, iron pots, porcelain, and tea, would satisfy everyone.

Wang Jiaping wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

Gao Qiyu is indeed unlikable; he speaks too directly.

"The Ministry of Works recently conducted a comprehensive survey of the completed sections of the Beijing-Guangzhou Expressway, identifying 364 problems that are currently under repair. It is expected that the repairs will be completed within one year and the road will be open to traffic within two years," Zeng Tongheng, Minister of Works, reported to his ministers on the Ministry's main tasks for the year.

After the corruption case along the Beijing-Guangzhou Highway was thoroughly investigated, a comprehensive inspection of all sections was conducted. This revealed numerous problems caused by shoddy workmanship, and these issues were actively rectified. This was a major construction project that could not afford any mistakes; any further problems would result in heavy casualties and bloodshed.

The money allocated for repairing the imperial road was limited, but human greed is limitless. People misappropriated the money meant for repairing the road and put it into their own pockets. As a result, the road had no money available, and problems with the project were inevitable.

This has delayed the construction of the Beijing-Guangzhou Expressway. It was originally scheduled to open to traffic by the end of this year, but due to repairs, it will probably be delayed until next year.

Upon hearing Zeng Tongheng's words, Zhu Yijun immediately replied, "Haste makes waste. The construction of the Beijing-Guangzhou highway is a matter of great importance. I can afford to wait a year, and the Ming Dynasty can afford to wait as well."

"But once it's fixed, it'll require minor repairs every three days and major repairs every five days, causing endless trouble, disrupting the flow of goods, and even more so, hindering our ability to respond to weather changes. It's better to be cautious."

Zhu Yijun once issued an imperial edict stating that the court should not rush the construction schedule for the sake of rushing it. The ultimate goal of the court was to complete the project efficiently and with high quality. Focusing only on the construction schedule was irresponsible to the project and even more so to the craftsmen.

"Your Majesty, I obey your decree." Zeng Tongheng bowed and accepted the order. It was the best thing that His Majesty did not blame him.

In fact, Zeng Tongheng had been struggling to figure out how to tell His Majesty about the need to postpone the completion of the Beijing-Guangzhou Expressway before and after the Lunar New Year. Today, with the court meeting, Zeng Tongheng was somewhat willing to take the plunge. Otherwise, if the project could not be delivered on time and was riddled with flaws, he would have no way to explain it to His Majesty.

His Majesty's clear instructions reassured Zeng Tongheng.

Minister of War Liang Menglong took out a memorial and said, "The Ministry of War recently conducted a comprehensive census of the population of the nine border garrisons and garrisons, and confirmed the registration of all soldiers. More than one million soldiers were registered, and the remaining soldiers who were not registered were converted into civilian households."

"Shaanxi made an attempt and confirmed what Marshal Qi said: military garrisons and garrisons could not be transformed into a battalion system."

The Ministry of War spent three years confirming Qi Jiguang's correctness.

The registration of military garrisons and garrisons to ensure that soldiers' salaries were paid in full was part of the new policies of the fifteenth year of the Wanli reign. At that time, the Ministry of War felt that the soldiers were so useful that they directly turned the military garrisons and garrisons into professional soldiers.

The Ministry of War failed, and Qi Jiguang was right. He had been stopping it from the beginning because it was impossible to do so, and the Ming Dynasty needed to maintain a sufficient size of its garrison to replenish its troops.

Just like how the An Lushan Rebellion broke out as soon as the Tang Dynasty abolished the Fubing system (a military system based on conscription).

Having spent his life on the battlefield, Qi Jiguang knew all too well that it was already extremely difficult to maintain a professional battalion force at its current size, and that it was simply impossible to transform the border troops into a battalion-based system.

The Ministry of War finally understood that the military garrisons and garrisons were primarily engaged in production rather than military conquest, and military conquest was not their main objective. The main function of the garrison troops was conquest, not production. This division of labor arose from the invasion of Japanese pirates during the Jiajing era.

This fundamental difference made it extremely difficult for military garrisons and outposts to be transformed into military camps.

"It's an attempt. If it succeeds, great; if it fails, no big deal," Zhu Yijun said with a smile. He knew that the Ministry of War's attempt was unlikely to succeed, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. The Ming Dynasty had this margin of error. It wasn't like the early Wanli era, when building an imperial mausoleum required 11 taels of silver in debt.

Zhu Yijun looked at everyone and said, "Commander Qi has submitted a memorial to return the seal of the General of the Capital Garrison and recommended Li Rusong as the new General. Commander Qi, you may speak now."

Qi Jiguang sat up straight, paused for a moment, and then said, "The body is the most honest and cannot tolerate any lies, especially at my age. As everyone can see, I have become much thinner. Military campaigns are of great importance to the nation, and I am no longer fit to shoulder such a heavy responsibility. It would be better to pass the torch to someone more capable."

The body cannot tolerate even the slightest lie; Qi Jiguang could no longer maintain his robust physique.

These days, even the chief physician is helpless against diabetes and thirst, so he can only starve.

Hunger is a form of torture. As his body fat percentage continued to decrease and his training volume reduced, Qi Jiguang was no longer able to maintain his muscle mass. Now, his somewhat thin body, covered with a thin layer of fat, could no longer support him in the great battle.

Of course, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; Qi Jiguang could still easily defeat ten young and vigorous scholars.

Qi Jiguang opposed His Majesty's efforts to gain weight and reduce fat to increase muscle mass, because repeated weight gain and fat reduction completely mimicked the battlefield environment. Before a battle, one would eat until one had a large belly, and after a battle, one would become thin. Such repeated torment would inevitably lead to symptoms of diabetes.

"I think I can do it!" Li Rusong said in a muffled voice, "Because His Majesty said I can!"

Li Rusong, who is humble and modest, is fully deserving of the title of a leader. He believes he is capable of undertaking this great responsibility.

The ministers looked at each other, their eyes filled with helplessness. With Qi Jiguang returning the command seal, one less person could stop His Majesty.

As the emperor's tutor and a meritorious official of the Wanli Reforms, Qi Jiguang actually had his own ideas and opinions, and occasionally he would persuade the emperor to have some whimsical ideas about military affairs.

For example, His Majesty wanted to wipe out Japan in one battle, but Qi Jiguang stopped him. He could have launched a second war to destroy Japan, but to achieve victory in one battle would be to underestimate Japan.

But Li Rusong was different. He didn't have many of his own ideas; he just did whatever the emperor told him to do.

Similar to Shen Shixing's situation, His Majesty and Zhang Juzheng could bang on the table at each other, but Shen Shixing dared not, nor could he, bang on the table at His Majesty.

The court unanimously approved Li Rusong's appointment as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing garrison. There was little to argue about, mainly because with Qi Jiguang overseeing things, there was no immediate trouble.

“The university has strict graduation requirements.” Shen Shixing took out a memorial and solemnly explained the main purpose of convening this court meeting.

“There’s absolutely no need for that. What you learn from books is never enough; you have to put it into practice to truly understand. Once you finish your studies and get a job, you’ll naturally know everything,” Zeng Tongheng immediately voiced his objection.

(End of this chapter)