I'm really not doing business

Chapter 927: Thousands of Peaks Carve Out a Road to Heaven, Tens of Thousands of Valleys Fill Up the Road to the Mountains

The Ming Dynasty's public opinion called the tribute selection case one of the four major cases of the Wanli period, and excluded the Xindu Yang case from the four major cases. In this way, it corresponded to the four major cases of the Hongwu period. To some extent, this was also the law passed down by our ancestors.

The Zhang Siwei case represented the official revival of the Ming Dynasty's imperial power. It also represented that the emperor had poked his head out from behind the iron triangle of Empress Dowager Li, Feng Bao, and Zhang Juzheng. It represented that the Ming Dynasty had once again found its backbone, the "one" among the forces of thousands.

Even though Zhang Juzheng was the regent, he was still a subject and could not be the number one. But after Zhang Siwei, His Majesty the Emperor became the number one and guided the Ming Dynasty in a new direction.

The Yanzhou Confucius Mansion Case represents that the Ming Dynasty is no longer limited to the Confucianism of the past in terms of cultural context. Confucius' wisdom is indeed great, but it has been two thousand years and cannot guide the present. The Confucius Mansion Case represents a drastic change in thought.

This was an extremely important fulcrum of the Wanli Reform in the Ming Dynasty. The Dinghai school system and the Confucius Mansion Case had a direct causal relationship and had far-reaching influence.

The Xu Jie case represented the official start of the Ming Dynasty's comprehensive anti-corruption campaign. If Xu Jie had not died, the Ming Dynasty's anti-corruption campaign could not be implemented and the scale of corruption could not be curbed. Almost all the literati recognized a consensus that if corruption was not fought, the country would perish, but there has never been a brave person to carry out the anti-corruption campaign.

Throughout the ages, from ancient times to the present, no country or dynasty can escape this fate. When corruption is rampant and even institutional corruption occurs, failure to fight corruption will lead to inevitable destruction.

Because institutional corruption corrodes the organization of the dynasty.

A country is a community of interests that is united by consensus, with personal safety as its core purpose, the court as its entity, and a community of interests that is united by its degree of organization.

Once the organization is corrupted by corruption, the court will be unable to perform its functions, people's livelihoods will be unable to be preserved, consensus will collapse one after another, and the country will perish if corruption is not fought.

Therefore, the Xu Jie case is of great significance as a landmark event that marked the beginning of the Ming Dynasty's large-scale and powerful anti-corruption campaign.

The Xindu Yang case was always a little bit lacking in significance. It was also a corruption case, and it was not even a political case. Compared with the Xu Jie case, its impact was not even a little bit worse.

The reason for dismissing the Xindu Yang family case and adding the tribute selection case was that the tribute selection case was a political case with more far-reaching impact.

The tribute selection case represented that the emerging bourgeoisie officially possessed the strength to compete with the aristocracy and gentry class of the old culture. It also represented that the emerging bourgeoisie began to enter the mainstream. It also represented that the basic supporters of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had shifted from the literati to the emerging bourgeoisie.

In terms of future impact, I am afraid the tribute selection case should be discussed alongside the Zhang Siwei case.

The four major cases of the Wanli period are still the four major cases.

The tribute selection case still has aftermath, and this aftermath will even accompany the Ming court for several years. The murder of Zhen Zhuolian is to purge the remnants of the rebel party in the Northern Ya.

This southern tour in the 17th year of Wanli can also be seen as the Emperor leading the Beijing troops south to quell the rebellion.

"The Governor of Yunnan and the Duke of Qian have submitted a petition requesting that 3,000 soldiers be stationed in Vientiane City, with a rotation every three years. We humbly request the court's approval." The Minister of War Zeng Shengwu talked about Yunnan and the need to increase troops in Laos.

Although there were constant rumors that Grand Marshal Zeng Shengwu would be implicated, after an investigation by the Imperial Guards, Zeng Shengwu was found not to be involved in the case, so he still participated in the court meeting in the Cultural Hall.

The court quickly passed the petition for increasing troops.

In addition to their original salaries, garrison soldiers will receive an additional 120 silver coins as a garrison reward in addition to pensions, salaries and other remunerations after they are rotated back to Yunnan, regardless of whether they are alive or dead. The reward will be distributed directly to each soldier from the treasury as a reward for garrisoning.

One hundred and twenty silver coins were just enough for a soldier's child to go from elementary school to college.

The reason why the imperial court did this, armed Laos and ensured that Laos would not be harassed by the Burmese bandits and Annan, was entirely due to a basic logic: if the Ming Dynasty persisted in turning its surrounding neighbors into a cesspool, the maggots in the cesspool would sooner or later crawl onto the Ming Dynasty's dining table.

In fact, the maggots in these pits have already crawled onto the Ming Dynasty’s dining table.

Songjiang Prefecture conducts a comprehensive survey every year to prevent the expansion of the Jilejiao in the Ming Dynasty.

The Paradise Cult was a maggot born in the cesspool of Japan. It had many followers in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, it did not cause much waves due to the high pressure and severe punishment from the imperial court.

The Sun family of Songjiang Prefecture closed all their pleasure boat businesses and moved them to Southeast Asia in order to cooperate with Songjiang Prefecture's investigation into the Jile Cult.

"Mrs. Zhongshun, the governor of Suiyuan, has submitted a memorial stating that Guihua City has built a golden statue for Your Majesty in Suiyuan." As the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, Shen Li suppressed his smile and reported that the third lady had built a large statue for the emperor and placed it in front of the governor's office in Guihua City.

The emperor actually didn't like this kind of alienation. A human king is a human king. Zhu Yijun was very opposed to this kind of sanctification, but in Suiyuan, the emperor could only acquiesce.

As soon as the emperor tacitly agreed, Sanniang made a golden statue for him.

"The regulations of the golden statue are the same as those of the statues in Luzon, Jiugang and Jinchi Governor's Office, except that there is a passage engraved on the base explaining the reason for making a golden statue." Shen Li submitted a memorial.

The eunuch handed the memorial to Feng Bao, who placed it on the imperial desk. Zhu Yijun opened the memorial with mixed emotions, and after reading it for a long time, he said helplessly, "Just revise it."

The border residents on the grassland actually don’t quite understand why their lives are becoming more and more difficult.

The grasslands, the Western Regions, Qinghai, and the Sichuan-Tibet region all have a terrible vicious cycle that hovers over everyone's heads and cannot be shaken off.

The cycle is: the lack of a unified will leads to vicious competition, overgrazing, oasis reduction, desert expansion, oasis retreat, abandoned old cities, and highly concentrated population. The people of the grassland are struggling in an endless hell.

An endless hell, explained in great detail in memorials and inscriptions, an eternal downward spiral.

The degradation of grasslands has led to a decrease in cattle, sheep and grain. Food cannot meet the daily needs of border residents, resulting in an extra population. This extra population needs to be eliminated through war, plague, famine and other means.

Compared with the spiral rise of the Central Plains, the grassland is in a spiral decline. On a thousand-year scale, the population, pastures, cultivated land, cattle and sheep on the grassland have all been greatly reduced in both total quantity and quality compared to the Huns during the Qin and Han Dynasties. The same is true when viewed from a hundred-year scale or a decade scale.

It is precisely because of the eternal downward spiral that even if one or two heroes are born occasionally on the grassland, it does not help and the grassland will eventually decline.

The grassland people have no idea about the eternal downward spiral and the never-ending hell. The border residents are in great pain. They only know that their lives are getting worse and worse than those of their ancestors, but they can't find the answer. In the end, they can only resort to religion and pray for temporary peace.

It was the Ming Dynasty that launched the royal rule in Suiyuan, and Pan Jixun, Liu Dongxing and others who solved the mystery.

Sanniangzi made a golden statue for the emperor to tell all the people of the grassland why they had suffered in the past. They should not repeat the same mistakes or go down the old path. If they break away from the Ming Dynasty, the grassland will immediately fall into a downward spiral and go from the human world to hell.

If output exceeds consumption, there will be surplus and various economic problems. This is the trouble of happiness.

If consumption exceeds output, there is a shortage of means of production and output, the population will be excessive, and war, plague and religion will follow closely, which will be a catastrophe for everyone.

"Your Majesty, the Wanli Baochao is depreciating. One string of paper can only be exchanged for 650 wen and 9 qian of silver, while the official price of the Baochao Bureau and the Baoyuan Bureau is 700 wen and one tael of silver. After the Ministry of Revenue learned about this, it inquired about the situation. Should the official price be lowered along with the civilian price?" Grand Tutor Zhang Xueyan took out a memorial.

This was bad news. The Wanli Baochao had only been issued for two years, and the circulation of Baochao was only 14 million strings, but the Baochao had already begun to depreciate.

Zhu Yijun received a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue, stating that if the official price of the Ming Dynasty did not drop, some people would engage in arbitrage, buying nine cents of silver at the civilian price and cashing it out at one tael of silver at the official shop.

This resale brings a 10% profit, and some people have emerged among the public who specialize in this business.

After reading the memorial, Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "If the official price is lowered, within three years, Wanli Baochao will follow the footsteps of Hongwu Baochao. The people will have less and less trust in Baochao, and the price will immediately drop. The less Baochao is accepted, the smaller its circulation share will be, causing further depreciation."

"If the official price does not fall accordingly, people will continue to arbitrage out of the Baochao Bureau. As long as the court issues Baochao, it will bear a loss of 10% or even more. Similarly, if this kind of arbitrage exists, people will use it for arbitrage instead of using it. The circulation share of Baochao will also decrease, and it will not be recognized by people, causing further depreciation."

Blocked at both ends.

The emperor summarized the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue. It seemed that the Wanli Baochao had entered a dead end just two years after its issuance. No matter what choice was made, the final result would be a reduction in the circulation share, lack of recognition, further depreciation, and eventual withdrawal from the circulation market.

It was indeed very difficult to establish a paper currency system during the Wanli period.

The gold narrative began in the 10th year of Wanli, and million strings of banknotes were issued in the th year. In the th year, million strings of banknotes were issued. In just two years, the depreciation rate had reached %, which far exceeded the court's expectations.

According to the imperial court's estimate, as a treasure note that can be redeemed, that is, exchanged for Wanli Tongbao and Wanli silver coins, the annual depreciation rate should be between 0% and 1%, and then return to 0% after five-year currency exchange, and repeat this cycle until the Wanli Baochao is accepted by the people and the construction of the Ming Dynasty's paper currency system is finally completed.

It fell by 10% in just two years. The Ministry of Revenue could not accept this situation in any way. The court would lose money if it issued banknotes.

"How did you solve the problem of Japanese currency notes?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Xueyan and asked about the situation of Japanese currency notes.

Zhang Xueyan said succinctly: "The Japanese currency notes cannot be redeemed, they can only be exchanged for banknotes, so whether it depreciates or not has nothing to do with the Nagasaki Governor's Office or the shogunate. It is the Japanese who are losing, not the Governor's Office."

The Ming Dynasty court fell into such a predicament because it placed too much emphasis on credibility.

Zhang Xueyan was very heartbroken. The Wanli Baochao was like a child that had been nurtured for fifteen years and had gone through countless hardships before it was born. It looked like it was going to die before it even learned to walk. Zhang Xueyan thought of many ways but didn't know how to get out of this dilemma.

"What do you think, sir?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and asked for his opinion.

"I have run out of ideas." Zhang Juzheng was in Wenyuan Pavilion. He and Zhang Xueyan had discussed this matter several times, but they still could not come up with a reliable solution.

"What does the Second Prime Minister think?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu.

"I have run out of ideas." Wang Chonggu replied hastily. He was not optimistic about the Baochao from the beginning to the end. He was a conservative. In his opinion, issuing banknotes was not as good as going out to rob silver!
He advocated the Sunset Plan and the New Sun Canal, and the armed seizure of rich silver mines to allow more silver to flow into the Ming Dynasty to solve the money shortage, rather than the banknote system.

Wang Chonggu and the Ministry of Works shared the same opinion. They both felt that the banknote system was not as good as the money system. Real gold, silver and copper were the money that the people wanted.

Zhu Yijun saw that Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to accept Wang Chonggu's opposition to the banknote system. He sat up straight and said, "Then I will make the decision."

"The Ministry of Revenue knows that the official price does not follow the civilian price, but still pays in full. The treasury will temporarily cover the loss. If there is still no improvement after the five-year note exchange period, no more notes will be issued and all Wanli notes will be recalled."

Zhu Yijun accepted the loss and decided to bear it for now.

The Ming Dynasty court cannot change its policies every day, nor can it act on its whim. It was full of confidence in issuing treasure notes, but when it encountered the slightest difficulty, it immediately backed down and turned its back on itself. This kind of behavior will only make the Ming Dynasty look like a joke.

Something must have happened that caused the people to lack confidence in the treasure notes, which led to such a large difference between the civilian price and the official price.

Qi Jiguang could not teach the emperor how to deploy troops, but he taught the emperor how to read battle reports from the front line. As a decision-maker, the emperor could be immoral, but he must be patient and go through the four processes of chaos, correcting the chaos, twists and turns, and settling the dust before making a decision.

It's not just the war reports, the same applies to the affairs of the court. You need to be patient and get to know the truth. "Grand Tutor." Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Xueyan and said.

"I'm here!" Zhang Xueyan replied immediately.

"I am a little confused. Why is there a difference between the civilian price and the official price? If I hold 100 strings of treasure notes, why don't I go directly to the Baoyuan Bureau to exchange them for the full amount? Instead, I have to find a banknote dealer and exchange them at a low price?" Zhu Yijun asked his doubts.

"Your Majesty, because it is inconvenient." Zhang Xueyan gave a complete answer as to why there would be civilian prices. Only when there is demand and supply will there be a market.

The existence of the over-the-counter market is because the cashing of Baochao at the Baochao Bureau is not without any restrictions. On the contrary, if Baochao exceeding 100 guan is to be cashed, one needs to wait for a period of time, explain the purpose, provide some certificates, and most importantly, register.

Some people got Baochao that was not so clean, so they had to find ways to make it clean; or they were in urgent need of silver; or they did not trust the Baochao, but because the excess could not be redeemed, there was a demand for excess redemption.

When there is demand, some people who are good at scheming will discover profit margins and will find ways to supply and gain profits.

The over-the-counter market was formed, and private prices and official prices emerged. This price difference existed not only in the redemption of banknotes, but also in the transactions of gold, silver and copper.

"I understand." Zhu Yijun thought about it. The answer given by the Ministry of Revenue did answer the question, but Zhu Yijun still felt confused. He always felt that there was something going on and it was not that simple.

The court discussion was still going on. The Ministry of Revenue reported on the issuance of national bonds; the Ministry of Works reported on the construction of the remaining nine of the eighteen universities; and the Ministry of Personnel gave the list of officials who would be admitted to the universities this year according to the civil service examination law.

These matters are complicated and seem to be a mess, but they are all inextricably linked. They are things that cannot be resolved by the six ministries and need to be taken to the Wenhua Palace for resolution.

Wang Chonggu reported to His Majesty that the Longkai Chidao Road had been fully built and that the final overhaul would be completed before the end of the year. The road would then be handed over from the Engineering Corps to the Chidao Branch Bureau for operation, allowing the entire line to be connected.

The key section of the Longkai Highway, the Jiayuguan to Lanzhou section, is the most difficult part of the entire construction. In this section, one mile of highway construction costs 20,000 silver coins, while building a road in the plain only costs 6,000 to 7,500 silver coins per mile.

The construction of the Longkai Highway cost a total of 3500 million silver coins, which was the money saved by Your Majesty through his frugality. Wang Chonggu tried his best to spend every penny of the silver on the highway instead of putting it into someone else's pocket. The nature of embezzling money from the government and embezzling money from Your Majesty are completely different.

During the years when the Longkaichi Road was under construction, more than 600 prefects, prosecutors, county magistrates, and clerks in the construction workshops along the route were investigated and punished, and all of them were severely punished with the third level of punishment.

For a long time, it has been difficult for the people to buy and work for the court, and it has also been very difficult to get work and get paid.

The Longkaichi Road was completely different. It was built by the Engineering Corps, which built cement plants, gravel plants, coal and steel plants, etc. along the way.

The salary payment of the twelve engineering regiments and battalions is carried out in full compliance with the Beijing Battalion payment procedures to ensure that labor remuneration is paid in full.

In order to ensure the enthusiasm of the craftsmen, Wang Chonggu even invited eunuchs from the Northern Pacification Office, the Eastern Factory, and the tax inspectors who were good at checking accounts to enter the site in stages to investigate corruption. Even the steamed buns, corn bread, rice, flour, grain and oil in the canteen of the engineering corps were on the tax inspectors' inspection list.

The reason why Wang Chonggu heightened the intensity of anti-corruption efforts was that the construction of the Longkaichi Road was extremely difficult. It crossed mountains and ridges. From an engineering design perspective, it was possible to build it, but from an engineering practice perspective, it was really very, very difficult. It was a miracle that it could be completed.

When Wang Chonggu was building the highway from Jiayuguan to Lanzhou, he encountered a very thorny problem. There was no iron ore in Gansu. If the highway was to be built, iron ore had to be transported from the hinterland to Gansu. The shortest distance was also from the Shengzhou Factory.

But how could Shengzhou Factory have so much spare capacity to supply the construction of the highway in Gansu?

Although Suiyuan has two coal and steel mills, Womagang Plant and Shengzhou Plant, the production of coke and steel can hardly meet the local demand in Suiyuan. Not to mention that these two state-owned factories also have to bear part of the raw material supply for the Xishan Coal Bureau. Even if they squeeze out of their teeth, they can only provide one hundred li of iron materials for the road.

Wang Chonggu tried to coordinate with many parties but to no avail, and all he could do was to get the iron material from a road 100 miles long.

Steel is an extremely scarce resource. Before the construction of the Womagang Factory and the Shengzhou Factory, people in Suiyuan didn’t even have iron pots to cook with.

But the iron materials for the highway from Jiayuguan to Lanzhou were finally solved.

The Gewu Academy sent seven geomancers with more than 700 people to climb mountains and explore forests near Jiayuguan and Lanzhou. At the cost of the sacrifice of one geomancer and the deaths of more than 100 geomancers and mineral prospectors, they finally found the local iron mine in Jiayuguan, the Jiatieshan Mine, 100 miles away from Jiayuguan, after a year.

The road from Jiayuguan to Jiatieshan Iron Mine was built first, and then the road from Jiayuguan to Lanzhou was built.

"Thousands of peaks have carved out a road to heaven; tens of thousands of ravines have been filled in to level the path through Long Mountains; every inch of track and every grain of silver is inscribed with blood and sweat; over the vast Qilian Mountains lies a giant dragon." Zhu Yijun wrote a poem that he had already written and revised many times on Wang Chonggu's memorial.

During the construction of the Longkai Road, Zhu Yijun even regretted whether he had made the wrong choice. He chose the Longkai Road instead of the Jingguang Road because the construction was too difficult.

So much so that Zhu Yijun felt that this highway might become a huge wound that would continue to bleed in the Ming Dynasty's finances.

But the Ministry of Works finally completed the construction of the highway as scheduled, giving the people of Longchuan a lifeline and providing enough brick kilns, cement plants, gravel plants, coal and steel plants, etc. along the way. All the hard work was worth it.

If the imperial court gives the people a chance to breathe, they can create impossible miracles one after another. This is the Ming Dynasty.

The court discussion ended with a chorus of praises. The construction of the Longkai Chidao was the willful act of the Ming Emperor. There was a lot of opposition in the court at the time, because no matter from which angle you look at it, the Jingkai Chidao was more worthy of construction rather than the Longkai Chidao.

The route from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou is more important, while the route from Zhengzhou to Jiayuguan can only meet the emperor's personal needs to reopen the Western Regions.

The emperor overruled all objections and even used all the imperial treasury to build the Longkaichi Road.

Now, the Beijing-Kaifeng Expressway has also been included in the construction process. Hundreds of thousands of resident craftsmen in government factories, tens of thousands of engineering corps battalions, and 20,000 miles of highway construction experience have made the construction of the Beijing-Kaifeng Expressway much easier.

"The construction cost of the highway from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou and from Kaifeng to Guangzhou was only 6,000 silver coins per mile. When the Chonggu Highway was first built, it cost 13,000 silver coins per mile. Looking back now, I am still filled with emotion." Wang Chonggu recalled the past when he received the emperor's poems.

When people get old, they like to reminisce about the past. Chonggu Chidao is the thing that Wang Chonggu is most proud of.

As time goes by, the cost of building the highway, the price per mile, is still decreasing. This is due to many reasons, such as the increase in steel production, the increase in the number of craftsmen, the accumulation of construction experience, and the increase in the horsepower of the iron horses.

"Wang Ci Fu, it's time to strive hard." Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu and said with a smile.

"I am old, Your Majesty. I am already decrepit." Wang Chonggu laughed, and soon the Wenhua Hall was filled with laughter, dispersing the pessimistic atmosphere of the impending natural disaster.

Wang Chong is old, but still full of energy and has a ruddy face. This old man looks much younger than those lowly scholars like Gao Panlong.

Some people age prematurely, with such a decadent look that they might as well be half buried in the ground; others remain spirited despite their old age.

Sometimes, the gap between people is indeed greater than the gap between people and monkeys.

The court officials actually realized that this natural disaster was indeed terrible, but there was no point in being afraid! No matter how afraid they were, the natural disaster was bound to come!
It seemed difficult to build the Longchi Road, but wasn’t it finally completed?

After the court meeting, Zhu Yijun changed his clothes and went to the General's Mansion to change for Mr. Huang's carriage. This time he did not go to Taibai Tower to listen to the gathering, but came to the door of the Baochao Bureau, parked the carriage a mile away, got off the car and walked into the restaurant. He went to the third floor and sat in a seat by the window. He took out a telescope and looked at the situation in front of the Baochao Bureau.

As he watched, Zhu Yijun felt that something was wrong, because there was no one at the door of the Baochao Bureau, and only three people walked in half an hour.

Logically speaking, as the Baochao depreciated and panic intensified, even the most powerful and influential people should have cashed in their money at the Baochao Bureau, but this did not seem to happen.

"Your Majesty, I have changed my clothes." Chen Mo and the two chief judges took off their brocade clothes, changed into cotton clothes, and disguised themselves as small vendors walking around the streets.

Zhu Yijun gave Chen Mo three strings of banknotes of varying denominations and said, "Go and see what's going on."

"Yes." Chen Mo nodded and accepted the order. In less than two quarters of an hour, Chen Mo returned to the restaurant and returned all the treasures that His Majesty had given him.

Chen Mo whispered, "Your Majesty, I didn't get it."

"You can't even exchange one coin?" Zhu Yijun put down the telescope and asked.

Chen Mo said helplessly: "The people from the Baochao Bureau told me to go outside to exchange it. I argued for a while, and two people inside pushed us out."

"We saw it." Zhu Yijun saw the scene of Chen Mo being driven out through the telescope.

"Your Majesty, the two strong men who chased people away were definitely not yamen runners, nor were they from the Baochao Bureau, because both of them had tattoos." Chen Mo didn't stay in the Baoyuan Bureau for long, and the two strong men who chased people away were not from the yamen.

When the government office recruits runners, they will not hire people with tattoos.

"The capital, the best place under the feet of the emperor." Zhu Yijun shook his head repeatedly. He finally understood why the treasure notes depreciated. What Zhang Xueyan said was right, but not complete.

"Chen Mo, I leave this matter to you. Find out the truth." Zhu Yijun stood up. Before leaving, he watched Feng Bao pay for the food and drinks before leaving.

Zhu Yijun was the emperor, and traveling was very troublesome with many rules. There were no diners on the entire third floor, only the imperial guards. The cost of these four tables of food and wine was more than eight taels of silver. Zhu Yijun would not be able to sleep if he had to pay the poor laborers.

It is actually very difficult for the Ministry of Revenue to understand this situation. Self-inspection is always the most difficult thing.

Because at the slightest sign of trouble, someone would immediately inform the lower levels that the two strong men would never show up. There would even be hired civilians holding up treasure notes for acceptance in front of the Baochao Bureau, making it extremely lively.

Zhu Yijun acted on a spur of the moment decision and left without any hesitation.

"Your Majesty, Xu Chengchu's memorial mentioned the inconveniences in the Baochao Bureau." When Feng Bao was taking the memorial from the Silijian for review, he saw from the floating ticket that Xu Chengchu, the censor, mentioned the chaos in the Baochao Bureau.

In other words, even if the emperor did not go to the Baochao Bureau, this abscess would have been burst by Xu Chengchu.

"The censors of the Censorate all said that we should stop and avoid Xu Chengchu. When Hai Wenzhong was still alive, he told me that Xu Chengchu was too strong and would suffer a loss. I think Xu Chengchu is still a good person." Zhu Yijun remembered Xu Chengchu.

Xu Chengchu is a student of the Quan Chu Guild Hall. He is a member of the Zhang Party. His identity as a Zhang Party member was given to him by Zhu Yijun himself.

He was born in a poor family and suffered from goiter when he was a child. He had a big tumor on his neck. Because of the tumor, he should have been ranked in the top three, but he was placed in the second class.

Xu Chengchu's goiter has brought him endless troubles and discrimination since he was a child, but Xu Chengchu did not become a moral villain, insidious and eccentric. Instead, he is known for his stubbornness and hard bones.

(End of this chapter)