I'm really not doing business

Chapter 955 The Way of Medicine is Simple, the Doctor's Heart is Benevolent

Such is the way of the world; there are advantages and disadvantages. The performance evaluation system put a bridle on officials, making the Ming Dynasty's bureaucracy more efficient, but it was not without its drawbacks.

The magistrate of Changqing County stole evidence to prevent the matter from being investigated, in order to get promoted. Similarly, the imperial inspector and the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue set examples and quotas for promotion.

The drawback of the performance evaluation system is that it exacerbates internal friction within the system, which is an inevitable consequence.

The cabinet's decision was largely consistent: the magistrate of Changqing County was dismissed, the bandits were exiled to Luzon, and the seven injured censors were commended for their service.

The whole incident was caused by the magistrate of Changqing County making a mistake. He failed to prepare for the inspection in advance and resorted to last-minute scrambling. In a fit of anger and embarrassment, he took a risk by stealing evidence and resisting the investigation.

The matter wasn't that local authorities were resisting the imperial court, but rather that everyone was fighting amongst themselves for promotions. Therefore, the nature of the conflict wasn't that serious, and it didn't warrant any calls for violence.

Zhu Yijun pondered for a long time and exiled the magistrate of Changqing County and the bandits to Luzon. However, he did not dismiss the magistrate of Changqing County from his post, but allowed him to continue serving as an official in Luzon. After the matter was settled, he would be transferred back to the interior for promotion in a few years.

It was not easy for the Ming Dynasty to cultivate a capable and honest official. Changqing County alone controlled nearly 90% of the vegetarian dishes in Korea. Once the Ming Dynasty stopped exporting vegetarian dishes, Korea would not even be able to afford kimchi. This was all thanks to the magistrate of Changqing County.

Zhu Yijun submitted his decision to the cabinet and sought their opinion. Soon after, the cabinet issued a supplementary document, approving the emperor's judgment.

This can actually be seen as a tacit understanding between the cabinet and the emperor: the cabinet sets strict requirements, while giving the emperor some leniency so that His Majesty can demonstrate his benevolence.

Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial from the Ministry of Rites. The envoys from foreign countries had already left the capital and set sail back to the West. The Ming Dynasty's coastal defense inspectors had gathered some information that the envoys had not provided by chatting with the sailors of the large sailing ships.

The Queen of England signed a new bill, which was unanimously approved by both houses of the English Parliament. The bill, called the Cotton Cloths Act, prohibited the import of any cotton cloth or woolen fabric from Persia, India, and China.

The bill required that Englishmen use their own woolen fabrics, even for burial shrouds.

The Ming Dynasty's goods had a devastating impact on the English economy, forcing the enactment of legislation to prevent Ming goods from entering England.

Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and shook his head, saying, "The Queen of England's Cotton Act and the Letters of Marauder are completely contradictory. You can't tolerate the rampant piracy on the one hand and prohibit goods from entering England on the other."

"Your Majesty is wise," Feng Bao said with a smile.

His Majesty's assessment was very accurate. According to the Western sailors, the Cotton Act was a mere formality, as pirates were always able to bring the goods that people needed to every corner of England.

When England faced a choice, it had to either protect its core industries or continue to tolerate piracy.

Abolishing privateering licenses, breaking down diplomatic barriers with the Ming Dynasty, negotiating trade quotas with the Ming Dynasty, and reducing exports of cotton and wool to England would preserve the local pillar industries. However, continuing to tolerate pirates would only further anger the Ming Dynasty.

However, if the licenses of marque were abolished, then the Spanish expedition might actually have been successful.

This is a difficult choice.

Besides news from England, there was news from France: Catherine the Great, the Queen Mother of France, died in January of the seventeenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign. With the Queen Mother's death, the whole of France was plunged into great chaos.

Catherine the Viper almost single-handedly maintained the crumbling rule of the French monarchy. When Catherine died, a massive riot broke out in Paris.

The Duke of Guise, who had driven Marie Antoinette's father out of Paris, revealed his true colors. He joined forces with the Papacy to reorganize the French Catholic League and expelled the lustful Henry III from Paris.

That's all the information the Ming Dynasty received.

The Spanish envoy Pedro said that Felipe wanted to use force to intervene in the succession of the French king;

The messenger of the Great Light Church said that the Great Light Church was marching towards Paris;

The Duke of Guise rebelled, and Henry III was driven out;

Henry de Bourbon was actively organizing Protestants to prepare for the seizure of the throne;
Chaos in France is inevitable, and many contradictions will finally be resolved because of this great conflict.

There is also some news from the Netherlands. The shipbuilding industry in the Netherlands is booming. In the past, it took one and a half to two years to wait for a ship, but now it only takes six months. This is thanks to the concentration of craftsmen and the increase in productivity.

There are also some strange rumors, such as a certain nobleman who, for various reasons, initiated a duel and died tragically at the hands of his opponent. These gossip stories are not so accurate.

Meanwhile, the Ming Dynasty also received accurate intelligence regarding the strength of the Spanish army.

The Spanish Flanders Legion consisted of 6.4 men, including 6700 knights (who were Spanish nobles), 9700 Spanish infantry, 5400 Italian infantry, 1500 Burgundian infantry, 1700 English infantry, 1.1 Holy Roman Empire infantry, and 3 Netherlands infantry.

The Flanders Legion was the elite of Spain, roughly equivalent to the Ming Dynasty's Imperial Guard. However, even with such an elite force, the Spanish did not constitute the majority of the entire army; they only made up a quarter of it.

This phenomenon puzzled the Ming Dynasty. How could the main military force of a country be composed of foreigners?

And indeed, that was the case. The reasons that the Ming Dynasty learned were both laughable and absurd. Almost everyone gave the same reason: "Troops composed of local soldiers will soon disband, while troops composed of foreign soldiers are more stable."

Local soldiers were more likely to desert than foreign soldiers, and the rate was much higher. According to Ming Dynasty reconnaissance of the West, this was not a phenomenon unique to Spain; it was also the case in other Western countries.

"Master Feng, you say that three-quarters of the Beijing Garrison are foreigners. How can I sleep?" As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yijun could not imagine the terrifying scene of 75% of the Beijing Garrison being foreigners.

"The West lacks a First Emperor." After much thought, Feng Bao felt that the vast land of the West lacked a First Emperor to unite the many small, scattered states together.

In Feng Bao's view, the West already possessed the elements for unification, and there was a real need for unification in politics, economy, culture, and military. Even if a loose commercial alliance were formed, it would not be good news for the Ming Dynasty.

However, the West truly lacked the First Emperor who inherited the legacy of six generations, wielded his long-term strategies to govern the world, conquered the two Zhou dynasties and destroyed the feudal lords, ascended to the supreme position and ruled the six directions, and wielded the whip to punish the world.

The Central Plains also experienced similar ups and downs. When the First Emperor died, the world was divided. Xiang Yu seized the world and then divided it into various states, but in the end, he still chose to unify the country.

The late Han Dynasty was divided into the Three Kingdoms, and the late Tang Dynasty was marked by regional warlordism. Ultimately, however, the result was still a unified empire.

“A united West is not in the interest of the Ming Dynasty.” Zhu Yijun thought for a moment. The Ming Dynasty’s position on this matter seemed to be the same as England’s: a united West was not in the interest of the Ming Dynasty.

The capital city became much clearer after the rain. The dust accumulated over winter and summer was washed away by the downpour. Liu Xinkui, the recently popular scribe, arrived at the Quan Chu Guild Hall with a visiting card to pay his respects to Zhang Juzheng, the Grand Secretary who had been in power for eighteen years.

He came here to formally become a disciple of the Quan Chu Guild Hall.

If it were merely about gaining fame, Liu Xinkui would never have made such an attempt. No matter how famous a scribe may be among the common people, in front of the Grand Secretary of the Empire, he is still just a scholar-official who can be ignored.

Liu Xinkui dared to come because Ling Yunyi wrote the visiting card for him.

Ling Yunyi did not accept Liu Xinkui as his disciple because he knew his reputation was bad and he was getting old, so he could not protect Liu Xinkui's future. It would be more appropriate to recommend him to Zhang Juzheng.

In any case, there isn't a very clear boundary between the Zhang faction and the Emperor's faction, and His Majesty can grant the plaque of the Quan Chu Guild Hall to anyone.

After handing the visiting card to the gatekeeper, Liu Xinkui waited anxiously for half an hour before seeing You Shouli. You Shouli was a seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's gate. As the head steward of the Quanchu Guild Hall, You Shouli often represented Zhang Juzheng himself.

You Shouli sized up Liu Xinkui before smiling and saying, "Sir, please come in."

"Thank you, Steward You." Liu Xinkui handed over a stack of silver notes, but You Shouli did not accept them. Ever since the court began its anti-corruption campaign, You Shouli had stopped accepting gifts, as he did not want to cause trouble for Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng took off his reading glasses, looked Liu Xinkui over, and then said with a smile, "Since you were introduced by Vice Minister Ling, stay at the Quan Chu Guild Hall and concentrate on preparing for the exam."

"Mr. Xie." Liu Xinkui breathed a heavy sigh of relief; this meant he had found an important backer in the capital.

He was essentially joining Zhang Juzheng's tutelage, not becoming a disciple. Zhang Juzheng naturally wouldn't personally teach him, but having a powerful backer was beneficial. As long as he had a powerful patron, he wouldn't be made things too difficult for others.

Zhang Juzheng then inquired in detail about Liu Xinkui's theory of the "Precious Papers of Imperial Grace." As the initiator of the narrative of imperial grace, he was surprisingly lagging behind others in this area. After confirming that this viewpoint belonged to Ling Yunyi, the Grand Secretary did not pursue the matter further.

"Sir, I have a question," Liu Xinkui said with a puzzled look before leaving. "The Emperor's grace is boundless, so why do you and the Second Grand Secretary both emphasize it so much?"

Liu Xinkui had extensive knowledge of currency. His theory of excess money demand explained the reason for the dammed silver in the Ming Dynasty and also provided some solutions. The narrative of gratitude for the precious paper was put on him by Ling Yunyi.

He agreed, but he didn't quite understand the motives of the Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary. He felt it was a bit redundant that they didn't bother with a narrative of gratitude. Did the common people of the Ming Dynasty not know how to be grateful?
Fearing that Zhang Juzheng might misunderstand him as having ulterior motives, Liu Xinkui quickly said, "Sir, I was born in the sixth year of the Longqing reign and just turned eighteen this year. In my opinion, the Wanli Reforms were justified. Are there really many, many opponents?"

Liu Xinkui, who grew up during the Wanli Reforms, felt that the Wanli Reforms were as ordinary as eating, drinking, and breathing. Even after Zhang Juzheng left, would anyone really oppose them?

However, it seems that both the Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary maintained the utmost vigilance against certain unexposed enemies, a vigilance that even Liu Xinkui, an eighteen-year-old student, could see.

"Do you know Xu Jie?" Zhang Juzheng asked Liu Xinkui. "Before Xu Jie overthrew Yan Xishan, everyone regarded Xu Jie as one of the leaders of Yan Xishan's faction."

Liu Xinkui was clearly taken aback. He stood there for a long time before bowing and saying, "Thank you for your explanation, Mr. Xie. I will take my leave now."

"Prepare for the exam well, don't overthink it, and don't worry too much. Go to poetry gatherings and chats whenever you have free time, and communicate with others more. Go ahead." Zhang Juzheng told Liu Xinkui not to put so much pressure on himself. What he and Ling Yunyi were doing was mainly to prevent problems before they arose.

The goal is simply to cultivate an image of absolute political correctness, suggesting that His Majesty is right, thereby reducing resistance to His Majesty's continued implementation of the Wanli Reforms.

Liu Xinkui stood in front of the Wenchang Pavilion, pondered for a moment, and then shivered. The officialdom was truly treacherous, and political struggles were indeed dangerous.

Zhang Juzheng's meaning was very clear: Xu Jie had always existed as a member of Yan's faction, and later he became the main force in overthrowing Yan. Now, it seemed that all the civil and military officials supported the Wanli Reforms, but some, and a considerable number of them, might just be waiting for the right opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the Wanli Reforms.

The Wanli Reforms created new interest groups, but also harmed the interests of some people.

History tells us that there is never a smooth journey; everything is ups and downs, just as the standards of good and evil change over time.

After Liu Xinkui left, Zhang Juzheng closed the miscellaneous newspaper in front of him, leaned back in his armchair, and looked at the old tree at the end of the Nine-Bend Bridge. Beyond the pond was a potato field, planted with Zhong Sheng Liang potatoes, which had already been harvested, and the yield was exactly as described by Shi Xingyan, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu.

Zhang Juzheng insisted on growing the potatoes himself because he had never trusted anyone. "Who would have thought that these little potatoes would become the best crop to survive a calamity?" Zhang Juzheng felt that things in the world were always very strange; the emperor's neglect of his duties eighteen years ago could actually become the key to surviving a calamity.

The nurseries and seedling rooms of the Agricultural College Baoqi Division, which are located throughout the Ming Dynasty, are key to the promotion of sweet potatoes and potatoes. Without these nurseries and seedling rooms, even with good seeds, it would be impossible to promote them.

"The palace has bestowed upon us a few dodo birds that have stopped laying eggs. We'll stew them for you tonight, sir." You Shouli didn't understand much about national affairs; he only knew about rice, potatoes, and stewed meat. As long as there was a bit of meat, it was considered the ultimate delicacy.

“Okay.” Zhang Juzheng nodded. The number of dodo birds had already exceeded 100,000 and was still expanding. Dodo birds were a natural poultry that grew faster, were more adaptable, and had a higher meat yield than geese. They also produced byproducts such as down, which allowed the breeding of dodo birds to continue to expand.

Zhang Juzheng stared out the window, lost in thought. The Wanli Reforms had now reached a point where the Grand Secretary of the Empire was caught off guard and unable to resolve a contradiction: a shortage of personnel.

The development of Southeast Asia was hampered by a shortage of personnel, and the governor-general's offices in Luzon, Palembang, Jinchi, and Jinshan had been requesting personnel from the imperial court.

The shortage of workers in the workshops and fields of the Ming Dynasty, and the competition between workshops and fields for workers, has not only spread to places like the Southern Government and Zhejiang, but has also spread to Henan and Huguang, and even shows a trend of intensification.

The area of ​​reclaimed land in Liaodong has exceeded 800,000 hectares, and the number of Han Chinese in Liaodong has now exceeded 3 million, but there is a lack of new manpower for land reclamation.

Li Chengliang was developing the Northwest. He wanted to relocate people to populate the seven guards in Guanzhong, Luntai, and Tianshan, but no one in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Suiyuan agreed to relocate people to populate the border areas.

With such a shortage of manpower, coupled with the unpredictable celestial phenomena, the imperial court was hesitant to encourage childbirth.

Because of the consequences of the population explosion and the exacerbated by the celestial changes, the imperial court could not bear the burden. Just thinking about that scene made Zhang Juzheng abandon the idea of ​​encouraging childbirth.

The imperial court originally projected that by the 40th year of the Wanli reign, the population of the Ming Dynasty would have grown to around 300 million, and by the 60th year of the Wanli reign, the population would have increased to over 500 million. The Ming Dynasty then launched its second wave of migrations to strengthen the border regions and completely assimilate the overseas governor-general's offices.

Unfortunately, this long-term plan was stillborn before it even began due to a celestial upheaval. This was a visible crisis, but Zhang Juzheng had no solution. What limited the population was food, and what affected food production was the celestial upheaval.

In fact, some people have proposed a solution: to absorb some of the naturalized barbarians to serve the Ming Dynasty.

For example, Li Chengliang could use his 3,000 guest soldiers as the core in Luntai City to absorb barbarians and expand the scale, and then conquer the Western Regions. For example, Guangxi could grant Annamese people who cut sugarcane for the Ming Dynasty citizenship. For example, the official factory could use some Japanese slaves to undertake heavy labor.

The censor who made this suggestion was exiled to Liaodong to reclaim wasteland.

In the eyes of the court officials, it was probably this kind of guy who was ignorant of the five grains and lazy that allowed the Sima family to come up with the strategy of abolishing the military farms and pacifying the five barbarians. Pacifying the five barbarians to populate the Central Plains was probably a solution that could only be come up with when one is seriously ill.

The land in the Central Plains became vacant for various reasons, so the Hu people were allowed to fill it. The Sima family has already demonstrated the consequences of doing so.

In this matter, we must trust the wisdom of our ancestors. These lessons were learned at the cost of tens of millions of lives. Those who are not of our kind will surely have ulterior motives. This is a true lesson learned over thousands of years.

"It's difficult." Zhang Juzheng sighed again, turned his armchair around, and began to work at his desk.

The Ming emperor was very diligent, and he also had an equally diligent cabinet, which made everything during the Wanli Reforms of the Ming Dynasty run smoothly.

The next morning, the weather was perfect, with clear skies. The Ming emperor, unusually, did not appear in the Cultural Hall, and the regular court session was not held. The ministers followed His Majesty to the Royal Polytechnic Institute at the Beidaying camp early in the morning.

On the glazed tile eaves of the Imperial University of Peking, golden morning light flowed quietly like water. As dawn broke, it illuminated the large characters "Royal Polytechnic Medical School" written by the Emperor himself on the plaque above the school gate, making them shine brightly.

The pine and cypress trees in the courtyard are as vigorous as ever, standing tall among several rows of clean white-walled and gray-tiled new houses. The academy is bright and clean, spotless, a result of the hard work of all the teachers and students throughout the day. Even the branches and leaves have been pruned to welcome His Majesty's inspection.

The matter of welcoming inspections is very familiar to the university. Whenever there is a campus-wide cleaning, they know that an important person is coming.

The medical school, located in the southwest corner of the Royal Institute of Technology, has extended into the Tsinghua Garden area. This is the fifth phase of the University Hall project, covering a medical school campus of over 800 acres.

Today, the square in front of the campus library is packed with people, as 1,500 medical students graduate.

These medical students, dressed in newly made blue short-sleeved shirts and carrying rather simple willow wood medicine chests, chatted in twos and threes about where they would go after graduation, before the emperor arrived.

These medical students did not pay a single penny in tuition fees. They studied for four years, and all expenses, including tuition fees, were covered by the imperial treasury. The price they paid was that after graduation, they had to follow the court's assignments and practice medicine in various parts of the Ming Dynasty for nine years.

After that, they could choose to continue serving the imperial court or set up their own medical practice.

After graduation, everyone went to different places. Most of them went to work as doctors in the Huimin Pharmacy in various counties. They were responsible for training hundreds of rural doctors who could treat simple injuries, spread hygiene knowledge, and prevent the spread of epidemics within nine years.

Some went to the engineer battalion to treat the workers' injuries, while others went to the government factory.

The consequences of breaching the contract were not severe. It only required making up the 120 taels of silver for tuition and 48 taels of silver for living expenses. Of course, that was not all. Breaching the contract also required paying a small additional price. The contract for serving the court for nine years was signed with the emperor, and breaching the contract required reporting to His Majesty.

Once a breach of contract is made, the Emperor will regard the person as untrustworthy. In the Ming Dynasty, being directly hated by the Emperor is something no one can tolerate.

As the students chattered amongst themselves, a solemn silence slowly filled the room, leaving only the soft rustling of pine needles in the breeze.

His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had quietly appeared in the distance. The imposing Emperor wore a twelve-symbol imperial robe, the kind worn when offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, signifying the importance His Majesty placed on this medical student graduation.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty slowly swept his gaze over the young and resolute faces. Their graduation destinations had been determined, and no student had broken their promise. They all accepted the court's arrangements, which pleased Zhu Yijun. Of course, this was also due to the efficient work of the Ministry of Rites.

The Ministry of Rites used a strange trick: all students who signed the contract had to register at the Imperial University of Peking until the contract was fulfilled, at which point their household registration would be transferred to the capital. If a student breached the contract midway, their household registration would be marked with a breach of contract and sent back to their hometown.

In reality, the emperor, the Ministry of Rites officials, and the imperial court were overthinking things. Even without so many strange tricks, there wouldn't be widespread breaches of contract, because the imperial court provided the official staffing quotas.

These medical students are not some carefree wanderers; they are paid by the imperial court!
In the Ming Dynasty, there were countless people who wanted to earn a living from the imperial salary and were eager to serve the emperor. This was an official position that even silver could not buy.

Sun Kehong, the prefect of Songjiang, donated nearly two million taels of silver to Shanghai University, and to this day he is only the ninth-rank general manager of Songjiang Ocean Merchants, which can be considered as obtaining an official position.

In order to graduate smoothly and secure a government job, these students studied diligently, daring not to slack off in the slightest, fearing that they would fail the exams and be expelled from medical school. Only by passing the final exam of medical school could they secure this government job.

Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said with a smile, "Master Feng, deliver the auspicious box."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Feng Bao bowed his head and accepted the order.

The gifts the emperor gave to the graduates were gifts from the emperor's disciples. As his mentor, Zhu Yijun (Emperor Zhu Yijun) was entitled to give his disciples a graduation gift.

The graduation gift box contained two silver coins, a set of surgical tools, a bronze acupuncture figure, a pair of pestles and mortars, a pair of steelyards, a book on surgical techniques, and a book on preventive hygiene and simple prescriptions.

In addition, there is a message from the emperor himself, which was engraved by the Sanjing Factory.

The imperial guards entered and presented each graduating medical student with a lucky box containing a simple message: "The way of medicine is simple, the doctor is benevolent, may people from all corners of the world enjoy health and longevity, and may harmony prevail throughout the heavens and the earth."

This sentence was written by Hu Ying, the Minister of Rites during the Yongle to Jingtai reigns, in his book "Hygiene and Simple Prescriptions." The emperor found it useful and continued to use it.

After Zhu Yijun saw that all the medical kits had been distributed, he strolled onto the platform, took the draft prepared by the Ministry of Rites, and delivered a long graduation speech. The gist of it was to let the students know the weight of the medical kits in their hands, that every word they spoke was entrusted with the lives of patients, and that they should not let down the trust and expectations of the people, etc.

These words may seem like empty platitudes, but Zhu Yijun really hopes they will all remember them.

After the ceremony, the students, carrying their medicine kits, lined up in neat rows and walked steadily out of the school gate toward the Huitong Inn. From this day forward, they were no longer medical students who had studied diligently for years, but physicians entrusted with the lives of ordinary people.

They would set off today, heading towards the place arranged by the imperial court, the morning sun generously casting its golden rays, enveloping the backs of each of them.

One by one, figures in blue robes slowly blended into the streets of the capital in the early morning, merging into every corner of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming emperor stood on the platform, staring blankly at the departing figures of the students, watching them leave.

The court painters sprang into action, sketching a rough outline with a few strokes before quickly filling in the details.

Meanwhile, Prince De, Zhu Zaiyu, tinkered with a long telescope and took a somewhat blurry photograph while His Majesty was giving a speech. He had recently improved the developing solution, which allowed for shorter exposure times and clearer images.

This group of medical students, who graduated with excellent grades after only four years of training, went to various parts of the Ming Dynasty to train more rural doctors, traveling from street to street. This may not be a good knife, or even a dull knife with rust, after all, the medical skills of these medical students cannot be compared with those of the Grand Physician.

But this was the best Zhu Yijun could offer.

He had promised to make the Ming Dynasty great again and to let all the people of the Ming Dynasty share this glory. He was not sure how well he could do it, but he was determined to do his best to implement it. The Dinghai school system and the rural doctors were all policies of Zhu Yijun that benefited the people.

Only after all the medical students had left the medical school did Zhu Yijun step off the platform to listen to the work report of the Royal Academy of Natural Sciences, and the new batch of students for the university began again.

The Ming emperors did not interfere much in the operation of the Imperial Academy; it was all handled by officials from the Ministry of Rites. The Ming Dynasty also had a wealth of experience in managing the Imperial Academy, after all, there were two Imperial Academyes with more than 20,000 students.

After the Nanjing Imperial College was abolished, it was converted into part of the Nanjing University of Science and Technology. The reconstruction project will be completed next summer. After the reconstruction is completed, the Nanjing University of Science and Technology will become the largest university in the Ming Dynasty after the Imperial University of Peking and the Shanghai University.

After finishing his duties as a state official, Zhu Yijun met with Prince De, Zhu Zaiyu.

"The Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue have been arguing for days about whether to build a Yangtze River Bridge in Wuchang Prefecture to facilitate the opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou Expressway. We are asking the scholars of natural sciences to give their opinions," Zhu Zaiyu explained the reason for his audience with the emperor.

Zhu Yijun asked, "What is the opinion of the Doctor of Natural Sciences?"

“The construction is too difficult and it is not advisable to build it,” Zhu Zaiyu said with a solemn expression. “It would be better to set up a ferry crossing to facilitate the turnover of cargo boxes.”

"But it's inconvenient. The ferry crossing is slow, which is not conducive to the flow of goods between the north and south. What if I insist on building it?" Zhu Yijun asked with a furrowed brow, "Is it not technically supported?"

Zhu Zaiyu said with a solemn expression, "It will cost 1.7 million taels of silver to build this bridge, while the cost of building two ferry crossings and boats will only be 200,000 taels of silver. The main problem is that the bridge connects Wuchang Prefecture and Hanyang Prefecture. The water depth is more than ten zhang. If we use the airlock caisson method to build the bridge, I'm afraid many people will die."

"How about using the Japanese for underwater operations?" Zhu Yijun asked after thinking for a moment.

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(End of this chapter)