I'm really not doing business

Chapter 815: The Knife for Opening Gold Mines and the Sword for Investigating Corrupt Officials
When Deng Zilong heard that the Kulin people wanted the Ming Dynasty to exchange weapons, he appeared very calm. He knew that the process of developing the gold mine would not be smooth sailing. The interpreter was not lying, because the Kulin people pointed and pointed at him several times and even asked for Deng Zilong's sword.

Deng Zilong's sword was a gift from the emperor when he was granted the title of Marquis of Shilong. It was a ceremonial object, not a weapon, and was itself a decoration representing status.

"Give it to him." Deng Zilong calmly took off his ceremonial vessel, handed it to the interpreter, and agreed on the trade items.

Before the cities of Dinghai, Zhenhai, Pinghai, and Jinchi and Xiaojinchi were built, we had to maintain friendly relations to prevent harassment from the Kulin people, which would slow down the construction. Even if there was a rammed earth wall, it would still be a home that could shelter from the wind and rain.

And most importantly, the Ming Dynasty had very limited knowledge of the Kulin people. It didn't know how many people there were in their tribe or ethnic group, whether they had any deadly weapons or toxins, or whether there were any unknown diseases that would damage the Ming army's combat effectiveness.

If a conflict rashly broke out and there was no protection from the city, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Navy would be driven into the sea. That would be a huge joke, and Deng Zilong really couldn't afford to lose face.

The Ming soldiers did not pay much attention to the trade situation, but set up camp according to their training.

The Ming army set up camp with a strong focus, including chevaux de frise pits, chevaux de frise, ten-foot-high camp walls, gun positions, watchtowers, arrow towers, etc. This was based on the experience of Emperor Chengzu Wen's five personal expeditions.

Without a stronghold, there will be no victory.

The trade did not go smoothly because the Kulins not only asked for a lot of weapons, but also asked for muskets. They had seen the guards on the observatory killing saltwater crocodiles with muskets.

Deng Zilong looked at the 36-jin gunpowder cannon on the bow of the five-masted ocean-going ship and wondered what the use of a few muskets was.
Even if the Ming Dynasty gave the Kulin people enough firearms, would they know how to use them? Were they trained? Did they have gunpowder? Did they have as many firearms as the Ming army? Did they have artillery? Did they have a combat system?
None of them.

But the Kulin people insisted on asking for it, so the interpreter asked someone to take away a pistol and did not give any more. It was obvious that the Kulin people did not know how to use the pistol. After fiddling with it for a long time, they could not understand the principle behind it, and finally had to take away the pistol without gunpowder.

A musket without gunpowder is nothing more than a fire stick, and the Kulin people thought that some special spell was needed to unleash divine punishment.

The Kulin people handed over the golden stones to the Ming army in exchange for some salt, iron pots, and long and short weapons, and left happily.

Lieutenant General Zhang Cong pointed at a very crude geomancy map and said solemnly, "The Golden Plains that the Kulin people mentioned is nearly 300 miles west of the Big and Small Golden Ponds. The Kulin people can't tell exactly how far it is. We only know that it takes a day and a night to walk from here. We also estimated it."

"General, we need to hire the local barbarians to investigate. They are a little too greedy. We need to be careful of them."

Deng Zilong looked at the crude geomancy map and said solemnly, "Those who are not of our race must have ulterior motives. We should first reclaim the surrounding wasteland and plant our seeds. The boat master, the geomancer, and the doctor of agronomy must protect it well. The gold mine is there and cannot escape."

It is the wisdom of our ancestors that those who are not of our race must have ulterior motives; it is also the wisdom of our ancestors that we should build high walls, store up food, and slowly claim the throne.

This is the wisdom of our ancestors. When you don’t know what to do, they will jump out and tell you, “Don’t be afraid, child. We have walked this path before and we can find it.”

Protecting talents is also the wisdom of our ancestors. In the past, the State of Qi established the Jixia Academy, which triggered a Hundred Schools of Thought. Later, the Han Dynasty established the recommendation system, which attracted many talented people and the Han Dynasty lasted for four hundred years. The Tang Dynasty opened the imperial examination system and the Song Dynasty emphasized culture and governance, which led to the prosperity of the Zhenguan period and the prosperity of Bianjing.

Talent is the foundation of the world and the basis of the prosperity of a country. The prosperity of a country depends on gathering talents. Wherever a civilization flourishes, the cultivation of talents must be the first priority.

These are the experiences that have been tested over the long course of history and are timeless.

Deng Zilong is such a conservative person who believes deeply in the wisdom of his ancestors.

He had been wary of the barbarians from the beginning, and he even hoped that the size of these barbarians' ethnic groups would be large enough, so that there would be no shortage of miners, and he could even consolidate the cohesion of the Han people in the Jinchi Governor's Office.

First, set up camp, build a city, and reclaim land. Although the rainfall is heavy, this is not a tropical rainforest. The land around Jinchi City is still mainly plains. Both sides of the Cangwu River are fertile fields, and there is no need to even cut down trees.

The Ming Dynasty's development in the Jinchi Governor's Office officially began. The curtain was raised, and the rebel nest in the Yuanxu Islands was used as a sacrifice. The shipping route has been completely opened up, and some ports suitable for setting up Mingguan have been discovered along the way. The Ming Dynasty's development of Juezhou officially began.

A month later, the rammed earth walls of Dajinchi City had been repaired, and the land had been reclaimed and could be cultivated slowly.

During this period, Duntai Yuanhou also explored the surrounding situation clearly. There were three tribes in the Kulin tribe. The largest tribe had only 30,000 people, and the smallest tribe had 3,300 people.

"When we went to Jinshan for an investigation, we were ambushed by the barbarians. Fortunately, the six of us in the coastal defense patrol team were very skilled and were able to retreat." Lieutenant General Zhang Cong reported the situation with a serious expression.

The conflict has already begun.

The Kulin people resolutely prohibited the Ming army from entering the Golden Plains, because the gold mines here were the only purpose for foreigners to come here. Although the Kulin people did not know what significance these gold mines had to the Ming Dynasty, they were very important.

"Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. The largest tribe blocked our entry into the Golden Plains, so we should defeat them and kill one to warn the rest!" Deng Zilong looked at the feng shui map, pointed at the entrance to the Golden Plains and said, "Zhang Cong."

"The general is here!"

"Take 1,500 soldiers to wipe out this place." Deng Zilong assigned the task. If he didn't take action, it would be fine, but once he did, it would be a thunderous move.

If the Kulin people did not show their aggressiveness and did not attack the Ming army's Duntai Yuanhou, Deng Zilong would be happy to maintain peace for a longer time, and would even be willing to pay some goods to hire the barbarians to do labor.

But the Kulin people made their aggressiveness very clear, and the Ming army must not indulge them.

Whenever Deng Zilong fought, he always kicked the lame man's intact leg.

The Kulin people are barbarians. Compared with the Ming people, they are cripples. The first expedition of Governor-General Jinchi’s Office was the one with the strongest leg and the largest tribe.

Mining requires manpower. Deng Zilong led a small number of Han people, so he needed a group of laborers to open mines, build official roads and post roads, build highways, build city walls, and official factories. This group of Kulin people was enough.

Zhang Cong led 1,500 soldiers and began to march towards the Golden Plains. The war lasted for thirteen days. The strongest tribe of the Kulin people was defeated, and the Ming army entered the Golden Plains.

In this battle, the Ming army defeated the strongest tribe of the Kulin people, found the location of the gold mine, occupied the mountain pass, and captured 3,500 prisoners.

The most important goal of the Jinchi Governor's Office, the gold mine has fallen into the hands of the Ming army.

Zou Diguang and other prisoners were escorted to Beijing at the end of October in the 15th year of the Wanli reign.

The cold wind from the northwest howled, blowing through Juyongguan, through the big chimneys of the Xishan Coal Bureau, through the busy Jingsui Highway, and to the Dragon Pond in the Tonghe Palace, creating ripples. There was already a thin layer of ice on the Dragon Pond.

This year is another cold winter. Heavy snowstorms were reported in Suiyuan, Shaanxi and Shanxi, and there was even a white hair wind in Womagang.

"Zou Diguang!" After reading Yin Zongxin's memorial, Zhu Yijun's face changed and he sighed heavily. Zhu Yijun always thought that Zou Diguang was dead.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "Marquis Yingyang has wasted all his efforts. Wouldn't it be good for him to be the Grand Lord of Sishui City? What else can I do to him? What can Marquis Yingyang, Marquis Sishui, and Marquis Shilong do to him?"

"Idiot! You don't want to be a good scholar, but to become a pirate! You deserve to die!"

There was an honest official named Liu Hanru in the private market of Sanduao, and there was a backbone member of the Jin Party named Fan Yingqi. These were the talents that Zhu Yijun was deeply saddened by, and to this day, Zhu Yijun still feels resentful about them.

In fact, it was not only Zhang Juzheng who hoped that some of the exiled scholars and officials of the Ming Dynasty could return to the right path. Even Zhu Yijun hoped so. No matter how many more Zhou Liangyin hoped, it would not be too much.

Talents are hard to come by. To make the Ming Dynasty great again, we need more people to work together and move forward. When everyone adds fuel, the flames burn brighter.

Even if Zou Diguang was really lost in the jungles of Java, he can still be remembered as a pioneering martyr rather than appearing as a criminal in memorials.

"Behead him and show him to the public." Zhu Yijun approved Yin Zongxin's memorial. He did not throw Zou Diguang into the dismemberment house to be skinned alive because the house was already overcrowded with criminals and they did not need such a specimen. At the same time, it also left a little face for the literati.

There was no news about the Jinchi Governor's Office in Yin Zongxin's memorial. Zhu Yijun wished Deng Zilong all the best. If the local barbarians insisted on provoking the Ming army, they should carry the three-inch dragon sticker with them. Zhu Yijun would bear all the sins.

All the heads are counted as his.

"This Xu Chengchu." Zhu Yijun picked up a memorial. Xu Chengchu started working diligently when he arrived at the Censorate. Under the leadership of Hai Rui, he found a corruption case involving Song Shanyong, the instructor of Tianxiong Academy in Daming Prefecture.

Song Shanyong was a juren and had been a teacher at Tianxiong Academy for more than eighteen years. He was not very good at taking sides and made the wrong choice every time. He was never promoted to the position of county magistrate and continued to work in this position of teacher.

Over the years, Song Shanyong has trained 16 Jinshi and 96 Juren, and his students are truly everywhere in the world. 90% of the total number of Jinshi and 80% of the Juren in Daming Prefecture in these years, making Tianxiong Academy a well-known and excellent academy on the North China Plain.

But Song Shanyong was hated.

Tianxiong Academy was an official academy in Daming Prefecture. This official academy was well run and all the students went to study there. The private schools had no students, and without students there were no tuition fees. Naturally, these private schools hated Song Shanyong to the point of gnashing their teeth and wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Moreover, the more juren and jinshi students pass the imperial examinations in this academy, the more famous it becomes, and more outstanding students will be concentrated in this academy.

Even some students from Shanxi came hundreds of miles away to study in Tianxiong Academy. For a time, Tianxiong Academy really lived up to the couplet on its door: "The scholars of literature and art are as numerous as the forest; the scholars of Confucianism are as numerous as the clouds."

This made him even more hated. How could a man like Song Shanyong take all the cultural heritage of Daming Prefecture? Some people started to make trouble for Song Shanyong. Song Shanyong would not take sides and he really had no background to speak of.

But Song Shanyong has many disciples!

Even if the sixteen Jinshi candidates could not be considered loyal to the emperor and the country, none of them were traitors and they were all able to help their teacher. Moreover, there were nearly a hundred Juren candidates who held power in the local areas. Song Shanyong's life was smooth sailing.

This year, his faults were finally found out. Over the years, Song Shanyong accepted a total of 5,400 taels of silver in various bribes. Mainly, some students gave silver to enroll in school, and some students also gave silver in the hope that Teacher Song would take extra care of their children.

Song Shanyong had received so much money over the past 18 years. After the matter was exposed, the local government had no choice but to petition the Censorate and start the impeachment procedure.

The powerful and wealthy people in Daming Prefecture demanded that Song Shanyong be dismissed from his post as a teacher immediately. After Xu Chengchu verified the actual situation, he confirmed that the corruption was established.

But the trouble with this matter lies in the fact that Song Shanyong took the money, but did not put it in his own pocket. Instead, he used it on Tianxiong Academy, repairing school buildings, dormitories, and a cafeteria. He also dug a well and bought the latest return air furnace to provide heating for the students.

Song Shanyong really didn't spend a single cent of the more than 5,400 taels of silver he received as bribes!

It took more than ten days to sort out the accounts of Tianxiong Academy. Song Shanyong himself also invested 120 taels of silver to build a small garden in the back mountain and set up Tingyu Pavilion, so that students could hold poetry gatherings regularly.

After the case was thoroughly investigated by the Censorate, it was submitted to the Emperor for his approval.

The Censorate meant: He must be punished. According to the rules, Song Shanyong's honors and earnings should be stripped, and his fines and confiscations should be imposed. However, since he spent all his money on the academy, he will not be fined or confiscated, and he can just return home to live with his family.

"Xu Chengchu, ah Xu Chengchu, you fool." Zhu Yijun said while holding the memorial, "The censors of the Censorate are ostracizing him. Such a difficult matter has been pushed into his hands. If he doesn't do it, how can he, Xu Chengchu, still have the integrity? If he does it, he will offend people."

The censors in the Censorate are always offensive, after all, it is their duty to inspect all officials, but Xu Chengchu obviously suffered from his lack of experience.

Song was good at making use of many students, and he did not spend any of the money on himself but used it all in the academy. In the eyes of scholars, this was not greed.

But the "Gangxianshilei" stipulates that corruption is an act, and as long as you take money, it is embezzlement, regardless of its use.

If they were severely punished, they would immediately offend Song Shanyong's disciples. If they were not severely punished, but were lenient, would they be able to take money at will for so-called official business? The boundary between official and private affairs would be extremely blurred, and corruption would eventually become rampant, and politics would be won by bribery.

Generally speaking, no censor would handle such a case which was obviously a thankless task, because it would be very troublesome to present it to the emperor for his approval, and whether the emperor punished or not would damage his reputation.

Song Shanyong took the money out of personal relationships. If you didn't take it, parents would think you were going to make things difficult for their children. He used the money for official business, which was a noble moral move and he didn't harm the public for personal gain. If all Ming officials were like this, why would the Ming Dynasty not prosper?
Generally speaking, the Censorate's Office will handle the matter by sending it back for re-examination. If it is sent back twice, the local authorities will not file a petition again. If the local authorities really want to impeach, they will report it to the Ministry of Personnel and His Majesty and go through the impeachment procedure themselves.

Obviously, someone wanted to teach Xu Chengchu, a young man, a lesson and let him know how powerful the officialdom was. So, instead of following the usual practice of sending back the memorial from the local government, someone gave it to Xu Chengchu.

"If scholars use these little tricks to do their work, they can accomplish anything! If you have nothing to do all day, you will just scheme against each other. If you are really bored, go to Shanglin Garden and plant potatoes!" Zhu Yijun picked up the pen, thought briefly, and began to write in red:
[Song Shanyong secretly accepted money, and his behavior should be punished; however, his contribution to educating talents for 18 years is worthy of praise. He is dismissed from his position as a teacher, but retains his title as a successful candidate. He is appointed as a librarian in the Imperial Academy, specializing in the method of educating talents in academies.]
[Another gift of three thousand silver coins from the imperial treasury was given to repair the Tianxiong Academy, and a monument was erected to record the names of his students in Tingyu Pavilion - I do not reward him for accepting bribes, but I appreciate his wisdom in nurturing talents.]
Removing the teacher from his post is a punishment, and it is done to maintain organizational discipline;
However, retaining one's honors and being transferred to the Imperial Academy to edit classics came from the emperor's private pardon, which was a special pardon. It was not easy to obtain the emperor's private pardon. Even Yin Zongxin, who was thousands of miles away, knew that the emperor loved to kill people. One had to do something practical to be awarded such an honor.

Song Shanyong embezzled the three thousand silver coins, and the emperor paid the fine on his behalf, which settled the account. The matter ended there, and it would not be a stain on Song Shanyong in the future.
The purpose of engraving the inscription was to record and praise this noble behavior, and to warn Song Shanyong's disciples and scholars all over the world that the emperor would help to cover their good deeds.

Zhu Yijun didn't know whether good people would be rewarded or not. He only knew that when things came to him, the bad guys would be punished and the good guys would be rewarded.

"Your Majesty is wise." Feng Bao blew the ink dry, handed it to the eunuch, and sent it to the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites.

Emperor Sejong once said: Both clear and turbid streams can be used, and when an emperor governs his subjects, it is neither black nor white, the only thing is checks and balances.

This case is a typical case of playing the game of balance. Your Majesty has a biased attitude towards the game.

"Why do I feel that I'm alive just to make up the numbers?!" Zhu Yijun stood up suddenly, looked at the memorial in front of him, and said with some doubt.

"Ah?" Feng Bao was stunned and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"Feng Banban, you say, is the world of geniuses so different from the world of us mortals?" Zhu Yijun asked blankly, looking at the memorial in front of him.

"I am just here to make up the numbers." Feng Bao glanced at the memorial and saw that it came from the Academy of Gewu. He immediately admitted defeat. He could fight with those literati and officials, and with the support of His Majesty, he could even show off his power occasionally.

But these monsters in the Gewuyuan are really scary.

Sometimes, Feng Bao simply couldn't understand the memorials from the Academy of Gewu. He only understood the first part, which said that the steam engine was very promising.

The horsepower of the Shengping No. 6 steam engine soared to 180 horsepower at maximum without increasing its weight, while the intermediate horsepower was 150 horsepower and the minimum stable horsepower was 130 horsepower.

According to the characterization of the Academy of Gewu, the horsepower of Shengping No. 6 is 150 horsepower, and the single-stroke architecture still has room for improvement, and a draft of the new multi-stroke architecture has been prepared.

The speed of Daming's horsepower is increasing steadily and orderly. There is no upper limit to Daming's demand for horsepower. Before the Chinese New Year this year, the first batch of six Shengping No. 6 iron horses will be delivered, and before June next year, the annual production scale will exceed 1,000 units.

The Ming Dynasty Academy of Sciences consumed a total of two million silver taels of silver from the imperial treasury, but in return it brought in immeasurable huge profits.

Feng Bao couldn't understand the following content. There were a lot of graphic design drafts and six formulas. These six formulas were summarized empirical formulas. The wind tunnel that His Majesty the Emperor had spent a lot of money to build had produced results.

What surprised the emperor was that the Daming Academy of Sciences had discovered the scale effect of fluids regarding buoyancy, sinking and floating, orifice outflow, lift coefficient of glider wings, etc.

It is not the case that after completing an experiment by scaling it down, you can scale it up and put it into practice and get exactly the same results. There is a similarity here.

After the scale is enlarged, it is not possible to achieve complete similarity. It needs to be corrected through experience and practice. This is a long engineering problem that requires summarizing experience. The more experience you have, the more accurate the correction will be.

"My one million silver coins are well spent." Zhu Yijun wrote a memorial in red ink, praising the doctors of the Academy of Gewu and hoping that they would continue their efforts.

The summarized formulas, experiences, and observed scale effects do not seem to have much significance for the current Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Yijun still approves of this kind of research. No matter whether it is useful or not, he will study it first. Maybe it can be used in the future.

Zhu Yijun always believes that you can become stronger by spending money!

And it is not completely useless. The Institute of Gewu has designed a new propeller, which has been transferred to the Songjiang Ship Design Institute. It will be tested on the Feiyun. The Feiyun has been modified several times and has gradually become a comprehensive experimental platform. Any ideas of the doctors at the Institute of Gewu will be verified on the Feiyun.

The Feiyun has forgotten its original ambition to become the first battleship of the Ming Dynasty, and is now constantly mounting various equipment for experiments.

Spending money can indeed make you stronger, and good news also came from the Songjiang Shipyard.

Songjiang Shipyard designed and manufactured a new type of star-gazing ship, which was a modified fast sailing ship. It could sail quickly from the new port of Songjiang Prefecture and reach Yehai City within one month and the Governor's Mansion of Ji Fu within three months.

If the Ming Dynasty can find another fulcrum, the stargazing ship built by this fast sailing ship can reach the west of the world for routine observations and better observe the hydrology and geography. The first stop of this stargazing ship is North America.

When trading with the North American barbarians, Ming sailors obtained a natural gold nugget that was treasured by the barbarians, but the barbarians could not clearly explain its source, so the stargazing ship will go to North America for stargazing.

"We will set sail again next spring, and first go to Luzon and Yuanxu Islands for observation." Zhu Yijun rejected Songjiang Prefecture's observation plan and still did not allow the brave fleet to travel to North America in the winter relying on the North Pacific currents.

The winter in the North Pacific is not peaceful at all. The thick fog and violent waves will swallow up all challengers.

The captain believes that it is the complex interaction of the warm current in the Pacific Ocean and the cold current and cold wind in the Far North that causes the sudden and frequent outbreaks of severe weather. It is simply impossible to avoid it through observation. If you are not careful, you will be caught in the storm.

Human courage is too insignificant in the face of the power of nature.

Zhu Yijun had never been on a ship, nor did he have the opportunity to do so. He had never seen how waves several feet high surged. Just thinking about it was extremely dangerous.

Chen Lin led the fleet to patrol Japan regularly. When passing through the sea east of Japan, he felt the frenzy more than once. Every winter, the navy fleet always sailed closer to the coastline to prevent getting lost and caught in the storm.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty continued to handle memorials as usual, and not submitting memorials overnight was one of the means to maintain the efficiency of the Ming Dynasty's bureaucratic system.

Xu Chengchu, who had just finished his shift, left the Censorate and went back to the Quan Chu Guild Hall. As soon as he left the Censorate, he was blocked by a group of scholars and officials.

Among Song Shanyong's sixteen Jinshi disciples, three were officials in Beijing, and the others were candidates for the imperial examination.

“Xu Yushi has great authority! My dear teacher has been nurturing talents for eighteen years, how could he have offended you? Sixteen Jinshi, sixteen jade tablets stand in the court, ninety-six candidates, ninety-six red pens guard the prefectures and counties!” The leading Hanlin took a step forward and shouted, “You only see the five thousand taels of dirty silver, why don’t you see the prosperity of Daming Prefecture’s cultural heritage!”

"What a stubborn attitude, it's just a way to gain fame and reputation."

Song Shanyong is a mentor. He can do nothing but teach and educate. As a disciple who is deeply indebted to him, he should stand up and defend the teacher. It would be fine if Song Shanyong was really greedy, but not a single cent of the 5,400 taels of dirty silver went into his own pocket!
"The country has its own laws! If it's taken, it's taken. If it's wrong, it's wrong! If you are right, why don't you wait until the grand court meeting on the third day of next month, hold the tablet in your hand and come out to appeal for justice on behalf of the corrupt officials?" This was the first time Xu Chengchu encountered such a situation. He was surrounded and scolded by several people. He was panicked for a moment and could only use the law to defend himself.

"It's ridiculous. The Emperor Taizu personally approved the Xiezhi badge just for you, the censor, to show off your power. Where is the law?" A doctor stood up and cursed, "There are so many corrupt officials in the world, but you only want to arrest gentlemen. How can this be justified?"

The Xiezhi badge is the waist badge worn by the censors of the Censorate, representing the identity of the Censorate and the responsibility of inspecting all officials.

"Let me say it again, my mentor accepted tuition fees, not dirty money. My mentor is not corrupt! He is not a sinner! Why don't you ask the Daming Prefecture why it hasn't allocated a single ounce of tuition money to the academy in 19 years!" Another scholar who made a living in Beijing pulled out an account book from his sleeve, threw it at Xu Chengchu's feet, and spat fiercely.

Song Shanyong was pardoned by the emperor. Only criminals should be pardoned, which means that Song Shanyong was guilty.

These people surrounded Xu Chengchu and cursed him. Xu Chengchu opened his mouth but could not say anything back. After everyone left, Xu Chengchu's face turned red and he picked up the account book on the ground.

The account books were very clear, showing that Daming Prefecture had indeed not paid a single cent of tuition silver in the past 19 years, and that the money was all diverted to other purposes. Every detail was very clear.

Hai Rui stood in front of the gate of the Censorate, quietly watching Xu Chengchu being besieged, as if he saw his own shadow in the past.

"Isn't it very uncomfortable? That's how things are done. If you get one thing, you can't care about the other. Your Majesty always says that there is no such thing as having the best of both worlds. You have to ask the price for everything."

"So, after what happened, will you still be the Suyi Censor? I wonder how much suffering you will have to endure along the way." Hai Rui waited until the siege was over before walking over and asking Xu Chengchu what he thought.

Xu Chengchu was silent for a long time before he said firmly, "I must do it! I must finish the path I have chosen!"

(End of this chapter)