Chapter 1029: In the Name of Light, Praise the Holy Emperor!

The Great Ming is currently relying on its commodity advantage to establish a new narrative based on the Celestial Empire; if this narrative can spread globally alongside the Great Navigation, the Great Expansion, and the Great Discovery, it can help the Great Ming pass through the moment of Heavenly Change more steadily.

On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the twenty-first year of Wanli, the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun arrived at the Viewing Tides Tower, gazing at the azure sea with a face as calm as water; the accompanying Great Ming officials did not dare to breathe a single breath.

Heavenly Change is the disorder of drought and flood — rain fails to fall when it should, and pours relentlessly when it should not.

The summer of the twenty-first year was not quite normal; ever since Zhu Yijun arrived at the Songjiang Prefecture detached palace and took up residence, a full three months had passed, and this place that loves rain had seen neither continuous heavy rain nor typhoon weather that topples trees and houses.

News coming from Huguang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and the Two Guangs indicated that this year was universally hot and dry, with less precipitation, already affecting agricultural production in some areas; even the annual Yangtze flood season, which every year displays boundless might, appeared limp and powerless.

Poyang Lake, the site of the Great Ming's dynasty-founding battle, in mid-June was observed to have a water level already below four zhang; Poyang Lake, which in ordinary years only enters its dry season in early September, began entering its dry season in late June.

The Luoxingdun within Poyang Lake was also completely revealed in its entirety.

Because it was the site of the Great Ming's dynasty-founding battle, emperors of successive Great Ming dynasties would repair the buildings on Luoxingdun, occasionally adding pavilions and towers; the Fuyu Tower, Yujing Pavilion, and Qinghui Pavilion were all built this way, and in the Jiajing years a bamboo grove was planted, making Luoxingdun even more elegant and beautiful.

Luoxingdun revealing its full form represents the Yangtze River basin formally entering the dry season; Poyang Lake has always been a vast expanse in flood and a thin line in drought, responding most intuitively to the Yangtze water level.

The dried lakebed around Poyang Lake also sprouted green grass, grass growing and orioles flying.

"The Songjiang Prefecture sea has turned blue." Zhu Yijun stood in the Viewing Tides Pavilion, lowered the telescope in his hand, gazed at the azure sea, his heart heavy with worry.

Because of the existence of the Huai River, the Yangtze River, and the Qiantang River, a vast amount of silt rushed into the sea; the silt mixed in, making the entire sea surface from Jiangsu all the way to the vicinity of Taizhou Prefecture in Zhejiang relatively turbid.

At this time of late June, a scene like the one before his eyes — blue like a gemstone, sea and sky a single color — old fishermen would not see a few times in a lifetime.

The Imperial Observatory told the Emperor that the cause of this phenomenon was reduced precipitation, reduced soil erosion, no typhoons stirring up the sea, silt settling to the seabed, plus this year's strengthened ocean currents bringing large amounts of clear seawater, producing the scene before his eyes.

Whenever the Emperor is complacent, Heavenly Change jumps out to calm the Emperor down: the road ahead is still very long, please do not slacken, Your Majesty.

Heavy rainfall after the onset of autumn is already unavoidable; so much rain every year, if it does not fall this summer, it will certainly fall in autumn.

"Let's go back." Zhu Yijun watched for two quarter-hours, then returned to the detached palace with a heavy heart.

He issued several prepared edicts; the main contents of these edicts included further lowering the land tax, ordering local yamen to strictly restrain powerful local magnates, local worthies and degree-holders fulfilling their original Heavenly Change pledges, inspecting granaries to prevent having no grain when relief distribution is needed, and inspecting flood-control dikes.

Regarding the matter of continuously lowering the land tax, the disagreements within the Great Ming Grand Secretariat, the Six Ministries, the court, and the localities are truly very large.

The Ministry of Revenue headed by Zhang Xueyan vigorously opposed lowering the land tax, believing that even if lowered it would not reach the common people.

And the localities' resistance to lowering the land tax is very strong, because local yamen finances rely entirely on tax revenue.

Ever since the Wanli land survey, the land tax has become the pillar of local yamen finances; now lowered again and again, some local yamen have already begun outward compliance but inward defiance, inventing various pretexts to make up these deficits from the common people, the most common method being corvée labor.

The court lowers the land tax, yet instead increases the contradictions between local yamen and the common people, intensifying official-civilian conflict.

On the other hand, a group of bureaucrats led by Shen Shixing firmly support it, and the reason is also very simple: the Kingly Way is vast and impartial.

Reducing and exempting the land tax is His Majesty fulfilling the Heavenly Change pledge; the court takes the lead in reducing, and the powerful magnates, local worthies, and degree-holders can only follow their original pledges.

Disagreements are very large, but the orders were still executed; the amount reduced this time is not large, only 1.5 million taels in silver equivalent, overall able to meet the court's expectations.

One more affair brings one more affair's burden; one more mace of tax brings harm to ten households; every additional mace of land tax the court collects, layered and marked up, will return more than a dozen middle-class families to poverty.

This kind of opposition and resistance represents that the tool of reducing and exempting land tax is gradually losing effectiveness.

After this reduction, Great Ming land tax collection will drop from 9.5 million taels to 8 million taels, still exceeding the annual land tax revenue of the first year of Wanli.

"What does Shen Shixing want to do? Conduct a loyalty investigation of the Eighteen Great Academies?" Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial before him, looking at Feng Bao in disbelief and asking: "Isn't Shen Shixing just an old nice guy who likes to balance both sides? How come he's doing this too?"

"Mr. Zhang no longer manages affairs; he has taken over this task, and still wants to continue pushing it?"

Feng Bao said with a complex expression: "He has no choice but to do it."

The gratitude narrative was created by Zhang Juzheng; because the Emperor neither supported nor opposed, the scale was not very large.

Shen Shixing began screening and loyalty investigations of the Eighteen Great Academies.

The specific method is also simple: the Brocade Guards of the Northern Bastion Office entered the capital's Great Academy, questioning every teacher; in addition, they conducted a one-in-ten sampling interrogation of the students.

The content of the questioning was very simple: whether the teachers, in the lecture hall, publicly vilified, slandered, or criticized the Great Ming dynasty's policies, the Wanli Restoration, His Majesty — that is, whether they were loyal to His Majesty.

Once clues are found, they will follow the vine to get the melon and conduct a comprehensive investigation.

The lecture hall is a public occasion, in full view of everyone; to vilify, slander, criticize — if this is not disloyalty, what is?

As long as the facts are clear and multiple testimonies corroborate, a formal investigation procedure will be initiated, a comprehensive search conducted; with ironclad evidence, they will be charged with plotting rebellion and heinous crimes — these two crimes fall within the Ten Abominations, the Ten Abominations are unpardonable, not within the scope of the Eight Deliberations for redemption.

People are far more fragile than they imagine; never mind being taken to the Northern Bastion Office to sit on the regret chair — just the Brocade Guards suddenly showing up to question them, ordinary people facing the Brocade Guards all get cold hands and feet, heartbeats accelerating to an audible degree, minds going completely blank.

Before the Brocade Guards even ask, they can't wait to confess even stealing bird eggs as children.

Shen Shixing made a round in the capital's Great Academy, preparing to do the same in the remaining seventeen Great Academies the Great Ming has just built, and to normalize the interrogations, doing a round every so often.

Any disloyal, improper speech or behavior will be judged — this is Shen Shixing's great loyalty investigation.

"Before Mr. Zhang stopped managing affairs, he did a purge of the faction, and it made people panic; rushing the reshuffling of personal relations too fast risks ineffectiveness. Moreover, scholars have sharp tongues; venting a little grumbling is normal, isn't it? This counts as disloyalty?" Zhu Yijun still did not agree with Shen Shixing's action.

"Your Majesty, Grand Secretary Shen is not a frivolous person; since he does this, he naturally has a purpose." Feng Bao said with tightly knitted brows: "Grand Secretary Shen's thinking is that these students are the Great Ming's future; anyone who brings the storms of officialdom and politics into the student body is committing the most shameless act."

"Students are young and hot-blooded; youth also means inexperience, easily stirred by all kinds of rumors; once they act, they easily ruin themselves, leaving lifelong harm."

"Such vigorous screening aims to nip trouble in the bud, strangle the risk in its swaddling clothes; otherwise, when the whole house is full of cockroaches, only a rectification that overcorrects can be done, wrongly killing countless people, the harm greater and more severe."

Feng Bao was psychologically prepared for Shen Shixing doing this; this is actually a continuation of Zhang Juzheng's purge of the faction and tax investigation policies.

Feng Bao gave a simple example: when Zhang Juzheng passed away, some ambitious men might counterattack; the most likely move is to mobilize the students.

First, students are inexperienced in the world, more easily deceived; Zhang Juzheng ran a one-man show, pushing it to the point of 'I am not the true Chancellor but merely acting' — this is blocking speech channels; second, the students' status makes them very difficult for the court to handle — throwing a stone at a rat but fearing to hit the vessel; third, targeting students costs less.

If these Great Academies rot, the Dinghai Academic System is also abolished; if education rots, the Great Ming inside and out all rot.

The purpose of Shen Shixing doing this is to make everyone in the Great Academies feel insecure, look at each other on the road without daring to speak recklessly, draw an inviolable line within the entire Great Academy: on campus, do not discuss state affairs.

"Fine." Zhu Yijun pondered a moment, then vermilion-endorsed Shen Shixing's memorial, approving his great loyalty investigation.

In the early Wanli years, when Zhang Juzheng spoke of governing the state, he once told Zhu Yijun some signs of the transition from order to chaos, and why dynasties change.

The fundamental cause of dynastic change is naturally land annexation leaving the common people no way to survive, plus various fools having a sudden inspiration and throwing the world into great chaos, ultimately leading to the state's demise.

It is hard to say which cause carries more weight; land annexation is certainly greatly harmful, but a fool's sudden inspiration is no less harmful.

Zhang Juzheng jumped out of these two narratives; he looked at this problem from another angle — that of official governance — and reached the conclusion: dynastic change is inevitable.

Establishing the Jiangshan from ruins, warfare ceases, people's hearts settle; at the very beginning, the social complexity of a society just having experienced warfare is not high.

As time passes, with the evolution of economic structure, changes in military strength, fluctuations in border situations, reorganization of class relations, annexation and monopoly of means of production, diffusion of thought and public opinion, social complexity will keep increasing.

Moreover, the longer the court exists, the faster social complexity will increase.

On the other hand, if the tools in the court's hands — that is, the means of governing the entire system and regulating contradictions among all social classes, such as fiscal instruments, legal and political theories, legal revisions, frontier policies, information, and correction — cannot effectively cover this ever-increasing social complexity, the court will descend from order into disorder and ultimately face extinction.

The court will go from order to disorder, and finally to destruction.

And often the court's means of governance change too slowly to keep up with the increasing complexity of society, due to inevitable rigidity.

Since ancient times, the court has been very rigid, with very slow responses, and there are many reasons for this rigidity, but the main reason is that people are alive and weigh pros and cons.

Any collective, from a family, workshop, or merchant guild to the court, has rigidity, which is the inertia of an irreversible spiral.

In the court, this manifests as great political inertia: everyone knows a problem, even if everyone knows it's wrong, but before it erupts, everyone acts by inertia, with no one willing to stop it or take responsibility.

If someone really stands up and loudly calls for change, to block the advance of this great ship, it is actually very foolish: first, the trend is overwhelming—how could one person possibly stop it? Second, the people on the ship won't understand you, and may even blame and slander you.

When Zhang Juzheng first implemented the Examination and Evaluation Law, Yang Bo's suggestion was the Chu-Jin merger; the reform's chance of success was extremely slim, especially betting on the young emperor, born of noble lineage, becoming a heroic ruler later—choosing the Chu-Jin merger made Zhang Juzheng the foremost person under heaven.

When someone needs to stand up, most people will unconsciously ask, Why me?

But a true man acts differently: he asks, Why not me? It's just one death.

Rigidity and stagnation, slow reform of governance, dwindling means, ever-increasing social complexity—ultimately the court must perish.

This is one reason Zhang Juzheng saw dynasties as always undergoing cyclical change.

Zhu Yijun agreed with Shen Shixing's large-scale loyalty review: on one hand, to increase the court's means; on the other, to reduce social complexity, giving this massive court carriage more time, more tools, to mediate class conflicts.

In early July, the foreign envoys residing in Wan Guo City, Songjiang Prefecture, all learned of the Great Ming's loyalty review, which indeed caused astonishment among friendly states.

"Why is the Great Ming the Celestial Empire?" Barlino stood before all the envoys, voice hoarse from shouting: "Because of this efficient, astonishing ability to correct errors."

"In Taixi, we regard the Great Flood as God's punishment, as if blaming all sin on God could end it, for God transcends all and cannot be judged!"

"Therefore, in Taixi, no one needs to bear responsibility for bad, chaotic situations—just blame God and it's enough!"

"But in the Great Ming, it is not so!"

Barlino thrust his hand forward forcefully, then clenched it and raised it to his chest, shouting loudly: "In the Great Ming, only one who can bear everyone's suffering is fit to be monarch; only one who can lead everyone out of disaster is fit to be king of the world."

The Dutch envoy Hotman, looking complexly at the fervent Barlino, realized this man was actually a fanatic of the Daguangming Sect; in Taixi he still pretended, but in Great Ming he no longer bothered, seizing the chance to preach to all the envoys.

The Ritual Bureau interpreter, however, understood Barlino's meaning: actually, it is: to bear the state's disgrace is to be the lord of Jiangshan Sheji; to bear ill omen is to be the king of all under heaven.

Barlino raised his right hand high, extended it forward, and spoke with resounding, firm power: "The supreme Great Ming Emperor, Your Majesty, great wisdom's prophet, pioneer on the unknown road—he has never been a god, he is a king of men!"

"In the Great Ming, whether you oppose him or agree with him, you must not fail to fly his banner—this is the human king!"

The accompanying Great Ming interpreters all felt somewhat ashamed, for they were not as fervent as a barbarian.

The flavor of the converts' fervor was still too great.

Li Yashi narrowed his eyes, sizing up Barlino; he had been invited to attend the Wan Guo City envoys' banquet, never expecting the Portuguese envoy to preach in such a setting.

Barlino was right: in the Great Ming, opposing the Emperor and agreeing with the Emperor both require raising the Emperor's banner and acting under the rules he set.

This is the true sovereign.

Barlino's tone gradually steadied; he lowered his voice and said: "I know you all secretly mock me, calling me a running dog of the Great Ming, feeling no shame but rather pride, even thinking we Portuguese natives deserve to be spat upon."

"Yes, I feel no shame."

"When Portugal was in its most perilous moment, when it fell into peril, Spain sought to annex us, English pirate ships infested the entire coast, even Lisbon was twice breached by pirates, the Dutch looked down on us, thinking we were Felipe's running dogs."

"We sought a way out in our suffering."

"Great Ming, a nation with a long history, vast territory, formidable national strength, and extremely distant, yet willing to help us—indeed, this aid has a very strong purpose, very utilitarian."

"Great Ming wants to find a cargo transshipment port in Taixi, to understand Taixi's overseas expansion, needs to absorb Taixi's mathematics, needs a foothold; the aid the Great Ming Emperor gave us is also merely war loans."

"Just as a drowning man grabs a straw, we see this straw as hope."

"Today, we are still Portugal, not a province of Spain! Today, Lisbon is the City of Flowers, not a piggy bank pirates can freely break! Today, Dutch artisans must not rely on us to gain some peaceful life! Today, the Portuguese no longer submit to bullying!"

"This is the light!"

"With the utmost reverence, in the name of the light, praise the Holy Emperor!"

What left the interpreters somewhat helpless was that the translation of "Holy Emperor" posed difficulty: "Holy" conveys divinity and sagacity, "Emperor" means sovereign; when the Holy Emperor reigns, it describes a world of great peace, and the Great Ming often uses this term to address the Emperor.

What left the interpreters somewhat helpless was that translating "Holy Emperor" was difficult: "holy" means divine or sagely, "emperor" is monarch; "Holy Emperor" in residence describes a realm of great peace, and Great Ming often uses this term to address His Majesty.

Originally this translation could have been precise, but His Majesty dislikes the term "Holy Emperor."

The reason is simple: the Holy Emperor's apocryphal charts and images transform into divine symbols, and the Holy Emperor deifies the Emperor into a god—His Majesty has always scoffed at talk of gods and spirits, and disdains being made into a deity.

As a Great Ming official, His Majesty disliking a word appearing in a memorial is like lighting a lamp in a latrine to look for death—seeking one's own demise.

The interpreter had a sudden inspiration, translating "Holy Emperor" as "Emperor-Emperor."

The Purple Palace is the residence of the Emperor-Emperor; Emperor-Emperor means the ruler shared by gods and men, that is, man as the sovereign of gods.

Thus it became fully faithful, expressive, and elegant: it conveys divinity while also showing His Majesty's political correctness as merely a sovereign of men.

Barlino's voice rose again; his eyes firm, he spoke with each step sounding: "Under Your Majesty's infinite wisdom, we have seen the light, and likewise, we have seen the darkness."

"All of Taixi remains in ignorance, backwardness, bloodshed, cruelty, devoid of any benevolence or righteousness, with endless darkness still shrouding the entire Taixi."

"As messengers of the light, we swear to bring light to every corner of Taixi, and indeed to every corner of the world!"

"As long as the heart turns toward the light, one is a messenger bearing light, awaiting the sharp blade that will split darkness, tear the sky, rip the sea, rend the earth."

"As long as one spreads the light, you, I, he—we are all fellow travelers of the same aspiration!"

Li Yashi suddenly sensed the tremendous vitality of the Daguangming Sect.

It has no initiation rites, welcomes anyone's entry—anyone whose heart turns to the light is a believer.

It even demands nothing of believers; any believer may silently wait, awaiting the pioneers who will dispel all darkness.

And those willing to spread the light will become comrades-in-arms, companions in joy.

Li Yashi was not surprised that Barlino would think thus; Taixi is undergoing self-redemption, this is happening now, the Renaissance is underway.

Some place the Renaissance's beginning in Florence, saying Dante's Divine Comedy opened the religious struggle;

Some place it in the baptistery of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, when its bronze door was cast, for that gate is called the Gate of Heaven;

Others place it in the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, when scholars fled westward from Constantinople, bringing culture to the vast yet ignorant Taixi lands.

Of course, many also take Marco Polo's account of Eastern sights as the Renaissance's beginning—this wondrous, impractical Eastern world stirred Taixi's longing for civilization and abundance.

One can endure darkness only because they have never seen light; once they witness light piercing through darkness, they will unconsciously yearn for it.

The Daguangming Sect and the Jile Sect are both sects born after the Great Ming opened its seas—one guided by Great Ming wisdom, the other regarding Great Ming as its Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss; these two sects have taken completely different paths, like the two sides of yin and yang.

Fundamentally, the Daguangming Sect has always been filled with self-redemption and universal redemption, seeking to use Great Ming wisdom to solve the various problems arising in Taixi's development.

However, the Jile Sect fundamentally emphasizes escape—escaping responsibility, duty, suffering, hardship, everything—fleeing to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss to gain rebirth.

Having grown twisted from the root, the fruit it bears naturally differs.

Envoys from the Taixi states, envoys from the Governor-General's Office, and even envoys from the Kingdom of Kongo were all listening to Paulino's preaching; their thoughts varied—some pondered, some sneered, some showed clear aversion, each different.

"So, you also want to kill all the nobles?" a sudden voice rang out—it was the envoy of Henry IV of France, Léon de Lévi.

This man came from the Normandy region in northwestern France and was the owner of Rouen Castle.

This question left everyone present stunned; although Paulino's depiction of the future seemed very beautiful, what the Daguangming Sect did was not beautiful at all—clergy indiscriminately killed all nobles and bestowed freedom upon everyone.

The Daguangming Sect appeared very mild in Portugal and Spain, but not so in France.

"Can killing all the nobles bring light? Is this method overly cruel?"

"Saint Joan of Arc was burned to death in your Rouen Castle." Paulino did not evade, but answered directly, looking at Léon and saying: "Now, France prepares to kill a second Saint Joan—will they still use the burning pillar this time?"

Léon did not answer, but fell silent; Joan's death was filled with betrayal.

Paulino looked at Léon, his face very solemn, and said: "If you won't speak, then I will."

"Joan's appearance changed the Hundred Years' War between England and France; before her appearance, the war was merely a boring farce of the English and French royal houses fighting over inheritance rights."

"But after Joan appeared, the deeply harmed French commoners ignited their unwilling fury; fearing the commoners' anger, Joan was betrayed, captured, slandered, and ultimately died in the flames."

"Joan can be killed, but in the flames she gained eternal life."

"I have never said that the Daguangming Sect wants to kill all the nobles—this is the most explosive means of breaking through darkness, a necessary process to pierce the dark."

"For a thousand five hundred years, the sky was covered with dark clouds; after fifteen centuries, the clouds dispersed, yet you, Lord Léon, wish to blame Lei Ting, calling it terror."

"This is the choice of Archbishop Marion—she is willing to use her life to test for the French people; the Daguangming Sect respects the French people's courage in struggling for light."

Paulino fully answered Léon's question—breaking through the dark clouds, Lei Ting is the righteous anger of justice; the French commoners are also human—this is natural justice.

"Actually, such violent struggle is entirely unnecessary." Paulino slowly scanned everyone, then said: "Great Ming has no nobility."

Upon these words, the scene erupted in clamor, with endless discussion.

Pan Liya was genuinely startled, then immediately shook her head; Paulino believed in the Daguangming Sect, in wisdom, in the Great Ming path.

He spoke truly—Great Ming indeed has no nobility.

The ranks of duke and marquis are hereditary offices, not nobility.

They have no fiefdoms, no salaries, no armies, and even the number of servants must be strictly limited; to avoid the law, they can only use adopted sons and daughters and family members—this method avoids the law, granting them the judicial privilege of the Eight Great Discussions and Eight Great Avoidances, but these privileges must be approved by court deliberation.

Even a commoner cannot be killed at will—what kind of nobility is that?

Those censorial officials, whose specialty is picking bones out of eggs, will raise problems even when none exist, and will jointly impeach when problems arise.

In Your Majesty's words, the Wanli Reforms merely stood on the shoulders of giants of thousands of years of history and took a small step forward.

But is the Great Ming path then more gentle?

This is the result of thousands of years of repeated Chinese resistance, one dynastic change after another, before reaching this step—this path is not gentle at all.

Pan Liya, having long resided in Great Ming, knows well that this path is harder, more violent, and moreover, the fragmented Taixi fundamentally lacks the conditions to do these things.

"Bang!"

Luo Bingliang led a squadron of cavalry, suddenly breaking into the Hall of Four Barbarians in Wan Guo City; Luo Bingliang glanced around, looked at Paulino, and said: "Time is up—you are under arrest!"

"Why?" Paulino exclaimed in shock, completely unaware of where he had violated Great Ming law.

"Great Ming prohibits mass preaching within its borders; the Daguangming Sect is no exception—take him away!" Luo Bingliang waved his hand, signaling to take him away.