I'm really not doing business

Chapter 873: The rebels are not thorough, but they are loyal to His Majesty

War has always been an inevitable part of human life. Conflict will not disappear and contradictions are unavoidable. Since it is inevitable, how to fight it becomes very important.

At the beginning of a war, the fight is often about strategy, but as the war goes on, it becomes just a war, especially when two sides are evenly matched. They will fight for the sake of not losing, not for the sake of winning. Wars that are useless except for wasting money and food should be avoided as much as possible.

At the last moment, Qi Jiguang told the Emperor why they were fighting against the Japanese pirates this time, and that the Japanese pirates must not be allowed to land.

We cannot allow the Japanese pirates to occupy Korea, otherwise they will use Incheon as a port to continuously harass Shandong, Jiangyou Suzhou, Liaodong, and Northern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty. Once the Ming Dynasty is trapped in coastal defense, the defense of Liaodong will be weakened. Once the Japanese pirates unite with the barbarians in Liaodong, it will be a disaster that will bring down the world.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had been deploying around this strategy from the very beginning, and would not allow the Japanese pirates to land.

The end of the war also ended with the complete blockade of the Japanese pirates.

True victory is never about defeating the enemy, but about solving the problem, controlling the cost, and maintaining order. The problem that the Ming Dynasty had to solve was the Japanese invasion.

Qi Jiguang also said to the emperor more than once:
The final outcome of a war is never decided on the battlefield, but before and outside the war. We must always be clear about our strategy and not fight for the sake of war. Otherwise, war itself is not a solution to the problem, but a way to delay the outbreak of contradictions. The longer any contradiction or conflict is delayed, the bigger the problem and contradiction will become, and the longer the fight lasts, the higher the cost will be.

As a ruler, a king may not be good at fighting, but he must be clear about when the war can begin and when it must end, and this is often more difficult than winning or losing on the battlefield.

Before starting a war, ask yourself five questions. If the answers to all five questions are affirmative, then you should start the war. If you are in doubt, be cautious.

Is it worth it? What can we win? Can we win? Will we lose? How will it end? Only by thoroughly understanding these five questions can we win even if we lose the war.

In Qi Jiguang's view, if a ruler does not think through five things before launching a war, namely, whether it is worth it, what can be gained, whether he can win, how to avoid failure, and how to end the war, then this ruler is blind in launching a war and is an immoral monarch. It is easy for him to launch new wars to cover up his defeat, and eventually embark on the path of self-destruction through militarism.

A monarch who loses his moral integrity will lose the support of the people.

Qi Jiguang was very fortunate that before launching each war, His Majesty would think carefully about these five things, and after repeated discussions with the assistant ministers and court officials, he would decide whether to launch the war. For each battle, he would make sure of these five things.

In Qi Jiguang's view, what is even more commendable is that the emperor always told the Ming generals and soldiers who went on the expedition: Victory and defeat are common in the military. If you don't win, conserve your strength, sum up your experience, and win again next time. In the fifth year of Hongwu, the invincible King Xu Da of Zhongshan suffered a great loss in the Battle of Lingbei. However, the Ming Dynasty could lose a hundred times, but the barbarians could only lose once. This was the fundamental reason why the Ming Dynasty was invincible.

The Ming Dynasty entered Korea with a clear purpose to fight against the Japanese pirates. After achieving the desired results, it forced the enemy to negotiate peace, demarcated borders, and decisively led the Ming Dynasty out of the quagmire of war.

In Qi Jiguang's view, the Ming Dynasty has never lacked famous generals and commanders. The Ming Dynasty has a large population, with an army of more than two million soldiers and many talented people. There is no shortage of generals to lead troops in battle at any time, but a sober king is very rare.

The Theory of War is a theory of war. It does not involve specific operations, but talks about the basic nature of war and mainly discusses strategic decision-making. It is a typical military book written for the emperor.

Qi Jiguang was the emperor's teacher, with the same status as Zhang Juzheng, and had no fewer titles than Zhang Juzheng. He cultivated the emperor's martial virtues according to his own ideas, and seemed to be extremely successful.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty celebrated its victory so lavishly when it entered Korea to fight against the Japanese pirates was because it gained universal support. Even the three border areas of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, which were not affected by the Japanese invasion, strongly supported this decision, because the Japanese invasion almost dragged the Ming Dynasty into a complete defeat.

When the nest is destroyed, all the eggs will be broken. The Ming Dynasty is finished, and the three border areas of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia will not be able to get any good results.

"The most important affairs in the world are military affairs and sacrifices. The imperial court should plan and build such shrines to loyal martyrs and cemeteries instead of letting local powerful people build them. It is a matter of status and reputation, which cannot be delegated to others. It is also a dispute over interests." The Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan came out of the class and bowed his head to praise the emperor's decision.

"Well, this tool and name cannot be given to other people. I can understand that. But why is there a dispute over interests?" Zhu Yijun frowned. He was not quite sure what the Minister of Revenue was talking about.

Zhang Xueyan bowed his head and said, "The land prices around the Martyrs' Shrine and the Martyrs' Cemetery will soar, and the wealthy and powerful will compete to build them. They all hope to build them within their own territory. In this way, they can make a lot of money by selling the land and houses."

After Zhang Xueyan's explanation, all the civil and military officials in the court finally understood what it meant, in short.

Accompanying heroes for eternity and protecting the home for eternal peace is a very attractive advertising slogan.

Some powerful and wealthy people are very superstitious. Some worship Buddha, some worship Taoism, and some believe in feng shui. The Martyrs' Shrine is one of the few righteous things in the world, which can frighten away demons and monsters. Where there is a Martyrs' Shrine, the Black and White Impermanence have to march in military steps, and any evil spirits have to avoid them.

What kind of evil magic like calling souls dares to approach the Martyrs' Shrine, a place where the righteous energy is as solid as substance?

This is truly a struggle for interests, and it is not just about petty gains.

"In this case, it is better for the imperial court to plan and build it." Zhu Yijun understood what Zhang Xueyan meant. This is part of the power.

Gao Qiyu held a memorial in his hand. This memorial was not written by him, but he was required to present it to His Majesty. He hesitated for a moment, then stepped out of the class and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

"Send it up."

Feng Bao placed the memorial on the imperial desk, and Zhu Yijun finished reading it.

This was only the second day after the triumphant return of the Ming army. Of course, no one wanted to let Gao Qiyu go from glory to infamy at this time. This memorial did not discuss Japan, but the tribute selection case of the Nanjing Imperial College.

The Imperial College was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, and Shen Li gave the credit to Gao Qiyu, allowing him to secure his position.

After the Ming Dynasty moved its capital, the Imperial College was divided into two branches, the North and South. The Imperial College in Beijing was under the emperor's nose, so although there were some problems, they were not serious. Especially after the Wanli Reform, there were still all kinds of monsters and demons causing trouble in the North Branch, which was still within an acceptable range.

But the problems of the Imperial College in Nanjing were extremely serious.

Last October, an extremely serious tribute selection case broke out in the South Court.

There are usually two ways to enter the Imperial College. The first is that if a candidate fails the imperial examination, he can enter the Imperial College as a student, or he can apply to the Ministry of Personnel to seek to be a local teacher, to serve as an official in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and other places;
The second is to select tribute students, who are admitted to the Imperial College based on their performance. This exam is extremely difficult and usually selects the most outstanding scholars from all over the country.

Apart from this, the rest are a very small proportion. For example, some people who pay tribute just want to get a status like a scholar and can spend a lot of money to enter;
For example, Engong was a special favor granted by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which allowed the children of ministers to enter school without taking an entrance exam, but this situation was extremely rare and most of the time they were in the North Courtyard.

"I have been looking at this case of the Southern Academy for a long time. It is about those who want to enter the Imperial Academy as students but are unwilling to spend money to be self-funded students. And the Southern Academy, from the chief academic officer to the principal of the school, cooperates to include the sons of some powerful and wealthy people, local celebrities and gentry in a separate list for admission?" Zhu Yijun was a little confused and even unsure about this case.

He did not dare to say that he was well-read, but he could still understand the memorials of the ministers. However, when they were put together, things seemed a little outrageous, so much so that Zhu Yijun suspected that he had misunderstood.

"Your Majesty is wise." Gao Qiyu held his hands and said in a long and complicated way: "It is just as Your Majesty understands. They also gave this way of admission a name, called Yougong. Recommended by local schoolmasters, teachers, prefectures, counties and districts, students can enter the academy without taking the entrance exam."

"And the case of Xuan Gong is somewhat complicated."

"Isn't this a rebellion?!" Zhu Yijun looked at it again and again for a long time and confirmed that this was a rebellion.

The tribute of grace was his power as an emperor. It was a reward for him to allow the children of ministers to enter the Imperial College. As an emperor, he could not admit more than five tributes of grace a year. The Nanjing Imperial College even came up with such a ridiculous thing as admitting outstanding tributes in addition to the selected tributes and putting them on a separate list for admission. This was taking the power of tribute of grace away from the emperor.

The case of selecting tribute was extremely complicated. The reason for its outbreak was that someone went directly to the capital to file a complaint with the emperor.

Li Xianfang of the Li family of She County, Huizhou Prefecture in Jiangzuo, was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Wanli. Since the Li family of She County dared to call themselves so, they were obviously a prominent family. Indeed, the Li family was a high-ranking family in half a county. Huizhou Prefecture was quite wealthy. To be able to make it to half a county in Huizhou Prefecture, one can imagine how wealthy and powerful they were.

After passing the imperial examination in his hometown last year, Li Xianfang was afraid that he would not pass the exam and waste his chances, so he planned to take the exam to become a student at the Nanjing Imperial College to continue his studies, hoping to make sufficient preparations before going north to take the imperial examination. However, he failed the examination in the Nanjing Imperial College.

Li Xianfang was puzzled. According to his teacher, he didn't dare to pass the imperial examination, but it was as easy as pie for him to pass the imperial examination. In the end, he failed. As a member of a prominent family, he suffered such an injustice and wanted to find out the truth. After inquiring from many sources, he knew the whole story.

The strange thing about this matter is that there are five wealthy families in She County, Huizhou, and the Li family is the first. However, the game of Yougong did not include their Li family. Instead, the Shen family, who was not as good as theirs, got a place as Yougong.

It turned out that the Li family had actively responded to the court's call, actively surveyed the land, reduced rents, returned land, promoted farm construction, invested in maritime trade, etc., and were considered to be a family of bad conduct and treacherous, as they were "people who curry favor with the powerful and a family that seeks profit and accumulation."

Therefore, even if the Li family passed the examination and became students of the Imperial Academy, they could not enter the Imperial College and their names would be crossed out, not to mention the extremely privileged special examination. It would be strange to bring the Li family along to play.

Li Xianfang spent a lot of time inquiring in Nanjing and spent a full 30,000 silver coins to get this rather confidential list, which he presented to the emperor as a list of families that obeyed the court's orders.

He could not enter the Southern Court, and when he arrived at the Northern Court he missed the Northern Court examination time, so he simply took part in the joint examination, and this time he actually passed.

"Is there anything about Xia Zongyao involved here?" Zhu Yijun read the memorial for a long time. He wanted to confirm the whole story first.

"Xia Zongyao is from Yangzhou Prefecture and has a wealthy family. He and Li Xianfang are also old friends. This time, Your Majesty is going to demote him to a suburban labor post. Xia Zongyao and Li Xianfang both passed the exam, so they planned to go and see the excitement. They also saw the mighty Ming army, so Xia Zongyao repeatedly lobbied Li Zaifang to file a complaint. Then he found the Ministry of Rites and filed a complaint." Gao Qiyu answered His Majesty's question.

Xia Zongyao was the juren who was thrown out of the Imperial Examination Hall because the store owner replaced his candles with his own because he did not buy the Wenchang Talisman. However, because the emperor distributed examination baskets and clothes to everyone, he was able to get them back and enter the Imperial Examination Hall to take the exam.

After Xia Zongyao passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, he went around shaking others and shouting loudly, "I passed the exam," like a madman.

Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "In other words, they saw how strong my army was, so they dared to sue the Southern Court for illegality. If they hadn't seen the suburban labor ceremony to welcome the army's triumphant return, Xia Zongyao and Li Xianfang wouldn't have dared to expose this matter. Is that right?"

Gao Qiyu bowed his head again and said, "They dared to do this because they passed the imperial examination. According to Xia Zongyao, they dared to sue for such illegal activities mainly because they saw the appearance of the Ming army."

"General Zhao Ti, summon the two of them to come to the audience." Zhu Yijun did not hesitate and chose to get to the bottom of the matter.

Xia Zongyao and Li Xianfang were at Zuo Shunmen. Shen Li and Gao Qiyu were not sure whether His Majesty would summon them to an audience, so they asked them to wait outside the palace. There were also 17 other witnesses with them, waiting at Zuo Shunmen, who were willing to testify to this matter.

Lu Shusheng said that young people's blood is hot, which is very true. Xia Zongyao and Li Xianfang are young people, and the 17 witnesses are also young people. They feel that this is unfair, but they are afraid of retaliation and dare not speak out. When someone takes the lead, they choose to enter the hall together.

"Your Majesty, we pay our respects to you. Long live your Majesty." Xia Zongyao and Li Xianfang knelt down as soon as they entered the room. They were a little scared. They did this without asking their family's opinions. They didn't know what impact it would bring.

"No need to be polite, just stand up and answer. Li Xianfang, where is the list?" Zhu Yijun first asked about the written evidence. There was a list of 'families who surrendered' in the South Courtyard. Anyone who was on the list of families who surrendered was not allowed to enter the South Courtyard Imperial College. The original copy of this list was in Li Xianfang's hands.

"It's here." Li Zaifang took out a thick list from his sleeve and handed it to Feng Bao. After Feng Bao confirmed that there was no dagger hidden in the list, he presented it to the emperor.

The first family on the list is the Wang family of Puzhou, Shanxi, that is, the Wang Chonggu family; the second is the two brothers Sun Kehong and Sun Keyi from Songjiang Prefecture; the third is the Zhang family of Jimo, Jiaozhou Bay, Shandong, and the reason for this family to be on the list is that they grow kelp and dry salt; the fourth is the Pan family of Dianbai Port in Guangzhou, who make a living by selling iron pots.

There are more than 1,300 families on the list, all over the Ming Dynasty, even in Sichuan. As long as they responded to the court's call to reduce rent and return land, they are on the list. "Where did this list come from?" Zhu Yijun put the list aside. These 1,300 families are all beneficiaries of the Wanli Reform. One third of them can be regarded as powerful and wealthy families, but they were treated like this.

"I got the list from Liu Mengyang, the academician of the Southern Court. He took ten thousand silver coins from me and copied the list to me. It cost me twenty thousand silver coins just to find him." Li Zaifang replied hurriedly.

"As long as everything you say is true, I will reimburse you for the money you spent later. If there is any falsehood, you will be punished according to the law." Zhu Yijun promised. There is no need to say more about the nature of lying in front of the emperor and cheating the emperor's money.

Li Zaifang said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, everything I said is true. There are 17 other witnesses waiting outside the palace. I just want justice. Silver, thanks to the great trend of Wanli's reform, my family has a little money."

The Li family became so rich thanks to Kaihai. Their family was in the business of making porcelain. They were originally just ordinary local gentry. After Wanli Kaihai, their family had 15 porcelain kilns and 3,500 craftsmen, and they earned more money than they had in the past hundreds of lifetimes.

It doesn't matter whether it's money or not. The main thing is to let Your Majesty know that the emerging bourgeoisie supports Your Majesty's reform and the law of surveying and returning land, reducing rents and building farms. The little income from the fields is really dispensable.

"Call the witnesses." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and began to handle the case personally.

The seventeen witnesses were all victims, and among them there were actually seven Jinshi (Jinshi). All of them failed the examination to become a student of the Southern Academy, but passed the examination to become a Jinshi in the capital. This means that it is harder to pass the examination to become a student of the Nanjing Imperial College than to become a Jinshi!
Zhu Yijun listened to the statements of the seventeen witnesses and asked calmly, "Sir, I have been listening for a long time. If there is no Dinghai school system, all the families on this list and their children will not be able to enter the private schools, academies, and imperial academies of the Jiangnan Literary Alliance. They can only give up being scholars and engage in business, or engage in menial jobs?"

"Or to put it more clearly, it is impossible to obtain political status through normal channels and through the imperial examination."

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said, "In my opinion, this trend is not limited to the Wanli Reform. It has been two hundred years since the Hongwu period, and this list has also existed for more than two hundred years. As long as you obey the imperial order, you will not be allowed to enter school. This is a traitorous act. Your Majesty, the tribute case should be punished together."

The fact that Zhang Juzheng said the four words "the melon vines are all under punishment" obviously showed that he was very, very angry.

The whole family will be punished for the consequences, which means to completely eliminate the poison and bring disaster to the whole family.

Not only Wang Chonggu's family was on the list, but even emerging military honors such as the Yicheng Marquis' Mansion, Fengguo Duke's Mansion, and Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion were also on the list.

In other words, Li Xianfang was not short of money. After learning about this, he felt aggrieved and obsessed with finding out what was going on. Otherwise, this list would never have appeared in front of the emperor.

Even if it wasn't for the emperor's demotion to the suburbs and Xia Zongyao's invitation to Li Xianfang to watch the fun, Li Xianfang wouldn't have spoken the truth after drinking and told Xia Zongyao about the list after seeing the Ming army's majestic appearance.

Li Xianfang felt wronged.

According to what he had learned, even if it was the old Confucianism, the class attributes of the local gentry, the powerful and the wealthy were to settle down and care for the people, to manage the villagers well and let them live and work in peace and contentment, so they enjoyed tax and legal privileges.

According to the explanation of class theory, local gentry and powerful officials are the ruling class that occupies a distribution position in the local area. They enjoy recognized rights and must assume corresponding responsibilities.

The land survey, land return, rent reduction and farm construction did harm the interests of many people, but Your Majesty has provided a new way to make money. Instead of cheating our own people, we can cheat the foreigners.

Li Xianfang started elementary school at the age of six and studied for twenty years. Even though he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi at the age of twenty-six, he still felt aggrieved. After Xia Zongyao's advice, Li Xianfang got excited and wrote a memorial.

Things shouldn't be like this.

"Don't worry, students. If this is true, I will punish you severely. Stay in the capital and study. No one will make things difficult for you." Zhu Yijun looked at the seventeen witnesses and said to Wang Chonggu, "Wang Ci Fu, protect their safety in the capital."

"I obey your order." Wang Chonggu immediately accepted the order. In addition to protecting the safety of witnesses, the most important thing is to keep them confidential. Even their names will not appear in the public case files.

"Your Highness and I, the students, will take our leave." Xia Zongyao and Li Xianfang bowed their heads and took their leave with the witnesses.

The reason why Gao Qiyu had to report this matter was because Gao Qiyu was a meritorious official. The Dinghai school system he created inadvertently provided these "contributory" families with a way out. Even if they failed to pass the imperial examinations, they were not completely unsuccessful. The Kowloon University under the Dinghai school system was another way out.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites finally decided that Gao Qiyu would lead the Ministry to submit a memorial, which would be a credit for exposing the acts of the rebels.

If the Dinghai school system had not been implemented, there would not have been more than 1,300 families that donated money. At the beginning, the list only had more than 300 families. Most of the nearly 1,000 families that donated money were included in the list after the implementation of the Dinghai school system.

This is not entirely due to the Dinghai school system. After all, the Wanli Reform was moving forward, and these more than a thousand families who obeyed the king's order to surrender had their own reasons. For example, the five families in Nanxun, Wuxing, Zhejiang, were all forced to do so. If they did not return the land, the emperor would kill them, so they had no choice but to return the land.

Even if they are forced to return the land, they will still be on the list of donors, which is simply unreasonable.

Shen Li bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, this is simply a huge joke. At the rate at which the list is growing, if it continues to grow like this, wouldn't all the local gentry, powerful people and wealthy people in the world be surrendering to the emperor?"

"Your Majesty, this is undoubtedly an act of treason. I am reminded of the North-South List case in the 30th year of the Hongwu reign. This case is even worse than the previous one!"

Your Majesty's prestige is high, but not as good as that of Emperor Taizu Gao; Your Majesty's army is strong, but not as good as Emperor Taizu Gao's military prowess. Emperor Taizu Gao conquered the world by himself, and even during the Hongwu period, the trend of stopping surrender was still very popular, and the means to stop surrender were endless.

For example, this list of families that have surrendered to the emperor uses the monopoly on education to retaliate against families that have surrendered to the emperor.

For example, after Zhu Yuanzhang fell ill, these rebels immediately created the North-South List case, telling Emperor Hongwu clearly that no matter how powerful you are, the world will still be controlled by them after your death!

This is a traitor, not a scholar-official.

If it weren't for the freak Zhu Di who conquered Nanjing and moved the capital to Beijing, the harm caused by the rebels' monopoly on education would have been even more terrible.

"Nanjing should gradually abolish these government offices, starting with the South Courtyard." Zhang Juzheng gave his own answer. Only by abolishing Nanjing's special status can this centrifugal force be gradually reduced. The terrible influence of these anti-traitors must be corrected from a systemic perspective.

Zhu Yijun exhaled a breath of foul air and said in confusion: "Sir, I don't understand why the Lin family, where Lu Shusheng is from, is also on the list? Lu Shusheng was dismissed by me because he opposed the Wanli Reform."

There was an unexpected person on the list. Lu Shusheng, a traitor, was actually on the list of the surrender family.

Lu Shusheng was born into a poor family. His family was a farmer and his father died early. Lu Shusheng and his mother Shen moved into his grandmother's home, Linjiajiao. Lu Shusheng changed his grandmother's surname to Lin.

Lu Shusheng changed his original surname back to after he won the imperial examination in the 21st year of Jiajing. However, Lu Shusheng was a member of the Lin family. Even Lu Shusheng, who was considered a traitor by Zhu Yijun, was on the list of families who surrendered, and there were two families, Lu and Lin.

"I don't know." Zhang Juzheng thought for a long time and finally shook his head.

"Summon him." Zhu Yijun was not vague and directly asked the imperial guards to find Lu Shusheng. As a famous scholar in the capital, Lu Shusheng's whereabouts were public. Soon Lu Shusheng was brought to the Wenhua Palace. He thought that he would never come back after leaving here in the second year of Wanli, but he did not expect that he would be summoned by the emperor.

"Your Majesty, I, Lu Shusheng, pay my respects to you. Long live your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, I have never had the intention of reinstating myself since I retired. I ask for Your Majesty's understanding. If Your Majesty is angry about my rebellious actions in the early years of the Wanli reign, I beg Your Majesty to have mercy on me. My family is innocent." Lu Shusheng knelt as he entered the hall.

On the way to the audience, he thought for a long time, and thought that the vengeful emperor was ready to retaliate. Lu Shusheng might as well just confess his guilt and kill him to vent his anger, without bringing disaster to his family.

Seventeen years have passed since he retired and he has stayed in the capital. He feels that he knows His Majesty fairly well. His Majesty is usually a reasonable person. Even if he is implicated in a treason case, His Majesty will investigate it thoroughly.

To put it more directly, none of the people Your Majesty has killed over the years were innocent.

Your Majesty is indeed vindictive, but Wang Chonggu, Gao Qiyu, and Feng Bao are still in the Wenhua Palace, and Gao Gong has been given a posthumous title, so there is no reason to settle accounts with him. But since they have come to his door, Lu Shusheng thought it over and decided to plead for mercy and let his family go.

He recently went to the Quan Chu Guild Hall to ask for Yuan Keli, which may have angered His Majesty.

He only had relatives and friends from his grandmother's family, who were very kind to him. Otherwise, he would have starved to death at the age of three, let alone go to school.

"You are so good, Lu Shusheng! In your heart, I am such a petty person?!" Zhu Yijun was so angry!

Lu Shusheng had already angered him when they were in Wenhua Palace. Now that he was summoned for something, he got mad again as soon as he opened his mouth. He was even more hateful than Li Yashi.

"I, a guilty minister, deserve to die." Lu Shusheng wanted to slap himself a few times. It was obvious that His Majesty had something else to do and didn't want to kill him.

"Forget it, forget it. No need to be polite." Zhu Yijun did not care about it. In fact, if he thought about it, he knew why Lu Shusheng thought so.

Lu Shusheng was one of the people who was very close to the rebels back then. Recently, he even went to the Quan Chu Guild Hall to ask for his disciple Yuan Keli. After the smuggling case was over, the Ti riders suddenly showed up at his door without saying a word, which scared him to death.

People are not as brave as we think. When faced with the great terror of life and death, they will show their weakness.

Zhu Yijun handed the list to Feng Bao and said, "Take a look at this list, Lu Tingwei, and tell him what the situation is."

Lu Guangzu explained the whole cause and effect. Lu Shusheng stood up with a dull look in his eyes. He looked at the Lu and Lin families on the list in disbelief. His teeth were chattering, his face was red, and he was shaking violently while holding the list.

"How ridiculous! How ridiculous! This is too much! This is simply too much!" Lu Shusheng was extremely angry. He didn't understand why he was on the list of surrender. He was considered half a traitor.

Zhu Yijun looked at Lu Shusheng and asked, "Think carefully, who did you offend?"

"Since I retired, I have been concentrating on studying behind closed doors and have never participated in the infighting in the court. I really don't know who I have offended. I'm afraid... the problem lies in my study behind closed doors." Lu Shusheng hurriedly said when he heard the emperor's question.

He actually figured out the cause and effect.

Studying behind closed doors means that he did not cooperate with these traitors. Considering the Yang Wei case and the Tian Yijun case that broke out one after another, it is estimated that someone found him and hoped that he could provide some help. As a result, Lu Shusheng studied behind closed doors. This attitude may have been regarded as an act of surrender.

A rebel is not a complete rebel, but he is loyal to Your Majesty.

"I'm about to go on a southern tour. It looks like the journey won't be peaceful." Zhu Yijun put down the file and said with excitement in his eyes. This southern tour is like a fisherman finding a big fish nest. It can give him countless surprises every time.

In recent years, the treasury has indeed become somewhat empty.

(End of this chapter)