Chapter 1083: Morality on the Lips, Business in the Heart

Zhu Yijun went to great lengths, and in the twenty-third year of Zhenwu, the iterative development of new-style firearms, cannons, naval guns, field artillery, and gunpowder kept emerging one after another; this approach actually had only one purpose: to make killing more convenient, faster, with fewer casualties and lower costs.

In this era, any pioneer has a demand for low-cost, high-efficiency killing.

In the early years of the Wanli Reforms, the Tuman Khan was caught between the Great Ming and the Altan Khan, forced to surrender to the Great Ming, which accepted his surrender and placed him in the capital for honorable retirement; later, when he entered the court to resist the Japanese, the Great Ming used the hands of the fake Korean Li Shunchen to kill the Korean king Li Yan.

Now that we have captured Zheng Zhu, there is no need for honorable retirement or to act through others; a fair trial will suffice.

If someone keeps raising rebellions in the name of avenging Zheng Song, the Great Ming army can choose to kill everyone to eliminate opposing forces—this is the meaning of Zhenwu, and the Great Ming has more and more leisurely options.

Likewise, this is also a screening process: when the tough ones are all dead, the history and survival experience of this place will leave only submission to the strong.

In fact, the Western Shang Alliance follows the same principle: deliberately setting such a large price difference aims to conduct regulation; once the Great Ming has paid enough premiums, it can obtain the status of a pet dog—of course, whether the Great Ming shows favor depends entirely on the morality of its people.

Coincidentally, the people of the Great Ming truly possess morality.

If one sincerely pledges allegiance and even willingly calls the ruler father, then naturally protecting them comes as a matter of course.

Even if Zhu Yijun loves eating alone, he did indeed protect Antonio and Laos.

One cannot blame these overseas barbarian small states for wanting to pledge allegiance to the Great Ming, for the story of Dao Lansheng's victory also spread overseas.

The Great Ming's eastern and western trade routes: the eastern route mainly leads to the Taixi colonies, spreading the legend of Antonio—this man had no talent for kingship, but relied on Great Ming support to secure his throne, even daring to strike at nobles and winning; the western route spreads the legend of Laos pledging allegiance to the Ming.

When Laos had not yet pledged allegiance to the Great Ming, it was bullied by Annan, by Burmese bandits, by Brunei, and by Siam; Dao Lansheng's family lived as if walking on thin ice, one misstep away from collapse.

But when Laos pledged allegiance to the Great Ming, Dao Lansheng led the Lao people, following the Great Ming army to punch the Burmese bandits and kick Annan, reaping full benefits; crucially, the Lao people could still bask in the influence of Wang Hua, and even the Great Ming court built the first official post road for Laos.

Of course, the Great Ming's need for Laos' Jingjue salt is a genuine need; the main purpose of building this road was for Jingjue salt, but to the Lao people, this road is not merely a salt route—it is a lifeline, imperial grace in abundance, and the benevolence of the Great Ming.

Zhu Yijun held a miscellaneous report in his hand and read it for a long time; this report was written by Chen Zhun, the academic director of Songjiang Academy, and its content discussed an old topic: the Han dynasty's江山, generation after generation of loyal and good men.

The Han dynasty's江山 is indeed generation after generation of loyal and good men; throughout China's long history, there have been too many torches lighting the way for those who came after.

But Chen Zhun, in the report, argued that the number of loyal and good men is limited; benevolent scholars and aspiring individuals, no matter the time, are always a minority among minorities; once these benevolent scholars are exhausted, the Great Ming perishes, and the world perishes with it.

Chen Zhun discussed the late Southern Song at the end of the Yuan dynasty, when loyal and good men were exhausted, the court fell, and the world fell with it—whether it was Wen Tianxiang or Lu XiuFu, on their deathbeds they were desperate; in their view, the possibility of returning like lightning after falling to the barbarians was minuscule.

Their generous sacrifice was to leave the last dignity for the long Chinese civilization; this civilization cannot die in such disgrace.

Wen Tianxiang was urged to surrender four times, and Kublai even offered him the position of chancellor, but Wen Tianxiang still went to his death righteously; in his view, Chinese civilization has endured thousands of years, and he wished to give this brilliant, flourishing, slowly declining civilization a final period.

Afterwards, Chen Zhun brought up the end of the Yuan and beginning of the Ming, posing a terrifying question: everyone assumes that every chaotic age will produce a Zhu Yuanzhang rising from nowhere, but if another chaotic age comes and there is no such hero to rise from nowhere, what then?

The sun and moon darken and then brighten again—this is truly too special; in Chen Zhun's view, the contingency here is truly too great; even if Zhu Yuanzhang were to come again, he himself would probably not dare guarantee success.

From the experience of other places, when a civilization perishes, it is gone forever—just like a person who dies cannot come back to life.

If there is no Zhu Yuanzhang, what then?

If one examines the history of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, one finds that four hundred years of chaos were simply due to the lack of a figure who could strike the decisive blow—not that there were no heroes or great men, but they were all mere rats; each time they fell just short, and that shortfall amounted to three or four hundred years.

Chen Zhun inwardly disagrees with the idea that "circumstances create heroes" and that without Zhu Yuanzhang there would be Li Yuanzhang or Chen Yuanzhang, because the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, were all chaotic for so long—why did no heroic figure emerge to end the chaos?

Rome has been dead for so many years—why have we not seen Rome's Zhu Yuanzhang return like lightning?

If there is no Zhu Yuanzhang, the result will certainly be like the sun never rising again, and the earth will forever sink into the hell of eternal night.

How to cultivate enough benevolent scholars and loyal and good men is a problem that must be considered in the Wanli Reform process; an obvious truth is that the Great Ming's江山 is propped up by the backbone, not by weaklings—these people, besides surrendering, serve no other purpose.

"Is he complaining that I don't govern broadly enough?" Zhu Yijun, after reading the first half, deeply agreed; reading the second half, he felt Chen Zhun had taken advantage and still acted cute.

He was specially pardoned, personally fished out by the emperor, because he spoke up for poor laborers and spoke for them; as long as he, as a scholar-official, still wishes to speak truth to the people, this imperial favor will not be withdrawn.

In the second half, he mentioned what he believes the court has failed to do.

First, the control over public opinion is really too lax!

To this day, two hundred years after the founding of the Great Ming, Jiangnan still widely holds the public opinion of "stop offering tribute"; it seems that as long as one serves the court, one is a flatterer, a sycophant with soft bones—for example, Wan Shi and, who clearly made great contributions, is poorly regarded simply because he fawned on superiors.

This public opinion, disloyal to the court, disloyal to the Great Ming, disloyal to Jiangshan Sheji, opposing the court, opposing imperial edicts, opposing the Great Ming's development and seeking only eternal glory in one place, still exists openly and aboveboard—it is simply against heavenly principle.

The prosperity of Songjiang Prefecture came from the court's strong support of the open-sea policy, from the sustenance of the nine provinces; yet these magnates of Songjiang Prefecture, having eaten their fill for just a few days, began calling outsiders "village mothers" and even tried every means to evade taxes!

Even Sun Kehong's son Sun Chengzhi was affected by this public opinion: when the court wanted to plant trees, Sun Kehong was willing to donate, but Sun Chengzhi said, "What is my own silver? Why should I give it to people ten thousand li away whom I will never see in this life?"

If the court does nothing and allows this public opinion to develop unchecked, allowing money to corrupt and erode without stop, even the benevolent scholars will become disloyal and wicked.

Second, the court's management of education is really too lax!

Admittedly, in peaceful times, dealing with scholars is indeed not easy, and the court seems to be intentionally tightening education—for example, Shen Shixing's loyalist review and the strict enforcement at the Imperial Academy—but the effort is simply insufficient.

The existence of the "stop offering tribute" public opinion is precisely because the Great Ming's private schools are extremely widespread; to this day, the Great Ming court has not produced any effective system to manage these private schools, leaving them to produce idle talkers who spout nonsense.

Recently, Songjiang Prefecture has been permeated by a public opinion: since the emperor wants to plant trees in the northwest for the sake of heavenly principle, why not abolish the Shengzhou Mine, which mines coal, and the Xishan Coal Bureau, which burns coal and produces coke?!

Then the capital would have no coal smoke! A dilemma for self-resolution.

But these pedants who only know idle talk have never considered: without the Shengzhou Mine, without the Xishan Coal Bureau, what will the Great Ming people burn, what will they live on? Trees have been cut down almost completely; no trees, no firewood, and then no coal—what will they burn?

To destroy the Xishan Coal Bureau and the Shengzhou Mine for the sake of heavenly principle—such a brain-diseased public opinion, yet it runs rampant in Songjiang Prefecture; these pedants, let alone engaging in labor or production, probably don't even know how their meals are prepared.

Third, the court's education has a major problem: it overemphasizes theory and lacks sufficient practice.

As the academic director of the Imperial Academy, Chen Zhun sometimes feels that what he teaches these students—can they really use it? Obviously, the vast majority cannot; lacking practice to correct cognition, the more one reads, the more one becomes a pedant.

To become a proper person, one must have correct ideas, and understanding the world through such ideas can only be built through practice; any experience or thought detached from practice cannot guide a person to live a stable life.

The ultimate result of education lacking practice is merely the cultivation of idle talkers.

A person's values form from spirit to matter, then from matter to spirit, then from spirit to matter—this process cannot lack any part.

What people learn from teachers, parents, relatives and friends—unverified experiences—must be tested in practice, in material society; in practice, one examines and corrects one's cognition and moral standards, gradually achieving unity of knowledge and action; then, based on corrected experience, one guides one's production and life.

Life is a cultivation; this is the process of an individual's spiritual formation.

Once practice is lacking, it becomes merely spirit to spirit—purely baseless imagination, useless at the same time, with endless harm.

For example, Chen Zhun discussed a very concrete problem: the extreme liberals in Songjiang Prefecture—are they pursuing freedom? No, they pursue having no person, matter, or rule that can restrict or bind them; they want to do whatever they wish.

That is not liberalism—it is wanting to play God!

That the court still allows such nonsensical extreme liberals to exist is simply outrageous!

As social complexity keeps increasing, if we continue to indulge like this, the Great Ming will sooner or later walk the old path of Hu Yuan—indulgence leading to the ruin of the world.

Zhang Hong said uncertainly: "His meaning is that the court does not govern broadly enough; before, it was truly powerless, but now the court indeed does not govern strictly enough—for example, he mentioned private schools, and the court indeed has not established detailed systems to manage and constrain them."

"Actually, what he says makes sense; I just plant trees, but these pedants actually want me to shut down the Shengzhou Mine and the Xishan Coal Bureau—the court supplies coal at six wen per jin, but if they were to supply it, they'd probably charge three hundred wen per jin."

"All moral rhetoric on the lips, all business in the heart." Zhu Yijun actually felt Chen Zhun's words made quite a bit of sense.

Sometimes, one cannot let public opinion run too freely; according to Wan Shiho's echo wall theory, allowing these public opinions to run rampant will shape a distorted social consensus, which is not what the Wanli Reforms aim for.

Zhu Yijun plans to have the Ministry of Rites discuss it further before making a decision.

In fact, it's not only Chen Zhun who noticed this problem; the Ministry of Rites has also recently observed that the public discourse in Songjiang Prefecture, under monetary alienation, is gradually becoming somewhat distorted.

Whether to intervene, the Ministry of Rites is also hesitating.

It's not that the Ministry of Rites fears criticism; Gao Qiyu doesn't fear criticism at all—he would even forsake advancement for it, it's just a matter of reputation.

The Ministry of Rites hesitates because overly strict control of public opinion reduces social vitality and the emergence of diverse voices, making it easy to listen only to one side and believe only what one wants, ultimately leading further down the wrong path.

For example, if the court tightens control over public opinion, Chen Zhun's near-critical gazettes would not be able to appear openly before the Emperor.

Blocked channels of speech will lead to the inability of lower sentiments to reach higher levels; originally, lower sentiments already struggle to rise, and strict management might leave only flattery and praise.

Liya, as a barbarian, said: The best way to deal with China is to let all decision-makers immerse themselves in flowers and brocade, letting arrogance begin to grow—that is the start of decline.

But China walks the path of transcending cycles; he believes China has rise and fall, not life and death, existing eternally as a natural phenomenon.

Obviously, Chen Zhun's "Han Dynasty Jiangshan: Loyal Ministers in Every Generation" denies Liya's claim of eternal natural phenomena, instead striving to avoid civilizational decline at all costs.

What eternal natural phenomenon? That's nothing but spines propping it up one by one! Fundamentally not some heavenly or earthly mighty force, but a true portrayal of human power overcoming heaven.

This gazette sparked widespread discussion; nearly all scholars criticized Chen Zhun for speaking recklessly and uttering nonsense! Butchers need knives to slaughter pigs, yet you, Chen Zhun, a scholar, even prepared a knife for the butcher—utterly absurd.

In the end, the Ministry of Rites' decision surprised everyone: they did not tighten control over public opinion, but instead issued a set of regulations for private schools, raising admission standards, conducting itemized and rule-based evaluations of existing private schools, and adhering to the basic rule of not establishing schools without permission.

Overall, the Ministry of Rites still granted a relatively tolerant public opinion environment, neither over-tightening nor labeling extreme liberals as heretical.

No matter how one speaks, the extreme liberals remain a school of thought, not a sect; if the court still cries to beat and kill even a school of thought, that truly borders on tyranny harsher than tigers.

Great Ming is undergoing renewal and reform, conducting the greatest deliberation in history, second only to the Hundred Schools of Thought era, somewhat similar to the Renaissance now underway in Taixi, comprehensively reviving Roman art, culture, and political thought, while the Papacy strains to suppress these emerging new ideas.

If Great Ming overly tightens the public opinion sphere, the final result will be the court becoming like the Papacy—a villain.

The court is not the Papacy; the court has never been God's servant, never been the enemy of the Great Ming people, but rather the locus of the divine instrument that maintains Great Ming order.

Zhu Yijun summoned Shen Li, inquiring about the reasons for his decision; logically, the atmosphere has reached this point, the Ministry of Rites should act regardless, yet their decision was somewhat unexpected.

"Your Majesty, I beg leave to report: after repeated consideration and hesitation, I made this choice; if Your Majesty disapproves, just dismiss me and let Gao Qiyu enter the cabinet—he might win Your Majesty's favor more." Shen Li also spoke with a troubled expression, knowing his decision might displease Your Majesty.

Gao Qiyu's pressure on Shen Li is truly great.

Shen Li is a conservative; his basic political stance leans toward conservatism, while Gao Qiyu is a reformer, with achievements including missions to Taixi and Waiguo, establishing the Taishang Alliance, and promoting the Dinghai educational system.

Even one of these four achievements would suffice for cabinet entry, yet with all four heavenly merits, he only walks the Western Study.

Zhu Yijun looked at Shen Li and merely smiled; ordinary superiors, seeing capable subordinates, either choose to suppress or to use their power to seize these achievements, but Shen Li does not—he feels his talent insufficient, repeatedly expressed willingness to yield to the worthy, and even recommended Gao Qiyu for cabinet entry.

Since ancient times, power struggles have been the most bloody and cruel; viewing China's long history, there are basically no examples of voluntary yielding to the worthy—almost none can be found.

This is what a steadfast and loyal minister looks like; as long as Shen Li remains such a minister, Zhu Yijun will let him stand here.

"Why did the Grand Minister of Rites decide this way?" Zhu Yijun asked for the reason.

"Because our Great Ming is truly special." Shen Li said sincerely: "I have served as an official for over thirty years; this officialdom, stripped bare, is just two mouths—upper and lower; the court here does one thing, and local officials below dare to do ten; when Chen Xian成 tried to establish the Donglin Academy, the sign had just been hung when the Suzhou Prefect snatched it away."

"Great Ming officials always choose to serve superiors over the people in this contradiction, and they do so increasingly excessively."

"Once this door opens, there will be no peace under heaven."

Zhu Yijun carefully understood, nodded, and said: "The intensity of struggle is not determined by the court's will."

If one carefully examines Shen Li's words, one will find he bases his argument on the scope, intensity, and scale of struggle, not being controlled by the court's will—this fundamental fact repeatedly discussed in the struggle treatise, or rather, Shen Li is speaking of "bei zhi."

"Bei zhi" means: opposing a policy, one can double its implementation; if double cannot guarantee the policy won't provoke widespread opposition and resistance, then increase tenfold!

For example, to oppose the court's tax inspection bureau, one should not merely defy but actively cooperate while doubling enforcement; yet the emperor has no good counter to bei zhi—just one word: kill; if someone dares to do it, Zhu Yijun dares to kill.

Shen Li's attitude is clear: once this opening is made, local officials will let the Emperor see what petty willfulness of power means; more clearly: the ultimate direction of correcting public opinion is the great proliferation of literary inquisitions.

"Your Majesty's sagacity, there is also another reason: this measure is the axe to cut out hearts." Shen Li continued to explain his reasoning.

"Cutting hearts," in the mouths of scholar-officials, does not mean inflicting great psychological harm, but rather, in the absence of actual evidence, through speech, conjecturing others have ulterior motives, then punishing them.

In the struggle treatise, it has also been said that when struggle intensity escalates uncontrollably, it often develops into mutual hat-wearing.

For example, at the end of the Northern Song, between the reformists led by Wang Anshi and Sima Guang and the conservatives, it developed into party prohibitions, mutual hat-wearing, as for state affairs, they were completely neglected—this is what Shen Li meant by the axe to cut out hearts.

This idiom, in the long historical database, has been repeatedly proven countless times as a lesson; just four characters can clarify matters.

Discuss traces, not hearts; discuss hearts, no one is perfect.

If one heavily practices cutting hearts, it becomes judging by hearts, not facts—false accusations, mutual hat-wearing, will flood and become disastrous.

"The Grand Minister of Rites has convinced me; then let us proceed according to his opinion." Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and still accepted Shen Li's decision, although he somewhat disagreed, but Shen Li's reasons were very sufficient.

Letting people speak, heaven will certainly not collapse, but the public opinion sphere in Songjiang Prefecture indeed makes Zhu Yijun very displeased; however, as long as it does not develop into beautifying Japanese pirates, it can still wait a bit longer.

"Your Majesty, everyone has a scale in their heart; are you speaking nonsense, doing nonsense? But whoever has wandered this sea of red dust, struggled and fallen, will judge for themselves; the extreme liberals are also being abandoned by the myriad people." Shen Li mentioned the final reason.

He feels excessive intervention easily turns the Wanli Great Deliberation into a contest of who writes better memorials, who flatters better, who sings praises better.

This is very dangerous.

After the twenty-first year of Jiajing, Daoist masters wholeheartedly cultivated, offering prayer memorials to heaven became important; gradually, the Great Ming court became whoever writes better memorials enters the cabinet, people jokingly call them the Memorial Premiers.

Human cognition is a process of continuous correction through practice; while these public opinions exist, they actually help people form true cognition; of course, this is not without cost, the public opinion the Emperor greatly dislikes will still exist.

All things in the world are unified contradictions, with gains and losses, no free lunch of taking all.

After Shen Li left the Yanqing Palace, the Ministry of Rites made no changes; evidently, Shen Li actually convinced the Emperor, which surprised nearly all scholars, who rejoiced greatly.

The atmosphere has reached this point, yet the court still maintained its composure—this is truly rare.

This shows the Emperor has not been corrupted by power, not acting merely on personal likes and dislikes—this is Great Ming's great fortune.

Look at Taixi's Philip, who lets his nature run wild; good Spain, where the sun never sets, is nearly scattered by this willfulness.

Of course, this fortune is not natural or self-evident, because the Emperor is a wise and holy sovereign, Shen Li is a steadfast and loyal minister—only then did the relatively tolerant public opinion environment arise.

This rather proves Chen Zhun's view: Great Ming's Jiangshan Sheji is propped up by spines.

The Emperor is a wise and holy sovereign, already verified from multiple aspects, and is becoming a norm; when the Emperor truly makes decisions on major issues with resolve, he gains more approval, although I do not know why he does this, but let's try it this way first.

The Emperor's correctness is like Zhang Juzheng's method—there is a trend toward deification.

Zhu Yijun issued an edict in mid-April, heading to the Bureau of Wage Arbitration; the bureau's staff, overjoyed and startled, scrubbed the toilets countless times overnight, even though His Majesty likely wouldn't see them, but this was the standard for inspection readiness.

On April 23, the Emperor of the Great Ming, accompanied by Grand Secretary and Imperial Tutor Zhang Juzheng, visited the Bureau of Wage Arbitration to learn its specific operations, inquired into seven cases, and rewarded its officials to honor their outstanding contribution over the past year in balancing labor-capital relations.

Since its establishment, the Bureau of Wage Arbitration has handled 8,306 labor-capital disputes, big and small, over 7,000 of which were won by poor laborers, recovering over one million taels of silver in wages for workers.

The largest case involved over 2,300 artisans, with a total scale exceeding 230,000 taels of silver.

The remaining over one thousand cases reflect the difficulty of grassroots engagement; these over one thousand cases are truly grievances of high officials, and sometimes the term 'troublemaker' is not an insult but a recognition that there are bad people among the populace.

Zhu Yijun also received four lawyers at the Bureau of Wage Arbitration; these four lawyers came from prominent families, they provided free legal aid for poor laborers in wage disputes, wrote complaints free of charge, and traveled back and forth for over two years; their goal was very clear: fame.

Fame is the best talisman and life-saving charm for prominent families; the four lawyers being summoned was like being overjoyed and startled; they were purposeful and intentional, utilitarian in motive, yet such purposeful conduct was actually granted an audience by His Majesty, who even affirmed, praised, and rewarded them.

Zhu Yijun does not fear prominent families having motives, but fears they do not regard poor laborers as human, causing chaos throughout the land, leading to the gradual disorder of the Great Ming and the loss of the crucial opportunity to open the seas.

If they want fame, give them fame.

Three days later, all officials of the Bureau of Wage Arbitration were promoted; the rank of its chief official rose from senior seventh rank to senior fifth rank, equivalent to a Vice Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, and further still to a Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture.

This collective promotion filled the Bureau of Wage Arbitration with ecstatic joy! His Majesty's visit actually brought a promotion?!

This decision was made by the Emperor after visiting the Bureau of Wage Arbitration and consulting Zhang Juzheng, a spur-of-the-moment decision, but at the time Zhu Yijun made no promise; instead, he returned to the Yanqing Palace, convened a special court discussion, thoroughly debated it, and then passed the promotion of the Bureau of Wage Arbitration through the court discussion.

The authority of senior seventh rank is still too limited in this land of outstanding talent and numerous elites, where powerful clans control most social resources—that is, power—so the Bureau of Wage Arbitration's senior seventh rank authority seems insufficient; some powerful clans do not even respect the Bureau of Wage Arbitration.

This is, in practice, based on practical experience, an improvement to the Bureau of Wage Arbitration system.

Also after this court discussion, the Bureau of Wage Arbitration will expand from this pilot in Songjiang Prefecture to the five Maritime Trade Offices and various prefectures of Jiangnan; if the pilot succeeds again, it will extend from the wealthy lands of Jiangnan to the entire realm of the Great Ming.

"This Wang Qian is indeed a capable person." Zhu Yijun held a memorial, clicking his tongue in wonder; Wang Qian, in Luzon, also established a Bureau of Wage Arbitration, and achieved great success; unlike the Great Ming's Bureau of Wage Arbitration set up to mediate labor-capital relations in the heartland, Wang Qian's Bureau of Wage Arbitration in Luzon was for Wang Hua.

Barbarians who do not understand Han speech or Han writing cannot possibly go to the Bureau of Wage Arbitration to file complaints; these are all for advancing the sinicization of Luzon.

"Your Majesty, Inspector Wang's killing intent is a bit excessive; the Senior Colonel of the Ministry of Justice reported that Inspector Wang, in the past year, has stirred up twelve major cases, all related to barbarians." Zhang Hong was actually already quite polite; in fact, court officials all say that the recently deceased killer Yunyun Wing, and now the Great Ming has produced another great killer star.

Zhu Yijun thought, shook his head, and said: "Should he not kill? What if he doesn't kill?"