I'm really not doing business

Chapter 860 Your Majesty, They Are Playing Tricks on You! Your Majesty!

Liang Menglong was in charge of the official selection law. At the beginning, he felt some pressure, but later he found that these officials were all cowards without exception. They only dared to use a little bit of despicable means and did not dare to go beyond the limit. Since they were cowards, there was nothing to be afraid of.

Cowards are the easiest to deal with.

"They are indeed a bunch of cowards. If you ask me to oppose the law of selecting officials, I have five steps to do so." Zhu Yijun sat up straight and looked at Liang Menglong, thinking carefully, and sorted out his thoughts before speaking.

"The core of the first step is the performance evaluation system. First, the performance evaluation of civil servants was changed from one year to three months, from three months to seven days, and from seven days to one day. Civil servants were required to submit a twelve-hour daily log to the government office every day."

"Let's see whether we should take a look or not. Anyway, it's like a mountain of paperwork and a sea of ​​meetings, making these clerks run around in a hurry. At the end of the year, the clerks' performance in the exams is, hey, all mediocre."

"If the first step of undermining the selection criteria does not work, then this second step will be done in the name of fairness."

"Don't the court and the emperor want to select officials from the clerks? Then expand them!"

“Let illiterate old clerks evaluate as the best, and then make a farce of a 70-year-old clerk reading the “Art of Refinement” at night. If that doesn’t work, expand it from clerks to scholars and students. If that’s still not enough, expand it to the local sages and gentry. If that still doesn’t work, expand it to tenants, vagrants, hooliganism, and laborers. If it’s not allowed, it’s unfair!”

"If the second step doesn't work, then we'll continue to expand it. The third step is to use the lack of experience as an excuse to make all candidates in the country serve as clerks for ten years before they can be appointed as officials. This way, the country will be short of officials, the court will be out of manpower, most of the country will be short of staff, the chieftains in the southwest will have no officials, the government orders will not work, and the political affairs of the country will be in chaos!"

"If that's the case, it won't work..."

Zhang Juzheng finally couldn't listen any longer, and hurriedly stood up and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, the Examination System has been in place for 16 years, and the Civil Service Examination System has been in place for two years. There are officials in the Ming Dynasty who enrich themselves, harm the public, usurp power, and form cliques to attack dissidents, but the country is not so corrupt."

Zhang Juzheng's behavior was obviously a bit treasonous. The emperor was speaking, how could he, a minister, interrupt him directly? !

But Zhang Juzheng interrupted the emperor, and all the court officials breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at each other in shock. Fortunately, there was Zhang Juzheng in the court, otherwise who would stop the emperor when he acted recklessly?

Can Shen Shi, who is hiding in the corner like a quail, do that? ! How can he, a master of keeping things balanced, play a rival role with His Majesty?

Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, Shen Yikuan and Wang Yi'e, the four people who had just arrived in the court to attend government affairs, looked at each other in surprise. They had thought that returning to the capital was progress, but they had not expected the court discussions to be in such a tone!

Shen Shixing discovered that the court was quite dangerous, so he decided to go to Zhejiang and be Yan Shixuan's immediate superior!

Wang Yi'e didn't want to come back in the first place, and now he really wants to escape. He wants to go back to Shandong. Although growing kelp and running a salt field are hard work, there is no danger of being beheaded!
Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Sir, why are you in such a hurry? Let me finish. If the emperor still does not repent and insists on taking the third step, then we will push for the fourth step, continue to expand it, and push for the abolition of the imperial examination! Since the Dinghai school system has popularized education, everyone is a scholar, so why not just select them directly from the Kowloon University? Why do we need the imperial examination?"

"The palace examination, the metropolitan examination, the provincial examination, and the academy examination are all abolished! Once the imperial examination is abolished, the emperor will not even have anyone to use."

"If that doesn't work, then the fifth step is to fight!"

"Just apply the custom of the parade of the inspection day in May, and imitate the Luomu Camp mutiny in Hangzhou, the rebellion of the tenants of Nanhu Academy in Taizhou Prefecture, and the three counties of Ningdu, Ruijin, and Ninghua that broke through the prefecture and county. The officials forced the people to rebel and instigated the poor and coolies. There is not much else in the Ming Dynasty, but this contradiction is still very sufficient."

"The whole country was in turmoil, heroes rose up, people were suspicious, turbulent, and everyone opposed it. The system of official examinations and the system of civil servants selection, the Wanli Reform, naturally stopped. If the emperor still didn't stop, then the country would be destroyed. Anyway, if another emperor came, he would definitely not dare to continue doing this."

After the emperor finished talking about the five steps, the court officials remained silent. Fortunately, Your Majesty is the emperor. If you were a minister, there would be many treacherous ministers in the world.

Moreover, each of these five steps is very clear, progressive, and hits the mark.

"As the saying goes, daily examinations will eliminate civil service examinations, expanding elections will cause chaos and disrupt social order, candidates will be demoted to official positions and their careers will be cut off, the school system will replace examinations and the literary tradition will be severed, and the people will be threatened to overthrow the government for reform. If this is the case, what do you think, sir?" Zhu Yijun asked with a smile.

Zhang Juzheng took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, those who rise and fall in the political world are all great undertakings, and all have nine clans. Whoever dares to do so must first ask whether his nine clans agree or not. Your Majesty has classified Bei Zhi as an unforgivable crime of treason, and since then, everyone has been cautious."

"Your Majesty, most of the Ming Dynasty officials are just sitting there doing nothing but eating for free. They don't seek to make achievements but only to avoid mistakes. Lack of responsibility is the main problem of the Ming Dynasty officialdom, not rebellion."

"To suppress a rebellion, you don't need any evidence or a list of names. When something like this happens, it's natural to gather troops and suppress it."

If the emperor was a weak person, it would be understandable for him to do so. It was like this for many years during the Song Dynasty and even during the Hongzhi period. With Your Majesty's personality, he did not forget to visit the Beijing camp during the New Year. Who in the Ming Dynasty would dare to do this?

Dog fights are dog fights. Dog fights are where you bite me and I bite you. They are ordinary political struggles. In this world of fame and fortune, everyone fights with each other, but rebellion will really result in beheading.

Zhang Juzheng explained in detail why the Wanli Reform did not lead to such a farce.

Because this was the Ming Dynasty, a feudal monarchy. The emperor held military power, and he held it very tightly. In the Ming Dynasty, if you wanted to become a student, two students had to jointly guarantee you before you could take the college entrance examination and become a Jinshi. If you had changed your surname for various reasons, you had to change it back.

Shen Shixing had the surname Xu for 27 years. After he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, he immediately changed his surname back to his original one.

Zhu Yijun looked at Liang Menglong and said, "So, Liang Shaozai, if you encounter any difficulties, tell me and I will deal with them. The law of officialdom is imperative. This is one of the cornerstones of the Wanli Reform of the Ming Dynasty."

"I obey your order." Liang Menglong understood the emperor's intention, which was to support him. The emperor was already prepared for the worst.

After Liang Menglong returned to work, the Ming court officials took a long time to relax before continuing their meetings.

Wang Chonggu and Wang Jiaping, like those who refused to believe in evil, started to make trouble for the trade union issue again.

Zhu Yijun hoped that they could succeed, but in the end there were only two possible outcomes: one was that they would become hereditary scabs, eating the employer and the craftsmen; the other was that they would be completely useless, at best, organizing a blind date meeting;

This is the inevitable result at the end of power. If too much power is given, the power will be eaten from both ends. If too little power is given, it will have no effect.

Zhu Yijun looked out the window, peered around, and said, "It's snowing."

When I got up in the morning, the warm wind from the southeast suddenly changed direction, and the northwest wind whistled past, sweeping across the capital. Snowflakes began to float, and it was a heavy snow. The fluttering goose feather snow swirled in the wind, dancing capriciously.

"Auspicious snow indicates a good harvest. I congratulate Your Majesty and the whole world." Zhang Juzheng glanced out the window. Spring rain is as precious as oil. The snow and rain after the Spring Festival are both nourishment to the earth.

"Is there any unjust case in the Ministry of Justice?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu and asked.

Wang Chonggu was so quick-witted that he almost choked. He quickly stepped out of the class and bowed his head and said, "Unjust case? What unjust case? Didn't Yang Wei, who wanted to overturn the verdict, have his head beheaded as a warning to the public?"

"Has the case of Tang Zhihan, the president of Yuegang Ocean Trading Company, been dealt with cleanly? Has his property been recovered? This case has been going on for so long. Wang Qian mentioned it yesterday, and I paid attention to it. It seems that it has not been completed yet?" Zhu Yijun asked. A lot of Tang Zhihan's property was taken away, and Tang Zhihan himself almost died.

Wang Chonggu quickly replied, "Tang Zhihan's ex-wife Liu transferred a lot of family property, a total of 1.6 million silver coins, which were squandered by Liu and her adulterer Xu Zhenyi. Only 600,000 silver coins were recovered. The case was settled at the end of last year. Zhangzhou Prefecture closed the case and reported it to the Ministry of Justice. The case has been brought to the Dali Temple."

Let's kick the ball out of here first. The Ministry of Justice is actively handling the case, but there are some problems in the Dali Temple.

Zhu Yijun glanced at the official screen and asked, "Where is Wang Shiyang, the Right Secretary of the Dali Temple?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this case has been concluded." Wang Shiyang hurried out of the class and bowed his head.

Yang Wei, the Dali Temple Minister, was beheaded, and after Yang Wei's death, the former left and right junior ministers, left and right temple secretaries, temple chiefs, and temple deputy ministers were all implicated and dismissed. Even though no substantial evidence of collusion with Yang Wei was found, this was the case with all political cases. It was better to kill the wrong person than to let the guilty go.

Yang Wei himself was so cruel that he dragged his subordinates into misfortune as well.

Yang Wei wanted to overturn the verdict, and Your Majesty was very merciful by not killing everyone in the Dali Temple.

Wang Shiyang was urgently transferred from the position of Right Prime Minister of Taichang Temple to the position of Right Prime Minister of Dali Temple, in charge of the internal and external affairs of Dali Temple.

Therefore, Wang Shiyang was the lowest-ranking official in Wenhua Palace, of the fifth rank. Of course, if Shen Shixing had not been reinstated, both Shen Shixing and Wang Shiyang would have been very low-ranking.

Soon, the eunuch stepped on the snow and fetched the documents from the Dali Temple. After Zhu Yijun carefully read it, he handed the case file to Feng Bao and said, "The Ministry of Rites knows about this case. The court newspaper will publish it."

"The coastal areas are transforming into a commodity economy. The social environment in which the housekeepers managed the accounts no longer exists. In the future, accountants will not be in charge of the accounts, but will still have to play the role of the family. I am afraid that we will end up like Tang Zhihan, who lost both his money and his life."

"I am very fortunate that Tang Zhihan is willing to trust the government, the court, and me, and give me a chance to uphold justice, instead of gathering their old brothers to bring me the Wanli Sea Disaster. To wipe out 4,000 pirates, I need to mobilize at least 40,000 naval forces. To fight against Japan, I only mobilized 30,000 Beijing troops."

Zhu Yijun was very grateful to Tang Zhihan for being willing to trust the court and give it a chance instead of choosing decisive military retaliation. If that were the case, a group of 4,000 pirates would probably take three to five years to wipe out, and it would cost an unknown amount of national treasury, and would cause endless harm.

Tang Zhihan gave the court dignity, and the court gave him a just trial.

Wang Chonggu said solemnly, "Your Majesty, Tang Zhihan's wealth this year has exceeded 1.3 million silver. Compared with his heyday, it has only been a year or two."

"Tang Zhihan married a second wife, but surprisingly, this second wife turned out to be the most popular prostitute in the brothel world. Tang Zhihan gave the brothel a dowry of 3,000 taels of silver and married this second wife. The second wife spent money lavishly, but Tang Zhihan never restricted her."

Marrying a wife requires a betrothal gift, and the wife must pay back a dowry. In order to show that the two families are well-matched, the dowry will not be lower than the betrothal gift, even for Zhu Yijun.

Wang Yaozhuo was invited by the Minister of Personnel Wan Shihe and the Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang, and her dowry was given by Empress Dowager Li. The dowry was also included in Kaihai Investment, and Wang Yaozhuo himself received dividends every year.

In Wang Yaozhuo's queen's dressing box, there was a dowry that was kept together with the box by the emperor. It was a relic left to her by her mother, a silver hairpin. This silver hairpin had scratched her neck. Back then in Shanzhou, Wang Yaozhuo would rather die than be bullied by the wealthy families in Shanzhou.

Wang Yaozhuo has an extremely strong character.

Zhu Yijun also gave Wang Yaozhuo a seal made of 299 taels of pure gold, but Wang Yaozhuo never used it because she couldn't lift it. (Chapter )
Taking a concubine is the bride price, which is actually redemption, because in the Ming Dynasty, concubines can be given away at will.

Tang Zhihan had a good ending. He did not die. After he recovered from his injuries, his family business was restored and he also married a new wife. However, this wife was not from a high family and of course could not manage the accounts.

The five major Maritime Customs Offices all have accounting offices that specialize in helping these powerful and wealthy people keep accounts. The commodity economy of the five major Maritime Customs Offices is gradually taking shape, and the past living environment is undergoing earth-shaking changes. Anyone who cannot keep up with this change will be eliminated by the tide of the times, even if you are at the forefront of the Wanli Reform.

In the past, men worked outside and women worked inside. This was a family division of labor based on the model of small peasant economy. The wife either stayed around the kang or the stove. The most common people seen were peddlers walking around the streets, and they would go to the market and visit relatives and friends during festivals.

Rouge, powder, silk and satin are mostly brought home by men when they go out.

However, after the formation of commodity economy, the basis for the existence of this division of labor is being disintegrated.

In the past, women could only depend on men to survive because society did not provide them with any job opportunities. In addition, with the formation of a commodity economy, a wide variety of commodities impacted everyone's values. An adequate supply of commodities would shake the traditional concept of family.

After the Tang Zhihan case broke out, everyone was in danger. There were as many as seven maritime merchants whose properties were secretly transferred. These were the largest maritime merchants in the Ming Dynasty.

To be more specific, after the formation of the commodity economy, the seemingly omnipotent power of money, like a flood from the sky, is impacting the traditional values ​​of the Ming Dynasty and changing the way of thinking and traditional etiquette of all Ming people.

"I obey your order." Shen Li went out to receive the order. He thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I think we should be faithful to the words 'wind power and public opinion'. Otherwise, the more we deny based on falsehood, the more difficult it will be to deny. People try to understand the whole picture of things at the beginning of denial. Once they understand the whole picture of things and the lies are exposed, the false denial becomes a joke."

"No matter what, the Ming Dynasty, whether it lives or dies, must not become a joke. If the rites and laws become a joke, then the world will surely be filled with evil spirits and monsters."

"Your Majesty, etiquette and morality are worthless, but they are the foundation of our Ming Dynasty."

When the Tang Zhihan case broke out, there were many rumors. Some people even said that the court was going to sentence Tang Zhihan to death, and some people said that the court was shielding a large sea merchant. Now that they are going to publish the court bulletin, they naturally have to make things clear and explain why the court made such a judgment. It was Liu who murdered for money, but it was Tang Zhihan's fault. No wonder it snowed in the capital.

"What if someone ignores the facts?" Zhu Yijun asked with a smile.

"Uh..." Shen Li didn't know where His Majesty learned these words. Putting aside the facts, when these six words appeared, Shen Li felt that his blood pressure rose a lot.

For the Ministry of Rites, the most feared thing is the eight words "morals are deteriorating, rituals and music are collapsing". Putting aside the facts, false narratives are the most terrifying weapon against rites and laws.

"If all the civil and military officials in the court are engaged in empty talk, I'm afraid..." Shen Li shook his head and said, "The Minister of Rites should be imprisoned and sentenced to death. The Ministry of Rites can no longer perform its duties normally. Morality is indeed worthless, but without morality, the country will no longer be a country."

High morals cannot govern a country, and morality is worthless, but without it, everything in the world will be corrupted.

"Your Majesty, Lord Wan Zong once said that if you want to destroy the foundation of a clan, break the backbone of men, and take away the courage of men; if you want to destroy the chastity of women and eliminate the kindness of women, the morals will be corrupted and the world will fall."

Shen Li said with a somewhat unpleasant expression: "The Ministry of Rites that Wan Zongbo handed over to me is a high-spirited public opinion field. If it really becomes what Your Majesty said, putting aside the facts, the public opinion is all empty talk, I ask Your Majesty to behead me and show it to the public. I am truly a sinner of the orthodox teachings of the dynasty."

"I think the current public opinion is very good, and the Grand Lord has worked hard and made great contributions." Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with Shen Li. At least he really sent the scribes to farm well, and also set up sufficient evaluation methods to evaluate their farming results, firmly maintaining the public opinion of the dynasty from being corrupted.

Wan Shihe did say this. At the beginning, the unlimited liberals pretended to be the free city in the West and fabricated the story. They completely distorted the definition of freedom, took the enjoyment of rights and the divestment of responsibilities for granted, and were eventually completely defeated by the limited liberals headed by Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi.

The Free City of the West is a cesspool. After the Ming fleet arrived, they found out that it was not a free city at all, it was more like a devil's den.

If unlimited liberalism is allowed to develop, it may become like the Paradise Cult in Japan today.

"Your Majesty, I have something to ask." After Shen Li finished speaking, instead of returning to his post, he took out a memorial and presented it to the emperor. Shen Li was originally a cabinet minister, so there was no possibility that someone would not allow him to submit a memorial. It was obvious that there were some problems with this memorial.

The entire memorial is about one thing, centered on facts, and constructs the Ming Dynasty's winning theory.

When the Ming army entered the DPRK, the Ming wanted to win and it actually won. The Ming also wanted to publicize these victories instead of allowing them to be summarized in a few simple sentences in history books. This would have resulted in too little victory, only military victories.

This was not just Shen Li's idea, but a decision made by the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Rites's intention was very clear.

The Ming Dynasty not only wanted military victory, but also political victory and cultural victory.

The Ming Dynasty lacked the study of victory. This was the conclusion reached by the Ministry of Rites after observing that the barbarians often won. Since they had won, they had to publicize it openly and honorably.

Seeing that His Majesty had finished reading the memorial, Shen Li immediately bowed his head and said, "I think that the six victories in this campaign against the Japanese pirates, as well as the great victories on Tsushima Island, Nagato, and Kyoto, are all worthy of being written about in great detail. Based on the front-line reports and the opinions of many officials from the Ministry of Rites, I compiled the "Records of the Eastern Expedition of the Ming Army", which takes the nine victories of the Eastern Expedition as the outline and records all the details of the battlefield in the book."

"In addition, we will select 136 soldiers to receive awards, and name them after the twenty-eight constellations, thirty-six heavenly generals, and seventy-two earthly demons. We will record their heroic deeds in detail and compile them into a three-volume book, Records of the Heroes of the Eastern Expedition. I request that it be published for the whole country!"

"The barbarians are always victorious. If they are judged in the Spring and Autumn Annals in the future, I am afraid that these barbarians will talk nonsense and those who don't know will think that Japan won. Therefore, there are two books, Records of the Eastern Expedition and Records of Heroes."

Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up and he said with a smile, "Present it, present it quickly."

The book had been prepared long ago. This was what the Ministry of Rites had been doing since the great victory in Pyongyang. The Ministry of Rites even sent the book to the front line and showed it to Qi Jiguang, asking the front-line soldiers to correct some details before presenting it to the emperor.

The "Record of the Eastern Expedition" has the full text of the "Treaty of Kyoto" as an appendix, and the Ministry of Rites even annotated it word by word, not only explaining the content but also why it was done and the significance of doing so, to facilitate understanding and to characterize the Treaty of Kyoto.

If the Japanese pirates had not invaded Korea, there would not have been this treaty. The Ming Dynasty was a kingly army that punished the criminals and comforted the people.

Zhu Yijun turned to the Record of Heroes, and there were no generals in the Record of Heroes, only captains and below. It was mainly composed of military soldiers, not only the elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty’s capital camp, but also the Liaodong Army and the Korean Army. For example, Yi Sun-sin was among them, ranked among the 72nd Earthly Fiends.

Lee Sun-sin was still a good fighter, but he entered the battlefield after the Battle of Chungju, so in terms of military achievements, Lee Sun-sin can only be ranked among the 72 Earthly Fiends.

It uses colloquial language and characters rather than classical Chinese, and the narrative style is quite interesting and not boring. For example, the page about Zhao Ji begins with, Zhao Ji, Zhao Laoqi, was originally an ordinary vegetable farmer.

People of humble origins were chosen as role models. The deeds of the generals were mainly recorded in the Records of the Eastern Expedition, while the Records of Heroes recorded the legendary stories of heroes on the battlefield.

Zhu Yijun read two pages and nodded, saying, "I'll keep the book and read it slowly. Let Sanjing Factory print it, just like "Simple Prescriptions for Hygiene and Prevention". All government offices will issue good copies, and sell mainly cheap copies."

"So, are the scripts, singing segments, and plays all ready?"

The Ministry of Rites wrote a book specifically for soldiers who came from poor and laboring families. This in itself represents the Ministry of Rites' position and there won't be any major problems with the book.

The study of the victory of the barbarians is indeed a bit tricky. After much research, the Ministry of Rites decided to construct the Ming Dynasty's victory theory based on facts, using magic to fight magic.

The reason why the Ministry of Rites dared to declare victory at this time was because of the great victory in Nagato. The Ming army repelled the desperate counterattack of Mori Terumoto. The overall situation had been decided and there were no variables.

Zhu Yijun agreed with the Ministry of Rites' proposal, and he wanted to not only write a book or biography, but also write a storybook and spread it across the country.

"It's already being prepared." Shen Li said with a smile.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "That's good, as soon as possible."

The two Ministers of Rites were a bit like Hu Yi and Hu Zhongan in the early years of the country. They were all very comprehensive. Wan Shihe and Shen Li took over and constructed the etiquette and laws of the country after the Wanli Reform. This was the shaping of consensus, and they were great contributors to the Wanli Reform.

"I obey your order." Shen Li breathed a sigh of relief when he saw His Majesty's red seal. He glanced at Zhang Juzheng before returning to his seat.

Wang Chonggu sensed something unusual. He saw this meaningful look and also saw that Zhang Juzheng was a little guilty. The old foxes in the Wenhua Hall were all calm even when faced with a catastrophe. Wang Chonggu could see that it was because they had been opponents for too many years.

Obviously, private information was added to these three volumes of Records of the Eastern Expedition and three volumes of Records of Heroes!
Wang Chonggu wanted to stand up and say, Your Majesty, they are playing tricks on you! Your Majesty!

But Wang Chonggu changed his mind and immediately sat still, pretending not to see it. With such an obvious flaw, he was afraid that a rash attack would be counterproductive. Wang Chonggu had suffered too much over the years.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wang Chonggu's hesitant look and smiled. He did add some personal opinions. He added a lot of gratitude narratives in it, which was roughly: The Ming army was able to achieve such a victory because of your majesty's strategic planning!

In fact, the emperor has never particularly approved of narratives of favors, and even felt somewhat disgusted with them. However, His Majesty can feel disgusted, but his subjects cannot. If Wang Chonggu had attacked rashly, he would naturally suffer a loss. Zhang Juzheng set a trap, but Wang Chonggu did not fall for it.

After suffering so many losses, Wang Chonggu has somewhat given up on himself. Being a treacherous minister, one can be bad but definitely cannot be incompetent. Wang Chonggu is very self-aware.

The court discussion continued at the beginning of the new year, mainly about the joint examination and palace examination in the 17th year of Wanli. Shen Shixing was the chief examiner and Wang Jiaping was the deputy examiner, and both of them were teachers.

After the court discussion, Zhu Yijun specifically left behind Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, Shen Yikuan and Wang Yi'e. After the southern tour, the four of them would stay behind to serve as the cabinet. This matter was of great importance, so naturally they had to be given some instructions. These were all time-tested feudal empire warriors, and they were rare among men in terms of both ability and morality.

"Does Minister Shen think that Governor Hou Yuzhao can do a good job in returning the land to Zhejiang?" Zhu Yijun said with some worry, "Minister Shen knows that Governor Hou Yuzhao often goes against others and is not good at fighting with others. I am afraid that he will not be able to complete the task, but will instead bring disaster upon himself."

"Your Majesty, he can do it. When the ship arrived at Songjiang Prefecture, I met with Governor Hou and asked him what should be done to return the farmland in Zhejiang. Governor Hou said to treat them as bandit chieftains." Shen Shixing answered this question decisively and firmly. Apart from being careful about Yan Shixuan, other things were not a problem.

Hou Yuzhao often goes against others. It's not because he is stupid. On the contrary, it's because he has a pure heart and is particularly persistent in his own cognition.

Hou Yuzhao had two major contributions in Liaodong. One was the Liaodong Agricultural Reclamation Bureau. With the cooperation of Li Chengliang, it completely solved the problem of Liaodong's being too big to be controlled; the second was the Ming Dynasty, in which everyone was a subject of the king.

If you don't obey the imperial court's orders, you are not a Ming citizen. Since you are not a Ming citizen, you are an enemy.

This is Hou Yuzhao's own logic. If anyone obstructs the return of land in Zhejiang, he will be expelled from the Ming Dynasty. He will not be treated as a citizen but as an enemy. This will solve many problems.

This made Shen Shixing suddenly realize that he had not figured out the identities of the local gentry who opposed the Ming Dynasty, which led to the slow return of the land.

(End of this chapter)