Chapter 1077: Try It, Don't Die Trying!

Zhu Yijun's policy toward overseas had absolutely no mercy at all. This was actually a very strange state, because according to the correctness of Confucianism, it should be "proclaiming virtue and softening the distant people." This correctness was actually established in the Northern Song.

During the Northern Song, Wang Anshi's reform was in full swing. The Song Shenzong, who supported Wang Anshi's reform, passed away. The successor, Zhezong, was only ten years old. The Empress Dowager presided over the government from behind the curtain. With the young ruler and the country in doubt, Wang Anshi still wanted to persist in the reform, but the Empress Dowager enabled Sima Guang.

Sima Guang returned to the court and immediately abolished the Baojia Law, the Square Field and Equitable Tax Law, the Market Exchange Law, the Bao-Horse Law, the Exemption Law, the Green Sprouts Law, and the General Law. Even the land recovered during the Northern Expedition of Yuanyou was returned to Western Xia intact.

Preferring to abandon land rather than engage in political struggle was typical of fighting for the sake of fighting. Sima Guang returned the land and immediately breathed his last, dying on the spot.

Since then, "proclaiming virtue and softening the distant people" became a kind of correctness. This correctness completely disappeared after Yashan, until the Tianshun period of the Ming Yingzong, when it became correctness again.

After Zhu Qizhen was captured by the Oirat, the Ming repelled Yesian and demanded Zhu Qizhen back from the Oirat. Zhu Qizhen lived in the Southern Palace for seven years and launched the "Duo Men" (Seizing the Gate) incident in the eighth year of Jingtai, re-ascending the throne.

At this time, Zhu Qizhen urgently needed a suitable explanation to explain the Tumu Fortress disaster; otherwise, his restoration would lack sufficient legitimacy.

And not proclaiming virtue and not softening the distant people became a kind of error. It was said that in the fourteenth year of Zhengtong, Yesian sent an envoy to pay tribute, and Wang Zhen gave reward money based on the actual number of the delegation, which was less than one-fifth of the previous amount, causing the Oirat to be furious and invade south, which led to the Tumu Fortress disaster.

This explanation, even during the Tianshun period, could not stand up to scrutiny.

The survivor of Tumu Fortress, Grand Secretary Li Xian, directly used sarcasm in his memorial, writing down the facts that the Duke of Ying, Zhang Fu, the Duke of Cheng, Zhu Yong, the Minister of War, Kuang Ye, and the Director of the Imperial Observatory, Peng Deqing, and others had blocked the Emperor from personally leading the expedition.

The Duke who fought the war, the Ministry of War in charge of military affairs, and even the Imperial Observatory all used the "interaction between heaven and man" to block the Ming Yingzong, and the reasons were consistent:

"The Emperor is the master of the ancestral temples and the country; one truly cannot but be self-respecting. The safety of the country depends on the master; how can one advance lightly? If there is a slip, I fear the Son of Heaven will be trapped in the wilderness."

Zhu Qizhen wanted to attribute the blame for the Tumu Fortress disaster to not being "kind" enough, while Li Xian, as Zhu Qizhen's Chief Grand Secretary and Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, did not think it was because he was not "kind" enough, but because he, Zhu Qizhen, did not listen to the ministers' advice and obstruction.

Fighting a war was definitely not child's play; it was a very serious state affair that required caution and more caution. Directly exposing the heart to the opponent, how could the soldiers fight?

Of course, it was not that one could not expose the heart to the opponent. For example, the Emperor Chengzu Wen personally led the expedition five times. As soon as he left the fortress, the grassland people immediately fled a thousand miles away. If one had the martial prowess of Emperor Wen that shook the world, doing so would of course be no problem. Before the battle even started, the opponent would be so scared that their morale would be gone, naturally winning every battle.

But were you, Zhu Qizhen, a horse-riding emperor like Emperor Wen?

Yesian was also not strong. The Oirat were beaten black and blue in the capital. The Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu could win, but you, Zhu Qizhen, could not win. You did not ask yourself the reason, but wanted to attribute it to not being "kind" enough, causing the distant people to invade?

This kind of explanation could fool ghosts, and even ghosts would curse it as nonsense!

Li Xian of course did not directly curse Zhu Qizhen, but cursed the eunuch Wang Zhen beside Zhu Qizhen. In the Ming, cursing a eunuch was actually cursing the Emperor.

Li Xian could block it for a while, but the court needed to explain the legitimacy of Zhu Qizhen's restoration. In the end, not being "kind" enough became political correctness, and finally, "softening the distant people" reached its peak in the Xiaozong reign.

During the Hongzhi reign, there was great kindness and special kindness, which resulted in the power of the Little Prince Dayan Khan developing to the terrifying level of six ten-Battalion Commander. Even when Andahan reached his peak, he only had four ten-Battalion Commander under him, while Dayan Khan had a full six.

In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, Xiaozong breathed his last, and the fourteen-year-old Wuzong ascended the throne. Only ten days after Xiaozong died, the Ming was defeated in the Battle of Yutailing.

Ten days—the news of Xiaozong's death could not even reach the grassland. This proved that no matter how much or how little you were kind, it would not delay the grassland from invading the border.

The Battle of Yutailing, a battle rarely mentioned by anyone, was known to Zhu Yijun because the Imperial Teacher Qi Jiguang mentioned it when lecturing on military affairs. This battle was also called by Qi Jiguang: "The Tumu Fortress disaster has never had such shame."

This was the beginning of the bankruptcy of the "softening the distant people" policy. The court had been kind to the grassland for so many years, from the Tianshun period all the way to the eighteenth year of Hongzhi. For such a result, Qi Jiguang very impolitely said that the wolf cub, the Little Prince Dayan Khan, was raised by the Ming itself.

Since then, the correctness of "softening the distant people" began to go downhill.

But after the Battle of Yutailing, the Ming also took a crooked path. This crooked path was the warrior route of the Ming Wuzong, that is, the elite camp soldier route.

It was artificially and deliberately creating a warrior class that was detached from agricultural production. The war completely relied on the elite warrior class, and the detached warrior class needed to rely on a larger tenant farmer class for support, which led to a large amount of resources needing to be allocated to the warrior class, which was raising a group of arrogant soldiers.

These arrogant soldiers cooperated with the Ming Wuzong to win the Battle of Yingzhou, but the social burden was severely aggravated.

The reason why Qi Jiguang believed that this warrior route detached from workers and farmers was a mistake was mainly because the Ming court was too poor and simply could not afford to raise such arrogant soldiers. If you were rich enough, raising them this way would be no problem at all.

The route of Wanli's "Zhenwu" (Vigorous Martial Arts) looked like an elite warrior route represented by the Beijing Camp, but in fact, it was actually following the total war thinking of Qin and Han.

The elite soldiers of the Beijing Camp and the soldiers of the navy had to undertake certain social responsibilities and were not completely detached from workers and farmers. After retiring, they also had to enter the engineering corps and regiments, organizing engineering soldiers to carry out construction and production, going to local areas, and maintaining stability in one area.

For example, the Zhejiang Nine Camps went on patrol, the navy went on patrol regularly to clear out water bandits and sea pirates, and the Beijing Camp regularly sent out to clear out horse bandits and mountain bandits. Li Chengliang could not stand the endless chatter of the civil officials in the court, and since it was not easy to vent, he took the cavalry and infantry camps and ran to the grassland, repelling the southward invasion of the seven tribes of Outer Khalkha.

This kind of institutional planning and construction was to let the soldiers come from the people and return to the people.

Only by truly achieving "reporting to the Son of Heaven above and saving the common people below" could the construction of the military soul be thoroughly completed.

Zhu Yijun's talent in military affairs was not high. He directly followed Qi Jiguang's plan, and he could not come up with a better method. As far as the result was concerned, the Ming's military administration was unprecedentedly healthy.

This was also the reason for Zhu Yijun's tyranny toward the outside. The Ming's military appearance shone with heavenly might. When he gave general "kindness" to the outside, the soldiers would think that if these things were given to them, they could snatch back everything the Emperor wanted, and snatch back double!

Before Wang Jiaping left the Imperial Study of the Tonghe Palace, he met Gao Qiyu, who had come for an audience.

"Greetings, Minister of Justice. Minister of Justice, I trust you have been well. I know that the Western Trade Alliance can be considered a success." Gao Qiyu said with a face full of smiles: "Unlike the silver of the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance, the Western Trade Alliance has two treasures: Hongwu Baochao and barbarian slaves."

Gao Qiyu paid close attention to Wang Jiaping. The Western Trade Alliance led by Wang Jiaping and the Eastern Trade Alliance were actually in a contradictory relationship of competition and cooperation.

"The Vice Minister of Rites is high-spirited. I am just walking in your footsteps, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning." Wang Jiaping heard Gao Qiyu mention the Western Trade Alliance and waved his hands repeatedly, saying: "The Ming military is tyrannical and can conquer Da Nang, which is why the Western Trade Alliance can be so smooth."

"The Vice Minister of Rites also knows clearly that these barbarian envoys open their mouths like lions, but after the Ming conquered Annam, everyone became as honest as a quail and immediately became reasonable."

Gao Qiyu said with some emotion: "Using barbarian ways to treat barbarians—this was the route set by Duke Wengong (Wan Shihe) back then; it is indeed very easy to use."

Wan Shihe, Wan Wengong, was a sycophant who died of illness back then. The Emperor gave him the posthumous title "Wengong." At that time, everyone said it was given a bit too high. There were many opposing voices in the court, and many people felt that the Ministry of Rites giving such a high-standard posthumous title was just hard-lifting an old superior.

But the Emperor still stood against the opposing voices and gave such a high posthumous title to this sycophant who only knew how to please his superiors.

And what Wan Shihe did, in the final analysis, was just one sentence: use barbarian ways to treat barbarians.

This established the style of the Ministry of Rites in the Wanli reign, and those who came later benefited greatly. Likewise, Gao Qiyu agreed even more with the posthumous title "Wengong."

"Minister of Justice, there is one more thing I need the Minister of Justice to help with." Gao Qiyu began to form a clique in front of the eunuchs. The eunuchs' eyes changed when they looked at Gao Qiyu.

"Forming cliques and acting for private interests is the act of a usurping minister."

Gao Qiyu asking Wang Jiaping for help looked very much like a usurping minister.

"This cannot be said; this is the Tonghe Palace." Wang Jiaping's face tightened. This Gao Qiyu was never reckless; why did he say such things in the Tonghe Palace?

"State affairs." Gao Qiyu said with a calm face: "In public, can I still talk about private matters? Mainly, I want the Minister of Justice to help persuade His Majesty. The Dinghai School System needs money again."

"This..." Wang Jiaping frowned and said: "This year, the Ministry of Revenue's expenditure for the Dinghai School System was huge, reaching 25 million silver. You actually still want to add money?"

"His Majesty won't even see me now." Gao Qiyu said helplessly: "The Yiwei Military System—the Ming wants to build twenty-seven border camps. This is a good thing, but the Beijing Camp has the Lecture University, which has its own three-level school. These border camps at least need to have three-level schools."

"How much do you want?" Wang Jiaping determined that this had to be built, and His Majesty would obviously not block it. That meant there was a disagreement on the specific funds, and it was a huge disagreement, which led to His Majesty the Emperor refusing to agree.

"Ten million silver." Gao Qiyu said in a low voice.

"You go yourself." As soon as Wang Jiaping heard this number, he flicked his sleeves and left, not even giving Gao Qiyu a chance to speak.

Ten million silver—Gao Qiyu really had the nerve to open his mouth!

"Minister of Justice, stay your steps, stay your steps!" Gao Qiyu hurriedly chased after him. For the past half month, he had found all the cabinet ministers, and even ran to the Yicheng Marquis Mansion to find Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng originally thought Gao Qiyu had encountered some insurmountable obstacle and let the gatekeeper ask what was the matter. As soon as he heard ten million silver, he did not even let him in the door.

As soon as Wang Jiaping heard this, he walked quickly, saying as he walked: "I am not the Minister of Justice; you can find someone else."

Wang Jiaping was after all a few years older. After a long tug-of-war of a quarter of an hour, he was caught by Gao Qiyu and had to return to the Imperial Study of the Tonghe Palace with Gao Qiyu to have an audience with His Majesty.

The Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun saw Wang Jiaping return, then looked at Gao Qiyu, slapped the table and stood up, pointed at Gao Qiyu's nose and cursed: "Gao Qiyu, you really have the nerve to open your mouth! Ten million silver, I tell you, there is no money, but I have one life! Why don't you take my life!"

"My silver has all been given to gold storage and the Dinghai School System, and you still want it! I'll give you my life!"

"Your Majesty, calm your anger! Calm your anger! Anger hurts the body, anger hurts the body." Wang Jiaping saw this posture and knew that His Majesty was truly out of money.

His Majesty was frugal. The silver saved over these years had almost all been thrown into the Dinghai School System. Gao Qiyu was insatiable, pushing for more, and still wanted ten million silver. It was no wonder the Emperor was angry.

Wang Jiaping was willing to follow Gao Qiyu, also feeling that His Majesty possessed the world, and ten million silver, although a lot, should still be able to be taken out. But Wang Jiaping only then realized he had thought too much.

After gold storage, it could not be moved at will; otherwise, it would be a credit crisis for the gold Hongwu Baochao.

His Majesty was indeed out of money.

"Divide it into five years, and it's only two million silver a year." Gao Qiyu said very firmly: "Your Majesty, this is absolutely worth it! Your Majesty, these ten million silver must be spent even if you don't want to; otherwise, these border troops will be elites raised by the local areas in the future, not by the court! Since the Yiwei Military System is to be implemented, the Dinghai School System must keep up!"

"Your Majesty, in a thousand words, one must let these border camp soldiers know whose grain they are eating! Whose clothes they are wearing! And who they should be loyal to!"

Gao Qiyu's attitude was unprecedentedly firm. It was absolutely not the posture a lone minister should have. Gao Qiyu insisted on pulling Wang Jiaping along just to be a witness. Even if His Majesty killed him today, he was doing it for state affairs, for the Ming, not for the sake of opposing for the sake of opposing!

"Someone! Take off his official robe and send him to the Northern Town Faction! Give him the five poisons punishment, and he will wake up!" Zhu Yijun slapped the table and shouted loudly.

Zhao Mengyou took people and directly pressed Gao Qiyu down, took off his official robe and put it aside. However, Zhao Mengyou did not take the person away directly. Obviously, this fight was not over yet.

Over these years, only Master Zhang had quarreled with His Majesty like this. Even Shen Shixing did not dare, but Gao Qiyu truly had great courage.

"Gao Qiyu, I ask you, where will the money come from! I don't have it, and the Ministry of Revenue's expenditure has been done. The silver in the accounts all has a destination. You tell me, where will the silver come from?" Zhu Yijun then sat down and said helplessly: "I have explained it so clearly to you, and you still come to pester me. For what reason?"

"For the Ming dynasty and the country!" Gao Qiyu struggled, was pressed to the ground, and still stiffened his neck and said: "Where will the silver come from? Just confiscate their property!"

"You..." Zhu Yijun pointed at Gao Qiyu, almost saying dirty words.

Zhu Yijun thought carefully, don't say it, really don't say it, this was really a way.

"There are some powerful families who have no respect. Your Majesty, for the sake of the Ming dynasty and the country, you have traveled long distances, running between Songjiang Prefecture and Shuntian Prefecture. Some powerful families actually colluded with those evil spirits to curse the Emperor. Confiscate their property? Executing their nine clans is already being lenient!" Gao Qiyu struggled again and said loudly.

Wang Jiaping only then realized that this was aimed at him! The Emperor and the Vice Minister of Rites acting out this scene was simply acting for him to see.

Any political decree eventually had to return to one problem: who would execute it.

The border camp three-level school should be built; education was an extremely expensive investment with the longest return cycle; ten million silver was simply not enough, and perhaps this five-year period would have to be added to; His Majesty's inner treasury was empty, and the national treasury's expenditure already had a destination; the Emperor and the Vice Minister of Rites had a fierce conflict, shouting the word "confiscate property," and the reasons were all found.

It was just waiting for Wang Jiaping to come forward to smooth things over and take on this errand.

He, the Minister of Justice, was the most suitable for this.

The atmosphere in the Imperial Study of the Tonghe Palace became somewhat awkward because of Wang Jiaping's silence.

"Get up. Day in and day out, talking nonsense! Commander, take off his official robe and send him to the Northern Town Faction! Give him the five poisons punishment, and he will wake up!" Zhu Yijun waved his hand and let Gao Qiyu go.

He was not acting with Gao Qiyu, nor was he aiming at Wang Jiaping. He never used others to apply thunder. In the Southern Yamen tribute selection case, six hundred and twenty households were executed. He personally went to supervise the execution. For an Emperor who supervised the execution at the Meridian Gate the day before his wedding, he did not care about the name of a tyrant.

Sometimes, when some contradictions intensify to a certain point, not killing people simply cannot solve them.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to confiscate property. To recruit 1.8 million silver for planting trees in the Northwest, the Sun family in Songjiang Prefecture alone took out 800,000 silver. For this matter, just issue a special national debt." Wang Jiaping saw that the Emperor truly had the intention to confiscate property to get some silver to spend, and hurriedly persuaded him with the way of benevolence and forgiveness.

Isn't it just lacking 10 million silver? What a big deal! Is it necessary to go to the point of confiscating property? The lives of the powerful are also lives.

"Can anyone subscribe? This is to be invested in the three-level schools of the border camps, not the Suiyuan road." Zhu Yijun had issued a special national debt once, but later the Ministry of Revenue refused to do it, which lost a bit of flexibility.

Gao Qiyu thought carefully and said: "Confiscating property is still faster. When the time comes, when borrowing silver, ten years later, the money returned will be Hongwu Baochao, and these powerful families will talk nonsense again."

"That is the logic." Zhu Yijun deeply agreed.

Wang Jiaping's breath hitched. Li Yashi said that His Majesty would show unreserved partiality toward the poor and the laboring classes, and that such partiality would lead to major problems. Clearly, this concern was by no means groundless; His Majesty would not even issue special national bonds, directly assuming that the powerful and wealthy would not make voluntary contributions.

Try it, don't die trying!

His Majesty's thinking was not strange. During the Jiajing period, the annual financial revenue was no more than 5 or 6 million silver, and there was no silver for anything.

After policies like the Wanli Reform land measurement, opening the sea, official factories, and merging local financial revenue into the court were implemented, the Ming's revenue in the twenty-second year of Wanli exceeded 63 million silver, and it was still increasing rapidly.

Why was the Tax Audit Institute, this notorious and evil yamen, still expanding until now? Who let the powerful refuse to pay taxes before? Without a knife at their necks, they wouldn't even pay taxes!

"Issue it and try, Your Majesty. Not teaching and then killing is cruelty." Wang Jiaping made his final effort. Regarding the matter of Hu Junde discovering that the powerful in Songjiang colluded with the Extreme Joy Sect and the "Calling Soul" evil spirits to curse the Emperor, whoever encountered it would feel disgusted. His Majesty had indeed been very, very restrained.

Being a tyrant was normal, but not teaching and then killing was still not good. It was not benevolent; it was not tyranny, but cruelty.

But His Majesty wanting to confiscate property was also very reasonable.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a Liu Song in the Southern Dynasty. Liu Yu established Liu Song. After he passed away, he passed the throne to Liu Yilong, who was Emperor Wen of Song.

Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong, had a crown prince named Liu Shao. Liu Shao was made crown prince when he was six years old.

In his later years, Liu Yilong wanted to depose the crown prince, because the crown prince, who could not wait, joined forces with his sister, Princess Dongyang, and let the witch Yan Daoyu curse Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong, to death.

Cursing to death was impossible, but after this matter was exposed, Liu Yilong intended to depose the crown prince.

Crown Prince Liu Shao naturally would not sit still and wait for death, directly raising an army to rebel, attacking the palace from the Longlong Gate and the Donghua Gate. Liu Shao's general, Zhang Chaozhi, under Liu Shao's order, killed Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong.

Liu Shao killed his father to seize the throne, which was extremely rebellious and unheard of, causing opposition from the world. Soon, he was abandoned by everyone, and after only two months on the throne, he was killed by Emperor Xiaowu of Song, Liu Jun.

The reason of cursing to death was very sufficient. His Majesty using this as an opportunity to start a great prison was reasonable and could not even be counted as cruelty.

Wang Jiaping made his final effort. If the powerful did not have eyes, then it could not be blamed on His Majesty.

"Then try it." Zhu Yijun finally agreed to the cabinet minister Wang Jiaping and made the final decision.

The opening of the court covering the bottom could not be opened. Once opened, it would be a huge wound that could never heal. Today the court covered the bottom for the local sale of land without accounts back then; tomorrow, it would have to cover the bottom for all the mistakes made by the local yamen.

This was not a question of whether it should be done, but a question of whether it could be done. The court was not an omnipotent god and simply could not cover it.

"Your Majesty is wise." Wang Jiaping also reported the progress of the Western Trade Alliance, which had been successfully established. The candidate for the General Director of the Western Trade Alliance had also been completely determined. Originally, Wang Jiaping felt that setting up the Western Trade Alliance in Guangzhou Prefecture was safer, but in the end, after discussions with the Ministry of Revenue, it was chosen to be in Da Nang.

The geographical location of Da Nang was similar to Ryukyu for the Ming. If Ryukyu and Taiwan were not guarded, and the Three Han were ruins, the importance of Da Nang was not weaker than Ryukyu or Keelung Island. More bluntly, if Da Nang was not under the control of the Ming, Annam would rebel again.

Therefore, setting up the Western Trade Alliance Council in Da Nang was to increase the intensity of rule over Jiaozhi and prevent this backyard of the South Seas from being snatched away by others.

"Last year, Guangzhou issued an additional 12 million guan (strings of cash) in a targeted manner. This year, 6 million guan was set. Luzon added 4 million guan. Does the Western Trade Alliance also need to add 2 million guan?" Zhu Yijun had to face another problem: the over-issuance of Hongwu Baochao (paper currency).

"Issue it." Zhu Yijun deliberated for a while and finally agreed to issue the currency, but the issuance of currency was not without conditions. If the Western Trade Alliance could not produce goods of equivalent value, it would be reduced.

Zhu Yijun had a soft and benevolent heart toward the Ming hinterland, but toward overseas, he had absolutely no pity at all. ===== CHAPTER 1078 =====

He dared not think too deeply; the more he thought, the more afraid he became.

In just one day, the special national bonds issued by the Shuntian Prefecture were snapped up. Even the family members Wang Qian had left behind in the capital bought a full 1.2 million guan. The Shuntian Prefecture had only 4 million silver in total, and the Wang and Yao families had directly devoured more than half of it.

The Songjiang and Yingtian Prefectures jointly undertook 6 million silver, and it took only three days to sell them all out.

In the north, there was the Bai Lianjiao; in the south, there were the Soul-Calling Sect and the Bliss Sect. However, the powerful and wealthy in the north had not colluded with the Bai Lianjiao to curse the Emperor to death—at least, nothing had been uncovered yet.

The case primarily handled by Hu Junde was backed by ironclad evidence—human, physical, and documentary. Hu Junde had indeed released those who were merely implicated, but as for the chief culprits, Hu Junde's opinion was that they should be executed along with their entire families.

Being able to spend money to buy one's life was already a matter of burning high incense.

Moreover, having experienced the turmoil of His Majesty's critical illness, the entire Ming Dynasty had reached a consensus: the massive undertaking of the Wanli Reform truly required His Majesty to personally manage it. A stable system and inertia had not yet formed; if His Majesty were truly gone, it would likely be a catastrophic disaster for everyone.

Everyone was cursing those powerful and wealthy individuals who had colluded with evil spirits. This bunch of idiots who deserved to be struck by lightning had severely damaged the image of the powerful and wealthy in His Majesty's eyes, to the point that since the celestial anomalies, the image of loyalty to the monarch and devotion to the state—which the powerful, wealthy, and local gentry had painstakingly built by strictly following the sixty-four promises regarding the celestial anomalies—was destroyed in an instant.

Zhu Yijun waited until the silver was deposited into the treasury, and only after approving Gao Qiyu's memorial did he smile and say to Zhang Hong: "Most of the powerful and wealthy in our Great Ming can still understand the court's difficulties. They gathered it all in just these few days, much faster than I thought. It was just those few rotten pieces of meat that spoiled a whole pot of good soup!"

"His Majesty is sagacious." Zhang Hong offered a hypocritical compliment. His Majesty's face changed truly fast; once he got the silver, he immediately became amiable.

Zhang Hong was very clear that if the sale of the special national bonds had not gone smoothly, His Majesty would have had the Embroidered Uniform Guard ready to conduct raids and confiscations.

Yao Guangqi was the General Director of the East Asia Commercial Alliance. It was the actions of Yao Guangqi's father after receiving the news that allowed this 10 million silver debt to be digested in just one day.

The Great Ming court had issued national bonds only twice in total. In the ninth year of Wanli, His Majesty wanted to repair the Suiyuan Imperial Road and was short 10 million silver, so he issued them once. The second time was in the twenty-third year of Wanli, when the Yiwei military system and the Dinghai academic system collided, and funds were a bit tight.

For the powerful and wealthy, the frequency with which His Majesty borrowed money was completely acceptable.

This silver was not "crime-redemption silver"; it was the collective of the powerful and wealthy paying the bill for those few black sheep to appease His Majesty. His Majesty liked silver; once given the silver, His Majesty would not implicate the innocent or engage in mass executions.

Moreover, His Majesty had excellent credit; once he owed, he would definitely repay. Even if he repaid with precious banknotes, as long as those banknotes could be spent like real gold and silver, then it counted as repayment.

"Your Majesty, the Grand Physicians Chen Shigong and Pang Xian request an audience." A young eunuch walked in hurriedly.

"Summon them."

Chen Shigong and Pang Xian brought bad news: Governor Ling Yunyi was critically ill and could not ingest water or food. The two Grand Physicians had entered the palace to request His Majesty's permission to use opium to relieve Governor Ling Yunyi's pain so that they could administer medicine and continue treatment.

"Why does the Grand Coordinator Ling refuse to use opium?" Zhu Yijun's brows were tightly furrowed.

Chen Shigong and Pang Xian looked at each other and explained the inside story: Governor Ling Yunyi was extremely resistant to opium and firmly refused, believing that after using it, he would turn into a monster or demon and would no longer be himself. If this dragged on any longer, he would likely be truly near death.

"I will speak to him personally." Zhu Yijun put down the memorial in his hand and immediately ordered his carriage to Governor Ling Yunyi's residence.

"Greetings, Your Majesty. My body is ailing, and I cannot perform the full kowtow; I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness." Governor Ling Yunyi was lying in bed, but his spirit was still quite good.

"Grand Coordinator Ling, I did not follow the doctor's orders, causing everyone in the world to worry along with me. If you don't take your medicine and don't follow the doctor's orders, how will you get better?" Zhu Yijun sat by the bedside and said very firmly: "Use it if you must; this is for healing."

"I know my own body; I don't have many days left to live, so there is no need to put myself through this again." Governor Ling Yunyi shook his head and said: "When I was young, I didn't know how to cherish my body, and I didn't take injuries seriously. Now that old wounds have recurred, I don't want to suffer any more."

When old wounds recur, coupled with declining bodily functions, the pain makes one truly wish for death.

In this situation, once one uses opium, one must rely on it to sustain life. Governor Ling Yunyi was a very proud man; he did not want to rely on external objects to hang onto his last breath, living half-dead—it would be better to just die.