Chapter 1022

Wang Qian is very grateful to Governor Yin Zhengmao for leaving behind a sufficiently rich inheritance, making his work exceptionally easy.

Governor Yin Zhengmao made many plans for the route to Luzon; no matter which one the court chose, everyone in Luzon, no matter which they chose, would ultimately end up on the path of combining the two regions, rather than going their separate ways.

During the Northern Song, northern Liao was mainly Khitan, while southern Liao was mainly Han.

At that time, Yelü Deluguang, the second son of Yelü Abaoji, faced this situation and suddenly had a brainwave, choosing the political idea of 'the Northern Bureau does not manage the people, the Southern Bureau does not manage the military,' and began to implement it.

At that time, the north-south conflict in Liao was not particularly intense; although lifestyles differed, there was no major rift in warfare, taxation, culture, and so on.

Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji, who called himself Liu Yi, designated the surname Xiao for the empress's clan and actively Sinicized the Khitan people.

But Yelü Deluguang slapped his forehead, had a sudden inspiration, and destroyed the system his father had painstakingly established and was slowly integrating.

After the political idea of 'the Northern Bureau does not manage the people, the Southern Bureau does not manage the military' began to be implemented, the entire Liao state was thoroughly divided into two parts, one in the north and one in the south, with even the bureaucracy consisting of two separate ruling systems.

In the Northern Bureau, officials were selected based first on lineage—non-Khitans and non-Khitan nobles could not hold office; in the Southern Bureau, it was similar to the Northern Song's imperial examination system.

In Yelü Deluguang's conception, the Northern Bureau was responsible for warfare, the Southern Bureau for governance, and both civil administration and military prowess were to be strong!

But the result exceeded Yelü Deluguang's expectations, becoming a situation where civil administration failed and military prowess was weak.

The failure of civil administration is simple: these selected scholar-officials were all outstanding talents; mastering civil administration meant mastering the economy, gaining economic status, and inevitably seeking political status, making it impossible for them to accept having the Northern Bureau above them, especially when it was a bunch of fools giving orders.

But since the Northern Bureau controlled the military and the Southern Bureau could only accept supervision, it directly caused the bureaucratic system to collectively give up, and the system collapsed outright.

The reason military prowess failed is simple: first, military talent is not hereditary through bloodline; the Northern Bureau's so-called nobles had no talent, no ability, no training, and even a large portion could not ride horses; second, during wartime, the Southern Bureau did not provide grain and fodder.

The Northern Bureau, which does not manage the people, needed the Southern Bureau's full cooperation during war; without it, the war could not be fought.

The solution to this problem is also simple: just don't fight wars.

After the Treaty of Chanyuan, the Northern Song and Liao enjoyed a century of peace, because both sides' military preparations were equally decayed, and in the end, the Jin dynasty invaded and defeated both, taking the Liao emperor and the two Northern Song emperors to Huanglongfu to lead sheep.

Yelü Deluguang's foolish brainwave, compared to the carefully plotted conspiracies of treacherous ministers, had far greater destructive power.

By the Southern Song era, Qin Hui had also once proposed the political idea of 'Southerners govern the South, Northerners govern the North,' which was exactly the same as Yelü Deluguang's idea.

Qin Hui's idea was adopted by Emperor Gaozong of Song and implemented for a period of time.

Emperor Gaozong's letter to the Jin emperor was also 'I, the subject, humbly propose, today we come to draw borders,' meaning he no longer considered the north as lost territory of the Great Song, no longer sought to restore the old capital or recover lost lands, and no longer recognized northern remnants as subjects of the Great Song.

At that time, in the enemy-occupied northern regions, there were countless rebel forces, all products of Yue Fei's earlier 'linking the Hebei region,' and also the greatest foundation for Yue Fei's northern expedition—the people's hearts could be used.

Linking Hebei, uniting the anti-Jin righteous armies north of the Yellow River, and coordinating with the Southern Song official army's actions.

Yue Fei sent personnel deep into Hebei to incite the righteous armies to rise, forming a northern and southern pincer movement; the leaders of the righteous armies such as those from Mount Taixing, Liang Xing, and Li Bao all emerged in this way.

Emperor Gaozong's 'subject's proposal,' Qin Hui's idea of 'Southerners govern the South, Northerners govern the North,' amounted to abandoning all efforts to recover lost lands, not recognizing these remnants as belonging to the Great Song, no longer supporting the righteous armies' resistance to Jin, and no longer conducting northern expeditions.

Among these remnants was a person named Xin Qiji.

Under this special background, civil and military officials who fled south from the north to the Southern Song could not be heavily relied upon; Xin Qiji could only write poetry.

Actually, during the Hongwu era, the Great Ming also faced such a problem; the Southern and Northern Examination Major Case occurred under this background.

Governor Yin Zhengmao compiled a great net for Luzon, ensnaring everyone, including his son Yin Zongxin.

No matter how one chooses, Luzon's outcome is only one: a tighter integration with the heartland of the Great Ming.

Governor Yin Zhengmao chose this way for his own reasons.

From a vertical historical perspective, once a colony or governor's office loses the support of the motherland, it will quickly perish.

After the Western Regions Protectorates of the Two Han were abolished, they quickly perished; the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Grand Protectorate, as the Tang no longer supported it, was buried in the wind and sand of the Western Regions.

By the time of the Great Ming, after Yongle opened the seas, the Luzon Governor, the Old Port Governorate, and Jiaozhi were successively abandoned, making it fundamentally impossible to sustain their own existence.

Governor Yin Zhengmao was not the first governor of Luzon; the first governor of Luzon was Xu Chailao, a man from Quanzhou, Fujian, during the Yongle era.

From a horizontal global perspective, Spain is losing its maritime dominance.

Felipe launched expeditions against England, both of which ended in failure, consuming too much of the homeland's national strength; Spain's governorates lost support and had to either merge with the locals or find another master—there was no other choice.

Even if Spain had defeated England, what could it do? These governorates would not wait in place.

Portugal fell into a royal crisis, and during the period when Felipe sought to take over Portugal, the

Ud, Guá, and Mo San governorates all fell into difficulty to varying degrees.

Even if Antonio became king with the support of the Great Ming, these governorates were gone for good.

Governor Yin Zhengmao arranged what he thought was the best outcome, but Luzon also had its own will and slightly resisted this arrangement.

After the welcome banquet, Wang Qian consulted with Yin Zongxin; the deputy commanders of Luzon's ten battalions also gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

Wang Hu had drunk quite a lot, his face flushed, his tone unpleasant as he said: 'What does the court mean by this? The Prince's corpse is not yet cold, and the court already sent a big shot; the fruit has just ripened, and they come to pick it—aren't they being too eager?'

'Moreover, that Wang Qian is just a wine sack and rice bag, relying on his father to throw his weight around; he's not a Duke of Wen Cheng, so what is Wang Qian anyway?'

Xu Zhen patted Wang Hu on the arm and said: 'Don't talk nonsense; the situation is undecided, and you're saying these things here—you're easily giving others a handle. The key is what the governor thinks; if the governor agrees, we can only obey orders.'

Qian San Yi of the Brave and Valiant Battalion frowned tightly, somewhat doubtful, and said: 'We are all pioneering meritorious officials; His Majesty allowed us to enter the Martial Arts Academy—isn't that a reward? After entering the Martial Arts Academy and graduating, we become the court's titled generals, with the rank of third-rank General Zhao Yi, and the position of deputy commander still allows us to lead troops.'

'We are in Luzon, nominally deputy commanders, but without the court's seal of authority, we are ultimately just practicing a heretical doctrine.'

Deputy Commander Yan Tai of the Courageous Battalion kept nodding, fully agreeing, and said: 'Elder Brother Qian is right; I think the same way.'

Some are dissatisfied with the court coming to pick the fruit, some want to observe further, some think the court's conditions are simply too good to be true, directly jumping from being a deputy commander of a side army to being granted the title of General of the Main Army—this is entirely the court's recognition of their military achievements.

To put it bluntly: after graduating from the Martial Arts Academy, the court no longer lets them lead troops in war, and they have secured hereditary military offices ranging from third to fifth rank for their descendants.

Qi Jiguang originally was only a hereditary deputy commander of the Dengzhou Garrison, a fourth-rank hereditary military official.

Xu Zhen, Wang Hu, and Qian San Yi are all third-rank General Zhao Yi; the remaining seven, three are fourth-rank and four are fifth-rank; the court, based on their years of military achievements, granted them these titles.

'I think the conditions are not bad,' said Liu Qiyuan, a deputy commander of the Infantry Battalion, laughing: 'These years I haven't fought any battles; I've just been expanding Tongrui Town all day. Speaking bluntly, I've done nothing; they've ruined themselves, and I just go pick up the ready-made gains.'

'I feel my fifth-rank General Wu De, holding the post of garrison commander, is already quite good.'

Liu Qiyuan is from the Guangzhou guest soldiers, older in age; these years he has wanted to return, but due to his duties, he cannot leave.

Tongrui Town is near Miyangang; when Governor Yin Zhengmao dispatched him there, he told him: not

necessary to conquer; when the barbarians seek help, one can just loaf around and hunt rabbits.

Liu Qiyuan obeyed orders; from its founding, Tongrui Town had a ten-li circumference, three small plantations, less than thirty thousand mu of farmland, and a population under thirty thousand; now the city wall encloses thirty li, twenty-eight plantations, a full one million mu of farmland, a population of one hundred and twenty thousand, with roads extending in all directions, and even a local Confucian academy has been established.

In all of Nanyang, these are among the larger Han settlements.

Liu Qiyuan hasn't fought in over a decade; when he did, it was just skirmishes against bandits. He felt he had achieved nothing, yet the Emperor gave him the high praise: 'A skilled warrior needs no great fame,' appointing him as a fifth-rank military general, Wu De, and garrison commander.

"Luzon was won inch by inch by us old brothers—how many died, how many buried in foreign soil—and the court says just take it away!" Wang Hu, hearing Liu Qiyuan say this, shouted angrily: "On what grounds! How can the court be so shameless!"

General Xu Zhen of the Fubo Army, watching the noisy crowd, sighed, slammed the table, and said: "All be quiet! I'll ask the governor tomorrow, we'll talk then—now disperse!"

"When you go back, keep your mouths shut tight—say nothing! Otherwise, military punishment!"

"I'm doing this for your own good—no matter the outcome, remember: disaster comes from the mouth. Hold your words, seal your lips!"

Xu Zhen waved his hand, telling everyone to get lost.

Xu Zhen saw the Ten Tigers arguing chaotically, each voicing their own opinion, and knew the court's decree this time would surely be carried out—these Ten Tigers wished they could strangle themselves!

Without a leader, the group lacks a backbone—this is what happens. Someone needs to make the call. Xu Zhen could do it, but he doesn't want to, dare not, and cannot.

Xu Zhen looked worried. He realized a problem: Prince Guoxingye never established a Commander of Luzon. This means that once Yin Zhengmao leaves, the Ten Tigers are equal—hence this chaotic scene.

Xu Zhen, relying on battlefield achievements and strength, is considered the foremost of the Ten Tigers, but he himself is still just one of them and cannot become that backbone.

"Big brother, what do you say? This bunch can't accomplish anything!" After Wang Hu and the others left, he muttered cursingly.

Upon hearing Wang Hu say this, Xu Zhen flared up instantly, kicked out, and shouted sternly: "What are you saying? Don't you know you're almost dead? What nonsense are you spouting!"

"If you tell these words to the governor, the Wang Inspector, or the Grand Eunuch Li Yougong today, your head will be chopped off tomorrow!"

"Ah?" Wang Hu stared blankly and said: "This can't be—we're old brothers!"

Xu Zhen sighed, tapped Wang Hu's head, and continued: "That Bu Ying Battalion, Fifth Camp—are they your old brothers? Liu Qiyuan is old, just wants to return to the Great Ming to retire, and he's using your head as a merit badge to offer to the court—then you'll know how dangerous it is!"

Wang Hu then felt a bit frightened,

and realized he'd drunk some horse urine, speaking foolishly from drink.

"What now? Should I take my brothers and run?" Wang Hu broke into a cold sweat, half-sobered, and immediately shook his head: "Run where? To the Thirty-Six Mountains of Cebu? That won't work—wouldn't that just make me a bandit instead of an official?"

Running isn't an option—if you don't run, you're still a hero; if you run, you're a rebel, let alone mutiny. Even those few aging deputy commanders just wanting to retire could suppress you.

This is on land, not at sea.

"From now on, no more drinking!" Xu Zhen looked at Wang Hu—Wang Hu not drinking is fine; he's also a shrewd man, thinks before speaking, plans before acting. The title 'Maritime Pacifying General' isn't empty—he picked off the Cebu barbarians one by one.

But once he drinks, Wang Hu is no longer Wang Hu—he becomes Wang Han, speaking without thinking, mouth faster than mind, daring to say anything.

It's not just Wang Hu among the Ten Tigers who holds resentment—Liu Qiyuan feels it too—but only Wang Hu voiced it.

"Tomorrow I'll see the governor—could I really be executed over two casual remarks?" Xu Zhen still decided to intervene: this isn't wartime, Wang Hu's two words won't shake morale, let alone warrant military punishment.

As feared, Xu Zhen's worry came true—Yin Zongxin already knew.

"He's just like that—after drinking, he doesn't know who he is." Xu Zhen explained for Wang Hu. This is still known to our governor, but if Qian Huang or Li Yougong found out, it would be worse.

"From now on, he is forbidden to drink." Yin Zongxin said sternly, brows furrowed: "I know—probably the inspector and Li Yougong already know."

"I'll tell them—you must not act on your own, or if anything happens, I won't be able to bear the responsibility."

Yin Zongxin went to find Qian Huang and Li Yougong. Qian Huang said nothing; Li Yougong waved his hand, seeming indifferent, brushed it aside lightly, and even said some resentment is normal—don't delay the court's Wang Hua great cause, so it's not a crime.

By late May, upon reaching the court's deadline, Yin Zongxin summoned each of the Ten Tigers in turn, talked with them heart-to-heart, and finally sent them aboard ships back to the Great Ming.

Wang Hu's rash words—big or small, if he just listens obediently and follows court orders, this is just drunken slip of the tongue, a trifle weighing four taels—who hasn't misspoken?

But once something happens, Wang Hu's words become serious—then it's defiance and rebellion, and even a thousand catties couldn't contain it.

Qian Huang has nine ways to deal with a sore foot, but he only pulled out this one.

While Li Yougong escorted the Ten Tigers back to the Great Ming, Zhu Yijun was at the Huangpu River palace's main hall, below the bell and drum tower, watching a competition.

In May, the capital had a liquor tasting—comparing who makes the world's best liquor—due to celestial changes, the Emperor issued an edict to suspend alcohol banquets, as brewing consumes grain, celestial changes affect

grain yield; the court won't issue a liquor ban, but also won't encourage brewing.

Songjiang Inspector Li Le, in Songjiang Prefecture, held another competition, believing liquor is not a good thing—it carries too heavy a melancholy air.

The Songjiang Prefecture competition compared clock designs, with five standards, each scored out of ten points.

"Nearly all clockmakers and workshops from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Songjiang Prefecture, and Ying Tianfu participated—three hundred fifty clocks in total." Li Le introduced the scale of participation to His Majesty.

Since Antonio brought the Nuremberg egg clock to the Great Ming, Ming horology has opened a new chapter—various clock designs emerge endlessly.

These days, the two treasures of navigation are: one is strong liquor, the other is clocks.

Strong liquor is mainly used to mix with fresh water; the navy is the only military unit in the Great Ming permitted to drink alcohol, and it is specially supplied high-proof liquor from the imperial farms.

Clocks are used to calculate longitude, for positioning.

"The first standard is precision—the most important aspect of a clock. Initial selection requires a weekly deviation of five days within five minutes." Li Le explained the first standard: sixty shichen make five days, five days make one week; if a clock runs five days with a second difference within three hundred seconds, it qualifies.

The three hundred fifty selected clocks are placed under special guard below the main hall's bell and drum tower, then undergo another weekly deviation test, with scores divided into ten tiers, ten points full—higher precision, higher score.

"The second standard is reliability—tested by vertical drops from heights of one chi, three chi, one zhang two, and one zhang five, scoring based on damage and stability." Li Le led His Majesty past the first room, where ticking sounds never stopped, into the second room.

Most clocks today are used on ships—shipboard conditions are never calm and smooth, so clock reliability must be extreme; the more reliable, the higher the score.

Besides the drop test, future tests will include fatigue testing—long-term observation over one year, checking for increasing error.

The observatory's error is less than one second per year, but ordinary clocks struggle to reach that—hence timekeeping bell and drum towers must be built everywhere to determine time.

"Hmm." Zhu Yijun nodded satisfactorily: "You've put real heart into this—you genuinely want to improve the Great Ming's clockmaking capability."

Increasing clock stability and precision increases the chance of ships returning safely; safer ships mean larger maritime trade; Songjiang Prefecture benefits more, as it is the world trade center.

"The third standard is practicality; the fourth is innovation and renewal; the fifth is price." Li Le led His Majesty through the entire exhibition.

Practicality means functionality—each added function earns points.

For example, self-chiming: some clocks chime once every正 and 初 hour; the sound is very pleasant; others have time-telling birds or figures that emerge from the clock;

(Note: Line 115 appears to be cut off; translated as-is.)

For example, date: some clocks advance one mark every twelve shichen, indicating the date.

Such functions are myriad—for instance, Zhu Yijun saw a clock with a mechanical snake on the dial, driven by gears, crawling a full circle every hour—flashy but useless, since the hour hand already tells time, though fun.

Innovation and renewal mainly means improving mechanical structures—for example, the escapement mechanism: on the Great Ming market, escapements mainly come in anchor-type, 工字型, and冕狀轮 types; improving the mechanism helps clock accuracy.

The anchor-type escapement, derived from the pendulum, is better suited for large floor-standing pendulum clocks.

The H-shaped escapement device is one of the achievements of Great Ming archaeological-style scientific research; this device was modeled after the water-powered astronomical instrument platform from the Northern Song dynasty.

The final price is calculated based on cost: even if a clock's timekeeping is extremely precise and reliable, no matter how many flashy functions it has, and even if the escapement device is highly innovative, if the production cost is too high—so high that even powerful nobles and wealthy elites cannot afford it—then it will also be penalized.

Such large-scale precision timekeeping bell towers as the main hall bell and drum tower are like this: even if a bell tower now costs very little to build, its price still runs to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and daily maintenance requires a dozen or more people.

Even powerful nobles and wealthy elites cannot afford to build them; only the imperial court can afford to do so.

After touring around, Zhu Yijun truly broadened his horizons; he had no idea that the clock and watch industry of the Great Ming had already developed to such an extent.

"Huh, what is this?" Zhu Yijun saw a very strange clock; it had two ears, but those two ears were copper balls shaped like pendulums, and the whole thing looked somewhat like a grasshopper.

"A grasshopper clock specially designed for maritime timekeeping." Li Le said with a complex expression: "When Senior Grand Secretary Shen was in Songjiang Prefecture, he had already offered a reward of fifty thousand taels of silver, hoping to pool collective wisdom to create a clock more precise and unaffected by ship motion, so that one could determine longitude more accurately at sea."

"Can this work?" Zhu Yijun asked, looking at the grasshopper clock before him.

Li Le thought for a moment; explaining it was a bit troublesome, and mere words were not convincing, so he had someone bring over a round table, with one person standing on each side, fixing the grasshopper clock onto it, and began to sway the round table left and right, up and down.

Zhu Yijun understood: this device truly is unaffected by ship motion, and its timekeeping is even more precise.

Pendulum clocks remain the most accurate timepieces in the Great Ming, even the escapement device in the main hall bell and drum tower is anchor-type, and it is indeed precise—but pendulum clocks are not resistant to wind and waves.

This grasshopper clock, no more than nine cun in height and no more than one chi in length, is fundamentally still a pendulum clock, solving the problem of swaying.

The cleverness of the two pendulum bobs lies in that,

no matter which way it sways, the other side will produce a reaction force to counteract it, so it does not significantly affect precision.

There is still some influence, but it is much better than before.

"Because it uses a pendulum, the daily error is less than three seconds, the monthly error ninety seconds—this is already quite precise." Li Le said with a very complex expression: "The only problem is that it is still not precise enough; further improvements are still needed."

Back then, Shen Shixing had clearly stipulated for the reward: a ship's clock with an error within two minutes over sixty days of navigation; this clock did not meet the condition.

Zhu Yijun inquired carefully and only then learned that this clockmaker, in order to study this, had already spent a full seven years on it; the grasshopper clock kept getting smaller and smaller, but always fell short by a breath, unable to meet the condition.

"Grant three thousand taels of silver from the inner treasury as a reward." Zhu Yijun affirmed this spirit of research greatly, waved his hand generously, and gave a sum of reward silver; although it did not meet the standard, it brought great help to Great Ming's navigation, and ships equipped with grasshopper clocks were safer than others.

Zhu Yijun personally observed this competition; on the last day of May, there was a result.

He looked at this small object before him, his expression somewhat hesitant as he asked: "Why can it win the championship?"

The clock before Zhu Yijun looked somewhat plain and unadorned, utterly ordinary.

"A lever-type escapement device improved from the H-shaped escapement; the most important improvement is replacing the previously used mainspring with fine steel wire, allowing the clock to be made very small—now it can be made as small as an egg." Li Le answered the Emperor's inquiry cautiously.

"Replaced the mainspring with fine steel wire?" Zhu Yijun keenly grasped the key point and understood why this plain, unremarkable watch could become the champion.

The master craftsmen of the Investigation Institute once told His Majesty the Emperor: all escapement devices operate on the same principle—'to catch' means to seize and halt motion; 'to release' means to let motion continue; and improvements to escapement devices are all about reducing the influence of machinery on timekeeping precision.

Undoubtedly, omnipresent gravity means that the heavier the escapement device, the greater its influence on timekeeping precision.

Reducing the weight of the clock can effectively improve timekeeping precision, and reducing the weight of the clock's energy storage device can greatly reduce the clock's weight, thereby making timekeeping even more precise.

The escapement device Zhu Yijun had disassembled alone was fine steel wire controlling the balance wheel, the balance wheel controlling the escapement fork, the escapement fork controlling the escapement wheel.

Each tightening and releasing of the fine steel wire causes the balance wheel to rotate regularly clockwise and counterclockwise; the escapement fork is a lever structure with its fulcrum at the front, two limiters allowing the fork to oscillate within a set range; each oscillation of the escapement wheel equals one second.

"Very good, what is the name of this fine steel wire mainspring?" Zhu Yijun studied the lever-type escapement in his hand and asked Li Le.

"Hairspring

." Li Le gave the Emperor a clear answer: compared to the somewhat bulky mainspring, the new fine steel wire is indeed a delicate hairspring.

Zhu Yijun personally examined the manufacturing process of this fine wire.

The mold is roughly the size of a silver coin, with two openings; the two cut segments of fine steel wire are placed into the mold, secured with screws, the mold is closed, and the handle is turned to rotate, causing the fine steel wire to be completely wound inside the mold.

The wooden handle is removed, the mold—coin-sized and one finger thick—is taken apart, placed into an iron box filled with alcohol and borax, placed in a large fire to heat until completely red-hot, then the mold is taken out and plunged into cold oil for quenching.

After quenching, the mold is opened; the two strands of fine steel wire remain wound together, placed into a new iron box, copper strips are added, and it is heated again to red-hot, then quenched once more.

After the second quenching, the double hairsprings are removed, separated with stiff paper, placed into a wooden mold to unfold, then rubbed with a wool cloth to remove surface residue; a hairspring with a blue sheen on its surface is thus completed.

The addition of copper strips during the second quenching is to prevent rust, as steel wire is prone to rust, especially in marine environments.

A skilled artisan can produce hundreds of such hairsprings in a day; the other components are easy to manufacture.

"Exquisitely crafted, surpassing nature." Zhu Yijun, after watching the hairspring manufacturing process, nodded repeatedly.

The grasshopper clock and the lever-type escapement device finally allow the Great Ming to miniaturize clocks to pocket-watch size.

According to preliminary tests by the Songjiang Prefecture government office, clocks using the new technology have a sixty-day error of about three seconds, already perfectly meeting the Great Ming's maritime requirements.

"Don't split it evenly—pay fifty thousand taels of silver from the inner treasury, fifty thousand taels each." Zhu Yijun was very generous, producing fifty thousand taels himself, then adding the Songjiang Prefecture's reward; the two inventors of the grasshopper clock and lever-type escapement each received fifty thousand taels.

The Songjiang Prefecture felt the reward had been fulfilled, a joint achievement of the two; Zhu Yijun, however, considered the significance great, and moreover, he had greatly exceeded the reward's requirements.

Fifty taels of silver is all it takes—just one ship returning safely, and it's earned.