Chapter 1048: The Yuyang War Drums Shake the Earth, Instantly Trampling Mountains and Rivers for Ten Thousand Miles

4,500 elite troops were really a lot. In fact, Zhu Yijun brought a bit too many people.

According to Qi Jiguang, it would have been completely enough for the Emperor to bring 800 Embroidered Uniform Guards to Songjiang Prefecture.

800 people is the upper limit of the number of people a general can directly command. Any more, and they have to rely on others to command. With 800 fully armed elite soldiers, one can prepare to rise up and fight for the world.

800 people allowed Xiang Yu to break out of the encirclement. In the Battle of Gaixia, Liu Bang surrounded Xiang Yu with 300,000 troops, and Xiang Yu led 800 people to break out.

800 people allowed Huo Qubing to roam among the Xiongnu. Huo Qubing first joined the army at eighteen. He led 800 people from Wei Qing, drove for hundreds of miles, beheaded 2,028 Xiongnu, including the Chancellor and Danghu, beheaded the Chanyu's grandfather-generation Jiruohouchan, and captured the Chanyu's uncle alive, for which he was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Guanjun.

Zhu Yijun's military talent was indeed not high, but commanding 4,500 people, whether it was breaking out of an encirclement or holding a palace, was more than enough.

To carry out a palace coup, one must control three things: the armory, the city gates, and the central hub.

These were the experiences Sima Yi gained from his coup. When Sima Yi staged his coup, he controlled the Sima Gate, the Luoyang Armory, and the Yongning Palace; when Li Shimin staged his coup, he controlled the Xuanwu Gate, the armory, and the Taiji Palace.

These three elements had also been tested many times by history. Lacking one would be useless. The armory has weapons and armor; the city gates prevent the guards from supporting; controlling the central hub is most important because the Emperor's imperial edicts cannot leave the palace. Once an imperial edict leaves the palace, those who come to the rescue appear.

Those who come to the rescue might be sincere, or they might be seeking the world under the banner of rescue. But once an imperial edict leaves the palace, it means the coup has failed and evolved into a struggle for hegemony.

As long as the Emperor holds the Huangpujiang palace, his safety can be completely guaranteed.

In a stable dynasty, killing an Emperor with a successor through a coup is absolutely not a simple matter.

Chen Lin was still thinking about bringing glory to his ancestors and thinking about his title as Marquis of Shouli being well-deserved. He didn't want to leave a bad name for ten thousand years. Staging a coup in the Great Ming, besides being cursed, would not have any gains. This was a historical lesson.

The Great Ming had a palace coup, which was the "Duo Sect Coup" (Seizing the Gate Coup) in the eighth year of Jingtai, launched by Emperor Yingzong of Ming. The specific executor was Shi Heng.

Shi Heng made the first contribution to the restoration and was enfeoffed as the Duke of Zhong. Just three years later, he was sentenced to beheading by Emperor Yingzong for treason.

Emperor Yingzong had no choice but to kill Shi Heng. Once the title of Duke of Zhong was truly passed down, it would leave a path where one could be enfeoffed as a Duke by doing this. Not to mention anything else, Zhu Jianshen, who had his throne stolen, Emperor Yingzong's own son, would follow suit, gather a group of military generals, and stage another coup.

Emperor Yingzong could only sentence Shi Heng to beheading for the crime of treason to block this path.

Shi Heng was very capable in battle. In the tenth month of the fourteenth year of Zhengtong, he defeated the invading Esen, and even ambushed Esen at Qingfengdian, causing heavy losses to the Oirat people. Shi Heng was capable in battle, and the Northern Barbarians feared him, calling him the "Stone King."

But in the end, history's evaluation of Shi Heng was "fox and rat."

A cunning, opportunistic, and scheming fox and rat.

Under the Emperor's decree, the Huangpujiang, which had been blocked, began to get busy again. One by one, the grain transport ships, head to tail, tail to head, like centipedes, carrying full holds of cargo, crawled on the river surface, and one couldn't see the end at a glance.

In between, there were several steam tugboats. When they released pressure, they emitted rolling steam, and the whistle sounded melodious, echoing throughout the river surface and reaching the Tonghe Palace.

Zhu Changchao, the second prince of the Great Ming, had repeated tonsillitis and fever, and was several times in critical condition. When he was nine years old, he was critical, and Chen Shigong, treating a dead horse as a living one, cut out Zhu Changchao's tonsils and pulled him back from the gates of hell.

Since then, Zhu Changchao followed his father to learn martial arts, strengthen his physique, and began to learn medicine, studying under Fan Wuqi.

Zhu Changchao felt that his father was like a child because his father liked to stand in the Wenhua Building, the highest point of this Huangpujiang palace, and look at the grain ships on the river. He could look for more than half an hour without getting bored.

"Mother, what is Father looking at?" Zhu Changchao asked Empress Wang what his father was actually looking at. Last time they stayed in Songjiang Prefecture, he looked every day, and this time he came, he was still looking every day.

"Looking at the peace and prosperity of the country." Wang Yaozhuo thought for a moment and whispered, "That is, the country has no war, and the people live and work in peace. This is an affirmation of your father's hard work."

Zhu Yijun's eyes rolled, his expression serious, he put on the posture of an Emperor, touched Zhu Changchao's head, nodded, and said, "Songjiang Prefecture is changing with each passing day, and the Great Ming is also booming. Indeed, I am looking at the peace and prosperity of the country."

Wang Yaozhuo held back her laughter. In fact, she knew that Zhu Changchao was right; his father's behavior was indeed like a child.

Zhu Yijun really wasn't that profound. This was his way of relaxing. He was just purely looking at these grain ships without any other thoughts. In the capital, he couldn't see such a scene.

He liked these strange machines. The Wenhua Hall's side hall was full of hand-made models, which was proof.

"Father and Mother are teasing me again!" Zhu Changchao wasn't a fool. From his father and mother's expressions, he knew his father was teasing him.

Ran Huiniang stood to the side. She had long ago given up those messy thoughts and completely understood Empress Dowager Li's intentions. Empress Dowager Li had no intention of helping her ascend to the position, just letting her compete with Empress Wang to make Empress Wang more obedient.

Clearly, it failed very thoroughly.

A basic fact: Empress Dowager Li, who ascended through palace fighting, would never allow her own son's harem to be truly chaotic, and it was impossible to help her ascend.

Ran Huiniang also had to admit that compared to her who liked to spoil her children, Empress Wang was really good at educating children.

Zhu Changchao was actually very disobedient, but in front of Empress Wang, he was as obedient as a quail.

"The Grand General will arrive in three days." Zhu Yijun stayed behind closed doors in the palace, waiting for twelve days. Qi Jiguang had already led 27,000 troops of the Beijing Garrison—six infantry battalions, one cavalry battalion, and one vehicle-artillery battalion—to arrive in Yangzhou Prefecture. In three days, they could successfully station in the Songjiang Prefecture camp.

After the main army arrived, Zhu Yijun could be considered to have officially started this year's stay in Songjiang Prefecture. This period of time could be considered Zhu Yijun's vacation time.

Zhu Yijun had actually been waiting for some accidents to happen, such as rebellion, attacking the palace, or the palace catching fire, etc. But he waited for twelve days and didn't wait for anything. Before Qi Jiguang's main army arrived, it was the last chance.

Three days. Zhu Yijun hoped that something would happen in these three days to promote the implementation of political decrees.

But these three days were three calm days. Until Qi Jiguang's army passed the Huangpujiang Bridge, nothing happened.

It looked like an opportunity, but it was also possible that the Emperor was fishing, fishing for those ambitious people hiding under the water and lying dormant.

Ambitious people have ambition, but they aren't stupid. The Emperor is a bit hard to kill; this is a recognized fact. It's better to wait a bit longer. As for what they were waiting for, the ambitious people were actually waiting for the Emperor to be lazy in government.

If the Emperor is lazy in government, opportunities will increase. The Emperor is so diligent; whatever they do is in vain.

After Qi Jiguang led the remaining Beijing Garrison to arrive, Zhu Yijun began to frequently meet with court ministers and handle various government affairs.

The top priority of the Emperor's stay this time was to implement the "Single Whip Law" in the six prefectures of Ying Tian, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Xuzhou, Changzhou, and Suzhou.

Songjiang Prefecture had been piloting the Single Whip Law for a full eleven years. After the Great Ming fully summarized the experience and lessons, it was only then that it was implemented again in these six prefectures.

These six prefectures were also the six prefectures that had completed the "Return of Land." The conditions for implementing the Single Whip Law, besides the damming of silver and the preliminary completion of the transformation of the commodity economy, were most importantly the execution of the "Return of Land Decree."

If the relations of production do not change, the Single Whip Law has no conditions for implementation.

Zhu Yijun summoned cabinet ministers Zhang Xueyan and Hou Yuzhao, Minister of War Liang Menglong, Songjiang Governor Li Le, Ying Tian Governor Wang Xiyuan, and other ministers. He also called Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng and Grand General Qi Jiguang to the palace to discuss the implementation of the Single Whip Law.

Zhu Yijun signaled the ministers to take their seats, then said with a serious expression, "The Single Whip Law, since it was first proposed by Gui E in the ninth year of Jiajing, has been 64 years. That year, Gui E proposed the Single Whip Law in 'Ren Min Kao,' which was opposed by Yang Yiqing and others. In the end, Gui E resigned, and it ended hastily."

"In these 64 years, the Great Ming has tried several times. In the ninth year of Wanli, I issued a decree attempting to implement the Single Whip Law in the Southern Yamen and other places. The steps were a bit too big, and I had to withdraw the decree, only piloting it in Songjiang Prefecture."

"After failing for 64 years and piloting it for eleven years until now, we have finally figured out the conditions for implementing the Single Whip Law. The six prefectures have met the conditions. Counting from the day the imperial decree arrives, the Single Whip Law will be implemented in the six prefectures."

Zhu Yijun concisely reviewed the history of the Single Whip Law. 64 years were filled with failure, and eleven years of piloting, stumbling along, finally summarized enough experience to take action.

"The Single Whip Law is not only domestic policy, but also diplomacy." Zhang Juzheng sipped his tea and said with great emotion, "In the ninth year of Wanli, I was still thinking too simply, ignoring the impact of silver inflow on the Single Whip Law. Over these years, the Great Ming has finally stabilized the inflow of silver through means such as conquering Japan, opening overseas Governor's Offices, and the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance."

The Great Ming cannot produce silver itself. The Great Ming's existing silver could not meet the needs of trade and could not meet the needs of the internal circulation of silver, which caused the implementation of the Single Whip Law to be affected by the inflow of overseas silver. This was a point Zhang Juzheng ignored at the time, leading to a wrong decision.

Fortunately, the Emperor was someone who didn't care much about face. Seeing that it was not feasible, he withdrew the decree a few months later, and the political decree was not truly implemented.

"The resistance is huge." Zhang Xueyan said concisely.

Local fiscal revenue was concentrated on land taxes. Because land taxes were reduced due to celestial anomalies, they began to concentrate on labor services. And the core of the Single Whip Law was to combine the land taxes, labor services, and other miscellaneous levies of each prefecture and county into one, collecting silver in a combined manner, paying according to the mu, and using silver to hire labor.

Implementing the Single Whip Law meant blocking the possibility of using labor services to increase local fiscal revenue. Local resistance was the main source of resistance.

The game between the court and the local government, the central-local contradiction, had lasted for thousands of years and could not be implemented by a single political decree or a single piece of imperial paper.

Under the current situation of the Great Ming court, the fact that the court was heavy and the outside was light had been formed—that is, the court's tax revenue was far greater than the local government's.

"Heavy inside and light outside" greatly increased the authority of the court. This was also the key to the success of the Wanli Reform. But the situation of "heavy inside and light outside" would gradually evolve into "internal and external distrust." Once there was internal and external distrust, the Great Ming's fiscal system would completely collapse.

The Great Ming was vast, north to the continuous permafrost and vast grasslands, west to the towering Kunlun and Qinghai-Tibet natural barriers, east to the boundless ocean and endless islands. Under the embrace of deserts, plateaus, mountains, and oceans, lived all kinds of Great Ming people.

Vast land and many people required a strong and powerful unified court.

But it should not be overly centralized, otherwise the counties would not be governed, and the world would not be peaceful.

If the long history of China is compared to an ancient tree, then since ancient times, the relationship between the court and the local government usually had two situations.

The first situation was "weak trunk and strong branches," where the local government was powerful, exceeding the court. At this time, the local government would either not obey the court's orders or overthrow the entire regime, like the end of the Han and the late Tang.

"The war-torn feudal lords shattered the golden bowl, the western wind and residual sun shone on the Han family's palace."

The other situation was "strong trunk and weak branches," where the court was powerful, far exceeding the local government. At this time, the local government had no enthusiasm, and the economy and society developed slowly, with increased exploitation. Or it could not effectively resist foreign invasion, like during the two Song dynasties.

"The Yuyang war drums shook the earth, instantly trampling mountains and rivers for ten thousand miles."

Whether it was the feudal lords' pattern or the Yuyang war drums, neither was the Emperor's purpose in implementing the Single Whip Law, especially the lack of local enthusiasm, losing vitality, and constantly transferring the cost downward, making it impossible to maintain the good situation of the Reform.

The Great Ming's "heavy inside and light outside" was a transition from "weak trunk and strong branches" to "strong trunk and weak branches," whether in military, political, economic, or cultural terms.

Decentralization or centralization, from the birth of China, was a big topic that every dynasty needed to deal with carefully.

In peacetime, the most difficult thing to implement was the fiscal and tax system.

The Single Whip Law could succeed in Songjiang Prefecture because Songjiang Prefecture developed after the Great Ming opened the seas. It could even be regarded as a secondary capital, regarded as part of the "inside," so it could be promoted.

But in the scope of these six prefectures, the resistance the court would face in vigorously promoting the Single Whip Law would be very huge.

"Your Majesty, to implement the Single Whip Law, we must consider three questions clearly: centralization or indulgence, order or vitality, stability or development." Hou Yuzhao told the Emperor about the "three thoughts" of the Single Whip Law.

Centralization, order, and stability were one line; indulgence, vitality, and development were another line.

This was a difference in lines. This really couldn't be all had.

For the imperial system of counties, without a doubt, the extremely conservative Great Ming should choose the first line, the centralization line.

Because the main economic model was based on small-scale peasant economy, it did not emphasize activating social economic vitality. As an Emperor, he should be more worried about foreign invasion and the imbalance of power between various classes within, and more inclined to the order side.

But the current Great Ming was special because the Wanli Reform catalyzed the transformation of the commodity economy. In the places where the five shipping offices were located and the six prefectures, they had initially possessed the characteristics of a commodity economy, which required stimulating social economic vitality.

Zhu Yijun thought carefully and said, "Why did I come to Songjiang Prefecture?"

"For more than twenty years of the Wanli Reform, the economy in the south has developed vigorously, but it has been too indulgent. It is changing with each passing day, and the vitality is a bit too exuberant, leading to signs of order collapsing. That's why I came to stay in Songjiang Prefecture. One tension and one relaxation, one loose and one tight, it cannot be so indulgent anymore."

This tightening on the south started with Wang Qian rectifying school discipline. From that moment on, the court clearly realized that it couldn't be left alone. If it continued to be left alone, the collapse of rites and music and the decline of social customs would become inevitable, so it had to be tightened.

Implementing the Single Whip Law in the Southern Yamen now was also part of the tightening policy.

Politics must always talk about "tension and relaxation." If it is too loose or too tight, it is going too far. Zhu Yijun, as the Emperor, believed that the tightening of the Single Whip Law was very necessary.

"Then let's try it." Hou Yuzhao saw the Emperor's "three thoughts" and knew that this was a decision made by the Emperor after three thoughts, choosing to obey the imperial decree.

Even Qi Jiguang, who was sitting on the side, looked at Hou Yuzhao, because after a brief memorial, Qi Jiguang found that Hou Yuzhao, this fellow, was different from other ministers. Other ministers were always making plans and calculating.

Hou Yuzhao was not. He did it first, then talked about other things. In the process of doing things, he solved problems bit by bit. This was very clearly reflected in his two books, "Turning Over" and "Deep Turning."

Hou Yuzhao rarely told the Emperor what plans to make. Such a minister could only exert the greatest effect when encountering a wise monarch. If he encountered a muddled monarch, without instructions, although he wouldn't be a headless fly, the efficiency of doing things would drop a lot.

He was a bit like the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison, obeying orders and prohibitions. The clearer the instructions, the faster the actions would be.

"What does the Grand Minister of Revenue think?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Xueyan, this fiscal minister.

Zhang Xueyan shook his head and said, "I think it will definitely be a success, because before this, many prefectures had dispatched handling officials to purchase foreign grain in Songjiang Prefecture to pay land taxes. Promoting the Single Whip Law in these six prefectures is mainly a struggle for power between the court and the local government."

The struggle for power—this matter was the simplest in the Single Whip Law.

Without a foundation for implementation, forced implementation would inevitably fail.

Not having a foundation for implementation was the most troublesome thing for Zhang Xueyan, this fiscal minister. A clever woman cannot cook without rice. Without rice, no matter how good the cooking skills are, it's all in vain.

The foundation for implementation was there, the rice jar was full, the vegetables and meat were all washed, and the court was full of good cooks.

The seasoning was simple, and it wouldn't make the Emperor eat half-cooked rice.

The return of land in Zhejiang was a bowl of half-cooked rice, but in the end, it was the cook Hou Yuzhao who cooked it well and presented it to the Emperor.

Zhang Juzheng had lectured in the first year of Wanli that the most feared thing in promoting political decrees was being fickle. Sometimes, even if you know it's wrong, if you keep going on one path and constantly modify the direction in the process, you can reach the opposite shore.

What is feared is hesitation, repeated advances and retreats, repeated cycles, tossing back and forth, just tossing the common people.

"Then promote it." Zhu Yijun looked at the ministers. Seeing that the ministers did not object, he took out the imperial decree that had been written long ago and stamped it.

Zhang Juzheng looked at his nose and his heart, just glanced at Zhang Xueyan, didn't say much, and continued to close his eyes and rest.

Zhang Xueyan's words had a hidden meaning. His sentence "it's just a struggle for power" actually meant that if the Emperor didn't win, he should invite the "Old Ancestor of the Western Hills."

Zhang Juzheng had never lost a single time in the power struggle from entering the officialdom to resigning. Gao Gong, Yang Bo, and Wang Chonggu together were not Zhang Juzheng's opponents. If it really couldn't be done, he would lift Zhang Juzheng out to engage in power struggles. He was best at this.

Zhang Juzheng was old and sophisticated, and of course he understood Zhang Xueyan's words. If the Emperor really couldn't fight, he could take action. But Zhang Juzheng felt that the Emperor could fight, because the Emperor was the referee and could play shamelessly. If it really didn't work, he would just put the hat of treason on them.

Winning was definitely possible; there was only a difference in whether it was decent or not.

"The Governor of Liangguang, Liu Jiwen, and the Prefect of Guangzhou, Wan Wenqing, submitted a memorial that the four major families of Annam had agreed to meet in Guangzhou Prefecture for an inspection, set for the sixteenth day of the sixth month." Zhu Yijun said with a heavy expression, "Liu Jiwen judged that the four major families were agreeing falsely to delay time and discuss countermeasures."

"If they come, that's fine. If they don't come, the court must prepare grain and fodder for the crusade against Annam."

Zhang Xueyan immediately became energetic and hurriedly said, "Yes, there is! Your Majesty, the grain, fodder, military equipment, provisions, and rewards for the war are all prepared."

"Guangzhou Prefecture has 11 million shi of new and old grain, 4.5 million arrows, gunpowder can be transported from Songjiang Prefecture, and the national treasury can draw 12 million silver for provisions, and the old treasury has 18 million silver in storage, which can be drawn."

"So much?" Zhu Yijun was stunned.

He actually didn't know that the Ministry of Revenue had secretly stored so much grain and arrows in Guangzhou. Gunpowder was sufficient, and there were nearly a million gunpowder reserves in the Beijing Gunpowder Bureau, especially after purchasing saltpeter from Bengal, the Great Ming's gunpowder production was seriously oversupplied.

The Ministry of Revenue was actually a "pro-war faction"!

Zhang Xueyan said with a smile, "They are all foreign grain. Nine-tenths of the grain in the Guangzhou treasury are Champa rice and Red River rice."

Since Liu Jiwen and Wan Wenqing submitted a memorial to form the Western Trade Alliance, the Ministry of Revenue began to store grain in Guangzhou Prefecture. It was too slow and too expensive to turn around grain and provisions after fighting started.

Liu Jiwen judged that the four major families were using delaying tactics, so the four major families must be using delaying tactics. If they really came, the Nanyang Navy would sink their ships at sea, put them in pirate clothes, and say they didn't come, and the crusade against the disobedient could begin.

The people of the four major families were also very clear about this, so they would absolutely not come.

This was clearly a "banquet without a good banquet." This was also the reason why Yang Yinglong refused to go to Chongqing Prefecture for inspection five times. If he went to Chongqing Prefecture, his life and death would be in the hands of the court, and the local regional commanders and governors would definitely borrow his head to claim credit.

"Then I am at ease." Zhu Yijun nodded repeatedly, affirming the Ministry of Revenue's foresight.

"Governing strongly is easy to plan, but weak and chaotic is difficult to plan." When the country is strong, any policy can be handled with ease, but when it is weak and chaotic, even the best plans are difficult to implement.

After the ministers left, Zhu Yijun looked at Qi Jiguang and said, "Qi Shuai, who do you think should be the main general for the crusade against Annam? Why don't you go yourself, Qi Shuai?"

Qi Jiguang shook his head and said, "I am old. Going there would just be to compete for credit. Luo Shangzhi will return to the court this June. Chen Lin will hold the seal of the Grand General of the South, Luo Shangzhi will be the General of the South, and serve as the vanguard. Then send Liu Jiwen as the Governor of Military Affairs. In this way, I believe that even if this battle is not won, it will not be lost."

Not winning and not losing meant only getting the port of Da Nang, which the Great Ming was determined to get.

As for the Annam people, the Great Ming didn't like these barbarians becoming Great Ming people, because there were historical lessons.

In the thirteenth year of Zhengtong, Ye Zongliu and Deng Maoqi's uprising caused chaos in the entire southeast, with millions of people following them.

The reason for the popular uprising had a lot to do with the Fujian Provincial Administration Commissioner at the time, Song Zhang. Song Zhang demanded winter livestock and reached his hand into the last handful of rice in the people's grain jar, forcing the people to rebel.

And this Song Zhang was a Jiaozhi person.

During the Yongle era, in order to complete the "King's Transformation" of Jiaozhi, a batch of Jiaozhi people were employed. As a result, these Jiaozhi people performed very poorly, but no one was willing to say it, until Song Zhang forced the Fujian people to rebel, and the court dismissed the remaining Jiaozhi people together.

At that time, this batch of Jiaozhi people said to everyone: "Sheng Long is not inferior to Ying Tian."

That is to say, Sheng Long City (the capital of Jiaozhi, now Hanoi) was not inferior to the Great Ming's capital, Ying Tian Prefecture. Many scholar-officials believed it, but the scholar-officials who had been to Sheng Long City shook their heads at this statement.

Not to mention Ying Tian Prefecture, it was much worse than the county towns in the hinterland.

Using the words of the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration Commissioner at the time, Huang Fu: "The local dogs from Jiaozhi haven't entered the city and are just talking nonsense."

Whether to "King's Transform" Annam after the crusade depends on the result of the battle, but the Great Ming's Western Trade Alliance wants the port of Da Nang. This is the main goal of this crusade.

Qi Jiguang recommended Chen Lin and Luo Shangzhi. After Luo Shangzhi returned to the Great Ming, he would serve as the Regional Commander of the Nanyang Navy, which could effectively prevent the old events of Annam's restoration from happening.

"Then follow Qi Shuai's words." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment. In military affairs, Qi Jiguang's opinion had a high weight. Since he proposed it like this, he naturally had his reasons.

"There is a gathering discussion at Lu Ming Xuan in Songjiang Prefecture today. Are you and Qi Shuai interested in going to listen?" Zhu Yijun mentioned his itinerary for today. He planned to go to a gathering discussion himself. Since he was going, there was naturally a reason worth listening to, because the topic was very interesting.

"The topic is: 'Enfeoffment within the Counties'."

Zhang Juzheng sat up straight and said, "What does it mean? It wouldn't be that seeing the success of Liu Shunzhi in Xuzhou Prefecture, they feel that this method is feasible, so they want to 'enfeoff within the counties'?"

Local officials must always face a contradiction: the contradiction between serving superiors and settling subordinates.

Just like Liu Shunzhi facing the choice of whether to open the gates to release water, to protect the grain transport or to protect the people's livelihood. Liu Shunzhi chose to protect the people's livelihood, and finally received the Emperor's appreciation and was long-term in Xuzhou Prefecture.

If they feel that Liu Shunzhi's experience can be promoted, and even want to engage in enfeoffment in every prefecture and county—that is, county officials, department officials, and prefecture officials being hereditary—in Zhang Juzheng's view, it is a whimsical idea that ignores the head and ignores the buttocks.

In the entire Great Ming, there is only one such example in Xuzhou Prefecture.

The fundamental reason for the corruption in local governance is the rot within the prefectures and counties, where clerks and runners burrow like pests; fathers pass this on to their sons, and brothers pass it on to their younger brothers.

The feudalization of local forces that Zhang Juzheng repeatedly mentioned.

Power in the local area is completely passed down by blood, leading to local forces being intertwined, using blood ties, marriage ties, sworn ties, fellow townsmen, colleagues, and classmates as ties to control local finance, education, justice, and other affairs. No matter what the court-appointed officials do, they have to consider the opinions of local forces.

If this really "enfeoffs within the counties," that would be the misfortune of the country.

"It's just a gathering discussion. Are you and Qi Shuai interested in going to listen?" Zhu Yijun stood up and issued a sincere invitation. The gathering discussion is speculation, and it does not cause any interference with policies. Zhu Yijun going to see it is also to watch the fun and see what these Great Ming scholar-officials are discussing.

"Go together, go together." Qi Jiguang said happily. Left and right, there was nothing to do, and fishing every day was boring. It was better to see what new tricks these scholar-officials had come up with.

"Then go together." Zhang Juzheng also wanted to see what these Jiangnan scholar-officials actually wanted to say. ===== CHAPTER 1049 =====