Chapter 1049: A City Bumpkin is a City Bumpkin

For a hundred generations, the Qin political system has been followed; for ten thousand years, the heart of the Qin Shi Huang has been used.

Dynastic changes are like the rising and falling of tides, but the systems of successive dynasties have basically not departed from the framework of the county system.

Since the Great Qin Empire unified the world, Prime Minister Wang Wan and Tingwei Li Si had a fierce disagreement about the system of the world.

Prime Minister Wang Wan advocated imitating the Yin and Zhou dynasties, re-establishing the enfeoffment system, and proposed the "Three Questions of Wang Wan," each of which left Li Si speechless.

First: Although the Great Qin destroyed the six states, the people of these six states are still seeking to restore their countries, and the foundation is unstable. Enfeoff the sons and younger brothers as kings, and meritorious officials as feudal lords, to guard all sides and pacify the world.

If you don't enfeoff the world, and the remnants of the six states rise up to restore their countries, how can you suppress them?

Second: The feudal lords have just been broken. Places like Yan, Qi, and Jing are extremely far away. If you don't place kings there, how can you guard them? If you don't enfeoff the kings, how can you manage distant places?

Third: There are the border kings. Inside, there are remnants of the six states seeking to restore their countries; outside, the Xiongnu are powerful. If you don't enfeoff and confer titles, how can you guarantee the peace of the border?

These three questions were very realistic, but in the end, the Qin Shi Huang adopted Li Si's suggestion of the county system.

The Qin Shi Huang believed that the reason the world had chaotic wars during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods was because of the feudal lords and princes. Today, the world has just been settled, and he is anxious to enfeoff the world. How could it not be more difficult to seek peace in the world?

Likewise, these three unresolved questions eventually destroyed the Great Qin.

By the time of the Han Dynasty, sons and younger brothers were enfeoffed as kings, and meritorious officials as feudal lords. But the Qin Shi Huang's worries immediately happened: the kings and feudal lords began to attack each other in the early Han.

In order to weaken the feudal lords and vassal kings, in the third year of Emperor Jing of Han, Emperor Jing enabled Chao Cuo to start cutting the vassal states. The vassal kings and feudal lords who opposed cutting the vassal states started the Rebellion of the Seven States.

Although Emperor Jing of Han executed Chao Cuo and defeated the coalition of the seven states, the contradiction between local separatist forces and the court's autocratic imperial power remained as intense as fire and water.

Later, Jia Yi proposed in "Zhi An Ce": "If you want the peace of the world, it is better to build many feudal lords and reduce their power. If the power is small, it is easy to use righteousness; if the country is small, there is no evil heart."

Based on Jia Yi's proposition, the "Pushing Favor Edict" (Tui En Ling) began to be implemented.

China has walked through thousands of years of time in the tense and complex game between the court and the local government. Likewise, the central-local contradiction has always run through the Great Ming Dynasty, influencing the rise and fall of successive dynasties.

Zhu Yijun was willing to listen to the ideas of the Great Ming scholar-officials, to see what kind of views they had on this tense and complex game, and what kind of assumptions they had.

The sages of successive dynasties, such as Qin's Li Si, Han's Jia Yi, and Tang's Liu Zongyuan, all observed this contradiction and, based on the central-local contradiction, hoped to design a more reasonable framework.

The sages of successive dynasties all exhausted their minds and wisdom.

Zhu Yijun brought Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang to Lu Ming Xuan. The three giants of the state gathered together. They were the power itself, and their safety could be guaranteed. This was a planned trip. The Embroidered Uniform Guards had already completed the clearing of the streets and the search, and even the "Heaven-grade" private room where the Emperor was located was entirely guarded by the guards.

The Emperor liked to watch the fun very much. He had watched the fun for so many years, and if he couldn't even do a good job of security, the Commander of the Guards wouldn't need to do his job.

Zhu Yijun saw an old acquaintance, the scholar-official Gu Xiancheng from Wuxi.

In the palace examination of the fifth year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun specifically crossed Gu Xiancheng's name off the list of successful candidates.

This was absolutely not a small willfulness of power, because Gu Xiancheng had bribed Sun Jigao with 35,000 taels of silver. After the Sun Jigao imperial examination fraud case broke out, 15 successful candidates, including Gu Xiancheng, had their names crossed off, and their academic honors were stripped, and they were not allowed to take the imperial examinations for five generations.

Because this Gu Xiancheng had no academic honors, he wore a plain Confucian robe and sat quietly in the center of the stage.

"In the blink of an eye, nearly twenty years have passed." Zhu Yijun was very emotional. He didn't expect that after seventeen years, there would be a time to meet again. Gu Xiancheng had also changed from the high-spirited student of that year to an old scholar with slightly graying temples.

Zhang Juzheng had heard his son mention the encounters of Gu Xiancheng and those people. Gu Xiancheng's main competitor at the time was Jiao Hong. Now Jiao Hong was still a physics doctor at the Institute of Physical Sciences, making huge contributions to the progress of the Great Ming's productivity.

But the encounters of Mr. Gu and these people made people feel very emotional.

Gu Xiancheng and some friends rebuilt the Guishan Academy in Liangxi, Wuxi, and hung up the couplet: "The sound of wind, the sound of rain, the sound of reading—every sound enters the ear; family affairs, state affairs, world affairs—every affair concerns the heart," and renamed the Guishan Academy as the Donglin Academy, attempting to gather talents and discuss state affairs.

As soon as the sign was hung, it was ordered to be closed by the Suzhou Prefect on the grounds of "recklessly discussing state affairs and unauthorized gathering."

Local officials are often in the contradiction of "serving superiors" and "settling subordinates," and usually almost all flowing officials choose to serve superiors to seek promotion.

Because of the involvement in the imperial examination fraud case, Gu Xiancheng, who was personally crossed off by the Emperor, stripped of his academic honors, and never allowed to be employed, and not allowed to take the imperial examinations for five generations, was a huge thunder in the eyes of the Suzhou Prefect.

In order not to be implicated when Gu Xiancheng was struck by lightning, the Suzhou Prefect directly ordered the door to be closed.

The Donglin Academy created by Gu Xiancheng and others was just a clip of his life. Over the years, they had moved in many places such as Ying Tian Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, and Songjiang Prefecture. Wherever they went, they would be embarrassed, and wherever they lived, yamen runners would come to the door to politely ask them to leave.

Those who were overly embarrassed would be attacked by the scholar community for being "spineless and currying favor," but if they didn't deal with it, this trouble would be in their hands, and it could make these local officials' years of struggle go down the drain at any time.

The general way of handling it was just to politely ask them to leave.

"I am untalented, mountain man Gu Xiancheng, I have seen you all." With three gongs, Gu Xiancheng stood up and bowed to all sides, only to receive sparse responses.

Gu Xiancheng saw Jiao Hong, also saw Lin Fucheng, and also saw Li Zhi and others. Li Zhi, Lin Fucheng, and others lived the way Gu Xiancheng wanted to live.

But what made Gu Xiancheng feel strange was that there were several barbarians sitting beside Jiao Hong, Lin Fucheng, and others.

These several barbarians were Li Yashi, Galileo, Kepler, and others.

Jiao Hong walked onto the stage step by step, bowed to all sides, and said: "Untalented physics doctor of the Institute of Physical Sciences, Jiao Hong."

Jiao Hong met with the scholars and was greeted with countless applause and enthusiastic responses. There were only 105 physics doctors in the Institute of Physical Sciences. On weekdays, they couldn't be seen at all, but today they appeared in Lu Ming Xuan.

"Haven't seen you for many years, Brother Jiao, are you well?" Gu Xiancheng held his hands and said with mixed feelings.

"It's been a few years, Shushi, your style remains the same." Jiao Hong responded very calmly.

Jiao Hong didn't pay much attention to Gu Xiancheng, but stood straight, looked at the surroundings, and said: "Today, before the gathering discussion, I will first determine two things: First, imitating the ancient enfeoffment—the essence of enfeoffment is 'private world,' while the county system is 'public world'; Second, Qin perished because of politics, not because of the system. We must first determine these two premises before we can discuss."

"What does Shushi think?"

The gathering discussion needs a framework and a consensus. Jiao Hong was not young anymore. If Gu Xiancheng didn't even recognize these two premises, then it was a waste of words. He would just speak well himself, and there was no need to discuss.

Gu Xiancheng frowned, feeling a bit emotional. Jiao Hong had been in the institute for many years, but his ability to debate had not diminished at all. He gave two frames right away, limiting the scope of this gathering discussion to death.

Zhu Yijun looked at this scene and couldn't help but laugh. Because these two frames of Jiao Hong were a bit precise.

As a feudal country, the Great Ming was actually very anti-feudal, believing that feudalism was "private world" and the county system was "public world." This looked a bit strange.

Mainly because since the Qin Dynasty, Qin, Han, Tang, and Song, they actually didn't think they were feudal countries. The power of feudalism was completely passed down by blood.

Li Si's suggestion to the Qin Shi Huang of Qin was "abolish enfeoffment, establish counties," sending local officials such as commandery governors directly by the Emperor, using a bureaucratic network from the court to the local government to rule a vast empire with many people.

Enfeoffment, dividing and establishing countries.

Since the Rebellion of the Seven States in the Han Dynasty, for thousands of years, they only enfeoffed and did not establish countries. If they only enfeoffed and did not establish, how could it be called feudalism?

A more clear and specific definition of feudalism is the contractual relationship between the feudal lord and the vassal.

The feudal lord gives the vassal territory and provides protection for the vassal;

And the vassal needs to swear allegiance, promising tribute, labor, military service, taxes, and other obligations.

The vassal enjoys ruling power in his own fief. The vassals such as feudal lords and grand masters during the Western Zhou Dynasty were actual kings in their fiefs.

But since the Qin Dynasty, the imperial system of counties, the Emperor grants offices, which is a completely one-way subordinate relationship of superiors and subordinates. Officials have no fiefs. They are not doing whatever they want in their jurisdiction. A strict supervision network monitors every move of these local officials.

In short, the power in the hands of officials comes from the authorization of the organization;

While the power of the vassals comes from enfeoffment and establishing countries, originating from a two-way contract.

The Great Ming has hereditary local officials, and "changing the soil to flowing" (replacing hereditary local officials with appointed ones) is anti-feudalism.

This first frame locked the framework of the discussion. Denying the county system is equivalent to denying "the world is for the public."

The second frame is that Qin perished because of politics, not because of the system. The reason for the Qin Dynasty's destruction was not the system problem, but the loss of control caused by court struggles, and the political decrees had problems.

This frame locked the gathering discussion today: no anti-thief remarks could appear.

The Qin system is fine. If Qin perished because of the system, wouldn't it mean that the Great Ming, which uses the county system, would inevitably perish like the Qin Dynasty? This is an anti-thief remark.

"Indeed." Gu Xiancheng recognized the two major premises of the gathering discussion: do not imitate the ancient enfeoffment, do not oppose the county system; do not make any anti-thief remarks.

Jiao Hong looked at Gu Xiancheng strangely. The topic today was: "Enfeoffment within the Counties." Gu Xiancheng actually agreed to these two major frameworks. Then what did Gu Xiancheng want to say?

"The Qin system, does it look like the county system? In my opinion, it is by no means so simple." Gu Xiancheng held his hands. Because he was stripped of his academic honors, he cherished every gathering discussion very much. For this day, he had made a lot of preparations.

"The foundation of the county system lies in officials. Through officials governing all sides, to ensure the court's management of the local government. Since the foundation lies in officials, the county system has three cornerstones: first, selection; second, assessment; third, supervision."

"Since the Qin Shi Huang, it looks like Confucianism is in power, but the bone is still the Legalist bone. Selecting, assessing, and supervising officials, its purpose is to realize the dream of the Legalists: 'Matters are in all directions, the essentials are in the center.'"

Gu Xiancheng had pondered for so many years, and he gradually understood some things.

On the surface, Confucianism is the prominent school, the unique learning, and successive dynasties have relied on Confucianism to select officials, but if you look closely, it has actually always been Legalism.

Because almost all systems are centered on the selection, assessment, and supervision of officials. The purpose of these systems is to realize "Matters are in all directions, the essentials are in the center"—this political goal is the Legalists' Great Harmony World, ideal country, and utopia.

The "respecting the honorable, respecting the relatives, respecting the virtuous" that Confucianism talks about is political correctness, but it is not a political goal. That is to say, Confucianism is a tool to realize the Legalist goal.

Only by understanding this premise can Gu Xiancheng's next words be easily understood.

"In the current world, the local government is actually still under feudalism." Gu Xiancheng threw out his first violent argument.

As soon as this was said, the scholars kept discussing. This problem had actually been noticed very early, but no one had publicly stated it.

"Those who buy land are mostly local officials. Those who leave farming to become family members of local officials are already ten times more than before. The father passes it to the son, the brother passes it to the brother, and the clerks are holed up in them." Gu Xiancheng suppressed the discussion at the scene and continued to state his point of view.

Regarding the phenomenon Gu Xiancheng saw, the Great Ming's annexation was not only natural and man-made disasters and local gentry, but more of it was local officials.

Gu Xiancheng also explained the word "local official" in detail. They are called "clerks" in the Great Ming court, especially the clerks in the prefecture and county yamen.

The clerks in the local area are almost all passed down from father to son, and they are also buying land and annexing everywhere.

"Almost all successful candidates, supervisors, and tribute students who have no chance to enter the officialdom join the clerks. They avoid taxes and labor, control local affairs, and form a powerful local interest group. All the court's systems and policies must pass through them to be implemented in the countryside."

"That is to say, if they don't agree, the policy is almost impossible to implement."

"Local officials are the kings of the local area, not the court-appointed officials." Gu Xiancheng's words cut open the "imperial power not reaching the county" and kneaded it to explain it clearly.

The powers of justice, education, taxation, etc., in the local area have been completely eaten away by feudalism.

Gu Xiancheng continued: "This is absolutely not alarmist. The local area has long since become this appearance."

"Can the Evaluation Law really evaluate the local clerks? Absolutely impossible! Because the county city and prefecture city are really too small. If you look up, you see them. Maybe the clerk responsible for the evaluation is a relative of the person being evaluated."

"Blood ties, marriage ties, sworn ties, fellow townsmen, colleagues, and classmates are like a big net, spread over the local area, airtight, water cannot pour in, needles cannot insert!"

"At this time, you will definitely ask, what are the court-appointed officials doing?"

"Yes, the three cornerstones of the county system are all centered on officials. The key to the county system of the world lies in these four words: 'court-appointed officials'!"

"Court-appointed officials are serving superiors, seeking promotion. These court-appointed officials blindly serve superiors, guessing whether a certain sentence of their superiors has any deep meaning, trembling all day long, focusing on superiors, avoiding mistakes, and regarding peaceful departure as the greatest happiness."

"There is no one who sincerely seeks welfare for the people, and the result is naturally the decline of the people's livelihood and the decline of national strength."

"In fact, can this be blamed on them? I have traveled all over the country, and they have no way either. Even court officials who have the heart to save the people want to launch some political decrees to change, but they can neither get the support of superiors nor the support of subordinates."

"Lack of support from superiors means they have to bear the mistakes themselves and cannot borrow strength. Lack of support from subordinates means all political decrees are empty words. They do more and make more mistakes, and it may also affect their official career."

Gu Xiancheng said this, drank some water, and waited for the scholar-officials to discuss and digest what he said.

Zhang Juzheng sighed and said, "Your Majesty, this is a fallacy. Many people say there is no way to save the people. Hou Yuzhao previously said in 'Deep Turning' that 'no way to save the people' is fundamentally a delusion. There was no road in the world, but after people walked more, it became a road."

"Court-appointed officials hold the official seal, which is holding power. But if they are sincere and have the heart to save the people, how can there be no way to save the people?"

For a long time in the past, Zhang Juzheng also believed that "no way to save the people" was the predicament of officials. This was his flaw. He lacked local political experience, but Hou Yuzhao used facts to tell Zhang Juzheng that it was fundamentally not the case.

Copper Seal Town on Mindanao Island is a typical example. The officials sent by Yin Zhengmao really had to collude with the Red-Haired Barbarians and these believers to suppress the Han people to maintain the survival of Copper Seal Town? It was fundamentally a lie.

Wang Qian explained this matter very clearly. In fact, it was just to "hope for an easy conclusion." The believers were more organized. In order not to cause trouble, they became "birds of a feather."

Copper Seal Town officials could completely tell Yin Zhengmao the situation. Luzon had ten battalions, five infantry battalions, and five naval battalions. They could just put a label of "religious bandits" and carry out a large-scale suppression, just like what Yin Zongxin is doing now.

Seeking to save trouble, laziness in management, and class identification leaning closer to the church—which is also a ruling class—are the reasons Wang Qian determined that Tongzhang Town was a case of officials forcing the people to rebel; the fault lies in the lack of virtue among local officials, not in the people being unruly.

If it's difficult, don't do it; if it's difficult, retreat; if it's difficult, shrink back. When encountering a little difficulty, they only know how to complain, don't want to think of any way, and don't even want to report to the court. These corrupt scholars will definitely give up halfway. This is the "lack of perseverance" that Zhang Juzheng repeatedly talked about.

The Emperor practiced martial arts at the age of ten. When his shoulder was hit, his shoulder was so painful that he couldn't use his strength, but the Emperor didn't complain. He let the Commander of the Guards, Zhu Xixiao, violently open his shoulders. Violent shoulder opening, violent hip opening—how painful was that?

The Emperor didn't cry out for bitterness, tiredness, or pain, and even said Zhu Xixiao hadn't eaten.

In the final analysis, it was that the court-appointed officials never had the concept of power and responsibility being equal.

"Today's local feudalism must be solved by 'enfeoffing within the counties'!" Gu Xiancheng finally spoke his idea.

Gu Xiancheng talked eloquently, talking about his ideas: hereditary county heads, abolishing redundant supervisory agencies at the prefecture and county level, giving local governments high fiscal autonomy, simplifying political processes, abolishing redundant officials, enfeoffing within the counties, and dividing power within centralization.

Use one prefecture to carry out one prefecture, use one county to carry out one county, use rewards and punishments by oneself, and use giving and taking by oneself.

At the prefecture and county level, choose indulgence, vitality, and development, and let hereditary officials fight with these feudalized local clerks;

Above the prefecture and county level, choose centralization, order, and stability, increase the evaluation of prefectures, three departments, and the court, and make administration more efficient and stable.

"A genius idea." Zhu Yijun said happily. Gu Xiancheng's set of rhetoric, in short, is letting heroes investigate heroes, letting good men investigate good men. In fact, if you improve it slightly, it is the United States on the other side of the ocean in the future.

"A whimsical idea without any administrative experience." Zhang Juzheng said with disgust: "I thought there would be some high-level discussion. Is it centralization or indulgence? This is a line problem, and it cannot be all had. The world has no such good things."

The struggle of lines is only life and death, and there is no possibility of coexistence.

Zhang Juzheng has been in power for twenty years. If the central-local contradiction could be solved so easily, could it have lasted for thousands of years and become one of the main contradictions determining the rise and fall of the state?

Sure enough, history has already proven, and will continue to prove, that even corrupt and incompetent officials are far more capable than these folk opinion leaders who have no experience and only rely on patting their heads, imagination, and talking about "heart and nature" with their hands in their sleeves.

After all, corrupt officials also have to do things. If corrupt officials don't do things, they really can't greedily take much silver. Only by doing things can there be an opportunity.

Opinion leaders only need a mouth.

"If these guys who only know how to talk about heart and nature with their hands in their sleeves take power, the Great Ming will not be far from perishing." Zhang Juzheng made a judgment.

The Great Ming is not afraid of anything else, but it is afraid that the ruling class is all this kind of stupid people with heads full of water, corrupt scholars who talk about heart and nature with their hands in their sleeves.

Jiao Hong waited until Gu Xiancheng had fully expressed his opinion before opening his mouth: "Let me repeat your idea. You mean to set up hereditary officials in prefectures and counties, and let these hereditary officials fight with these feudalized departments?"

"That is what you said: 'Respect the rank of the magistrate, and give them the power to create wealth and govern people; abolish the position of the supervisory department, set up the reward of hereditary officials, and implement the method of appointing subordinates.'"

"Indeed." Gu Xiancheng fully affirmed Jiao Hong's understanding and added: "But above the prefecture and county, the magistrate is completely appointed by the court. Above the prefecture and county, the prefect changes every three years, and the Emperor issues a decree to send censors to patrol all sides and supervise strictly. The governor, provincial administration commissioner, and surveillance commissioner strictly evaluate whether the people are happy and live in peace."

Emphasizing decentralization below the prefecture and county level, and emphasizing centralization above the prefecture and county level—this is Gu Xiancheng's framework.

"There is a problem. How to avoid the feudalization of power at the prefecture level?" Jiao Hong asked.

Gu Xiancheng said as a matter of course: "Naturally, it is the flowing officials who change every three years, and they must change every three years."

Jiao Hong shook his head repeatedly: "The feudalization of power I asked about is not asking about the position of prefect."

"Now the local prefectures and counties of the Great Ming are seriously feudalized. Everyone has seen this. You let the prefecture and county hereditary officials—then aren't these prefecture and county hereditary officials the clerks who are hereditary in the prefecture and county now?"

"The prefects and commandery governors at the prefecture level in the future will face the same problems as the prefectures and counties now. If they govern, the hereditary clerks below will obstruct. Your method has not solved the problem."

"By that time, feudalize the prefecture level; after a while, feudalize the local three departments. Isn't this the separatist feudal lords at the end of the Tang Dynasty?"

Jiao Hong's question made Gu Xiancheng frown. He waved his hand repeatedly: "Let me think slowly, think slowly. The court can eliminate the feudalization at the prefecture level, because the court's power can be fully displayed at the prefecture level!"

Gu Xiancheng found a way. The court's control ability at the county level was relatively weak, but the control at the prefecture level was much stronger.

"Because power reaches the county level, the court has such strong control over the prefecture level. Once the county is completely feudalized, the control over the prefecture level will be greatly weakened." Jiao Hong pointed out the place where Gu Xiancheng failed to think comprehensively.

Jiao Hong's meaning was very simple: the second floor is built on the first floor.

Looking at successive dynasties, the process of local separatism and then chaotic wars among various feudal lords, one can clearly see the process of the court's control weakening.

The countryside loses control, the county loses control, the prefecture or commandery loses control, and finally, various provinces and circuits lose control, and several provinces and circuits unite to fight against the court and attack each other, and the world is in chaos.

Li Yashi stood up, walked to the stage, bowed to all sides, and said: "Gu Xiancheng, right? I am a Westerner. Your method will only turn the Great Ming into the West. Besides that, it cannot solve any problems."

"The time since the Great Ming was away from feudalism is too long, so long that people miss the benefits of feudalism. But the Great Ming has opened the seas, and the world is rushing towards it. Various systems have also had practical examples."

"Let me talk about the harm of feudalism."

Li Yashi's face became painful. He sighed and said: "I am a coward. I live in the Great Ming, instead of being like Ma Liang, using my own life to bring the seeds of light to the West."

"Below, I will talk about the harm of feudalism and what kind of human purgatory the West is now."

Li Yashi felt that these city bumpkins on the moral high ground of the Great Ming were really a bit too ignorant! They didn't even know what feudalism looked like, and they were still talking about feudalism!

A city bumpkin is a city bumpkin!

Actually fantasizing about using feudalism to fight against the feudalization of local power—this is no longer reversing the wheel of history, but having unrealistic fantasies about the word "feudalism."

Li Yashi told the story of the life of a Western serf. This story was very long, and the many Great Ming scholar-officials were stunned.

"This is the food that European farmers eat. It can be preserved for a year, because only when paying taxes every year can they borrow the feudal lord's furnace to bake these breads. Does anyone here want to try it?" At the end of the story, Li Yashi took out a long, black bread, knocked it heavily on the table several times, and not even a crumb fell off.

"The gentleman stays away from the kitchen. You scholar-officials don't even cook, so of course you don't know that pots are scarce goods all over the world. This kind of bread has to be knocked into pieces and soaked in cold water for a day before it can be eaten."

Li Yashi felt that the Ministry of Rites officials were a bit too high-end. Arguing that the Great Ming was the Heavenly Dynasty, from writing, from system, from steel, from technology, from error correction mechanisms, it was full of the arrogance of readers and the Heavenly Dynasty.

Just taking out an iron pot would be enough to prove it. There was no need for so many high-end things to corroborate it.

Stir-frying is not something that every civilization can serve.

Western farmers still don't have hot stoves now. There are no pots. They eat cold meals!

"This black bread is feudalism," Li Yashi said, glancing at Gu Xiancheng with utter disdain.

Li Yashi called Kepler onto the stage; Kepler was a genius, but before he found a wealthy patron, he had little money and ate this very stuff. Li Yashi had Kepler demonstrate how to eat this bread: saw it open, soak it in water, and hand it to Gu Xiancheng.

"Can you eat it?" Kepler asked solemnly.

"I cannot." Gu Xiancheng took a step back and shook his head. He was indeed in a miserable state, but as someone from a prominent family and a scholar-official, he had never cooked for himself in his life; he truly could not bite into this thing.

"In the future, stop talking about 'embedding feudalism within prefectures and counties' or 'embedding decentralization within centralization'." Li Yashi's mouth twitched; they were all people raised on the rice of the Great Ming, so why was the gap so large!

The spread of the Great Light Sect in the West like a prairie fire is by no means accidental.