Chapter 1026: The Overseas Governance Strategy

Gao Qiyu is the Minister of Rites, and he has meticulously studied the differences between the Yongle Emperor's opening of the seas and the Westerners' overseas colonial expansion.

The conclusion he ultimately reached was that the reason the Great Ming missed out on the ocean during the Yongle era was entirely because the Great Ming was too concerned with saving face.

This result made Gao Qiyu feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Regarding what Li Yashi said about the advantages of low morality during the expansion process, Gao Qiyu also pondered it carefully, and even communicated in-depth with officials on the ground in Songjiang Prefecture to understand the details.

King Álvaro I of Kongo, because he was powerless to suppress rebellions, requested help from the King of Portugal; after Portugal helped, they completely turned Kongo into the source of the slave trade for "Kunlun slaves."

Álvaro I opposed the slave trade and was immediately "made to die of illness."

The King of Ceylon harassed the Great Ming fleet, and after Zheng He captured the King and his son alive and brought them back to the capital, the King of Ceylon was not only not executed but was instead released back to his country, and the royal family member Yebainaina became the King of Ceylon.

The Great Ming did not completely hollow out the King of Ceylon, nor did it ever intend to develop the slave trade in Ceylon; this was a manifestation of "cherishing distant people" and "if distant people do not submit, then cultivate virtue to attract them."

Looking at it now, Gao Qiyu still does not believe that there was anything wrong with the decision made by the Chengzu Wen Emperor back then.

High morality has never been a mistake, and at that time, the Great Ming was powerful and invincible under heaven, so there was no need to abandon morality to seize benefits.

This led to a result that the Great Ming found difficult to accept, but had to accept: the fundamental reason for the failure of the Yongle opening of the seas was that the efficiency of plunder was insufficient.

The targets of expansion were all in uncivilized, wild regions; the Westerners' opening of the seas was a success and continued for hundreds of years. For the Great Ming, facing the same situation, the failure of opening the seas was a disadvantage of high morality and insufficient efficiency in plunder.

The Wanli opening of the seas completely absorbed the lessons of the previous failure; plantations, the small triangular trade, and the large triangular trade were all established under such reasons to increase the efficiency of plundering wealth.

Of course, the blame was all borne by His Majesty.

"Deep blood and piled-up white bones; the barbaric, bloody, and dirty slave trade should be viewed by all parties as evil, rather than something that ought to be so."

"Based on this reason, all parties of the Eastern Pacific Trade Alliance, and all parties willing to join the Ryukyu Maritime Court and accept the adjudication of trade disputes, should all strive to reduce the slave trade," Gao Qiyu said, reaching the second point.

The first point is about sea bandits and maritime security; the second point is about the nature of the slave trade, which is evil. But at present, the slave trade is difficult to prohibit, and everyone must strive to reduce and end the slave trade; this is natural justice.

"Current maritime expansion requires a large amount of labor, and it is inevitable to use this labor."

"According to the General Principles of Abolishing the Status of Base Slaves in the ninth year of Wanli, the second general principle of the Maritime Trade Law is formulated around the slave trade."

"First, no one shall provoke slave-hunting wars, or use various means to incite tribal leaders or stir up tribal blood feuds to launch slave-hunting wars to obtain slaves."

"Second, the cost of slaves should be regarded as travel expenses to a new home; after at most eight years of labor, they can obtain the status of free citizens, rather than being slaves forever."

"Third, any slave-trading fleet should guarantee the survival of the slaves as much as possible; the survival rate of slaves upon arrival at port must reach at least 50%, otherwise, they shall be regarded as sea bandits."

Zhu Yijun looked at Gao Qiyu with some surprise. He calculated these three points, took a deep breath, and said, "These points from the Minister of Rites are all benevolent governance."

"In reply to Your Majesty, the Celestial Empire naturally must take benevolence as its foundation and govern with righteousness," Gao Qiyu said as a matter of course.

Gao Qiyu certainly understood the subtext of His Majesty the Emperor; his benevolent governance was exactly the same as that of Yin Zhengmao.

No matter from what angle one looks at these clauses, they are benevolent decrees, but if implemented, the results become interesting.

Purchasing slaves from tribal chiefs by inciting blood feuds between tribes is the main source of slave capture for almost all slave traders.

Great Ming merchants never incite any slave-hunting wars, and they don't even capture slaves themselves; the Japanese slaves, barbarian slaves, and Kunlun slaves bought by the Great Ming all "grew" in the warehouses!

Because the Great Ming has a commodity advantage and an overall trade surplus rather than a deficit, all the bitter, tiring, and not very profitable businesses naturally have to be left to others to do.

As for the Western and Arab slave traders, who need to use slaves to pay for goods, they cannot be so generous.

Standing on the shore, one can of course point fingers at those swimming in the water, saying this is wrong and that is bad.

As for the second point, that slaves are not slaves but just owe travel expenses to a new home, with a maximum of eight years of labor before the slave status is automatically abolished—this is also full of malice.

This clause has little impact on the Great Ming's expansion cause, but it has a huge impact on the Westerners' expansion.

The slaves used by the Great Ming are all castrated; they have had their "bells" knocked off and have no worldly desires. Even after eight years, when these people become free citizens, because they have no descendants, it will not cause any impact on the population structure.

However, the slaves used by Western expanders are not castrated. The Westerners still need to use these slaves to breed more slaves; buying slaves is still too expensive.

As time goes by, the population structure changes, and these overseas colonies of the Westerners naturally cannot enjoy long-term peace and stability.

The third point, that the slave survival rate must be over 50%, is simple for the Great Ming. The survival rate of slaves transported by the Great Ming from Nagasaki to the Jinchi Viceroy's Office exceeds 90%. For the Westerners, it is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

One really cannot expect Westerners who never bathe in their lives to practice hygiene once they are on a closed ship.

With poor hygiene, the mortality rate will naturally remain high.

Hygiene seems inconspicuous, but on a closed ship during a voyage lasting several months, it is the greatest test of survival.

Full of benevolence and morality, every clause seems to be natural justice, but behind them is full of malice. If they were truly implemented, the only ones who could do slave business would be the Great Ming.

The Great Ming monarch and his subjects are all thousand-year-old foxes; they understand each other without speaking, and the meaning behind these clauses is very clear.

"The propositions are all very good, but they cannot be implemented," Zhu Yijun said, shaking his head.

In this era, these are all reasonable nonsense.

Gao Qiyu immediately said, "Your Majesty, regarding rites and laws, from ancient times to the present, what is important is not whether they can be implemented. I have never intended for them to be implemented."

"What is important about rites and laws is right and wrong."

"To put it more clearly, what the Great Ming does is right, and what the Great Ming forbids is wrong. The Great Ming should be civilization itself, and from the standpoint of civilization, define right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and define what is justice and what is evil."

Gao Qiyu finally spoke his true thoughts. The Maritime Trade Law is fundamentally a scrap of paper; in the current maritime and trade environment, there is no possibility of implementation at all.

The purpose of the "Maritime Trade Law" from beginning to end is to shape a kind of correctness—the correctness of the Great Ming's goodness.

"It seems that the short-term benefits are not great, but in the long run, it is completely worth the effort," Gao Qiyu said, taking a deep breath. "As time goes by, whoever the Great Ming strikes, it is a kind of grace and honor, a kind of gift; it is helping them come into contact with civilization."

"Ding!" Zhu Yijun tapped the small copper bell on the table and reminded, "Minister of Rites, some things should not be said so bluntly."

Zhu Yijun looked in the direction of the Secretariat Drafter. The Secretariat Drafter was to write the Wanli Daily Records. If these words of Gao Qiyu were written into the Daily Records intact, in the future, Gao Qiyu would be a treacherous official with overflowing crimes.

The Emperor looked at Zhang Hong. Zhang Hong nodded to His Majesty. He grabbed the Secretariat Drafter's hand, not letting him write blindly. The new Secretariat Drafter was not as well-versed in the rules as Ye Xianggao, and what he wrote was a bit too detailed.

"Leave this matter to the Minister of Rites to handle." Zhu Yijun stopped asking. Gao Qiyu had always been reassuring in his work.

"I obey the decree." Gao Qiyu bowed and accepted the order. With His Majesty's imperial decree, it would be easy to do things.

The Ministry of Rites received quite a few complaints, not just trade disputes between Portugal and the Netherlands, but also several other cases, and these cases were quite similar.

To fight directly over one or two ships is a bit of a fuss and making a mountain out of a molehill, which is not worth it;

But if they don't fight, they suffer losses for nothing. No one is willing, and after arguing back and forth without results, they can only secretly swear to snatch it back next time.

These cases remain unresolved, which will cause the maritime trade environment to deteriorate rapidly. In the end, on the sea, all ships may be potential enemies. The law of the jungle rises, and order naturally disappears slowly.

For all countries participating in maritime trade, no one is willing to see the maritime trade environment continue to deteriorate, but there is a lack of a country with sufficient weight to stand up and mediate these disputes.

Now, the Great Ming is willing to stand up, and these cases have all been sent to the Maritime Court, which has not yet been established.

"No, the case of the Miss Julian is indeed a bit tricky." Zhu Yijun looked at the case files in front of him and scratched his head a bit.

The Miss Julian was a Portuguese carrack merchant ship. The merchant ship carried 223 female family members and departed from Lisbon for the Viceroy's Office in Mozambique. These were female family members, not female prisoners; they were the family members of Portuguese colonists.

The ship did not get lost and arrived in Mozambique on schedule, but when they disembarked, most of these 223 female family members were pregnant!

The Mozambique Viceroy's Office demanded compensation from the shipowner of the Miss Julian, but the shipowner believed it was not his fault, so why should he compensate?

Between the crew and these female family members, amidst the violent storms of the Atlantic, under the arrows of the natives, and when the plague was raging, they huddled together for warmth and established deep feelings. When the feelings reached a deep point and could not be controlled, this was love!

The shipowner refused to compensate and threatened that if they were not convinced, they could go and catch him!

The Mozambique Viceroy's Office was naturally unwilling to give up, so it complained to the Sintra Palace in Portugal. If Antonio didn't care, the Viceroy's Office would go to Madrid to find Felipe. If Felipe still didn't care, the Viceroy's Office would go to Rome to find the Holy See. They had to find someone who would care!

"So these children have no fathers as soon as they are born," Zhu Yijun said with some difficulty. "Since our Maritime Court has opened its doors, it has to do some things. Otherwise, others will not be convinced. Can our Great Ming handle this?"

"Yes, we can handle it!"

Gao Qiyu hurriedly said, "All the ships of this shipowner run the Lisbon to Ma Liujia route. On this route, after passing the Cape of Good Hope, one must either go to Mozambique or the Jifu Viceroy's Office."

"The reason this shipowner dares not to pay is that he can resupply at the Jifu Viceroy's Office."

"If the Great Ming rules against him, he must pay. Otherwise, resupplying in Jifu will cost a lot of money, and when purchasing in Ma Liujia, he will also have to pay extra silver."

Jiri City of the Jifu Viceroy's Office is only four li in circumference. The Great Ming has about 1,400 people there, and Jiri Port is an important resupply port for this shipowner.

The Jifu Viceroy's Office is too far away, and the Great Ming's political decrees are not effective, but the people in Jiri Port will definitely take the opportunity to make things difficult.

And buying spices in Ma Liujia, they always want to extract a few more points of tax. If something happens, they will make it even more difficult.

"Your Majesty, in fact, they argue back and forth mainly for face, for an explanation," Gao Qiyu said in a low voice. "Law is also for this purpose, to give an explanation."

Justice delayed is never justice; law is just a tool for the ruling class to rule.

Breaking cases in the Yamen gives an explanation and a result. It seems to have a certain degree of fairness, but in fact, there is no fairness to speak of.

Songjiang Prefecture is actively preparing to establish a wage arbitration office. It seems that justice has been upheld, but if you think about it carefully, it is not like that at all.

For the poor and laborers, the remuneration they strive for is very important to them, even more important than their lives. For this, they have to pay a lot of energy and time, and it may even delay them from finding new livelihoods.

But for these workshop owners and these rich merchants, it doesn't even count as a drop in the bucket.

The wage arbitration office seems to have achieved fairness in labor-capital contradictions, but in terms of results and the importance to both sides, is it really fair? I'm afraid it's not that fair.

If we really follow the boundaries of private property defined by Lin Fucheng, labor is the boundary of private property. The wealth of these rich merchants is all obtained through exploitation, all unjust, and all unfair.

If one really wants to achieve true fairness, one should reduce exploitation to the greatest extent, or even eliminate exploitation.

In Gao Qiyu's view, law has always been just a tool for the ruling class to rule, not a tool for achieving fairness and justice, because injustice has already appeared before the judicial authorities intervene.

To achieve fairness and justice, in fact, His Majesty's third volume of the theory of contradictions has already provided a slightly blurred path, which is to achieve class fairness and persist in class struggle.

Zhu Yijun did not interfere with the work of the Ministry of Rites again and left it all to Gao Qiyu to handle.

It is called a court, but its main function is to mediate trade disputes between countries, reduce friction and conflict, increase the influence of the order side, and reduce the deterioration of the maritime trade environment caused by chaos.

Gao Qiyu left the Huangpu River Palace and began to focus on dealing with the problems of envoys from various countries.

While Gao Qiyu was breaking cases for various countries and compiling the "Maritime Trade Law," Zhu Yijun received a special birthday gift for his Wanli birthday.

A birthday gift from the ruler of the Jinshan Kingdom, His Highness the Prince of Lu, the younger brother of the Great Ming Emperor—a silver ingot weighing 3,000 jin.

This silver ingot was designed very exquisitely. On the top of the front, it was written "Fortune as vast as the Eastern Sea, longevity as high as the Southern Mountain," and below it was a golden hoop surrounding the silver ingot, which was the golden hoop on Sun Wukong's head.

This golden hoop surrounding the entire silver ingot was made of pure gold from the Jinshan Kingdom and inlaid into the silver ingot.

The front was carved with the Five Finger Mountain, and the Monkey King was fully armed, sitting on the Five Finger Mountain, looking into the distance, his red cloak fluttering in the wind, looking high-spirited.

The upper part of the back was the "Hundred Longevity" characters, inlaid with pure gold, looking radiant. Below it was Wukong who had already become a Buddha, the Victorious Fighting Buddha, wearing monk's robes, with agile ribbons behind him fluttering in the wind, his eyes looking extremely profound.

"There really are a thousand Sun Wukongs in a thousand copies of Journey to the West. Everyone has different feelings when reading Journey to the West." Zhu Yijun walked around the large silver ingot several times. As the elder brother, Zhu Yijun completely understood the meaning depicted by this silver ingot.

When he was in the Great Ming, Zhu Yijun was a troublemaker who feared nothing. He went 20,000 li to the east and went to the Jinshan Kingdom. After this journey of cultivation, he considered himself a qualified ruler, so he compared himself to the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

The Sun Wukong that everyone sees is different.

"The girl silver mountain has already been taken by His Highness the Prince of Lu, so there is such a large silver ingot. It is not compensation given by the Mexico Viceroy's Office," Feng Bao explained the source of the silver material.

The silver materials from each place are different. The Embroidered Uniform Guard will investigate all silver, and the source of the silver is also called the "silver road."

Finding the silver road often allows one to follow the vine to find many accomplices.

The silver material of the Mexico Viceroy's Office is yellowish and dark, and there are many impurities. Obviously, this is the silver material of the girl silver mountain in the Jinshan Kingdom. The expansion of the Jinshan Kingdom has made new progress.

"He has suffered." Zhu Yijun asked someone to take a chair, sat in front of this birthday gift, and finished reading Zhu Yijun's memorial.

Zhu Yijun muttered a lot. A memorial of nearly 30,000 words was written like a running account, chattering to his elder brother about what he had done recently.

One thing caught Zhu Yijun's attention.

A group of guys called the Barbary pirates were selling blonde and red-haired barbarian slaves everywhere, and the Jinshan Kingdom received a batch of about 300 blonde barbarians, all from Cornwall in western England.

The privateer ships raised by the English were ultimately harmful to others and themselves. The Barbary pirate group specialized in robbing the English, and large batches of blonde barbarians were sold to various places.

Viceroy Peito carefully selected thirteen blonde barbarian beauties and sent them to the Prince of Lu to maintain friendship with the Great Ming.

These thirteen beauties all had skin as white as jade, deep blue eyes, and were all carefully selected women without body odor.

Zhu Yijun used nearly 2,000 words to introduce his "beauties of all nations" in detail.

According to Zhu Yijun's description, the time when the white slave trade began was earlier than that of the Kunlun slaves, and the scale was on par with that of the Kunlun slaves.

These trivialities of life and the white slave trade occupied about 10,000 words, and the remaining 20,000 words were mainly Zhu Yijun's understanding of politics.

For example, Zhu Yijun talked about how he called a large group of people with the same characteristics "chang ghosts."

The biggest characteristic of a chang ghost is that they always like to do some disgusting little things. If you take it seriously, they will say that you, the master, are not benevolent and that you are making a fuss over a trifle. But if you don't take it seriously, they will always do some dirty things to disgust you severely.

For example, when conquering the Hopi tribe, killing is inevitable. Some people started to say that in the past, the Earl of Jinshan would not have done this, would have made friends with the barbarians, constantly educated the barbarians, and cherished distant people to bring peace. Now that the Prince of Lu is in charge, the killing is heavier.

However, Zhu Yijun went to his fiefdom because the military power of Jinshan City was no longer enough to protect Jinshan City, and the contradictions between the two sides had become increasingly prominent, and the conflict had gradually intensified to the point of attacking each other, so he had to conquer.

Mining silver, reclaiming wasteland, building docks, building canals, and building water conservancy—no matter what he did, these people always had something to say, and it sounded quite reasonable. There were too many such things.

Zhu Yijun slowly discovered that the purpose of these people scolding him was not to make any changes to things at all, but to push all the blame onto Zhu Yijun, the tiger, and then they could enjoy all the benefits with peace of mind.

Not only that, these chang ghosts, chattering endlessly, had another purpose, which was to demand privileges.

The chang ghosts kept saying that the Prince of Lu was wrong, so the chang ghosts were right.

Then the fields reclaimed, silver mined, docks built, lime factories, coking coal factories, etc., built by His Highness the Prince of Lu with soldiers and civilians could only be used correctly if they were handed over to these chang ghosts, handed over to the "right people."

After realizing the purpose of this group of chang ghosts, Zhu Yijun packed them up and sank them into the sea, and no one dared to speak like that again.

And the main body of this group of chang ghosts was the Jinshan gentry exiled to the Jinshan Kingdom.

The biggest characteristic of a chang ghost is: taking credit for themselves, blaming the superiors, making colleagues suffer, scolding the world, and taking all the benefits!

Zhu Yijun reminded His Majesty the Emperor to be careful about the damage of chang-ghost-style bureaucrats to the Great Ming's new policies.

In addition to this type of chang-ghost-style officials, Zhu Yijun also talked about how all parties in the Jinshan Kingdom recently wanted to start large-scale construction to build a Jinshan Palace for Zhu Yijun, with a scale of about 500 mu. Zhu Yijun repeatedly refused several times, feeling that the previously built Prince of Lu's Mansion was completely sufficient.

But the Prime Minister Meng Jinquan, the Earl of Jinshan Quan Tianpei, and the Regional Commander of the Navy Luo Shangzhi all persuaded him to build it.

There were many reasons, but in the final analysis, there was only one reason, which was to shape sufficient authority.

And Luo Shangzhi spoke much more directly. Luo Shangzhi was a warrior, and he was going to return to the Great Ming and would not remain in the Jinshan Kingdom.

Luo Shangzhi said bluntly that everyone wanted to build the Jinshan Palace, and there was only one excuse for other reasons; the real reason was only one: they were afraid that Zhu Yijun would act recklessly.

The people of the Jinshan Kingdom thought very simply: use a luxurious palace to satisfy the selfish desires of Zhu Yijun, the monarch. It doesn't matter if he eats, takes, or occupies a little more. Anyway, the Jinshan Kingdom now has gold and silver mountains, and they won't be used up even after mining for hundreds of years.

The people of the Jinshan Kingdom were most afraid of Zhu Yijun acting recklessly, hoping that he would satisfy his selfish desires, disrupt established policies, and change strategic directions at will, making everyone difficult.

A monarch like His Majesty who is frugal and willing to sacrifice everything for the rise of the Great Ming is no longer something that can be sought but not found; it can be said to be something that is hard to encounter in a thousand years.

Inside and outside the Jinshan Kingdom, they don't think the Prince of Lu can be like His Majesty, maintaining frugality, diligence, and perseverance for twenty years as one day.

Zhu Yijun was very angry. The people of the Jinshan Kingdom actually didn't trust their monarch so much!

But after the emotion passed, Zhu Yijun calmed down. He also felt that the people of the Jinshan Kingdom were right; he really couldn't do it.

"This kid actually has some self-knowledge." Zhu Yijun closed Zhu Yijun's memorial, returned to the dragon chair, and began to write a reply to Zhu Yijun.

A letter was written for more than half an hour, rambling for thousands of words, briefly stating what happened in the Great Ming, answering some questions raised by Zhu Yijun, and telling him to pay attention to safety, especially water and food safety.

Chang ghosts are like this. When they find that a tiger is difficult to deal with, they will tend to kill this one, change to the next one, and replace it. Replacing it is not the best choice. After replacing it, they become the tiger that gets scolded. Chang ghosts often tend to change to another tiger to parasitize.

"There is a large tour meeting in Songjiang Prefecture in mid-July, called 'Fast Walk'." Feng Bao saw that His Majesty had finished writing the reply and reported the fresh news in Songjiang Prefecture.

Fast walkers are also called fast runners, urgent messengers, and those who are convenient with foot power receive the top reward.

It is a long-distance race. This time, the Songjiang Prefecture fast walk started from in front of the Songjiang Dai Fuya, passed through Sixing Town and Zhaojiabang, and went all the way to the Shanghai County Yamen opposite the Huangpu Palace, with a total distance of 85 li, finishing the race in three hours. Those who failed to run the full distance received no reward.

"The first place receives 50 taels of silver, the second place receives 40 taels of silver, the third place receives 20 taels, and the others who finish the full distance in three hours receive 3 taels of silver." Feng Bao introduced this reward.

This is the third time Songjiang Prefecture has held a fast walk. The first time, it was reckless, planning a 180-li road, but only a few people finished the full distance. Soon, Songjiang Prefecture adjusted the distance from 180 li to 100 li.

The second time, most people still couldn't finish the race. This is the third distance adjustment, 85 li, which was the distance that nearly half of the fast walkers gave up last time.

"Why hold this fast walk?" Zhu Yijun was a bit puzzled.

"At first, it was done by the Mingyi Shoe Store to sell shoes," Feng Bao explained. "Later, it caused a lot of trouble, so Songjiang Prefecture started to host it. The reason for hosting it is also simple: to make money... to make the market active."

180 li, running until it got dark, people getting lost, some people getting injured without rescue, curfew, and many other problems. The Mingyi Shoe Store also faced some lawsuits, so the Songjiang Dai Fuya took this job over.

It can indeed make money. Before, when the capital held the "Opening of the Wine Inspection Point," some merchants also took old masters around to attract people's attention.

Songjiang Prefecture held a watch competition in May, a fast walk in mid-July, and celebrated the Wanli birthday in September. The purpose was the same: to stimulate consumption, stimulate market activity, and hold some activities from time to time to increase popularity.

As long as there is popularity, money can be made in any way.

Zhu Yijun carefully read the memorial before he knew why the Songjiang Viceroy and the Songjiang Prefect wanted to report to the Emperor.

Because this activity can probably be considered a "barbarian rite."

During the Yuan Dynasty, in addition to the Keshig army, the Imperial Guard also had the "Guiyouchi," the Imperial Guard for delivering urgent military intelligence and urgent postal stations. Fast walking was the method for selecting the Guiyouchi army. A total of 180 li, and after running it, one could meet the Emperor and enter the Guiyouchi army.

Guiyouchi, a military sports activity in the Yuan Dynasty palace, was actually a bit taboo. When the Emperor was away, it was held, but since the Emperor was here, it was better to have the Emperor's approval.

Zhu Yijun carefully finished reading the rules and regulations for this fast walk.

The regulations divided all participants into four grades: gold, silver, and copper character plate runners, and others.

The "others" accounted for 95% of the total, just joining in the fun. If they couldn't run anymore, they could eat at the banquet on the side of the road.

It is indeed eating at a banquet. Along the way, in addition to providing large bowls of herbal tea, there is a large amount of local specialties in Songjiang Prefecture that can be eaten: pan-fried buns, rice cakes, small noodles, small steamed buns, pear paste candy, crab shell yellow, pancakes, etc. If you can't run, you can eat on the spot until you are full.

Of course, if you want to get good results, you can't eat that much. Generally, the three levels of gold, silver, and copper runners don't eat too much along the way, at most tasting the flavor.

There are 7 gold character plate runners, 54 silver character plate runners, and no more than 250 copper character plate runners. These were all people who finished the 100-li race last time.

This time, more people participated than the previous three times, exceeding 6,000 people.

"Eh!" Zhu Yijun flipped through the memorial in his hand and said with great surprise, "In our Songjiang Prefecture, there are actually 17 sons of rich merchants who are copper character plate runners or higher? And one gold character plate runner?"

One gold, four silver, and twelve copper—these 17 people were all sons of rich merchants. If the family business didn't reach 500,000 silver, they wouldn't deserve the title of rich merchant.

"Well, being idle is being idle. The silver can't be spent in several lifetimes, so we always have to find something to do," Feng Bao explained in detail why there was such a group.

Because it is the bridgehead of the Great Ming's opening of the seas and the experimental field of the Wanli Reform, Songjiang Prefecture is actually managed much more strictly than imagined. For example, banning all kinds of prostitution started in Songjiang Prefecture, and even Sun Kehong's pleasure boat business was stopped.