I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1085 Internally, not coerced; externally, not threatened.

Li Ya was putting his ideas into practice. He combined the experience of the Ming Dynasty with the local conditions in the West, hoping to find a way to manage villages that was adapted to local conditions.

He discovered that implementing the system of establishing farms in the West was much easier than implementing the system of returning land to the people in the Ming Dynasty. Only then did he fully understand the fundamental meaning of the two words "turning over a new leaf". Similarly, he could only admire Hou Yu Zhao. The Ming Dynasty never lacked capable people, but how to make these capable people realize their value was a true test of the monarch's ability.

Hou Yu Zhao was able to accomplish the task of returning land to its original state and consolidating it entirely because he only considered his own position. Prioritizing one's own position is extremely dangerous and requires a wise and enlightened ruler to manage. Similar systems include the Tax Audit Bureau, the Secret Memorial System, and the Extrication Bureau, all of which require a wise and virtuous ruler to manage.

Returning land to farmers during the Ming Dynasty was extremely difficult.

For example, the matter of the imperial court granting land was fraught with a difficult contradiction to resolve.

The Ming Dynasty had a large number of self-cultivating farmers. Even though the country was plagued by land annexation, the number of self-cultivating farmers still exceeded 20%. These 20% of self-cultivating farmers almost became the fuse for the failure of returning land to the people.

The land of self-cultivating farmers was completely different from that of tenant farmers and household slaves. Self-cultivating farmers owned a portion of land, but the amount varied. How to distribute the land they had acquired became a dreaded problem for local officials throughout Zhejiang.

Before the imperial court implemented the land return policy, many self-cultivating farmers had already divided their households. Three or four sons would immediately split one household into four or five households, so that each household could take more land than they needed.

These self-sufficient farmers were called rich peasants in the countryside, and these rich peasants were the real "public figures" in the countryside.

When the wealthy peasants began to divide their households, all the peasant households immediately followed suit. Even three-year-old children had to be separated into their own households, all in the hope that the imperial court would allocate land to them. Later, rumors became more and more chaotic, saying that only those with families could be considered as households, and marriage in the countryside immediately became a frenzy.

Soon, the imperial court stipulated that the results of the population census in the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign should be used as the standard, because it involved the collection of the "four taxes," which was the poll tax. Using the results of the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign as the standard would avoid these messy matters. After all, Zhejiang would carry out the Single Whip Law reform in the future, so this was a preparation in advance.

The imperial court felt this was fair, but the wealthy farmers felt it was unfair to them because many of their households actually owned more land than the standard allowed and were required to return the land instead of receiving it. The wealthy households immediately protested and joined forces with local gentry and elders to oppose the implementation of the land return order.

It's like the story of 'I really have a cow at home'.

The poor families also felt it was unfair. They had waited so long for fairness and justice, and this was the result they got? The wealthy families usually relied on their large number of brothers and their good relationships with the local gentry to run rampant in the countryside!

Before the land was returned to the rich, they could act arrogantly and domineeringly; after the land was returned, they could still act arrogantly and domineeringly.

The poor are also dissatisfied with this kind of fairness; it is not the fairness they want. What most people want is to become the new local gentry and gentry.

Only those who have truly lived in the countryside can understand the intricacies of this place.

In the narratives of emperors and court officials, the consolidation of land by the powerful was a consequence of moral decay: they would take advantage of natural disasters and man-made calamities to seize land through immoral means, and when morality could not restrain the behavior of these local gentry, they could only resort to violence.

This narrative is certainly fine, but in Hou Yuzhao's "Turning Over," Li Yashi saw another narrative, which was the method of annexation by local gentry and wealthy households, mainly by using the population, or more specifically, by having more sons.

Local gentry and wealthy households had enough land to support their descendants. Naturally, they were of the same clan and had a large population, which allowed them to act domineeringly in the countryside. In the conflicts and natural disasters in the countryside, the side with more people would naturally annex more land. This land was constantly transferred among clansmen and eventually completed the annexation.

The emperor and his courtiers had a top-down perspective, while Hou Yu Zhao offered a bottom-up perspective.

Returning land to the people may seem like a fair treatment, but it is actually unfair. Even if the court returns land fairly, these deeply entrenched clansmen and people of the same surname will still try to concentrate the land in their own hands. In other words, it is a waste of effort, a drain on national resources, and a complete failure.

The wealthy, along with local gentry and elders, were dissatisfied, while the poor wanted to truly turn their lives around. This caused quite a stir in the town, and soon Hou Yu Zhao responded.

He immediately ordered an investigation back to the first year of the Wanli reign, allowing poor families to report illegal activities, and promising severe punishment once verified.

Hou Yu Zhao returned farmland to Zhejiang, employing many ruthless methods.

For example, some local gentry who gathered at the yamen gate to cause trouble, idlers who paid money to bolster their power, and wealthy households who acted as accomplices to the tyrant were all arrested on the spot by Hou Yuzhao's dispatch of the Zhejiang Ninth Battalion.

This decision was extremely bold; if not handled carefully, it could lead to a rebellion by the officials.

In Hou Yuzhao's view, anyone who dared to cause trouble at the yamen gate must have something going on behind the scenes to resist returning the land to its rightful owner and protect their status and everything else. Hou Yuzhao conducted a more thorough investigation of these people.

When Li Jia implemented the agricultural system in Portugal, he didn't have this problem at all, because Portugal had almost no independent farmers. To be precise, the vast majority of them were serfs. Drawing on a blank sheet of paper was infinitely simpler than for Hou Yu Zhao.

Moreover, it was Antonio who wielded the thunderbolt, not him, Li Yashi; he only needed to hand the troublemaker over to Antonio to deal with.

As for how to deal with Antonio, Li Yashi didn't care. Antonio's solution was to start a major prison. The Han gentry knew that he couldn't come up with a more complicated or reasonable solution.

After seeing off Commander Huo Chengxin, Li Yashi watched the sails disappear into the vast Atlantic Ocean and sighed heavily. The next time he returned, he would only be a skeleton, and perhaps not even a skeleton. In the West, heretics were tried by burning at the stake, and after being burned to ashes, their ashes would be scattered into the river.

He hesitated more than once. Just now, he even wanted to get back on that flagship. He had an infinite attachment to life, an instinctive fear of danger, and a strong desire for a stable life. In his mind, there was always a voice loudly telling him to go back to the Ming Dynasty.

But in the end, he restrained himself from having such thoughts.

It is normal for people to have desires, fears, and worries, but the existence of reason helps to overcome these distracting thoughts.

Rijal was busy, and soon, the squire Antonio had assigned to Rijal was poisoned. The squire was someone who was responsible for tasting vegetables. After Rijal officially became Minister of State, Antonio promoted his security to the same level as himself.

The poisoning of the official represented yet another assassination attempt.

In this assassination attempt, the killer also sent a message. A note was placed next to the corpse of the wealthy man, on which was written a sentence that roughly meant: "Li Yashi will not die a good death. Once Antonio has used him up, he will execute Li Yashi to appease the old nobles who are willing to submit but are terrified!"

This is a scheme to sow discord. However, the proverb "When the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked" is an idiom. There is also an idiom "His merits are so great that they threaten the master."

Legazpi truly managed the Portuguese camp well, making Antonio's killings seem logical and justifiable. This was perhaps his destined fate, whether he sided with the liberator Antonio or the lion Henry; this was his ultimate end.

But Li Yashi couldn't care less about any of that. His attempt at establishing a village was encountering many difficulties, and he didn't have time to think about them.

Rijkas was completely overthinking it. A normal monarch would indeed do these things, but Antonio was not quite normal. To be precise, Antonio was always the captain, not the king. He wouldn't do the things a king should do.

He had no talent for politics and had absolutely no idea how to handle these matters.

Marcus the Sword Saint had known Antonio since childhood, served him on ships, guarded his gates, helped him win the war to establish his nation, fought a stalemate against the Spanish war god, quelled internal rebellions, and made several diplomatic missions to the Ming Dynasty. Marcus perfectly fit the description of someone whose achievements overshadowed his master and who was eventually discarded, but Antonio never even considered getting rid of the Sword Saint.

On the contrary, Antonio's reason for sending troops this time was to give Portugal a bright future. In fact, this was a reason given to him by the Han Chinese. It seemed particularly noble and magnanimous, but his real purpose was only one thing: to avenge Marcus.

The reason why the Portuguese royal palace was so leaky was the same as the Ming Dynasty's currency system – it was due to collusion between the inside and outside. The Spanish had an extremely good relationship with these nobles, and even Marcus's death was the result of collusion. Those palace staff who provided favors and connections were all people planted by these nobles.

Antonio may not be able to deal with Felipe, but he will certainly kill those nobles in the country who colluded with Spain and remained unmoved during the Spanish invasion.

Antonio disregarded everything else, even leaving national affairs to Legazpi, all for the sake of revenge.

"Execute them all." After reviewing the case file, Li Yashi gave his suggestion. Whether to execute them or not was entirely up to Antonio's decision.

Although it's called a dossier, most of it only contains testimonies. It's not realistic to have witnesses and physical evidence like in the Ming Dynasty. But these nobles captured by Antonio gave their testimonies that they tried their best to beautify, and their crimes were still too numerous to count.

Forcibly abducting women and disregarding human life were already heinous crimes in the Ming Dynasty. Even the son of the Grand Secretary would pay a heavy price for doing such things. For example, when Yang Shiqi's son wreaked havoc in the countryside, Yang Shiqi had no choice but to retire, and he couldn't even protect his son.

The most common way these nobles dealt with serfs who dared to rebel was to kill their entire families and hang them from trees as a warning to all serfs that this was the consequence of rebellion.

They treated the serfs under their rule no differently than livestock. Bread mixed with soil was already considered merciful. Some lords even levied taxes on bread mixed with soil.

Some nobles even ate the children of rebels to demonstrate their violence, making themselves look terrifying and instilling fear in the serfs.

While the local gentry and gentry were certainly despicable, and they did indeed engage in cannibalism to some extent, compared to these truly cannibalistic and ruthless nobles, even the local gentry and gentry seemed much more presentable.

Li Yashi originally thought that Taixi was still half-slavery, but in reality, it was only half-fell into feudalism.

Antonio's reply was also very strange. The Portuguese king's reply was only one of surprise: these people were sent back to Lisbon and they were still alive?
The Portuguese king's motivation for sending the prisoners back to Lisbon was to demonstrate his respect for Legazpi, the rough-and-tumble spirit of sharing wine, meat, and blood.

Xu Fan, the Minister of State at the time, was very fond of adhering to rules. When Marcus returned from the Ming Dynasty and personally executed the court secretary who had spread rumors, Xu Fan expressed strong opposition. He insisted that the case be tried no matter what, even if it was just for show, in case any accomplices were overlooked.
Although Antonio didn't learn much, it was safer to try prisoners before killing them; otherwise, the king would be disrespectful to his ministers of state and to rules and order.

Li Yashi finally understood Antonio's strangeness. Xu Fan, Marcus and others' assessment of him was indeed correct. He was completely ignorant of politics and was still using the same methods he used on the ship. Without His Majesty's support, he could only be a captain for the rest of his life.

Just as Li Yashi was busy as a donkey on a millstone, so too was Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty. The imperial examination in February of the twenty-third year of the Wanli reign arrived as scheduled. The entire court was unusually busy in preparation for the examination. Zhu Yijun personally reviewed the mathematics exam papers produced by the Academy of Sciences. Apart from being too difficult, the mathematics exam papers had no problems.

"This one will do." Zhu Yijun pondered carefully and decided on the one with moderate difficulty. For him, it was moderately difficult, but for the students, it was the end of the world.

Zhang Hong hesitated, but ultimately didn't say anything. After the imperial examination, there was another round of crying and wailing, with people banging their heads on the ground. The arithmetic exam was getting harder every year. Moreover, the arithmetic exam had a unique characteristic: right was right and wrong was wrong, making it very easy to quantify, which led to the increasing weight of the arithmetic exam.

What is easy to quantify is easy to compare, and what is easy to compare can be seen very intuitively whether it is fair or not.

A scholar who passed the imperial examination but ranked outside the top 1,000 in mathematics would be ridiculed by the literati and disrespected. This disrespect would even extend to various levels of government, who would subconsciously assume that the person was not intelligent enough. Such a scholar would be completely trapped in the predicament of being "unworthy of his position."

So much so that by the twenty-third year of the Wanli reign, all the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) were determined based on their mathematical performance. From the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign onwards, all Jinshi were required to be ranked within the top four hundred in mathematical performance. Even the rankings of the Jinshi in the palace examination were based on their mathematical performance. This was the result of the comprehensive study of mathematics.

Wang Guoguang spearheaded the reform of the Ming Dynasty. After Wang Guoguang's death, Lü Kun attempted to take advantage of the situation and was killed by the emperor because Wang Guoguang's posthumous reputation was worth protecting.

In the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign, there was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination). By the twenty-third year of the Wanli reign, almost ten years had passed, and he was still stagnant, not having been granted an official position. This was because although he passed the Jinshi examination, his mathematics score was ranked outside the top 1,000, and therefore he was not accepted by the government.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Personnel had the final say in personnel appointments. However, the Ministry of Personnel also had to consider the needs of the employing department. In addition, the Ming Dynasty lacked everything except people who could study on their own two legs. Therefore, this person had never been favored and had remained unemployed until now.

"I know what you want to say. You just want to talk about Wang Yiduan, right? He ranked 74th in the third class and 1230th in mathematics." Zhu Yijun attached great importance to the provincial and palace examinations, as they were the most important means for the Ming Dynasty to select talents. Wang Yiduan's mathematics score was due to poverty, not a lack of talent.

Xiong Tingbi was a cowherd, Fan Yuanshan was a son-in-law, and Wang Yiduan was even worse off than them. Wang Yiduan was from Yuyao, Zhejiang. His father died early, his mother died in childbirth, and his uncles and aunts ate his blood when he was one year old.

The one-year-old child should have died after being devoured and leaving no descendants, but his life was not meant to end. The neighbors could not bear it and told the Zhejiang Ninth Battalion, who were on patrol, about it.

The Ninth Battalion of Zhejiang back then was nothing like it is now. The soldiers of the Ninth Battalion couldn't even get enough to eat, so raising children was really difficult. When the children reached seven years old, they couldn't be raised any longer and were sent to a nursing home.

The almshouse was a den of iniquity, where people were bought and sold under the guise of charity. The almshouse sold people to human trafficking agencies, which then sold Wang Yiduanfa to a well-known gentry family in Yuyao.

Wang Yiduan was a household servant. He was able to read and write, all of which he learned by secretly studying at home.

At the age of twelve, Wang Yiduan's life finally took a turn for the better. The old woman saw that he was clever and allowed him to study at the family school. At eighteen, Wang Yiduan passed the county-level imperial examination and became a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examination). As a Xiucai, he received a stipend from the imperial court. At twenty-four, he passed the provincial-level imperial examination and became a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examination). The following year, he passed the metropolitan-level imperial examination and became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the metropolitan-level imperial examination).

His poor math skills weren't due to a lack of virtue or ability, but rather because he was too poor to afford formal education. However, the underlying logic of collective operations is ruthless; no one cares about your misfortune. If you are not worthy of your position, no one will be willing to employ you.

"But the essence of the imperial examination is to select talents, so this is the only way." Zhu Yijun sealed the mathematics exam paper with his annotations in red ink into a box. The Institute of Physics would seal the institute before the exam papers were released to prevent the questions from being leaked.

The purpose of the imperial examination was to select talented people. Not doing well in mathematics did not necessarily mean one was stupid, but doing well in mathematics certainly indicated strong thinking ability and meticulous logic.

“I am too gentle and quiet, and all I have left is loyalty. I am only suitable for taking care of Your Majesty’s daily life.” Zhang Hong shook his head and said after being admonished by the emperor, “It would be better if Li Da Dang returned soon.”

"Humans aren't plants or trees; how can they be without feelings?" Zhu Yijun shook his head and said. Not to mention Zhang Hong's gentle and kind heart, Zhu Yijun would also have it. That's just how people are; they are truly contradictory.

Li Yougong was not gentle and quiet at all. He came from the military and was decisive and ruthless. He never showed mercy when he struck. He was known as Li Yanluo by the common people. There may be a wrong name, but there is definitely no wrong nickname.

Zhu Yijun held a memorial from Wang Jiaping, and after reading it, he looked troubled and gestured to Zhang Hong to summon Wang Jiaping, the Grand Minister of Justice.

A case occurred in Xuanfu. It seemed trivial, but it was so typical that it alarmed the Emperor. Zhu Yijun also showed his gentle side.

Benevolence is never wrong; the mistake lies in not being able to distinguish between what is important and what is urgent.

Wang Jiaping arrived at the West Study by small train and waited there. After being granted an audience, he entered the Imperial Study to pay his respects to His Majesty.

"The Xuanfu grassland case." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial and asked, "What is the Ministry of Justice's opinion?"

“Handle it according to the law.” Wang Jiaping bowed and said, “Your Majesty, if this sets a precedent, others may follow suit. Since there are rules, it is best to follow them and act in accordance with the law.”

In Xuanfu, there was a local gentry named Li Jiadong. In the second year of the Longqing reign, he purchased two thousand mu of grassland from the Xuanfu government. However, there was no record of this purchase in the accounts. In other words, the grassland was nominally still in the hands of the Xuanfu government, but it had already been sold long ago.

Time flies, and during the Wanli Reforms, the land survey was conducted. These two thousand acres of grassland had been reclaimed into farmland by Li Jiadong's family, and Li Jiadong became a local gentry and respected figure. During the land survey, the Xuanfu government clarified the ownership of this grassland.

Although the land was surveyed and the land rights were confirmed, the Xuanfu government did not issue a new land reclamation permit. In other words, in the official records, this land was still considered grassland.

Soon, in the twenty-second year of the Wanli reign, during the year-end accounting, the Ministry of Revenue reviewed old accounts and discovered that the money from the sale of this grassland had not been deposited into the government's accounts.

If there is a deficit in the accounts, the accounts must be balanced, and the imperial court will reclaim ownership of these two thousand acres.

This practice of the Xuanfu government was very common in Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi and other places. The land was sold but no accounting was done. The motivation for doing so was that the imperial court could not pay the salaries at the time, and the local governments had to find their own way.

During the reigns of Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Longqing, the Ming Dynasty was still at war with Altan Khan. It was one thing not to pay wages when there was no war, but to not pay wages during war and force people to fight on an empty stomach was simply unreasonable. However, the imperial court had no money at all.

Li Jiadong was even more wronged. What was Xuanfu like back then? The ravages of war caused by Anda Khan's invasion were still ongoing. He went from Taiyuan to Xuanfu to buy these two thousand acres of grassland and settled down in Xuanfu. He was responding to the court's call to protect the border. Although it was said to be two thousand acres of land, under the ravages of war, it was worthless garbage!

He spent money to buy land and actively reclaimed it, but in the end, the imperial court took it away without warning.
The Xuanfu government office was also wronged. The imperial court neither paid their salaries nor gave them rewards. What could they do? The soldiers rioted and demanded their pay. Who would take responsibility for this?

"Even a hero can be brought down by a penny." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in front of him and said with a complicated expression, "Back then, we sold the land, and the Wanli Reforms conducted a land survey to determine the ownership of the land. Now, if we ask for money, it will all be gone for nothing. I still think it would be better to give some silver."

After reigning for twenty-three years, Zhu Yijun discovered that many problems in the Ming Dynasty stemmed from poverty. Many government offices in Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi, and Shaanxi were doing the same thing. If they sold land and embezzled the money, Zhu Yijun could find them and make up the deficit.

But they weren't greedy; they were paid for their wartime duties.

“Your Majesty, the court has no money, and this money cannot be given.” Wang Jiaping reminded the emperor that this was not the time for leniency. In fact, the emperor knew very well that personnel and financial power were politics.

The imperial court cannot take this money, because once it is taken out, and the government has covered the losses, local governments will become even more rampant and unscrupulous in selling off official land. Since the imperial court will ultimately bail them out, the resulting corruption is definitely not a situation the emperor wants to see.

The state apparatus is ruthless; by ruthless, I mean devoid of emotion.

The emperor clearly understood the basic logic of politics, which is why he issued two edicts for reconsideration and further discussion, but without pushing forward with the decision already made by the emperor.

"Order Xuanfu to handle this properly." Zhu Yijun, seeing Wang Jiaping's insistence, finally adopted the minister's opinion. He said with some emotion, "It was not easy for me to cultivate these two thousand acres of grassland into farmland. Land reclamation is really troublesome."

Wang Jiaping didn't farm, so he didn't understand the hardships of farming. Zhu Yijun believed that the hardest job he had ever done was land reclamation. Digging up stones, tree roots, and grass roots, dredging ditches, and cultivating the land—Zhu Yijun had personally done these tasks many times, and sometimes he would even feel despair while doing so.

“Your Majesty, do not worry. Local government offices actually have ways to deal with this. These officials are testing the court,” Wang Jiaping said with a solemn expression.

On the surface, it appears that local government offices hesitated and respectfully requested imperial decree, but in reality, it was the growing pains caused by large-scale reductions in land taxes.

The main source of revenue for local government offices was land tax. Due to the celestial changes, the imperial court reduced land tax again and again. Local officials could not directly say so, so they could only let the imperial court know through this method.

"The crux of the problem lies in the land. In the case of Xuanfu, Xuanfu could have allowed Li Jiadong to continue cultivating these two thousand acres of land, and the local government could have covered the deficit itself. The officials outside the capital are actually waiting for His Majesty to ask why the local government did not cover the deficit."

“If His Majesty asks, the officials can simply say that the local area is out of money.” Wang Jiaping explained the problem very clearly.

Even if the imperial court knew the truth about this matter, it couldn't ask. Asking would be considered a crime. The imperial court had already allowed local governments to build their own official factories, which would be under the unified management of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue. However, the pain of reducing land taxes was unavoidable.

Would the Xuanfu government really dare to take over Li Jiadong's two thousand acres of land? If it incites a civil unrest, the Xuanfu government will be held accountable by the emperor. In fact, this matter is just a pretext.

Wang Jiaping was also aware that many things did not need to be said so clearly. The emperor was very experienced in governing and could understand what was going on with just a glance.

His Majesty's hesitation was simple: in the past, the country was poor and there was nothing that could be done, but now that the court is wealthy, should the debts owed in the past be repaid? The ministers' attitude was that they were unwilling and unable to repay the debts.

This isn't about money; it's about how the organization operates.

"Then let's do as the Grand Minister of Justice says." Zhu Yijun agreed with Wang Jiaping's opinion and made the final decision.

The imperial court cannot be allowed to bail out local authorities; once it is, it will be a huge wound that can never heal. If the imperial court bails out local authorities for not keeping accounts when selling off land, it will have to bail out all the mistakes made by local government offices tomorrow.

This isn't a question of whether it should or shouldn't be done, but rather a question of whether it can be done. The imperial court isn't an omnipotent god; it simply can't cover things up.

"Your Majesty is wise." Wang Jiaping then reported on the progress of the Western Merchants Alliance, which had been successfully established and the candidate for the general manager of the Western Merchants Alliance had been completely determined. Originally, Wang Jiaping felt that it would be more prudent to set up the Western Merchants Alliance in Guangzhou Prefecture, but after discussions with the Ministry of Revenue, Da Nang was ultimately chosen.

Da Nang's geographical location is similar to that of Ryukyu to the Ming Dynasty. With Ryukyu and Taiwan in ruins and the Three Hans reduced to devastation, Da Nang's importance is no less than that of Ryukyu or Kepong Island. To put it more bluntly, if Da Nang were not under the control of the Ming Dynasty, Annam would rebel.

Therefore, the establishment of the Western Merchants' Alliance Council in Da Nang was to strengthen control over Jiaozhi (Vietnam) and prevent the South Seas, this backyard, from being seized by others.

"Last year, Guangzhou issued an additional 12 million strings of cash, this year it was set at 6 million strings, Luzon added 4 million strings, and will the Western Merchants Alliance also add 2 million strings?" Zhu Yijun was facing another problem: the over-issuance of paper money.

"Go ahead and issue the currency." Zhu Yijun considered it for a while and finally agreed to issue the currency, but the issuance of currency was not without conditions. If the Western Merchant Alliance could not provide goods of equivalent value, then the amount would be reduced.

Zhu Yijun had a kind heart towards the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, but he had absolutely no pity for those overseas.

(End of this chapter)