I'm really not doing business

Chapter 966 A Golden Dike Collapses from an Ant Hole—Not a Matter of a Single Night

Xu Chengchu came to investigate corruption. Even corrupt officials must acknowledge a basic fact: corruption is a crime, an act that is not recognized by the world.

Since ancient times, the Central Plains have been a land where "the people do not tolerate greed, and the law does not protect corruption."

The Book of Xia, Yu Xing states: "To be wicked and steal beauty is called being foolish; to be greedy and ruin one's official career is called being corrupt; to kill without restraint is called being a thief."

Using one's strength to commit evil deeds and plunder others' property is called being muddleheaded; being greedy and corrupting one's official conduct is called being unscrupulous; killing without restraint is called being a thief. Anyone who commits any of the crimes of being muddleheaded, unscrupulous, or thief shall be executed.

Yu Xing was the legal code during the Xia Dynasty.

After Shang Tang destroyed Xia, he specially formulated the "Official Punishment" for officials. Its main contents included three vices and ten transgressions, which were formulated by Yi Yin. Each one was related to pride, extravagance and debauchery.

For example, the three winds are witchcraft wind, licentious wind, and chaotic wind. Among them, witchcraft refers to the rampant feudal superstition; licentious wind refers to improper lifestyle; and chaotic wind refers to the loss of ideals and beliefs.

In the Shang Dynasty, violating the Three Virtues and Ten Offenses would result in being "used" along with the Qiang people. The methods of being used were varied and bizarre: beheading them to make wine vessels, splitting them in half, cutting off their limbs, and so on. If the ancestors were not satisfied, even more Qiang people and livestock would be used to appease their anger.

In oracle bone script, the character for "greed" (贪) is composed of a mouth on top and a seashell below. During the Shang Dynasty, seashells were a form of currency. The meaning of "greed" is that one would eat even the inedible shell money; that is greed.

The opposite of greed is integrity; one should not take what one shouldn't take, nor eat what one shouldn't eat.

King Wu of Zhou overthrew King Zhou of Shang, reformed the old order and established a new one, and the Shang Dynasty was destroyed. During the Zhou Dynasty, King Mu of Zhou ordered Marquis Lü to formulate the "Lü Penal Code".

The "Lü Xing" (吕刑) contains five types of punishments, totaling nearly three thousand articles, demonstrating the comprehensiveness of the legal system. In the "Lü Xing," the corruption and chaos among officials are summarized into five categories: those who prioritize official positions, those who prioritize treason, those who prioritize internal affairs, those who prioritize goods, and those who prioritize foreign affairs.

Officials, by abusing their power, protect each other and cover up crimes;
On the contrary, they abused their power, acted for personal gain, and were unfair and unjust.
However, he engaged in rampant nepotism and abused his power to benefit his relatives and friends.
Wei Huo: Abusing his position to seek benefits for others and illegally accepting money and property;
Wei Lai: He condones and protects his relatives and friends, and breaks the law at the request of others.

Having any of the above five faults constitutes a violation of the "Five Faults," with serious consequences, as one will be punished accordingly.

The "Lü Xing" only contains five punishments: tattooing, nose amputation, foot amputation, castration, and death penalty. If an official is found guilty of any of these five punishments for any of the five reasons, the judge himself will be held accountable.

If you take money to cut off someone's nose, and the king finds out, he will cut off your nose.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, various states began to implement reforms. Li Kui's "Legal Canon" included a chapter on "Miscellaneous Laws," which stipulated that officials who accepted bribes would be executed. Shang Yang's reforms further implemented the system of collective punishment among groups of ten or five, and those who knew about bribes but failed to report them were considered to be guilty of the same crime and punished together.

During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Han was tormented by corrupt officials and promulgated the "Law on Punishing Corruption," which stipulated that officials who accepted bribes and perverted the law, or who stole the property of county officials, and who had already been sentenced to death but still had other crimes to punish, would all be executed in the marketplace.

Those who embezzle, pervert the law, accept bribes, or steal will be executed by being cut in half and their bodies displayed in the marketplace; the execution of their bodies means that their remains will not be collected.

Emperor Wen of Han, a model emperor throughout history, issued such an inhumane rule that even the remains of the deceased were not allowed to be collected. This was to severely punish corruption, because Emperor Wen knew very well that if corruption was not punished, the Han Dynasty might perish.

The Tang Code went a step further, not specifying any particular behavior as corruption, but instead defining it as one of the six types of embezzlement.

The "six types of illicit gains" refer to huge amounts of property of unknown origin, which are subject to punishment. The Tang Code Commentary was the first to adopt the quantitative standard of "calculating the amount of illicit gains to determine the crime" in the fight against corruption.

The Ming dynasty inherited the Tang law and made more explicit provisions for the six types of embezzlement: forty strings of cash, beheading; eighty strings, strangulation; one hundred and twenty strings, dismemberment; and the family members were exiled three thousand miles away.

Zhu Yuanzhang even compiled a "Brief Record to Warn Against Greed," listing the punishments for corrupt officials and making all officials read it day and night as a warning.

Since ancient times, starting from the Xia Dynasty, corruption has been considered wrong. The collective consensus that the people cannot tolerate corruption and the law cannot protect it has long been formed. This consensus is reflected in idioms such as insatiable greed, bribery in politics, and selling official positions.

Fighting corruption is right; corruption itself is wrong.

Under this consensus, the confrontation with the Anti-Corruption Bureau in the officialdom did not receive widespread support, or even the general recognition of colleagues in the officialdom. After all, there really were honest officials like Hai Rui and Xu Chengchu in the Ming Dynasty. Some knew that it was wrong to do so, but since everyone was taking bribes, they could only go along with it.

His Majesty's army marched on Rongcheng, completely destroying the last vestige of resistance in Huguang. Just as Xu Chengchu said, the trouble caused by those in Confucian robes is greater than the trouble caused by those in Confucian robes.

The anti-corruption campaign during the Wanli era was much lighter than that of the early Ming dynasty. The "forty strings of cash for execution" rule had become a dormant provision. Regarding corruption, unless there were serious consequences or significant impact, the death penalty would generally not be triggered. However, resisting an investigation would definitely result in the death penalty.

Sun Qifeng was a county magistrate who served for five years and embezzled less than 48,000 taels of silver. Even if he were caught, he wouldn't even be eligible for investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. At most, he would be dismissed from office and stripped of his official titles.

But now, with the Qingmaqiao case, Sun Qifeng's behavior has immediately risen to the level of challenging imperial power. In other words, the Wanli Emperor decreed in the ninth year that people of the Ming Dynasty were not allowed to enter the Jieku Academy. Otherwise, Sun Qifeng would have been bound to have been to the Jieku Academy.

Under such circumstances, it became only natural that the investigation and prosecution of the corruption case in Chidao proceeded smoothly.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty clearly realized that they could no longer provoke the imperial power or His Majesty. If the officials did not support His Majesty's anti-corruption efforts, His Majesty would begin to restore the ancestral laws.

It would be fine if Your Majesty awakened the "Great Proclamation," but what if Your Majesty restored the ancestral laws and returned to the Shang Dynasty? Wouldn't you be like the Qiang people, used to worship your ancestors?

Admittedly, there were no Qiang people during the Wanli era, but there were Yi people during the Wanli era!

And there are already some signs of this.

Last year, the Ming emperor oversaw the execution in Nanjing, Yingtian Prefecture. The execution platform was built outside Chaoyang Gate and at Xiaoling Mausoleum on Zijin Mountain. If the emperor had truly angered him, it wouldn't be impossible for him to use corrupt officials as offerings to his ancestors.

"There are also corruption cases along the Beijing-Guangzhou highway, from the capital to Kaifeng and Zhengzhou," Xu Chengchu said to Chen Mo with a grave expression as he flipped through the case files.

Chen Mo took a deep breath and said, "Yes, this imperial road runs north to south, from the capital to Guangzhou. There have been corruption cases along this section. When I was handling cases in Huguang, I found as many as seven related corruption cases."

"What's the scale?" Xu Chengchu asked, his brows furrowed.

Chen Mo handed an account book to Xu Chengchu and said, "The total amount involved in the case is 91 taels of silver."

After reviewing all the ledgers, Xu Chengchu closed them and said, "I won't check anymore."

"Huh? Uh, you're not going to investigate anymore?" Chen Mo was extremely surprised. He looked at Xu Chengchu in astonishment. This upright and honest official was willing to risk his life to investigate corruption!
Now, faced with a newly emerging corruption case, Xu Chengchu has actually chosen to let go, which is even stranger than the sun rising in the west.

Does Xu Chengchu need to avoid the wrath of corrupt officials? Xu Chengchu is currently riding high on his success!
"For major projects, seven-tenths go to the construction site, and three-tenths go to the pocket." Xu Chengchu shook his head and said, "Lord Wencheng said that if seven-tenths of the major projects are actually used on the construction site, that's the bottom line. Generally, if seven-tenths are used on the construction site, there won't be any problems. If it's lower, you'll be held accountable if something goes wrong."

"The Jingkai Road is 1400 li long, with each li costing 9200 taels of silver. In addition, His Majesty gave a reward of 300,000 taels of silver, for a total of 13 million taels of silver. It was invested over four years. Commander Chen's total expenditure of 910,000 taels of silver is not large, less than 10% of the total expenditure. In fact, it can be said that it was very clean."

This 910,000 taels of silver is less than 10% of the total. This is the result of the preliminary investigation. Even if the investigation is more rigorous and the scale is doubled, it will still be less than 20%, and it has not crossed the red line for the Anti-Corruption Department to intervene.

The construction of a large-scale project is a complex matter with many intricate details, and many of the accounts involved can only be kept vague.

The purpose of the Anti-Corruption Bureau from its inception was very clear, or rather, the purpose of anti-corruption was to suppress the scale of corruption and prevent the Ming Dynasty's error correction mechanism from failing.

Unlike Wang Chonggu, who took the court's money but didn't build any of the Xuanda Great Wall.

Xu Chengchu couldn't help but recall the first corruption case he handled after becoming an imperial censor: Song Shanyong, the headmaster of Tianxiong Academy in Daming Prefecture, had caused Xu Chengchu a great deal of trouble, and it was His Majesty who handled the aftermath for him.

It was from that time that Xu Chengchu finally understood why Hai Rui, as the Divine Swordsman, did not punish Wang Chonggu.

"It's difficult to explain to His Majesty." Chen Mo frowned. He had already been investigating corruption in the first half of the Jingguang Highway. Xu Chengchu suddenly said he would stop investigating, but Chen Mo still felt it was necessary to investigate. Even if it didn't involve much trouble, he wanted to know exactly how much silver had not been paid.

Xu Chengchu thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I will write a memorial to His Majesty."

There were some minor disagreements, but there was also a consensus: the twelve cases received when leaving Beijing must be thoroughly investigated.

When Xu Chengchu's memorial arrived in the capital, it was already mid-September. Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty received Xu Chengchu's memorial and was relieved. Before Xu Chengchu left, Zhu Yijun had repeatedly reminded him that everything should be done in moderation.

Zhu Yijun's biggest worry about Xu Chengchu was that he was too inflexible and could not tolerate even the slightest injustice.

"Issue an imperial edict to Minister Xu: You have braved wind and rain, rushed through the night, and uncovered the corruption case along the imperial highway. The people will not tolerate corruption, and the law will not protect the corrupt. This is truly a matter of divine mandate, and I am greatly gratified."

"Governing a country is like holding a bronze cauldron in the fire. If the fire is too weak, the cauldron will tip over; if the fire is too strong, the oil will burn. There is no greater difficulty in the world than this. One cannot uphold justice without integrity, nor can one govern a country without adaptability. I hereby approve your suggestion."

"The collapse of a golden dike from an ant hole is not caused by a single night; the grand hall that stands tall in the sky is built from the accumulation of a small piece of wood. For the sake of hundreds of millions of people, we should always be vigilant."

Zhu Yijun gave Xu Chengchu a clear imperial edict approving his memorial, urging him not to be overly strict or impatient, but also not to be careless.

When Wang Chonggu mentioned that seven-tenths of his work was done, Zhu Yijun even sent his imperial guards to investigate. They found that it was indeed true. To put it bluntly, being able to do seven-tenths of the work was already a model of integrity!

For example, the Qinghua Garden built by Li Wei, the Earl of Wuqing, and the Shao Garden built by Mi Wanzhong, were allocated only three-tenths of the cost. That is to say, out of ten taels of silver, only three taels were used for the construction of the gardens, while the rest were consumed for various reasons.

Zhao Mengyou specifically calculated the costs of various labor and materials at Tsinghua Garden. In addition, there are hundreds of manors surrounding the gardens in northern Beijing. Zhao Mengyou also made accounts for these mansions, and most of them were paid 3 to 5 cents per person for labor.

It is already quite remarkable that Chidao was able to achieve 70% completion of the work, which is extremely cost-effective. Overly strict investigations will only provoke widespread opposition.

Zhu Yijun briefly reviewed the anti-corruption consensus of past dynasties and came up with a very strange thing: the system of "negotiated fines" was introduced at the end of the Qianlong reign.

The introduction of the system of "negotiated fines" meant that corruption was completely legalized. As long as one paid enough silver to Emperor Qianlong, one could embezzle as much as one wanted.

The "redemption money" system is not a system of redemption. Redemption is the act of buying one's way out of a crime, which is considered a guilty plea and acceptance of punishment. Moreover, redemption is a reduction of sentence, not an exemption.

Even the Eight Deliberations and Eight Removals, which were convenient channels specifically opened for powerful and influential people, involved admitting guilt first and then having the emperor pardon them based on their merits.

The "negotiated money" is not a payment to atone for a crime. It is an advance payment. Once you pay the money, you are no longer guilty and can legally make money.

The period from the introduction of the "negotiated fine" until the fall of the Qing Dynasty was the only time in history during which corruption was legal.

Even in the Yuan Dynasty, corruption was illegal. Kublai Khan appointed Semu people as censors to investigate and combat corruption, but after Kublai Khan's death, the Yuan court no longer had the ability to fight corruption.

Legality and illegality make a world of difference. The Tartars are Tartars after all, and they are incompatible with the Han dynasty.

"Wang Qian has brought a memorial." Feng Bao took out Wang Qian's memorial and handed it to His Majesty.

Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "Are you pleading for Wang Chongyi's adopted son? Pleading won't work. This traitor has already forced women into prostitution. If I pardon him, the people will not be at peace. I will not let him off easily!" Wang Qian and Zhu Yijun had a good personal relationship, but this was official business. If Wang Qian were to plead for that traitor, then Zhu Yijun would have to consider Wang Qian's position.

Wang Chonggu had rendered meritorious service to the country, and Zhu Yijun naturally remembered that. However, what Wang Jian, this traitor, did was actually to ruin Wang Chonggu's posthumous reputation, which the emperor would not allow.

The official factory system was one of the most important achievements of the Wanli Reforms and the culmination of Wang Chonggu's life's work.

“Your Majesty, Wang Qian is not someone who cannot distinguish right from wrong.” Feng Bao opened the memorial and handed it to His Majesty.

Wang Qian advised His Majesty to be lenient? Wang Qian wished His Majesty would expedite the process! To avoid getting into trouble and implicating innocent people.

Wang Qian's attitude was clear: there would be no leniency.

The title "Duke Wencheng" was a legacy left to him by his father, Wang Qian. It was the imperial favor his own father had accumulated for him. Why should Wang Jian, his adopted son, squander and waste this hard-won imperial favor? This imperial favor was also the legacy of the Wang family. He, the biological son, hadn't even enjoyed it, yet Wang Jian was wasting it.

Wang Jian became lawless, and it was only after Wang Qian went to Songjiang Prefecture that no one in the capital restrained him, which led to these troubles.

Wang Qian did not plead for the traitor; in his memorial, he said that the traitor deserved to die.

Even Wang Qian wouldn't dare to do such a thing, so why should Wang Jian? Moreover, Wang Qian had already discussed it with Yao Guangqi. They would find one of Yao Guangqi's sons to change his surname to Wang and inherit Wang Chongyi's bloodline, so that Wang Chongyi's lineage would not die out.

Yao Guangqi agreed. He had three sons in total, and he would give one to his father-in-law.

“This case is interesting.” Zhu Yijun finished reading the entire memorial. The first half was about Wang Jian’s case, and the second half was about a small case in Songjiang Prefecture.

A foreman from Ruyang Prefecture in Henan Province brought fourteen people from his family to Songjiang Prefecture to work and earn money.

This foreman was blinded by greed and owed these craftsmen six months' wages. These fourteen craftsmen depended on him for their livelihood. They were all country men, how could they dare to resist, how could they know how to resist?
But four craftsmen refused to accept this, each armed with a knife, and stormed into the head craftsman's house.

The four men came in shouting: "If you don't give us money, we'll kill you! We'll kill you, and don't tell me you don't know how you died!"

The man was terrified and tried to escape, but he was blocked in the side room by the four men and couldn't move.

The big boss knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, saying he had money, he had money.

The foreman paid the wages of the four men, but they were still dissatisfied and demanded that he settle all the outstanding wages owed to the fourteen men. He then summoned the remaining ten craftsmen who had not yet arrived to his house, and finally settled their wages.

When the leader of the four people left, he said: "We may be stupid, but we are reasonable. Since we have paid, let's part ways amicably."

After the craftsmen left, the head craftsman ran to the Songjiang Prefecture government office to report the matter. Upon seeing the case, the Songjiang Prefecture government office reported it to the clerk, who ordered the criminal division to ignore it and also instructed the criminal division officers to warn the head craftsman that if he dared to cause trouble, the law would be merciless.

The case occurred in March. Wang Qian did not directly intervene, but he was observing closely. He thought that the big boss would use his connections to make these "troublemakers" have no way to make a living, but Wang Qian was wrong.

Instead of using his connections to retaliate and make it impossible for the troublemakers to make a living, this big boss actually found people to give these four troublemakers jobs. The reason he did this was because he was afraid that if these four troublemakers had nothing to do, they would come to his door to extort money.

Moreover, once things escalate, swords and spears have no eyes, and it will be this big boss and his family who get hurt.

"Bring out the cases from Yangzhou." Zhu Yijun remembered a similar case and asked Feng Bao to fetch the memorials.

In November of the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign, a murder case with striking similarities to this one occurred in Yangzhou. In another case, a master craftsman brought craftsmen from his hometown to work in the city, but he also failed to pay their wages and threatened them with a knife. The master craftsman was forced to pay the wages.

However, the head of the Yangzhou gang filed a complaint with the government, which accepted the case and arrested the three men who had threatened him with knives and demanded unpaid wages.

It would have been better if they hadn't taken action; now that they have, things have gone wrong.

The group of three men who were maliciously demanding unpaid wages were arrested and taken to Yangzhou Prefecture. The next day, they broke into the head of the workshop, killed him, and set fire to his house and workshop before fleeing.

Clearly, demanding payment with a knife was all part of the plan. If this bigwig insisted on continuing to make things difficult, then it would be a fight to the death!

The fire burned everything to the ground, leaving no physical evidence. Moreover, all the villagers had fled, and no one knew where they had gone.

Finally, the three people who were demanding their unpaid wages were released.

When the prefect of Yangzhou entered and exited the government office, he was always surrounded by a large entourage, and no outsiders were allowed to get close. However, the yamen runners who were specifically handling this case dared not gamble on whether these villagers who dared to commit murder were still in Yangzhou. So the yamen runners released the three men.

The grievances have their perpetrators, and the debts have their debtors. Now that the big boss is dead, there's no need to seek revenge from the officials.

In the end, this case became an unsolved mystery. Unless the emperor dispatched special agents to conduct a thorough search and mobilized enormous resources, it would be extremely difficult to catch the culprit.

The emperor did not send any special agents to investigate. As soon as this unsolved case came to light, the prefect, assistant prefect, and judge of Yangzhou all received the worst possible evaluation. Another worst evaluation would mean dismissal from office.

"Actually, it's good that Yangzhou Prefecture made a fuss. There are no more workshop owners in Yangzhou Prefecture who owe wages." Zhu Yijun closed the memorial from Yangzhou. After this incident, no one in Yangzhou Prefecture owed wages anymore.

Of course, the emperor also found it strange that the labor-capital conflict had reached a delicate balance when public power could not effectively intervene.

This was an outcome that Zhu Yijun had not anticipated at all. He had been troubled by the issue of resolving labor disputes in the Jiangnan region, and he had also issued some decrees, such as requiring contracts and allowing for the swift adjudication of salary issues related to contracts.

But his imperial edict was no match for a knife; these heads and a big fire balanced things out.

The imperial court is not omnipotent; it has no good means or effective ways to intervene. The unseen hand of power has taken effect.

"After the commotion in Ninghua, Ruijin, and the other two counties, no one in Jiangxi is collecting New Year's offerings anymore, fearing another peasant uprising." Feng Bao wholeheartedly agreed with His Majesty's words.

Zhu Yijun, holding Wang Qian's memorial, continued, "Wang Qian also mentioned a phenomenon he couldn't explain: he discovered that the workshops in Songjiang Prefecture were severely short of workers, but there were many idle and dissolute people on the streets."

Wang Qian observed a phenomenon that he could not explain and asked the emperor for clarification, as he truly could not understand it.

The Ming Dynasty was full of contradictions. For example, despite the fact that there was a shortage of people everywhere—the governor's office, the plantation, the workshops, and the fields—there was an endless stream of idle and dissolute people who did not engage in production but made a living by engaging in various evil deeds.
For example, there is a relative overcapacity in cotton spinning in Songjiang, but people still desperately try to get into this industry, which makes wages even lower.

This contradictory phenomenon is actually being manipulated by an unseen force.

The villager went to the city after listening to his fellow villager's advice, only to find that everything the foreman and his fellow villager had said was a lie.

These days, anyone who dares to travel long distances to places like Songjiang, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Yangzhou to make a living is exceptionally hardworking and diligent, and everyone chooses to go out with hope for the future.

But when they arrived at their destination, they were repeatedly hit by reality. Their food, clothing, and shelter were worse than those of livestock, their wages were constantly owed to them, and they were often beaten and scolded. In the end, they became degenerate people, doing odd jobs, just getting by, or simply engaging in evil deeds to make a living.

If they could win even once in this process of depravity, they would not choose to become a degenerate people.

"The harder one works, the more ambitious one becomes, the more likely one is to become a dissolute and decadent person. Alas." Zhu Yijun summarized the phenomenon Wang Qian described and gave a clear imperial commentary.

The harder and more ambitious you are, the greater the gap between your efforts and rewards will be, the more disappointed you will be, and the easier it will be for you to become a lazy bum. On the contrary, those who like to go with the flow will find a job, do it half-heartedly, and not think about anything, which will make things much easier for them.

"It's actually very simple to make these people win," Zhu Yijun said, picking up his vermilion brush. "If they get what they deserve, they'll win."

Zhu Yijun explained the phenomenon that Wang Qian couldn't understand. This phenomenon is contradictory but real. The most important thing to do to change it is to ensure that labor is rewarded and that people can actually get paid for their work.

The yamen runners in Rongcheng County hadn't received their salaries for a year and a half. Since they didn't get paid for their work, they naturally became lazy and unwilling to work.

In the present Ming Dynasty, the most important thing is to prevent civil unrest. Any place where civil unrest occurs will be severely punished by the emperor. After all, without civil unrest, no one will be able to march on the capital and threaten the emperor's throne.

The emperor must sit on the throne. If the people overthrow the throne, is the emperor still the emperor?
The emperor also provided clear guidance and instructions on how to prevent popular uprisings.

Extreme and accidental events are like sparks;
People who are desperate and have nowhere to go to survive are like dry tinder.

Accidental events are uncontrollable; no one can stop them from happening. Even in a wealthy place like Songjiang Prefecture, there is still human suffering, and there are still cases of dead people coming to demand firewood with knives.

Occasional events are uncontrollable, but the amount of dry firewood is controllable.

The way to prevent dry wood from igniting into a raging fire is quite simple: just make sure there's food to eat.

The Ming Dynasty did not have a large population, nor did it experience rapid or explosive growth. With the changing times, there was no possibility of explosive growth in the hinterland.

The Ming Dynasty has enough land to support so many people. As long as the government can ensure that the local gentry and elders keep their promises—such as reducing rents during famine years, allowing the planting of coarse grains like potatoes and sweet potatoes, and not causing hardship for the villagers by obstructing water sources and irrigation ditches—the people will have enough to eat, and there will be no civil unrest.

Generally speaking, people don't judge the merits of a society from the perspectives of its systems, structures, concepts, spirit, or human nature, because it's too complicated. Everyone has their own opinion, and it's difficult to persuade others.

People often judge the merits of a society based on their own daily lives, or rather, on their gut health.

Zhu Yijun had issued countless imperial edicts on this point, repeatedly admonishing officials that they should know that the people's livelihood was the fundamental matter, and that choosing the people's livelihood over the imperial edict would not be considered disobeying the imperial order.

In order to combat the drought, Liu Shunzhi, the prefect of Xuzhou, released water from the canal, and the imperial court did not hold him accountable.

"Your Majesty, a congratulatory letter from the Governor-General of Jinchi has arrived." After seeing that His Majesty had dealt with Wang Qian's memorial, Feng Bao placed the congratulatory letter from Marquis Deng Zilong of Shilong in front of His Majesty.

His Majesty has decreed that expensive congratulatory gifts should not be sent, but the governors' offices still try their best to do something useful to please His Majesty.

Before the Emperor's birthday celebration, the Governor-General's Office of Jinchi completed the construction of the Great Jinchi Pond and the main hall bell and drum towers of Chijunshan Port to congratulate His Majesty.

The main hall's bell and drum towers were very important because they served two purposes: one was the capital's time, and the other was the local time. As long as the capital's time was accurate, longitude could be precisely calculated, and the location at sea could be determined. Passing ships could then correct their time at Jinchi and Chijunshan ports.

This was a small step in Wanli's opening of the seas, a solid and down-to-earth small step.

(End of this chapter)