Chapter 1000: Monetary Issues Cannot Be Viewed Solely by Currency Itself

"Grand Secretary, there is a situation that needs to be told to the Grand Secretary." Zhu Yijun said with a solemn face: "Great Ming banknotes have been seriously over-issued, so it is necessary to stop all issuance for five years, withdraw these banknotes, and then issue new ones."

"Your Majesty stores 1.2 million taels of gold every year, and the annual issuance of banknotes is no more than 6 million guan. So far, only 24 million guan have been issued. Can't 6 million taels of gold issue banknotes worth less than 30 million silver?"

"I don't think banknotes are over-issued." Zhang Xueyan's performance at this moment was even more upright than an upright official. The Emperor said one sentence, and he topped it with one sentence.

Zhu Yijun explained in detail: "It is the Nanyang circulation banknotes issued in Nanyang. For convenience, all Nanyang banknotes that can be cashed in Songjiang Prefecture are uniformly exchanged for silver coins, and then the Banknote Bureau and the Treasure Source Bureau go to the Songjiang Prefecture treasury to exchange for enough red copper and copper coins."

During the Wanli period, the Great Ming issued three types of banknotes in total.

The Japanese banknotes had the worst quality and could not be cashed, only circulating within Japan; followed by the Nanyang circulation banknotes, which could be cashed but only for red copper or copper coins;

Finally, the gold banknotes issued in the 15th year of Wanli, which could be directly exchanged for silver.

The issuance of the first two types of banknotes had many reasons. For example, Nanyang circulation banknotes were because places like Luzon, Jiugang, and the Yuanxu Islands lacked currency, and the twelve copper towns of Luzon lacked the ability to cast money, and the Great Ming needed a large amount of currency to supplement it, so the imperial court finally issued Nanyang circulation banknotes.

Since the issuance of gold banknotes in the 15th year of Wanli, Nanyang circulation banknotes soon enjoyed the same treatment as gold banknotes and could be directly exchanged for silver at the Treasure Source Bureau and Banknote Bureau of the five maritime trade offices.

This consistent treatment was for convenience, for the coordination of the imperial court's internal yamens, and it was also a necessity. Otherwise, Nanyang circulation banknotes would lose their meaning and be worthless, eventually leading to "bad money driving out good money," resulting in no money available in Nanyang.

"Nanyang circulation banknotes are 6 million guan per year, and they have been issued for nine years in total. So banknotes are actually over-issued by 54 million guan. Grand Secretary, the essence of paper money is debt. If I don't withdraw these 54 million guan of over-issued banknotes, once a run occurs, the credibility of the banknotes will collapse immediately." Zhu Yijun explained why he wanted to stop issuing banknotes.

"In this way, I don't know if the Grand Secretary has any questions?" Zhu Yijun saw that Zhang Xueyan completely understood his thoughts and asked for the Grand Secretary's opinion.

Zhang Xueyan looked left and right and said with great emotion: "Your Majesty's holy decree, withdraw all banknotes, and then combine gold banknotes and Nanyang banknotes into Great Ming circulation banknotes, which can ensure the credibility of Great Ming banknotes."

"However, Your Majesty, ever since Your Majesty severely punished the Wuqing Bo family for profiting from banknotes last time, the credibility of banknotes has been very strong."

Facing the thoughts of superiors, one must first agree, and then state one's own opinion.

The Grand Secretary understood the Emperor's meaning, but the purpose was to maintain the credibility of the banknotes, but at present, the credibility of the banknotes would not go bankrupt.

Zhang Xueyan didn't think there was any possibility of Great Ming banknotes going bankrupt. Ever since Empress Dowager Li's biological father, biological older brother, and biological younger brother were severely punished, no one would doubt the credibility of the banknotes again. This was also the fundamental reason why Songjiang Prefecture dared to directly exchange Nanyang banknotes together.

As long as it was money issued by His Majesty, everyone recognized it.

Every move of the Emperor was watched by thousands and admired by billions. Even imperial relatives could not destroy the issuance of banknotes. After this political correctness was established, more and more people recognized Great Ming banknotes.

Paper money was credibility from beginning to end. Few people in the Great Ming had really seen the gold in the Tonghe Palace treasury, and in fact, not many people really cared how much gold His Majesty had stored, whether there was any, and how much there was. It didn't affect the issuance of banknotes.

Zhang Xueyan's words also had a deeper meaning. Stopping the issuance of banknotes at this time was instead a destruction of the credibility of the banknotes.

The imperial court's decree was like a carriage going down a mountain. Once it started, there was no possibility of stopping. Either the carriage would be destroyed and people would die, or it would go down the mountain steadily, preparing to climb the next high mountain. Stopping halfway was treating state affairs as a child's play.

Even the most difficult land return order, although slow, was being executed firmly.

"He who starts it, will he have no descendants?" Once it started, where was the possibility of stopping halfway?

"Let me think slowly." Zhu Yijun picked up the pencil on the table and wrote and drew.

The credibility foundation of gold banknotes was the Tonghe Palace treasury, and the foundation of Nanyang circulation banknotes was the twelve copper towns of Luzon. Gold and red copper together built the credibility of the banknotes. The reason there was no silver was that the Great Ming was poor in silver and didn't have enough silver mines.

Theoretically, the total amount of the two banknotes was not over-issued. Gold was real gold, and the Emperor didn't tell a monstrous lie. He was really storing gold, and red copper was arriving in Songjiang Prefecture continuously.

In actual execution, Nanyang banknotes could be directly exchanged for silver coins and enjoyed consistent treatment. No matter how much Zhang Xueyan said, it was over-issued.

"Your Majesty, I think what the Grand Secretary said is quite reasonable." Shen Shiying looked left and right. No court official was willing to speak, so he stood out.

As the leader of the Quanchu Association, as the spokesperson of the Zhang Party, and as a candidate for Grand Secretary, when it was inconvenient for Zhang Juzheng to express his position directly, he had to stand out and express his position.

"Oh? Tell me in detail, Aiqing." Zhu Yijun stopped his pen, looked at Shen Shiying, and asked him to explain in detail.

During the court discussions in the Wenhua Hall, Zhu Yijun never thought that the ministers were contradicting him. Many arguments were fought here, so the people specifically responsible for execution below wouldn't fight.

"Orders coming from multiple doors" meant letting grassroots execution personnel fight. A person received four instructions for one thing. Who should he listen to? The final result was that he listened to no one and executed it himself, because no one knew whose instruction was correct.

As a ruler of people, as a superior, the most basic moral integrity was not to toss the grassroots execution personnel.

Although the court discussions in the Wenhua Hall were a grass-roots team that could run smoothly only because of many subtle balances, it was still much stronger than before, when orders came from multiple doors.

"Your Majesty, banknotes can be over-issued." Shen Shiying talked eloquently and expounded his views from another angle. Shen Shiying said a lot, and in the final analysis, the main point was one:

So what if it's over-issued?

The Emperor and the Ministry of Revenue had both entered a strange circle, always discussing whether it was over-issued or not, while Shen Shiying jumped out and believed that over-issuance didn't matter.

Shen Shiying believed that the foundation of banknotes was indeed His Majesty's credibility, and even more so the Great Ming's military power, land, food, silver, red copper, coal, cotton cloth, chi roads, and maritime rights. If viewed from this angle, the issuance of Great Ming banknotes was actually not enough at all.

Shen Shiying took the lead and stated his views. Soon, other court officials stated their views.

Besides the anchor point proposed by Shen Shiying being not just credibility, there were mainly three opinions.

First, the liquidity of banknotes was higher than silver coins and copper coins, and it was the best medium of exchange and general equivalent.

Everyone who got banknotes would trade them at the first time, not keep them in their hands. If they wanted to save, gold and silver were more suitable than banknotes, which caused the characteristic of banknotes having the strongest liquidity. The economic stagnation caused by stopping issuance was something the Great Ming could hardly accept.

Second, stopping issuance and withdrawing banknotes would make the Great Ming immediately fall into a state of money shortage. In recent years, as the contradiction between the Great Ming and Spain on the sea deepened, the inflow of silver decreased, and banknotes were the strongest tool to supplement liquidity. Money shortage would seriously reduce the people's confidence in the Wanli Reform.

People never think about politics from their brains, but from their stomachs. Once the stomach is damaged, the people will have differences.

Third, stopping the issuance of banknotes, if it stops, it must all stop, which means Nanyang banknotes must also stop.

Nanyang would have insufficient currency. Nanyang was not the hinterland of the Great Ming. The hinterland of the Great Ming could tighten its belt and live a tight life for a few years, which didn't matter. After all, the imperial power was prosperous, and a little setback was easy to endure. After all, it had been bitter like this in the past. But what about Nanyang?

Once the Great Ming stopped issuing banknotes, the Luzon Governor's Office, Jiugang Governor's Office, and Yuanxu Islands in Nanyang would fall into a governance crisis.

One cannot look at problems one-sidedly, but consider the overall impact. This is a problem that His Majesty must consider when making decisions.

"What you ministers said all makes sense." Zhu Yijun waited until the court officials had expressed their opinions before saying somewhat helplessly: "But if it continues to be over-issued like this, in five years, the banknotes will be like Felipe's gold bonds, collapsing suddenly."

"I saw this situation, so I took the determination to sever the wrist to save the arm, preventing banknotes from being like gold bonds, making a mess."

The problems mentioned by the court officials were all thought of by Zhu Yijun when he thought about it for the second time, and he even thought of more.

The Great Ming stopping the issuance of banknotes meant it had to rely more on the input of overseas silver, which meant the Great Ming had to make concessions to the Mexico and Peru Governor's Offices in the East Pacific Commercial Alliance, letting them send more silver to the Great Ming to supplement the withdrawn liquidity.

Zhu Yijun was no longer a ten-year-old child. Banknotes were indeed a major matter, and one hair would affect the whole body. He was willing to sever his wrist to save his arm, but the ministers didn't agree.

In the actual process of banknote issuance, the leverage of over-issuance was really too large. Gold bonds went bankrupt three times at the critical point of seven times over-issuance, and finally, Felipe lost all his credibility.

The Great Ming's system was different from Spain's. The Great Ming could not afford three bankruptcies of banknotes.

Why did Zhu Yijun conclude that it would happen within five years? This was estimated by Wang Guoguang back then.

The reason was very simple: the Great Ming's precious metal reserves were insufficient, or more directly, silver was insufficient.

If it continued to increase like this, the pressure on Great Ming banknotes to be cashed would become greater and greater, eventually leading to runs and bankruptcy of credibility.

According to Wang Guoguang's argument in *Banknote Anchoring Memorial* back then, once the prepared precious metals were less than 20%, Great Ming banknotes could not survive a run. And this precious metal was not gold or red copper, but silver. Great Ming currency was a silver-standard currency.

The silver flowing into the Great Ming was limited. The Japanese silver mines had at most 4.5 million silver per year, the Mexico Governor's Office promised 2 million silver, the Peru Governor's Office promised 4.5 million silver, the global trade caravan was 6.5 million silver per year, and the Juezhou silver mine was less than 1 million per year, which could be ignored in the short term.

The silver flowing into the Great Ming was only between 13 million and 17 million silver per year. According to Wang Guoguang's initial calculation, even in the most optimistic case, the Great Ming could circulate at most 145 million guan of banknotes before the imperial court could not cash the paper money. This was already the most optimistic estimate.

Poor silver was the Great Ming's old problem. It was no wonder that the Jinshan Kingdom was eyeing the three silver mine groups of the Mexico Governor's Office.

Calculated according to the current scale of 12 million guan per year, it would just pass this danger line by the 25th year of Wanli.

"Stopping the issuance of banknotes puts pressure on the imperial court, and the imperial court must try every means to obtain silver to supplement the shortage; not stopping the issuance of banknotes puts pressure on the people. Once the banknotes collapse, for the common people, it will be the sky falling and the earth cracking, which will cause great shock. It is a true loss of trust in the country and suspicion in the hearts of the people." Zhu Yijun further stated his attitude.

Once this high building of banknotes collapsed, the people who trusted the imperial court would have all their savings destroyed, which would cause great shock. It was a true loss of trust in the country and suspicion in the hearts of the people.

This was the reason why no Great Ming Emperor dared to easily try to promote banknotes since Hongwu. The price and consequences were something even the Emperor could not bear.

Politics was all about trade-offs, the trade-off between the price borne by the imperial court and the price borne by the common people. Zhu Yijun pointed out the fundamental contradiction.

"What is your opinion, Sir?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng, who had been keeping his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, saying nothing and pretending to be confused. The Grand Secretary had never expressed his position from beginning to end.

"Your Majesty, I think Your Majesty's consideration is correct, and I also think that the ministers' consideration is not wrong. After listening for a long time, I think both are correct. I am really old and a bit confused." Zhang Juzheng heard the Emperor calling him, as if he had just returned to his senses, and hurriedly stepped out and bowed.

Zhang Juzheng was pretending to be confused, not really confused. He said a paragraph that looked vague, but in fact, his attitude was also very clear. When the Emperor needed his support, he was so evasive, which was actually a clear attitude.

He didn't agree with stopping the issuance, and didn't agree with putting the pressure of money shortage entirely on the imperial court.

He recognized Shen Shiying's view more. Banknotes were not completely tied to precious metals. They could be anchored to more and more concrete military power, land, food, etc., that is, the Great Ming's national strength.

Zhang Juzheng actually wanted to say: As long as you can buy firewood, rice, oil, salt, meat, and vegetables, even fine wool can be used as currency. Before the Wanli Reform, bribery used salt vouchers. The salt voucher law was corrupted, but salt vouchers could still be used as money because salt vouchers could really be exchanged for salt.

Monetary issues sometimes cannot be viewed solely by currency itself, but by the economy. As long as the Great Ming was still obtaining continuous raw materials and rich profits from overseas, Great Ming banknotes would absolutely not collapse.

His Majesty was a bit too concerned about silver.

"Fine, let's issue it as usual this year, but within these five years, there can be no more extra over-issuance." Zhu Yijun understood Zhang Juzheng's meaning and didn't hold on. Finally, he agreed to the ministers' request and withdrew his order, continuing to issue banknotes.

Isn't it just 12 million guan per year? Issue it!

Either don't issue it, or issue it as usual. This matter cannot be compromised. Zhu Yijun chose to issue it as usual because not a single minister supported him. Even if he forced it down, it would be difficult to promote.

"Your Majesty is wise." The ministers bowed again and said in unison, each returning to their ranks.

Zhu Yijun actually thought clearly. Even if gold banknotes really went bankrupt like gold bonds, what would be lost more was the credibility of him, the Emperor himself, not the imperial court. The reason Zhu Yijun admitted it was that his credibility was indeed strong enough to withstand the impact of banknote bankruptcy.

Moreover, the situation would not necessarily be as bad as that of gold bonds.

After all, the anchor point of Great Ming banknotes was not just gold, but also goods, which was very different from gold bonds. The problem Zhu Yijun worried about would not necessarily happen.

Moreover, as long as the Emperor and the imperial court could do it and not further over-issue, the possibility of the thunder Zhu Yijun worried about exploding was relatively small. The more successful the Wanli Reform, the smaller the possibility.

If you don't want this thunder of gold banknotes to explode and blow the Great Ming into pieces, you can only go on in one breath and consistently, making the Great Ming great again and making the Great Ming continuously great.

"Your Majesty, Yang Junmin, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, cracked an evil spirit case in Jizhou. It is the Wenxiang Hall of the Bai Lianjiao. Several sect members were arrested. What is special about this is that the portrait they worshipped was... Your Majesty's portrait." Zhang Guoyan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, stepped out and reported a matter.

When Zhang Guoyan said this, he couldn't hold back himself. These sect members had great courage.

Evil spirit cases generally would not reach the ears of the Emperor, but this case was special in that the Emperor's portrait was worshipped, which made the Ministry of Justice treat it as a great enemy and carefully investigate the cause.

The Bai Lianjiao's proposition was: all assets obtained in the sect are equally divided; save each other when there is illness, die for each other when there is difficulty; one can travel the world without holding a penny; equal average, mutual help.

His Majesty's land return, isn't it equal average and mutual help? So this Wenxiang Hall hung up the Emperor's portrait for worship, and most of the Wenxiang Hall were northern farmers, and these farmers offered incense to the Emperor, praying that the Great Ming land return order could be promoted in the north as soon as possible.

Religion and politics are not separated. In most of human history, religion and politics are more like two sides of one body, and neither can leave the other.

When the Emperor was really doing the matter of equal average and mutual help, naturally someone would worship and pray.

Zhu Yijun saw that portrait, which was held in the hands of two little eunuchs.

It was drawn very similarly. There were many portraits of the Holy Son of Heaven on the grasslands. Obviously, the portrait worshipped by this Wenxiang Hall could be confirmed to be a copy of the Holy Son of Heaven's portrait on the grasslands, but it was combined with the story of the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor for further artistic processing.

I saw that in the portrait, the Emperor had a round light wheel on his head, wore a mysterious robe, gold armor and jade belt, held a sword with angry eyes, stepped on a turtle and snake, and had disheveled hair and bare feet, with an extremely fierce image.

"The evil spirit worshipping my portrait is not a death-free gold medal. It should be exterminated. Taking out my portrait cannot be a protective talisman or a shield." Zhu Yijun gave instructions to Zhang Guoyan. Even if there was any problem with the portrait during the process of exterminating the evil spirit, it was not the fault of the soldiers, archers, or yamen runners.

Zhu Yijun had also heard of this Wenxiang Hall. Their reason for worshipping the Emperor was not that they sincerely recognized the Emperor's new policy, but to create an unattackable shield that made the yamen runners who exterminated the evil spirit very embarrassed.

Zhu Yijun didn't care about this at all and should exterminate it as it should be exterminated.

The Bai Lianjiao's philosophy was not bad, but very few sect members could do it. Cheating, stealing, and stealing were all there. During the Renzong period, its status as a correct sect was once restored, but soon it was listed as an evil spirit again.

"Your Majesty, I request that the two Tax Audit Courts in the north and south, and the tax audit rooms of each prefecture and county, conduct tax audit investigations on all powerful and wealthy households and local gentry." Zhang Juzheng saw that others had finished speaking, so he stood out and requested to mobilize the Tax Audit Court to audit taxes.

It was called tax audit, but it was actually checking accounts, which was applying pressure and expanding the scope of cracking down on corruption.

Zhang Juzheng's big investigation made everyone feel like they were in danger, and now Zhang Juzheng's big investigation was expanding from the Zhang Party to all officials of the Great Ming.

Wang Zhuan, the number one lackey of the Zhang faction, cannot escape the major investigation, so all other members of the Zhang faction must pass the test. Even the Zhang faction is to be strictly investigated, let alone the hundred officials who are not of the Zhang faction.

It was not that any small landlord in the countryside could be called a local gentry.

Local gentry must have a certain scale and meet three conditions: first, own property in the county town; second, there must be a child student in the family, or family members serving in the county yamen, that is, there are people in the county school and yamen; third, there are more than thirty servants, slaves, and family members.

Zhang Juzheng's request for tax audit was to check accounts and check taxes. Some money exchanges that were unclear and had not paid taxes must be explained clearly. Taxes evaded by relying on officials must be paid in full, otherwise, a tax audit court's payment notice was a life-threatening talisman.

The Tax Audit Court could indeed not crack down on corruption, but the Tax Audit Court could force the collusion between officials and merchants to go bankrupt.

"Sir, I think it's not necessary to be so strict." Zhu Yijun thought for a while and still persuaded him. Zhang Juzheng was becoming more and more stubborn, and Zhu Yijun didn't expect that one day he would persuade Zhang Juzheng to be benevolent and forgiving.

"Your Majesty, there is no turning back once the arrow is shot." Zhang Juzheng naturally knew that his action this time was indeed a bit ruthless, but as a Grand Secretary who was not very clean, since he wanted to crack down on corruption and catch greed, he had to do it to the end.

"What does General Qi think?" Zhu Yijun looked at Qi Jiguang and asked.

The nominal highest official of the Anti-Corruption Department was Qi Jiguang. It was Lu Guangzu who invited the Great General to sit in the Anti-Corruption Department. Naturally, he had to ask for Qi Jiguang's opinion. A Great General cracking down on corruption could be said to be the first time in history.

But if he couldn't invite the Great General, Lu Guangzu wouldn't have the courage to prepare for the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Department. Before it was established, he would have died of "suicide by shooting himself eighteen times in the back."

Cracking down on corruption in the Great Ming required putting one's head on one's belt to do it. Look at how Xu Chengchu was forced, not even daring to walk back and forth for New Year's greetings, for fear of leaving a handle for others.

Qi Jiguang did not refuse; on the contrary, he did it with great success, and some of the beacon tower scouts, scouts, and coastal defense inspectors who were very good at collecting intelligence all joined the Anti-Corruption Department to fight corruption.

Qi Jiguang could naturally hold his ground. When others wanted to accuse you of having the suspicion of rebellion, you'd better really have the ability to rebel. In this way, no one would accuse you of wanting to rebel, but instead, they were afraid that you would be forced to rebel.

The Great Ming's imperial officials had not dared to bare their teeth at Qi Jiguang since Qi Jiguang was named Duke of Fengguo in the ninth year of Wanli.

"Your Majesty, the Tax Audit Court has been established for seventeen years. I think it is time to carefully screen the Tax Audit Court from top to bottom. The Tax Audit Court is involved in the Great Ming's financial taxes. Previously, the Tax Audit Court was affiliated with the Northern and Southern Town Fuses and no one could audit it. Now the Anti-Corruption Department is also affiliated with the Northern and Southern Town Fuses, so they can supervise each other." Qi Jiguang stepped out and said a problem that had been deliberately ignored by ministers for a long time.

Who supervises the Tax Audit Court?

This was a problem that everyone had been deliberately avoiding since the appearance of the Tax Audit Embroidered Uniform Guard in the second year of Wanli and the formal establishment of the Tax Audit Court in the fifth year of Wanli.

The Tax Audit Court without judicial, assassination, detention, and private punishment was still a special agency, and the Tax Audit Court was still part of special agency politics.

Wang Guoguang once talked to the Emperor about the funding problems at all levels of the Tax Audit Court, and the Emperor told Wang Guoguang a shocking answer.

The Tax Audit Embroidered Uniform Guards not only bought and sold various secrets and protected illegal activities, but also blackmailed powerful and wealthy households. As long as they caught a handle, they could open up a rich mine.

Even more, they opened private markets, smuggled, and even in Luzon, there were two major cases of Tax Audit Embroidered Uniform Guards joining coastal defense inspectors to sell opium. (Chapter 547)

The Tax Audit Court was famous for its ferocity. Zhu Yijun was not unaware of the problem. The reason why the Emperor and ministers all ignored it was because previously, the wealthy households of the Great Ming generally didn't pay taxes, so it was necessary to establish a Tax Audit Court to force payment with military force.

Even if there was mutual restraint among the Tax Audit Embroidered Uniform Guard, the eunuch guarding the town, and the civil official in charge, a tax audit yamen lacking supervision could not avoid things like "snakes and rats in the same nest" and "colluding together." It existed, but not much, because His Majesty the Emperor could tolerate controlled greed, but could not tolerate betrayal.

The Tax Audit Court was an improper method, which could only be led by a wise monarch and holy master. Like the secret memorial system, they were all "arts," and they were evil arts.

The Anti-Corruption Department, also affiliated with the Northern and Southern Town Fuses, could supervise the Tax Audit Court. Of course, the main task of the Anti-Corruption Department was still to crack down on corruption with heavy pressure and curb the overall scale of corruption in the Great Ming.

"Then let the Tax Audit Court conduct a comprehensive tax audit investigation." Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun heard what Qi Jiguang said, recognized Qi Jiguang's suggestion, and once again supported Zhang Juzheng's actions without reservation.

The Tax Audit Court's comprehensive tax audit investigation on local gentry and above, and the internal cleanup of the Tax Audit Court, would allow the Tax Audit Court to be maintained for a long time, rather than being destroyed in the midst of scolding as a typical example of the imperial court's gathering of wealth and profit.

Zhang Juzheng heard this, bowed again, and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great grace."

Zeng Shengwu stepped out and said: "Your Majesty, Liu Ting, the Duke of Jiang'an and Regional Commander of Sichuan, sent envoys Guo Cheng, Wang Zhihan, and others to Hailongtun in Bozhou to persuade Yang Yinglong to go to Chongqing to participate in the investigation, so as not to mistake himself."

"Yang Yinglong heard that the Duke of Jiang'an had returned to Sichuan and was terrified. In addition, the Duke of Jiang'an guaranteed that as long as Yang Yinglong went to Chongqing for investigation, the past would not be mentioned and his life would be guaranteed. Yang Yinglong finally agreed to go to Chongqing Prefecture for investigation."

"Unexpectedly, Yang Yinglong's eldest son, Yang Zhaodong, was dissatisfied with Yang Yinglong's compromise and led troops to chase and kill the envoys Guo Cheng, Wang Zhihan, and others to Loushan Pass. Guo Cheng led his troops to fight back hard and repelled this villain, killing 127 enemies at Loushan Pass."

Liu Ting returned to Sichuan Chengdu to rest and reorganize in the Great Ming, and by the way, to deter Yang Yinglong. He sent envoys and made guarantees. Yang Yinglong agreed well, but when Guo Cheng was returning, Yang Yinglong's son suddenly chased and arrived.

Even if caught off guard, even if fighting with fewer against more, Guo Cheng still won. Things like firearms, occupying favorable terrain, were almost invincible existences.

"Whether this pursuit is Yang Yinglong and his son really turning against each other, or a good show to delay time, it doesn't matter. I have given him two chances."

"Issue an edict to Liu Ting, Duke of Jiang'an, to wear the seal of the Southern Expedition General, to be in overall charge of the Pacification of Bozhou War, and to have the four places of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Qian listen to General Liu's orders, advancing from eight directions to suppress Bozhou."

"Liang Menglong, take the order, hold the Shangfang sword, and set off for Chengdu immediately to supervise the military affairs of the four places of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Qian, and preside over the Pacification of Bozhou War." Zhu Yijun gave a clear order after hearing the report.

Liang Menglong stepped out, took the imperial edict, seal, and Shangfang sword, bowed again, and said: "I obey the decree." ===== CHAPTER 1001 =====