Chapter 1032: Creating Sin and Then Blaming the Victim

Zhang Juzheng went from being the vanguard of the Wanli Reform to becoming an obstacle to the Wanli Reform.

No one can avoid making mistakes. Similarly, Zhang Juzheng's New Policies also had some errors and omissions. He could not make changes because denying his past was equivalent to denying his present and future.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was extremely painful. On one hand, he had to live to ensure the continued implementation of the Wanli Reform; on the other hand, he needed to die so that the imperial court could check for leaks and fill gaps in past decrees.

Shen Shixing's appropriate subtraction from the Examination Law was checking for leaks and filling gaps, but as Zhang Juzheng's disciple, what Shen Shixing could do was really limited. If he did too much, it would be considered internal strife among disciples, considered an opportunity, and would set off a bigger storm.

Now, Hou Yuzhao was willing to stand up and check for leaks and fill gaps in the New Policies. This was naturally a great thing for the Great Ming. Of course, for Zhang Juzheng, it was even more of a good thing among good things, which could free him from this painful state.

Since the start of the Examination Law, the Great Ming had been concentrating power upwards. The busy Emperor, the brightly lit Cabinet, and the Six Ministries that did not sleep day and night held power tightly. This was naturally conducive to the thorough implementation of the Great Ming Emperor's will, but if a string was stretched too tight and for too long, it would definitely break.

Hou Yuzhao proposed that the three yamen of each province prepare for the establishment of local official factories, which was a tentative delegation of power to the lower level to see the results. If it was not good, because it was only a local attempt, flipping the pancake would not affect the overall situation.

One tightening and one relaxing, one tension and one slack, should be the rhythm of the New Policies.

Zhu Yijun approved Hou Yuzhao's memorial, granted his request, and asked him to receive the edict to handle the affairs, taking overall charge of the three yamen of each province preparing for the establishment of official factories.

"The memorial from the Third San Niangzi." Zhu Yijun finished reading the Third San Niangzi's memorial and asked with a puzzled look: "I don't understand."

Feng Bao frowned and asked: "What is Your Majesty's doubt? Isn't this Suiyuan quite stable?"

"The growth of wool this year is higher than last year, an increase of 5%. And this year, the boundary survey of 340 pastures was completed. Li Rusong pacified the horse bandits, Suiyuan local areas helped replenish war horses and water and food, and the elite soldiers and grassland children worked together to drive the three tribes of Outer Khalkha back to the desert north in one fell swoop."

"Isn't this all quite good?"

Li Rusong led the cavalry camp to the grassland. The 3,000-man cavalry camp quickly expanded to 9,000. The remaining 6,000 were all Suiyuan local guard troops. The Great Ming Han troops and the grassland people worked together to drive the horse-raising slaves of the desert north back to the bitter cold land of the desert north.

"It is precisely because it is good that I feel puzzled. From the ninth year of Wanli to now, Suiyuan has not had a single substantial, large-scale rebellion. This is a newly opened land of the Great Ming. How did it become 'transformed by imperial culture' so smoothly?" Zhu Yijun looked at Feng Bao and said: "Feng Da Ban, don't you find it strange?"

"Could it be that the Governor of Suiyuan, Pan Jixun, mobilized the guard troops to pacify the rebellion, but in order not to cause the imperial court's jealousy, he chose to whitewash the peace?"

Feng Bao was also a bit puzzled when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, mobilizing troops and sending generals, any slight movement, food and grass, military affairs, war horses, water and food, none of these can be hidden. There are so many guard stations in Suiyuan; they are not Governor Pan's private soldiers."

"If you say the Marquis of Ningyuan could do it, I believe it. Governor Pan is good at governing water, not good at leading troops to fight."

"Why Suiyuan was transformed by imperial culture so smoothly, I think it is normal for it to be a matter of course." Feng Bao took out a memorandum, flipped through it for a long time, and finally found June of the eleventh year of Wanli, and presented the memorandum to His Majesty's imperial desk.

"In June of the eleventh year, Governor Pan posted a notice announcing a 'School Annotation of the Selection Book of Guard Stations in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Sui,' and posted the list of 1,360 guard stations and 13,000 households of naturalized Hu people in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Sui."

"From the Hongwu to the Chenghua years, nearly a million Hu people were naturalized into the Great Ming, and they have multiplied for generations in the guard stations."

"For example, the Vice Battalion Commander of the Right Battalion of the Baoding Central Guard, originally named Sabuhu, was from Yibei. He was naturalized in the ninth year of Yongle and bestowed the name Ping Zhiliang. He has been passed down for six generations."

"The one who inherited the position of Vice Battalion Commander is the family's 'Qilin Son,' Ping Yingqi. In the thirteenth year of Wanli, he followed the Great Ming's Eastern Expedition and was ranked among the 138 star generals. He had seven achievements in nine victories in the Eastern Expedition."

"In the sixteenth year of Wanli, when General Qi Jiguang triumphed, Your Majesty bestowed upon him the 'Star of the Fierce Fire General' heirloom, the first-merit plaque, and other items. Ping Yingqi returned home in glory and returned to the camp in March."

Zhu Yijun asked in surprise: "Ping Yingqi's ancestors were Hu people?"

Zhu Yijun naturally knew Ping Yingqi. He fought all seven of the nine major battles of the Eastern Expedition. He didn't fight the remaining two because he was injured while charging into the formation. After his injury healed, he continued to fight. He played with a flintlock gun with superb skill, and his reputation for hitting the target from a hundred paces was by no means false.

Zhu Yijun had a deep impression of him. Zhu Yijun had met him in person; he was strong and powerful, and he had never thought that his ancestors were Hu people, and they were Yibei, that is, desert north Hu people.

Feng Bao showed the content selected from the selection book and said: "Your Majesty, the Great Ming's words count. Since they have surrendered and submitted, there is no reason to deliberately make things difficult for them. Therefore, the people of Suiyuan will naturally believe that the Great Ming is sincerely solving the complex contradictions that are intertwined."

"As long as it takes three generations, everyone will be Great Ming people, and they will all be Han people."

"From the opening of the Great Ming, this has been fought for two hundred years. The Great Ming is tired, and the grassland people are also tired. Now, such stable days are also quite good."

If you tell Ping Yingqi that he is a Hu person, Ping Yingqi will feel greatly humiliated and will swing the golden melon hammer in his hand to smash the other person's head!

"So that's how it is. Then it's not strange at all." Zhu Yijun flipped through the contents of the guard station selection book.

Some guard stations actually had more than half of their ancestors as Hu people, but now they were all Han people.

Zhu Yijun also saw several familiar names, Xiao Dingguo, Yang Shangren, Chai Jingao, and so on.

For example, this Yang Shangren was the first to climb the city wall in the Battle of Hancheng, the first to enter Hancheng, and beheaded four Japanese pirates.

Chai Jingao sacrificed his life in the Battle of Zhongzhou. When General Qi Jiguang triumphed, the Crown Prince supported the coffin and buried him in the Xishan Martyrs' Shrine. His name was on the list, and he was worshipped by the royal family for generations. His son, Chai Qingquan, was only fourteen years old that year and inherited Chai Jingao's hereditary position of Battalion Commander.

Now he had also been selected into the Beijing Camp and was studying at the Lecture Martial Great Academy.

Before the Eastern Expedition, Chai Jingao was just a Company Commander. He died in the Eastern Expedition, and his hereditary Company Commander was promoted to a fourth-rank Battalion Commander, the same origin as General Qi Jiguang. The Great Ming did not treat his identity and background differently.

After General Qi Jiguang triumphed, Feng Bao summarized the backgrounds of all the martyrs and meritorious officials. These few, their ancestors were indeed Hu people, but now they were all Han people, and they were thoroughly Han-ized.

These 13,000 households were all in similar situations, multiplying and never ending.

Although the Great Ming guard stations were a bit bitter, and even jokingly called "hereditary military slaves" by the scholar-officials, no matter how bitter they were, they were much better than the precarious life on the grassland.

The grassland people had no reason to oppose the imperial culture. Even if a few die-hard elements jumped around, they would only reap ridicule and be reported to the yamen of each prefecture and county in exchange for a reward.

What Hu people, what Yi people, after three generations, they are all Great Ming people.

Zhu Yijun loosened his wrists and continued his grind.

"What is this?" Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in front of him. He naturally recognized all these characters, but when combined, these words made Zhu Yijun feel that his cognition had been polluted.

The Ministry of Rites found several legal codes from the West to see if there was anything that could be absorbed, but these legal codes made the Great Ming Ministry of Rites feel inexplicable, and they finally gave up this plan.

For example, the current law of England, which included an "Act for the Punishment of Vagrants and Long-term Beggars." Because of the enclosure movement, a large number of farmers lost their land and flooded into the cities, causing a very widespread phenomenon of homeless people.

This law stipulated: anyone has the right to implement corporal punishment of stripping off the upper garment and whipping in public until bleeding for vagrants and long-term beggars, and forcibly repatriating them to their original place of residence or the place where they last lived for a year.

If their identity, original place of residence, or residence cannot be determined, they will be sent to a reformatory or ordinary prison to serve life-long hard labor.

Farmers lost their land; this was the sin committed by the English Parliament and gentlemen. These homeless people were created by them, and they still had to whip these homeless people and beggars and send them to prison for life-long hard labor. This was very "English style."

Not thinking about the defects of the system, not thinking about the problems and reasons reflected behind the phenomenon, not making changes, but wanting to punish these desperate civilians?

Besides this, there was also the law of Spain, the "Empire on which the sun never sets"—the "Divine Judgment Law." This Divine Judgment Law was for God to decide whether you were guilty or not.

The Divine Judgment Law was divided into cold water trial and hot iron trial.

The cold water trial meant immersing the person being punished in a water tank. If they sank, they would be declared innocent because the water had accepted them. If they unfortunately floated up, they would be declared guilty.

The hot iron trial meant letting the person being punished hold a red-hot iron, burn their palms until they were cooked, and then wrap them with cloth strips. Three days later, if the palms were ulcerated, they were guilty; otherwise, they were innocent.

It was really not the Ministry of Rites belittling the West. The Ministry of Rites tried its best to find one or two bright spots in these Western legal codes, but they didn't find any.

This might also be the reason why Gao Qiyu was so confident in promoting ideological colonization. Compared with these barbarians, the Great Ming's thought, culture, and morality were truly the highlands of civilization, the light of world civilization.

"A group of stinky fish and rotten shrimp." Zhu Yijun finished reading and wrote "I have read it" in vermilion, indicating that he had seen it.

Hou Yuzhao's "Deep Plowing" had already been issued. Songjiang Prefecture had the fastest reaction speed. They prepared to try it out in Songjiang Prefecture, using "Knowledge Lists" and "Disclosure Posts" to manage the powerful and wealthy, local gentry, and rich merchants.

But the first difficulty Songjiang Prefecture encountered was: who would represent the ten thousand people?

If all of them were chosen from the powerful and wealthy, local gentry, and rich merchants, then who would represent the interests of the middle-class families, rich farmers, middle farmers, poor farmers, and the poor and toiling masses under these meat-eating classes?

The situation in Songjiang Prefecture was different from that in Zhejiang. Songjiang Prefecture had a high concentration of population. In one prefecture, the registered permanent population exceeded 3.5 million. If you count the "wild geese" people, that is, the laborers returning home for the New Year, it would exceed 5 million.

With such a dense population, they could not be like Zhejiang and only choose meat-eaters, because the main contradiction in Zhejiang was different from that in Songjiang Prefecture. The main contradiction in Zhejiang was still the execution and consolidation of the land return decree and the counterattack of the local gentry, while the main contradiction in Songjiang Prefecture was the labor-capital contradiction.

If time went on a little longer, the interests of the poor and toiling masses would be continuously infringed upon, eventually causing more intense contradictions and conflicts. The population was highly concentrated, and a slight shout would be a big riot, which would be even harder to deal with at that time.

However, choosing a part of the class below the meat-eaters would face another problem: after one step to the sky, class identity would gradually change, eventually betraying class interests.

Finally, the Songjiang Prefecture Southern Yamen compromised and completed the first step of institutional construction. Like the Craftsman Assembly, there were no permanent representatives, and they were specially set up and specially summoned for special affairs.

When encountering a specific matter, the relevant meat-eaters and the heads, craftsmen, and laborers with clear speech and agile thinking among the poor and toiling masses would be summoned to the Gongchen Hall of the Prefecture Southern Yamen to discuss affairs.

Not fixing the quota was the extra step Songjiang Prefecture took.

One more thing means one more trouble. If it were permanent, for the folk workshop owners and rich merchants, it would also be a burden. It clearly had nothing to do with them, but they had to run to the Prefecture Southern Yamen to waste time. Time is money, and it cannot be wasted.

"This idea of Songjiang Prefecture is very interesting." Zhu Yijun finished reading the memorial from the Songjiang Governor Li Le and the Songjiang Prefect Hu Junde carefully. It indeed took an extra step.

The "Knowledge Lists" and "Disclosure Posts" that Hou Yuzhao made in Zhejiang were specially set up for the land return matter. They were easy to use, so they were used for other things.

Li Le's concerns were very correct. Only meat-eaters could speak, so who would run around for the interests of the poor and toiling masses?

Zhejiang had only been implementing this set of methods for five years. For a policy, this was still in the seedling stage.

Li Le and Hu Junde also had many small clever ideas, which comprehensively improved the system of the Gongchen Hall.

For example, whether it was a "Knowledge List" or a "Disclosure Post," all meetings should be attended by the Tax-Auditing Embroidered Uniform Guard. Gongchen, Gongchen, but where is the center? In case they meet to conspire to rebel, His Majesty should also know.

The Tax-Auditing Embroidered Uniform Guard did not express opinions, did not participate in decision-making, and only made records.

For example, the Gongchen Hall should establish "Correction Officials." This struggle of interests, arguing and arguing without understanding, would lead to hands-on. This is the location of the imperial court yamen. If they really fight, where is the majesty? Where is the system?

So with Correction Officials present, loss of rites and loss of ceremony could be corrected on the spot. Currently, the Correction Officials were filled by soldiers selected by the Regional Military Commissioner.

Arguing is fine, but don't take off your shoes and throw them at the other person's face; that is not considered loss of ceremony.

The Gongchen Hall was a kind of representative system, but the Great Ming could not copy the Western representative system.

Because the Great Ming was too big, there were too many people, and regional development was extremely unbalanced.

In places where the representative system was executed relatively well, such as the Netherlands and England, the territory was small. With a small territory, the degree of differentiation was low, and the degree of development was similar. Engaging in a representative system was naturally like a fish in water.

Spain's Council of State, the five regions of Castile, Aragon, the Indies, Italy, and the Netherlands, each had nobles running for them in the parliament. But with the gradual establishment of Spain's overseas colonies, the operation of this representative system had problems.

Whether the people of the Governor's Office were Spanish became a more and more serious problem.

If the people of the Governor's Office were Spanish, they should participate in the operation of politics, but the main Governor's Offices such as Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Brazil did not have members in the Council of State.

When Spain's Invincible Armada suppressed everything, everything was easy to say. When the Invincible Armada was no longer invincible, the overseas Governor's Offices immediately bared their fangs.

The Gongchen Hall was the Great Ming's attempt at a representative system.

This kind of attempt was reflected in the imperial court by the "Corridor Temple Chen Min Nian" and "Dan Chi Wen Zheng Dian," and in the local area, it was mainly the Gongchen Hall at all levels. The Great Ming tried to use a layered representative system to complete the layered transmission of public opinion.

As for whether this layered representative system could effectively solve the contradictions between classes, it needed to see the results of practice. Like the attempt of the official factories of the "Body Share System," they were all attempts of the Great Ming's Wanli Reform.

For the Great Ming, the monarch and ministers, and the ten thousand people of the world had long been accustomed to the Emperor representing the ten thousand people. But from the two hundred years of the Great Ming's national fortune, the Emperor could not properly represent the ten thousand people.

The Wanli Reform, the ideological change of "the world is the world of the people," plus the Emperor's setting an example, it was not surprising that similar attempts appeared.

On the tenth day of the seventh month of the twenty-first year of Wanli, Songjiang Prefecture held the first public discussion in the Gongchen Hall.

A total of 27 people, including the leaders of the cotton textile merchant groups and the owners and managers of cloth firms who received the "Knowledge Lists," 7 heads of cotton textile craftsmen, 24 craftsmen, and 17 dock laborers, gathered at the Songjiang Prefecture Southern Yamen at the hour of Chen on the morning of the 10th.

Zhu Yijun did not receive an invitation, but he arrived at the Songjiang Prefecture Southern Yamen early and sat in the back hall of the Gongchen Hall, listening to this public discussion meeting.

Li Le and Hu Junde heard that His Majesty had arrived and immediately went to the gate of the Prefecture Southern Yamen to welcome him. As a result, they waited and waited but didn't see anyone, only to find out that His Majesty was traveling light and had entered the Prefecture Southern Yamen from the back door.

Obviously, His Majesty did not want to excessively interfere with this public discussion meeting because of his own appearance.

"You look very nervous." Zhu Yijun said with a full face of smiles and very gently: "Any system will make jokes when it is first created. It is normal to have shortcomings."

"When the Examination Law was first implemented, it was also full of errors and omissions. Either the examination was too strict and most people couldn't finish it, or human feelings were too heavy, and they covered up for each other during the examination. Only then did we have the rules of 'pasting names on the draft list' and 'filling in names on the bottom register'."

"We will strictly follow the holy instruction." Li Le and Hu Junde bowed again and arrived at the front hall to start this public discussion meeting.

Three sounds of the bronze bell rang. The Correction Officials at the door checked everyone to ensure safety before letting people into the Gongchen Hall.

The Gongchen Hall was divided into left and right sides. Everyone's name was posted on the chair, and they took their seats in order.

On the left were the meat-eaters, and on the right were the producers of the poor and toiling masses. The attire of the two was distinct. On the left were silk and satin, and on the right were coarse hemp and short clothes, with tops and trousers, and clothes with patches.

Li Le and Hu Junde hadn't spoken yet, and the atmosphere at the scene became a bit tense.

These merchant group leaders and merchant firm general managers recognized several heads here; they were all employees of their workshops. The merchant group leaders and merchant firm general managers frowned, giving birth to a lot of anger. Were these employees also worthy of sitting on an equal footing with them in the Gongchen Hall?

The poor and toiling masses looked at their own attire, and then looked at these meat-eaters, one by one fat and big, with big bellies, wearing silk and satin. The poor and toiling masses did not feel inferior, but felt a burst of anger from the bottom of their hearts!

The poor and toiling masses struggled for food and clothing all day long, working hard, and in the end, it all turned into the silk and satin of the meat-eaters, turning into the fat of these people!

Zhu Yijun saw this scene and remembered a poem: "Those covered in silk and satin are not the ones who raise silkworms."

Li Le and Hu Junde took a look and knew that they had thought of this matter too simply! They only thought that there should be poor and toiling masses in the "Knowledge Lists" and "Disclosure Posts," but looking at this posture, they were afraid they were going to fight.

The Gongchen Hall was a public hall. The Songjiang Prefecture Southern Yamen had arranged seats. Everyone was under the witness of the "Blue Sky Great Master," so they achieved class equality in a short time. At this time, the craftsmen were not afraid of these old masters.

Hu Junde hurriedly patted the gavel in his hand and said: "Today, I summoned everyone here, naturally there is an important matter to say. Since His Majesty moved to Songjiang Prefecture, he issued ten articles on people's livelihood, one of which is the matter of the Salary Arbitration Office. Today, I summoned everyone here, naturally for the matter of the Salary Arbitration Office."

"Labor has its rewards, which is the principle of heaven. If you do the work, you must get the wages, which is the principle of heaven and earth."

"There are three things to be decided today: first, the cases decided by the Salary Arbitration Office must be executed according to the ruling, without delay, without error; second, the cotton textile craftsmen are hard-working, even apprentices should have remuneration; third, the labor contract for this cotton textile craftsman, the imperial court already has an official version."

"Everyone, say your views."

Hu Junde hurriedly started this public discussion. He explained the three issues related to labor remuneration. Because it was the first time to hold a public discussion meeting, there was no experience at all, so he found a small issue and found a specific cotton textile industry to prevent the situation from getting out of control.

For the first attempt, it was better to be cautious.

"Great Master is above, I have something to say." The General Manager of the Su-Song Cotton Textile Merchant Group, Ma Yingtai, immediately stood up, arched his hands and said: "This seems to be three things, but in fact it is one thing. Others dare not say it, I will say it!"

"The imperial court is a bit too partial to these mud-legged people."

"Since the establishment of the Salary Arbitration Office, everyone has welcomed it sincerely. However, those who are lazy, gluttonous, and absent from work without reason can also get the ruled remuneration. Isn't this a bit biased?"

"Great Master, think for us merchant groups. If you continue to be so partial, in our Songjiang Prefecture workshops, we will only raise a group of lazy people. Anyway, whether you work or not, as long as you stay long enough, even if you are fired, you can go to the Salary Arbitration Office and get money. Why work?"

What the leader Ma Yingtai said was also a fact. Because the examination time was half a month, and the Salary Arbitration Office had few hands, as long as there was a contract and it could be proven that they had worked, the Salary Arbitration Office would rule quickly and quickly, and generally would tend to the poor and toiling masses who were producers, rather than the powerful and wealthy.

There was no lack of cunning people like Ma Yingtai said.

"Yes, what the merchant leader Ma said is very true. This is simply raising lazy people."

"Who says it isn't? We are all doing business with open doors. If he works well, can we still drive him away? Recruiting new people and training apprentices, don't you need time? This is all money. Why would we fire people for no reason?"

"These cunning people, it's fine if they don't work well in the factory, but they also cause trouble everywhere, stealing chickens and dogs, they have done a lot!"

Ma Yingtai's words aroused resonance. The rich merchants and giants on the left echoed one after another, stating their reasons.

"It's simply nonsense!" A craftsman head stood up, his face flushed, pointing at Ma Yingtai, trembling, obviously angered, and unable to speak for a while.

Zhu Yijun narrowed his eyes and looked at Ma Yingtai through the screen. This guy was definitely prepared, and he had communicated with these rich merchants and giants who received the "Knowledge Lists" in advance about what to say and do today, advancing and retreating together, sharing honor and disgrace.

This was the advantage of the rich merchants and giants. They knew the agenda in advance because the imperial court held a public discussion meeting in the Gongchen Hall according to the matter. There must be wind in the yamen. Even if they didn't know the specific content, they could guess seven or eight out of ten.

The advantage of information gap was so obvious that although the craftsmen had more people, they were suppressed.

Ma Yingtai was completely sophistry. He was generalizing, using very few individual cases to expand to the entire group of the poor and toiling masses, and then accusing the entire group of losing morality. If the group of the poor and toiling masses was wrong, then everything the rich merchants and giants did was right.

These rich merchants and giants not only exploited the value created by the craftsmen, but also deprived them of their kindness, acting as the great benevolent person themselves, slandering and accusing the laborers.

By this point in the public discussion meeting, Zhu Yijun already knew that it was going to fail.

It was not that Hu Junde's hosting was problematic, but that the rhythm of the meeting had been completely led astray. It changed from discussing three things to criticizing and accusing the imperial court of being partial. By this point, no matter how capable Hu Junde was, he couldn't pull it back.

Zhu Yijun looked playfully at the powerful and wealthy in the front hall who were generous and impassioned, as if they had occupied the greatest reason.

It was almost the Mid-Yuan Festival, and the weather had cooled down. By the time the meeting dispersed, Hu Junde was still sweating, because the Emperor was sitting in the back hall.

This failure not only represented the failure of this public discussion, but also represented that he had been labeled as incompetent in the Emperor's heart.

"I am ashamed of His Majesty's holy favor." Hu Junde dispersed the crowd and came to the back hall to plead guilty, because the final result reached was: "Seeing that the human feelings are surging, the gentlemen have not yet decided, and most of them ask to retreat and prepare the discussion list."

The public discussion list that needed to be signed and pressed by the local gentry, merchants, and powerful people when deciding the discussion, obviously the human feelings were surging. By the end, the merchants simply wrote their thoughts on the public discussion list and said no more.

Zhu Yijun still had a full face of smiles and said very gently: "They came prepared and were very well prepared. Maybe their 'pen correctors' gave them advice, and even guessed what you were going to say, what the craftsmen were going to say, and practiced the tone, movements, intonation, and expressions countless times."

"This is not your fault."

Zhu Yijun didn't think this was Hu Junde's problem. If the first time was a direct success, that would be the Great Ming being blessed by heaven.

He had been Emperor for twenty-one years. The Great Ming's New Policies had never been smooth sailing. None of them were direct successes without any setbacks. They were all constantly repaired and patched in practice.

The public discussion meeting that Hou Yuzhao held was relatively simple. It was called a public discussion, but it was more like the "appointment talk" held in Shanyin County. The County Magistrate spoke, and the local gentry listened.

The social resources controlled by the rich merchants and giants in Songjiang Prefecture far exceeded those of the local gentry in Shanyin County. They naturally had more means to deal with the imperial court's inquiries.

This did not mean that only the rulings announced by officials and the decrees of the imperial court that had obtained the approval of the local gentry had practical significance.

The Great Ming had always been an official-standard system. The public discussion meeting only provided an opinion channel. As for whether to adopt it or not, there were no more mandatory regulations. Because what was completely different from the Craftsman Assembly was that the public discussion meeting had no voting mechanism.

Hu Junde lost such a big face in front of these rich merchants and giants. Even if Hu Junde was broad-minded and didn't care, the private secretary would do what should be done thoroughly.

And the entire yamen would tacitly approve and cooperate, because this involved the majesty of the Songjiang Prefecture Southern Yamen, which was the overall interest of all officials in the Songjiang Prefecture Southern Yamen.

If these actions were too big and people saw it, thinking that the Hu Prefect was too stingy, Hu Junde wouldn't give them "Knowledge Lists" or "Disclosure Posts" next time, which would be enough for them to drink a pot. ===== CHAPTER 1033 =====