Chapter 1047: Class Identity is Greater than Ethnic Identity

Zhu Yijun had originally come to the prison to ask Lu Kun why he had instructed the three brokers to collude with so many officials to attack Wang Guoguang's posthumous reputation, what his political purpose was, and whether any high ministers in the court had instructed him.

But the moment he saw Lu Kun, Zhu Yijun felt relieved. He didn't ask, and he was very certain that no high minister in the court had instructed him, because the "corrupt scholar" smell on Lu Kun was too strong. This smell of a corrupt scholar wouldn't enter the eyes of high ministers, and the ministers were too lazy to get involved with him, as it would affect their progress.

Lu Kun was that kind of very common Great Ming corrupt scholar: a bit ambitious, but with very average ability, no aspirations, shirking responsibility in everything, liking to find excuses for his own wrongdoings, and his greatest skill was opportunism, taking advantage of every opportunity, and fishing in troubled waters after stirring up public opinion.

The forty-three officials who were beaten and exiled were not innocent at all, because they were all the same kind of people.

The people who truly led the Great Ming forward were the "steadfast and ambitious" people whose spines were straight, who often held a breath deep in their hearts, who had grand aspirations and put them into practice, and who were persevering and indomitable. When they encountered any difficulties or obstacles, they would immediately find ways to solve them, rather than avoiding them or seeking personal gain.

The fiscal predicament left behind by Zhu Yuanzhang—this difficulty was like a mountain placed in front of the first cabinet team of the Wanli Reform. This difficulty was huge, so huge that scholar-officials for two hundred years had either intentionally or unintentionally avoided it, fearing they would set themselves on fire.

Wang Guoguang encountered it, and he tried to solve it, even taking the opportunity to solve the border grain and pay problem that had been destroyed since the "Opening of the Middle Law."

And these people, whenever they encountered something, would claim to be "clear-headed," opening their mouths to say "kill or carve, I am at your disposal," closing their mouths to say "a scholar can be killed but not humiliated." As soon as they saw a little problem in the Great Ming Reform, they would start cursing; as soon as they saw a little achievement in the Reform, they would be sarcastic. Their judgment of the Great Ming, the court, and the Emperor was always "this won't work, that won't work."

As long as you didn't listen to them, it wouldn't work; as long as you didn't give them power, it wouldn't work.

This kind of corrupt scholar, apart from being noisy, had never brought even the slightest help to the survival of the state, to the Great Ming's renewal, to development, or to the people.

Their only function in living was wasting food.

Even Gao Panlong, this corrupt scholar, after learning the theory of contradictions and class theory, could fully understand the court's caution in returning land, which was to reduce the trouble for the common people.

After Zhu Yijun returned to the Imperial Study of the Tonghe Palace, he conducted a comprehensive understanding of Lu Kun's case.

Lu Kun and these kinds of high officials were all the same kind of people. The silver they obtained at great risk was all given to these beloved mistresses, hoping to leave some wealth for these mistresses and their sons. They ended up in prison, but these mistresses took the silver and started spending it recklessly, with ridiculous results.

If you look at it this way, Zhu Yijun, this Emperor, also seems to be a laborer. He is very diligent, like an ox or a horse all day long. He is very frugal, wishing he could split one tael of silver into two to spend.

His diligence was given to the Great Ming, and his frugality turned into investment in the Dinghai academic system, into eighteen great academies, and into the stipends for students, so that students at least wouldn't have to bow for five pecks of rice while studying.

However, unlike Lu Kun, even if Zhu Yijun failed, no one would mock him, because Zhu Yijun's motivation for doing all this was simply:

"Everywhere there is mourning and blood, it is nothing but a thought to save the common people."

He is the Emperor, he has obtained supreme power, so he must do this—shouldering the sun and moon, carrying the state, and leading the Great Ming out of the crisis.

The Wanli Emperor in history was someone who could let go. He couldn't fight the court officials, so he hid in the harem for thirty years, shedding all responsibilities. Not to mention memorials, he didn't even appoint officials. Until the disastrous defeat at Sarhu, the Great Ming was already dead by then, just not fallen yet due to inertia.

He alone was comfortable, but he brought suffering to the people of the world, and then extended this suffering for three hundred years.

Grand Minister Shen Li and Junior Grand Minister Gao Qiyu submitted a memorial again, requesting the posthumous title "Wending" for Wang Guoguang. After Zhu Yijun approved it, he promoted Wang Guoguang by one rank and buried him in the Jinshan Cemetery, placing him among the ranks of the Great Ming's meritorious officials.

On the seventh day after Wang Guoguang's death, Zhang Juzheng rushed back to the capital from Tianjin Prefecture to send off this old comrade-in-arms for the last time.

And the entire Ministry of Revenue attended Wang Guoguang's funeral. For the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Guoguang was like a founding patriarch.

Before the Wanli Reform, the Ministry of Revenue was a yamen that anyone could step on. Anyone could spit on a Ministry of Revenue official. Every year during the New Year, almost all officials were cursing the Ministry of Revenue, and even the Emperor cursed it.

Because the national treasury and the inner treasury could only last for three months, and there were no salaries for officials.

Since the Wanli Reform, the Ministry of Revenue has become a true Ministry of Revenue. Many officials of the Ministry of Revenue can stand tall, rather than having to cover their faces and walk away when they see colleagues.

If the Emperor didn't take action, many officials of the Ministry of Revenue would also take action.

No one would easily hand over the hard-won power they had obtained. The consolidation of all taxes under the imperial court was the fundamental policy that truly qualified the Ministry of Revenue to be called the Ministry of Revenue. Whoever wanted to shake this policy was moving the official seals of many Ministry of Revenue officials.

After the Emperor carried out the court beatings, no one dared to talk nonsense about Wang Guoguang's posthumous reputation anymore.

Zhu Yijun was quite satisfied with this result. He exiled the forty-three officials to Liaodong and then issued a decree to behead Lu Kun and display his head to the public.

The cabinet ministers did not block the Emperor's decree. The decree went to the Ministry of Justice for re-examination. After the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review re-examined it, they wrote the warrant and presented it to the Emperor. Lu Kun would be beheaded after autumn—that is, after the Emperor returned to the capital from his stay in Songjiang Prefecture.

The reason for beheading after autumn was mainly to investigate whether Lu Kun had any accomplices.

Wang Jiaping's warrant couldn't have been clearer: the fundamental contradiction behind this matter was the contradiction between the central and local governments. Under the situation of tax reduction due to celestial anomalies, local finances relying on land taxes became stretched, and it was a struggle against the fact that corruption was not as convenient as it used to be under the court's big stick.

The Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate all believed that Lu Kun was not alone; he was just the one who jumped out the fastest. They had to carefully investigate whether there were accomplices.

The charges given by the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review were different from those given by the Emperor.

The charge given by the Emperor was "treacherous party," that is, "forming cliques, disrupting the court, privately selecting cronies, and slandering and framing." According to the Great Ming Code, the chief culprit is beheaded.

This was also the reason why the Emperor punished for speech without facing collective opposition from the cabinet and court ministers, because this group of fellows was falsely accusing. The ministers were actually afraid of this too. If the censorate officials really mastered the great weapon of false accusation, then it would truly be "the King of Hell calling names"—whoever he wanted to die would have to die.

History has this lesson: Zhao Gao pointing at a deer and calling it a horse.

But the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review believed that Lu Kun's behavior of keeping brokers, colluding with officials, disrupting the court, and printing demon books had already constituted treason—that is, attempting to subvert the court.

If it weren't for the Emperor's decisiveness and thunderous disposal, the demon books Lu Kun made would definitely have caused huge chaos. Once Lu Kun succeeded, Wang Guoguang would have sought glory but obtained shame, and it really could have harmed the foundation of the Great Ming state.

In the end, Zhu Yijun did not upgrade Lu Kun's charge to treason, but still sentenced him to beheading as a "treacherous party," mainly because Lu Kun didn't have the ability to subvert the Great Ming.

On the third day of the third month of the twenty-second year, the Great Ming Emperor went on a southern tour and stayed again. This stay was the same as last year, still for six months, and the accompanying personnel were almost the same.

The only difference was that the ministers left behind in the capital changed from Ling Yunyi as the head and Shen Shixing as the assistant to Shen Shixing as the head and Gao Qiyu as the assistant.

Gao Qiyu being left in the capital was Ling Yunyi's suggestion. Ling Yunyi believed that Gao Qiyu, this "solitary minister," could effectively suppress the ambitions of the ambitious faction.

Before departing, Zhu Yijun summoned the holders of the keys to the Tonghe Palace treasury: Grand General Qi Jiguang, Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng, Director of the Institute of Physical Sciences Zhu Zaiyu, and Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan. He also called Li Rusong, Shen Shixing, and Hou Yuzhao to observe the ceremony.

Under the protection of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, everyone entered the treasury together, checked all the stored gold bars, and weighed and stored this year's gold bars.

After counting the quantity, the Emperor personally locked the door of the Tonghe Palace treasury. Qi Jiguang handed the key to Li Rusong, and Zhang Juzheng handed the key to Shen Shixing, which was considered the formal handover of a power in his hands.

Hou Yuzhao observed the ceremony throughout. There were rumors in the world that there was no gold in the Tonghe Palace treasury. This was actually very consistent with human nature. How much gold was in this treasury wasn't it up to the Emperor to say?

But after seeing it, he was certain that it existed, and the quantity matched the accounts perfectly.

Before this moment, Hou Yuzhao always felt that the gold banknotes would collapse sooner or later. Central dynasties had started issuing paper money since the two Song dynasties, and issuing it for hundreds of years always ended in a miserable failure. Philip II of Spain issued gold bonds and went bankrupt three times.

Historical experience told Hou Yuzhao that gold banknotes were probably difficult to sustain stably for a long time.

When he saw the gold ingots one by one, he was certain that the gold banknotes would absolutely not collapse. It wasn't because he really saw the gold.

It was because the way the Emperor did things was truly too serious. Even in areas that no one could investigate, the Emperor had done it to such an extent. This point was very similar to the "self-reflection" of Wang Guoguang.

With the Emperor there, the banknotes would be as firm as the Emperor's credibility.

The essence of banknotes is debt, and the essence of debt is confidence. As long as the Emperor's credibility is there, the banknotes are there.

Before departing, that is, on the second day of the third month, Zhu Yijun received a plea for help from Luzon.

Wang Qian reported that a riot had occurred in the Copper Seal Town of Luzon, and currently Yin Zongxin had taken command to suppress the rebellion.

This matter immediately caused an uproar in the court, but the situation on the front line was not yet clear, so the court did not make a judgment immediately, but instead let two battalions and twelve ships of the Nanyang Navy station in Miyangang to prevent the riot from spiraling out of control.

Zhu Yijun rushed south and arrived at the Songjiang Prefecture palace in only half a month, on the eighteenth day of the third month. The situation in Luzon gradually became clear.

"The reason for the riot given by Luzon is 'officials forcing the people to rebel.'" Zhu Yijun looked at the pile of memorials and victory reports in front of him and figured out the specific situation.

The riot occurred on Mianlanlaodao.

The Luzon Governor's Office, from north to south, was Luzon Island, the Cebu Islands, and Mianlanlaodao in the far south. The further south, the weaker the control of the Great Ming court and the Luzon Governor's Office.

In the ninth year of Wanli, the Great Ming discovered a copper-gold mixed mine in the south of Mianlanlaodao and established Copper Seal Town there. It was one of the twelve copper towns of Luzon and also the pillar of the Great Ming's rule over Luzon. This copper-gold mixed mine was a rich mine, and popularity gathered because of the mineral wealth, with countless gold seekers flocking there.

Copper Seal Town, after several years of development and continuous growth, saw contradictions intensifying.

Copper Seal Town was in the south of Mianlanlaodao, where the control of the Luzon Governor's Office was relatively weak. The defeated Spanish colonists and their descendants generally lived nearby, and there were also a large number of barbarians who had originally surrendered to these "Red-Haired Barbarians."

This riot in Copper Seal Town was initiated by Han people in the Han Township, but the fundamental cause of the riot was the officials sent by the Governor's Office.

Although these Red-Haired Barbarians and the barbarians who surrendered to them accepted the Great Ming's rule, they still believed in Catholicism and had strong cohesion. The county officials and clerks sent to Copper Seal Town could not handle cases impartially, blindly favoring the believers and punishing the good people, perfunctorily dealing with matters, which made the arrogance of the believers grow.

According to Wang Qian, after Yin Zongxin arrived at the place, the rioting Han people cried out: "The local clerks and officials, relying only on the believers' complaints, or the words of the priests, would sign summons, letting the yamen runners extort money. After the case, they wouldn't distinguish between right and wrong, often suppressing the good people, hoping for an easy conclusion."

It was just to reduce trouble, not distinguishing between right and wrong, black and white. Whoever was easy to bully, they bullied. They were afraid that if the case was finished, these tightly united believers would attack the yamen, so they were very biased, which led to this rebellion.

They had to riot; if they didn't resist, the believers would really grab their grain, burn their houses, kill their families, and grab their wives.

Luzon didn't intend to cover up its own mistakes and characterized this riot of Han people in Copper Seal Town as "officials forcing the people to rebel."

And after Yin Zongxin arrived at the place, he hanged all the local officials and clerks, and immediately quelled the riot.

Yin Zongxin could certainly do this, because in Luzon, except for the Governor's Office officials who were appointed by the court, the rest were appointed by Yin Zhengmao and Yin Zongxin, father and son, and could be considered Yin Zhengmao's family retainers.

This situation would slowly change. The Great Ming would move from appointing governors and provincial governors to appointing local flowing officials.

Yin Zongxin not only punished the local officials and clerks but also began to crusade against this group of believers, declaring them "religious bandits." The operation would last for about six months. In any case, the Nanyang Navy had already arrived at Miyangang, and there was someone to cover for him. If he lost the fight, he could just come back and fight again.

The reason Yin Zongxin gave was also very reasonable: the religious bandits had stolen the mines, and this six-month operation was to suppress the bandits.

Yin Zongxin arrived at Copper Seal Town and found that the situation was even worse than he had thought.

The mineral vein discovered by the Great Ming land surveyors in the ninth year of Wanli had been completely occupied by these religious bandits.

And the Copper Seal Town officials, in order not to let the Governor's Office blame them, adopted a contract system similar to the "tax farming system." Every year, they would hand over a certain amount of red copper, colluding and hiding the truth, not letting the Governor's Office know, and treating the Han people like slaves.

To avoid this situation, Yin Zongxin planned to patrol the twelve copper towns every year to prevent such things of deceiving superiors and hiding from subordinates from happening.

"There is endless criticism in the court." Zhu Yijun looked at the other pile of memorials in front of him, unable to laugh or cry.

The traditional plot of "winning one sentence, losing two books" was staged again. When they won, there was only one sentence: "The Emperor sent the national surname Zhengmao to Luzon, and it was governed well."

It hadn't even been lost yet—it was just that the Han people couldn't bear the oppression and rose up, causing a little bit of turmoil—and the court, from the cabinet down to the hundred officials, was all participating in reflection.

Some considered it from the perspective of institutional construction: "Once something happens, you think of inspection. What were you doing earlier? Such a simple solution, you can think of it now, but couldn't think of it before?"

Others considered it from the perspective of "King's Transformation," believing that the court was too careless about Luzon and had not established effective rule. This was the court's fault.

Still others considered it from the perspective of Yin Zhengmao being too benevolent, believing that Yin Zhengmao's benevolent policy was too trusting of the dispatched officials, allowing the Red-Haired Barbarians and barbarians to continue to multiply and live until now, which led to the tragedy.

There were many perspectives, and there were many memorials. To sum it up, it was one sentence: how to avoid similar situations from happening.

There was no other way. The Great Ming was a complete "performance-winning study." Winning was a matter of course, and losing was unacceptable. They wished they could trace back eighteen generations of ancestors to find out why they lost and avoid losing next time.

"To sum it up, it's just that they didn't have time to take care of it." Li Yougong had personally been to Luzon many times. He actually understood better why this happened: it was just that they didn't have time.

The Luzon Governor's Office was a newly opened land, and the concept was completely different from recovering Suiyuan. Many things were built from nothing.

The "error correction mechanism," which in the eyes of Great Ming scholar-officials should naturally exist, was actually a fruit that would only appear when politics matured to a certain degree.

In the past, the main energy of the Governor's Office was on suppressing the legacy of poison and establishing rule. It was normal for some problems to appear.

"On this point, your view is consistent with Wang Qian's." Zhu Yijun said with a smile.

Wang Qian was really the Governor of Luzon. He summarized the cause of this "officials forcing the people to rebel" and the Han people's riot, which was also that the error correction mechanism had not been established. It wasn't that Yin Zhengmao didn't understand, but that he didn't have time.

"However, have this Li Yashi arrested into the Huangpujiang Internal Security Bureau and locked up for twenty... lock him up for ten days!" Zhu Yijun singled out Li Yashi.

In Li Yashi's memorial, he mocked the Great Ming scholar-officials for being ignorant.

What kind of big deal was this? Was it worth making such a fuss? The three Governor's Offices of Mexico, Peru, and Chile established by Spain were now almost becoming the Great Ming's Governor's Offices. If it weren't for the overly harsh treatment by the local authorities, how would they change their allegiance?

This was a dish that had to be tasted in opening the seas and overseas expansion—a series of issues regarding the identity, status, treatment, and identity of overseas people.

This had just begun. Some of those who "eat meat" were like this: they didn't treat barbarians as people, and they didn't treat their own people as people either.

Do you know about the white slave trade? Even Prince Lu had received white slaves sent by the Mexico Governor's Office.

The Great Ming's symptoms could really be said to be very mild. Yin Zongxin arrived at the place, directly hanged the officials, and still cared about the life and death of the Han people. In Philip II's eyes, the Spaniards who went to sea were all pirates, and the local treasure ships even treated the overseas Governor's Offices as enemies.

Zhu Yijun naturally wanted to lock him up. He had heard the news of the riot and rushed south, arriving in Songjiang Prefecture in only fifteen days. By now, Grand General Qi Jiguang and Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng had just arrived in Xuzhou.

Zhu Yijun rushed south so rapidly because he was afraid of delaying state affairs. If a big problem appeared in Luzon, the grand situation of the Great Ming opening the seas would probably change.

Li Yashi opened fire with this "map cannon" (indiscriminate attack), making the Great Ming Emperor look very ignorant. If he didn't lock him up, who would he lock up?

"Your Majesty is magnanimous." Li Yougong thought this was magnanimous, not an empty word. If it were another Emperor, Li Yashi wouldn't have enough heads to be beheaded. Of course, if it were another Emperor, Li Yashi wouldn't say these things either.

The sentence "class identity is greater than ethnic identity" was vividly reflected in this matter.

When Yin Zhengmao selected officials, he also chose them carefully, but these officials, in order to maintain their rule, or in long-term rule, because they were the "rulers," changed their identity and stance.

These officials chose a more relaxed way, colluding with the local ruling class, forcing the Han people who went to pan for gold to rebel.

"Suppressing the good people, hoping for an easy conclusion." Wang Qian used eight characters to objectively describe the motivation of these officials: lazy government, lazy administration. If the believers were hard to provoke, they would punish the good people.

But those who went to sea in these years, where were there really such gentle good people? They rose up in rebellion, and now these officials were all hanged.

The situation was not serious, but Yin Zongxin still wrote a memorial of apology, saying that as a newly appointed governor, he was not strict in governing and did not recognize people clearly, hoping for the Emperor's punishment.

Zhu Yijun pondered for a long time and let Yin Zongxin "atone for his crimes with meritorious service," handling the Copper Seal Town matter well, which would be considered balancing merit and demerit. If he didn't handle it well, he would definitely be severely punished.

The reason he let Yin Zongxin "atone for his crimes with meritorious service" was because if he didn't let him atone, he would have to let the late "National Surname" (Zheng Chenggong) atone.

This was also the reason why Li Yashi was desperate to stay in the Great Ming. The Great Ming would pursue responsibility. Every extreme conflict event must have a person, and a person in a high position, to take this responsibility.

This kind of accountability mechanism was also a product of highly mature politics or civilization.

At least, in the West during the Wanli era, this accountability mechanism had not been established.

This kind of accountability mechanism was also reflected in the recent construction of the Beijing-Guangzhou road.

For example, for a certain section of the project, the foundation rammed earth was to be rammed once every half a foot, for a total of 8 layers. In some sections, in order to rush the construction period and save manpower, they chose to ram it once, four feet thick at once, and they were held accountable and rebuilt it again.

The bricks for building the city wall had to be engraved with the craftsman's name and the year. This was already serious corner-cutting.

Zhu Yijun arrived at the Huangpujiang palace and received the news of Ma Liang's death.

Songjiang Prefecture officials had been paying attention to relevant news for more than half a year, and through global trade caravans, reports from Ming halls in various places, and word of mouth from sailors on various merchant ships, they confirmed this news.

Ma Liang died in the Bastille in Paris, and her remains were snatched by Great Light priests and sent back to Lisbon. The King of Portugal announced that the Holy Maiden of Light, Ma Liang, had returned her soul to the Light.

"In the end, did she not survive?" Zhu Yijun looked at the news confirmed by multiple parties and sighed with some melancholy. He had only met Ma Liang twice. Dying in this way still made Zhu Yijun feel emotional.

"Henry IV has guts!" Zhu Yijun was a bit angry. Ma Liang was a key figure in expanding the Great Ming's influence, even a saint who had met the Emperor and received special guidance from the Emperor. Henry IV actually dared to kill Ma Liang!

The Great Ming didn't know very well what exactly happened, only that Ma Liang died in the Bastille. Zhu Yijun naturally and logically thought that the victor, Henry IV, had secretly executed Ma Liang.

Henry IV would definitely shout that he was wronged if he knew!

When he became King, he wanted to be Emperor, he wanted to be Caesar. Ma Liang was such a sharp blade that was easy to use, and Henry IV also wanted to use it. These Falanxi nobles were also disobedient to his orders.

Besides wanting every Falanxi farmer to have a chicken in their pot, Henry IV also wanted to abolish the various Falanxi languages and have everyone speak Falanxi with a Parisian accent.

He really wanted to do many things. The light pursued by the Great Light Religion and the light pursued by Henry IV were the same!

"Issue a decree to the Ministry of Rites: this matter cannot just end like this. Come up with a countermeasure." Zhu Yijun gave a very direct order, requiring the Ministry of Rites to formulate a counter-policy. Ma Liang could not die in vain.

Li Yougong wanted to say something but stopped, and in the end, didn't say what was in his heart. He actually wanted to say that with Ma Liang's death, the Great Light Religion could be considered to have truly succeeded. When she was alive, they only needed to defeat her alone. Now that she died on the road of spreading the light, they needed to defeat all her followers.

People who yearn for the light cannot be killed off.

Ma Liang died, but in a sense, she was still alive, and would always be alive.

The Ministry of Rites only used one hour to present the memorial to the Emperor. Last year, there was news that the Great Light City had been jointly strangled by Falanxi nobles, and the Ministry of Rites had also prepared a set of combination punches to deal with Falanxi's disobedience.

They dared to kill the envoy sent by the Great Ming. Although the Great Ming army didn't have such strong long-range deployment capabilities, they could still make Falanxi unable to sit at the table in opening the seas.

This set of combination punches included prohibiting Falanxi merchants from purchasing Great Ming goods in Lisbon, prohibiting Falanxi from purchasing Great Ming three-masted ships, Great Ming ports not providing supplies to Falanxi merchant ships, not giving permits to any Falanxi merchant ships, not allowing them to enter Great Ming-controlled areas, not recognizing any overseas territories established by Falanxi, etc.

Some of these clauses seemed useless, but as the Great Ming opened the seas and expanded overseas, its influence became stronger and stronger. After a while, it would be enough for Falanxi to drink a pot.

Zhu Yijun approved this memorial with a vermilion rescript. Once the facts were confirmed, Falanxi would only be able to sit at the same table as England.

"I, Marquis of Shouli, pay respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live." Naval Regional Commander Chen Lin, on the day the Emperor arrived, after arranging all defenses, had an audience with the Emperor.

"No need for formalities, sit." Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "There was absolutely no need to make such a big scene."

Because Zhu Yijun rushed south, he only brought half an Embroidered Uniform Guard battalion and one infantry battalion, with only 4,500 troops directly under his control.

To welcome the Emperor, Chen Lin deployed the entire Songjiang Navy—85,000 troops in total—around the Huangpujiang palace, with a sentry every three steps and a guard every five steps, and even prohibited ships from navigating the Huangpujiang.

"It is the proper thing to do." Chen Lin said in a muffled voice. He didn't want to be a sinner in history, and this was a rare opportunity to prove his loyalty to the Songjiang Navy.

"The Huangpujiang cannot be blocked like this. It cannot delay the people's livelihood just because I came." Zhu Yijun said calmly.

Chen Lin wanted to say something, but still bowed and accepted the order, saying, "I obey the decree."

Any order from the Emperor had to be obeyed; military orders were like mountains.

Chen Lin was actually a bit worried that someone would take the opportunity to stir up a popular uprising and attack the Holy Monarch.

Zhu Yijun knew Chen Lin's worries. After all, the Emperor's safety was previously guaranteed by the Beijing Garrison's elite troops. Since there was no longer a "young master and suspicious state," the Beijing Garrison's elite troops had never put the Emperor in danger. Now the Navy was responsible for defense. If something happened, how would history evaluate him, Chen Lin?

"I am right here. If you have the guts, just come." Zhu Yijun said with a smile.

These 4,500 people in his hands were enough to punch through Songjiang Prefecture.

Even if Chen Lin rebelled and led the Navy to besiege the Tonghe Palace, these 4,500 people would be enough to hold out until Qi Jiguang led the main army to arrive, and even enough to hold out until Li Rusong led the Beijing Garrison's elite troops to come to the rescue. ===== CHAPTER 1048 =====