I'm really not doing business

Chapter 913 Dare to steal His Majesty’s things!
At the end of July in the 17th year of the Wanli reign, the sound of the Ming Dynasty imperial cavalry's horses' hooves broke through the mist and rain of the south of the Yangtze River, and headed towards Ningbo, and began to hunt down the rentiers of the Ningbo Ocean Trading Company. Chen Lin also rushed to the Ningbo Ocean Trading Company with the navy and took over all the defense of the company, allowing only entry and no exit.

The sound of the iron hooves of the imperial guardsmen was terrifying. The powerful and wealthy people in Zhejiang all had agents in Hangzhou, who were gathering information everywhere, hoping to know as soon as possible whether the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would continue to intimidate and punish the people in Zhejiang.

The last punishment was so painful that a huge fire in Renhe killed many powerful and wealthy families.

As the case progressed, most of the powerful and wealthy people breathed a sigh of relief. Although the emperor's punishment was terrible, it was not like thunder and wrath that could fall on their heads.

Almost all the ship certificates and deeds issued by Zhejiang Huantian were registered with Songjiang Ocean Trading Company, because it was really inconvenient in Ningbo. This inconvenience was not because the people in Zhejiang knew that the Ocean Trading Company had become a nest of traitors, but because it was really inconvenient everywhere.

The inconvenience is: no matter what business you do, you have to give a token of loyalty to the merchant general; if you don't have the merchant general's approval when declaring customs, it can be stuck for years, and the goods can be piled up at the dock and cannot be shipped out of the warehouse; if you have given a token of loyalty and maintained a good relationship with the merchant company, but can do it today, you may suddenly not be able to do it tomorrow.

When doing business, the most feared thing is this kind of inconvenience.

According to rumors, a weaving workshop with more than 300 weavers, 20 jacquard machines, and 150 large and small looms was transferred to merchant Cao Xuecheng for one silver.

Soon, the Hangzhou prefectural government announced the details of the case, and the rumors were no longer rumors, but true.

This weaving workshop is Shunyuan Weaving Workshop, located in Jinhua Prefecture. It was once the second largest weaving workshop in Zhejiang Province after Hangzhou. Due to various reasons, the owner had no choice but to transfer it to Mr. Shang for one silver.

When the Shunyuan Weaving Workshop case was announced, all the powerful and wealthy businessmen gasped, because they really had a workshop, and Shunyuan Weaving Workshop's today was their tomorrow!
Shunyuan Weaving Workshop had no choice but to accept its fate, because if it did not, there would be no peace in the family.

The development process was exactly the same as that of the official weaving workshop in Yiwu. Both were large orders with no profit at all, but Shunyuan Weaving Workshop chose to refuse them. Unable to buy raw silk, the craftsmen of Shunyuan Weaving Workshop gradually left. They sued, but the result was no response.

The owner of Shunyuan Weaving Workshop is the Su family from Wuzhou. Their family can be traced back to Su Shi in the Northern Song Dynasty. When Su Shi was the prefect of Wuzhou, the Su family moved to Wuzhou and settled there, where they multiplied and prospered. They were a family of poetry, books, music and nobility, but they still could not stop the coveting of those who were interested.

The worst that can happen to this Shunyuan Weaving Workshop is that they can just quit! The Su family is so wealthy, how could they still be short of such a little money? It is simply absurd to transfer the workshop to the merchant Cao Xuecheng for just one silver!

Shunyuan Weaving Workshop had to obey because Zhang Wenda, the prefect of Jinhua Prefecture, was Cao Xuecheng's father-in-law. Zhang Wenda didn't even say hello specifically, but the lawyer handled everything very well.

The head of the Su family and the three sons of the Su family were thrown into prison one after another. The charges were vague, saying that they were resisting the order to return the land. However, the Su family had already completed the return of the land and had never resisted the imperial order. This was just a pretext to put people in jail.

You know, the detention room in the yamen is much more difficult than that in prison.

The head of the Su family and the three young masters were already very stubborn, but they only held out for half a year. Finally, they signed the contract. If they didn't sign, they would probably lose their lives. In the end, Yiyin transferred Shunyuan Weaving Workshop.

"Your Majesty, after the case of Shunyuan Weaving Workshop was made public, it caused strong dissatisfaction among the wealthy merchants in Zhejiang. They demanded severe punishment for Zhang Wenda, Cao Xuecheng and others. Killing them is not enough to appease the public anger." Feng Bao handed copies of miscellaneous reports to His Majesty.

Zhu Yijun flipped through these miscellaneous newspapers, and the thoughts of the Zhejiang tycoons were very interesting. They suddenly felt that His Majesty the Emperor was much more reasonable! He was ten thousand times better than these corrupt officials and the scum of the Ming Dynasty who colluded with officials and businessmen!
Your Majesty never confiscates property without reason, nor does he rob openly. Your Majesty will not even return the land in vain, but will redeem the ships and ship certificates on time. You only force the powerful and wealthy to transform, not to kill people.

To be more specific, the powerful and wealthy businessmen in Zhejiang have discovered that, to this day, Your Majesty has never abused his power even once.

Even Chen Youren, who was killed by His Majesty on the street, did not die unjustly. The southeast, which had just been ravaged by Japanese pirates, was indeed difficult to accept Chen Youren's nonsense that glorified the Japanese pirates.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "Severe punishment is a must, otherwise I would have already headed north to Songjiang Prefecture instead of staying in Hangzhou Prefecture. Killing people is reckless, but it really works."

"But it takes time to handle a case, especially when searching for property. No matter how professional the imperial guards are, they still need to follow the clues to find out where the money went. They have to find it thoroughly and not let any money slip away."

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing. Shunyuan Weaving Workshop has not been returned." Feng Bao said helplessly, "The head of the Su family petitioned Your Majesty to take it as an official property. Their family really dare not take this hot potato."

After the Ming Dynasty had thoroughly investigated and dealt with the case of Shunyuan Weaving Workshop, it was natural that the Ming Dynasty would return Shunyuan Weaving Workshop. However, when the imperial guards went to return it, the head of the Su family almost had his head broken, and he dared not touch it again. This shows what kind of torture they had suffered in the government office of Jinhua Prefecture.

Zhu Yijun had actually foreseen this situation. If the Su family was unwilling to operate the business, the court could use silver as compensation, at a price of 240,000 silver coins, to compensate the Su family.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty took out real gold and silver as compensation, showing his sincerity. This compensation was essentially the credibility of the Ming court, which was so poor that Zhu Yijun could only make up for it with his own credibility.

But when Su heard that the emperor was even willing to give silver, she was so scared that she almost fell down! She kowtowed again and again, hoping that His Majesty the Emperor would let them off.

"This is a case of a bad apple spoiling the whole barrel. Zhang Wenda's willfulness has prevented the court from paying the compensation. The Su family has become a frightened bird."

Zhu Yijun had a headache. He rubbed his forehead gently before speaking, "Let Yan Shixuan send someone to appease them. Either take back the workshop or take away the compensation. It can't be so unclear and unclear."

Thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor. Such vague words will only further undermine the credibility of the court and the emperor. Su was greatly frightened and very scared, so he could only be appeased slowly.

In Su's eyes, they are all officials, all the same. The silver given now will be taken back double, so it is understandable that they are so resistant. They don't want the workshop or the silver, they just want to live a quiet life.

"There is another thing. Cao Xuecheng is involved in a murder case." Feng Bao handed a file to His Majesty.

Cao Xuecheng was married and had two children, a son and a daughter. However, Cao Xuecheng abandoned his wife and children in order to marry Zhang Wenda's daughter. That would have been fine, but his wife suddenly died of a sudden illness the year before last, which attracted the attention of the Tiqi.

Cao Xuecheng insisted that he died of illness, but the Imperial Guards always presume the guilt to be innocent when handling cases. They felt that the death was very strange, so they conducted a thorough interrogation of everyone in the Cao family, from Cao Xuecheng's mother to the maid and the cook, but to no avail.

Because Cao Xuecheng abandoned his wife and children, he drove the mother and her two children out of the Cao family. The mother and her two children returned to her parents' home to live. The servants in the Cao family did not know much about the situation of the mother and her two children.

Tiqi learned that the life of the mother and her two children had always been very difficult. Their parents were unwilling to let them return home, and instead found a side house in Ningbo Prefecture to house them. Because these wealthy families were very concerned about their reputation, it was a shame for the mother and her two children to be driven back home.

Later, after much investigation, they finally got some vague clues from a midwife. After further investigation, faced with overwhelming evidence, Cao Xuecheng chose to confess.

Cao Xuecheng hired someone to kill his ex-wife.

The clue provided by the midwife was that Cao Xuecheng's ex-wife became pregnant after the divorce. The midwife went to her house to check on her body, and later news came that she had died suddenly and mysteriously.

The child that this ex-wife was pregnant with was Cao Xuecheng's.

Her parents didn't give her any money, and her husband was a wicked man who was good at scheming and would do anything to get what he wanted. If she were alone, it would be fine, but with two hungry children, this mother had no choice but to ask her ex-husband for help for the sake of her children.

After Cao Xuecheng married Zhang Wenda's daughter, he still had an affair with his ex-wife, which led to this unborn child.

After Cao Xuecheng learned the news, he bribed some thugs to come to the house and cause trouble. Eventually, the mother died at the hands of the thugs. Finally, after the Ningbo coroner examined the body, he announced that she had died of a sudden illness.

The Ningbo prefectural government, from top to bottom, was profiteering from the Ningbo Ocean Trading Company, so this little matter was easily dealt with.

"Cao Xuecheng is a cruel and ruthless person." Zhu Yijun looked at the case file with a frown. In his opinion, this case was extremely bad.

Zhu Yijun also has his own class thinking. His class thinking has never been the nine-fold heaven thinking of "I and Fan Shu", but the small peasant class thinking that is a bit similar to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. In his view, marriage is a family, and a couple should go hand in hand until old age.

In the minds of these nobles, marriage is for the purpose of forming a close alliance of interests based on morality and public order and good customs.

Obviously, from Cao Xuecheng's perspective, his ex-wife's class and the family behind her could no longer provide any better help to his career, so he was so crazy and used all means to marry Zhang Wenda's daughter.

"Cao Xuecheng confessed that he still loved his ex-wife more." Feng Bao continued to place the case file in front of His Majesty.

Zhang Wenda's daughter has a very bad temper. She is the kind of person who always makes trouble and quarrels with Cao Xuecheng every other day. If she is not satisfied with something, she will smash the house.

Cao Xuecheng was very interested in epigraphy and had a large collection of antiques at home. In the three years since he got married, almost all of his collections had been smashed.

Cao Xuecheng's first marriage was very happy. It could even be said that they lived in harmony and treated each other as equals. Cao Xuecheng's career also developed smoothly.

But his second marriage made Cao Xuecheng go home less often. The less he went home, the more noisy Zhang Wenda's daughter became. Every time Cao Xuecheng went back, this unruly step-wife would make a big fuss, disturbing the family's peace.

After reading the file, Zhu Yijun was very surprised and asked, "So, what is he trying to achieve? After all this trouble, he ended up putting himself and the Cao family in jail."

It's not worth it. In order to become the general manager of the business, Cao Xuecheng almost worked himself to the point of breaking up his family.

"In order to become the general manager of the business world, this business world is like a battlefield where you either advance or you retreat. Hiring someone to kill is to eliminate future troubles." Feng Bao explained Cao Xuecheng's motives.

His ex-wife was pregnant, and once the child was born, it would be impossible to hide it. It would be fine if Zhang Wenda's daughter made a fuss at home, but once it got to Zhang Wenda, there would be no way to resolve it. Cao Xuecheng simply went all out.

"Let's post the notice." Zhu Yijun finished reading all the files. All the case files on the wife-killing case were on the emperor's desk. In Zhu Yijun's opinion, Cao Xuecheng got something, but the price he paid was too high.

The corruption case of the Ningbo Ocean Trading Company in Zhejiang caused a big stir in Zhejiang, but its scale and impact were far inferior to the Southern Court Tribute Selection Case. However, this case still sounded the alarm for the court that the emerging bourgeoisie, whose main business was maritime trade, were not good people either.

Although the scale of this case was not as large as the tribute selection case, its impact was extremely far-reaching, because it was the first time that the emperor cleaned up the black sheep in the emerging bourgeoisie.

This made the old cultural nobles feel a little more balanced. At least His Majesty's punishment, especially in terms of imperial power, the majesty of the court, and maintaining the fairness of the laws of the Ming Dynasty, was relatively fair.

During the investigation of the case, the imperial concubine Yin Zongxin came to the West Lake Palace and formally bid farewell to the Emperor.

"This time, Zongxin must be extra careful. Chijun Mountain is a place with poor mountains and bad water. Don't underestimate the enemy when you are garrisoning there. The local barbarians are more familiar with the local situation." Zhu Yijun once again reminded Yin Zongxin not to underestimate any danger.

"Your Majesty, thank you for your concern. I will certainly be cautious and careful to protect the princess." Yin Zongxin bowed his head again to express his gratitude.

Zhu Yijun and Yin Zongxin talked about the local customs and habits of Chijunshan Port. There were barbarians in the area, but not many, and there were not many minerals in the area. The Ming Dynasty's demands for the area near Chijunshan Port were mainly plantations, ports and shipping route safety.

"Zongxin, there is one thing I don't understand. What exactly do you mean by 'degeneration'?" Zhu Yijun frowned as he spoke of Yin Zongxin's memorial.

Yin Zongxin decided to let his child return to Ming Dynasty to receive education and grow up in Ming Dynasty. The court would then decide the successor to the Sishui Marquisate. This was almost the same treatment as the royal family of Ming Dynasty. Yin Zongxin was the son-in-law of the emperor and a legitimate royal relative.

The biggest reason for sending the child back to Ming Dynasty to grow up was not to reassure the court, but to avoid degeneration. "Wan Zongbo said that the colonists would inevitably become localized. I think the description of localization is not quite accurate. A more accurate description is degeneration, which I cannot accept." Yin Zongxin explained in detail why he wanted to send the child back to Ming Dynasty.

Yin Zongxin believes that Wan Shihe’s term “localization” is too polite and is essentially a regression.

This degeneration manifested itself in two aspects. The first was in culture and education. During the colonization process, some low-level and bad cultural customs would inevitably affect the Han people. Among them, what Yin Zongxin could not accept the most was religion.

Throughout Southeast Asia, the four major religions, including Hui, Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Paradise Buddhism, have tried every possible means to recruit believers.

Yin Zhengmao and Yin Zongxin, who were born into the Qilin Yin clan, found it hard to accept that their family had degenerated to such a level.

In Confucian culture, the definition of heresy is very clear. No matter how the literati alienate the Confucian classics, the word heresy means religion.

At his first lecture, Zhang Juzheng said: Song Huizong was devoted to Taoism and called himself the Taoist Master Daojun; Emperor Wu of Liang was superstitious about Buddhism and called himself Bodhidharma, both of them lost their lives and their country and were laughed at by later generations. The harm of heresy is something that should be strictly guarded against for all generations!

Zhang Juzheng was not only talking about Emperor Huizong of Song and Emperor Wu of Liang, but also Emperor Shenzong. In his later years, Emperor Shenzong promoted a large number of prime ministers with outstanding achievements. Of course, this promotion was largely a test of loyalty and the embarrassment of having no one available.

But this behavior brought the political arena of the Ming Dynasty into a strange atmosphere. It was just that Zhang Juzheng, as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, was not in a position to criticize directly. Hai Rui was very direct in his words.

It was difficult for Yin Zhengmao and Yin Zongxin to accept that their children and grandchildren were a group of people who were superstitious and prayed to gods and Buddhas, which was a sign of cultural degeneration.

In addition to cultural degeneration, the second aspect is physical degeneration. Yin Zhengmao and Yin Zongxin both like Natural Selection, Anthropic Selection, Survival of the Fittest and Elimination of the Few, four books on experience summarized by Jie Kuaiyuan from his observations of all things in the world.

The natural endowment of Nanyang is excellent. People can survive by just throwing a handful of seeds. Moreover, there have not been very cruel wars and large-scale elimination and screening, which has caused the people here to be slightly inferior in body odor, figure, appearance, skin color, etc.

Some Han people jokingly called the Nanyang barbarians "monkeys".

Therefore, letting the child grow up in the Ming Dynasty and arrange his marriage and funerals became a joint decision between the father and son.

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, when China was sinking and the sky and the earth were breaking apart, a large number of Han people fled to Southeast Asia. These Han people showed degeneration in their cultural and physical characteristics. This inevitable localization was completely unacceptable in the eyes of Yin Zhengmao and Yin Zongxin.

After listening to Yin Zongxin's reasons, Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "I see. Wan Zongbo's belief that people who go to sea will inevitably become localized is indeed unrealistic. Your term of degeneration is more appropriate."

"If you want to come back and take a look, then come back and take a look. There is no limit on migration in the heartland of the Ming Dynasty and the overseas governor's office. Come back if you want."

"I thank Your Majesty for your great grace." Upon hearing this, Yin Zongxin breathed a sigh of relief and bowed his head to express his gratitude.

The fact that the Sishui Marquisate could return to Ming meant that most of the Nanyang Han people could also return to Ming, with the exception of exiles, who could not return to Ming.

At least while Your Majesty is still alive, this promise is valid. Those who go to Southeast Asia to explore do not have to worry about the problem of degeneration. After Your Majesty passes away, there is no need to worry too much about this problem, because by then the barbarians in Southeast Asia will become a minority among the minorities.

The development of the Ming Dynasty has never been kind, but all the sins have been blamed on Your Majesty alone.

On the third day of August in the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign, Yin Zongxin and Princess Yingjia Zhu Xuanchang left Hangzhou Prefecture, took a boat through the Zhejiang East Road and arrived at the Ningbo Maritime Customs, then sailed south to Luzon, with no known date of return.

On August 428, Hangzhou Prefecture once again posted a notice that the time for the public trial of the Ningbo Ocean Trading Company case had been set. A total of people would be executed, and a total of people would be exiled to the Jinchi Governor's Mansion. If it was farther away, it would be to the Jinshan and Jifu Governor's Mansions.

"Zhang Hong." Zhu Yijun said to Zhang Hong while looking at the case file submitted by the East Factory in his hand.

"Your Majesty is here." Zhang Hong hurriedly took two steps forward and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty calling him by his name shows your Majesty's dissatisfaction, because the eunuch commander-in-chief of the Ningbo Maritime Customs was involved in the case."

There are the Imperial Guards in the outer court and the East Factory in the inner court. They are all judicial departments directly under the emperor. The eunuchs have a special status and represent the continuation of the emperor's will outside the palace.

The eunuch Chen Zeng, who was involved in the case and was in charge of the Ningbo Maritime Customs, was Zhang Hong's adopted son.

Zhu Yijun read the case file carefully again before speaking: "You should deal with Chen Zeng yourself. Don't let this kind of thing happen again in the future."

"I obey your order!" Zhang Hong bowed again, took the case file, and went to deal with this adopted son. As for the result of the punishment, it was naturally death without a burial place.

Zhu Yijun didn't care whether the eunuchs were greedy or not. The eunuchs had no worldly desires and just loved some money. However, Zhu Yijun could not accept the eunuchs colluding with each other inside and outside the court.

During the nine years that Chen Zeng served as the Ningbo Maritime Customs, he plundered and amassed more than 720,000 silver coins. Once local officials in Zhejiang impeached him, Chen Zeng would use his identity as a eunuch to find ways to get away with it and retaliate double the amount.

At first, Chen Zeng did not dare to go too far. In addition, there were conflicts between the local government and the central government of the imperial court. Chen Zeng was indeed falsely accused several times. In the first two years, Chen Zeng did perform his duties as the emperor's minion and a sharp blade inserted into the local government.

Later, Chen Zeng began to make peace with local officials. This was one of the reasons why the Ningbo Maritime Customs and the Ocean Trading Companies became increasingly inconvenient, and multi-party supervision began to become ineffective.

Zhang Hong went to the Hangzhou government office and took away the criminal Chen Zeng and his three adopted sons, and brought them back to half a room next to the West Lake Palace, which was the base of the Dongchang guards. About 200 guards followed them south.

"Godfather, save me, godfather!" Chen Zeng finally saw Zhang Hong and cried for joy. He had been captured for so many days and was like a lost dog, living in a state of panic all day long. Now he finally found his backbone.

Zhang Hong sat opposite Chen Zeng and shook his head, saying, "Our ancestors said that we should think twice before we are in danger, change, or retreat. But how can we, the family slaves, be qualified to think twice? It is only because of your majesty's generosity that we can think twice, but you have never thought of retreating."

"If we save you, who will save us?"

Chen Zeng didn't expect that Zhang Hong didn't come to save him, but to send him to death. He was shocked and said, "Foster father! I gave you all the money, you can't just stand by and watch him die!"

Zhang Hong took a deep breath, his face turned cold, he glanced at Chen Zeng and asked: "It would be fine if you don't mention money, but if you do, we will have to have a good talk with you."

"You have amassed 720,000 silver coins in the past nine years. How much did you give to our family? How much did you give to the treasury?"

"I gave 71,000 silver coins to the treasury and 70,000 silver coins to my adoptive father." Chen Zeng's eyes finally dodged.

Zhang Hong took out a bone prying knife from his sleeve, sprinkled some water on the whetstone, sharpened the knife in his hand and said, "So, you know what it means to bring disaster upon yourself? Chen Zeng, you are not loyal."

"You forgot that we are the emperor's servants."

"You forgot that before you left, I told you that no matter how much you collected, you could only keep 30% for yourself, and the rest had to be handed over to the treasury."

"You forgot that the reason you were able to amass so much money is because you are a slave of the emperor, not because of you."

"You've forgotten your roots."

Chen Zeng was already disloyal as he only paid 10% of the treasury, which was disloyal; he colluded with both internal and external forces, worked in cahoots with local officials, kept the truth within the government, and even participated in it, which was even more disloyal.

Zhang Hong couldn't protect him. The palace had its own rules, and loyalty was the biggest rule. As long as it was not a loyalty issue, Zhang Hong could protect him.

"Be more careful in your next life." Zhang Hong sharpened the knife and stood in front of Chen Zeng. Several guards from the Eastern Depot held down Chen Zeng and his three adopted sons.

Zhang Hong inserted the bone prying knife in his hand into Chen Zeng's spine, pried it gently and slid it a little. Chen Zeng's eyes widened and he lost control of his body. Soon, Chen Zeng's three adopted sons were dealt with by Zhang Hong himself.

"Chop off their heads, feed their bodies to dogs, and send their heads to the dissection hospital to be made into specimens." Zhang Hong watched the guards chop off the heads of the four men before he signed his name on the document.

The bodies and heads were separated, and the heads were made into specimens. This was the consequence of betrayal. In fact, Zhang Hongting wanted to send these four people to the Dismemberment Institute to be made into specimens, but the Dismemberment Institute no longer accepted Ming people.

Dealing with it personally is to prevent the adopted sons from having any fluke mentality. It is normal for eunuchs to amass wealth and make false accusations, but eunuchs cannot be disloyal.

Wang Chonggu also came to the Hangzhou government office. He did not mention anyone, but came to interrogate Zhang Wenda.

Wang Chonggu is old now and likes to use a cane. Wang Chonggu used to pretend to be old, but now you can tell from his steps that Wang Chonggu is really old.

"Zhang Wenda, in the past four years, three government-owned factories in Jinhua Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, and Ningbo Prefecture in Zhejiang Province have closed down. These are government-owned factories and monopoly businesses. How could you manage them to close down?"

"You are very calculating. You have even set your sights on the government-owned factory." Wang Chonggu sat on the chair and looked at Zhang Wenda with a stern tone.

These state-owned factories had to close down due to poor management, but were soon bought out by private companies at low prices and then turned losses into profits, proving that the bloated and rigid nature of the state-owned factories was the key to their inability to make profits.

It all seemed very reasonable, but Wang Chonggu had been an official all his life and his family had been in business for generations, so he could see at a glance that there was something fishy going on here.

State-owned factories are bloated, rigid and full of corruption, but private factories are not bloated, there are no nepotism, no rigid conventions, and no corruption?

If Wang Chonggu believed this nonsense, he would have lived in vain for the past seventy years.

Zhang Wenda was stared at and felt guilty, so he shouted loudly: "Wang Cifu! Have you ever thought about turning the Xishan Coal Bureau Coal and Steel Plant, Yongding Woolen Factory, and Taotushan White Clay Factory into your own business? Don't lie! You just don't dare!"

"Wang Ci Fu, who do you think these government-run factories belong to?"

Wang Chonggu smiled and said, "It is your Majesty's official factory, the official factory of the court, the official factory of all the people, and the official factory of the Ming Dynasty."

"So sanctimonious and full of bullshit!" Zhang Wenda sneered when he heard the official-like clichés. Everyone uses the same clichés. If the officials are transferred to the civilians, then this civilian workshop is no longer the workshop of the people and the Ming Dynasty?

"That's bullshit indeed. Let's be clear. These are all official factories of His Majesty." Wang Chonggu agreed and paused with his cane, saying, "I am timid and dare not steal from His Majesty's official factories. You are brave and dare to steal His Majesty's things."

(End of this chapter)