Chapter 1073

Zhu Yijun picked up the report, carefully checked the fire lacquer, opened it, and looked at the wax seal in the secret box. On it were the seals of Liu Ting, Chen Lin, Luo Shangzhi, and Li Yougong. The secret box had four seals on four sides, all covered at the seal.

After confirming that the fire lacquer and wax seal were not damaged, the Emperor opened the report.

In the report written by Liu Ting, Long City had already been broken through. The report even gave people the illusion of "I haven't used my strength yet, and you have already fallen."

The Ming Southwest Han Army started from Liang Shan and swept across the Red River Plain, while the navy continuously controlled the traffic arteries along the coast and rivers, dredging the river routes to ensure the smooth passage of grain transport. This move was to ensure the military supplies for the front line.

The Ming army did not rush to launch an offensive against Long City, but used so-called peace talks to involve the attention of Zheng Song and other meat-eaters of the Annam usurper dynasty, giving the other side hope on one hand and taking ruthless action on the other.

The reason why Liu Ting and Chen Lin made this decision was that they were worried that if Zheng Song and these rulers were forced into a corner, they would order the seventy-two surnames to take action against the Han people of the Mingxiang Society.

Annam's move of the Mingxiang Society, this backhand, did indeed play a role, delaying the Ming army for a full two months. The Ming did not directly attack Long City.

After Liu Ting and Chen Lin finally cleaned up the Red River Plain, they abandoned the negotiations on the grounds of disloyalty and started to attack the city. Zheng Song found himself in an isolated and helpless situation. Without excessive resistance, Zheng Song chose to surrender with the crowd.

On the first day the army entered the city, they dismantled all the yellow tiles on the palace city of Long City.

What status does Annam have to be worthy of using yellow tiles? Just for this act of usurpation, the Ming army had sufficient reason to conquer Annam. In a place within the Ming's reach, they dared to usurp the title of Emperor!

The Emperor's position is extremely noble. Felipe tossed and turned all his life, and he even tossed out a sun-never-sets empire. The world also recognized his status as a sun-never-sets empire, but he is just a king, not an emperor. He wanted to create a loose Western commercial alliance; wasn't his purpose to become an emperor in a justified way?

Without that strength, calling oneself an emperor will be seen as a joke.

The Mughal King Akbar also used to call himself a great emperor and emperor. Later, after establishing diplomatic relations with the Ming, Akbar also stopped calling himself a great emperor and emperor, but called himself a king.

After Shah Muhammad returned, he solemnly suggested that Akbar do so.

Akbar followed this suggestion. Shah Muhammad knew the Ming relatively well. The Ming really cares about face. If they are beyond reach, they don't speak. Once the navy is strong, if they don't strike down Akbar's emperor position, can the Ming Emperor be at ease?

The Annam King usurping the title of Emperor in his own country is a huge joke.

The Annam King is not ashamed. In fact, neither the Annam country nor other countries took his emperor position seriously. Even Laos laughed at him for his wishful thinking. Laos was bullied by Annam every day, but when it came to this matter, it was also a sentence: How dare you call out to the north?

The meaning of the Laotian Pacification Commissioner Dao Lansheng saying this is: You usurp the title of Emperor in your own country, do you dare to tell the Ming Emperor in the north?

The yellow tiles were finally dismantled by the Ming army.

"The Southwest Han Army is trustworthy." Zhu Yijun once again affirmed a key issue that Zeng Shengwu repeatedly mentioned. The key to the Southwest problem is that the imperial court does not trust the Southwest Han Army.

The Battle of Pobo and the southward expedition to Annam repeatedly proved their loyalty and bravery. Handing the Southwest direction to the Southwest Han Army is completely feasible.

This means that the war cost of the Ming in the Southwest direction has dropped rapidly. As long as the imperial court is willing to pay the military pay, they don't even need to provide sufficient military grain. Relying on the grain and grass produced by the Mu Garden in the Qian State Duke Mansion, they can pierce through the Burmese thief Mang Yingli.

In this expedition, the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi, Liu Jiwen, learned one thing: Annam also has its own celebration. Annam calls itself Great Viet. Every year on the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month, it holds a grand sacrificial ceremony. This day is also the day when "Great Viet" promulgated the "Proclamation of Pacifying the Wu" and Annam broke away from the Ming's rule.

This day is really very, very important to the Annam people, and it is not polite to say that it is the foundation of the Annam national structure.

But on the "Great Viet Festival" of the twentieth year of Wanli, almost all Annam people were mourning a man who died for love in Songjiang Prefecture. The discussion about this matter completely covered up the "Great Viet Festival" constructed by the national dynasty.

That is to say, before the Ming launched an attack, the national structure of the Annam people had actually collapsed.

Even if the Annam people broke away from the Ming's rule militarily, they could not break away from the Ming's reins politically, culturally, and economically. Because of this reason, the Annam people always lived in a kind of twisted panic.

The political framework completely plagiarized the Ming and made it into a four-unlike, forming an abstract political system of five masters and seventy-two surnames.

Culturally, everyone in the upper class speaks Han language and uses Han characters, and even history books are written in Han characters, but they let the poor people use Nanzhi characters. Everyone in Annam knows clearly what civilization is.

Economically, Annam is also highly bound to the Ming, or rather, not the Ming, but Guangdong and Guangxi.

In this situation, how should the Annam people straighten out their cognition? Not doing business with the Ming? Or not going to Guangxi to cut sugarcane? Not using Han characters and Han language? Not using the Ming political framework? They can't do any of them.

When the ruling class is fighting internally and is in a mess, and has no time to continue to oppose the Ming, the people naturally admire the king's transformation.

On the way of the Ming army's southern expedition this time, there was no effective resistance at all. The fighting will of the Annam army was so soft that it was not as good as the Japanese pirates of Lin Daoqian. At least those Japanese pirates really launched a charge against the Ming army without fear of death.

So much so that Long City was finished, and the Ming army commanders Liu Ting and Chen Lin were still discussing: Where is the main force of Annam?

"Master, this Annam is much easier to fight than I expected." Zhu Yijun said sincerely.

Zhang Juzheng said with a hesitant expression: "Gao Panlong's miscellaneous report also has this view: easy to fight, difficult to govern. Your Majesty, isn't this Gao Panlong a cheap scholar? He can actually write such an article. It's a bit strange."

A few days ago, Gao Panlong, together with Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi, wrote an article "Can the Ming Really Be an Exception?" This article attracted a lot of attention. Zhang Juzheng also read this article and specially annotated it.

This article says that the Ming cannot be an exception, and Zhang Juzheng deeply agrees.

Holiness, this thing called God, cannot bleed. Once it starts to bleed, it is not God. The Ming has many particularities, but the corruption of the Hongwu precious banknotes can break this golden body. The Ming's particularity does not possess holiness, so it cannot be an exception.

Zhang Juzheng hates the "Ming Exception Theory" born from the debate between China and barbarians since the opening of the seas. The Ming cannot just treat those falls overseas as jokes. These things that happened to barbarians can also happen to the Ming.

Exception theory actually denies the theory of contradiction.

The root of the theory of contradiction is that universal contradictions exist in all things. The direction of small, secondary contradictions changes the direction of large, primary contradictions. The accumulation of contradictions will lead to qualitative changes from quantitative changes. Many things that happened to barbarians are qualitative changes caused by such quantitative changes.

The Ming cannot be an exception, but should always maintain a heart of vigilance. However, exception theory will destroy this heart of vigilance.

In the first year of Wanli, when the Emperor was studying, Zhang Juzheng explained the two words "heresy" to the Emperor. Gods, Buddhas, and holiness are all heresies.

"Gao Panlong is not considered a cheap scholar now. After he studied the theory of contradiction and class theory, it was different. People still need to read more books." Zhu Yijun felt gratified by Gao Panlong's change. Unfortunately, among the vast number of cheap scholars in the Ming, only two or three people have changed.

Zhu Yijun quickly drafted a list of rewards, among which Luo Shangzhi became the new Earl of Changning of the Ming, hereditary and permanent.

The conquest of Annam was divided into three stages. This was just the completion of the first stage. If the three stages are finished, the next time he sees Luo Shangzhi, he will have to call him the Marquis of Changning.

Zhang Juzheng, this retired Marquis of Yicheng, former Grand Secretary, teacher of the Emperor, and Grand Tutor, also received a heavy reward. The Emperor bestowed a pile of treasures to reward his contribution of planning.

The Ming's military conquest of Annam did indeed start in the twenty-second year of Wanli, but the economic conquest of Annam, the matter of importing grain, was led by Zhang Juzheng in the sixth year of Wanli.

Importing grain greatly catalyzed the internal contradictions of Annam, laying the foundation for the smooth conquest of the Ming army.

The Emperor followed his promise the next day, did not summon ministers to discuss affairs, but after resting for a day, he continued to be busy.

Zhang Juzheng made a special trip, hoping that His Majesty would fulfill his promise. Zhang Juzheng is still here, and Shen Shixing can still invite Zhang Juzheng. If Zhang Juzheng is no longer here, then who will persuade His Majesty will become a difficult problem.

The direction of human flow is the direction of desire, and also the direction of indulgence, rather than the direction of so-called civilization. This was the topic discussed by Li Yashi with Jiangnan literati when he participated in the gathering in Songjiang Prefecture.

When Li Yashi finally arrived at Freedom Cape after more than half a year of sailing, he had a deeper understanding and examples of this sentence.

Freedom City is the best example.

There is no order here at all. Absolute freedom means absolute chaos, but the port here is still very busy, people are surging on the street, and those rows of brothels are repeatedly telling Li Yashi that the West he extremely hated back then is exactly this appearance.

Power will not appear in any vacuum. There is no imperial court here, no city hall, no public schools established by missionaries, but there are countless pirates here. These pirates and gangs are the controllers of power here.

They control the fate of these prostitutes, playing with them at will, killing various slaves without any punishment, etc. The street is full of various corpses that no one cares about and have already rotted.

Murder, death, riots, and fire fights can happen at any time, but they still cannot stop those desperate people who carry desires and go to sea from arriving here.

And these pirate groups have intricate connections with those nobles in Portugal and Spain.

Now, Freedom City has become more chaotic, and the main forces are divided into four factions: Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and England.

The changes in the pirate group factions in Freedom City are a sign of the changes in Western maritime power. Felipe no longer has the ability to stop England from harming the entire Atlantic trade.

Li Yashi shuttled through this Freedom City. He wore a Confucian robe and walked on the road. No pickpockets stole his wallet, no thugs snatched his silver coins, no prostitutes came to chat, and even those peddlers selling various goods would not come forward.

This has to do with the two burly men beside Li Yashi. They are maritime patrol inspectors of the Ming Global Trading Fleet. They are strong enough and tough enough. Similarly, the group dragon flag and seven-star flag on their epaulets represent that they are behind the Ming imperial court.

Even in Freedom City, which is far away and extremely chaotic, these desperate people who dare to kill on the street do not dare to offend the Ming people.

It's not that these desperate people are afraid of the distant Ming, but they are afraid of the 36-pound naval guns, 9-pound field guns, flat-barb guns, flintlock muskets, and iron armor of the Ming Global Trading Fleet.

Once, a pirate group that didn't have eyes offended the trading fleet, and then the trading fleet wiped out the other side's station. It was really wiping out. Artillery bombardment blew the castle into ruins. Inside the ruins were broken limbs and arms, and all the pirates were sunk into the sea by the trading fleet.

Since then, no one has dared to offend the Ming people. Absolute freedom means that having a big fist is the truth. The Ming Global Trading Fleet is doing business with swords. If they are willing to do some business, harmony brings wealth, the trading fleet is naturally very happy. But if they have to compare martial arts, the trading fleet also knows a little bit of fists and kicks.

Li Yashi went to the House of Wise Men in Freedom City. He walked and walked, and he knew he was going to arrive, because the streets here became clean, and there were street trees. The pickpockets and robbers who were not properly dressed disappeared without a trace. He couldn't see the corpses that were stripped clean and were in pieces. There were also patrols of the Great Bright Sect's protection army.

"May the light always accompany your side." Li Yashi walked into the House of Wise Men, and a priest with a Taiji badge on his chest greeted Li Yashi.

Li Yashi put his hand on his Taiji badge and said: "Light is always there, and the holy fire never goes out."

The House of Wise Men is similar to the role of a church, but different from a church. It is actually a library, which stores various books. It is also the only school in Freedom City. In the school, there are children reading books, and the sound of reading books comes continuously.

Knowledge is the carrier of wisdom. The main way to spread Ming wisdom and spread light is to spread knowledge.

Li Yashi saw a book from the Ming, which was placed in the most conspicuous place very solemnly. Anyone can consult it, but it cannot be taken out or destroyed. This book is called "Simplified Edition of the Yongle Dadian," which is the Ming's encyclopedia and also the holy scripture of the Great Bright Sect.

Li Yashi opened it and looked. It was an old book from the ninth year of Wanli. In fact, the latest version of the Ming should be the new version of the twentieth year of Wanli, which corrected many mistakes.

The Ming is extremely prosperous. Behind the prosperity is that the Ming has a sufficiently large group that can read and understand sentences, the high development of the printing industry, and the low cost of paper, woodblock, and printing.

Obviously, the West does not have such conditions. The West, which is full of serfs, has a printing industry that is struggling.

Li Yashi went to the House of Wise Men to handle procedures, handle customs clearance documents, name, origin, destination, reason, itinerary, etc., all written on the customs clearance documents to prove his identity.

This was the priest management system that Xu Fan did when he was the Portuguese Minister of State, imitating the Ming household registration system.

"Great Bright Envoy?!" The priest who handled the customs clearance documents for Li Yashi exclaimed.

"The knights behind me can prove my origin. They are maritime patrol inspectors from the Ming and are also guards sent by the prophet to protect me and return to the West smoothly." Li Yashi pointed to the two maritime patrol inspectors behind him. He actually had more things to prove his identity, but in this place in the West, they believe more in force.

The priest smiled and shook his head, saying: "From the moment you came in, I saw the knights of light. I am not doubting your identity. I know your name and your deeds. Thank you for translating so many Ming books in the Ming for twenty years."

Li Yashi didn't know that his name had long been widely spread in the West, not only among the Great Bright Sect but also among Catholic missionaries and various nobles. Li Yashi provided too much help for the Western envoys who went to the Ming.

"What are you doing back this time? Are you going to Madrid to see His Highness Felipe, or to check the preparation of the Lisbon Bright Holy Temple?" The priest needed to fill in the reason for Li Yashi's return to the West.

Li Yashi said with a complex expression: "Become a torch that illuminates the latter, the flame of light will not be extinguished, and the holy fire will shine forever."

The priest raised his head suddenly, looking at Li Yashi with eyes full of disbelief.

This sentence was the last words left by the former Grand Patriarch Ma Liang, and it is also the highest oath of the Great Bright Sect. If you say this sentence, it means you are prepared to sacrifice for the light. No god will examine this promise; this promise is just a promise the priest makes to himself.

Because it is a promise to himself, no priest dares to say this sentence easily.

The priest said with an extremely complex expression: "You shouldn't have come back. You have already reached the other shore of light. Why return to darkness and chaos?"

The other shore of the Great Bright Sect is order, not completely the Ming, but after the Wanli Reform, the Ming changed with each passing day, and the Ming has already overlapped with order.

"This is the path I seek for light." Li Yashi answered this question completely. Only by stepping into darkness can one find true light.

If he continues to stay in the Ming, Li Yashi will go crazy.

"Where to?" The priest continued to ask, filling in the customs clearance documents.

"Via Lisbon, heading to Falanxi."

The priest stopped writing, looked at Li Yashi, and said: "Respected Great Bright Envoy, I have to remind you that the Falanxi King Henry IV is hunting down Great Bright priests everywhere. You going there now is not a wise choice."

"I know this fact clearly." Li Yashi nodded. He knew the danger of Falanxi very well.

"Good luck to you, light always accompanies you." The priest paused for a moment and filled in the name of Falanxi.

Li Yashi arrived in Lisbon on New Year's Eve and met the already aging Portuguese King Antonio and the palace secretary Paulino.

On the first day of the first lunar month of the twenty-third year of Wanli, Li Yashi, in the capacity of Great Bright Envoy, went to the Bright Holy Temple. The Holy Temple had not been completed yet. This Holy Temple would take decades or even centuries to build, but it already had a main hall. Ma Liang's last piece of linen cloth was placed in the Bright Holy Temple.

After Li Yashi worshipped Ma Liang, he came to the West Hall Holy Hall.

Hundreds of Great Bright priests had been waiting here for a long time. They hoped that the omnipotent prophet would give them more inspiration.

Li Yashi stood in the circular auditorium, looking at one face after another. He noticed a group of Ming people. They were the National Affairs Council composed of the Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow Han scholar groups of Portugal.

"I see a group of lost souls." Li Yashi cleared his throat, looked around, and said.

From Freedom City to Lisbon, what Li Yashi saw were only faces full of confusion. Ma Liang's death made the Great Bright Sect finally become a church with a tighter organization from a mutual aid society.

Similarly, Ma Liang's death brought too many troubles, confusion, and unknowns to the Great Bright priests.

Where is the road ahead? This might be the inner voice of every priest.

Antonio is first the King of Portugal, and secondly, his purpose in building the Bright Holy Temple was just to unite people's hearts. He had no enthusiasm for the development of the Great Bright Sect, and even openly and secretly restricted the development of the Great Bright Sect.

He went to the pier to pick up Li Yashi because Li Yashi was a person from the Ming and also an envoy of His Majesty. This was the courtesy that should be given.

The conflict between royal power and divine power is the main contradiction in the West. When Antonio just became the Portuguese King, he expelled the Cardinal. The conflict between royal power and divine power has existed for a long time in the West, a bit like the contradiction between imperial power and ministerial power, and the contradiction between central and local areas in the Ming.

"I brought His Majesty's imperial decree." Li Yashi said the second sentence. The confusion in the priests' eyes began to fade away. Sure enough, the Great Bright Envoy brought an imperial decree from the embodiment of wisdom.

"His Majesty said: I saw Ma Liang's courage to sacrifice for the light, and I also saw the dark clouds covering the entire West. But I am far away in the Ming, tens of thousands of miles away. I have no divine power, and I cannot disperse this darkness and cruelty. In order to express affirmation of Ma Liang's courage, I posthumously confer her as the Great Patriarch of the Great Bright Sect, and bestow her the posthumous title, Saint of Light."

Before Li Yashi finished speaking, cheers erupted in the entire holy hall, one after another, and even Li Yashi's preaching of the holy decree was interrupted. The Great Bright priests had been longing for this day.

Saint is the self-proclaimed title of priests who went to the Ming to worship. Even Ma Liang, this Grand Patriarch, had never been canonized by the prophet, and was also self-proclaimed.

And today, the great Saint Emperor finally recognized Ma Liang's status and gave a posthumous title.

The Emperor has no divine power. The priests felt it was a matter of course. If the Emperor really had divine power, then why didn't the God of the West save his people from fire and water?

Denying divine power and believing in human wisdom is the core doctrine of the Great Bright Sect: Man should exist as a man, not as a servant of God.

This doctrine tells all Great Bright believers that man is man, and man should live as a man.

The cheers lasted for a long, long time before Li Yashi continued: "His Majesty said: In order to encourage people to pursue light, I bestowed a plaque with my own handwriting, Bright Holy Temple."

Cheers erupted again. The Bright Holy Temple obtained His Majesty's recognition. From now on, this is the Holy Temple of the Great Bright Sect. All the Han scholar groups breathed a sigh of relief. They left the linen cloth just for this day. From then on, Lisbon is the Holy City of Light.

Li Yashi paused for a moment and said: "His Majesty said: You must be the thunder that breaks through the darkness, and also be the light that illuminates all things."

These were indeed the original words of His Majesty's imperial decree. In order to prevent errors, His Majesty translated the imperial decree himself.

Li Yashi was in the Ministry of Rites. He knew very well that this was part of the Ministry of Rites' ideological colonization and expanding the Ming's influence. To be more impolite, it was the Ming developing distant ocean animal husbandry.

The more people who yearn for the Ming, the greater the profit the Ming will gain, and this cost is lower than direct military conquest, and the influence is more far-reaching. Putting an ideological steel seal on it may take several generations to eliminate the influence, or even impossible to eliminate.

Li Yashi closed the imperial decree and said to all the priests: "His Majesty's imperial decree is given to Grand Patriarch Ma Liang and the Bright Holy Temple. This imperial decree will also remain here for priests to admire."

Cheers resounded through the entire holy hall again. Except for that piece of linen cloth, the Bright Holy Temple obtained a new holy vessel again. This imperial decree is the proof of the rebirth of the Great Bright Sect.

"Then let me talk about the problems I see." Li Yashi handed the imperial decree to Paulino before saying with a serious expression.

"Since Ma Liang left, I have seen your anger, but you don't know what you are angry for; I have seen your resistance, but you don't know who you are resisting for; this is the root cause of your confusion. To be more specific, you don't know where you are coming from or where you are going."

"Without goals, without rules, without planning, all anger and resistance are more like a gorgeous stage play performance. Everyone is trying hard to play their own role, but they are just playing."

"This confusion has caused the chaos, fragility, cowardice, and disorder of the Great Bright Sect."

"In the process of pursuing light, we have created more killings and darkness, turning into so-called thunder, not dispersing the dark clouds, but becoming another dark cloud pressing on everyone's head. This kind of purposeless reform is a more terrifying dark cloud."

"Because once you encounter setbacks in the process of reform, you will kneel down and continue to be serfs. If you encounter a little difficulty, you will leave and give up."

"What is reform?"

"From the perspective of the Ming's change, change is never simple destruction, not destruction, not arbitrarily venting emotions on others, not abandoning one's own humanity and morality, but seeking rebirth, seeking construction, and seeking order in destruction. This is reform."

"I have seen destruction, but I have not seen rebirth."

All the priests were listening quietly to Li Yashi's speech. As Li Yashi explained the process of the Ming's change, the eyes of the priests became brighter and brighter. They finally understood the root of the Great Bright Sect, which lacked some wisdom. What Li Yashi said was construction, order, and rebirth, not destruction and ruin.

"Destroying a world only gets a destroyed world; in the process of breaking the old world, build a new world bit by bit. Only after reform can you get a new world."

"This is the Ming's reform, this is the Ming's change of dynasty." Li Yashi took a deep breath and let out his first shout in the West.

"Empty talk is useless. I brought the Camp Manor Field Law from the Ming." Li Yashi held up a book in his hand and said loudly: "Light starts from abolishing serfs!"