I'm really not doing business

Chapter 999: The Han army's eight routes of troops swiftly and decisively subdued Bozhou; merchant ships sailed the seas, and all the silver returned to the Ming Dynasty.

The cabinet ministers all agreed that His Majesty should stay in Songjiang Prefecture, the place where the Wanli Reforms were to begin. However, the presence of Shuntian Prefecture made the ministers very worried. They felt that Shuntian Prefecture was not loyal, and His Majesty would not feel at ease staying in Songjiang Prefecture. They would be filled with anxiety.

However, it seems difficult to win over the loyalty of the Shuntian Prefecture.

At this point, the bureaucrats should have resorted to their old tricks: deceiving their superiors and subordinates. They should have taken advantage of the reorganization of the Shuntian Prefecture government to inflate the figures and make them look better.

But since it involved the safety of the emperor and his heirs, no one dared to do it. If it were investigated, how many heads would be chopped off?
Gao Qiyu, the Minister of Rites, officially took office. He had only two tasks on his mind: to rectify the superficiality of the Hanlin Academy and to manage the operations of the Pan-Pacific Business Alliance.

The Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance progressed more smoothly than the Ming Dynasty officials had imagined, not because Gao Qiyu was particularly capable, but because of His Highness Prince Lu.

In June, the restless Prince Lu went to Lima, the governor's residence in Peru. Ten fast sailing ships, each over thirty feet long, were moored in the harbor, causing quite a stir among the foreigners at the seaport.

From then on, Ming Dynasty merchant ships could travel freely without hindrance, and all those petty thoughts and schemes vanished instantly under the dark cannon barrels.

According to the directors sent by the foreigners to the Ryukyu General Council, there were originally differing opinions within the Governor-General's office, but the armed patrols of the fast sailing ships have silenced all voices.

The Viceroyalty of Peru and the Viceroyalty of Mexico both made a joint decision to reduce the flow of silver to Spain.

Governor Peto promised that of the 6.5 million taels of silver produced annually from the three silver mines in Mexico, more than two million taels would be sent to the Ming Dynasty next year, compared to only 500,000 taels previously.

Having secured the war loan from the Ming Dynasty, Peto began to control these mining areas, which is why he dared to make such a promise. With a sharp blade in his hand, his murderous intent arose. Relying on the advantage of the Ming Dynasty's five-masted ocean-going ships, Peto returned to the governor's mansion and began to conquer cities and territories.

The rich silver mines of the Peruvian governor's palace produce 700 million taels of silver annually, and promised to send 450 million taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty, restoring the Ming Dynasty to the level before the falling out with Spain.

The two governorates had a perfectly valid reason: Spain, which was undergoing a price revolution, did not need so much silver.

The price revolution led to a flow of cheap gold and silver from the Americas into the West, resulting in the devaluation of gold and silver and a rise in prices in the West—a historic event.

Due to distribution issues, most of this influx of silver ended up in the hands of nobles, while Western farmers went bankrupt one after another during the price revolution.

Reducing the flow of silver back to the homeland, reducing price fluctuations, and increasing the inflow of goods—no matter how you look at it, this reason seems perfectly legitimate and respectable. The Western homeland cannot consume that much silver, and the flow of silver back would only become harmful.

Gao Qiyu had been to the West and knew that things were not like that. The logic seemed to make sense, but it was completely unacceptable to the ruling class of the West.

The flow of cheap gold and silver from the Americas back to the West was essentially a form of plunder from the colonies by the mainland. Once the colonies received enough goods from the Ming Dynasty, gold and silver from the West would flow to these colonies. This would no longer be a case of the mainland plundering the colonies, but rather the colonies plundering the mainland in return.

Gao Qiyu knew very well that the fundamental logic of the Ming Dynasty and the West was completely different.

Under no circumstances could the Ming Dynasty allow a large-scale exodus of refugees. If such an event occurred, it would signify the collapse of the dynasty, the devastation of the nation, and the end of its destiny—it would be as if the sky had fallen.

The West can accommodate large numbers of refugees and unarmed, unruly people, but no matter how many there are, they cannot overthrow the throne.

After all, the enclosure movement in England had long exceeded the danger line, with more than 90% of the land concentrated in the hands of gentry and members of parliament. London was full of vagrants and beggars, and two-year-old children had to start working by crawling through chimneys.

Once Western silver flowed back into the colonies, the Western ruling class was doomed, for they lost their wealth and thus their means of governance.

Gao Qiyu wrote a letter to Yao Guangqi and Yan Shixuan, instructing them to remind the two governors' offices to proceed slowly and not to be too hasty, and not to push Felipe to the brink by changing the target of the expedition from England to Mexico and Peru.

The purge of the Hanlin Academy did not proceed as smoothly as it should have, as these empty talkers were extremely stubborn.

Gao Qiyu devised a study tour plan for this purpose, with the Western Regions, Gansu, Suiyuan, Liaodong, and Songjiang Prefecture all being places for study tours. These scholars in the Hanlin Academy could hear the sounds of wind, rain, and reading, but they could not hear the suffering of the common people.

Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles; even the Hanlin scholars had to travel those ten thousand miles whether they wanted to or not.

Minister of War Zeng Shengwu is already very old. The suppression of the rebellion in Bozhou is a foregone conclusion. This is his last task. After he finishes it, he will retire with Wang Guoguang. Although His Majesty gave Yang Yinglong a chance, Zeng Shengwu understands the thoughts of the hereditary chieftains all too well.

“I know that Young Master Liang may not understand, but that’s how these chieftains think.” Zeng Shengwu explained the logic behind these chieftains’ actions to Liang Menglong, but Liang Menglong simply couldn’t comprehend it.

Liang Menglong frowned and said, "This is simply incomprehensible."

Zeng Shengwu shook his head again and said, "Take Yang Yinglong as an example. His family ruled Bozhou for more than 700 years, spanning the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, and passing down the line for 29 generations. In his eyes, what is an emperor?"

“Bozhou should belong to them. No one can touch it. The court sending officials here is a violation of the rules and an act of aggression.”

"A state within a state, indeed."

Yang Yinglong is a microcosm, not much different from Du Zhangman back then. This mentality and thinking can be summarized as a state within a state, which leads to such things.

"It's ridiculous! If you think you're so great, why don't you find your own way to make a living? Why do you still need to rely on the imperial court? Or just rebel?!" Liang Menglong's tone became extremely cold and sharp, even carrying a hint of murderous intent.

Zeng Shengwu sighed and said, "Yang Yinglong, isn't this tantamount to rebellion?"

"Back then, I summoned the chieftain of Duzhangman to Chongqing Prefecture for an investigation. The court pardoned his crimes, but in the end, we still had to send troops to destroy him."

The imperial court was actually too lazy to deal with these hereditary chieftains. They were honest and did nothing, and the Ming Dynasty tacitly allowed them to be local emperors. But every time, they would provoke the imperial court and test its temper.

The people of the Ming Dynasty, who had long lived in the heart of the Ming territory, simply could not understand their way of thinking. In fact, there was no need to understand them. Since they had rebelled, they should just quell the rebellion.

“Liang Shaozai, the Han soldiers from Sichuan and Yunnan are trustworthy.” Zeng Shengwu then brought up another matter.

The imperial court actually had some concerns about the Han soldiers in Sichuan and Yunnan. A large part of these concerns stemmed from the distance and the fear that the regions would grow too powerful and lead to the regional separatism seen at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the imperial court had to mobilize a large number of troops to wage war in the southwest, dispatching Han soldiers from the capital and the hinterland, such as the several battles of Luchuan in the early years of the dynasty.

In Zeng Shengwu's view, this was too wasteful. The soldiers' supplies and pay were transported all over the world, and the cost was too high. Moreover, neither the northern nor the southern soldiers were good at jungle warfare.

During the Zhengtong era, the three battles of Luchuan resulted in enormous war costs and heavy casualties.

This was not the case during the Jiajing and Longqing reigns. During this period, the Ming Dynasty's wars in the southwest were mainly fought by Han Chinese soldiers from the southwest, and the results were excellent.

It wasn't that the imperial court had lost its paranoia; it was simply that the court lacked the manpower, resources, and funds to mobilize troops and supplies across the country, leaving it with no choice but to rely on the Han soldiers in the southwest.

After the Wanli Reforms, Your Majesty merely followed the established rules and regulations of your predecessors.

"It was difficult to explain before, but now it's easier to explain. On the one hand, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Guizhou were simply too poor to support a regional military governorship. Once they broke away from the imperial court, it would be difficult for them to maintain their power."

"Secondly, the main contradictions in the southwest are different from those in the hinterland." Zeng Shengwu explained the credibility of the Han soldiers in the southwest from the perspective of contradiction.

Both were under the Ming Dynasty, but the situation in the southwest was different from that in the heartland. The main conflict in the southwest was the struggle for survival between the Han people and the Miao people, not in the fully-administered prefectures and counties. However, having lived in the heartland for a long time, it was easy to think about the problem from the perspective of fully-developed prefectures and counties, that is, the conflict between the central government and the local area.

Once this main contradiction is understood, the reasons why the Han soldiers in the southwest are trustworthy can be fully explained.

The reason why the army was still mainly composed of Han soldiers from the southwest in this campaign against Bozhou is that the court did not need to worry at all that the new cannons would become too powerful and difficult to control. The chieftains and hereditary rulers of the southwest were the biggest enemies of the Han soldiers.

Liang Menglong finally understood why Zeng Shengwu hadn't asked His Majesty to mobilize the capital garrison—it was completely unnecessary.

The Han soldiers in the southwest also have their pride. There's absolutely no need to mobilize heavenly troops and generals to quell the rebellions of a few local chieftains and hereditary rulers.

Zeng Shengwu continued, "Moreover, the Bozhou incident is simpler than the Duzhang barbarian incident. The Duzhang barbarian uprising was caused by the shadow of Mangyinglong, and it was a turmoil caused by collusion between the inside and outside. The situation was quite complicated due to the collusion between the external threat, the Miao people, and the chieftains."

"But now Toungoo is barely clinging to life, and the Ming Dynasty has already set up the Pacification Commissioner's Office right at Mangyingli's doorstep. Toungoo can no longer cooperate with Yang Yinglong."

Zeng Shengwu had dealt with Mang Yinglong before. This man was meticulous and always planned before acting. Moreover, he was extremely decisive. If things didn't go well, he would immediately abandon the Duzhangman and befriend the Ming Dynasty to prevent the Ming Dynasty from using the Duzhangman incident to launch a war against Toungoo.

When the Ming Dynasty was in charge of dealing with the barbarians, the reason it mobilized 140,000 Han troops was to guard against the Toungoo and even prepare for a national war.

Mang Yinglong was a ruthless and ambitious man, but his son Mang Yingli was a complete fool. Mang Yingli actually thought that the Ming Dynasty was a dilapidated house that could collapse with a single kick. Even if the Ming Dynasty was a dilapidated house, it was something that Mang Yingli could kick down.

Without the collusion between insiders and outsiders, Yang Yinglong of Bozhou could not stand alone.

After analyzing the main contradictions in the southwest, Zeng Shengwu and Liang Menglong made specific arrangements and deployments. They conscripted 10,000 Han soldiers, 30,000 military soldiers, 50,000 civilian laborers, and 3,000 Miao people as guides from various parts of Sichuan. They also mobilized 30,000 troops from Yunnan, Guiyang, and Huguang to intervene in the war at any time.

Liang Menglong offered a different plan. He felt that relying solely on Sichuan Han soldiers would be difficult. His overall plan was for eight armies, each with 30,000 men, to advance simultaneously and completely crush Yang Yinglong with a single blow.

With an army of 240,000, the purpose was simple: to thoroughly intimidate the rebellious hearts of the many chieftains in the southwest.

Zeng Shengwu then realized that Liang Menglong, the minister in Zhang Juzheng's shadow, was actually a radical! Zeng Shengwu, who was a proponent of suppression and war, was actually on the conservative side.

While Zeng Shengwu certainly had a better understanding of the situation in the Southwest, Liang Menglong had a deeper understanding of politics.

With the Sichuan Han soldiers as the main force, and 10,000 Han soldiers and 30,000 military soldiers as backup, the situation is not stable enough. If Yang Yinglong is not captured, things will become extremely troublesome. It's not that Yang Yinglong is difficult to deal with, but that the court will be divided because of the failure to capture him in one battle.

Once a disagreement arises, a struggle will ensue over a particular issue. Once the struggle begins, the very act of suppressing the rebellion becomes unimportant, because the outcome of the struggle becomes the most important question.

By then, suppressing the rebellion will become difficult.

The Eighth Route Army, with 240,000 troops, was dispatched to suppress the rebellion, ensuring that a single mobilization would completely kill Yang Yinglong and shatter the resistance of the southwestern chieftains against the officials.

If the Battle of Bozhou turns into a disastrous war, the time, energy, manpower, material resources, and financial resources spent will likely be greater than if the Eighth Route Army had launched a full-scale campaign against it. Moreover, it could only achieve a military victory, not a political one, and the southwestern chieftains would still resist the Ming Dynasty's policy of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials.

The cost of war is simply too high. Qi Jiguang said that war is about making the enemy submit to one's own will. If the enemy still refuses to surrender after the war, it is a defeat if there is a military victory but no political victory.

Liang Menglong agreed with this point. He was not a radical, but a pragmatist. The cost of a major war was much less than the cost of a disastrous defeat.

"After fighting for more than a decade, I've become nothing more than a military man." Zeng Shengwu chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "Let's do as Young Minister Liang says."

Zeng Shengwu considered the issue from a war perspective but failed to consider it from a political perspective. Liang Menglong was right. The Bozhou War turned into a mess, and the Ming Dynasty's newly enriched national treasury would be depleted again. To stabilize the situation, they directly sent 240,000 Han soldiers in an eight-pronged attack.

Liang Menglong wrote a memorial, and Zeng Shengwu and Liang Menglong jointly submitted it to the court. It quickly received the emperor's approval.

The emperor could fully understand the logic that a stable hand was equivalent to an army of 240,000. Liang Menglong's tendency to overestimate the enemy was something he learned from the emperor.

Minister of Works Zeng Tongheng went to the Wenyuan Pavilion to meet with Vice Grand Secretary Ling Yunyi, mainly to carefully confirm many matters related to the large-scale construction project.

The Ming Dynasty is currently building two imperial highways: the Beijing-Guangzhou Highway and the Jinan-Yangzhou Highway. The Beijing-Guangzhou Highway is being built slowly, while the Jinan-Yangzhou Highway is being built much faster, by more than half a day.

The construction was completed quickly because the area along the route was very wealthy, with ample manpower and resources, especially with the canal nearby, which facilitated the transportation of various materials.

"So that means it can be completed by the end of next year at the latest, and operational by the spring of the year after next?" Ling Yunyi inquired about the detailed construction schedule.

"Secondary Minister, we have already made room for contingencies in case of natural disasters or man-made calamities. If there are no such contingencies, it can be officially put into use next autumn or winter." Zeng Tongheng revealed his plan, leaving ample room for contingencies so that everyone could report back smoothly. Completing the project ahead of schedule or on time would both demonstrate loyalty to the emperor and the country.

"I see." Ling Yunyi's thoughts were not on the imperial road, but on His Majesty's stay in Songjiang Prefecture.

Given the state of Shuntian Prefecture, why does His Majesty spend half the year each year staying in Songjiang Prefecture to handle maritime trade matters?

On the fourth day of the eighth month of the nineteenth year of the Wanli reign, the fleet for the last trans-Pacific trade of the year set sail. The extreme winter weather in the North Pacific was very severe. Unlike the storms that raged in June, July and August in the Ming Dynasty, the storms in the Jinshan Kingdom raged in winter.

After a two-month voyage, the trans-Pacific trade fleet arrived at the port of Jinshan in Jinshan State.

Zhao Mu was one of the soldiers on this long voyage. He was a centurion of the Qingyuan Guard in Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province. He was 24 years old, 6 feet tall, and strong.

His ancestral home is Jimo, Shandong. His father was a soldier who traveled from Shandong to Zhejiang, then to Fujian and Guangdong, and made some contributions in suppressing the Japanese pirates.

In the second year of the Wanli reign, Zhao Mu's father died in the Battle of Dianbai Port in Guangzhou.

Zhao Mu was only six years old when he became an orphan. His mother died in the Japanese pirate raids and his father died in battle. Zhao Mu did not receive any compensation from his father, and even the few acres of meager land that his family owned were taken away. The young Zhao Mu thus became a refugee.

At that time, the reputation of the guest soldiers was bad. Once the war was over, the guest soldiers became an unstable factor. Many of the mountain bandits and sea pirates were composed of guest soldiers who had no skills. They gathered in the mountains and islands and wreaked havoc in the area.

In the fifth year of the Wanli reign, nine-year-old Zhao Mu wandered to Guangzhou Prefecture. He was so hungry that he was dizzy and took his treasured merit award plaque to a pawnshop to pawn it.

Zhao Mu felt that his father was a great man who had given his life to quell the Japanese pirates. Even in the most difficult times, Zhao Mu did not pawn the merit plaque that symbolized his father's lifelong honor.

But Zhao Mu, who was nine years old and had no means of making a living, was truly desperate and had no choice but to sell it.

The pawnshop gave him four qian of silver as collateral. Nine-year-old Zhao Mu looked at the high counter, but he couldn't even see the pawnshop clerk's face.

All pawnshops build their counters extremely high, and many clerks have to walk on the inner steps to sit on the stools, all so that they can avoid seeing the suffering of the people.

My father's life was worth only four taels of silver.

Zhao Mu didn't want to be a judge. He retrieved his father's reward plaque and huddled in a street corner, not knowing what to do. Anger rose in his heart. He hated the imperial court, the government offices, and those despicable neighbors. He ran to the Guangzhou government office and banged on the grievance drum.

The yamen is all about money; if you don't have money, don't come in. Although Zhao Mu was young, he knew that if the grievance drum was beaten, he was more likely to get a beating.

That year, Ling Yunyi was serving as the governor of Guangzhou. His notorious reputation for killing had already spread throughout Guangdong and Guangxi. Although it was a minor matter, the reward plaque eventually ended up in Ling Yunyi's hands.

In the fifth year of the Wanli reign, Ling Yunyi began to investigate the corruption cases of the guest soldiers.

In the sixth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, Ling Yunyi escorted forty-three corrupt officials to the capital. These officials had embezzled funds meant for the salaries of soldiers and garrison troops. After the emperor's approval, they were all beheaded and their bodies displayed for ten days. Their families were sent to Luzon to serve as a warning to others.

In the seventh year of the Wanli reign, this raging storm had nothing to do with the young Zhao Mu. He became a centurion of the Qingyuan Guard, and nearly a hundred other children or descendants of soldiers who had similar experiences to Zhao Mu were brought back by Ling Yunyi.

Standing on the pier of Jinshan Port, Zhao Mu felt the sea breeze and suddenly remembered the scene when he was six years old, every time he went to the dock to see his father off. At that time, when he raised his hand, it was not even as high as the sword at his father's waist.

He clearly remembered his father's sword, which was an heirloom.

The back of the knife was already rusted, but the mottled rust still proved that it could kill enemies, demonstrating the knife's excellent craftsmanship. Decades of honing it had given the blade a curve like it had been bitten by a dog. But that knife had drunk the blood of Japanese pirates, and it was my father's most beloved possession.

My father also had a suit of iron armor, which was a cloth-faced armor, but the iron plates had long been rusted and pitted.

Zhao Mu possessed a suit of iron armor, forged from fine steel, two hook-and-sickle spears, two flintlock muskets of different lengths, a goose-feather saber, a short-handed knife, and his own private boat, a trimaran three-masted hydrofoil.

They were all new; they had just been given to him before he came to Jinshan City. This hydrofoil fast sailboat belonged to Zhao Mu himself and was an extra reward from the emperor, who hoped that he would do his best to serve his younger brother Zhu Yiliu, who was far away in Jinshan.

This ship is really fast. When he first got it, he traveled 200 li (100 kilometers) in an hour, from Jinshan Port to Xin'gang in Songjiang Prefecture, a distance of 20,000 li (10,000 kilometers). Zhao Mu was confident that he could use this ship to return to the Ming Dynasty within 40 days.

Standing in the howling wind, Zhao Mu suddenly felt that his father's appearance was becoming somewhat blurry. When he was nine years old, Zhao Mu learned an idiom, "carving a mark on a boat to find a lost sword."

His recollection of the past is nothing more than a clinging to outdated methods.

"Father, I am now a distant Marquis of Duntai." Zhao Mu kicked a pebble into the sea and strode towards Jinshan City. This time he was here and he was not leaving. He was going to take up the post of the Prince of Lu's watchtower and the chief of the Jinshan Kingdom's coastal defense patrol.

Jinshan City is far more prosperous than Zhao Mu imagined. After the establishment of the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance, more merchant ships will arrive in Jinshan City to distribute goods, and the city will only become more prosperous.

Prince Zhu Yiliu of Lu stood in the Chengyun Hall of the Prince Lu's Mansion and said loudly to Earl Quan Tianpei of Jinshan, "This was a mistake from the very beginning, and we must find a way to correct it! Instead of letting it rot away!"

“I know this process will come at a great cost, but if it’s not corrected, the Kingdom of Jinshan will surely perish within ten years! I can sail back to the Ming Dynasty, and my brother will at most scold me a few times. But what about you? What will you do?”

Zhao Mu had no idea why the argument was taking place. He waited outside the palace for the Prince of Lu to summon him and overheard bits and pieces of the argument. With the explanation from Meng Jinquan, the chief secretary who came to fetch him, Zhao Mu understood the reason for the argument.

Quan Tianpei is a good person, and Prince Lu is an unreasonable good person.

The matter is actually very simple. Jinshan City does not have a land system. The ownership of land depends entirely on the land grabbing and the unspoken agreement that whoever grabs a piece of land owns it. If everyone agrees that it is yours, then it is yours.

This led to a rather fatal problem: the expansion of Jinshan Port required the acquisition of land, which caused land prices to soar.

The docks were not enough and needed to be expanded. However, no matter where the expansion was carried out, the land was already occupied, and each owner raised their prices to the point that even the Prince of Lu's mansion could not afford them.

Prince Zhu Yiliu of Lu was a tyrant who would confiscate property without permission and drown anyone who disagreed.

Quan Tianpei earnestly advised that these were all old friends who had followed him from scratch to build Jinshan City. If they were forced to give them away for nothing, who would dare to stay in Jinshan City in the future?

Zhu Yiliu forcefully flicked his sleeves and said sternly, "Woman's compassion! The seaside is all sandy land, which is not suitable for cultivation at all. It was originally unclaimed land, but as soon as they heard that the port was to be expanded, these unclaimed wastelands immediately found owners."

"They're not just taking advantage of the Prince's Mansion, they're taking advantage of the entire Jinshan Kingdom!"

“If I allow them to do this today, in the future, Jinshan Kingdom will be taken advantage of in every way it does, and nothing will be accomplished! Lord Jinshan, do you understand my concerns? This is not just about the expansion of Jinshan Port.”

"This door must never be opened. How much gold and silver do I need, how much gold and silver does the Kingdom of Gold need, to satisfy people's greed?"

"Gold Mountain Lord, your greed is insatiable! In a few years, they'll dare to seize the gold mines!"

Zhu Yiliu was not exaggerating. As soon as he heard that the port was to be expanded, the unclaimed wasteland immediately became a hot commodity. For those few plots of land, dozens of people were injured and nine were killed. Now, they were all waiting for him, the Prince of Lu, to select them, and each plot of land was very expensive.

If he, the Prince of Lu, were to tolerate this, he would achieve nothing in the future, no matter what he did. This door must absolutely not be opened.

Quan Tianpei naturally understood Prince Lu's concerns. The gold and silver he brought with him to his fiefdom were still more than enough, but this was not a matter of money, but a matter of rules.

"Your Highness, please allow me to try to persuade them again." Quan Tianpei was also extremely exhausted.

When Prince Lu takes over the land, it is by no means gentle. If these landlords resist, the Jinshan Prefecture's soldiers will arrive in an instant. How many of these pioneers who followed Quan Tianpei and built Jinshan City from scratch will survive?
Quan Tianpei wanted to save face for everyone, and he tried to persuade them many times, but these landlords refused to budge an inch. They even joined forces to raise the price, putting Quan Tianpei in a very difficult position.

This price increase thoroughly enraged the Prince of Lu. Luo Shangzhi, this fierce tiger, was already fully armed and ready, waiting only for the Prince of Lu's order.

"Lord Jinshan, I'm giving you one last chance. If they don't remove the servants who are obstructing the port expansion before sunset, the army will march in." Zhu Yiliu issued his final ultimatum, giving Lord Jinshan, Quan Tianpei, some face.

These landlords drove the slaves to the seaside to cause trouble and interfere with the development and construction of the port.

Zhu Yiliu received the newly arrived Zhao Mu, the mountain ranger, and then waited at the Lu Prince's residence until sunset. Quan Tianpei returned to the Lu Prince's residence with a disappointed look on his face, without saying a word.

Seeing Quan Tianpei's expression, Zhu Yiliu knew that his persuasion had failed. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Uncle Jinshan, I would have tolerated it if they hadn't joined forces to raise the price this time, but they insisted on raising it."

Prince Lu looked at Luo Shangzhi and said, "Thank you for your help, Commander Luo."

"This humble general obeys." The towering Luo Shangzhi bowed his head and accepted the order.

(End of this chapter)