I'm really not doing business

Chapter 729: What the lowly scholar means is that I also bribed?
In the 40th year of Wanli, among the repeaters who were highly expected by the emperor, only one passed the exam, thus avoiding the embarrassing situation of the entire army being wiped out. However, the students born after Empress Wu Zetian performed brilliantly, and the proportion of Jinshi from military families increased to nearly %. For Zhu Yijun, this result was really like planting flowers intentionally but they did not bloom, but planting willows by accident but they grew into a shade.

This illustrates a problem: for a juren who failed the imperial examination three times, there is actually no point in continuing to take the examination. Three times are enough to eliminate all accidental factors. It also proves that two extremely overbearing mechanisms of the Ming Dynasty are still operating stably and effectively, one is the talent selection mechanism, and the other is the court's error correction mechanism. At least the censors can still play some of their original roles.

Zhu Yijun planned to stop the policy of allowing repeaters to farm in exchange for examination qualifications. This approach was wrong and there was no need to continue implementing it.

The top scorer in the imperial examination in the 14th year of Wanli was a military student named Liu Chenxiao, 23 years old this year. He was a military household in the Beidaying Camp of Shuntian Prefecture, but he was an orphan. In other words, he was a child raised by the court.

His father died in Qinglong Fort during the battle against Tuman Khan in the third year of Wanli. Behind Qinglong Fort is Taotu Mountain. The white soil of Taotu Mountain is the key to the success of the Ming Dynasty Woolen Factory.

Liu Chenxiao's father was named Liu Ziji, which was the name he changed after joining the army. When Liu Ziji died, Liu Chenxiao was only twelve years old.

Liu Chenxiao's father, Liu Ziji, had a very miserable life. When Liu Ziji was one year old, his father died in a locust plague and plague caused by drought. His mother remarried with Liu Ziji and his brother. The reason she remarried with two burdens was that in the plague, most of Liu Ziji's family members had died of illness, and the few relatives were unwilling to adopt him.

When Liu Ziji was three years old, his mother died of illness.

From then on, Liu Ziji and his brother continued to live with their stepfather, who often beat and scolded them. Finally, the two brothers climbed over the wall and ran away.

When Liu Ziji was seven years old, his brother died of illness, leaving Liu Ziji alone to struggle to survive. At the age of seven, Liu Ziji drifted to Xuanfu and joined the army. It was said that a seven-year-old child joined the army, but in fact, the camp had surplus food, so they gave him something to eat. Liu Ziji grew up in the military camp in Xuanfu until he was sixteen years old. Because of his proficiency in archery and horse riding, he became Duntai Yuanhou.

The life of Duntai Yuanhou was very hard, but the reward was sufficient. After three years of hard work, Liu Ziji had enough money to marry and have children. He even bought property in Xuanfu, registered his children, and started them to go to school.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, Liu Ziji was selected as a member of the Beijing Camp because of his bravery. In the third year of the Wanli reign, he died in Qinglong Fort. His remains were transported back to the Ming Dynasty and buried in the Xishan Martyrs' Cemetery.

Liu Chenxiao was raised by the imperial court because his mother remarried after Liu Ziji's death. His mother was forced to remarry because someone came from her hometown.

A horror story of an orphan and a widow: relatives from my hometown.

Liu Ziji had almost no relatives in his hometown, but he had a distant cousin. After Liu Ziji became rich, this lazy cousin began to visit him occasionally. After Liu Ziji died, this cousin actually drove Liu Chenxiao's mother out of the Liu family, saying that the mother was coveting their family's property.

Liu Ziji's mother had no choice but to remarry.

Then the cousin took away all the family property and disappeared without a trace, leaving the two brothers Liu Chenxiao and Liu Chenming alone and helpless.

When Zhu Yijun found out about this, he was furious and ordered the Imperial Guards to find his cousin and recover the stolen property even if it meant overthrowing the Ming Dynasty. After this lesson, the courts of the Ming Dynasty's capital camp were no longer managed by civilian offices, but by a special military court and pacification office. The estates of loyal and brave people were protected and non-direct family members were not allowed to inherit.

Zhu Yijun had met the brothers Liu Chenxiao and Liu Chenming. At that time, Zhu Yijun was also a thirteen-year-old child.

"I was too soft-hearted when I didn't chop this distant cousin to death!" Zhu Yijun held a memorial in his hand with a gloomy face.

Back then, that cousin took away the family property. This was a civil case and did not involve criminal charges, so he would not be exiled or beheaded. Now Zhu Yijun felt a little regretful and thought that he should have used his power a little more arbitrarily.

The memorial in Zhu Yijun's hand was jointly submitted by Wang Wenqing and Wu Yuexiu, two censors of the Ministry of Education. This memorial had only one meaning, that is, Liu Chenxiao could not become the top scorer in the imperial examination. Not only could he not become the top scorer in the imperial examination, he could not even become a juren or a scholar.

According to the confession of his distant uncle, during the years when Liu Ziji was the governor of Xuanfu, he engaged in smuggling and brought hundreds of kilograms of salt from the inland to the grassland every year to sell. He also provided convenience to others and helped merchants find their way. He was breaking the law knowingly and was guilty of collusion with the enemy. If the fact that Liu Ziji committed the crime of collusion with the enemy is established, then Liu Chenxiao, as a criminal, will not be allowed to enter the officialdom.

Zhu Yijun knew this was the fact without even having to investigate the case because it was a common phenomenon at that time.

Being a Duntai Yuanhou is a life-threatening job, and Liu Ziji's purpose in becoming a Duntai Yuanhou was also to attract generous rewards. These Duntai Yuanhou relied on the goods they brought to build their own network of contacts, which allowed them to penetrate deep into the enemy camp, and they also had a place to take shelter when being hunted.

Liu Ziji served as Duntai Yuanhou from the second year of Longqing to the end of the fifth year of Longqing. At that time, the imperial treasury was empty and the fiscal budget was only enough for three months.

Chen Mo, the Chief Justice, had also done this, and Zhu Yijun had heard Chen Mo talk about the life of Duntai Yuanhou.

This is reasonable, but not legal, and it must not be legal. It is reasonable because at that time, without some gray income, who would be willing to risk their lives on the grassland? It cannot be legal, otherwise it will encourage the smuggling of coastal defense patrols. Not to mention banning opium, even normal patrols will become extortion.

This kind of thing is very common. For example, ship owners will assume that sailors carry no more than 300 kilograms of cargo as their luggage when they board the ship. In fact, this is allowing crew members to bring their own goods, communicate with foreigners, and earn a fortune. Going to sea is a life-threatening matter. Without huge profits, it is impossible to attract people to risk their lives.

The trouble with the whole thing lies here. When it is not weighed, it may only weigh 4 taels, but once it is weighed, it weighs more than 1,000 kilograms.

"That's what those lowly Confucian scholars are like. They always force me to beat them when I am most happy." Zhu Yijun put the memorial into his arms. As a feudal emperor, it was time to show the limitations of the feudal monarchy.

Zhu Yijun did not intend to keep this case to himself, but chose to take sides. He planned to use the fact that Liu Ziji had already died and there was no evidence to prove his guilt as a reason to conclude that his distant cousin had committed slander and to suppress the case.

If they don't suppress it, all the twenty-eight people who passed the examination will be liquidated by these despicable scholars.

As for the two impeached censors, Zhu Yijun was going to promote them to the Governor's Office of Jiugang. Since they were so observant and fair in their work, they would surely perform very well when they arrived at the bridgehead of development!

The feudal monarchy had such limitations, the emperor's will was greater than the law.

When Zhu Yijun returned to Tonghe Palace to continue his investigation, he received a memorial from Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet. This memorial was very, very strange. It was the account of bribes received by the Quan Chu Guild Hall before the third year of Wanli. It was the ironclad evidence of Zhang Juzheng's bribery, and it was presented to the emperor personally by Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng's intention was very clear. Since the lowly scholar was planning to bring up old accounts with Liu Chenxiao, the champion of the imperial examination, Zhang Juzheng also planned to bring up old accounts with all the officials, first his own and then others. He could not escape, and others could not escape even more.

The main focus is on mutual harm.

After Zhang Juzheng came to power in the first year of the Longqing reign, he began to accept bribes. Over a period of ten years, Zhang Juzheng received a total of 230,000 taels of silver in bribes, in addition to various treasures. It is difficult to calculate the price of this part. For example, the painting that Wang Shizhen gave to Zhang Juzheng, "Birds and Bamboo" by Emperor Huizong of Song, was worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. This painting was included in the imperial treasury when Zhu Yijun got married.

Zhu Yijun studied the account book carefully. He was looking for the Persian beauty and the sedan chair carried by thirty-two people that Qi Jiguang had sent, but he couldn't find them.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty said with great disdain: "I have received bribes for more than ten years, but they are still not as much as my reward! If you didn't refuse, Zhang Zeduan's Along the River During the Qingming Festival should be hung in your study. If you want to investigate your corruption, shouldn't you start with me? The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty also bribed!"

Every time Zhu Yijun went to the Quan Chu Guild Hall for a meal, he would bring gifts, and they were all treasures from the palace. If they were too valuable, Zhang Juzheng would sternly refuse them, saying they were too precious. Zhang Juzheng had to hire a group of people to maintain these treasures.

But over the years, the rewards Zhu Yijun gave far exceeded the amount of bribes he received.

The first basic principle of politics is not to comment on what has been accomplished, not to advise on what has happened, and not to blame the past.

This time the despicable scholar has broken the basic rules. Liu Ziji, the sharp soldier, has already sacrificed his life and has been judged to be a loyal hero of the Ming Dynasty. Now he has to dig up old accounts. Zhang Juzheng also plans to dig up old accounts.

Zhang Juzheng's intention in submitting this memorial was obvious. He wanted to see if this lowly scholar dared to self-destruct against him!
Zhang Juzheng was a hereditary military hero and the Earl of Yicheng. Even if Hai Rui came to judge the case, at most he would strip him of his title. He was still the Prime Minister, so the old scores between these despicable Confucian scholars could be settled.

"Send a memorial to the Censorate and inform Chief Censor Hai Rui and Li Youzi to investigate thoroughly!" Zhu Yijun handed the memorial with red ink to Feng Bao. He cooperated with Zhang Juzheng's actions, adding fuel to the fire and watching the fun without minding making trouble!

Even though Lee Sun had his leg broken by Lee Sun-sin, he still envied the Ming Emperor for having a good imperial tutor and was still feeling indignant. Not only was Lee Sun envious, Zhu Yijun also envied himself!
"Your Majesty, Deputy Minister Wang has a memorial." Feng Bao took out the second memorial, which came from Deputy Minister Wang Chonggu.

"What is Wang Ci Fu doing recently?" Zhu Yijun took the memorial and inquired about Wang Chonggu's recent movements. This famous Ci Fu has been keeping a low profile and a little invisible recently.

Feng Bao bowed his head and said, "Isn't this a war? In order to avoid suspicion, Wang Cifu went to the Xishan Coal Bureau. He has been messing with the Craftsmen's Union recently. In Wang Cifu's words, we need to establish a bottom-up supervisory force to correct the mistakes made by the government-owned factories during their development, so that they can maintain sufficient vitality instead of being destroyed by disorderly expansion and arrogance."

It is well known to the world that Wang Chonggu was born a rebel. Moreover, because of the war caused by Altan Khan, he used the bandits to gain power, which was a crime that Your Majesty had pardoned. Although it was a pardon, the crime was real. As long as there was a war, Wang Chonggu would hide in the Xishan Coal Bureau and concentrate on production.

"Ah? The trade union?" Zhu Yijun blinked and said, "Don't let it become a blood-sucking borer, asking the court for policies on one side and squeezing the craftsmen on the other side, ganging up on those who are not in favor of you. Let Wang Ci Fu be careful."

"Your Majesty, Wang Ci Fu is a capable minister, so he is exploring this experience in his own nest and keeping an eye on it personally." Feng Bao said without much concern. It depends on whether the court wants to do it, not whether it can do it.

For example, the trade union under Wang Chonggu has a three-year term, during which time members are not allowed to serve again and must avoid suspicion within three generations. A trade union must undergo metabolism.

Zhu Yijun opened Wang Chonggu's memorial and laughed as soon as he saw it. It contained black material provided by Wang Qian. "The Romantic Stories of Famous Scholars of Qingliu" has been updated again.

The content this time is very explosive, with Wang Wenqing and Wu Yuexiu at the forefront.

As the first person to study mistresses, Wang Qian knew all the dirt on these people. A man could take a concubine only when he was 40 years old if he did not have a son. This Ming Dynasty law might not be able to restrain ordinary people, but it was easy to restrain officials. These two did not meet the requirements and were typical examples of people with problems in their personal lifestyle.

"That Wang Wenqing actually has seven concubines! Seven, wow, and he doesn't even spend any money!" Zhu Yijun was extremely shocked. This Wang Wenqing was actually the most affectionate man in the capital. He had concubines but refused to spend a penny. It was all because of his mouth!

Wang Wenqing's seven concubines were all girls from brothels. Wang Wenqing conquered them with his poetry and songs and his talent. These seven concubines knew each other, and their jealousy left Zhu Yijun dumbfounded.

"Wang Wenqing is amazing, with his broken mouth."

As for the other Wu Yuexiu, he was not worthy of his name and was not that outstanding. He had two children, and his original wife knew about it. They had fought twice. His original wife beat the concubine, and one of his children had a miscarriage because of it. The whole place was in a mess and in an extremely embarrassing state.

"No wonder Wu Yuexiu wanted to charge into battle, it turns out there was a fire in the backyard." Zhu Yijun handed "The Romantic Stories of Famous Confucian Scholars" to Feng Bao and said solemnly: "Let the Sanjing Factory work overtime. I want to see this book this afternoon. It must be a best-seller in the capital of Ming Dynasty!" "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will print it even if I don't eat!" Feng Bao immediately obeyed the order. As a comedian around Your Majesty, he liked to watch the fun. Moreover, this fun was about the despicable Confucian scholar who made Your Majesty upset. He had to read it as soon as possible!
Feng Bao urged the eunuch, repeatedly stressing that it must be done quickly! The quality must be good! And there must be illustrations! The combination of pictures and texts is the biggest selling point of "A Romantic Affair", and Feng Bao emphasized that the latest perspective painting method must be used to make the picture more three-dimensional and realistic.

Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu both came up with their own methods. How could Wan Shihe, a member of the imperial party, not come out to clean up the mess?
Soon Wan Shihe's memorial arrived. What surprised Zhu Yijun was that Wan Shihe's opinion was that Liu Ziji was guilty, but Your Majesty pardoned him for his merits. This was a discussion of the eight ministers' merits, and everything was resolved in accordance with propriety and law, so that even the lowly Confucian scholars could not find any fault with it. Wan Shihe sought a thorough solution without any sequelae.

"The idea of ​​Grand Master of the Imperial Clan is good. Let's submit a memorial to the Ministry of Rites to commend its merits." Zhu Yijun approved Wan Shihe's memorial. This extreme conservative not only resolutely carried out the emperor's will, but also maintained the dignity of rites and laws. Wan Shihe always advocated: rites and laws are not inconvenient!

Without Wan Shihe, the Ministry of Rites would have fallen apart.

The memorial submitted by the Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang surprised Zhu Yijun greatly. Wang Guoguang believed that the vortex and center of the contradiction, what the lowly Confucian scholars were really targeting, was probably not the top scorers, Jinshi and imperial examinations, but the grain and fodder in the Tanggu warehouse in Tianjin. The lowly Confucian scholar jumped out to attract attention, and the fire burned the Tanggu warehouse.

Wang Guoguang firmly believes that the lowly Confucian scholars are not actually afraid of the current 28 Jinshi students born under Empress Wu. No matter how powerful they are, there are only 28 of them. What the lowly Confucian scholars are afraid of is the future. They should only know that these are only the first batch of students born under Empress Wu. There will be more and more such students in the future. This is the most terrifying thing.

To disintegrate the collective of Wu Housheng, the focus is not on the individual Wu Housheng, but on the Jingying. As long as the Jingying is still winning, Wu Housheng will continue to emerge.

The way to completely solve the problem once and for all is to make the Beijing army lose, suffer a great defeat, so that Empress Wu will have no place to survive.

The solution is very simple, just use the fire dragon to burn the warehouse.

What happens when the grain and grass are burned? Ask Yuan Shao how desperate he was when he learned that all the grain and grass in Wuchao were burned during the Battle of Guandu.

"What the Grand Tutor meant was that the contradiction in power distribution caused by the Wanli Reform had reached an irreconcilable point, and the conservatives still controlled power. They would do everything they could to maintain the stability of their power, just like Lee Sun agreed to Konishi Yukinaga's request to go to Wa to visit Luo. Lee Sun didn't care who was the suzerain, as long as he was the king."

"Similarly, it doesn't matter who becomes the emperor, as long as they continue to be scholars." Zhu Yijun knocked on the table and said, "In order to preserve their power, they are willing to do anything, just like me. In order to protect my power, I can review the army every day for fourteen years."

Feng Bao frowned and said, "Even if we lose to the Japanese pirates?"

"We even lost to the Japanese pirates." Zhu Yijun emphasized again. It's not like those despicable Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty had not done this before. They forced Zhu Wan to death, disbanded the 41 garrisons in Zhejiang, sank 439 warships, and disbanded the military. From then on, the Japanese threat in the southeast became a major concern for the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty had experienced the same shit that Lee Sun did.

"Tishuai!"

"I'm here!" Zhao Mengyou said with his head down.

"Immediately let Chen Mo lead 2,000 imperial guards to Tanggu, Tianjin Prefecture, and convey my military order. They must arrive today and conduct a comprehensive investigation. I give you the power to execute first and report later. Burn the warehouse with a fire dragon and bring your heads to me! Then send the military order to the Beijing camp and transfer three battalions to Tanggu, Tianjin Prefecture. They must arrive the day after tomorrow to cooperate with the imperial guards' operations!" Zhu Yijun made a very specific deployment. The 3,000 imperial guards were Zhu Yijun's most powerful troops. He transferred 2,000 of them at a time, and also transferred 9,000 elite soldiers from the Beijing camp to cooperate.

"Understood sir!" Zhao Mengyou bowed his head and accepted the order.

"Next chapter, Liaodong Ningyuan Marquis, food and grass are of utmost importance, and must not be taken lightly." Zhu Yijun said very calmly: "I want to see if they can chew this hard bone in my hands!"

Zhu Yijun once again comprehensively reflected on his decision. The only possible reason for the Ming army to lose in this war to aid Korea and destroy Japan was the lack of food and fodder.

The grain and fodder sent to Yizhou was divided into two parts. One part was in Tanggu, Tianjin. This part was a pleasant surprise. Most of it was sponsored by the Governor-General's Office of Luzon of the Ming Dynasty, the five major Maritime Customs Offices and the ship owners of the ocean-going trading companies. The other part was transported to Liaodong and was under the supervision and transportation of Li Chengliang. This was the grain and fodder originally prepared by the capital.

If Li Chengliang did not care about Li Rusong's life or death, he would naturally be complacent. Li Rusong was Li Chengliang's most promising son, no doubt about it.

Li Chengliang cared a lot about Li Rusong and even sent 20,000 troops to Korea to cooperate with the Beijing camp. If food and grass were insufficient, these 20,000 troops would be responsible for "raising their own food and grass", and even if they had to plunder, they would bring the food and grass to the army. Anyway, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not care about places where people had not been naturalized.

"Your Majesty, the reason why the lowly Confucians are lowly Confucians is that they are lowly enough." Feng Bao said gritting his teeth.

As the Prime Minister, he would never say good things when he could say bad things about the outer court. But Feng Bao was really a little angry, because even the old rich men in the southeast were thinking about destroying the Japanese pirates. They couldn't go to the battlefield, but they could help out and blocked the government office to ask for donations. Everyone wanted to win, but these despicable scholars were holding them back.

Wang Guoguang is definitely not exaggerating. These despicable scholars are definitely capable of doing it.

In Wenyuan Pavilion, Zhang Juzheng received the imperial edict from His Majesty. He read it for a long time, then smiled and said to Wang Guoguang: "Your Majesty, it is true that young people are full of vigor and will be brave and energetic at their own time."

Your Majesty's arrangements were very thorough. In fact, before Wang Guoguang's memorial, Your Majesty had already ordered a prompt inspection of the grain and fodder in the Tanggu warehouse.

"Even if the Tanggu warehouse is burned down by a fire dragon, so what!" Wang Guoguang put a floating ticket on the memorial and said confidently.

"Oh? Why?" Zhang Juzheng asked curiously.

"There are still 7 million silver in the national treasury. Even if the fire dragon burns the warehouse, we can buy enough food and grass for the front line." Wang Guoguang said with a smile: "Of course, we should save money if we can. There is not a single cent of silver in the Ming Dynasty's national treasury that is redundant!"

"What the Grand Tutor said makes sense." Zhang Juzheng smiled. Just as Wang Guoguang said, it would not be so easy to defeat the Ming army in Korea. There were too many people in the Ming Dynasty who wanted Qi Jiguang to win. From Liaodong to the Jiugang Xuanwei Office, from Jiayuguan to the Osaka Bay Garrison, everyone wanted Qi Jiguang to win.

The despicable Confucian is nothing but a clown.

One government decree after another caused an uproar, the first of which was Zhang Juzheng's self-explosion. The commotion was really too big!
The idea of ​​the Censorate digging up old accounts with Zhang Juzheng aroused fierce opposition from court officials, and they soon reached a consensus that whoever investigated Zhang Juzheng for taking bribes would be an enemy of the Ming officials and would be subverting the Ming Dynasty. Memorials to the emperor floated into the Tonghe Palace like snowflakes!

We can't check everything, what if we find out something?

The next day, Hai Rui went to the palace and made a face-to-face report to the emperor, using both emotion and reason to ask the emperor to revoke the order and send Zhang Juzheng's self-explosive memorial back to Wenyuan Pavilion. Zhang Juzheng was the first cabinet chief to propose the revitalization of the military in the Ming Dynasty, and he used himself to relieve the worries of the soldiers and provide escort.

Compared to Korea, which had a bunch of Hwarang and showed off their power by stepping on the faces of soldiers, the Ming Dynasty was much better. The current Ming Dynasty was worthy of its powerful fighting power.

As for whether the fathers of the military students had any problems, no one discussed it. Everyone was helpless and the measures were just temporary ones.

Wang Wenqing and Wu Yuexiu's "Romance Affair" soon became the biggest hot topic in the capital. Everyone was discussing Wang Wenqing's methods. The censors whose romances were recorded were really humiliated. They usually claimed to be upright, but in fact they had a lot of bad things going on.

The most important thing is that Wang Qian was not making a false accusation. False accusations would result in retaliation. There were twenty censors who wrote "A Romantic Affair". These censors were eloquent and good at debate. If Wang Qian had been slandered, he would have been impeached long ago.

Everything was going well at Tanggu Warehouse, and no one was trying to stir up trouble. The emperor was a little too lenient in this regard. The lowly Confucian scholars were not stupid, and their fight with His Majesty over the number of candidates for the imperial examination was a fight within the rules, an internal struggle involving internal contradictions, and nothing uncommon.

But if we really want to destroy the military and the ties between the nine clans, we still have to consider it carefully.

"Do you want to stay still for two quarters of an hour?" Zhu Yijun rarely changed into the twelve-chapter imperial robe and asked his uncle Zhu Zaiyu.

Zhu Zaiyu waved his magic weapon, looked left and right and said, "Yes, it only takes two quarters of an hour. Compared with the previous four hours to hide the shadow, the new method only takes two quarters of an hour. Your Majesty, you can actually use a lighter makeup. What do you think?"

Zhu Zaiyu has practiced the art of soul-stealing. Although he has not yet mastered it, it is already good enough. The one-foot square camera in his hand is his magic weapon.

Soul-stealing was the criticism of photography by those old scholars. Zhu Zaiyu had found a solution to clean silver iodide, which was the most common table salt. Concentrated and hot salt water could clean away the silver iodide that had not yet formed a latent image.

Zhu Zaiyu wanted to take a photo of the emperor and the empress. Wang Yaozhuo and Zhu Yijun were both Zhu Zaiyu's juniors, and Zhu Zaiyu watched them grow up.

Wang Yaozhuo obviously attached great importance to this portrait, and his makeup was a bit heavy.

"If we compare West Lake to Xi Shi, light or heavy makeup will always be suitable. Madam, this makeup is very beautiful, but this silver plate development method is black and white, and heavy makeup is not well developed. It's a problem of the camera." Zhu Yijun smiled and said to Wang Yaozhuo: "She is naturally beautiful, and she doesn't need to deliberately put on makeup. She can still be more beautiful than other beauties."

"It's my fault." Zhu Zaiyu looked at the magic weapon in his hand. There was only one in the world, and he made it with his own hands. But it couldn't be that His Majesty was wrong, so it was his, Zhu Zaiyu's, fault. He didn't work hard enough.

"Really?" Wang Yaozhuo looked in the direction of the camera and said uncertainly.

Zhu Yijun said with certainty: "In my heart, my wife is the most beautiful."

Wang Yaozhuo was only 23 years old, far from being old and ugly. Her heavy makeup seemed a bit deliberate. However, Zhu Yijun had read the collection of romantic stories and learned a bit of smooth talk.

The shooting lasted for half an hour. Zhu Yijun held Wang Yaozhuo's hand and took the first portrait. Zhu Yijun was holding a copy of "The Theory of Contradiction" in his hand, and Wang Yaozhuo was holding a copy of "Complete Works of Mathematics".

After the shooting, Zhu Zaiyu took the entire darkroom away. He needed to complete the modification in the darkroom. Modification was inevitable. The whole shooting took two quarters of an hour. His Majesty must have blinked and made some slight movements. Some parts needed to be manually modified. Only when the modification reached the perfect degree could it be fixed. After washing and drying, it was framed and sealed in a rosewood frame.

The next day, Zhu Zaiyu was sure that the film had achieved his desired effect and presented the portrait to the emperor.

"Wow, every detail is clear." Zhu Yijun stood in front of the photo. It was truly lifelike at the molecular level. Of course, the handmade beauty filter did not affect the overall effect.

Technological progress is still affecting every aspect of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)