Chapter 1009: My Heart and My Conduct Are Clear as a Bright Mirror; All My Actions Are for Justice

Your Majesty believes establishing the Songjiang Cotton Spinning Official Factory is the Great Ming's left hand striking its right hand, but Feng Bao thought it over carefully and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the coal prices in the capital."

Your Majesty is of course correct, but Your Majesty also has moments when your considerations are not thorough enough; at such times, as the inner aide, it is my duty to supplement Your Majesty with some cases to illustrate the problem.

The capital's coal prices are that case.

Your Majesty is naturally wise and perceptive; Feng Bao need only raise the key point, and Your Majesty will instantly fully understand why Wang Qian would think of using an official factory to counter that colossal monopolistic capital.

Before the Xishan Coal Bureau was established, whenever rain and snow persisted, Xishan coal could not reach the city, and coal prices in the city soared without end, causing suffering to the populace; during the Jia Jing twenty-ninth year, when the Tatar khan invaded, coal prices rose nearly a hundredfold—this is the result of leaving everything to civilian workshops.

After the Xishan Coal Bureau was established, coal prices stabilized at six wen per catty, and to this day, wind and rain cannot move it.

The Great Ming capital has 132 trades and professions, the coal-burning trade being one of them; previously, the coal-burning trade and the coal market were in the hands of military merit households and wealthy families of Xicheng; thus, Wang Chonggu, while alive, still bore the impeachment of the censors for excessive extortion, and forcibly seized the coal markets of Zhengxi Fang and Chongbei Fang as state property.

Production concentration, asset concentration, and market concentration are the three major characteristics of monopolistic capital; at that time, the Xishan Coal Bureau had production concentration and asset concentration, but the coal market was in the hands of powerful nobles and local tyrants; prices clearly did not change with rain and snow, yet these powerful nobles and local tyrants would use that as an excuse to raise prices.

This ultimately led to the Great Ming being able to only monopolize coal, coke, steel, and iron.

Whenever rain and snow persist, prices surge like this; the scholar-officials whom the Great Ming controls so broadly—do they not manage it? Or do they truly not manage it?

First, they do not know; scholar-officials, with their five limbs unaccustomed to labor, have no need to concern themselves with firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

Second, these matters were originally their business.

The head of the Zhengxi Fang coal market, named Liu Xiang Yu, once wrote proudly:

I make my living trading coal; with scholar-official families, I either give it away for free or accept half value, and they all say I am hospitable and righteous; when rain and snow persist, I gain several times the profit from a single shipment, and though I labor all day, it is merely to keep body and soul together; the rest I give to nobles, to seek exemption from extortion.

This Liu Xiang Yu is the man scholar-officials call hospitable and righteous; the money he earns extra in rainy and snowy weather is actually mostly given to these scholar-official nobles, to seek their patronage and prevent them from causing trouble.

"Then let us prepare for it." Zhu Yijun, hearing Feng Bao say that, suddenly recalled an old incident: the elite troops of the Capital Garrison had once entered the capital; on that occasion, the elite troops pushed small carts bearing flags, the carts filled with coal balls, delivering coal balls to each ward for sale at fair prices.

Wang Qian's solution, derived from the success of the Xishan Coal Bureau, has a successful experience to draw upon; as of today, the Xishan Coal Bureau has long been a coal-steel joint enterprise, and indeed the Great Ming's first steel mill, yet people still call it the Xishan Coal Bureau, simply because

coal supply is stable.

Wang Qian's purpose in establishing the Songjiang Cotton Spinning Official Factory is not to kill that colossal monopolistic capital, but to let it, when doing evil, have the court possess the means and ability to intervene in cotton spinning prices, so that this colossal capital may have some misgivings.

Otherwise, if the court holds not a single card, that colossal capital will inevitably run out of control, and the consequences are hard to predict.

In his memorial, Wang Qian also mentioned another latest scam in Songjiang Prefecture; Zhu Yijun carefully understood Wang Qian's meaning, and then realized that Wang Qian was speaking of trusts.

This thing called a trust, in the Great Ming, is not something new; many think it novel, but it is actually old, having appeared long ago.

In the first year of Huangyou of the Northern Song, Fan Zhongyan was demoted, which signifies the complete failure of the Qingli Reforms; Fan Zhongyan's inner anguish can be imagined; he could not change the world, so he chose to change his own family.

In the first year of Huangyou, Fan Zhongyan used his meager remaining wealth to purchase a thousand mu of land, established the Fan Clan Charitable Estate, and furthermore formulated thirteen rules to manage this charitable estate.

The land of the charitable estate belongs to no one individually, but to the clan collectively, as the common property of the Fan clan, used to relieve the Fan clan's widows, widowers, orphans, and lonely elders, to provide for study needs of cadet branches, and for basic livelihood guarantees such as marriage, funeral, and wedding expenses.

By the twentieth year of Wanli, the Fan Clan Charitable Estate was still being properly operated; even after experiencing the fall of the Northern Song, the fall of the Southern Song, the fall of the Hu Yuan, and other dynastic upheavals, the Fan Clan Charitable Estate's land, which originally was a thousand mu, had grown to 5300 mu.

Such an example cannot fully demonstrate the viability of trusts.

This kind of clan land charitable estate is very popular in the Great Ming, but its management varies—good and bad exist; not everyone has ancestors as renowned as Fan Zhongyan, and moreover, the Fan clan is large and prosperous; these five thousand plus mu of land are truly nothing much; to maintain a good reputation, naturally one must strive to uphold it.

Most clan land charitable estates in the Great Ming can generally last only three generations; after that, they scatter east and west.

The first generation earned a great family estate, established clan-held land; at this time, the patriarch still lives, everyone enjoys harmony and happiness, and everything appears beautiful;

In the second generation, the schoolteacher of the clan academy, who was once a renowned candidate from near and far, suddenly became an unknown scholar, not even a xiucai; your children are naturally unruly, and lacking a renowned teacher to discipline them, they naturally fall behind others.

You are greatly puzzled; after making some inquiries, you learn that the clan head had invited the renowned teacher to his own home, to give his sons special instruction.

You are furious and indignant, rushing to confront the clan head: "How dare you defy the ancestral injunctions!" The clan head appears courteous on the surface, but secretly he has stopped your family's monthly allowance.

The monthly allowance grows ever less, ever later; from the initial three or five months, it now does not come even once in half a year.

You inquire further and learn that the concubine has taken all the silver and deposited it to earn interest; this interest she earns has nothing to do with you, but your monthly allowance is precisely what has been appropriated.

You have no recourse, but you endure it, after all, it is not that nothing is paid, merely that there is some delay.

In the third generation, the monthly allowance silver is no longer merely delayed, but simply not paid at all, because the clan head's household has produced a scholar-official; your branch dares not resist, after all, a scholar-official is a great lord, even serving in the county or prefectural government office.

That great clan head's profligate son ransoms a courtesan for eight hundred taels of silver; you, this cadet branch side-room, in your household's marriage, funeral, and wedding expenses, cannot even produce a single red headstring; now, even your children's studies cannot proceed, because the clan academy has closed due to poor harvests of the clan lands.

No one knows how the harvest actually is.

By the time it reaches the fourth generation, basically everyone has gone their separate ways.

This is still a clan charitable estate bound by blood ties, whereas Songjiang Prefecture's new business is not bound by blood ties, but by credit.

"Because they do not trust their own unfilial descendants, fearing they will squander the wealth accumulated over several generations until it is completely gone, so they found an unfamiliar merchant guild and unfamiliar people to manage this money, requiring only that a portion of interest be distributed annually to descendants."

"Is there really someone who would fall for such a trick that even a pig in a sty could not be fooled by?" Zhu Yijun stared blankly at Wang Qian's memorial, puzzled and greatly shocked.

If you say where this silver should go, it goes there; then this silver is completely yours.

Conversely, if this silver is nominally yours but you cannot move it at all, then this silver is not yours.

Zhu Yijun always feels that Great Ming people are very shrewd; is this a scam? It should not even be able to deceive a pig.

Yet, as Wang Qian said, Songjiang Prefecture has already successively cracked seven similar scams; Wang Qian also specially summoned the prominent wealthy merchants of Songjiang Prefecture to the prefectural office, having the criminal office lecture them on cases.

Yet it is useless; there are too many fools, and not enough swindlers.

"At first, it was several great families, to prevent being ransacked and having their possessions exposed, they devised this; later, it was exploited by the ubiquitous brokers and compradores of Songjiang Prefecture, and finally became this model." Feng Bao specially investigated the matter's origins and developments; after all, it is for Your Majesty to read in the memorial; if Your Majesty asks, Feng Bao would be unable to answer three questions—would this old ancestor of his still be allowed to continue?

The Great Ming Tax Supervision Bureau is a violent tax collection office; this office has its own independent armed forces, even better equipped than the local garrison troops; the Songjiang Prefecture Tax Supervision Office has nine-jin cannons, seven of them.

For a third tax evasion, the tax supervision cavalry would come to your door to ransack your home; to cope with this, some great families devised mutual guarantee and entrustment: my family's money, let your family manage; your family's money, let my family manage; if ransacked, I have not a single li of silver in my name, not even my residence remains my own.

This mutual guarantee and entrustment is established under conditions of equal family scale.

Yet the tax supervision cavalry pays no heed to this or that, playing tricks with the violent office? The route the tax supervision cavalry takes is joint liability by melon vines.

What damned mutual guarantee and entrustment—any such arrangement is joint guilt; the court takes seven-tenths, the Tax Supervision Bureau can retain three-tenths or more; occasionally, due to lax inspection, the silver within the inspection laxity range falls into one's own pocket; saying "scrape three feet deep" is already polite.

Moreover, this mutual guarantee and entrustment has become the pretext for the tax supervision cavalry to extort and blackmail; after all, nominal property is protected by Great Ming law, so the tax supervision cavalry dare not go too far; but as for this nominally external property, the explanations here are many.

The Tax Supervision Bureau office has never been a good office; yet the Great Ming's powerful nobles and local tyrants, the rural worthies and scholar-officials, refuse to pay taxes; in the Hongzhi years, the Great Ming's cultivated land decreased from eight million qing to four million qing; an annual tax revenue of five or six million silver taels could accomplish nothing.

Pushing correction too far leads to excess; thus, the emperor can only do this.

The sole method to avoid being sought out by the Tax Supervision Bureau is simply to pay taxes in full and on time, to avoid attracting the Bureau's attention, to avoid triggering its inspection process; once triggered, even if you do not die, you will surely be scraped layer by layer; the saying that tax collection urging is a life-demanding talisman is never an empty phrase.

And these several equal-scale families' mutual guarantee and entrustment have become the fraud cases of the brokers and compradores, who readily produce the example of the Fan Clan Charitable Estate, loudly promoting it, making people believe that entrustment based on righteousness is trustworthy!

Besides this, these brokers and compradores greatly enjoy invoking the reputation of cultured nobles, claiming they are the business of a certain thousand-year-old clan, nobles, righteousness first—who would, for your little bit of silver, stake their own hundred-year or thousand-year reputation?

This is actually just screening for fools—those who trust mutual guarantees, those who trust the Fan clan's charitable estate, those who trust that righteousness comes first—after three rounds of screening, basically all the people who can be deceived are filtered out, and then it's just a matter of painstaking effort.

Feng Bao said helplessly: "The seven cases investigated by Prefect Wang in Songjiang Prefecture total over 540,000 taels of silver, Your Majesty—there really aren't enough swindlers."

540,000 taels of silver is really a lot—almost as much as an emperor's mausoleum. The late emperor's mausoleum cost 500,000 taels, later repairs added another 100,000 taels from the emperor, so one emperor's mausoleum totals 600,000 taels.

Zhu Yijun fell silent, then looked over the memorial again, and finally felt somewhat relieved.

"Kind words can't save a suicide seeker. Wang Qian did his best—he even had the Penalty Office lecture on case examples, and after many people suffered losses and were deceived, naturally no one believed anymore." Zhu Yijun vermilion-penned Wang Qian's memorial; excessive court interference invites criticism for overreach, while genuine effort goes unrewarded.

Zhu Yijun doesn't believe these things. Following the principle that righteousness comes first, all Ming court officials appointed to local posts are trusted by the emperor before being entrusted with local affairs—but every year, corruption cases turn up basketfuls, meaning they have betrayed imperial grace and the emperor's trust.

The Ming emperor, amidst his busy schedule, received the Portuguese envoy and inquired about the situation in Taixi. The Portuguese envoy departed with ample cargo, and logically speaking,

this Portuguese trip was actually smuggling contraband.

But due to the absence of Spanish great galleons, everyone along the route tacitly agreed to turn a blind eye.

After all, Ming goods are hard currency—unavailable in sufficient quantity elsewhere. Take cotton cloth as an example: the Portuguese wanted to conduct cotton spinning in Bengal to replace Ming cotton cloth, but the result was poor quality and high price, and crucially, insufficient quantity—so in the end, they still had to rely on Ming.

Scale advantage is one of the core components of product advantage.

Ye Xianggao, jinshi of the Wanli 11th year, scholar of the Hanlin Academy, appointed compiler, had written daily palace records for years beside the emperor. In Wanli 20th year, he took office in Jilin as prefect of Jilin Prefecture, and only upon arriving locally did Ye Xianggao realize he had been deceived—this Jilin Prefecture is a bit too big!

One Jilin Prefecture equals nine prefectures in the hinterland. Governing such a vast territory made Ye Xianggao somewhat apprehensive.

After only three days in office, he quickly understood why Hou Yuzhao prioritized stance: in this place, anyone with a silver rat-tail braid at the back of the head is the enemy—bandits, outlaws, mountain pirates—while those who keep their hair are Ming people. It's that simple and direct a stance judgment.

On his third day in office, he encountered raids by the Haixi Jurchens and savage Jurchens—a band of 300 horse bandits appearing on the upper Songhua River at Song Yuan, raiding three Ming military farms. Had it not been for the Liaodong garrison troops stationed there, plus the populace who farmed and fought, the enemy would not have been repelled; otherwise, those three farms would have been looted by the bandits.

The six hundred able-bodied persons of the three farms would inevitably die under the bandits' blades.

Meanwhile, the Jilin general, Li Rumei, fifth son of Ningyuan Marquis Li Chengliang, ordered the three military divisions of Jilin to launch a three-month bandit suppression campaign—grand in scale, with the order: kill those who do not keep their hair.

The few monks of the remaining temples in Jilin all began growing their hair, fearing to be mistaken for barbarian spies, because not keeping hair meant being deemed a spy and punished accordingly.

Ye Xianggao, during his time in the capital, knew nothing of this, because memorials from Liaodong never mentioned details—only said that barbarians revered Wang Hua, cut their braids and surrendered, which indeed required cutting braids and surrendering; otherwise, heads would be moved.

Moreover, in the minds of most Ming scholar-officials, Liaodong was unimportant—a minor place with little farmland and sparse population—so they didn't pay much attention to what happened here.

Even if Ye Xianggao could see the Ming geomantic map every day, before arriving in Jilin, he had no idea this place was so vast!

The most important matter in Jilin Prefecture is issuing land reclamation directives: any farmland cultivated for three years or more has a land deed. Ye Xianggao quickly took charge of this, while all other matters proceeded according to Hou Yuzhao's land reclamation order—meaning he just needed to manage the Land Reclamation Bureau well.

Right now, there's a matter that leaves Ye Xianggao uncertain: the seat of Jilin Prefecture, Jilin County, was formerly the site of the Yongle-era Jilin shipyard.

But Jilin County is unsuitable as a prefectural seat,

whereas Changchun County, over 200 li away, is appropriate—Changchun County's population is three times that of Jilin County, its population already exceeds 100,000, while Jilin County falls short of 30,000.

Jilin County lies in the eastern part of Jilin Prefecture; the northeastern part is mainly forestry, the western part pastoral and agricultural, while the central part is entirely agricultural—and also the most suitable for farming.

Changchun County as a political center is most appropriate.

Simply put, Yongyuguan is important, but the capital is Beijing, not Yongyuguan.

But the problem arises: this is a historical legacy issue, a systemic issue, the accumulation of long-term operational errors—correcting it would be extremely difficult.

This Jilin territory was personally designated by Emperor Chengzu Wen. Do you, Ye Xianggao, wish to change the seat—does that mean you're questioning Emperor Chengzu Wen?

The Ming developed Liaodong, established the Land Reclamation Bureau, and placed both the Bureau and the Jilin Prefecture administration in Jilin County—this was the decision of the former Inspector Hou Yuzhao and the former General Li Chengliang.

As a newly appointed prefect of Jilin Prefecture, are you, Ye Xianggao, seeking to relocate the prefectural seat—does that mean you're questioning Hou Yuzhao and Li Chengliang, thinking they don't understand Liaodong as well as you do?

Li Chengliang and Hou Yuzhao are still alive!

Jilin is still Ming-recovered ancestral land, with minimal historical inertia—so minimal that even so, the memorial proposing to move the prefectural seat to Changchun County has left Ye Xianggao unable to make up his mind.

Because once the court supports moving the prefectural seat to Changchun, it means Hou Yuzhao and Li Chengliang were wrong;

if the court does not support it, then Ye Xianggao is wrong—and as this Jilin prefect, he might as well quit, for no one will respect him anymore.

There's another issue: playing taiji, pushing hands—you push me, I push you, pushing this thorny problem aside; after a while, no one will care.

Three months ago, Ye Xianggao had already made up his mind—for the development of Jilin Prefecture, he specially wrote a letter to Hangzhou, sharing his thoughts with Inspector Hou, yet long awaited no reply.

"Prefect Ye! Inspector Zhao's letter has arrived." The clerk, unable to contain his joy, seized a box and rushed breathlessly into the prefectural office.

Jilin must develop, and thus must relocate the prefectural seat—just like relocating the capital, it's a matter of great importance, since the phenomenon of orders failing to reach the door has gradually emerged. Changchun County has more people, more land, more grain, and more troops—so the orders of the Jilin Prefecture administration cannot be obeyed.

Fully bearing responsibility is only possible in a mature bureaucratic system of the hinterland. Jilin Prefecture is still in the land reclamation development phase—top-heavy instability occurs from time to time.

Moreover, the magistrate of Changchun County is still an old acquaintance of Hou Yuzhao, so he cares even less for Ye Xianggao as prefect. Sometimes, the Changchun magistrate directly consults General Li Rumei of Jilin, then notifies the Jilin Prefecture administration of the decision.

So is Ye Xianggao opposing or supporting? Does his opposition or support even matter?

Economic status determines political status—not just for individuals,

but also for local administrative offices.

For years, Songjiang Prefecture has strived to become a secondary capital, even attempting to seize the status of Ying Tianfu as such—and for the same reason: Songjiang Prefecture has sufficient economic standing, so naturally it seeks sufficient political standing.

Ye Xianggao picked up the box, closed his eyes to rest for a moment, then anxiously gazed at the wax seal on the box—whether Inspector Hou replied or not, Ye Xianggao's act of writing was already quite abrupt, and he had already deeply offended Inspector Hou.

In Liaodong land reclamation, Hou Yuzhao's work was the pride and glory of his first half of life—Ye Xianggao's letter is essentially a partial denial of Hou Yuzhao's achievements.

To ordinary people, Ye Xianggao, what do you want? Do you want to step on me and rise smoothly to the clouds?

But for Jilin Prefecture's development, Ye Xianggao also used great resolve to write that letter.

He carefully broke the wax seal on the box; inside was a memorial. He opened it and read for a long, long time before dazedly saying: "Inspector Hou is actually this kind of person? Completely different from what I imagined—he had already drafted the memorial, wanting to jointly submit with me to move the prefectural seat to Changchun."

Hou Yuzhao is no ordinary man—if he were just a common scholar, he could never act against the grain, nor become close friends with a rough man like Li Chengliang.

Hou Yuzhao found Ye Xianggao's words reasonable and understood his concerns—he directly paved the way for Ye Xianggao, and the Jilin locality could not oppose this memorial.

Although Li Chengliang is no longer in Liaodong, his sons and client troops remain there—Hou Yuzhao's opinion is Li Chengliang's opinion, because Li Chengliang is not skilled in court intrigue and easily falls out with the Liaodong Inspector, so Hou Yuzhao's stance often also represents Li Chengliang's.

Beneath the memorial is also a sealed letter—Hou Yuzhao's reply.

In the letter, Hou Yuzhao says he has already sent a letter to Hami City, informing Li Chengliang, and specially added a few words: let Ye Xianggao do well as prefect, have no worries—Liaodong land reclamation is now a time of development, all systems must evolve with reclamation and development, adapt to time, adapt to circumstances.

Old Zhao also lectured him a few times, feeling Ye Xianggao is young in years but already aged in spirit, listless, overly cautious, stuck in old ways.

Why so many worries? Ye Xianggao is an emperor-appointed court official—the greatest backing is the Emperor. With the Emperor at his back, yet still so hesitant, he risks losing the vigor and sharpness of youth.

Young people ought to be full of vigor!

After reading the letter, Ye Xianggao felt somewhat enlightened—he even felt some regret, that serving as an official had made him somewhat muddle-headed; indeed, he had become somewhat hesitant and fearful.

When he left the capital, he dared to point out the loophole in the Great Ming ancestral system right in front of the Emperor, saying that the unequal distribution of power and responsibility in the Great Ming cabinet system was a historical legacy issue. But when he arrived in Jilin Prefecture, he became overly cautious everywhere and ended up accomplishing nothing.

During this time in Jilin Prefecture, he lost the character "Yi",

and with it, his forward-driving courage and perseverance.

My heart and my conduct are clear as a bright mirror; all my actions are for justice—what is there to fear?

After Ye Xianggao signed his name on the memorial, he immediately began ordering preparations for relocating the prefectural office, even though Changchun County had no prefectural office yet. As soon as the imperial edict arrived, he would set out immediately—wherever he was, that place became the prefectural office.

"Prefect Ye, actually I've recently heard some unfavorable rumors, and what Inspector Zhao said does make some sense," the clerk said, weighing his words before advising him. He felt that what Inspector Hou said was correct.

Ye Xianggao's reputation had spread far and wide; originally, the local officials of Jilin were expecting Prefect Ye to take office on horseback, to bring order to Jilin's local affairs and contend with the court and the barbarians. But when Ye Xianggao arrived, he acted hesitantly, which naturally disappointed people.

"Public" does not merely mean fairness—it also means putting public duties first.

The local magistrates were insignificant and their voices weak; General Li Ru of Jilin could not oppose her father's decision. Everyone in Jilin knew that Jilin County was unsuitable as a prefectural seat, but no one could say so—they were all waiting for Ye Xianggao to lead by example.

As a result, Prefect Ye did not burn his three inaugural fires upon taking office, truly leaving the local officials scratching their heads.

These magistrates were actually watching and waiting, observing Ye Xianggao to see how he would decide—whether he could truly serve as the Jilin prefect. Though called the Jilin prefect, in terms of jurisdiction and authority, he was effectively the Jilin Inspector.

"Inspector Hou's surname is Hou, not Zhao," Ye Xianggao said calmly, correcting the clerk's mistaken address. After thinking, he said: "Notify the magistrates of Song Yuan, Changchun, Baicheng, Siping, Liaoyuan, and Tonghua about relocating the prefectural seat to Changchun County."

"Also, strictly enforce the hair retention order—better to kill by mistake than to let the guilty escape. If bandits harass our weakly defended areas, there must be an internal accomplice."

"Yes!" the clerk said, realizing that the original Ye Xianggao had returned.

Young people acting should have vigor!

The relocation of the prefectural seat shows that Ye Xianggao has the courage to break through old conventions, and also shows that he does not treat Jilin as a mere stepping stone for his résumé, but genuinely cares and leads Jilin's development.

Yet such strict enforcement of the hair retention order, once known to the scholar-officials in the capital, would lead those unaware of the Liaodong situation to think Ye Xianggao overly ruthless and cruel, and they would impeach him under the pretext of pacifying distant peoples.

What the local magistrates and Jilin troops actually fear most is not that Ye Xianggao is a coward—cowardice would be tolerable—but that he is a conservative, pedantic scholar-official who refuses to adapt, clinging to the idea of pacifying distant peoples and believing the hair retention order should not exist. That would be the real trouble.

If that were the case, Ye Xianggao would be better off as a careless coward who lets the local magistrates and generals act on their own.

The Great Ming already possesses extremely high morality, willing to give barbarians a chance to assimilate. Never mind that the Great Ming's land reclamation has drenched the land in blood, or that Taixi's colonization of North and South Americas—none of them failed to drench the land in blood, leaving piles of corpses.

Act according to the times, respond to the circumstances—

say what must be said when the moment comes. Li Chengliang in the Western Regions even let the Hui people raise pigs; not raising them meant being a spy, refusing to sinicize. Some things, if not done now, will leave sins for future generations.

Actually, it's not entirely Ye Xianggao's fault—Ye Xianggao has long resided in the capital, and upon his initial arrival in Jilin, he lacked sufficient experience.

Lacking experience is not really a problem—experience comes with doing. What is truly to be feared is losing one's spirit, becoming fearful at the slightest difficulty or setback, and daring not to move forward.