I'm really not doing business

Chapter 979 Mountains and rivers appear and disappear, cities and states are secure; jade sounds suddenly fall, silver mountains are offered.

Zhu Yiliu was a clear-headed bystander, while Quan Tianpei was confused by his own involvement.

In Quan Tianpei's view, Xie Ruixiang, the commander of the guards, was a hero of Jinshan City. He was also Quan Tianpei's comrade-in-arms who fought alongside him to build Jinshan City. The two of them shared the hardships and dangers along the way.

Quan Tianpei completely believed that Xie Ruixiang was dissatisfied with the allocation and hoped to receive more.

Zhu Yiliu, who had just arrived in Jinshan City, did not see it that way at all, because he sensed something was wrong when he saw Xie Ruixiang's disregard for human life.

Xie Ruixiang may never have considered Jinshan City as his overseas homeland. Otherwise, given the already scarce Han people, why would he disregard human life and bring his conflict with Quan Tianpei into the open despite the presence of foreign enemies?

This means that in Xie Ruixiang's heart, Jinshan City was completely dispensable. At this time, Quan Tianpei still thought that Xie Ruixiang was just throwing a tantrum and arguing about gold, which was indeed a bit too sentimental.

"Commander Luo, based on Xie Ruixiang's alliance document, could we set a trap for the Mexican Governor's Office, wait for them to fall in, and then knock one of their teeth out?" Zhu Yiliu looked at Luo Shangzhi and asked for his opinion.

The Prince of Lu had just taken up his fiefdom when the Governor-General of Mexico wanted to test the mettle of the Ming Dynasty.

Luo Shangzhi nodded and said, "Your Highness is absolutely right."

"I am not good at military affairs, so I will leave it to Commander Luo." Zhu Yiliu originally wanted to make arrangements, but when he thought of his own military talent, he chose to do the same as his elder brother and let Luo Shangzhi lead this battle.

A guy with no experience in leading troops, if he gives orders haphazardly, he'll probably ruin a winning hand.

Zhu Yiliu was not afraid of Luo Shangzhi's betrayal. He led his troops to defeat Luo Shangzhi, the Prince of Lu, and became the king of Jinshan. He then seized Jinshan and became the hegemon. At this time, the navy was still completely subordinate to the Ming Dynasty, not the Jinshan Kingdom.

Luo Shangzhi's 3,000-strong navy rotates every three years.

Zhu Yiliu did want to keep Luo Shangzhi in Jinshan Kingdom, but Luo Shangzhi's heart was elsewhere.

As one of the Twenty-Eight Heroes of the Eastern Expedition and one of the few naval commanders, Luo Shangzhi had a bright future and was a strong contender for the positions of Commander-in-Chief of the Songjiang Naval Force and Commander-in-Chief of the Nanyang Naval Force. For Luo Shangzhi, being the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Force in the Ming Dynasty or becoming a Grand General in the Kingdom of Jinshan was clearly more attractive.

Given the current conditions in Jinshan Kingdom, it's impossible to retain a general like Luo Shangzhi. The fact that Luo Shangzhi came along is either a sign of the Emperor's great favor or the Emperor's brother abusing his power for personal gain.

"It's a good opportunity to test the strength of the Mexican Viceroyalty," Luo Shangzhi said with a smile. "I wonder if the Mexican Viceroyalty is a match for these ten fast sailing ships."

The 36-pound naval cannons have yet to draw blood. The Ming Dynasty's firepower configuration for fast sailing ships relies entirely on design and needs to be tested in practice.

Judging from routine drills, the combat power of a fast sailing ship is roughly equivalent to five five-masted ocean-going ships or ten three-masted deck ships. In an era when naval warfare was relatively limited, the competition came down to heavy ships and powerful cannons.

With ten fast sailing ships, twenty five-masted ocean-going vessels, fifty three-masted deck ships, and a hundred warships, even with six ships lost in the ocean, the navy of the Golden Mountain Kingdom remained incredibly powerful.

The most advanced warships in the West were equivalent to the three-masted deck ships of the Ming Dynasty. If ten fast sailing ships were to fire at full force, the Mexican governor's office would have better have one hundred three-masted deck ships.

If the Mexican Viceroyalty did not have so many three-masted deck ships, this raid on Jinshan City by the Mexican Viceroyalty would have been a legitimate and justifiable attack by the Ming Dynasty navy.

Zhu Yiliu picked up the second note given to him by Quan Tianpei. It discussed a problem: Jinshan Kingdom lacked women. Currently, the women in Jinshan Kingdom were mainly North American barbarians, as well as a large number of prostitutes trafficked from Japan.

Women were considered unlucky to board ships, especially on long-distance voyages, where almost no women boarded because women would become a reason for struggle in such an extremely enclosed space.

Songjiang Prefecture collected a lot of sailors' observations, such as that Westerners liked to bring a bunch of female goats on their ocean voyages, and that many governor's mansions had animal brothels to cater to passing sailors. Among them, goat brothels were the most numerous and were divided into different kinds such as sheep and goats.

Currently, the Kingdom of Jinshan lacks enough women to reproduce, and most Han Chinese only have one Japanese woman. Compared to barbarian women, the Ming people still prefer Japanese women.

"There are forty-two women on the Cangming ship this time. These women are mainly midwives, weavers, embroiderers, and cotton farmers. We must ensure their safety and prevent the wandering devils from harassing them, because they have skills in childbirth, weaving, brocade embroidery, and cotton spinning." Zhu Yiliu gave a special instruction: do not harass these women who are willing to come to Jinshan Kingdom.

Huang Daopo was from Wunijing, Songjiang Prefecture. At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Huang Daopo was sold from Songjiang Prefecture to Yazhou as a child bride. At that time, Yazhou had the best cotton textile technology in the world. Huang Daopo studied it carefully and returned to Songjiang Prefecture. She taught the villagers to improve their textile tools. Today, Songjiang Prefecture has become the world's largest cotton textile center.

Huang Daopo had a shrine in Songjiang Prefecture, which was very popular with worshippers.

Zhu Yiliu was quite disappointed that no master craftsmen or chief physicians accompanied him to his fiefdom this time. The conditions in Jinshan Kingdom were too poor to attract talent, even though his elder brother favored them.

The astronomy students accompanied the group this time, mainly to build an observatory and the main hall's bell and drum towers. Two officials from the Ministry of Agriculture also accompanied the group.

These two officials, who studied under Xu Zhenming and graduated from the agricultural college, came to Jinshan Kingdom. Their main task was to domesticate and collect crops and livestock breeds to increase the diversity of the agricultural and pastoral industry of the Ming Dynasty. For example, poultry, meat poultry, and meat livestock were all their targets.

Two officials in charge of agriculture are sufficient to ensure agricultural production in the Kingdom of Jinshan.

"As for the lack of women you mentioned, let's focus on barbarian women for now. I will petition the court to see if we can get some Japanese women." Zhu Yiliu intended to solve these problems, but such things cannot be rushed.

"Your Highness is absolutely right." Quan Tianpei pondered this unsolvable problem; the shortage of personnel was a long-term issue.

Zhu Yiliu and Quan Tianpei were chatting idly, but Zhu Yiliu was a little distracted. He suddenly realized that Jinshan Kingdom was different from the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty had Han people as its main body. Because of the existence of the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, this main body of the Ming Dynasty should not be changed in the foreseeable future.

However, Jinshan Kingdom was different. The first generation of Han Chinese immigrants would integrate with the local Yi people, and their descendants would gradually become mixed-race. This mixing would exacerbate the rift between Jinshan Kingdom and the Ming Dynasty.

Grand Master Wan Shihe discussed this issue in detail, emphasizing the inevitable localization of colonists.

When Zhu Yiliu saw Wan Zongbo discussing the matter, he didn't feel anything particularly significant, since it was a matter outside the officialdom and had little to do with him.

Upon taking up his fiefdom in the Kingdom of Jinshan, he immediately realized that this inevitable localization was an unsolvable problem.

In the heart of the Ming Dynasty, if one could find a wife, have a family and a career, one would almost never risk going overseas to fight for one's life. Even if one did risk one's life, one would not take one's wife with him, since going to sea is an adventure with an uncertain future.

The situation in Jinshan Kingdom was different from that in Nanyang. When the Southern Song Dynasty collapsed, countless Han Chinese had no choice but to go to sea. Even the Governor-General's Office of Jifu had Han Chinese. There were more than a million descendants of Han Chinese in Nanyang, but Jinshan Kingdom did not.

Zhu Yiliu took out the third note, the third problem Quan Tianpei had raised: the lack of coal mines. Jinshan City was very livable with its mild winters and cool summers, but coal was needed for cooking, and firewood was not enough due to the climate.

To be more precise, the Kingdom of Jinshan lacked sufficient geomancers.

"This time, I brought three geomancers and their disciples with me. We will be staying in Jinshan Kingdom for three years." Zhu Yiliu did not completely resolve this issue, because the main destination of these three geomancers was the gold mine in Jinshan City.

The three geomancers will leave by boat and return to the Ming Dynasty when they are rotated out next time.

"Either find the coalfield before they leave, or Jinshan City can train geomancers who can find the dragon veins and divide the gold before they leave. In that case, Uncle Jinshan, pick a few clever apprentices to learn from these geomancers and make sure they don't slack off."

"Mountains may crumble, people may run away; we can't rely on anyone else but ourselves." Zhu Yiliu gave very clear instructions, and everyone moved forward together.

The Kingdom of Jinshan needs its own geomancers to find enough minerals and exchange them for enough goods from the Ming Dynasty.

"I will obey Your Highness's command." Quan Tianpei replied immediately. Quan Tianpei was one of the founders of Jinshan City. His love for Jinshan City surpassed that for Prince Lu. Prince Lu had left for the Ming Dynasty, and His Majesty would not make things difficult for this nobleman. However, if the opportunity for Jinshan City's development was lost, then it was truly gone.

"We should make contact with the Yi people, the Huopi tribe, a few more times. If they still do not give up attacking my Jinshan Kingdom, then we should find a way to defeat them!" Zhu Yiliu gave very clear instructions on foreign affairs: avoid conflict if possible.

The best course of action is to first offer persuasion and then resort to force. If a few local officials can be appointed to gradually expand the territory through internal and external means, then Zhu Yiliu's physical strength may not be ineffective.

"Also, isn't the management of horses in Jinshan City a bit too lax?" Zhu Yiliu studied the notes and discovered that horses were actually involved in the transactions between Jinshan City and the Yi people!
Zhu Yiliu said with considerable puzzlement, "The biggest advantage of Jinshan Kingdom over the barbarians, besides firearms, is horses. On the battlefield, speed is of the essence. You dare to trade with fast and mobile horses? Even the grassland people have to be extremely careful when trading horses with us."

“By trading horses with these barbarians, you are digging your own grave.”

“Your Highness is wise. When Jinshan City was first established, we had no choice but to do this in order to establish a foothold.” Quan Tianpei explained why the horses were being traded. He said in a low voice, “They were all castrated. No breeding horses were sold; they were all nags.”

North America and South America, these two New Worlds, lacked horses and easily mined iron mountains, so the indigenous people of these two places were still in the Bronze Age. The appearance of horses, large livestock, aroused the interest of the Yi people.

Although Quan Tianpei traded some horses, he was very strict in managing the horse breeds. After establishing himself, he gradually tightened the control over horse trading.

Sometimes, Quan Tianpei even felt a little strange. These perfectly normal people from the Ming Dynasty, when they came to the Kingdom of Jinshan, actually looked a bit like people from the grasslands.

Of the six notes, Zhu Yiliu provided answers in four. As for the remaining two, Zhu Yiliu did not continue to communicate with Quan Tianpei because he had no solution either. One was that Jinshan City lacked enough schools, and the other was that Jinshan City lacked enough clinics. Zhu Yiliu had no good solutions for either of these issues.

The accompanying medical officer could train doctors, but he couldn't change the situation in Jinshan City in the short term.

The next morning, Zhu Yiliu led 120 imperial guards out of the city and headed south. After half an hour, they had traveled 30 li, and then 40 li west. The guards dispersed to scout the area. In the afternoon, Zhu Yiliu returned to Jinshan City.

Within a 30-mile radius of Jinshan City, there is not much danger.

On April 26, Zhu Yiliu ordered the establishment of four outposts at high altitudes within a 30-mile radius, which would allow for the observation of the Yi people's movements.

This was a method he learned from Qi Jiguang. Thirty li was a sufficiently safe warning range. In the first year of the Wanli reign, Qi Jiguang ambushed Dong Huli and his nephew, and it was at the outpost that he made a meritorious contribution.

Luo Shangzhi returned from overseas on the 26th and informed the Mexican Viceroyalty that the fleet sent by him had been destroyed. The fleet consisted of only three three-masted barges with a mere five hundred men. Two of the ships were sunk by 36-pound cannons, while one escaped back to the Mexican Viceroyalty. The enemy ship's escape was intentional on Luo Shangzhi's part; his purpose was to instill fear in the Mexican Viceroyalty so that they would not interfere with the Ming Dynasty's activities.

Luo Shangzhi plans to establish twelve coastal defense patrol stations along the coast, which can serve not only as reconnaissance posts against pirates but also as outposts for exploration.

With land outposts and sea patrols, Zhu Yiliu established the basic framework for Jinshan's defense in less than half a month after arriving in Jinshan.

Luo Shangzhi suggested that an envoy be sent immediately to the Governor-General's Office in Mexico to demand compensation for the attack on Jinshan City in order to appease Prince Lu's anger. Zhu Yiliu readily agreed.

The amount of compensation demanded is not important. The Jinshan Navy is new to the country and will not immediately engage in a large-scale conflict with the Mexican Viceroyalty. The main thing is to make a show of force; even bluffing is a form of show of force.

Quan Tianpei visibly relaxed. He could now focus on managing Jinshan City without having to worry about military affairs, diplomacy, and long-term planning, which he wasn't very good at.

Zhu Yiliu discovered that Quan Tianpei was very good at management. He managed the entire Jinshan City very well. However, he was indeed a bit too lenient, especially towards the Han people. As long as no one was killed, Quan Tianpei would hardly punish the Han people who were developing the area.

Quan Tianpei was a good man, but Prince Lu was not. Based on the Ming Dynasty law, Prince Lu promulgated the Jinshan Law, established the Jinshan Prefecture government office, recruited two hundred people as yamen runners, and took back the power of the legal system from Quan Tianpei.

Throughout April, Zhu Yiliu gained a more comprehensive understanding of the emperor's power and authority. The establishment of the Jinshan Prefecture immediately brought many changes to Jinshan City, resulting in a clean government, harmonious society, strict rule of law, and peace and tranquility for the people.

This change made it much easier for Quan Tianpei to manage Jinshan City, and he even felt as if he could control his own arm.

At this point, Quan Tianpei clearly understood that this Prince Lu was not the mischievous troublemaker he was rumored to be. Prince Lu was quite talented and very methodical in his actions.

However, another rumor was confirmed: His Highness Prince Lu really liked beauties from all over the world. On May 3rd, the day of his inspection tour, Prince Lu brought back a beauty named Ivymoda, which in the language of the barbarians means "dewdrop on a flower".

Soon, this beauty became one of the concubines of Prince Lu.

Ivymoda was quite tall, half a head taller than the ordinary palace maids, and she was not inferior to the robust Prince Lu. She had thick, long, dark brown hair that was as smooth as flowing water, and her wheat-colored skin was smooth and firm. When she first appeared, she wore a deerskin skirt and a necklace made of shells, animal teeth and shiny black stones. These unattractive ornaments could not hide her beauty.

Ivymoda's identity is not simple. Her father is the chief of the Hopi tribe, which is the largest tribe in the vicinity with a population of over 150,000. After her mother was executed, she began to flee and eventually escaped to the vicinity of Jinshan City, where she was captured by Zhu Yiliu.

The reason her mother was executed was quite unexpected. Her mother had learned Chinese and collected several books used for elementary education in the Ming Dynasty. Originally, her mother was a translator responsible for communicating with merchants in Jinshan City. However, due to the falling out with Jinshan City and other reasons, learning Chinese and collecting books became unforgivable crimes.

This dramatic upheaval not only resulted in the execution of Ivy's mother, but also several translators and foreigners who had had excessive contact with the Ming people.

Zhu Yiliu found it hard to understand the actions of the barbarian chieftain. Given the enmity with Spain, how could his elder brother execute all the interpreters in the Ministry of Rites who were fluent in Latin and Spanish? Li Yashi was still alive and kicking!

After in-depth discussions with Quan Tianpei, Zhu Yiliu chose to understand.

The barbarians have their own reasons for doing things, which are difficult for people from the Ming Dynasty to understand.

For example, in the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty, floods were caused by insufficient water conservancy facilities, inadequate inspection of river embankments, and shoddy workmanship. Many river officials in the Ming Dynasty were executed because of the breaches in the embankments.

But the Yi people thought differently. They believed that floods were divine punishment, caused by mortals committing unforgivable sins. They simply blamed any difficulties on the gods.

Within the territory of the Hopi tribe, wildfires raged for months without being extinguished. The Hopi people naturally believed this to be divine punishment from the sun god, and that contact with the Ming people was a sin committed by the tribe recently.

In the logic of the barbarians, the execution of Ivy's mother became perfectly normal.

Quan Tianpei believes that the interaction between heaven and man on this land is extremely advanced. The Shang kings would interpret divination according to their own ideas, and even brought the "severing the connection between heaven and earth" made by Zhuanxu during the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, which could bring tangible changes to the Yi people.

In late May, the Mexican Governor's Office sent twelve beauties, two thousand slaves, and two hundred thousand taels of silver, and promised to send two hundred thousand taels of silver to Jinshan City every year in exchange for His Highness Prince Lu's forgiveness for the previous misunderstanding. They also requested that His Highness Prince Lu not report the neighborhood dispute to His Majesty.

On the one hand, the fast sailing ships brought a strong enough sense of fear; on the other hand, the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance was a mutually beneficial alliance, and the governor had already set off for the Ming Dynasty. However, the colonists left behind in the governor's mansion were creating obstacles for the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance.

Zhu Yijun stated:
In principle, provoking a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty is tantamount to provoking the Ming Dynasty itself. As the supreme celestial empire, the Ming Dynasty will never allow any provocations to occur. The Ming Dynasty's fast sailing ships have sufficient firepower to defend the Ming territory and eliminate all provocateurs, thus ensuring the dignity of the supreme celestial empire.

The Mexican Viceroyalty's alliance with the traitor Xie Ruixiang to seize Jinshan City of the Ming Dynasty is an absolutely unforgivable act. Jinshan Kingdom has made sufficient preparations for war, and the Mexican Viceroyalty must be severely punished in order to learn a lesson and dare not easily provoke the majesty of the Ming Dynasty.

However, since the opening of the seas, the Ming Dynasty and the Mexican Viceroyalty have maintained a very good trade relationship. The Mexican Viceroyalty has guaranteed the safety of the Ming embassy. Arbitrarily expanding the scale of the war would damage the good relationship and would not be a good choice for either side. In the end, it would only lead to a lose-lose situation.

The Mexican governor's office was willing to provide sufficient compensation, and the barbarians who colluded with Xie Ruixiang had already died under the Ming Dynasty's cannon fire.

Based on all the above considerations, if the Mexican Governor's Office is willing to provide 500,000 taels of silver in compensation annually, then Prince Lu can be tolerant and magnanimous in forgiving the Governor's Office's mistakes and not let this trivial matter bother His Majesty.

The envoy of the Mexican governor's office and Chief Secretary Meng Jinquan negotiated extensively, reducing the silver compensation to 300,000 taels of silver per year.

The Governor's Office provided a piece of news that was very favorable to Jinshan City.

Six hundred miles outside Jinshan City lies a silver mine discovered by the Governor's Office years ago. This silver mine has abundant reserves, producing more than four million taels of silver annually, and can be mined continuously for hundreds of years.

The Viceroyalty of Mexico once attempted to develop the silver mountain with 120 colonists and 800 slaves, but because the silver mountain was located in the territory of the Hopi tribe, it was very vulnerable to attacks by the Hopi people along the way. After three years of mining and smelting, the Viceroyalty had to abandon the silver mountain.

If Ming Dynasty scouts were to travel to that silver mountain, they could see the town, stables, taverns, gambling dens, and various tools left behind by the mining operations.

The distance of 600 li is not a straight-line distance, but a road distance. Because the roads are winding in the mountains, and because they are mostly mountain paths, the Hopi people had the opportunity to launch surprise attacks.

Zhu Yiliu dispatched Duntai Yuanhou to explore this place called 'Girl's Silver Mountain'. If the Mexican Governor's Office dared to deceive His Highness Prince Lu, then the Mexican Governor's Office would have to bear the wrath of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared to gold, silver was more important to the Ming Dynasty.

If this exploration does indeed find the so-called Silver Mountain ruins, then Jinshan City will have both gold and silver mountains, and the importance of Jinshan Kingdom in the Ming Dynasty will rise again.

Jinshan City attached great importance to this exploration, and the Duntai Yuanhou Adventure Team alone dispatched six teams to search according to the map provided by the Mexican Governor's Palace.

Soon, the Marquis of Duntai found the location of the girl Yinshan, and information from the investigation kept coming in.

The good news is that what the Mexican Viceroyalty said was true; it was indeed a silver mine, and the Marquis of Duntai successfully brought back a batch of ore, with a richness comparable to that of a high-quality silver mine.

The bad news is that the silver mountain has been firmly occupied by the Hopi tribe, which has a tribe of six thousand people just around the mine.

Zhu Yiliu, Meng Jinquan, Quan Tianpei, Luo Shangzhi and others had a brief discussion and decided to reclaim all the watchtowers and distant marquises, and not to conduct any further exploration in the short term.

The expansion of Jinshan City is heading towards Yinshan, with the expectation that within five to ten years, the Maiden Yinshan will be brought under the rule of Jinshan Kingdom.

Zhu Yiliu held his first public trial in Jinshan City, with the traitor Xie Ruixiang at the head. The list of 128 people on trial surprised the people of Jinshan City.

The public trial was held on the Jinshan Port pier. Seven days before the trial, Jinshan Prefecture began to explain the crimes of the 128 people.

Quan Tianpei believed that Xie Ruixiang had a high reputation in Jinshan City, and that easily dealing with him would easily cause unrest among the people. However, Zhu Yiliu adopted a public trial, public sentencing and public execution method to avoid the people's wild speculation about the case.

In Zhu Yiliu's view, the common people are never unable to distinguish right from wrong or good from bad; it's just that they don't have access to enough information, which leads to wild speculation. If they were willing to fully disclose the witnesses, evidence, and other materials in the case, there would naturally be less suspicion.

The public trial system had been practiced in the Ming Dynasty for five years, proving that justice resides in the hearts of the people.

However, contrary to Zhu Yiliu's expectations, he thought the people would hate Xie Ruixiang for his disregard for human life. Not to mention Xie Ruixiang's subordinates, Xie Ruixiang himself had seven murder cases, including one involving a seven-year-old child.

After the crimes were made public, the people hated Xie Ruixiang even more for his collusion with the Japanese invaders and his plot to seize Jinshan City.

When the external environment is bad, people are willing to give up some power in exchange for more stability. The worse the external environment is, the more power they are willing to give up. The people had long heard about Xie Ruixiang's murder, but as long as he was still guarding Jinshan City, everyone could turn a deaf ear, since the tragedy had not befallen them.

But Xie Ruixiang colluded with the foreign barbarians to betray Jinshan City, and this enormous disaster fell on everyone's shoulders.

The public trial proceeded smoothly. After the evidence was displayed for three days, Xie Ruixiang and 128 others were beheaded and their heads displayed to the public on the orders of Prince Lu.

While Xie Ruixiang was beheaded and his head displayed to the public, and Prince Lu was busy sorting out the affairs of Jinshan Kingdom, the Ming Emperor received a reply on June 22nd confirming Prince Lu's safe arrival at his fief. Seeing Prince Lu's signature signifying safety, Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief, at least it meant that his younger brother had arrived safely.

That's enough. Even if the Prince of Lu couldn't stand it and ran back, Zhu Yijun wouldn't blame him. Planting the royal flag in Jinshan City was perfectly sufficient.

"Hahaha." Zhu Yijun looked at Zhu Yiliu's memorial and suddenly laughed.

Zhu Yiliu's memorial was less of a memorial and more of a long letter. In the letter, Zhu Yiliu talked at length about many things, such as the sixty-three-day voyage and the majestic volcanic rocks of Jinquan Island.

What Zhu Yijun found interesting was that Zhu Yiliu complained that as soon as they arrived at their destination, they had to work on the millstone without a moment's rest, and it was a continuous process.

Now, Zhu Yiliu is like a donkey in the mill; the boomerang of years has finally struck him on the head.

(End of this chapter)