I'm really not doing business

Chapter 795 You can’t oppose me only when His Majesty is around!

Public trial was a whole set of procedures that Zhu Yili, Prince of Lu, had arranged when Emperor Wanli was on his southern tour in the 13th year of the Wanli reign. It was part of Zhu Yiliu's crime of misbehavior.

Zhu Yiliu's antics included extorting money from the wealthy families in Xitu City, hunting down dissidents, bombarding the Lianyun Bookstore, humiliating civility, hanging soldiers on the city walls to get some fresh air, uprooting twelve bookstores and digging them three feet into the ground, etc.

They really dug three feet into the ground, and later renovated it into a new official residence for the emperor to use as a reward.

At the beginning, Zhu Yiliu was very disgusted with some of the Hanlin Academy scholars, Imperial College scholars, and miscellaneous newspaper writers who accused the emperor. He believed that these guys were mouthpieces of certain people, who took money and deliberately spoke ill of his brother. He arrested them and hung them on the city wall. These people were detained in the Northern Pacification Office.

Originally, everyone inside and outside the court was waiting for the Ming Emperor to come back and pardon these "innocent people". The Ming Emperor also intended to pardon them, but was obstructed by Zhang Juzheng. Finally, the emperor was persuaded and exiled to the Governor-General's Office of Luzon to contribute to the great cause of Luzon's prosperity.

Because Zhu Yiliu had committed so many mischief, the emperor deliberately retained the system of public trial.

After arriving in Luzon, these innocent people immediately became loyal to the emperor and the country and began to sing praises of the Ming Dynasty. Because only by singing praises could they be recognized as Ming people and be eligible to live in Hancheng Town, enjoy protection, and enjoy all the treatment that Ming people have.

The final public trial takes place in the Grand Court, usually at noon. Before the public trial, there is a whole set of procedures to follow.

All the detained criminals would be hung on the traveling carriages that Zhu Yiliu and Xiong Tingbi had originally designed. They would depart from the Northern Pacification Office and the Ministry of Justice Prison respectively, bypass the outer cities of the East City and the West City, enter the Imperial Palace from the Daming Gate, and stop at the Great Criminal Hall in front of the Jinshui Bridge.

Not all criminals are eligible for public trial. Petty theft, fighting, accidental homicide, dereliction of duty, corruption and other crimes are not eligible for public trial. Any public trial held outside Chengtian Gate is a major case that endangers the country.

When the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty appeared at the Meridian Gate, all the court officials who were watching the ceremony breathed a sigh of relief.

Your Majesty is just throwing a tantrum and feels a little annoyed that his policies are opposed, but he is not slacking off. This is great news for the Ming Dynasty.

It was just like when Zhang Juzheng made a desperate attempt to carry out reforms, implement the performance evaluation system to rectify the administration of officials, change the corrupt environment in the officialdom, improve administrative efficiency, and make all officials at a loss.

Now the emperor's laziness will make all officials extremely uncomfortable.

According to the anthropic theory, under artificial selection, people who cannot adapt to the environment and ecology have been eliminated, and the current officials have either adapted to the environment or are more suitable for the current ecology.

In the Ming Dynasty officialdom, people finally got used to the fast pace and relatively fair competition environment.

If the emperor suddenly becomes lazy, then metabolism will have to start again. For the officials, losing power is more painful than killing their own parents.

Especially now when Zhang Juzheng is still alive, if the emperor goes on strike for a day, the court officials will be uneasy for a day, fearing that Zhang Juzheng will bring up old issues with them.

Zhang Juzheng was an authoritarian figure from beginning to end, but as long as the emperor was around, he didn't need to show off his power; the emperor was also an authoritarian figure, but as long as Zhu Yijun was around, he wouldn't go too far.

The king and his subjects are conjugated and sealed.

The sky was clear blue and the sun was shining brightly. Above the imperial city, flags were fluttering, rustling in the summer breeze. Melodious trumpets sounded from the top of the city walls. The imperial cavalry, wearing flying fish uniforms, stood in front of big drums like javelins, while the eunuchs, wearing bright red robes, stood on the stairs in teams of two, waiting for the emperor's order.

In the Wufeng Tower of Chengtian Gate, the emperor, empress, and eldest son had already taken their seats. On the left were civil officials and on the right were military officials. The ministers took their seats in order. Only one chair was empty to the emperor's right. That was Qi Jiguang's seat. Qi Jiguang was fighting in Korea, but his seat was still in the court.

Under the city gate, inside the Jinshui Bridge, there were several levels of viewing platforms. Officials of the fifth rank and below who were not qualified to go to the Five Phoenix Tower were all on the viewing platforms. There was also a group of foreign envoys who did not even have seats.

The Ministry of Rites was determined not to arrange seats for the foreign envoys. Except for Le Yashi and Shah Mamtim, who were given seats because of their official positions in the Ming Dynasty, all the others had to stand and watch. In the eyes of the Ministry of Rites, allowing them to come was already a great favor from the emperor.

Wan Shihe left a lot of valuable assets to the Ministry of Rites, but of course he also left behind many bad habits. For example, the Ministry of Rites liked to say that the barbarians had wolves' faces and beasts' hearts, and that they feared power but had no moral integrity. Whenever it came to matters involving foreign countries, this sentence would definitely appear, and the Ministry of Rites was extremely vigilant and suspicious of the barbarians.

They suspected that the barbarians had ulterior motives, that they wanted to preach, that they were seeking benefits, and that they intended to subvert.

The Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty used to be a ministry for the foreign peoples, but now it is a ministry for the barbarians with wolves’ faces and beasts’ hearts.

"Uh, why are there still people beating drums and gongs?" Zhu Yijun put down the telescope in his hand and asked with some confusion.

He just looked to see where the criminal had gone, and saw a surprising scene: there was a long tail behind several tour buses.

Leading the long tail are jugglers on stilts. They are dressed in strange and colorful costumes, with weird make-up on their faces to make themselves look ugly on purpose. They hold all kinds of gadgets in their hands and perform all kinds of juggling.

Wang Chonggu smiled and said, "Your Majesty, stilt walking is actually a way to fight against corrupt officials."

"It is said that during the Northern Song Dynasty, people from Kaifeng to Luoyang would visit each other as soon as the Spring Festival came, holding community fires, temple fairs, silver flowers and fireworks, dancing and singing stages, and watching the sights of fish and dragons dancing and the skills of stepping on the swings. People would gather all night to watch and disperse at dawn."

"One day, a provincial governor named Chen Erjin came to Luoyang and thought it would be profitable. He charged 30 coins to enter Luoyang and 30 coins to leave Luoyang. People walked on stilts across the moat to enter the city and refused to pay the entrance and exit fees."

“So this is how the custom of stilt walking came about.” Zhu Yijun understood.

Behind the stilt team came the music group, beating gongs and drums, making the scene very lively. Zhu Yijun could hear the sounds from his seat on the Wufeng Tower. The arm-sized gongs and the high-pitched suona could be heard from far away.

Behind the band was a patrol board, which was more than two people tall and was carried by four shirtless porters. There were some words written on it, all of which described the crimes of these evil people on the chariots.

Behind this long tail there were also car drum formations, big drum formations, dancing drum formations, hundred crane formations, and so on. On both sides of the street stood the yamen runners of Shuntian Prefecture, and behind the yamen runners were the people who came to watch the fun.

When Feng Bao heard the emperor's question, he went to ask the eunuch. Soon, the eunuch came back briskly and told the ancestor what had happened.

Feng Bao bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have inquired clearly and found out that it was the wine merchants from Fujian who set up this drama."

"They came to participate in the opening inspection at the end of May. They were not here to create momentum or promote their wine. When they heard about the public trial, they made such a big show and called it Master You."

"You, what is that?" Zhu Yijun asked with a little surprise.

Feng Bao hurriedly explained: "Most of those who are qualified to hold a public trial are masters, not poor laborers. Poor laborers are not worth the effort. It's Master You."

Fujian wine merchants have created a beautiful landscape in Daming Jingtang. Follow the tour bus, stroll through the streets of Daming Jingtang, follow the planned route, and deeply experience the Jingtang’s rich historical heritage, long-standing culture, and vibrant customs and practices.

The great opportunity of strolling in the capital was seized by Fujian wine merchants!

As the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Lu Guangzu presided over the entire public trial. The yamen runners held up patrol signs and showed the people the crimes of the returning bandits, as well as the local gentry Shi Chengwu from the three counties of Ningdu, Ruijin and Ninghua. These crimes were shocking and everyone wanted them to be punished.

The Ming Dynasty was very big. The capital was the Ming Dynasty, Songjiang Prefecture was the Ming Dynasty, the wealthy Taizhou Prefecture in Zhejiang was the Ming Dynasty, and the poor place Ruijin in Jiangxi was also the Ming Dynasty. We were all from the Ming Dynasty, but there were still some differences in our understanding of the Ming Dynasty.

The people of the capital, because it is the capital of the Ming Dynasty and the capital of the Son of Heaven, are naturally indignant about this kind of crime. If these things are reasonable, does it mean that the emperor can eat alive these 3.5 million people in the capital?

The class theory written by Zhang Juzheng makes it very clear that the emperor is an independent class, existing above all ruling classes.

Feng Bao led two eunuchs down from the Five Phoenix Tower and stood in the middle of the execution ground. After they stood still, the eunuchs opened the imperial edict. Feng Bao threw away his whisk and shouted in a hoarse voice: "The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, decrees:"

"Officials and gentry in Ningdu, Ruijin and Ninghua counties colluded with each other, indulged in lawlessness and brought disaster to the villagers. The villagers tolerated it again and again, and gave in again and again. They gambled, raised rents, demanded annual dues, collected late grain rents, and forced rent and taxes, and killed people in front of everyone."

"The leaders of the people, Wan Qianchang, Lian Yuanhou, Zheng Sanwan and others, led the tenants to rise up. They had no choice but to plead for the people, occupy the county seats of the three counties, and sign an alliance. The alliance agreement is to reduce rent, eliminate old rules such as New Year festivals, close gambling houses, apply for the law of business, and eliminate traitors. Now there is a reason for this, so the three leaders of the Tianbing army will be pardoned."

"There is nothing more important for a ruler than obeying Heaven, and nothing more important for preserving the country than following the example of the ancestors. For a ruler, there is nothing more important than respecting Heaven, following the example of the ancestors, and loving the people; for a minister, there is nothing more important than being loyal to the ruler, caring for the country, and cherishing the people."

“When people are in poverty, they return to their roots. Therefore, when they are exhausted from toil, they always call on heaven; when they are sick and in pain, they always call on their parents.”

"The ruler and his subjects are of the same virtue and respect, and they are of one mind, so as to bring peace."

"Future generations will grieve without taking note of it, which will also make future generations grieve for future generations again."

"Today, the Tianbing rebellion in Ruijin has occurred. All officials inside and outside the country should remember to be loyal and honest and avoid being mean, to be upright and avoid being treacherous; not to flatter the lower and deceive the upper, not to abuse others by being self-indulgent; not to be clever and disrupt the old rules, and not to be greedy for money and profit and ruin your reputation!"

"I have indulged in lust, favoritism and perverted the law. The rules of reward and punishment set by our ancestors are in place. The law of the country hangs high above me. I dare not be partial to them!"

"The dynasty became a constitution after a long period of time, it was a good deed and a favor, and the edict was issued to the world, and the envoys heard about it."

"Appreciate this."

Zhu Yijun's imperial edict was half classical and half vernacular. The classical Chinese was spoken to the scholars, warning them not to forget what they were doing. The dynasty had already stipulated that if local celebrities and gentry broke the law, their crime would be three times more severe.

The vernacular texts were all spoken for the common people, and the three leaders of the civil unrest, who were of most concern to the people, were specially pardoned.

These three leaders would not return to Ruijin, Jiangxi, but would be sent to Zhejiang, to be given to Shen Shiqing, to help Zhejiang return the farmland.

Wan Qianchang, Lian Yuanhou and Zheng Sanwan cannot return home. This is the suggestion of Wang Chonggu, the Minister of Justice. Indeed, the local officials would certainly not dare to make things difficult for these three people who hold the emperor's pardon edict, and it is very likely that these three people will use the imperial edict of amnesty to intimidate and coerce the local government offices.

It might happen, but if they go back with three, they're dead.

The situation in Jiangxi was very complicated. The local powerful gentry and wealthy people were very powerful. They could not do anything to the imperial court, but dealing with the three local leaders was a piece of cake. When they returned, the bandits would kill them all the next day and then disappear without a trace.

If these three people do not return to their hometown, it will be beneficial to returning the land to Zhejiang and also to the construction of the village in Jiangxi.

As long as the three of them were still alive, the Jiangxi local gentry would not dare to go too far, otherwise the emperor would release the three of them and there would be another bloody storm.
Zhu Yijun finally adopted Wang Chonggu's suggestion and sent the three civil leaders to the Taizhou Prefecture Procurator Shen Shiqing to promote the return of land to Zhejiang.

"Take it." Zhu Yijun waved his hand, and two eunuchs in pairs passed down the heavenly message layer by layer until it reached the execution ground.

Shi Chengwu, the head of the Ningdu Banxian family, was pushed to the execution ground. He had a good meal yesterday and knew that he would die today. That was his last meal before execution.

Shi Chengwu felt a little regretful. What annoyed him most was that he asked for too much. If he had known earlier, he would not have sent his servants to go to the countryside with the yamen officials from the county government to collect the money.

When the death card was taken off by the executioner, Shi Chengwu finally realized clearly that his life had come to an end, and that he would die with his body torn apart and his corpse mutilated. Shi Chengwu's desire for life and fear of death were finally aroused.

At this moment, he did not struggle because his legs were weak and he did not have any strength at all. Even breathing became difficult. His body knew clearly that he was going to die.

The executioner took out a bone prying knife that was less than a foot long. The bone prying knife was very thin and sharp. The executioner pressed his hand on Shi Chengwu's neck. After counting the third bone, the bone prying knife stabbed into Shi Chengwu's neck very smoothly. "Click."

Shi Chengwu heard a noise. He didn't know what was happening, but soon he began to feel severe pain. He was about to shout, but then he felt the world spinning and all he could see was the bright sunny day and the scorching sun in the sky.

Until his consciousness completely dissipated and he had no feeling at all, Shi Chengwu was still trying to determine whether he was dead or not. He was still regretting that he should not have let the servants follow the yamen runners to collect the land tax. As for the gambling house, rent increase, demand for annual dues, and collection of rent for late grain, he did not think that what he did was wrong at all.

In his opinion, what else can they do to a group of unruly people?

His death was already very dignified. If it were not for the three chieftains who restrained the tenants, Shi Chengwu would have been skinned clean, bled, and sliced ​​into pieces to feed the dogs.

Shi Chengwu's sins were grave. As many as seventeen tenants died at his hands, and he killed them personally.

The villagers are illiterate and have little knowledge of the dangers of gambling. The gambling houses set up on major traffic routes and the legends of getting rich overnight have attracted the villagers to the gambling houses.

He lost his ancestral property and house, his wife and children, but still dreamed of making a profit. He owed a huge gambling debt and could not pay it back, so he could only become one of his running dogs.

Songjiang Governor Shen Shixing once said bluntly: Debt will make people lose their freedom and turn them into slaves.

These villagers became Shi Chengwu's actual slaves, with the power of life and death. After some small farmers and tenants became his slaves, they would be beaten so hard that they could not get out of bed for several days, and their legs and arms would be broken if they had a disagreement. Since they were of no value, they would be killed and thrown into the compost pit to be composted.

Shi Chengwu is another type of returning bandit group, but they are more secretive than the returning bandit group from Taizhou Prefecture in Zhejiang.

Zhu Yijun saw that the execution was over and stood up. The public trial was over and he was going to the Wenhua Hall for a court meeting. There was a strike yesterday and a public trial today. The court meeting had been suspended for a day. It was time to restore the previous order.

The court meeting began again, and the emperor appeared on the platform as usual, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, I oppose the civil servant selection system proposed by Yuan Fu!" Li Changchun, the right vice minister of the Ministry of Rites, came out and said loudly.

Zhang Juzheng showed a puzzled expression and said calmly: "Minister Li, you can't only oppose me when His Majesty is here!"

"Please listen to me, Prime Minister." Li Changchun bowed his head towards the platform again and said, "Your Majesty, I will give you a detailed report."

"Sir, let's listen to what Minister Li thinks." Zhu Yijun signaled Zhang Juzheng to stay calm and listen to both sides to see what these conservative officials think.

Li Changchun bowed his head again, straightened up, and then held his hands and said, "This law of official promotion seems good in every way, but it will become dangerous. No government decree is perfect, so what is the price of the law of official promotion?"

"That is, the officials who were born into the Juren and Jinshi families, their interests have been damaged, and they will sincerely oppose these policies."

"After ten years of hard study, I was able to wear court robes, but these officials, who are not talented, can still serve as officials even if they fail the exam. Naturally, resentment is piling up in their hearts."

"It is true that they fear Your Majesty and the Prime Minister, and dare not oppose the civil servants' law openly, but they can pretend to obey in other matters."

"Your Majesty, power is still in the hands of officials who are Juren and Jinshi. It will be easy for things to get out of control if they double down on enforcement. Once a consensus is formed, the new policy will be in danger!"

Zhu Yijun thought about it again and again, nodded and said: "That makes sense, but the law of official promotion must be implemented."

The Li Ju Fa, the first three words in the history books, will completely affect the fate of the Ming Dynasty for decades or even hundreds of years to come.

The law of selecting officials was really important to the Ming Dynasty. During the Wanli Reform, many new industries emerged. The shortage of auditing clerks in the Ministry of Revenue, insufficient computing power, and the competition for talent with the public were just a microcosm of this.

As the productivity of the Ming Dynasty increases, it is bound to encounter this dilemma. The people will become more and more professional, while the court will become less and less professional due to its rigidity. The court will become powerless, unable to control the direction, afraid of risks, and will fall into a passive position.

The Li Ju Fa explained this dilemma. It was the general trend to promote clerks to become officials, but it could not be accomplished, so the new policy came to an end.

Li Changchun glanced at Wang Chonggu. Wang Chonggu was a little strange. As a political enemy of Zhang Juzheng, Wang Ci Fu was just looking at his nose and his mind at this moment, just like an old monk in meditation. He had no intention of taking advantage of the situation to pursue him.

He had originally planned to bring it up himself, and have Wang Chonggu follow up so that he wouldn't have to fight alone, but his plan went wrong.

"I have something to say." Li Changchun took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, we need to go a step further and divide the people. If we cannot reach a consensus, we should let officials oppose officials in order to implement the policy."

"Officials who recommend officials can receive some preferential treatment in the performance evaluation system. This alone is enough."

The contradiction theory brought a new perspective to the Ming Dynasty to observe the problem, that is, the spiral history. The military, politics, economy and culture of the Central Plains dynasties were all in a spiral, and the Ming Dynasty also cycled in this ups and downs.

Once a dynasty loses order, falls through, or breaks down, it will trigger a crisis of dynastic change.

Since it is an upward spiral, we naturally have to take three steps forward, two steps back, climb up the stairs, and keep moving forward.

There is no doubt that compared with Wang Chonggu's previous plan to completely replace the local gentry with the artisan class, and Wang Qian's plan to replace the Confucian scholar-official class with professional officials from Kowloon University, Zhang Juzheng's approach was a step back, and Li Changchun's approach was another step back.

Xuanzong loved cricket fighting. He would use a straw stick to make the crickets spin around. Similarly, Li Changchun’s meaning was very clear. The extra treatment of the performance evaluation system was that straw stick.

The Ming Dynasty's officialdom attached great importance to family ties. If Zhang Juzheng fell, everyone would condemn Zhang's party to death. Even if there was only a slight connection, anyone would be labeled as a member of Zhang's party and be liquidated.

While recommending officials through recommendation, one can gain political resources, as well as a group of colleagues with whom one has close ties. This is a closer relationship, where they rely on each other and form a forest of support.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "It is certain that there will be cliques and factions, but there are tens of thousands of officials in the Ming Dynasty, and everyone is selfish and everyone is in a clique."

At the beginning, the Jin Party of Gao Gong, Yang Bo, Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei was a village party and a clan party with highly similar interests.

In the second year of the Wanli reign, Zhang Juzheng said to the emperor during a lecture: Everyone is selfish and everyone has a party.

What it means is: No one is not selfish, and everyone will consider their own interests; therefore, no one does not form factions, because they have to stand together to protect their own interests.

This is a discussion based on Xunzi's view that human nature is evil.

Zhang Juzheng was a Confucian scholar. He believed that human nature is inherently good, and that benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness were important. He also believed that the Han Dynasty was a country where there were loyal and good people in every generation.

Even the court officials sitting in the Wenhua Hall, who were all the emperor's subjects, also had their own factions, and they were very complicated, with each of them part of the other.

For example, Zhang Juzheng, Wang Guoguang, and Shen Li, the three ministries of Li, Hun, and Rites were highly similar; while Wang Chonggu, Wang Daokun, and Zeng Shengwu were relatively close.

Shen Li and Hai Rui, two upright ministers, became close to each other because of their good reputations.

Zhang Juzheng immediately said, "Your Majesty, I think that the system of selecting people through recommendation is fine, but it must be acceptable to the public and must pass the examination. It cannot be turned into a system of selecting filial and honest people, which would be a laughing stock."

The Ming Dynasty did not ban the recommendation system until the 13th year of the Zhengtong period. Before that, some people without any official titles had entered the center of power, such as Fang Xiaoru and Yang Shiqi, neither of whom had taken the official examinations.

Yang Shiqi was recommended to the court by Wang Shuying, who was a close friend of Fang Xiaoru.

This is the difficulty in implementing government decrees. In order to implement them, we have to provide some conveniences. But after providing conveniences, we have to worry about adverse effects. We have to go through this process over and over again, and constantly improve the system design in practice.

If the identity politics trick of selecting filial and honest officials had been played during the Wanli period, the rulers and ministers of the Ming Dynasty would have been laughed at by future generations.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty came up with the system of selecting filial and honest officials after all the trouble he had. He was simply a tyrant who took history in the opposite direction!

No one from Liaodong would believe that lying on the ice to catch carp is true, because lying on the ice in the middle of winter would surely freeze to death, and the filial piety that moved heaven and earth could not move the ice.

"I understand the performance evaluation. After all, there are very clear time limits, arrival limits, and completion limits. The three-limit performance evaluation system has been implemented for fifteen years and is quite effective. But how do we judge whether it convinces the public?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said, "For example, there are 27 clerks in the household office of Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture. If one of them is recommended by Yao Guangqi to enter Songjiang Institute of Technology, then the remaining 26 clerks will have to write a review and report it to the governor of Songjiang."

"If you are awarded a special honorary degree, your colleagues will write a review and report it to the court. After weighing the pros and cons, they will decide whether to entrust you with an important task."

The officials are not united in spirit. It is possible that they may be jealous of their colleagues' promotion and act in a sarcastic manner, or even simply expose some dirty secrets.

Since we are going to have a cricket fight, not only officials should fight each other, but clerks should also fight each other. Even if it is just writing reviews, it can be easily influenced by some factors, but it is ultimately just a straw stick.

This screening process is definitely not completely fair and just, just like anti-corruption is not about catching all corrupt officials in the world.

Every additional layer of screening mechanism will increase the cost of deception and concealment, and increase the risk of exposure, so the court will be able to obtain more real talents.

"What do you think, Minister Li?" Zhu Yijun looked at the Left Minister of Rites with a smile on his face and asked about his attitude.

"I think the Prime Minister has thought everything through." Li Changchun bowed his head and sat on the throne. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He felt like he had been fooled.

Because Zhang Juzheng's reaction was so fast, so fast that it seemed like he was waiting for someone to jump out!
Wang Chonggu glanced at Li Changchun and gave a half-smile. Li Changchun was just starting to make progress, he was a little young, and was too eager to show off.

Wang Chonggu knows Zhang Juzheng too well!
People like Zhang Juzheng plan before they make decisions, and they look three or even ten steps ahead before they take one step. Minister Li could think of this, but Zhang Yuanfu had been the Minister of Personnel for fifteen years, so how could he not think of this?
The reason why Zhang Juzheng did not improve the system in one go may be that he had not thought it through, he may be weighing the pros and cons, or the timing was not right. But he certainly did not want to leave any handle for others to criticize him.

Wang Chonggu raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, I heard something."

"The Japanese Pure Land religion has recently caused some trouble in Japan. Some prostitutes who believe in the Pure Land religion have come up with a white chicken feather trick. The prostitutes refused to receive the wounded soldiers returning from the Korean front and even gave them a white chicken feather."

"Uh, I don't understand, what's the purpose of this?" Zhu Yijun said with a frown.

Wang Chonggu explained: "Any wounded soldier, foot soldier or samurai who was given white chicken feathers would be considered a coward who dared not fight to the death on the battlefield. He was a coward and a spineless person."

"Some wounded soldiers could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide by seppuku."

(End of this chapter)