I'm really not doing business

Chapter 985 If you won't accept amnesty, then you'll have to eat cannonballs.

Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng, and Ling Yunyi discussed the visiting envoy from the West in the Tonghe Palace Imperial Study. Spain, which had never been absent since the first year of the Wanli reign, sent an envoy this time, but the nobleman Pedro from the Mesta Wool Society did not come to the Ming Dynasty.

According to rumors from the Portuguese envoy, Pedro disappeared completely after returning to Madrid. Pedro was probably indeed executed; Felipe was never a benevolent monarch.

Moreover, Pedro failed to bring back what Felipe wanted, which was to win.

Felipe desperately needs to win. Even if Pedro brought back some news of a victory, he wouldn't die. But Pedro didn't bring back the fact of a victory, nor did he bring back a narrative of a victory. Instead, he brought back news of a crushing defeat.

His chances of surviving are extremely slim.

Pedro ultimately failed, unable to restore Felipe's former brilliance.

Felipe is known as a tyrant in the West. Look at what he did to the Netherlands; he was far from being benevolent. Now, for his own imperial ambitions, he has launched a campaign against England. For his own selfish desires, he has hollowed out the foundation of the entire British Empire, including its precious reputation.

After the collapse of the gold bonds, even Felipe's prestige was no longer enough to issue them again; no one believed in him anymore.

A war broke out between Spain and Portugal. Portugal won on the battlefield, but Felipe won off the battlefield.

Everyone knows Felipe is turning a funeral into a celebration, winning for the sake of winning, but everyone is just flattering Felipe. The Emperor's New Clothes is never entirely a fairy tale, but rather a reflection of the real world.

Zhu Yijun was a little scared, afraid that one day he would become immersed in this false victory and be unable to extricate himself.

However, considering upright and honest officials like Hai Rui, Xu Chengchu, and Yuan Keli, it would be difficult for him to fall into such a false victory.

The Ming Dynasty's system was not the immature feudal system of the West, but a highly mature imperial system of prefectures and counties.

“Winning is a lie, a tool to dispel public resentment and shift blame. If you can’t win, you’ll die.” Ling Yunyi wasn’t surprised by Felipe’s choice.

Ling Yunyi and Zhang Juzheng experienced the invasion of the barbarians and the Japanese pirates at the end of the Jiajing era. Every time a battle report was presented to the emperor, everyone was terrified and the atmosphere was very heavy, fearing that the old dragon locked in the West Garden would unleash his thunderous wrath.

However, Dao Ye was different from Felipe. Dao Ye could accept the fact that he had lost, whether it was the defeat in the war against the Northern Barbarians, the rampant Japanese pirates, or Hai Rui's "Memorial on Governing the State".

Even in his later years, Dao Ye was able to accept the fact that he lost, and then do his best to solve the problem based on the loss.

A series of famous generals who resisted Japanese pirates and foreign invaders, such as Ma Fang, Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou, Tan Lun, and Wang Chonggu, were born during that time.

Qi Jiguang always said that victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. Only by understanding this statement can one become a qualified general. If one does not even dare to face defeat, how can one talk about true victory?

The coup ended in the peace negotiations of the fourth year of the Longqing reign, which resulted in Altan Khan being granted the title of king and forced to submit to the emperor.
The Japanese pirate raids ended in 1582 after Yin Zhengmao and Zhang Yuanxun quelled the pirates in Guangdong.

Even though the road was so tortuous and so difficult, in the end, the Ming Dynasty still won, or rather, the Daoist Emperor won, in the two major events that threatened the fate of the nation.

Therefore, Dao Ye was a monarch with both a good reputation and a bad one, rather than simply a tyrannical ruler.

"When Wan Wengong, the Grand Secretary, was in court, he always told me that we must admit that there are some things in this world that are incomprehensible. Looking at Felipe's decisions today, I can't help but sigh." Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng spoke of their old friend Wan Shihe.

Zhang Juzheng and Ling Yunyi both understood what His Majesty was saying.

When the seas were first opened, the Ministry of Rites became fixated on understanding the thoughts of the barbarians, hoping for some kind of ultimate answer that would be proven forever, to explain everything and to understand the thoughts of these tribal barbarians and colonized people.

But Wan Shihe failed. After his failure, he put forward a radical theory: there was no need to pay attention to the colonizers' ideas. He believed that if they were beaten up, they would reconcile with themselves. Those who couldn't understand were already dead.

Some of Wan Shihe's words didn't seem significant at the time, but when something suddenly happened, it became clear that Wan Shihe's theories had already explained the phenomenon.

An existence that can be proven eternally and explained by a certain ultimate answer is similar to a god, similar to the pile of classics held by pedantic scholars, who seem to want to use the words of Confucius and Mencius from two thousand years ago to explain all the contradictions they face today, similar to the illusory other shore pursued by ecstatic believers.

Zhu Yijun called this ultimate answer that explains everything and all things "Big Father".

Some people become anxious and lose sleep if they don't have a father figure. They desperately want a father figure to feel at ease and are addicted to having one. Such people are filled with desire for all kinds of winning, whether real or not.

It is important to acknowledge that some things in the world are incomprehensible. For example, Wan Shihe once said, "If you don't know about life, how can you know about death?" It is completely unnecessary to think about what happens after death when you haven't even figured out how to live your life.

Death and the world after death are things that human experience can never reach. It is meaningless to engage in abstract and useless theories about gods and ghosts.

Wan Shihe hopes that His Majesty the Emperor can face the unknown, the incomprehension, the possible failures, and everything with equanimity, and convey this equanimity to the Ming Dynasty, forming a broad consensus.

The Ming Dynasty can lose; losing is not terrible, but it cannot die.

"Your Majesty, the water and drought are not in balance." Zhang Juzheng went to the Imperial Study in Tonghe Palace, naturally intending to stop His Majesty from conducting a loyalty test. However, since it had already been done, he could only proceed as he went. If all else failed, he would use the cabinet's power to block the test and stop it. Of course, he also had important matters to attend to.

The unpredictable weather patterns, characterized by imbalances in water and drought, continue and are becoming increasingly severe.

But it seems that God has gotten carried away with this game and refuses to give us a happy ending.

This year, the water and drought situation remains unbalanced, but the problem is not serious. In addition, there were early warnings, so the damage caused is within a tolerable range. In Huguang, especially Hunan, a few chieftains caused trouble, but they were quelled by the archers of the patrol office. The scale was small, with only one or two hundred people.

Zhu Yijun felt a sense of absurdity; the celestial upheaval seemed to have become a game of challenges.

The Demon King, full of wicked humor, sets up various tests, each one just above Da Ming's tolerance but not too many, unpleasant but not fatal. It seems that as long as you complete the task and accumulate enough strength, you can pass the test and enter the next game.

This is an illusion. Climate change never happens overnight; it will gradually become more serious. Ultimately, there is a glimmer of hope. Whether or not we can seize it depends entirely on whether the Ming Dynasty can complete the Wanli Reforms and increase its ability to withstand risks.

"There has been a change in the Tusi (chieftain) of Guizhou. Yang Yinglong, the hereditary Tusi of Bozhou, has committed illegal acts." Ling Yunyi said with a solemn expression when he mentioned the situation of the Tusi in Guizhou: "At the beginning of this year, Ye Mengxiong, the governor of Guizhou, ordered the Tusi of Guizhou and Sichuan provinces to conduct a joint inspection. Yang Yinglong did not attend the inspection due to illness."

The "Hui Kan" was a meeting held every three years by the governors of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou, who would summon all the hereditary chieftains to Chengdu, Dali, and Guizhou.

The main contents of the meeting usually included imperial orders, mediating conflicts among local chieftains, and dealing with illegal activities by hereditary chieftains, which was somewhat similar to the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance Council established in Ryukyu.

It's just to provide a place for arguments, so that conflicts don't escalate and people don't attack each other.

Gao Qi's foolish administration of the council also absorbed the experience of the Ming Dynasty in managing the Tusi (local chieftains) and created a similar joint survey system.

The joint survey was useful, at least it prevented bloodshed over water or a few pieces of wood, but in reality, it wasn't very useful, because some chieftains were sworn enemies, and even if the governor intervened to mediate, it was to no avail.

The imperial court ordered that the fighting should stop, but the chieftains persisted and continued their attacks. When the situation escalated, the local Han troops would quell the rebellion. For example, in the first year of the Wanli reign, Liu Ting and Zeng Shengwu pacified the Jiusi and wiped out the Duzhang barbarians.

Every so often, the imperial court had to send troops to eliminate several chieftains in order to make them obey.

Sometimes, the chieftains and hereditary rulers couldn't understand the principles the Ming Dynasty was trying to teach; they could only understand the power of force.

Yang Yinglong of Bozhou is a hereditary chieftain who doesn't understand reason and only wants to test his fists. Since being enfeoffed in the Tang Dynasty, Yang Yinglong has been the twenty-ninth generation chieftain of Bozhou and has an extremely strong influence in Bozhou.

"Yang Yinglong is sick, are his sons sick too?" Zhu Yijun's tone was tinged with dissatisfaction.

The inspection tour did not require the chieftains to attend. After all, the Feast at Hongmen was a very sophisticated political maneuver, and the chieftains were afraid that the court would suddenly take action during one of the inspection tours, kill all the chieftains and their clansmen, and forcibly abolish the chieftain system.

Even if the chieftain doesn't come, it's fine if his son does.

But Yang Yinglong didn't arrive, nor did his son.

“Back then, when the Duzhang Manchu affairs were under his control, the Duzhang Manchu chieftain refused to attend the inspection and didn’t even send his son. He acted like a local tyrant,” Ling Yunyi said, thus defining Yang Yinglong.

In the Ming Dynasty, Yang Yinglong was a local tyrant, so how should His Majesty the Emperor conduct himself?

The saying "the chieftain is unruly" begins with his refusal to attend inspections. When a hereditary chieftain refuses to attend an inspection, it means he has other ideas.

"Governor Ye Mengxiong of Guizhou reported Yang Yinglong's various illegal acts and requested the court to send troops to arrest him and execute him in Chongqing." Ling Yunyi took out Ye Mengxiong's memorial, which stated that Yang Yinglong had five capital offenses.

To have one's dwelling decorated with dragons and phoenixes is one crime.

The second crime is the unauthorized use of eunuchs to establish the Sea Dragon Palace.

He was fond of establishing his authority through executions, and the five departments and seven clans under his jurisdiction could not bear his cruelty; this was the third crime.
Favoring a concubine at the expense of one's wife, killing one's wife, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law, and exterminating the wife's family—this is the fourth crime.
Possessing powerful bows, crossbows, cannons, and armor, and illegally establishing passes, are signs of treason; this is the fifth crime.

Yang Yinglong's wife was from the Zhang family in Yongchuan, Chongqing. One of the Zhang family members was a county magistrate in Chongqing named Zhang Shizhao. Fearing Yang Yinglong, Zhang Shizhao fled back to Chongqing and wrote a letter in blood, recounting Yang Yinglong's atrocities. The Zhang family's bloodline was hunted down and almost died out.

"The Governor of Sichuan, Li Shangsi, requests that the investigation be temporarily suspended." Zhang Juzheng presented the memorial from the Governor of Sichuan to the Emperor.

Yang Yinglong is guilty. Each of these five charges is a capital offense, and each one is supported by conclusive evidence. In recent years, Yang Yinglong has repeatedly sent troops to raid Yuqing, Dahu, Duba and other counties, committing all kinds of atrocities, including burning, killing and looting.

The governor of Sichuan was also aware of these matters. Li Shangsi suggested temporarily waiving the investigation, not because he had accepted bribes from Yang Yinglong or spoke well of Yang Yinglong, but because it was based on a fundamental fact: at this time, the Ming Dynasty was fighting against Toungoo, and the Sichuan Han army had entered Yunnan and Burma, leaving Sichuan vulnerable.

The rebellions of the chieftains in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guizhou were all quelled by the Han Chinese army from Sichuan. The last battle in Dali proved that the so-called "civilized Miao" were not to be trusted. It was only with the support of the Han Chinese army from Sichuan that the Duke of Qian's government was able to escape the crisis.

With the Sichuan Han army all in Burma, arresting Yang Yinglong at this time could easily cause trouble. If Yang Yinglong were to unite with many local chieftains to rebel, it would have unpredictable consequences for the Toungoo front.

Yang Yinglong is already the twenty-ninth generation of a hereditary official in Bozhou. He has deep roots in the Bozhou region, and the entire region will be moved by his words. If things get out of hand, it will be quite dangerous.

Li Shangsi outlined several steps for Yang Yinglong to find scapegoats to be brought to Chongqing for trial and execution. The main purpose was to give an explanation to the several chieftains who had been robbed. Yang Yinglong was to pay silver to redeem himself and hand over his second son, Yang Kedong, as a hostage. The court was to reprimand him and tell him not to cause trouble.

The places that were attacked were all inhabited by chieftains. As long as the conflicts between the chieftains didn't escalate too much, the Ming Dynasty court didn't bother to manage them. And since there were few people willing to venture into the deep mountains and forests.

Li Shangsi's words made some sense, because Zhu Yijun was reminded of the Jinchuan Wars waged by Emperor Qianlong.

The war in Bozhou is of unknown duration and extent. It is best to focus on appeasement rather than appeasement.

The matter was defused, and Yang Yinglong was appeased for the time being. The attack on Dongyu continued.

Yunnan and Sichuan shared the same stance: continue the campaign to Toungoo to secure a sea outlet, thus making Yunnan a coastal province. The cotton textile industry in Bengal was highly developed; if a sea route to the West could be established, it would be a blessing for Yunnan for generations to come, and also beneficial to the imperial court. The transport of saltpeter from Bengal by sea was somewhat unsettling; land transport was far safer.

"Vice Minister Ling wants to quell the Yang family in Bozhou. I think it would be better to appease them first. We can wait until the court has more time to deal with them before severely punishing them," Zhang Juzheng said.

Ling Yunyi said helplessly, "Zhang Yuanfu! I just can't explain this to you. Li Shangsi's reasoning is correct, but will Yang Yinglong listen to it? You see, as long as the court appeases him, he will think the court is weak."

“His raids on these chieftains were a test of the court. Once the court appeased him, he would assume that the court had no power to deal with him and would take the opportunity to continue his attacks.”

Ling Yunyi had dealt with these chieftains in Guangdong. When the Yao people in the three counties of Luoding were in turmoil, Ling Yunyi was not so bloodthirsty. He tried to reason with the Yao people, but the more he tried, the bigger the trouble became. In the end, Ling Yunyi had no choice but to kill them all.

The Yang family of Bozhou is in the same situation now. They are restless and can no longer suppress their ambitions!

"What are these chieftains thinking? If they make a big fuss and incur the wrath of the court, how can they survive? Wouldn't it be better to just be obedient chieftains while the court is willing to talk?" Zhang Juzheng was somewhat bewildered. He couldn't understand what these chieftains were thinking at all, and was rather confused.

If you really fall out with the Ming Dynasty, the court will be completely baffled when they send troops, because your head will already be chopped off.

Zhang Juzheng lacked experience in local governance and had never dealt with these chieftains, so he truly could not understand them.

“Wan Zongbo said: We must admit that there are some things in this world that are incomprehensible.” Zhu Yijun sat up straight and said: “Sir, don’t think about it anymore. Even if you think about it for ten days and ten nights, you still won’t understand. Where did he get the courage? But he did it anyway.”

"He is testing the court, testing me, testing whether I will raise an army."

"In that case, let's try to appease them first, as Li Shangsi suggested. If they take the court's goodwill as weakness, then we'll mobilize the Sichuan Han troops to suppress them. While we're at it, the Ministry of War's new cannons will be delivered to the Sichuan Han troops for use."

The reason why Zhu Yijun did not immediately launch an attack was entirely because it would take time to mobilize troops and supplies. If Sichuan had not been undefended, Zhu Yijun would not have given Yang Yinglong this opportunity.

“Yang Yinglong has powerful backers,” Zhu Yijun continued. “Since the tenth year of the Wanli reign, the Ming Dynasty has carried out a large-scale reform of replacing native chieftains with appointed officials. Naturally, there was resentment among those who inherited the hereditary chieftain positions. Yang Yinglong seized upon this resentment, and these hereditary chieftains also supported him from behind.”

"If Yang Yinglong remains unrepentant and shows no restraint, this battle will not only eliminate Yang Yinglong, but also crush the disloyalty of all the chieftains!"

The policy of replacing native chieftains with appointed officials in the Ming Dynasty was established during Hai Rui's lifetime. Hai Rui was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) through a special examination, which was one of the rewards for those willing to go to serve as appointed officials in the native chieftain's territory.

The "reform of local chieftains and their replacement with centrally appointed officials" was a process of distributing the fruits of the Wanli Reforms to the chieftains and Miao peoples of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Guizhou. This process had to be handled gently, otherwise these chieftains would have kept all the benefits for themselves.

Starting from the tenth year of the Wanli reign, Yunnan and Guizhou opened up approximately 350,000 mu of tea gardens, which was originally a good thing that benefited many people. However, these tea gardens were more or less encroached upon by these local chieftains.

Tea farmers work hard to grow tea but do not receive the compensation they deserve, while these chieftains and hereditary rulers sell tea along the Tea Horse Road to Sichuan and Tibet for huge profits.

The policy of replacing local chieftains with centrally appointed officials was inevitable. Using Yang Yinglong as a sacrifice for the policy was a way to ensure that even if Yang Yinglong actually behaved himself, the Ming Dynasty would not spare him once it was free to act.

Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng discussed many official matters of the court. Busy days are always busy. On the fourth day of the seventh month, Zhu Yijun opened the Hall of Supreme Harmony, convened a grand court assembly, and summoned the three governors of the Eastern Tai region.

In addition to the three governors, there were a total of nine secretaries and twelve city lords from the three governors' offices.

"No need for formalities." Zhu Yijun gestured for everyone to drop the formalities before smiling and saying, "You have all come from afar for important matters concerning the establishment of the Huan Tai Merchant Alliance. I am opening the Huangji Hall to receive you all today to demonstrate the sincerity of the Ming Dynasty."

"The Ming Dynasty has the will and the ability to ensure the stable operation of the Pan-Pacific Business Alliance. We hope that you will implement all the established terms."

"The Ming Dynasty has always kept its word. What it has said and what it has signed will not be treated as worthless paper. I hope that you will also implement all the terms of the charter in accordance with the charter."

Zhu Yijun opened the Hall of Supreme Harmony to demonstrate his importance, but his words were not polite and violated regulations. The consequences were self-evident; the wrath of the Ming Dynasty was something these governor-general offices could not bear.

Zhu Yijun spoke to each of the three governors in turn, answering some questions about the regulations. These questions were not pre-prepared by the Ministry of Rites, but were answered accurately by Zhu Yijun based on his understanding of the trade regulations.

"Governor Peto, I know you. Your three pirate groups should stop being pirates. Commander Luo Shangzhi of Jinshan has reported that starting this year, the Ming Dynasty will, in accordance with the security provisions of the regulations, conduct a crackdown on pirates throughout the entire Eastern Pacific and will conduct regular patrols. If any are accidentally injured, it may damage the harmony." Zhu Yijun reminded Peto that continuing to be a pirate would mean getting beaten.

Before, it was one thing to be a stray dog ​​and bite people randomly, but now that I can eat at the gates of the Ming Dynasty, I don't need to do those things anymore.

“I will follow Your Majesty’s orders and cease these actions upon returning to Mexico. If they disobey my advice and continue to plunder, they will be wiped out by the invincible navy of the Ming Dynasty, and the resulting disaster will be their own fault,” Peto hurriedly replied, bowing again.

The Ming Dynasty was a celestial empire that respected order and naturally despised pirates. The only reason they gave him a chance was because of the Mexican silver mines.

Peto was actually very clear about his own position; he had been recruited.

The Ming Dynasty had two ways of dealing with pirates: to offer them amnesty or to annihilate them. If they didn't accept the amnesty, they would have to endure the cannonballs of the navy's 36-pound cannons.

The Ming Dynasty's overall strategy for opening up the seas revolved around trading with swords. The Ming Dynasty's merchant ships overseas were never gentle, and behind these merchant ships stood the Ming Dynasty's navy.

Who would choose to be a pirate if they could live a respectable life? Even Xie Ruixiang, that desperate criminal, wouldn't want to be a pirate.

The three governorates are in different situations. Peru and Chile are more inclined to be opportunists, since Felipe did not take away all the benefits of their governorates and left them with some.

Peto was in a desperate situation, and there were even rumors that Felipe was planning to send Peto back to Spain for trial because Peto's pirate crew had plundered Felipe's treasure ship.

The twelve city lords were also given the opportunity to meet the emperor, to confirm that the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance had received His Majesty's approval.

"Farewell, Your Majesty." Peto and the others bowed deeply again and left the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Zhu Yijun continued to receive envoys from various countries in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The envoy from the Mughal Empire was Shah Mamat. A new group of about twenty students paid 200,000 taels of silver in tuition fees, and the Ming Emperor agreed to continue the trade in cotton, cotton cloth, and saltpeter.

Shah Mamat also brought news that Akbar the Great's conquest of South India was going smoothly, with the exception of a few city-states putting up a last-ditch resistance, which meant that more cotton fields could be developed.

Akbar was worried that Da Ming wouldn't be able to consume so much cotton, so he asked Da Ming for his opinion.

After Zhu Yijun inquired with the Ministry of Revenue, he replied that the more the better.

Before the establishment of the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance, the Ministry of Revenue did not have the confidence to do so. However, with the establishment of the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance, the quantity of cotton cloth in the Ming Dynasty was even somewhat stretched.

While preparing to advance south, Akbar will continue his offensive northwestward to reclaim his homeland, Afghanistan, and find the answer to his long-standing question, "Who am I?"

An envoy from Siam explained why they had failed to come to Laos's aid in its time of need.

It wasn't that Siam didn't want to, but that it dared not. Both Toungoo and Annam sent envoys demanding that Siam not interfere.

Toungoo was beaten so badly by the Ming Dynasty that it could not raise its head, and Annam was trying its best to avoid being completely ruled by the Ming Dynasty again. In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, these two were small and weak states, but in the Indochina Peninsula, these two were local tyrants who could attack whomever they wanted.

Toungoo and Annam demanded that Siam jointly send troops, but Siam ultimately chose to remain neutral.

Zhu Yijun then learned the details: Annan beat everyone with his fists and feet, and no one was his match.

In addition, Annam also sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty, but they were unable to meet with the Ming emperor.

Since the Jiajing era, Annam has been a vassal state, and it was inappropriate to send envoys there. Instead, officials should be sent to the capital to report for duty. The diplomatic channels of the Court of State Ceremonies should not be used. Annam's sending of envoys was a deliberate attempt to demonstrate its independent status.

However, in the past, Annam had always sent envoys, and the Court of State Ceremonies had never refused to allow them an audience as it had this time.

The main reason was that the Ming Dynasty could not agree to the conditions set by the Annamite envoy, so it simply refused to let him into the palace.

Annam hoped that the Ming Dynasty would prohibit Ming merchants from buying Annamite grain, prohibit Annamites from being sold as barbarian slaves to Southeast Asia, and prohibit the Guangzhou governor from extorting Annam under the pretext of debt collection.

The Ming Dynasty could not agree to any of these conditions.

The grain was sold by merchants from Annam, and the people who captured Annamite people and enslaved them were also Annamite. Almost all the grain and the barbarian slaves grew out of the ship's hold. How could the Ming Dynasty control them?

The Annamese brought this upon themselves; the Ming Dynasty was merely engaging in trade. Many Ming merchants did not accept foreign slaves because it was inconvenient to convert them into cash.

As for the last demand, it is only right and proper to pay back debts. The Guangzhou governor acted as the people's advocate and collected the IOUs to collect the debts. Was that wrong?

The Ministry of Rites directly stopped the Annamite envoy, preventing him from entering the palace and offending His Majesty.

Zhu Yijun granted the Ministry of Rites' request; the Annamese were ugly but had quite the imagination.

Imported grain affected grain prices around several maritime trade offices, especially in Songjiang Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture, where arable land was rapidly decreasing. The only arable land left in Songjiang Prefecture was used for cotton cultivation, and without imported grain, grain prices could not remain stable.

Even if Zhu Yijun agreed, officials in Huguang, Jiangxi, Jiangzuo and Jiangyou, Zhejiang and other places would not agree. They relied on the office in Songjiang Prefecture to buy imported grain to pay part of the land tax to the court.

With the weather changing drastically and water and drought conditions becoming unpredictable, every additional bushel of imported grain purchased can reduce the possibility of popular uprisings.

This year, there was an additional special envoy, Wendu, a Xianbei chieftain from the Xianbei Plain.

This commander looked exactly like a Tatar, very burly, with a somewhat fierce appearance, straight black hair, pale yellow skin, and light brown eyes, no different from the Tatars that Zhu Yijun had seen.

When the Xianbei chieftain Wendu entered the capital, his main purpose, besides the fur trade, was to express his gratitude to the Ming Dynasty.

After some of the Japanese soldiers who were repairing the road escaped from the section of the road, they committed atrocities on the Xianbei grasslands, gathering a group of about a thousand Japanese soldiers who plundered everywhere.

The Ming Dynasty's Yuanhou Adventure Team, in cooperation with the warriors of various Xianbei tribes, besieged and wiped out these Japanese pirates, bringing peace to the Xianbei Plain.

Zhu Yijun learned from the envoy that each adventure team led by a distant marquis now had three to five Xianbei servants, and these Xianbei were quite brave.

"Is the reason for Wanhu's visit to the court this time to request that I appoint the Xianbei Khan, Uerhan, as the ruler of a vassal state?" Zhu Yijun asked with a puzzled expression. "If I don't appoint him, will he not be the ruler?"

"Supreme Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, without your investiture, we would not be able to establish our own country," said Wendu, the Xianbei commander, bowing deeply.

(End of this chapter)