I'm really not doing business

Chapter 678: Arrested and charged with treason
Zhu Yunwen, like Zhu Yijun, was ignorant of military affairs. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty once asked Qi Jiguang why Prince of Yan won the Jingnan Campaign. After being questioned many times, Qi Jiguang told His Majesty that Prince of Yan was indeed a good fighter, but it was mainly because of Zhu Yunwen's good cooperation that this result was ultimately achieved. In fact, it was impossible for the princes' rebellion to succeed.

In fact, as the emperor of a unified empire, Zhu Yunwen could not lose no matter what. Even if Prince of Yan had crossed the river and was at the gates of the city, it would be useless because the army to support the king was rushing to the capital. Relying on Zhu Yuanzhang's hard work and the city walls of Nanjing, Zhu Yunwen could not lose even if he was a pig.

The biggest reason for Zhu Yunwen's defeat was his lack of knowledge of military affairs.

On the ninth day of June, at the suggestion of Fang Xiaoru, Zhu Yunwen began to clear the countryside, believing that as long as the area around the capital was emptied, the Yan army, without supplies, would naturally retreat.

This idea seemed to be fine, even Zhu Yijun thought it was fine, as if this was what they would do in any siege. Zhu Di's army heading south numbered only 80,000 at most, and 80,000 was far from enough to destroy the city walls, while Zhu Yunwen still had 200,000 soldiers defending the city.

If Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu were really sure of victory, they would not have agreed to let Princess Qingyang leave the city for peace talks.

Qi Jiguang told His Majesty that this was not the case. The more defeats they suffered and the more panic people were in, the more they could not defend the country, because people's minds were restless and their morale was unstable. Once they started to defend the country, the soldiers who were already trapped in a desperate situation would become more panic-stricken, and would be tempted to take all the properties for themselves.

The massacres and killings of cities often began with the soldiers being allowed to plunder.

When soldiers start to rob under military orders, they will inevitably fall into a vicious circle of comparison. In the beginning, they just threaten with knives, and gradually they put knives to the necks of civilians to force them to hand over their property. The means will only become more and more violent, and there is no possibility of restraint, because if you are not ruthless, the more ruthless people will definitely rob more than you.

It only takes ten days for them to go from threatening with knives to burning, killing and looting. Even the most elite soldiers will turn into thugs who are crazy about robbery. They will burn and kill everything, and even kill each other, because the thugs who have been looting for a few days are extremely wealthy people in the city.

Disorderly killing will completely destroy the organization. Soldiers will not obey any military orders and will act entirely on the instinct of greed.

Confucian scholars like Fang Xiaoru knew nothing about military affairs. In their opinion, the enemy could be repelled only by building strong defenses and clearing the fields. However, the generals defending the city knew very well that when violence got out of control, they would be in danger. Even the military governors in the middle and late Tang Dynasty were killed.

And most importantly, the morale was completely gone. Everyone went to rob. Who would have the heart to defend the city? The Yan army was very good at fighting. From north to south, many battles proved the strength of the Yan army. The morale was completely broken. What was the point of defending the city!

Zhu Yuanzhang would never have expected that the defense of Yingtian Capital, which he had carefully built, would be breached just four years after his death.

These Confucian scholars keep saying that the strength of mountains and rivers lies in virtue rather than in danger. Don’t just talk, try doing it!

In this situation, the generals had no choice but to open the city gates to welcome the King of Yan. This became the only solution. If the King of Yan surrendered, he might still survive. If the soldiers in the city were allowed to plunder, they would be able to seize the Da Gong Fang, where military honors were concentrated, in a few days. Otherwise, Nanjing, which was unguarded, would be broken by the Yan army.

Perhaps when Zhu Yunwen lit a fire and burned himself to death, he still couldn't understand why the generals who had shouted at the Prince of Yan to fight and kill him a few days ago suddenly turned against him in the middle of the battle and directly opened the Jinchuan Gate to welcome the Prince of Yan, who had been fighting for four years, into the city.

An opposite example is when Yu Qian, Shao Bao, went out of the city to meet the enemy during the Battle of Beijing.

They were all fighting to defend the capital, and the enemies were all coming from the north.

After Ming Baozong became a student studying in Oirat, Yesen attacked the capital city in October. Yu Qian's response was not to attack the city walls, but to organize a counterattack in the houses outside the city. He did not indulge the defeated and demoralized soldiers to defend the city walls and clear the fields, but cut down all the trees used for siege, and fought in the houses outside the city, cutting off the source of the trouble and fighting a desperate battle.

Even though the emperor was captured, the Ming Dynasty won the Battle to Defend Beijing and even got the emperor back.

Before the 14th year of Zhengtong, there were only two major battles in history in which emperors were captured. One was between Emperor Huaidi and Emperor Min of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the other was between Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. Neither of them defeated the other to defend the capital, and the final result of both of them was half of the country. Neither of them chopped off the heads of the bandit chieftains and turned them into rewards. But Yesen's head was eventually chopped off by Alachiyuan and sent to the Ming Dynasty in exchange for a reward.

Qi Jiguang told the emperor that even on the ninth day of the sixth lunar month in the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen would not have lost the kingdom left to him by Zhu Yuanzhang. It was not until he listened to the advice of the humble scholar and issued an order to fortify the city and clear the countryside when he was defeated in successive battles, people were restless and morale was low that he lost so completely.

On the yi-mao day of the sixth month of the fourth year of the Jianwen reign, the Yan army crossed the river from Guazhou and arrived at Longtan on the genshen day. The emperor ordered the fields to be cleared, and many people burned their own houses.

Yesen captured the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and held him in his hands for whatever he wanted, even asking Oirat students to play music and imitating the dance of Jie Li Khan to humiliate him. But in the end, Yesen returned the emperor to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Qizhen was stupid, but the Ming Dynasty was strong.

If the Oirat students were really killed, who knows what the crazy Ming Dynasty would do.

The first time Hai Rui came to Xia Shu Town, he was the governor of Yingtian. At that time, he thought it was just an ordinary post station and was unfamiliar with what had happened that year. But when His Majesty questioned Qi Jiguang in court, Hai Rui fully understood what had happened in Xia Shu Town, which determined the fate of the empire.

And today, when Hai Rui went to Xiashu Town again, he was quite emotional. Li Le asked him why he had no confidence in doing things. Hai Rui told him to ask himself whether he was worthy of the people. As long as he was worthy of the people, he would have confidence. If he was not confident, His Majesty would give him the strongest support.

This is the Wanli court.

"General Hai, why don't you take action against Wang Ci Fu? Wang Ci Fu has flaws all over his body. If you can find a way to defeat him, it won't be difficult." Li Le was puzzled. Why didn't Hai Rui take action against Wang Chonggu? If someone said Hai Rui was afraid of authority, I would jump out of my coffin and be the first to disagree. Hai Rui was afraid of authority? He cursed the Emperor Jiajing, Jiajing, and every family was clean!
"Because Wang Ci Fu is capable and virtuous." Hai Rui thought for a moment and answered the question. He smiled and said, "The tasks he performs cannot be done by others. Without Wang the Butcher, if Your Majesty does not want to eat hairy pigs, you will probably have to do it yourself."

Apart from the slight lack of military talent, Hai Rui was very satisfied with His Majesty. He could give twelve points out of ten. He was so satisfied that he couldn't be more satisfied. The extra two points were for sympathy. He made the emperor like a donkey in a mill. There was no one else like him except Emperor Taizu Gao.

Military talent is a rare thing that most people in the world don't have, so there's no need to worry too much about it.

"Let me tell you something that some people don't know. Wang Ci Fu actually doesn't understand civil engineering." Hai Rui shared a little secret that only the officials in the court knew.

"Ah?" Li Le was stunned. It would be fine if others didn't understand, but Wang Chonggu actually didn't understand?
Wang Cifu couldn't understand the civil engineering drawings? Wang Chonggu had been doing civil engineering for so many years, including the Great Wall Dingjian, the woolen officialdom, the central axis of the imperial palace, the pagoda, the Ten Kings City, the Five Dragons Road, the Royal Institute of Technology, the Zhengya Bell and Drum Tower, etc. How could he have done it if he didn't understand civil engineering?

It is really a strange thing that the leader of the Labour Party does not understand the blueprints.

"Yes, he doesn't understand, but he listens to the Five Classics doctors and the master craftsmen. If they say something can't be done, Wang Ci Fu will do it. In the past, when the national treasury was empty and the imperial palace was under construction, His Majesty inspected and asked Wang Ci Fu to backfill the land with construction waste. It would be buried underground anyway, saving the cost of earth, stone and wood, but Wang Ci Fu refused." Hai Rui said with emotion, "Only if you don't understand can you do a good job."

"So, if we defeat Wang Ci Fu, who will do these things?"

"I have lived to this age and have come to terms with it. I am honest myself, but I cannot demand the same honesty from others. It is enough to be able to do the job. If you are greedy, you can be a little greedy, as long as you can get things done."

Until now, the emperor felt sorry for Liu Hanru and Fan Yingqi. Liu Hanru was able to run the Sanduao private market so well, and was obviously an honest official, but unfortunately he went astray. Fan Yingqi took opium because of a toothache. Originally a very capable and honest official, he had to stay in the dismemberment hospital for the rest of his life.

Hai Rui took a deep breath and said, "There are not so many good horses in the world, waiting for a good horse trainer. It is already extremely difficult to find someone who can be used."

Hai Rui has changed. He watched a corrupt official in the court being entrusted with an important task, but did not impeach him. He thought it didn't matter if he was a little corrupt, and just regarded it as a lubrication. This is the case in a society based on human relationships. Hai Rui didn't think that any system could avoid the problem of corruption. The reason why he refused to let Chen Wuyin go even when his old superior came to plead for mercy was actually because there was a fundamental logic behind it. That was the general tacit understanding among the bureaucrats in the Southern Courtyard, which led to the actual loss of control of the Southern Courtyard.

There was a secret memorial system in the Ming Dynasty. This was a means specially given to the emperor by Wang Chonggu to exercise imperial power. Under this system, some officials could report directly to the emperor. There was no need to argue whether the news was true or false. They could just tell His Majesty all kinds of news based on what they heard.

However, the bureaucrats in the Southern Court generally had a tacit understanding and built an information cocoon, in which everyone lied to the emperor and his eyes and ears.

It is the norm in the feudal monarchy that the emperor was deceived. It has always been extremely difficult to convey the opinions of the people from below to the emperor. But the Southern Yamen has become so united. Is this still the Southern Yamen of the Ming Dynasty?
This was the fundamental reason why Hai Rui had to hold on to this matter. He had to use this incident to push for the splitting of the Southern Court. The situation of disunity between the Southern and Northern Courts could not continue like this.

One Ming Dynasty, two imperial courts, how can this be possible?
This was Hai Rui's unfinished business. He felt this centrifugal force when he first came to Yingtian Prefecture. As the Wanli Reform continued to deepen, this centrifugal force continued to grow.

Hai Rui stayed in Xia Shu Town without going anywhere and began to handle Chen Wuyin's case. He wanted to see how these despicable scholars broke his magic sword. If he had done it himself, he would probably be dead by now. Unfortunately, the imperial guards around him were all former high-ranking officials or coastal defense inspectors, and were good at gathering intelligence. Nothing could be hidden from their eyes.

The imperial guards, all equipped with iron armor, protected Hai Rui perfectly. Not only assassins and killers, but even a mosquito could not fly in.

With the cooperation of Li Le, the governor of Yingtian, Hai Rui investigated the case very quickly. It took only six days for Hai Rui to find out the facts of Chen Wuyin's crime. The corruption of Chen Wuyin by taking advantage of the coal mine to embezzle huge amounts of money was a small matter, while the big matter was the attachment of the official title.

Even if the military households and artisan households of the Ming Dynasty wanted their children to go to school, because the Confucian schools in the garrisons had been abolished as early as the Zhengtong period, the children of military households and artisan households had to be registered as such in order to go to school. Taking Xuzhou as an example, they had to purchase property in various counties of Xuzhou before they could be registered as such.

This is a custom in itself. The purchase of property can be registered as a household registration, and it is also a common phenomenon after the abolition of Confucian schools in Weisu.

However, Chen Wuyin actually refused to allow military households to register as residents, and this practice was long-standing. Since the Hongzhi period, it had become a common tacit understanding in the Southern Court. Military households could only flee to Huguang, Henan and other places, buy property in these places and register as residents, so that their children could go to school.

If people like Zhang Juzheng and Shen Li were born in the Southern Court, they would not even have the opportunity to go to school. Fortunately, one of them was born in Huguang and the other was born in Henan, otherwise they would have been stuck at the first hurdle of admission.

Shen Li was also a military household. His ancestor, Shen Daoxing, was a soldier under Zhang Shicheng and served under Pan Yuanming. Pan Yuanming was a fellow villager of Zhang Shicheng and a salt smuggler with him. Later, he surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang. The reason for his surrender was clearly recorded, which was to protect the people from the pain of being killed by the enemy.

In the fourth year of Hongwu, Shen Li's ancestors were arranged to establish a garrison in Yucheng, Guide Prefecture, Henan Province, and Shen Li's family moved to Henan from then on.

Later, Shen Li's ancestor Shen Ming died in Gaocheng, Zhending Prefecture, during the Jingnan Campaign. Shen Ming had only one son named Shen Xiang. This time, the old Shen family, who had always chosen the wrong side, finally chose the right one. Shen Xiang followed Zhu Di in three northern expeditions and returned with merit. He was given a hereditary thousand households. However, with the beginning of the Xingwen and Minwu campaigns, this hereditary thousand households could only keep from starving to death.

Like Zhang Juzheng, Shen Li came from a military family.

The beggar emperor is dead, but the emperor's beggar is still guarding the Ming Dynasty.

The general practice of the Southern Yamen was not to prohibit the registration of military households, but to have requirements for the properties purchased. For example, in Xuzhou, properties must be purchased in the Xuzhou Prefecture, and properties purchased in prefectures and counties were not allowed to be registered. However, most military households were from poor families, and the prefectural city was really unaffordable for them.

Of course, you can also choose to give Chen Wuyin a large sum of money to obtain citizenship and eventually give your children a place to go to school.

The road is not completely blocked, it depends on how much filial piety you have. This is the current Nan Ya, a country within a country.

As a result, the proportion of juren and jinshi who came from military households in Nan Ya was much lower than that in other places. This was a way to control the origins of local officials and then monopolize power. The tacit understanding of Nan Ya started from the source of power, the imperial examination.

Chen Wuyin has been doing this beheading business for four years. Li Le interrogated Chen Wuyin, but Chen Wuyin didn't think he was wrong at all. The whole Southern Court was doing this, and he was not the only one. Why did they single him out for punishment? Your emperor is really capable. Find all the termites. Don't pick on the weak and bully Chen Wuyin just because he is easy to bully.

"It's such a trivial matter, but they can turn it into a profitable business! It's really hateful! Hateful!" Hai Rui was halfway through writing the memorial when he became a little angry. He stood up and walked around several times before he calmed down and continued writing the memorial.

Hai Rui wrote a preliminary summary report of all the circumstances he had investigated and submitted it to the emperor.

The emperor's edict was soon transmitted back to Xiashu Town: Catch them all in one fell swoop, and show no leniency. All officials at all levels who commit such acts, no matter how big or small, will be brought to justice and charged with treason.

kill!

This was the instruction the emperor gave to Hai Rui. Originally, Chen Wuyin was only charged with corruption, but now there was an additional charge of making it difficult for military households to register as permanent residents, which aroused the emperor's wrath.

The Xuzhou coal mine corruption, in a big way, is a violation of the new policy. In a small way, it is just an ordinary corruption case. At most, the official position and honors will be stripped and the person will be sent home.

But with something like this, it's not as simple as just going home.

The crime of treason was not just a accusation made by Zhu Yijun. The actions of Chen Wuyin and other lowly scholars were essentially hollowing out the foundation of the empire's rule and undermining the emperor's new policies. If the emperor didn't kill them, who would take the emperor's bean buns as dry food?!
In fact, the situation is not so bad at all, because Chen Wuyin’s sales of attached citizenship have become less and less in recent years. It’s not that Chen Wuyin doesn’t want to make money, but that he can’t make it.

The Nan Ya Navy had 100,000 soldiers, and during its multiple expansions, it built a school. As long as you served in the Nan Ya Navy, you could obtain naval status and attend the Songjiang Naval Academy. Even if you failed the exam, you could still take the entrance exam for the Jiangwu Academy and seek to become a military jinshi or military juren.

Songjiang Naval Academy is different from the third-level academy for craftsmen. Passing the entrance examination to the Military Academy from the Naval Academy is a promotion path, and one can directly become a general, which is a grassroots officer.

Therefore, all the armies in the Southern Court, including the military households in Fengyang, were trying every means to recruit navy. Over the years, the harm caused by this kind of dependent household has been gradually eliminated by the navy established by the emperor.

Hai Rui reported the changes in the Southern Court in detail in his memorial, but the emperor still issued an imperial decree to kill people, which was related to the emperor's consistent position.

The Ming Dynasty's emphasis on culture over military power was too serious. Since the reign of Emperor Yongle, it has been harming the Ming Dynasty for 160 years. If it does not correct the wrongs, there will be nothing left to correct. The soldiers in the military garrisons will vote for Li Zicheng and tell the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty that he will not bully people like this.

Just because they can no longer cause any adverse impact doesn't mean Zhu Yijun should let these beasts go. Why should he let them go? Are the grievances of the past no longer grievances?
Do we have to wait until the 9th Battalion of Zhejiang enters the city to wipe out the bandits before we take any action?

In the eyes of bureaucrats at all levels in the Southern Court, the emperor was somewhat unreasonable. After all the talk, it was still a small matter of corruption, but the emperor started to call for war and killing, which chilled the hearts of all officials. Who would serve you, the emperor? The emperor's decision lacked some humanistic care. They were all the ruling class, so why did he kill them all?
This kind of doubt began to erupt as the imperial edict arrived in Xiashu Town, but soon, this kind of public opinion in the Southern Ya began to disappear, as if it had never happened, because the navy soldiers of Songjiang Town, a total of 20,000 navy soldiers arrived in Yingtian Prefecture and began to take over the defense.

Xu Bangrui, who was highly expected to guard Nanjing and concurrently lead the rear government, chose to directly hand over the defense.

The entire Yingtian Prefecture was taken over by the Songjiang Town Navy, and the streets were filled with soldiers in neat uniforms. All of a sudden, these lowly scholars shut up immediately. Apart from cursing Xu Bangrui for kneeling too quickly and these soldiers affecting the brothel business along the Qinhuai River, they dared not say anything more.

The incident of the nine Zhejiang battalions entering the city to wipe out the bandits was a lesson learned before, and it really made the navy soldiers anxious. Who could resist it if they were to learn from them in a similar way?

The Mansion of Duke of Wei refers to Xu Da's Duke of Wei. Xu Da knew Zhu Yuanzhang when they were wearing open-crotch pants. Xu Da was also Zhu Di's father-in-law and Ming Renzong's maternal grandfather. He was a true royal relative who shared the same fate with the country. So, when Chen Lin, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Navy, took the emperor's transfer order and imperial edict to take over the city defense, Xu Bangrui did not hesitate at all and handed over the position.

As long as there is no rebellion, no matter how violent the political turmoil is, it cannot blow into the door of Duke Wei's Mansion. Xu Bangrui will not get involved in such trivial matters.

Chen Lin took over the city defense without any hindrance. This was the direct reason why the lowly scholars in the Southern Court kept their mouths shut. What was more interesting was that the girls in the brothel had been prepared to face the humiliation of these soldiers. After all, when they arrived in the Stone City of Yingtian Prefecture, they had to visit the soldiers along the Qinhuai River. Not only had the girls seen them, but even the gentlemen had never seen them before.

As for whether or not there is money, it is good enough to be able to keep one's life. What they fear the most are those smart-looking women, who are afraid that they will be noticed by some military officer and taken to the military town to be camp prostitutes, which is really hard.

Camp prostitutes have been common since ancient times. Even on the front lines of war, they were as common as the army post stations and merchants. After traveling such a long distance, they did not earn as much money as they could in a brothel, and their lives were in danger at any time. No brothel girl was willing to be a camp prostitute.

But the girls in the brothel waited and waited, but no soldiers ever came, let alone any jealousy.

There were no camp prostitutes in the Ming Dynasty’s capital garrison and navy.

After the Ming navy entered the city, they began to clean the capital. The most important task they did was to clear all kinds of garbage out of the city. In the eyes of the Ming navy soldiers, Yingtian Prefecture was really too dirty!
We wouldn't say that Songjiang Prefecture is spotlessly clean, but there are definitely no mountains of garbage piled up in the corners, emitting a foul odor.

The garbage pile at Jinchuan Gate was higher than the city wall. In some places, one could even walk on the garbage mountain to enter the city. The sewage in the city was all piled up in the open air in "dung fields" and "dung yards" by the dung tyrants. The ditches used for drainage in the city were all blocked by garbage. At dusk and during curfew, everyone threw garbage on the streets and no one even cleaned it up.

The situation was the same in the outer city, and also in places like Da Gong Fang where the nobles lived. The tallest one was two or three meters high. This was what Chen Lin saw after he brought the navy to Yingtian Prefecture. Chen Lin immediately organized the military and civilians to start cleaning up the streets and ditches, and even moved all the dung tyrants outside the city, so that they could breathe smoothly.

“Yingtian Prefecture, the capital, is so smelly, I don’t know how you all survive here! Let’s not even count the outer city. The eighteen wards in the inner city, each of the powerful and wealthy people have to pay for garbage removal, one hundred silver coins per ward, I don’t want this money, I’ll give it to the soldiers and civilians who do the garbage removal.” Chen Lin sat in the Yingtian Prefecture government office, sitting on the seat of honor, and angrily criticized the Yingtian Prefecture bureaucrats.

It's really dirty.

In fact, no one in Yingtian Prefecture, from the powerful and wealthy to the poor and laborers, could stand the garbage. When Chen Lin posted a notice to mobilize the people to clean up together, within just one day, more than 70,000 people participated in cleaning up the garbage. Together with 10,000 navy soldiers, the entire Yingtian Prefecture was restored to cleanliness within three days.

The reason why we have to collect money specifically from the Eighteen Wards in the Inner City is that there are the least number of people participating in the cleanup in the Inner City, almost no one, so we have to collect money. If you don't work hard, you have to pay. There is no free lunch in the world.

"His Majesty will be here in a few days. If you welcome him like this, we'll see how many heads you'll have left! The navy patrols Tianjin every October. No matter whether your Majesty goes or not, or whether you get on the ship or not, the house will be cleaned inside and out!" Chen Lin slammed the table very loudly.

Housekeeping is combat effectiveness. The army's strict requirements on housekeeping are actually to cultivate obedience. This kind of obedience on the battlefield means obeying orders and doing things as if they were the arm, which is the best way to kill the enemy most effectively.

Chen Lin had always been in a hurry when he visited the Southern Yamen before. This time, after taking over the defense, he made a few turns before discovering the problem.

Chen Lin thought for a moment and continued, "Also, take off the tiles on the roof and clean them. They are all overgrown with grass! Can you touch up the paint on those places where the paint is peeling? You don't mind it being shabby, but I do! And the Nanjing Imperial Palace, although it will only last a few days, it should be repaired a bit. At least the Xiaoling Mausoleum, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Fengtian Hall, the Qianqing Palace, and the Kunning Palace, which Your Majesty will definitely visit, will all be presentable."

"The city gates are like old ladies' missing teeth, with pieces missing here and there, looking shabby."

The maintenance of the Nanjing Imperial Palace continued until the Zhengtong period, and then it was completely stopped during the Jingtai period. Even if the palace collapsed or burned down, it was never rebuilt, because the Ming emperors were very clear that the capital would not be moved back no matter what, so it didn't matter whether it was repaired or not.

Although the Nanjing Imperial Palace has been completely destroyed, the main building is still there, so at least it looks decent.

"Your Majesty has issued an order that no repairs should be made, especially in the imperial palace. Large-scale construction would be a waste of money and manpower." Yang Cheng, the Minister of Rites of Nanjing, reminded Chen Lin that large-scale construction would be tantamount to disobeying the order.

Upon hearing this, Chen Lin turned his head sharply, stared at Yang Cheng and said calmly: "Do you know how to listen to His Majesty now?! What about the energy of pretending to obey but secretly disobeying? What about the energy of making various new policies? Do I mean to renovate the palace with a large-scale construction? Do you have donkey hair in your ears? What do you mean by just looking good? It means that it doesn't look that bad at first glance, just superficial work. Tell me you can't do it?"

"Do you really think that the palace is in such a state that it is His Majesty's people who are embarrassed? It is the entire Southern Court bureaucracy that is embarrassed!"

“Will you just do it for show?”

"Yes, yes, yes." Yang Cheng's scalp was tingling. When a scholar met a soldier, it was difficult for him to explain himself.

(End of this chapter)