I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1092 All talk of morality, all heart of business
Zhu Yijun went to great lengths, and in the twenty-three years of Zhenwu, new types of firearms, cannons, naval guns, field guns, and gunpowder emerged one after another. In fact, there was only one purpose in doing so: to kill people more conveniently, quickly, with fewer casualties, and at a lower cost.

In the present era, any pioneer has a need for low-cost, high-efficiency killing.

In the early years of the Wanli Reforms, Tuman Khan was attacked from both sides by the Ming Dynasty and Altan Khan. Tuman Khan had no choice but to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty accepted his surrender and settled him in the capital to enjoy his retirement. Later, he went to Korea to fight against Japanese pirates. The Ming Dynasty used the Korean Yi Sun-sin to kill King Yi Yeon of Korea.

Now that we have captured the ruler of Zheng, we no longer need to provide for him or entrust him to others; we can proceed with a fair trial directly.

Even if some people keep starting uprisings under the pretext of avenging Zheng Song, the Ming army can choose to kill them all to eliminate the opposition. This is the significance of strengthening the military. The Ming Dynasty has more and more options.

Similarly, this is also a selection process. Once all the tough guys are gone, the only thing left for this place to rely on in terms of history and survival experience is to submit to the strong.

The Western Merchant Alliance operates on the same principle. They deliberately set such a large price difference to discipline their customers. By paying enough premiums to the Ming Dynasty, they could obtain the status of a domestic dog. Of course, whether the Ming Dynasty would take care of them depended entirely on the morality of the Ming people.

It just so happens that the people of the Ming Dynasty were truly moral.

If someone truly pledges allegiance and is even willing to call him "father," then it is only natural to offer them protection.

Even though Zhu Yijun was fond of keeping things to himself, he did indeed protect Antonio and Laos.

It's no wonder that these small, foreign countries were willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty, because the story of Lao swordsmen was also circulating overseas.

The Ming Dynasty had two trade routes, one to the east and one to the west. The eastern trade route mainly involved the Western colonies, where the legend of Antonio circulated. This man had no talent to be a king, but with the strong support of the Ming Dynasty, he secured his throne and even dared to attack the nobles, and won. The western trade route, on the other hand, was associated with the legend of Laos surrendering to the Ming Dynasty.

Before Laos pledged allegiance to the Ming Dynasty, it was bullied by Annam, Burmese bandits, Brunei, and Siam. The Lao family lived on thin ice, and the slightest misstep could lead to their downfall.

When Laos submitted to the Ming Dynasty, Dao Lansheng led the Lao people to fight against the Burmese bandits and Annam with the Ming army, reaping all the benefits. The key point is that the Lao people were able to enjoy the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming court even built the first official road and post road for Laos.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty needed Laos's fine salt, which was a real need. The main purpose of building this road was for the fine salt. But for the Lao people, this road was not just a salt road, but also a lifeline, a symbol of imperial grace, and a blessing from the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yijun held a miscellaneous newspaper in his hand and read it for a long time. This miscellaneous newspaper was written by Chen Zhun, the academic director of Songjiang University. The content of the discussion was a very old topic: the Han Dynasty has produced loyal and virtuous officials in every generation.

The Han dynasty indeed produced many loyal and virtuous officials throughout its long history. In China's long history, there have been countless torches that have illuminated the path for those who came after.

However, Chen Zhun argued in his miscellaneous report that the number of loyal and virtuous people was limited, and that people of noble character and lofty ideals were always a minority. Once these people of noble character and lofty ideals were exhausted, the Ming Dynasty would perish, and the world would perish as well.

Chen Zhun talked about the late Song and early Yuan dynasties. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, the loyal and virtuous officials were exhausted. The court was destroyed and the country was destroyed. Whether it was Wen Tianxiang or Lu Xiufu, they were desperate before they died. In their view, after dying at the hands of the barbarians, the possibility of returning in a flash was extremely slim.

Their heroic sacrifice was to preserve the last vestige of dignity for the long-standing Chinese civilization, which could not die in such a shameful manner.

Wen Tianxiang was persuaded to surrender four times, and Kublai Khan even promised him the position of prime minister, but Wen Tianxiang still bravely faced death. In Wen Tianxiang's view, Chinese civilization has gone through thousands of years, and he wanted to put a period to this glorious, prosperous, and slowly declining civilization.

Then Chen Zhun mentioned the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, and he raised a very scary question: Everyone thought that every chaotic era would have a Zhu Yuanzhang who would emerge out of nowhere, but what if there were another chaotic era and no such outstanding person would emerge out of nowhere?
The sun and moon shining again after being dark is truly extraordinary. In Chen Zhun's view, the element of chance involved is too great. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang were to do it again, he himself probably wouldn't dare to guarantee success.

Experience from other places shows that when a civilization dies, it's gone forever, just like a person who dies and can't be brought back to life.

What if there was no Zhu Yuanzhang?
If you look at the history of the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, you will find that the reason for the chaos of those four hundred years was the lack of a decisive figure. It wasn't that there were no heroes or great men, but rather that they were all incompetent. However, each time something was missing, and this missing point caused a difference of three or four hundred years.

Chen Zhun did not agree with the idea that "circumstances create heroes" or that there would have been Li Yuanzhang or Chen Yuanzhang even without Zhu Yuanzhang. He argued that the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were periods of chaos that lasted for so long, so why didn't a hero emerge to end the chaos?

Rome has been gone for so many years, why hasn't Zhu Yuanzhang, the Roman emperor, returned like lightning?

Without Zhu Yuanzhang, the result would certainly have been that, just as the sun would never rise again, the earth would have been plunged into an eternal night.

How to cultivate enough virtuous and loyal people was a problem that had to be considered in the process of the Wanli Reforms. It is a self-evident fact that the Ming Dynasty was supported by its backbone, not by weak and cowardly people. These people were only good at surrendering and had no other use.

"Does he think I'm not meddling enough?" Zhu Yijun read the first half and agreed wholeheartedly. But when he read the second half, he felt that Chen Zhun was a hypocrite who had gotten the better deal.

He was exceptionally pardoned and personally rescued by the emperor, simply because he spoke up for the poor and laborers. As long as he, as a scholar-official, was willing to tell the truth for the people, this imperial favor would not be withdrawn.

In the latter half, he mentioned what he believed were the shortcomings of the imperial court.

First, the control over public opinion regarding wind power is far too lax!
Even now, two hundred years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the prevailing opinion in Jiangnan is that "one should not offer gifts or bribes." It seems that as long as one serves the court, one is a sycophant, a spineless flatterer. For example, Wan Shihe made great contributions, but because he flattered the emperor, he has a very bad reputation.

It is utterly outrageous that such a powerful public opinion, which is disloyal to the court, the Ming Dynasty, and the nation, and which opposes the court, the imperial decree, and the development of the Ming Dynasty in pursuit of only local glory, can exist so openly and legitimately.

The prosperity of Songjiang Prefecture was due to the strong support of the imperial court's policy of opening up the sea and the sustenance of the nine provinces. However, these powerful and wealthy people in Songjiang Prefecture, after only a few days of having enough to eat, began to call outsiders "homesick" and even tried every means to evade taxes!

Even Sun Kehong's son, Sun Chengzhi, was influenced by this kind of public opinion. When the court wanted to plant trees, Sun Kehong was willing to donate money, but Sun Chengzhi said that it was his own money, so why should he give it to someone thousands of miles away who he would never see again?
The imperial court did nothing, allowing this trend of public opinion to continue, and letting the corruption of money continue to spread, turning loyal and virtuous people into disloyal and wicked individuals.

Secondly, the imperial court's management of education was far too lax!
Admittedly, it is not easy to deal with scholars in peacetime, and the court seems to be intentionally tightening education. For example, Shen Shixing has carried out a major loyalty review and strict graduation requirements for universities, but the measures are not strong enough.

The reason why such public opinion exists is because private schools are extremely common in the Ming Dynasty. To this day, the Ming court has not come up with an effective system to manage these private schools, allowing the idle talkers trained by these private schools to spout nonsense.

Recently, a certain public opinion has been circulating in Songjiang Prefecture: since the emperor wants to plant trees in the northwest in accordance with the natural order, why not just abolish the Shengzhou Coal Mine, which mines coal, and the Xishan Coal Bureau, which burns coal and produces charcoal?
In this way, there would be no more coal smoke in the capital! The dilemma was resolved.

But these lowly scholars who only know how to engage in empty talk never considered what the people of the Ming Dynasty would burn or how they would live without the Shengzhou Coal Mine and the Xishan Coal Bureau. The trees have been almost all cut down. Without trees, without firewood, and without coal, what would they burn?
Destroying the Xishan Coal Bureau and Shengzhou Factory in the name of the natural order... Such insane public opinion is actually rampant in Songjiang Prefecture. These lowly scholars probably don't even know how to cook, let alone engage in labor or participate in production.

Third, the imperial court's education system had major problems, focusing too much on theory and lacking sufficient practical application.

As the head of the university, Chen Zhun sometimes wondered if the students could really use what he was teaching. Obviously, the vast majority couldn't. Without practical experience to correct their understanding, the more books they read, the more they would become worthless scholars.

To be a decent person, one must have correct thoughts. And these correct thoughts, and one's understanding of the world, can only be established through practice. Any experience or ideology divorced from practical activities cannot guide a person to live a peaceful life.

Education that lacks practical experience ultimately produces only empty talkers.

The formation of a person's values ​​is a process that involves moving from the spiritual to the material, then from the material back to the spiritual, and then from the spiritual back to the material again; each step is indispensable.

The unverified experiences that people learn from teachers, parents, relatives, and friends must be tested in practice and in the material world. In practice, people test and revise their cognition and moral principles, gradually achieving unity of knowledge and action. Then, based on the revised experience, they can guide their production and life.

Life is a journey of self-cultivation, a process in which a person's spirituality is formed.

Without practical experience, it's all just theory to theory, which is nothing but empty speculation, useless and extremely harmful.

For example, Chen Zhun talked about a very specific issue: the extreme liberals in Songjiang Prefecture. These extreme liberals, were they pursuing freedom? They were pursuing freedom in the sense that no one, nothing, or rule could restrict or constrain them, and that they could do whatever they wanted.

That's not liberalism, that's wanting to be God!
The fact that the imperial court still allows these nonsensical extreme liberals to exist is simply unbelievable!

As society becomes increasingly complex, if this leniency continues, the Ming Dynasty will sooner or later follow the same path as the Yuan Dynasty, which perished due to its leniency.

Zhang Hong said uncertainly, "What he meant was that the imperial court's control was not broad enough. In the past, it was truly powerless, but now the imperial court is indeed not strict enough. For example, he mentioned private schools. The imperial court has indeed not formulated detailed systems to manage and regulate these private schools."

"What you say makes sense. I just planted a tree, and these lowly scholars actually want me to close down the Shengzhou Coal Mine and the Xishan Coal Bureau. The imperial court supplies coal at six coins per pound, but if they were to supply coal, it would probably cost three hundred coins per pound."

"All they talk about are moral principles, but all they care about is business." Zhu Yijun actually thought Chen Zhun's words made a lot of sense.

Sometimes, we cannot let public opinion run rampant. According to Wan Shihe's theory of the echo chamber, allowing these opinions to sway us will create a distorted social consensus, which is not the result the Wanli Reforms wanted.

Zhu Yijun planned to have the Ministry of Rites discuss the matter before making a decision.

In fact, it wasn't just Chen Zhun who noticed this problem; the Ministry of Rites has also recently taken notice of the increasingly distorted public opinion landscape in Songjiang Prefecture, which has been corrupted by money.

The Ministry of Rites was also hesitant about whether to intervene.

It wasn't that the Ministry of Rites was afraid of being scolded; Gao Qiyu was the one who wasn't afraid of being scolded. He was even willing to give up his advancement for a little bit of fame.

The reason for the Ministry of Rites' hesitation was that its overly strict control over public opinion reduced social vitality and the emergence of different voices, making it easy to be swayed by one side and ultimately lead them further and further down the wrong path.

For example, if the court tightened its control over public opinion, it would be impossible for miscellaneous reports like Chen Zhun's, which were almost critical of the court, to appear openly before the emperor.

Suppressing channels of communication will prevent the voices of the people from reaching the higher levels. Since it is already difficult for the voices of the people to reach the higher levels, strict management will likely only result in praise and flattery.

As a foreigner, Li Yashi said: The best way to deal with China is to let all decision-makers immerse themselves in a world of praise and glory. When arrogance begins to grow, that is the beginning of decline.

But China follows a path of transcending cycles. He believes that China experiences rise and fall, but not life and death, existing eternally as a natural phenomenon.

Clearly, Chen Zhun's essay "The Han Dynasty Has Loyal and Virtuous Officials in Every Generation" negates Li Yashi's claim that natural phenomena are eternal, and instead emphasizes the need to do everything in one's power to prevent the decline of civilization.

What are these eternally existing natural phenomena? They are all supported by individual pillars! They are not some great forces of heaven and earth, but a true reflection of human ability to overcome nature.

This news report sparked widespread discussion, with almost all the scribes criticizing Chen Zhun for spouting nonsense and uttering rubbish! It was like a butcher preparing a knife for the butcher to slaughter a pig – utterly absurd! Finally, the Ministry of Rites' decision surprised everyone. Instead of tightening control over public opinion, the Ministry announced a set of management regulations for private schools, raising the entry requirements and imposing standardized assessments on existing schools, adhering to the fundamental rule that no school could operate if it failed at any of the above criteria.

Overall, the Ministry of Rites ultimately provided a relatively lenient public opinion environment, without overly tightening restrictions or characterizing extreme liberals as evil forces.

No matter how you look at it, the extreme liberals are still a school of thought, not a religious sect. For the imperial court to even threaten and kill schools of thought is truly a case of oppressive rule being more ferocious than a tiger.

The Ming Dynasty is undergoing a period of reform and innovation, a period of great intellectual debate second only to the Hundred Schools of Thought in history, somewhat similar to the Renaissance currently underway in the West, a comprehensive revival of Roman art, culture, and political thought, while the Roman Catholic Church is doing its utmost to suppress the emergence of these new ideas.

The Ming Dynasty's excessive control over public opinion ultimately resulted in the court becoming a villain like the Roman Catholic Church.

The imperial court is not the papacy, the imperial court has never been a servant of God, and the imperial court has never been an enemy of the Ming people. Rather, it is the sacred instrument that maintains the order of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yijun summoned Shen Li and asked him for his reasons for making this decision. Logically speaking, given the current situation, the Ministry of Rites should have taken some action, but the result from the Ministry of Rites was somewhat unexpected.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. After much deliberation and hesitation, I have made this decision. If Your Majesty is not pleased, please dismiss me and let Gao Qiyu enter the cabinet. He may be more favored by Your Majesty." Shen Li said with a troubled expression, knowing that his decision would displease His Majesty.

Gao Qiyu put a lot of pressure on Shen Li.

Shen Li was a conservative, and his basic political views tended to be conservative, while Gao Qiyu was a reformer, and he also had the merits of being sent as an envoy to the West and Japan, establishing the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance, and promoting the Dinghai Education System.

These four merits, even just one of them, would be enough to get him into the cabinet, but with four such merits, he only has one position as a member of the Western Study.

Zhu Yijun just smiled when he saw Shen Li. Most superiors would either suppress a subordinate who had made great contributions or use their power to take credit for it. But Shen Li was different. He felt that he was not capable enough and repeatedly expressed his willingness to step down. He even recommended Gao Qiyu to join the cabinet.

Throughout history, power struggles have been the most bloody and brutal. Looking at China's long history, there are virtually no examples of people voluntarily relinquishing their positions; it's almost impossible to find a single one.

This is what a true and upright official looks like. As long as Shen Li remains a true and upright official, Zhu Yijun will keep him standing here.

"Why did the Grand Minister of Rites make this decision?" Zhu Yijun asked for the reasons.

“Because our Great Ming Dynasty is really special.” Shen Li said very sincerely, “I have been an official for more than 30 years. To put it bluntly, an official is just two mouths, one above and one below. If the court does one thing, the local officials below will dare to do ten. Gu Xiancheng wanted to set up Donglin Academy, but as soon as the sign was put up, the prefect of Suzhou took it down.”

"Ming officials always chose to prioritize the task over maintaining order, and they did so with increasing intensity."

"Once this precedent is set, the world will be in turmoil."

Zhu Yijun pondered this carefully and nodded, saying, "The intensity of the struggle is not determined by the will of the court."

If you look closely at Shen Li's speech, you will find that he is based on the fundamental fact that the scope, intensity and scale of the struggle are not controlled by the will of the imperial court, a fact that has been repeatedly stated countless times in the history of the struggle. In other words, Shen Li is talking about "double".

"Double" means that if you oppose a government decree, you can implement it twice as much. If doubling the amount cannot guarantee that the decree will not cause widespread opposition and resistance, then you can do it tenfold!
For example, if you want to oppose the imperial tax bureau, you should not only not disobey, but also cooperate fully and double down on its implementation. However, the emperor had no good way to deal with the doubled tax bureau. There was only one word: kill. If anyone dared to oppose it, Zhu Yijun would dare to kill them.

Shen Li's attitude was very clear: once this door was opened, local officials would show His Majesty the Emperor what it meant to have power in a small, capricious way. To put it more clearly, the correction of public opinion would ultimately lead to a large-scale literary inquisition.

“Your Majesty is wise. There is another reason: this action is a veiled attack on the heart,” Shen Li continued, explaining his reasoning.

"To punish the mind" in the parlance of the literati did not mean causing great psychological harm to someone, but rather to conjecture someone's ulterior motives based on their words without any actual evidence, and then to punish them.

As mentioned in the book on struggle, when the intensity of struggle escalates uncontrollably, it often leads to mutual labeling.

For example, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the conflict between the reformists and conservatives, represented by Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, escalated to the point of partisan persecution, with each side labeling the other and completely neglecting state affairs. This is what Shen Li referred to as the "axe that destroys the heart."

This idiom is a lesson that has been proven countless times in the long archives of history. It can explain things clearly in just four characters.

Discussing deeds, one does not care about one’s heart, and no one is perfect when considering one’s heart.

If we engage in baseless accusations and condemnations based on intentions rather than facts, it will lead to rampant false accusations and mutual labeling.

"Since the Grand Minister of Rites has persuaded me, let's proceed according to his suggestion." Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and then approved Shen Li's decision, even though he didn't quite agree with it, because Shen Li's reasons were very valid.

Allowing people to speak won't cause the sky to fall, but Zhu Yijun really disliked the public opinion environment in Songjiang Prefecture. However, as long as it didn't escalate to the point of glorifying the Japanese pirates, he could wait a little longer.

“Your Majesty, everyone has a scale in their heart. Whether someone is saying something foolish or doing something foolish, anyone who has been through the ups and downs of this mortal world will be able to judge for themselves. Even the extreme liberals are being abandoned by the people.” Shen Li mentioned the last reason.

He felt that excessive intervention could easily turn the Wanli Emperor's Great Debate into a competition of who could write the best edicts, who could flatter the emperor the best, and who could sing the best hymns.

This is very dangerous.

After the twenty-first year of the Jiajing reign, Taoist priests devoted themselves to incense burning and the prayers they used to pray to Heaven became very important. Gradually, the Ming court became a place where whoever wrote the best prayers could enter the cabinet, and people jokingly called them "prayer prime ministers."

Human cognition is a process of continuous correction through practice, and the existence of these public opinions can actually help people form true cognition. Of course, this is not without cost; the public opinions that His Majesty detests will still exist.

Everything in the world is a contradictory yet unified whole; there are gains and losses, and there is no such thing as having everything.

After Shen Li left Yanqing Palace, the Ministry of Rites did not make any changes. It was obvious that Shen Li had actually persuaded His Majesty, which made almost all the scribes overjoyed.

Given the tense situation, it is truly remarkable that the imperial court has maintained its composure.

This means that the emperor was not corrupted by power and did not act solely based on his own likes and dislikes. This is a great blessing for the Ming Dynasty.

Look at Felipe, who does whatever he wants in Spain. The once glorious Spanish nation is almost ruined by his willfulness.

Of course, this blessing is not something to be taken for granted or expected. It is because His Majesty is a wise and virtuous ruler and Shen Li is an upright and outspoken minister that there is a relatively tolerant public opinion environment.

This, on the contrary, proves Chen Zhun's point that the Ming Dynasty's rule and stability were supported by its backbone.

Your Majesty is a wise and virtuous ruler, which has been proven in many ways and is becoming a fact. If Your Majesty makes a decision on important matters that you have already decided on, you will gain more support. Although I do not know why Your Majesty wants to do this, let's try it first.

The correctness of His Majesty, like the methods of Zhang Juzheng, is tending to be sanctified.

In mid-April, Zhu Yijun issued an imperial edict and went to the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office. The staff of the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office were flattered and worked through the night to clean the toilets countless times. Although it was highly unlikely that His Majesty would see it, this was the standard for welcoming the inspection.

On April 23, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, accompanied by Zhang Juzheng, the Grand Tutor and Imperial Preceptor, visited the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office to learn about its specific operations, inquire about seven cases, and bestow honors upon the officials of the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office in recognition of its outstanding contributions to balancing labor-management conflicts over the past year.

Since its establishment, the Salary Arbitration Office has handled 8306 labor disputes of all sizes, of which more than 7000 were won by poor laborers, recovering more than one million taels of unpaid wages for the workers.

The largest of these cases involved more than 2,300 artisans and cost over 230,000 taels of silver.

The remaining thousand or so cases reflect the difficulties of dealing with the grassroots. These thousand or so cases are truly cases of grievances against powerful officials. Sometimes, the term "troublemakers" is not an insult, but rather a way of saying that there are bad people among the masses.

Zhu Yijun also met with four lawyers at the Salary and Wage Arbitration Office. These four lawyers all came from wealthy and powerful families. They represented poor laborers in labor dispute cases free of charge and wrote legal documents for them free of charge. They had been working on this for more than two years. The purpose of these four lawyers was very clear: to gain fame.

Prestige is the best talisman and life-saving shield for noble families. The four lawyers were overwhelmed with gratitude to be summoned. They had ulterior motives and were driven by self-interest. It was astonishing that such purposeful behavior would still earn them an audience with His Majesty, and even receive His Majesty's affirmation, praise, and reward.

Zhu Yijun was not afraid of powerful families having ulterior motives; what he feared was that they would not treat the poor and laborers as human beings, causing chaos and disorder throughout the country, leading to the Ming Dynasty gradually losing order and missing the crucial opportunity of opening up the seas.

If you want fame, then give them fame.

Three days later, all the officials of the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office were promoted. The official rank of the head of the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office was raised from the seventh rank to the fifth rank, which is equivalent to the Assistant Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture. The next step would be the Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture.

This mass promotion brought unexpected joy to everyone at the Salary and Wage Adjustment Bureau! They actually got promoted just for His Majesty's visit?!
This decision was made by the emperor after consulting with Zhang Juzheng upon arriving at the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office. However, Zhu Yijun did not make a promise at the time. Instead, he returned to Yanqing Palace and held a special court meeting. After thorough discussion, the matter of promoting the Salary and Wage Adjustment Office was approved by the court meeting.

The power of a seventh-rank official is still too limited. In this land of outstanding people and talents, where powerful figures control too many social resources, that is, power, the power of a seventh-rank official in the Salary and Credit Bureau is somewhat insufficient. Some powerful figures also do not respect the Salary and Credit Bureau.

This is an improvement to the salary and wage adjustment system based on practical experience.

Following this court meeting, the Salary Reduction Office will expand from Songjiang Prefecture as a pilot project to the five Maritime Trade Offices and other prefectures in Jiangnan. If the pilot project is successful again, it will be expanded from the wealthy areas of Jiangnan to the entire Ming Dynasty.

"This Wang Qian is indeed a capable man." Zhu Yijun held a memorial and clicked his tongue in amazement. Wang Qian had also established a wage adjustment office in Luzon and achieved great success. Unlike the wage adjustment offices established in the heart of the Ming Dynasty to resolve labor disputes, Wang Qian established the Luzon wage adjustment office for the purpose of governing the country.

Foreigners who do not understand Chinese language and script are unable to file lawsuits at the tax office; all of this is to promote the process of the kingship of Luzon.

“Your Majesty, Governor Wang’s bloodlust has become excessive. The Minister of Justice has reported that Governor Wang has been involved in twelve major cases in the past year, all of which are related to foreigners.” Zhang Hong was actually being very polite. In fact, the court officials all said that with the recent death of the murderous Ling Yunyi, the Ming Dynasty had produced another great killer.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "Shouldn't we kill him? What else can we do?"

(End of this chapter)