I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1082 The Light Begins with the Abolition of Serfdom!
Zhu Yijun picked up the report, carefully examined the sealing wax, and after opening it, looked at the wax seal inside the sealed box. It had the seals of Liu Ting, Chen Lin, Luo Shangzhi, and Li Yougong. The seals on all four sides of the sealed box were stamped on the sealing surfaces.

After confirming that the sealing wax and wax seal had not been damaged, the emperor opened the report.

In Liu Ting's report of victory, Thang Long City had already been captured, and the report even gave the impression that "you fell before I even exerted my strength."

The Ming Dynasty's southwestern Han army swept across the Red River Plain, starting from Lang Son, while the navy continuously controlled key transportation routes along the coast and rivers, dredging waterways to ensure the smooth passage of grain transport. This was done to guarantee the supply of military provisions to the front lines.

The Ming army did not rush to launch an offensive against Thang Long City. Instead, it used the so-called peace talks to distract the Annamite usurpers, such as Trinh Thong, giving them hope while simultaneously launching a ruthless attack.

Liu Ting and Chen Lin made this decision because they were worried that if they pushed the rulers, such as Zheng Song, too far, they would order the seventy-two surnames to attack the Han people of the Mingxiang Society.

Annam's Minh Huong Society, this backup plan, did indeed work, delaying the Ming army for a full two months and preventing the Ming from directly attacking Thang Long.

When Liu Ting and Chen Lin finally pacified the Red River Plain, they abandoned negotiations and began attacking the city on the grounds of disloyalty. Zheng Song then found himself isolated and helpless. Without putting up much resistance, Zheng Song chose to surrender with his people.

On the first day the army entered the city, they tore down all the yellow tiles from the palace walls of Thang Long Thanh.

What kind of status does Annam have that they dare to use yellow tiles? This one act of usurpation alone is enough reason for the Ming army to conquer Annam. They dare to usurp the throne in a place within the reach of the Ming Dynasty!
The emperor's position is extremely prestigious. Felipe has spent his whole life making trouble. He even built up the British Empire, and the world recognizes his status as the British Empire. But he is just a king, not an emperor. He wants to create a loose Western business alliance. Isn't his purpose to become emperor legitimately?
If you don't have the power, calling yourself emperor will only make you a laughing stock.

Akbar, the king of the Mughals, used to call himself the Great Emperor or Emperor. However, after establishing diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, Akbar stopped calling himself the Great Emperor or Emperor and started calling himself the King.

After Shah Mamat returned, he earnestly suggested that Akbar do the same.

Akbar heeded this advice. Shah Maimaiti knew the Ming Dynasty well. The Ming Dynasty was really concerned about its reputation. They were too far away to do anything about it and remained silent. They would wait until the navy became powerful and Akbar's throne was overthrown. How could the Ming emperor feel at ease?

The fact that the King of Annam usurped the throne within Annam is a huge joke.

The King of Annam was not ashamed at all. In fact, no country in Annam or other countries took his imperial throne seriously. Even Laos laughed at him for his wishful thinking. Laos was bullied by Annam every day, but when it came to this matter, he would say: "How dare I call out to the north?"

The meaning behind Lao envoy Dao Lansheng's words was: "You, Annam, have declared yourself emperor in your own country. Do you dare tell the Ming emperor in the north?"
The yellow tiles were eventually removed by the Ming army.

"The Han army in the southwest is trustworthy." Zhu Yijun reaffirmed a key issue that Zeng Shengwu had repeatedly mentioned: the crux of the southwest problem was that the court did not trust the Han army in the southwest.

The Battle of Pingbo and the southward march to Annam repeatedly proved their loyalty and bravery, making it entirely feasible to entrust the southwest direction to the Han army in the southwest.

This means that the cost of war for the Ming Dynasty in the southwest has decreased rapidly. As long as the court is willing to pay salaries, they don't even need to provide sufficient military rations. They can rely on the grain and fodder produced by the Muyuan Garden owned by the Duke of Qian to completely defeat the Burmese bandit Mangyingli.

During this campaign, Liu Jiwen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, oversaw military affairs. He learned that Annam also had its own celebrations. Annam called itself Dai Viet and held a grand sacrificial ceremony on the 17th of December every year. This day was also the day when Dai Viet promulgated the "Great Proclamation of the Pacification of Wu," marking Annam's liberation from the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

This day is extremely important to the people of Annam; to put it bluntly, it is the foundation of the Annamite Kingdom.

However, on the day of the 'Dai Viet Festival' in the 20th year of the Wanli reign, almost all the Annamese people were commemorating a man who died for love in Song Giang Prefecture. The discussion about this matter completely overshadowed the 'Dai Viet Festival' established by the state.

In other words, the Annamese state had already collapsed before the Ming Dynasty launched its attack.

Even though the Annamese had broken free from the rule of the Ming Dynasty militarily, they could not break free from the reins of the Ming Dynasty in politics, culture, and economy. For this reason, the Annamese people always lived in a state of conflicted fear.

The political framework was completely copied from the Ming Dynasty, but it was a hodgepodge, resulting in an abstract political system with five rulers and seventy-two surnames.

Culturally, the upper class speaks Chinese and uses Chinese characters, and even history books are written in Chinese, while the poor and laborers are made to use Nôm script. Everyone in Annam knows what civilization is.
Economically, Annam was also highly intertwined with the Ming Dynasty, or rather, not just with the Ming Dynasty, but with Guangdong and Guangxi.

In this situation, how should the Annamese adjust their mindset? Should they stop doing business with the Ming Dynasty? Or stop cutting sugarcane in Guangxi? Should they stop using Chinese characters and language? Should they abandon the political framework of the Ming Dynasty? They couldn't do any of those things.

When the ruling class was embroiled in brutal and bloody infighting and in complete chaos, leaving them no time to continue their anti-Ming campaigns, the common people naturally yearned for the rule of the emperor.

On this southern expedition, the Ming army encountered no effective resistance whatsoever. The fighting spirit of the Annamite army was so weak that it was even weaker than that of Lin Daoqian's pirates, who at least dared to charge the Ming army without fear of death.

Even after the battle of Thang Long City was over, the Ming army commanders Liu Ting and Chen Lin were still discussing: where exactly was the main force of Annam?

"Sir, Annam is much easier to conquer than I expected," Zhu Yijun said sincerely.

Zhang Juzheng said hesitantly, "Gao Panlong's miscellaneous newspaper also holds this view: easy to beat, hard to govern. Your Majesty, isn't Gao Panlong a lowly scholar? It's a bit strange that he could write such an article."

A few days ago, Gao Panlong, together with Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi, co-authored an article titled "Can the Ming Dynasty Really Be an Exception?" This article attracted a lot of attention, and Zhang Juzheng also read it and even added some annotations.

This article argues that the Ming Dynasty was no exception, a view that Zhang Juzheng deeply agreed with.

Sacredness—Gods cannot shed blood. Once blood is shed, they are no longer gods. The Ming Dynasty had many unique characteristics, but the corruption of a single Hongwu coin could shatter its golden body. The Ming Dynasty's unique characteristics did not possess sacredness, meaning it could not be an exception.

Zhang Juzheng deeply disliked the "Great Ming Exceptionalism" theory, which arose after the opening of the seas and was based on the debate between Chinese and barbarians. He believed that the Ming Dynasty could not simply watch those mishaps overseas as a joke, as these things that happened to the barbarians could also happen to the Ming Dynasty.

Exceptionalism, in fact, refutes the theory of contradiction.

The essence of the concept of contradiction is that there are universal contradictions in everything. The direction of small and secondary contradictions can change the direction of major and primary contradictions. The accumulation of contradictions can lead to qualitative changes through quantitative changes. Many things that happen to barbarians are examples of this kind of qualitative change caused by quantitative changes.

The Ming Dynasty should not be an exception, but should always be vigilant. However, the theory of exceptionalism would destroy this vigilance.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, when the emperor was studying, Zhang Juzheng explained the word "heresy" to him, saying that gods and Buddhas, and sacredness, were all heresies.

"Gao Panlong is no longer considered a lowly Confucian scholar. After his theory of contradictions in scholarship and his class theory, he has changed. People should read more books." Zhu Yijun was pleased with Gao Panlong's change. Unfortunately, among the vast number of lowly Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty, only two or three people have changed.

Zhu Yijun quickly drafted a list of those who were granted imperial favors, in which Lou Hu and Luo Shangzhi became the Earl of Xinchang of the Ming Dynasty, a hereditary title.

The campaign against Annam was divided into three phases, and the first phase has just been completed. Once all three phases are finished, the next time I see Luo Shangzhi, I will have to address him as the Marquis of Xinchang.

Zhang Juzheng, the retired Marquis of Yicheng, Grand Tutor and Imperial Tutor, also received a generous reward. The emperor bestowed upon him a large number of treasures to reward his strategic contributions.

The Ming Dynasty's military campaign against Annam did indeed begin in the 22nd year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, but the economic campaign against Annam, particularly the importation of grain, was spearheaded by Zhang Juzheng in the 6th year of the Wanli Emperor's reign.

Imported grain greatly exacerbated internal conflicts in Annam, paving the way for the Ming army's successful conquest.

The emperor kept his promise the next day, but instead of summoning his ministers for a meeting, he rested for a day before resuming his busy work.

Zhang Juzheng made a special trip, hoping that His Majesty would fulfill his promise. While Zhang Juzheng is still alive, Shen Shixing can still persuade him. But if Zhang Juzheng is no longer here, then who will persuade His Majesty will become a problem.

The direction of human movement is the direction of desire and indulgence, not the direction of so-called civilization. This was a topic that Li Yashi discussed with the literati of Jiangnan when he attended a gathering in Songjiang Prefecture.

When Legazpi finally arrived at Cape Liberty after more than half a year of sailing, he had a deeper understanding and more concrete example of this statement.

Liberty City is the best example.

There is no order here; absolute freedom means absolute chaos. Yet the port remains bustling, and the streets are teeming with people. The rows of brothels are a constant reminder to Li Yashi that this is exactly what the Taixi region, which he once loathed so much, looked like.

There is no power vacuum here. There is no imperial court, no city hall, no public school established by missionaries, but there are countless pirates. These pirates and gangsters are the ones who control the power here.

They controlled the fate of these prostitutes, arbitrarily toying with them and killing slaves of all kinds without punishment. The streets were littered with abandoned, rotting corpses.

Murder, death, riots, and shootouts can happen at any time, but they still can't stop those desperate outlaws with desires from going out to sea from arriving here.

These pirate groups also had intricate connections with the nobles of Portugal and Spain.

Now, Liberty City has become even more chaotic, with the main forces split into four factions: Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and England.

The shift in factions within the Liberty City pirate group was a sign of the changing maritime power in the West; Felipe was no longer able to stop England from wreaking havoc on the entire Atlantic trade.

Li Yashi wandered through the Free City, dressed in a scholar's robe. No thieves stole his wallet, no thugs robbed his silver coins, no prostitutes approached him, and even the merchants selling various goods did not come up to him.

This is related to the two burly men beside Li Yashi. They are the coastal defense inspectors of the Ming Dynasty's global merchant fleet. They are strong and powerful enough. Similarly, the dragon flag and the seven-star flag on their shoulder insignia represent that the Ming Dynasty is behind them.

Even in the far-off, chaotic city of Liberty, these audacious outlaws who commit murder in the streets dare not offend the people of the Ming Dynasty.

It wasn't that these desperate men were afraid of the distant Ming Dynasty, but rather that they feared the Ming Dynasty's global caravan's 36-jin naval cannons, 9-jin field cannons, Pingyi guns, flintlock muskets, and iron armor.

Once, a group of pirates, lacking any sense of propriety, provoked the Global Merchant Caravan. In response, the Global Merchant Caravan wiped out their base—literally wiped it out—by bombarding it with cannons, reducing the castle to ruins. The ruins were filled with severed limbs, and all the pirates were sunk at sea by the Global Merchant Caravan.

Since then, no one has dared to provoke the people of the Ming Dynasty. Absolute freedom means that might makes right. The Ming Dynasty's global merchant caravan travels with swords. If they are willing to do business and make money peacefully, the caravan is naturally more than happy to do so. However, if they have to compete in martial arts, everyone in the caravan knows a little about fighting.

Li Yashi went to the House of the Wise in Free City. As he walked, he knew he was almost there because the streets were clean and lined with trees. The disheveled thieves and robbers had disappeared without a trace, and there were no naked corpses lying in pieces. There were also patrols by the Great Light Church's Guardian Army.

"May the light always be with you." As Li Yashi entered the House of Wise Men, a priest wearing a Tai Chi badge greeted him.

Li Yashi placed his hand on his Tai Chi badge and said, "The light will always shine, and the sacred flame will never be extinguished."

The House of the Wise is similar to a church, but unlike a church, it is actually a library containing all kinds of books. It is also the only school in Liberty City, where children are reading aloud, and the sound of their reading can be heard constantly.

Knowledge is the carrier of wisdom, and the main way to spread the wisdom and enlightenment of the Ming Dynasty is to spread knowledge. Li Yashi saw a book from the Ming Dynasty, which was placed in the most conspicuous place with great solemnity. Anyone could look at it, but it could not be taken out or damaged. The book was called "A Concise Edition of the Yongle Encyclopedia", which can be regarded as the encyclopedia of the Ming Dynasty and also the sacred text of the Great Enlightenment Sect.

Li Yashi opened it and saw that it was an old book from the ninth year of the Wanli reign. In fact, the latest edition of the Ming Dynasty should be the new edition from the twentieth year of the Wanli reign, which corrected many errors.

Novels flourished during the Ming Dynasty. Behind this flourishing was the existence of a large enough population capable of reading and comprehension, a highly developed printing industry, and relatively low costs for paper, woodblocks, and printing.

Clearly, the West did not have such conditions; with serfs everywhere, the printing industry in the West struggled to survive.

When Li Yashi arrived at the House of Wise Men, he was to complete the formalities and obtain a travel permit. His name, origin, destination, reason, and route were all written on the travel permit to prove his identity.

This was a system for managing clergy, modeled after the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty, which Xu Fan implemented when he was the Portuguese Minister of State.

"The Great Envoy of Light?!" exclaimed the priest who was processing the travel documents for Li Yashi.

"The knights behind me can prove my origins. They are coastal patrol officers from the Ming Dynasty, and also guards sent by the Prophet to protect me and ensure my safe return to Taixi." Li Yashi pointed to the two coastal patrol officers behind him. He actually had more to prove his identity, but in Taixi, people believed more in force.

The priest smiled and shook his head, saying, "I saw the Knight of Light as soon as you came in. I am not doubting your identity. I know your name and your deeds. Thank you for translating so many books of the Ming Dynasty over the past twenty years."

Li Yashi was unaware that his name was already widely known in the West, not only among the Church of the Great Light, but also among Catholic missionaries and nobles. Li Yashi provided a great deal of help to the Western envoys who went to Ming.

"What brings you back this time? Are you going to Madrid to meet His Highness Felipe, or to inspect the construction of the Temple of Light in Lisbon?" The priest needed to fill out the reason for Legazpi's trip to the West.

With a complex expression, Li Yashi said, "Become the torch that illuminates the latter, the flame of light will never be extinguished, and the sacred fire will never cease to burn."

The priest looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at Li Yashi.

This statement was the last words of the former Patriarch Marion, and it is also the highest oath of the Church of the Great Light. To utter these words means to be prepared to dedicate oneself to the light. There is no God to examine this promise; it is merely a promise made by the priest to himself.

Because it was a promise to himself, no priest would dare to say it lightly.

The priest, with an extremely complicated expression, said, "You shouldn't have come back. You have already reached the other side of light, why return to darkness and chaos?"

The other side of the Great Brightness Sect is order, not entirely the Ming Dynasty. However, the Ming Dynasty after the Wanli Reforms was changing rapidly, and the Ming Dynasty had already merged with order.

"This is the path I take to seek the light." Riyas answered the question completely: only by stepping into darkness can one find true light.

If Li Yashi stays in the Ming Dynasty, he will go crazy.

"Where to?" the priest continued to ask, filling out the travel document.

"Through Lisbon, on to France."

The priest stopped writing and looked at Rijalz, saying, "Your Excellency, I must remind you that King Henry IV of France is currently suppressing the priests of the Great Light. Going there now is not a wise choice for you."

“I am well aware of this fact.” Ricardo nodded; he was well aware of the dangers facing France.

"May you have good luck and may the light always be with you." The priest paused for a moment, then filled in France's name.

On New Year's Eve, Lisbon arrived and met with the aging King Antonio of Portugal and his court secretary, Paulino.

On the first day of the first month of the twenty-third year of the Wanli reign, Li Yashi, in his capacity as the Great Envoy of Light, went to the Temple of Light. The temple was not yet completed; it would take decades or even centuries to build. However, the main hall was already completed, and Marion's last piece of linen cloth was placed in the Temple of Light.

After paying his respects to Marion, Li Ya arrived at the West Hall Church.

Hundreds of priests of great light were already waiting there, hoping that the omnipotent prophet would give them more revelations.

Standing in the circular hall, looking at the faces, Li Yashi noticed a group of people from the Ming Dynasty. They were members of the Portuguese National Council, composed of four groups of Han Chinese from the Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow factions.

“I see a group of lost souls,” Li Yashi said, clearing his throat and looking around.

From Liberty City to Lisbon, all Legazpi saw were faces filled with confusion. Marion's death finally transformed the Great Light Cult from a mutual aid society into a more tightly organized church.

Similarly, Marion's death brought the priests of the Great Light a great deal of trouble, confusion, and uncertainty.

Where is the road ahead? This is probably the question in the heart of every priest.

Antonio was first and foremost the King of Portugal, and secondly, his purpose in building the Temple of Light was merely to unite people's hearts. He had no enthusiasm for the development of the Church of the Great Light, and even openly and secretly restricted its development.

He went to the dock to meet Li Yashi because Li Yashi was a person from the Ming Dynasty and also His Majesty's envoy, which was the proper courtesy.

The conflict between royal power and divine authority is the main contradiction in the West. When Antonio first became King of Portugal, he expelled the cardinal. The conflict between royal power and divine authority in the West is somewhat similar to the conflict between the monarchical power and the power of the ministers, and the conflict between the central government and the local government, in the Ming Dynasty. It has existed for a long time.

“I have brought His Majesty’s decree.” As Li Yashi spoke his second sentence, the confusion in the priest’s eyes began to slowly fade. Sure enough, the Great Envoy of Light brought a decree from the embodiment of wisdom.

"His Majesty said: I have seen Marion's courage to sacrifice herself for the light, and I have also seen the dark clouds that are obscuring the entire Western region. But I am far away in the Ming Dynasty, tens of thousands of miles away. I have no divine power, and I cannot dispel this darkness and cruelty. In order to show my appreciation for Marion's courage, I posthumously confer upon her the title of Patriarch of the Great Light Church and bestow upon her the posthumous title of Saintess of Light."

Before Rijashi had even finished speaking, cheers erupted throughout the entire church, one after another, even interrupting Rijashi's preaching of the holy word. The priests of the Great Light had been longing for this day.

The title of saint was given by priests who went on pilgrimage to the Ming Dynasty. Even Patriarch Marion did not receive the title of prophet; she was self-proclaimed.

Today, His Majesty the Great Emperor has finally acknowledged Marion's status and bestowed upon her a posthumous title.

The priests took it for granted that the emperor had no divine power. If the emperor really had divine power, why didn't the gods of the West save their people from suffering?

Denying divine power and believing in human wisdom is the core doctrine of the Great Illumination Church: humans should exist as human beings, not as servants of God.

This doctrine tells all believers of the Great Light that a person is a person, and a person should live as a person.

The cheers continued for a very long time before Li Yashi continued, "His Majesty said: In order to encourage people to pursue the light, I have bestowed upon him a plaque with my own calligraphy, the Temple of Light."

Cheers erupted once more. The Temple of Light had gained His Majesty's approval, and from now on, this would be the temple of the Great Light Church. All the Han Chinese breathed a sigh of relief. They left behind linen cloth, all for this day. From then on, Lisbon would be the Holy City of Light.

Li Yashi paused for a moment and said, "His Majesty said: Be like thunder that cuts through the darkness, and also like light that illuminates all things."

These are indeed the original words of His Majesty's imperial edict. To prevent any errors, His Majesty personally translated the edict.

Li Ya was in the Ministry of Rites, and he knew very well that this was part of the Ministry of Rites' ideological colonization and expansion of the Ming Dynasty's influence. To put it more bluntly, it was the Ming Dynasty's development of ocean-going animal husbandry.

The more people yearn for the Ming Dynasty, the greater the Ming Dynasty's benefits will be. Moreover, this is less costly than direct military conquest, has a more far-reaching impact, and leaves an ideological imprint that may take several generations to erase, or even be impossible to erase.

Rijal closed the edict and said to all the priests, "His Majesty's edict is for Patriarch Marion and the Temple of Light. This edict will also remain here for the priests to admire."

Cheers resounded throughout the sanctuary once again. In addition to the piece of linen cloth, the Temple of Light had acquired a new sacred artifact: a decree that proved the rebirth of the Great Light Church.

"Then let me explain the problems I've observed," Li Yashi said solemnly, handing the imperial edict to Paulino.

“Since Marion left, I have seen your anger, but you do not know why you are angry; I have seen your resistance, but you do not know for whom you are resisting; this is the root cause of your confusion. To be more specific, you do not know where you came from or where you are going.”

"Without goals, without principles, without plans, all the anger and resistance are more like a magnificent stage play, where everyone is trying to play their role, but it's just playing a role."

"This confusion has led to the chaos, fragility, cowardice, and disorder of the Great Light Cult."

"In our pursuit of light, we have created more bloodshed and darkness, transforming into so-called thunder. Instead of dispelling the dark clouds, we have become another dark cloud pressing down on everyone's heads. This kind of aimless change is an even more terrifying dark cloud."

"Because if they encounter even the slightest setback during the process of reform, they will kneel down and continue to be serfs; if they face even the slightest difficulty, they will leave and give up."

What is change?

"From the perspective of the Ming Dynasty's dynastic change, dynastic change is never simply destruction, destruction, or arbitrarily imposing emotions on others, nor is it abandoning one's own humanity and morality. Rather, it is about seeking new life, construction, and order in the midst of destruction. This is true change."

"I saw destruction, but I did not see new life."

All the priests listened quietly to Li Yashi's speech. As Li Yashi explained the process of the Ming Dynasty's dynastic change, the priests' eyes grew brighter and brighter. They finally realized that the core of the Great Bright Church was lacking in wisdom. Li Yashi spoke of construction, order, and rebirth, not destruction and annihilation.

"Destroying a world only results in the destroyed world; in the process of breaking down the old world, a new world is gradually built, and only after the transformation can a new world be obtained."

"This is the true reform and innovation of the Ming Dynasty, this is the true change of dynasty in the Ming Dynasty." Li Yashi took a deep breath and uttered his first shout in the West.

“Empty talk is useless. I brought the land management laws from the Ming Dynasty.” Li Yashi raised a book in his hand and said loudly, “Light begins with the abolition of serfdom!”

(End of this chapter)