I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1078 Killing two birds with one stone, isn't that wonderful?

Xiong Tingbi, who was in the Guandong Plain, also saw the vigorous development achievements of Shandong. These achievements were extremely gratifying. Shandong did not become complacent and stagnant due to conservatism and caution. Instead, the development of the two core areas, Jinan Prefecture and Mizhou Maritime Trade Office, was in full swing.

Even conservatism cannot stop this development.

First, there was the expansion of territory. The reclamation of Liaodong by the Ming Dynasty brought prosperity and stability to Liaodong, and there was also a surplus of agriculture that could be used to exchange for goods.

After King Yi Yeon of Joseon agreed to annex the Ming Dynasty, he went back on his word and tried to circumvent his promise by abdicating the emperor. He was killed by Yi Sun-sin. Joseon annexed the Ming Dynasty, and the capital of Iwami Silver Mountain, Nagasaki, and other places in Joseon was actually Jiaozhou Bay.

Territorial expansion brought more means of production, such as farmland, minerals, forest farms, trees, and livestock enclosures, which in turn brought larger markets. Continuous land reclamation and the establishment of government factories enabled these areas to have a certain level of consumption power, and Shandong gained a broader market.

Besides the benefits brought by territorial expansion, the successive governors of Shandong were all down-to-earth and hardworking people. From Ling Yunyi to Wang Yi'e, and now to Song Qichang, they were all virtuous and capable ministers of the Ming Dynasty. They did not blindly follow the emperor's lead, but chose to settle down and let Shandong flourish as a response to the court's concern and the emperor's news.

In Shandong, they redistributed the means of production, actively boosted production enthusiasm, responded to the imperial court's decrees, repaired roads, dredged canals, and expanded government factories and private workshops, among other things.

Of course, the most important factor is the people of Shandong, who created all of this with their hardworking hands. Labor changed nature, gave value to goods, and set people free.

To this day, Shandong has the least population loss in the north, with very few people migrating to the Jiangnan region. If there were any other way, no one would choose to leave their hometown.

Conservative and radical public opinion, the objective realities and laws that cannot be changed, ultimately mean that the fundamental factor affecting people's livelihoods is productivity.

Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that if the officials appointed by the court were not swayed by conservative or radical public opinion and maintained sufficient resolve to actively promote development, they could have ensured smooth governance and social harmony in the region, and maintained peace and tranquility.

Xiong Tingbi wrote a very long memorial to the emperor, recounting everything he had seen and heard in Edogawa.

After receiving the memorial, the coastal patrol inspectors boarded a hydrofoil and headed to Owari Province. This land was the territory of the Oda clan. After Oda Nobunaga's death, the Ming Dynasty, citing the Oda clan's residence in the Ming Dynasty, ceded this land to the Ming Dynasty, making it a transit point for the coastal patrol inspectors.

Departing from Owari Province, the seaplane successfully arrived at the Osaka Bay Garrison Command Post. After a stop in Hiroshima, it arrived at Jeju Island three days later.

In summer, the coastal defense inspectors would travel north from Jeju Island to Incheon, then proceed to the Bohai Sea, disembarking at Tianjin Prefecture. In winter, when the Bohai Bay was frozen, the inspectors would travel from Jeju Island to the Mizhou Maritime Trade Office, and then take the imperial road to the capital.

Zhu Yijun received Xiong Tingbi's memorial fifteen days later.

Xiong Tingbi answered His Majesty's questions in detail, and also addressed the issue of the samurai of Edo Castle.

"The various atrocities committed by the Japanese samurai are actually what violence looks like when it gets out of control. Seeing these creatures who are worse than pigs and dogs, it would be difficult for them to make up their minds to revitalize the military." Zhu Yijun finished reading the memorial and looked disgusted.

As Xiong Tingbi said, the ruling class of Japan—the court nobles, the shogun, and the local daimyo—were all worse than pigs and dogs.

These guys were the most important slave hunters of the Japanese. They sold a shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain for three taels of silver, which was ten times the price of rice in Songjiang Prefecture! The high price of rice drove the poor laborers of Japan to the brink of despair, forcing them into slavery and enslavement, and forcing respectable women into prostitution. They exploited the people without any scruples!

It wasn't that Zhu Yijun looked down on these Japanese. During the Chongzhen era, there was a loyalist army from the Shizhu chieftain in Sichuan, whose commander was named Qin Liangyu, and whose troops were called the White-Spear Soldiers.

During the campaign to pacify Bozhou by Liu Ting and Liang Menglong, Qin Liangyu and her husband Ma Qiancheng led three thousand White Spear Soldiers from the southwestern Han army to attack Yang Yinglong.

In the 47th year of the Wanli reign, the Ming Dynasty suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Sarhu. Qin Liangyu obeyed the imperial court's orders and led three thousand White Spear Soldiers to Liaodong to provide relief. Over a distance of thousands of miles, they did not commit any offenses against the people along their route, and their military discipline was extremely strict.

This strict military discipline was maintained until the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, when the White Spear Army suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Zhang Xianzhong and was completely wiped out.

Even when the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, its army, even those troops dispatched by local chieftains in response to the imperial court's mobilization, could still maintain a certain level of military discipline.

Similarly, the army from Shanxi that came to the capital to defend the emperor went hungry for three whole days without food or water. Instead of robbing the people in the capital region, they stormed their camp and demanded money from the court.

Even when the Ming army was on the verge of collapse, it maintained a high level of discipline instead of turning its weapons against the people and looting everywhere.

“Those Japanese samurai are not out of control; it’s just that these samurai have never had any military discipline.” Zhang Hong didn’t think it was a case of violent loss of control. Those court nobles, shoguns, and local daimyo had never fully controlled the samurai, so it was impossible for them to be out of control.

"That makes sense." Zhu Yijun largely agreed with Zhang Hong's point of view.

Japan is a typical example of a tyrannical regime. This political system also existed in the Central Plains of China, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

From the An Lushan Rebellion to the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, 117 military governors were killed by mutinies of their subordinates. Under the rule of tyranny, there was no way to control the army or enforce military discipline.

Regarding Xiong Tingbi's plan to launch a surprise attack on Kyoto and give Tokugawa Ieyasu a surprise, Zhu Yijun did not give specific instructions. He was not in Japan, and engaging in micromanagement would cause great trouble for local generals. He only told Xiong Tingbi to be careful and not to take risks lightly.

After replying to Xiong Tingbi's memorial, Zhu Yijun picked up a miscellaneous newspaper from the table.

Before his departure, Li Yashi wrote a book called "On China". In this book, there is a view that makes the Ming Dynasty scholars feel uncomfortable. In this book, which is full of praise for the Ming Dynasty, Li Yashi rarely criticizes and denies a new trend of public opinion that has recently emerged in the Ming Dynasty.

Li Yashi believed that the Ming court should be wary of a concept that gradually emerged after the opening of the seas: the Ming Dynasty's exceptionalism.

The theory of Ming Dynasty exceptionalism is based on the debate between Chinese and barbarians. It arose after the Ming Dynasty opened its seas to the world and gradually witnessed the actions of many foreign tribes overseas.
The Ming Dynasty is special. Its values, systems, and so on are transcendent in the world. It is inherently just, and everything the Ming Dynasty does is just.

Moreover, the problems that other countries need to worry about, the Ming Dynasty does not need to worry about excessively.

For example, Felipe's gold bonds would collapse, but the Ming Dynasty's gold notes would be an exception; no matter how much they were over-issued, they would not collapse.
For example, any country that launches a war must pay an extremely heavy price, but the Ming Dynasty will not. The Ming Dynasty's foreign wars are an exception and will not pay an excessively heavy price.

For example, the overseas colonies established by the West will gradually break away from the control of the mainland, but the Ming Dynasty does not need to worry too much because the Ming Dynasty is an exception. The governor-general offices established overseas will naturally support the Ming Dynasty and will not betray it.

Li Yashi believed that this Ming Dynasty exceptionalism should be guarded against, and that the rulers of the Ming Dynasty, especially His Majesty the Emperor, should not indulge in this exceptionalism and become arrogant and complacent.

Arrogance is a sin, in every respect.

He believed that no issue should be discussed with the Ming Dynasty as an exception; otherwise, it would be self-deception.

Just because the Ming Dynasty was a superior nation, could it be exempt from certain natural, objective, and just laws? Obviously, Li Yashi believed it could not.

In the more than twenty years since the opening of the sea, many claims about the distinction between Chinese and barbarians have been perfectly proven. This only shows that the Celestial Empire has a special nature, but does not possess a sacred nature.

Li Yashi's explanation of sacredness is very clear, somewhat similar to the myth of the Ming Dynasty, where one proof is eternal proof. As long as one progresses, masters, and understands, one will never regress or forget.

The Ming Dynasty's unique nature meant that it would decline; this was not something to be taken for granted or expected. The court, officials, scholars, and the common people all needed to constantly correct this decline, rather than thinking that the empire was so powerful that this slight decline would not affect the greatness of the Ming Dynasty.

The miscellaneous newspaper in Zhu Yijun's hands contained an article titled "Can the Ming Dynasty Really Be an Exception?", co-authored by three opinionated individuals: Lin Fucheng, Li Zhi, and Gao Panlong, discussing the theory of Ming Dynasty exceptionalism.

At the beginning, the three people gave the same answer, and Da Ming was no exception.

In terms of military, politics, economy, culture, and so on, whether viewed from a longitudinal perspective of ancient and modern times or from a horizontal perspective of internal and external affairs, the Ming Dynasty was no exception.

The Tumu Crisis was a major setback and failure caused by a monarch's arrogance and recklessness; the Jingnan Campaign was a major upheaval caused by the succession of the throne; the Hongwu Treasure Notes were a feast for the powerful, leading to a loss of national credibility; the alienation of money led people to believe in its omnipotence.

These are all things that have happened or are happening in the Ming Dynasty. The existence of these objective facts means that the Ming Dynasty is no exception.

Holding the newspaper, Zhu Yijun said very solemnly, "Is there really no exception? The examples they cited actually proved that the Ming Dynasty could be an exception."

"During the Tumu Crisis, the emperor was captured. The Ming Dynasty did not follow the lessons of history and relocated to the south, leaving it with only half of the country. The Ming Dynasty not only won the defense of the capital, but also brought back Emperor Yingzong and hung Esen's head on the city wall of Datong Prefecture."

"The Jingnan Campaign was indeed earth-shattering, but after the Jingnan Campaign, the Ming Dynasty launched five expeditions to the Mongolian steppes and seven voyages to the Western Ocean. Emperor Yongle's civil and military achievements were unparalleled in history. The prosperity of the Yongle era is still remembered and feared by the barbarians."

"The extent to which money has become alienated is naturally terrifying, but the Ming Dynasty is still making efforts to curb the moral decline caused by this alienation, and with considerable success."

"I find their examples unconvincing."

Zhang Hong pondered for a moment before whispering, "Your Majesty, the Great Ming Treasure Notes."

Lin Fucheng and others gave four examples, but His Majesty spoke for a long time without mentioning the Ming Dynasty Treasure Note.

"Let's not talk about that," Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "Emperor Taizu Gao did not have much talent in financial affairs. Of course, you can't expect someone to be omnipotent and good at everything. That's not human, that's a god."

"Besides, haven't I already issued gold notes? By summarizing experiences and lessons learned, and building on past achievements, things will only get better and better."

Zhu Yuanzhang specifically preserved his experience of begging along the way for three years to tell future generations that he was himself, a living, breathing human being, not a god born sacred.

"What Your Majesty said just confirms that the Ming Dynasty is no exception. The final result was both good and bad. The good result was corrected because countless people of virtue and ambition made amends." Zhang Hong thought for a moment and then said more clearly: "Whether there are exceptions or not depends on human effort. When problems are discovered, we should actively face them and take decisive measures to remedy them, instead of pretending not to know and covering up the truth."

"This is what Li Yashi really meant."

Whether the Ming Dynasty can be an exception is a contradictory yet unified contradiction. Sometimes it can be an exception, and sometimes it cannot. But in all cases where there is an exception, it is the result of human intervention to make amends.

“Hmm, what you said makes sense.” Zhu Yijun thought about Zhang Hong’s words carefully, read the article again, and nodded with certainty, saying, “Exceptionalism is actually sacredism. Sacredness cannot have any flaws. Whether the Ming Dynasty can be an exception is contradictory, which means that sacredness has disappeared, and this has already been disproven.”

The reason why religion has been a constant presence in human society is entirely because it involves a very difficult question to prove: God. We cannot prove His existence, nor can we prove His non-existence. This is why the question of God has always existed in human society.

The theory of the Ming Dynasty as an exception clearly lacks this sacredness, because the history of the Ming Dynasty proves that there were times when the Ming Dynasty could not be an exception.

Li Yashi also discussed the downsides of the Ming Dynasty's exceptionalism. He argued that if one believes in exceptionalism, one will not see one's own shortcomings and will hold an arrogant attitude towards what happens in other countries, thinking that such things will not happen to oneself, without analyzing the deeper reasons behind the phenomena.

This is clearly detrimental to the development of the dynasty, and we must always be vigilant about various issues.

"Li Yashi's 'On China' is still somewhat overly sycophantic." After forwarding the article by Lin Fucheng and others to the official gazette, Zhu Yijun picked up "On China" again and highlighted one sentence in red. He didn't intend to delete it, but rather to encourage careful consideration. The highlighted sentence was:

The Ming Dynasty has reached the upper limit that any empire created by humankind can achieve in this era. Before coming to the Ming Dynasty, I could not imagine that people could live peacefully for two hundred years and enjoy the peaceful life brought by order.

The Wanli Reforms broke through this limit and rapidly advanced towards the limit of human imagination. The place that helped the Ming Dynasty break through this limit was the temple of science, the Imperial Academy of Sciences located next to the Tonghe Palace.

That statement was a bit too obsequious.

Li Ya used this sentence to begin the introduction of the Ming Dynasty's Institute of Natural Sciences, summarizing the various amazing inventions and creations of the Ming Dynasty. These inventions and creations can be described as miracles, all of which were accomplished by the scholars of natural sciences and the master craftsmen using only human labor.

In the same article, Li Yashi recounted an interesting anecdote: when the Dinghai school system was being formulated, His Majesty the Emperor inquired of Zhu Zaiyu, the Dean of the Institute of Natural Sciences, about his opinion on the Dinghai school system.

At that time, Zhu Zaiyu submitted a memorial proposing to accelerate the pace of talent cultivation. He suggested that children should enter school at the age of four, enter middle school at the age of eight, complete all subjects in the three levels of school at the age of twelve, and complete their studies in university at the age of fifteen.

Compared to the established Dinghai school system, which required students to complete their studies at the age of twenty-four, Zhu Zaiyu's system advanced the process by nearly ten years.

In this way, the court can save on education expenses and students can serve the court as soon as possible. It is a win-win situation. Isn't that wonderful?

Zhu Zaiyu formulated this plan because he had his own limitations. He had never seen so many fools and did not have a clear understanding of the unevenness of human beings. In his view, mathematics, which anyone can learn, is a foreign language to many people.

The emperor rejected the memorial by adopting the method of the Ministry of Rites.

Mathematics is becoming increasingly complex. Sometimes, Zhu Yijun had to study the formulas presented by the Imperial Academy of Natural Sciences for a long time before he could understand them.

For example, the steepest curve recently studied by the Institute of Physics has dense formulas that are indeed very difficult to understand. It seems that the Physics PhDs are using the steepest curve to improve clock design and make clocks more accurate. In Galileo's conjecture, the steepest curve should have isochronous properties.

This curve is quite amazing. When a ball is dropped from different heights, it can reach the destination at the same time, even though the path lengths are different. This is the isochronism property, which can be used in clocks to increase the accuracy of pendulum clocks.

Zhu Yijun put down the miscellaneous newspaper in his hand and looked at the smog in the sky. It was slightly better in autumn, but in winter, the entire capital would be soaked in smog. The smog had a strange dark purple light, which made people extremely uneasy.

The Imperial Academy of Natural History conducted in-depth and detailed research on the haze disaster, providing the emperor with a conclusion and answer: the causes of the haze disaster were very complex, related to coal burning, but also closely related to the reduction of trees.

During the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, when the Northern Prefecture was still called Youzhou, there were no records of smog disasters. It was only after the Jin Dynasty established its capital there that the first smog disaster occurred.

Similarly, since then, the trees near Beiya have begun to decline rapidly.

During the Yuan Dynasty, smog would only occur once every winter and spring. However, during the Yongle era, smog disasters became more and more frequent. The nineteenth year of Yongle was the year with the most recorded smog disasters, with a total of five occurrences. Since then, the frequency has increased.

From once every ten days, to once every five days, then to once every three days during the Jiajing era, to now, smog is everywhere, obscuring the sun.

Burning coal has indeed exacerbated smog, and the reduction of trees is also a contributing factor.

The Gewu Institute has also found a cleaner fuel, which produces less dust when burned, effectively reducing the possibility of smog disasters. This is light oil, a product obtained by fractional distillation of petroleum, but it is extremely expensive.

"Your Majesty, Grand Secretary Wang has arrived," Zhang Hong whispered to the emperor, reminding him that the court officials summoned for today's audience had arrived.

"Xuan."

After Ling Yunyi retired, Wang Jiaping became the new Grand Secretary, in charge of all affairs of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Works, and responsible for the general affairs of the official factories. Zhu Yijun summoned him to Tonghe Palace to discuss the renovation of the official residences of the Xishan Coal Bureau.

"Greetings, Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be well." Wang Jiaping bowed, and after the emperor told him to rise, he took out a memorial and said excitedly, "The renovation of the water and heating system at the official factory has been completed."

"The boiler room heated hot water to supply the official residences and school buildings. It was completed before winter. In Xishan Coal Bureau alone, the coal used for heating in the official factories, official residences, and school buildings was reduced by more than half from 32 million catties. This year, only 16 million catties of coal are needed!"

"The Xishan Coal Bureau can save 137,000 taels of silver just on heating alone!"

Previously, coal from Xishan Coal Bureau was sold to households, with each household receiving approximately 6,000 jin (3,000 kg). Every autumn, each craftsman could receive a 6,000 jin (3,000 kg) coal coupon based on their status as a registered craftsman.

The imperial court covered 30% of the coal cost, while the artisans had to pay 70% themselves. This was considered a form of welfare, included in their stipends. Many artisans came from impoverished backgrounds and were reluctant to burn coal, so they would sell it instead.

The 20th year of the Wanli Emperor's reign was a harsh winter. Seven craftsmen's children froze to death that year, and only then did the Ming Emperor realize that the craftsmen had sold all the coal instead of using it for their own heating.

Soon, heating system renovation was put on the agenda. The first to start was the Xishan Coal Bureau, which had four official residences and a campus that could accommodate as many as 10,000 households. The renovation process lasted for about a year and a half. Before winter this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology completed the heating system renovation of the official residences and campus.

It not only saves coal and money, but also reduces coal smoke.

"I heard that the craftsmen are against the reform of the central heating system, and this matter has even reached a meeting of craftsmen?" Zhu Yijun asked about the specific details of this reform.

Wang Jiaping considered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the artisans' conference ultimately approved the renovation by more than half of them. After the heating season started, most of them also approved it. Your Majesty, sometimes you can't just accept whatever the artisans say."

Collective decision-making is not always wise; it can simply be a matter of following the crowd. If collective decision-making were truly a panacea, there would be no such thing as overcoming dissent or making a decision based on one's own will.

Taking the renovation of centralized heating systems as an example, there were far more craftsmen who opposed it than Wang Jiaping had imagined; almost half of them disagreed with the renovation of centralized heating systems.

For the craftsmen, they paid money but didn't receive coal, and the construction and maintenance of the pipelines had to be factored into the heating costs.

Everyone knows the price of coal; you can see how much coal you can buy for how much. But the pipes, maintenance, and water temperature are all problems, and there's a lot of opposition.

"I've heard that you fooled the craftsmen by saying that the heating method used in the official residences and school buildings was a method reserved for imperial use. That's how you fooled them. It was only approved at the first craftsmen's meeting. Later, when the craftsmen realized they had been tricked, they even cursed you." Zhu Yijun recounted the rumors he had heard.

Wang Jiaping said with a sense of helplessness, "Even this shameful matter has been discovered by His Majesty."

The heating methods used in official factories, government buildings, and school buildings were not the same as those used by the emperor. The emperor used copper pipes that were directly buried in the floor tiles, while the government buildings and school buildings used radiators, not underfloor heating.

Zhu Yijun's Tonghe Palace was originally built by Wang Chonggu, and its heating system incorporated the best of various methods, maintaining a temperature above 20 degrees Celsius in winter. This was because His Majesty was frugal. For example, Empress Dowager Li's Cining Palace maintained a temperature of around 26 degrees Celsius during the 125-day heating season, while official residences and school buildings only reached about 10 degrees Celsius.

“Sometimes, you have to make a decision.” Zhu Yijun agreed with Wang Jiaping’s statement, saying that people should not believe in any panacea, as they simply do not exist.

“Grand Secretary Wang, the treatment of the house-dwelling craftsmen is very good, but the craftsmen of our Great Ming are not limited to house-dwelling craftsmen. We cannot assume that all craftsmen are treated this way just because we see that the treatment of house-dwelling craftsmen has improved.” Zhu Yijun said very solemnly, “If only we could have thousands of mansions, we could shelter all the poor scholars of the world and make them happy.”

"I encourage you both."

With centralized heating in government factories and residences, at least people won't freeze to death in winter. But what about the artisans across the land? And the farmers living in the countryside? These too must be considered.

Housing was also one of Zhu Yijun's general requirements for the Wanli Reforms. In short, his general requirement was five large tiled houses.

The purpose of centralized heating in the capital is to reduce coal smoke and smog, save coal, and lower the living costs of artisans. From government factories to private residences, this will be implemented gradually. Yang Junmin, the Vice Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, has also made plans, which are currently underway.

The realization of every grand goal requires a down-to-earth approach, taking one step at a time, accumulating small steps to achieve great things; it is by no means something that can be accomplished in a single day.

After Wang Jiaping finished speaking about the collective heating system renovation, he took out a memorial and handed it to Zhang Hong to pass on. Then he sighed and said, "The pirates led by Lin Daoqian specialize in buying and selling Han Chinese people. The Guangzhou Prefect Wan Wenqing has recently sorted out the case."

“The pirates led by Lin Daoqian have bought and sold more than 7000 people through human trafficking shops in the hinterland over the years.”

"A mountain of blood debts."

During the Ming Dynasty's military campaign against Annam, Guangzhou Prefecture began to strictly enforce the crackdown on smuggling. Lin Daoqian's nephew, Lin Mao, was captured by the Ming army on Gusu Island. The Ming agents and cavalry did not use any special means to get Lin Mao to talk and began to purge the traitors in Guangdong, Fujian and other places.

These traitors were mainly involved in the human trafficking business, selling Ming Dynasty people overseas for huge profits.

When the imperial guards and special agents investigate cases, they always presume guilt before conviction, and they quickly uncover the truth behind major cases.

"This Lin Daoqian is doomed, I say so! If he is captured alive, send him to the execution ground. If he is not captured alive, I will tear him to pieces! Even if he is dead, I will exhume his coffin and dig up his grave!" Zhu Yijun finished reading the memorial and his face was full of anger.

Clearly, this was genuine anger. These human brokers in the hinterland were extremely good at disguising themselves, using the method of passing on their skills and knowledge to lure these kind-hearted people overseas. Once at sea, they immediately changed their tune.

Lin Daoqian knew he couldn't touch this line, but the profits were simply too great, and it was also his main way of expanding his operation. He forced these originally kind people to become accomplices, to act as accomplices to the tyrants, and to become members of the pirates. Of these seven thousand people, more than half had become accomplices.

Zhu Yijun was naturally furious. In the second year of the Wanli reign, Yin Zhengmao quelled the pirates at Dianbai Port, proclaiming that the seas of the Ming Dynasty were at peace and there would be no more Japanese pirates. This was an important achievement of the Wanli Emperor's reforms, but this case was tantamount to negating this achievement.

Indeed, even without the Japanese pirates, the pirates from the Ming Dynasty, through mentorship and training, committed such heinous and despicable acts!
"Your Majesty, there is a city of freedom in the West, and our Great Ming also has Da Nang." Wang Jiaping and Wan Wenqing corresponded frequently, and Wan Wenqing revealed more inside information.

Western white slaves were all transported to various parts of the world through free cities located overseas.

Similarly, the place where people from the Ming Dynasty were bought and sold was Da Nang, a place not controlled by the Ming Dynasty. Today it was Lin Daoqian, tomorrow it was Zhang Daoqian, and the day after tomorrow it would be Huang Daoqian.

This place has become a den of thieves. If it is not taken down and properly dealt with, I'm afraid these kinds of things will only increase.

The Ming Dynasty's war against Annam was initially met with concern from the emperor that it might turn into an unjust war. However, the more the war progressed, the more it seemed that the Ming Dynasty's war was timely! If the Ming Dynasty did not punish such behavior with swift and decisive measures, these audacious and desperate criminals would only extend their reach further and cause endless harm.

If anyone dares to extend their claws, they will be eliminated with swift and decisive action. This is the best warning.

Similarly, the Ming Dynasty was determined to acquire Da Nang, a strategically important location.

(End of this chapter)