I'm really not doing business

Chapter 869: The relationship of interest is cold but solid

Although Zhu Yijun uprooted the Confucius Mansion in Yanzhou, he was not actually opposed to Confucianism. He even felt that many of the things Confucius, Mencius, and the Four Books and Five Classics said made sense.

Even though the Wanli Reform was a grand movement, the Dinghai school system of the Ming Dynasty did not abandon Confucianism, because there are many contents in Confucianism that are worth learning from, and they are of great significance both for personal self-cultivation and for national issues.

For example, Mencius said: If there is no law at home and no rules for the people, and if there is no enemy outside and there are external threats, the country will always perish. Then we will know that life is born in sorrow and death is in comfort.

That is to say, as Zhu Yijun said, the most dangerous time for the dynasty is when there are flowers and prosperity and music and dancing.

If there is no sense of crisis, the demise of the country is inevitable. As the ruling class, we cannot indulge in flowers and prosperity, but should see the crisis surging beneath the surface.

Because once you indulge in flowers, singing and dancing, it will inevitably bring about a terrible result, that is, pretentious victory, packaging everything as victory, losing can also become winning, and ultimately in the constant applause of winning, winning, winning, you will go to destruction.

The Ming Dynasty was filled with this kind of win-win-win trend during the period from the late Ming Dynasty to the Southern Ming Dynasty. Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, was suppressed several times. At the worst time, he had only 21 people around him. But he soon raised a million-strong peasant army again and destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, the first King of Rebellion, Gao Yingxiang, was wiped out. Gao Yingxiang was taken to the capital and executed by slow slicing. This was a huge victory for the Ming Dynasty. The civil unrest in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia that had begun in the late Wanli period seemed to have come to an end.

Emperor Chongzhen won, but in fact he did not really win because he did not solve the root cause of the civil unrest.

The court owed salaries, which caused the grassroots officers of the three border army garrisons to flee the garrisons and join the peasant army as grassroots organizers, giving the peasant army the strength to confront the government army head-on.
Secondly, there was a severe drought in the three border areas of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, and there was no food to provide relief to the victims. The countless people who were desperate had no choice but to follow King Chuang.

The most important issue is the contradiction between people and land. Since Zhang Juzheng passed away in the tenth year of Wanli, no one in the world dared to suppress mergers and acquisitions, because the landlord and bureaucratic class launched the most in-depth liquidation of the Zhang Party headed by Zhang Juzheng. Anyone who had any connection with Zhang Juzheng would be completely defeated. The landlord and bureaucratic class won, and no one dared to suppress mergers and acquisitions anymore.

It was not difficult for the Ming army to eliminate the peasant army. Until the 15th year of Chongzhen, the Ming army still had the advantage over the peasant army. Hong Chengchou almost won a complete victory over the peasant army, but winning was no longer of any use. The biggest contradiction was how to settle the people and stop them from becoming the source of soldiers for the peasant army.

The theory of contradiction provides a practical methodology for observing problems: phenomenon, problem, cause, solution, practice, correction, re-implementation, and re-correction. This methodology is always effective.

If the Ming Dynasty's victory theory is to truly win, it must be based on the theory of contradiction and the debate between China and the barbarians, rather than just embellishing victory.

The Ming Dynasty scholars and officials generally accepted the theory of contradiction based on Yangming's philosophy of mind, and also accepted the Ming Dynasty's victory theory based on the debate between China and the barbarians and the theory of contradiction, rather than the victory theory of the barbarians pretending to win.

But the scholar-official class of the Ming Dynasty actually found it very difficult to accept the class theory.

In the process of disseminating the collection of Ming Dynasty's speculative results, the Ming Dynasty scholars made their own annotations to the annotations of the contradiction theory, but used the method of deletion and modification to resist the spread of the class theory.

In the eyes of many scholars, the contradiction theory is very good and even worthy of in-depth discussion, but the class theory depends on whether the rulers recognize it.

After Zhang Juzheng wrote the second volume for distribution, he burned it directly. If the emperor had not rescued it in time, it would never have been published.

The third volume of Theory of Class was simply written by Zhu Yijun. Even Zhang Juzheng, a reformer and changemaker who wanted to make new changes, found it difficult to accept the second volume, let alone the third volume.

Zhu Yijun and Yuan Keli extended the same hand, which was to tell Yuan Keli his position. They had the same aspirations, the same behavior, and the same class identity. Comrades share the same joys and walk the same path.

"I do not approve of Lu Shusheng going to the Quanchu Guild Hall to ask for people. He chose to pursue his own petty gains and put his personal interests first. That is his freedom. In my opinion, selfishness is a neutral word. If a person is not selfish, he is not a human being." Zhu Yijun said quite accurately: "But he cannot demand others to follow his own standards of behavior."

"Do unto others, do not impose on others."

Don't force others on what you don't want to do. This sentence emphasizes that you should not impose your own selfish thinking on others. This is self-cultivation. People are different.

"Sir, you are mainly worried that Yuan Keli has no one to support him and cannot withstand some turmoil." Xiong Tingbi said a good word for Zhang Juzheng. After the palace examination, he summoned two students to meet with them separately. This was to tell the world that Yuan Keli was protected by the emperor, but Yuan Keli did not have such an honor before.

People have to live in reality and try their best to avoid storms that they cannot afford. That is not meeting challenges head-on, but seeking death.

"Now someone is backing Li Qing." Zhu Yijun was of course aware of Zhang Juzheng's concerns. He was afraid that a hundred years later, Yuan Keli would not have grown up and would not have the power to protect himself.

For Yuan Keli, becoming a disciple of Lu Shusheng and becoming a somewhat traditional scholar was unacceptable, otherwise he would not have scolded Emperor Wanli so harshly.

Zhu Yijun looked at Yuan Keli and said, "I have read your essay for the imperial examination. Your essay is very well written. Among the six thousand candidates, only seventy mentioned the drawbacks of the Wanli Reform."

Yuan Keli chose the latter between praising the achievements of the emperor and criticizing current affairs. In fact, he had made the choice long ago, not just after Lu Shusheng came to him.

There is an additional rule for the Imperial Examination. Since the emperor distributes the examination baskets, all draft papers are not allowed to be taken out of the examination room and are not allowed to be discarded. The Imperial Guards will collect every draft paper and check every successful candidate to prevent fraud.

The search for contraband officers is still a permanent presence because some people will hide contraband in their anus. Although it is very disgusting, it has indeed happened. If it is stuffed in the anus, it cannot be a frame-up.

In addition to the search, the imperial examination now has an additional set of verification procedures. No one's essay is completed in one go, especially for this imperial examination, which requires multiple copies in an effort to achieve perfection. Therefore, draft paper has become an important tool for verification.

Once everything is confirmed to be correct, the draft papers will be broken up and put into a pool, bleached with white clay, and then made into paper again.

The waste is extremely shameful.

Because there is a verification procedure, Yuan Keli wrote a brilliant article, revised it, and ultimately chose to criticize current affairs. This is courage.

Yuan Keli's article is very well written, mainly about the new policies of the Wanli Reform and the problems that arose during their implementation. The new policies were very successful in Henan, but there were still some new contradictions and problems.

Starting from Henan itself, Yuan Keli discussed the development difficulties of inland areas.

The Ming Dynasty had already formed a kind of path dependence. The Ming Dynasty was poor in silver and copper, had an internal currency shortage and insufficient internal demand, but had gold, silver and copper overseas. Its industries were mainly concentrated in coastal areas. Large-scale production used commodities to exchange for precious metals, which were then invested in expanded reproduction and then gradually radiated to the hinterland.

This approach has two huge drawbacks.

The first production expansion was still to meet external demand rather than internal demand. It even fell into a vicious competition dilemma because external demand was not strong enough. The expanded production did not gradually radiate to the hinterland.

The reason for this is simple: the money shortage problem in the mainland has not fundamentally changed;
This drawback is extremely terrible, because it is impossible to build domestic demand. The Ming Dynasty only has commodity advantages but is completely unable to give full play to the advantages of commodity economy. While obtaining more excess profits from maritime trade, it will also increase centrifugal force.

Value is affected by labor intensity, labor time, and labor difficulty, while price fluctuates around value, supply and demand, and cost. This is the discussion about value and price in the production diagram.

The coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty are rich in industries, but the Ming Dynasty cannot digest them internally, so it has to rely on external demand. At this time, the initiative is given to the other party.

This has created a vicious circle: the richer and more concentrated the industry becomes, the more prices have to be lowered, profits decrease, and the industry becomes less profitable.

The Ming Dynasty was a whole, but the two capitals, fifteen provinces and five governor-general's offices also had a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. In the face of a major crisis, it was possible that all places would converge. However, when it came to the division of interests in various subdivided industries, even brothers had to settle accounts clearly.

How to ensure centripetal force during the Wanli Reform and avoid division due to issues of interest distribution is something the court must consider carefully.

To put it simply, there is the contradiction between the unbalanced regional development caused by the export-oriented economy and the insufficient domestic demand construction leading to insufficient domestic demand. These two contradictions affect the fundamentals of the country.

The second problem is the old-fashioned problem of population loss and population shortage. Yuan Keli used a common saying to explain the problem behind this phenomenon: the poor do not have children, and the middle-class families do not have children either;
The reason is simple: when working, they complain that there are not enough people; when eating, they complain that there are too many people.

Being poor means you can’t find a wife, and even if you can, you can’t afford to raise a child, so you don’t have children. But it’s very strange that middle-class families don’t have children either. In the Ming Dynasty, many middle-class families would drown their children even if they had them. It’s not that they couldn’t raise them, but that they couldn’t provide for them.

In the Ming Dynasty, the poor and the middle class accounted for the absolute majority. If they did not have children, how many children could the rich and powerful have? Wang Chonggu's family was rich enough, he had two sons, and another died young, leaving behind Wang Qian. Wang Qian had two sons and two daughters, and he refused to have any more children no matter what.

Yuan Keli analyzed the crux of the problem in his article on the imperial examination.

This is true whether it is as small as a family or as big as the Ming Dynasty.

When working, people hope to have more people to create wealth together, but when it comes to distribution, they start to complain that there are too many people eating. Even in the countryside, farming and sericulture require the most labor, but as a laborer grows up, he eats more.

Yuan Keli spoke eloquently in front of the emperor without showing any timidity and explained his ideas very clearly.

For the first problem, he proposed three main solutions: building large highways for distribution, returning the Yellow River to its original course to free the Huaihe River region from the troubles brought by the Yellow River, and then dredging the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River to allow the wealth of the coastal areas to radiate to the hinterland along the highways of the major rivers.

Of course, these are all long-term plans. The current productivity of the Ming Dynasty is still somewhat powerless to control the Yellow River. Only by returning the Yellow River to its original course can the Huai River be dredged and the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins radiate to most parts of the Ming Dynasty. Places without large rivers have to rely on the Chidao.

This idea is completely correct, but the time scale is over a hundred years.

The second issue focused mainly on land policy, which included surveying and returning land, building farms and reducing rents. He hoped that these four measures could be thoroughly implemented during his lifetime, and ultimately laid a solid foundation for the Wanli era of prosperity.

Compared with returning farmland to farmers, Yuan Keli advocated the method of building villages more.

In his opinion, after the fields are returned, they will eventually be merged, and the collective ownership of the villages will achieve a delicate balance between the countryside. Although he dare not think about becoming rich, he can still hope to have enough food to eat.

Zhu Yijun asked Yuan Keli to enter the Tonghe Palace. In fact, there was nothing serious about it. It was just a declaration of his position. He was just a student and lacked experience. The content of the discussion was very empty. He needed to keep growing, accumulate experience in practice, and correct his cognition.

"Your Majesty, I want to go to Japan." Xiong Tingbi saw that Yuan Keli had finished speaking and it was finally his turn. He couldn't wait any longer.

Of course, the purpose of going to Japan was to kill the Japanese pirates. Even though the Ming Dynasty had won nine victories in the Eastern Expedition and completely defeated the Japanese pirates, small-scale wars surrounding the mining areas were still going on. He went to Japan just to protect the silver mine for His Majesty.

"Is it so urgent?" Zhu Yijun said with some reluctance: "Why don't we go to Suiyuan? The roads in Suiyuan are unobstructed now. If something happens, it will be convenient to come back."

Suiyuan is close and has convenient transportation. I can take the train back to Beijing. Now I go to Japan, and I only receive a few letters a year. I may not see him for several years.

Moreover, Iwami Ginzan in Japan is a remote and poor place with nothing there. It would be hardship if you go there.

"Suiyuan is now stable." Xiong Tingbi said with a smile on his face: "Your Majesty, before the palace examination, Your Majesty and Mr. Wang both put the imperial examination first and did not let me go out. I have already missed the opportunity to go to the court to fight against the Japanese invaders. No matter what, I cannot miss the opportunity to go to Japan again, otherwise I will regret it for the rest of my life."

Suiyuan is already very stable, and there is no need to fight for my life. If I go to Japan, I may die, but if I don’t go, I will regret it for the rest of my life.

As for Xiong Tingbi, he would rather not take the imperial examination, but also wanted to join the court to fight against the Japanese. In fact, he still liked to take the path of a warrior, which was simple and direct. "We should remember what Wan Zongbo said, the barbarians have wolf faces and beast hearts, they fear power but not virtue; and there is also that the Japanese have small courtesy but no great righteousness, and they are good at overthrowing their superiors."

"When you arrive in Japan, remember not to trust any Japanese. At your age, you are still a little naive and always think that some people can be trusted. But in my opinion, people's hearts are hidden. Before they turn against each other, you have no idea what they are thinking."

"Uncle Liang, the old carpenter of the Quanchu Guild Hall, Liang Shoujian. I have seen him many times, but I never thought he would do this."

"Protect your own life and property. Only by staying alive can you be loyal to the Ming Dynasty." Zhu Yijun finally chose to let go. When the eagle grows up, it will soar in the sky.

"I will follow your Majesty's instructions." Xiong Tingbi bowed his head again. The place he was going to was Iwami Silver Mine, and what he had to do was to repel all the Japanese pirates who dared to get their hands on your Majesty's silver mine. This was a struggle for interests, and there was no possibility of any warmth at all.

For Yuan Keli, Liang Shoujian's behavior was at most a frame-up.

But for Xiong Tingbi, his book box was smuggled and Liang Shoujian's behavior was a betrayal. Uncle Liang was an extremely important person in his growing up experience. This betrayal made Xiong Tingbi deeply understand how hurtful it is to be betrayed.

For the first time, Xiong Tingbi understood why His Majesty always preferred to build relationships based on interests rather than emotions. For example, His Majesty's management of the Governor-General's Office was based on interests rather than emotions.

Although the relationship of interests is cold, it is solid.

Zhu Yijun motioned Feng Bao to fetch two books, and asked Feng Bao to hand them to the two men, saying with a smile: "I'll give you a book. This is Wang Ci Fu's best-selling book On the Self-cultivation of the Five-Step Snake."

"Uh..." Yuan Keli was completely stunned. His Majesty's gift turned out to be this book. Not to mention Yuan Keli's confusion, even Xiong Tingbi frowned, obviously very surprised.

Xiong Tingbi disliked Wang Chonggu very much. He was a traitorous minister. If he had not committed any more crimes after the first year of the Wanli period, he would have been executed long ago.

Zhu Yijun said earnestly: "Alas, the prejudice in people's hearts is as big as a mountain."

"You must read Wang Ci Fu's book carefully. It contains all the knowledge of being an official, which is what you lack. This is a book recommended by General Hai. Xu Chengchu also has a copy, which was given to him by General Hai. To deal with the enemy, you must know yourself and the enemy."

"If you don't know your enemy well enough, how can you win?"

"Your Majesty is wise." Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Keli looked at each other and understood clearly. It turned out that he wanted to understand the enemy!

Then you must read it carefully, read it thoroughly, understand it, and know what the enemy is thinking, so that you can be invincible.

It is true that Wang Chonggu was a treacherous minister, but he was not a rebel. Zhu Yijun did not know whether he had that intention or not, and he had no way of knowing it. But the key point was that Wang Chonggu did not take the path of a rebel.

When Zhang Siwei arranged for someone to assassinate the king, Wang Qian poisoned Zhang Siwei. Zhang Siwei was seeking death, but the Wang family did not want to die with him.

Wang Chonggu had killed Japanese pirates in his early years. When he arrived in Xuanfu and Datong, although he made a fortune by relying on the northern barbarians, he never let them invade. Moreover, since he returned to Beijing in the third year of Wanli and led the Labor Party, he has become the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty and the pillar of the country.

This is also in line with the content of the book "Self-cultivation". A treacherous minister is a treacherous minister, a rebel is a rebel, a treacherous minister is a turbid current, the emperor will use both clear and turbid currents, and treacherous ministers will always find a way out for themselves.

What treacherous officials do often depends mainly on the emperor's orders, because their goal is to get promoted, not to subvert the Ming Dynasty like the rebels.

It was also generally acknowledged in the court that Wan Shihe was a flatterer, but this did not affect his posthumous honors, nor did it affect the Emperor's frequent mention of Wan Shihe.

After Yuan Keli returned to the Quan Chu Guild Hall, he opened the book and began to read. The first time he read it, he scoffed at the views in it. It was simply nonsense. If everyone in the world was like this, it would be strange if the world could be a good place.

After he closed it, he opened it again and read for a long time. He compared his own behavior with the standards of the treacherous minister in the book and discovered that he was the treacherous minister!

It was simply too good to be true. After reading "Self-cultivation", Yuan Keli became a little dazed.

The first principle of a treacherous official is to worship his superior. The superior's instructions are above all else. No matter how hard you try, you must get the superior's attention and win the superior's approval. Everything you do must be seen by the superior, otherwise it will be in vain.

There are three rules surrounding the first principle.

First, seize every opportunity to interact with your boss, get his attention, and leave a good impression;
Second, strive to achieve results that are recognized by others, and make sure your superiors understand the difficulties involved;
Third, make a good summary, give credit to your boss, and in publicity, you must have the boss's wise leadership;
If you want to get promoted, you must master these three rules. Based on the new situation of the Wanli Reform, Wang Chonggu also gave a new method. Because of the implementation of the Kaocheng system, the weight of these three rules also changed. The second rule became the first rule to be followed, that is, to achieve results.

Because of the performance evaluation method, as long as the results are recognized by the majority, the boss will definitely see them.

When the boss asks questions, as a treacherous minister, you must tell your boss about the difficulties, complain bitterly, ask for help in some minor aspects, and give your boss a sense of participation. This is very, very important.

The reason why Wang Chonggu did this was that over the years since he entered the officialdom, his immediate superiors were, most of the time, good-for-nothings who could not provide any substantial help and even hindered him. Over the years since he entered the officialdom, most of the time he had been covering up for his superiors' whims and wishful thinking.

Let your boss feel involved in the side issues, so he won't be interested in making comments on big things. When things are done, he can also reasonably get part of the credit.

This is Wang Chonggu’s upward management. He says it and does it, but sometimes problems arise and this effective method sometimes fails.

Wang Chonggu specifically cited an example. For example, the construction of the central axis of the imperial palace was a huge undertaking. His Majesty visited the site and said that construction waste could be used for backfilling and that the cement columns that had not been completely cast could be plastered by plasterers instead of being demolished and rebuilt.

This matter completely falls within the scope of the side branches and tail ends. Your Majesty, please come and give us your guidance.

But Wang Chonggu really couldn't do it.

Wang Chonggu wanted to tell His Majesty loudly at the beginning, this is the imperial palace, the imperial palace! The divine artifact is here! The emperor thought that it was not very high and not heavy, so it was enough to support it. He could save as much as possible, and it would not collapse anyway.

This violated the first principle of self-cultivation, which is to respect superiors and put their instructions above all else. Wang Chonggu did not have the courage to cut corners in the construction of the imperial palace.

What if you don’t have the ability to get things done?

Wang Chonggu’s answer is, if you are incompetent, don’t be a treacherous minister, because a treacherous minister must be more talented than a loyal minister, so that your superiors will not be willing to abandon you; if you are incompetent, don’t be a loyal minister, because you are not more talented than a treacherous minister and your loyalty is worthless.

Incompetence is incompetence, and going home to farm is the best destination.

Yuan Keli's examination papers seemed to be written just to attract the attention of His Majesty. It complied with the first rule of attracting the attention of the superior and leaving a good impression. There is no doubt that he left an excellent impression on His Majesty.

Of course, the biggest gain for Yuan Keli from this book is that he learned the art of dog fighting. No matter whether you are a treacherous minister or a loyal minister, you must master this skill. If you don’t know how to do it and lose, you will have nothing to do with the overall situation.

Zhang Juzheng also won the fight and then stepped up to the position of prime minister step by step.

The results of the palace examination were posted very quickly. The emperor did not change the ranking of the candidates and published the results directly. Xiong Tingbi was promoted from first place winner to first place winner, Yuan Keli was second place winner, and Wu Daonan was still third place winner.

On the day of the announcement, the Ming Dynasty's long-prepared "Records of the Eastern Expedition of the Ming Army" and "Records of the Heroes of the Eastern Expedition" were officially published. The reason for publishing them at this time was entirely to prepare for the triumphant return of the army, and the ceremony of lowering the rank and laboring in the suburbs was under intensive preparation.

In the Records of Heroes of the Eastern Expedition, there are twenty-eight constellations, such as Lou Hu and Luo Shangzhi.

Luo Shangzhi was originally an ordinary farmer, from Luojiawan, Yuyao, Zhejiang. It is said that he was a descendant of Luo Binwang. He was a hereditary centurion and made a living by farming after the fall of the guard post.

He was not a martial arts graduate, nor did he get promoted by donating money, but he relied entirely on his natural supernatural strength. People nicknamed him Luo Qianjin. He had amazing arm strength and could lift a thousand pounds. He could shoot fifteen arrows with a tiger-power bow and be ready to fight again the next day. He was a brave man.

After being selected from the local area to join the Beijing Camp, he participated in the war against Altan Khan in the ninth year of the Wanli reign, and then entered the court to fight against the Japanese pirates in the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign.

He fought in eight of the nine victories in the Eastern Expedition. He served as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp, but he was also the first to charge into the enemy lines.

In Pyongyang, he blocked Konishi Yukinaga's escape route, which led to Konishi Yukinaga being trampled to death by the Korean Hwarang;

In Kaesong, he climbed the ladder to attack the city with a shield in one hand and a halberd in the other, and was the first to climb the city.

In Incheon and Seoul, he was a great hero in the battle of Masangwan, killing hundreds of Japanese pirates, second only to Zhao Ji who came from Caihuying.
In Chungju, he was a vanguard in the attack on Chungju Mountain City, and he fought in and out of it nine times, taking the heads of 27 people.

In Busan, he led 27 coastal defense inspectors and fortress guards, each with three horses, and traveled 240 miles in one day and night, catching the Japanese pirates off guard.

In Ulsan, he was armed to the teeth and led the charge. He was hit by stones thrown by the Japanese pirates, but he still fought hard to capture the city.

In Tsushima, he took the lead in attacking the Yamatai military port and cooperated with Chen Tiande to capture the Yamatai mountain city;

In Nagato, he ambushed Mori Terumoto with a surprise attack and beheaded Murakami Takeyoshi, the general leading Mori Terumoto's troops. Murakami Takeyoshi was the highest-ranking commander of the Mori navy and the source of all Japanese pirates.

Except for the Battle of Kyoto, in which he did not participate, he fought to the death in all the others.

Chen Tiande, as a general of the Ming army, was also on the list. He was the leader of the Southern Sky Vermillion Bird, Jingxiu. His achievements mainly involved intelligence support.

The Book of Rites: Quli says: The military formation is like the formation of the sky: Vermilion Bird in front, Black Tortoise behind, Azure Dragon on the left, and White Tiger on the right.

What this means is that the military formation is like the stars in the sky. The seven stars of Vermillion Bird are all related to scouting and intelligence; while Black Tortoise is mainly related to logistics and material support; Azure Dragon is the central army, while White Tiger is in charge of killing and is mainly responsible for attacking tough situations.

Therefore, Luo Shangzhi is Lou Hu, Chen Tiande is Jing Que and Zhao Ji is Kui Hu, which is Kui Su, the first of the White Tiger in the West.

Li Rusong is a horned dragon, the leader of the Eastern Sky Blue Dragon, Jiao Su. The deputy general Ma Lin, who is equally brave in battle, is a Kang Dragon, the second Eastern Sky Blue Dragon.

As for Qi Jiguang, he was the Duke of Fengguo. If we had to give him a star official title, he would be the General Star in Taiweiyuan, or the Pojun Star in the Big Dipper.

The Ministry of Rites had no intention of fooling the emperor and was really promoting the various heroes that emerged from the Nine Victories of the Eastern Expedition.

The Ming Dynasty's winning school is being steadily constructed.

(End of this chapter)