Chapter 126: Is your life not a life, and are you not a human?

Xu Jie had come again. As Grand Secretary, he sat in the seat of honor, pondering how to respond to the imperial court's policy decisions, yet he seemed to have no solution.

Geng Dingxiang said in a resonant voice: "Mencius said: 'Those who are skilled at fighting should be given the highest punishment; those who connect the feudal lords are next; those who open up wasteland and manage the land are next!' The late Emperor has passed away, the new master is young and inexperienced, and Zhang Juzheng, relying on his status as a former attendant to Prince Yu, the late Emperor's dying instructions, and the Emperor's tutor, has usurped the role of the regent. He secretly colludes with the eunuchs of the Inner Palace and acts with arbitrary authority. Zhang Juzheng's harsh demands for wealth make him the greatest thief under Heaven!"

"Well said, well said." Upon hearing this, Wang Yi could not help but cheer!

This time, his "death warrant" demanded over 14,000 taels of silver. He had no intention of paying it at all, so as soon as Geng Dingxiang organized this gathering, he rushed over, spreading the word to build momentum.

Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang tilted his head and whispered: "What does that mean? It's all pedantic jargon."

Song Yangshan thought for a moment and said: "Mencius said that in the pre-Qin era, the rulers of the various states sought three things from the scholars, hoping these national talents could achieve them: first, to be skilled in warfare, winning battles and seizing territory; second, to be skilled in diplomatic lobbying, connecting the feudal lords; and third, to reclaim land and store grain, creating wealth for the state. All three are considered great crimes. Being skilled in war and winning battles is the greatest crime; lobbying the various states is next; opening up wasteland and exhausting the land's potential is the next. By the standards of the Kingly Way, all are unforgivable crimes that must be punished."

Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang said blankly: "Ah? You must be talking nonsense. How could the Sage Mencius say such things? Are those who win battles for their country criminals? Are those who lobby and connect feudal lords criminals? Is even farming and storing grain a crime?"

Song Yangshan smiled and said: "Yes, in Geng Dingxiang's view, the Grand Secretary's crimes are exactly these: harsh demands for wealth, reclaiming land, storing grain, and creating wealth for the state—crimes that cannot be forgiven."

"He Yi say it like that?" Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang still could not understand the logic behind this theory. How could winning battles be a crime, diplomatic relations be a crime, and even farming be a crime? What kind of logic was this?

Song Yangshan continued: "Actually, it's very simple. Those skilled in war, although they may defeat the enemy and satisfy the ruler's heart, injure the lives of the people and poison the living. This is what is called 'leading the land to eat human flesh.' You tell me, are those skilled in war guilty? Those skilled in war are those who are constantly killing; one must be skilled at killing to win. Therefore, in the minds of Confucian scholars, promoting civil governance and suppressing the military is inevitable; practicing benevolence and righteousness is the only Kingly Way. Qi Jiguang killed so many people; the more he killed, the more he deserved to die."

"That's not what I meant; I'm just saying that this is how Confucian scholars think about problems." Song Yangshan added a disclaimer; as a member of the Zhang faction, he had to clearly state his position.

"Go on." Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang was stunned and speechless. He had read little and truly did not understand. Qi Jiguang killed Japanese pirates—they were enemies. It was true that he had incurred karmic debt, but was it wrong even to kill Japanese pirates?

Song Yangshan deliberated and said: "Those who lobby and connect the feudal lords, although they do not personally engage in battle, use their intellect and tactics, presenting the benefits of their glib tongues, controlling the rulers of the world, and inciting disputes, causing the world to be entangled in war and unable to rest. Their crimes are also unforgivable. Do they deserve to die?"

"In ancient times, the Well-Field System meant all wasteland was given to the people. Later generations destroyed the Well-Field System, opened up wasteland, and exhausted the land's potential for profit. Abolishing the Well-Field System and opening up the paths between fields was the greatest betrayal of the Rites of Zhou. To plan for wealth and a strong state, one must inevitably plunder and hoard, annexing the small people and leaving no profit behind, making the people of the world poor and exhausted, unable to raise their families. You tell me, do they deserve to die?"

Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang immediately shook his head and said: "I don't understand, but I feel they shouldn't."

Song Yangshan shook his head and said: "Mencius said this because at that time, rulers were constantly waging war, the rites were collapsing, music was ruined, and the world was in chaos, so he spoke of the Kingly Way. That is why he said it. But these rotten Confucian scholars always take things out of context. They only speak of the Kingly Way and never mention the word 'Hegemony'."

"Today, the world is unified. It is different from the time of Mencius when the various states were at war. He Yi speak like this?"

Song Yangshan opposed the rotten Confucian scholars. They held onto the classics as if they could govern the country, worshiping the ancient laws from before the Three Dynasties. Could the situation back then be the same as today? If one ignored the era one lived in and blindly worshiped the ancients and the laws of the Three Dynasties, then Zhang Juzheng would be wandering the mountains and rivers right now, acting as the romantic, naturally gifted talent he was, instead of sitting withered in the Wenyuan Pavilion, rushing about for the rise and fall of the world.

The world always favored one person so much. Zhang Juzheng was handsome; even before passing the imperial examinations, he was already the most handsome young man for ten miles around. He was talented and filled with wisdom, passing the examinations, yet he was also so cruel and heartless, letting his passion and lifelong wishes all flow down the river.

Song Yangshan opposed the rotten Confucian scholars because Confucianism was just a field of study, but now, this study of the ancient Sage Kings of the Three Dynasties had begun to affect the normal operation of the imperial court. Throughout the dynasties, which one did not use both the Kingly Way and the Hegemonic Way?

Jiao Hong then stood up, cupping his hands to the four directions and saying: "All of you, former attendants to Prince Yu, the late Emperor's dying instructions, the Emperor's tutor—is this not enough? If this is not enough, was the Master's fame throughout the world before you not enough?"

"You!" Wang Yi was shocked beyond measure that Geng Dingxiang's top disciple would actually speak for Zhang Juzheng.

Jiao Hong looked at Wang Yi and said: "Let's take 'those skilled in war should be given the highest punishment' as an example."

"In the 28th year of Jiajing, Zhu Wan was dismissed and charged, committing suicide to prove his innocence. Seeing that no one dared to fight or defend, the Japanese pirates began to wreak havoc, poisoning the southeast coast for over ten years. The Japanese pirates fought for land, killing people across the fields; they fought for cities, killing people throughout the cities. They led red-haired barbarians, black barbarians, and desperate outlaws to attack cities and plunder villages, killing like hemp. The families of the gentry in the southeast were all in danger, bribing the Japanese pirates to send them away with gifts, hoping they would not disturb their homes. Today ten thousand silver, tomorrow ten thousand grain—the pirates left only to return. Breaking down doors, invading households, destroying homes, and kidnapping people happened everywhere."

Wang Yi flicked his sleeves, looking on with disdain: "Clever words and glib tongue! Those skilled in war take killing as their merit, yet in your mouth, they become people who save the distressed and stabilize the country? How can a warrior save the distressed and stabilize the country? Killing is killing. When a Kingly ruler rises, they must inevitably execute them and impose the heaviest punishment!"

A smile curled at the corner of Jiao Hong's mouth. He knew Wang Yi would say that. He asked calmly: "Censor Wang, let me ask you, how should one practice the Kingly Way against the Japanese pirates to pacify the southeast? The Japanese pirates are lives, but are the lives of our Great Ming people not lives!"

"Answer me: are the lives of our Great Ming people lives, and are they human?"

"I will ask you even more clearly: you are also a Great Ming person; is your life a life, and are you a human?"

The Sage's teachings should be cited according to specific circumstances. Anyone who cites them randomly without regard for the current era's background—even if it seems like citing classics and having read many books—is worse than not reading at all.

Separating cognition from practice, separating the subjective from the objective, despising practice, despising objective facts, exaggerating the role of cognition, applying things mechanically, and blindly executing the laws of the former kings on the surface without combining cognition with specific practice is the greatest betrayal of the former kings' laws.

Jiao Hong had read the theory of contradictions and was suddenly enlightened. Today, this first round of debate was Jiao Hong using reality to attack Wang Yi's hypocritical cognition.

Wang Yi had to answer whether he was a human and whether his life was a life.

Wang Yi was embarrassed and angry, but he still flicked his sleeves and said angrily: "Yes."

Jiao Hong asked sharply: "You say how can a warrior save the distressed and stabilize the country? Was Zhu Wan a warrior? Was Hu Zongxian a warrior? He Yi did they end up in such a state of seeking glory only to receive humiliation after pacifying the pirates? So, are you opposing warriors, or are you opposing the failure to practice benevolence and righteousness in pacifying pirates because it blocked the path to private wealth?"

"Zhu Wan was forced to commit suicide to prove his innocence. The Japanese pirates, red-haired barbarians, black barbarians, and desperate outlaws despised our China for lacking the determination to fight and defend, so they invaded and caused disaster, killing our people, slaughtering our fellow villagers, kidnapping our relatives, and plundering our savings. Let me make it clearer: if it weren't for the Grand Secretary ordering the generals of the southeast to deploy, you would have long since been a ghost under the blade of the Japanese pirates. How could you be here barking wildly!"

"You, you, you!" Wang Yi pointed his finger at Jiao Hong. How could this young man be so skilled in debate!

Jiao Hong raised his hands and said sharply: "What 'you'? Put your hand down. It's a shame you're a Jinshi! Pointing fingers in front of people and gossiping behind their backs—it's simply a disgrace to the literati. I am ashamed to be associated with you!"

"I, I, I!" Wang Yi was immediately defeated.

"Young man, how can you be so arrogant?" Xu Jie finally could not help but speak: "Wang Yi was famous before you, a Jinshi of the imperial court, an official of the Great Ming. How can you humiliate him to this extent?"

Jiao Hong said calmly: "Grand Secretary, am I humiliating him, or is he humiliating himself? He does not respect himself, valuing the lives of Japanese pirates over the lives of our dynasty's subjects. He spits on his own face, demeaning himself before the Japanese pirates for the sake of profit. He is humiliating himself; it is not I who am humiliating him."

"The young man is skilled in debate. Headmaster Geng really has taught a good student!" Upon hearing this, Xu Jie let out a turbid breath. How could the young people of today be so formidable, with clear logic and rigorous reasoning? He could only sigh that the waves of the Yangtze River push the waves ahead.

Geng Dingxiang, the headmaster of the Chongzheng Academy, waved his hands repeatedly: "Actually, I can't debate him either. What he says is quite reasonable."

Gu Xiancheng of the Gu clan in Wuxi, Suzhou Prefecture, stood up and said: "Mencius said: 'Qiu served as the steward for the Ji family, unable to change their virtue, yet he collected grain double that of other days.' Confucius said: 'Qiu is not my disciple; you little ones, beat the drums and attack him!'"

"What is the explanation?"

Jiao Hong frowned. This Gu Xiancheng came from a wealthy and extravagant family in Wuxi. Since he was young, he had a reputation for talent, and everyone called him virtuous. He planned to take the provincial examinations next year and the palace examinations the year after, with the ambition of taking the top spot.

Jiao Hong thought for a moment and said: "When Mencius met the rulers of the various states, they all prioritized enriching the state and strengthening the army, not practicing benevolence and righteousness. To warn these rulers, the Sage Mencius said that Confucius's disciple, Ran Qiu, once served the Lu state official Ji family, and Ran Qiu was the head of the private household."

"The Lu state official Ji family monopolized the government of Lu, and their private guards exceeded those of the public office. Ran Qiu had no ability to rectify or correct their evil virtues; instead, he collected wealth from the people for them, levying taxes double that of the past. This is plundering the lower to flatter the upper—the so-called minister of hoarding."

"The Master said: 'Ran Qiu studied under my gate. He could not serve his ruler with the Way, could not rectify him, and failed the knowledge taught to him daily. Therefore, he is not my disciple; everyone can beat the drums and attack him.'"

Gu Xiancheng smiled and said: "In this way, the minister of hoarding—what is a minister of hoarding?"

"The state's wealth is truly indispensable. Hoarding wealth for the state is not as good as practicing benevolence to store wealth among the people. A minister who speaks of profit, squeezing the people's blood and fat to fill the public treasury—at first, it damages the lower to benefit the upper, harming the people. In the end, wealth is gathered but the people are scattered. How can this be what the state should have?"

"Is Zhang Juzheng not a minister of hoarding? He should respect the Master's words: 'Qiu is not my disciple; you little ones, beat the drums and attack him.' Today, we are gathered here—is this not beating the drums and attacking him? You are acting as his shield; can you be called a gentleman?"

Jiao Hong shook his head repeatedly: "Ridiculous to the extreme. Everyone says Gu Xiancheng is a talent of great potential. Looking at your learning today, you are nothing but a rotten Confucian scholar."

"You say the Master is a minister of hoarding? The people are fleeing, in chaos, and have no homes. They rush about everywhere, suffering all day just to get one day's food. What caused this? The Master? The powerful annex land, and the people are poor, losing their land and unable to live and work in peace. Who is the one invading and occupying? Is it the small people? Or the powerful and wealthy gentry?"

"Clearing up hidden occupations means the small people are spared the burden of compensation and can keep their original occupations. Punishing corruption means the people are free from the harassment of exploitation and can live in peace on their land."

"The Master clearing hidden occupations, punishing corruption, and auditing taxes—are these not actions to pacify the country? You use Ran Qiu's hoarding, fattening the private household of the Lu state official Ji family, to compare with what the Master has done. Don't you find it ridiculous?"

"The Master does not fear for his reputation, taking the safety of the world as his own responsibility, rectifying the country. He is a national talent. You compare him to Ran Qiu—it is pedantic and ridiculous, applying things mechanically."

Zhang Juzheng was certainly not Ran Qiu. Confucianism emphasizes nobility and lowliness. What was Ran Qiu's status, and what was Zhang Juzheng's status?

Ran Qiu was a household official for a monopolizing official in Lu. Zhang Juzheng was the Emperor's teacher and the empire's Grand Secretary. What status did Ran Qiu have to be mentioned in the same breath as Zhang Juzheng? If Ran Qiu were placed in the third year of Wanli, he would be at the level of Manager Zhao in Zhang Siwei's household.

Ran Qiu fattened the private household of the Lu state official Ji family; Zhang Juzheng fattened the public treasury of the Great Ming.

During the Liaodong campaigns, the state had no money to use, owing 140,000 in military pay, plus pensions, rewards, and so on. It was all money from His Majesty—not Zhang Juzheng. As the Emperor's teacher, how could there be such a good thing? After Jiajing separated the state treasury from the inner treasury, Jiajing and Longqing both scraped silver from the state treasury into the inner treasury. For the sake of money, how many jokes were made?

The dignity of the Great Ming's public officials and the Emperor was all lost!

Gu Xiancheng frowned, realizing things were not going well. He had cited the wrong example, and suddenly he was on the defensive. He had originally intended to put Zhang Juzheng in the category of "minister of hoarding," but because of his incorrect example, he was caught by Jiao Hong and subjected to a saturation attack, leaving Gu Xiancheng dizzy and unable to turn his thoughts around.

Gu Xiancheng pondered and his eyes lit up: "Zeng Zi said: 'If a ruler practices benevolence, the people will be close to their superiors and die for their leaders!' Zhang Juzheng's harsh demands—is this not trapping the ruler in the infamy of not using righteousness to control profit?"

Jiao Hong shook his head, looking at Gu Xiancheng with full disgust: "Your learning is nothing more than this."

"The people are suffering and resentful, and the officials do not pity them, also because the ruler does not practice benevolence. What is benevolence?"

"One must pity the hunger and cold of the ten thousand people and save them from their suffering. Today, the ten thousand people of the world are trapped by annexation, having no fixed place to live, laboring without gain, and suffering in decline. The greatest benevolence under Heaven is to settle the people as the top priority. In everything the Master has done, what is not benevolent or righteous? The powerful and wealthy gentry are human, you are human, but are the small people not human?"

"The Master punishing the powerful and wealthy gentry, clearing up occupations, stopping indulgence, punishing corruption, and cleansing the administration is the greatest benevolence and righteousness to reward the ten thousand people."

"Gathering in abundant years and releasing in lean years, connecting the upper and lower—even if there are floods and droughts under Heaven, they cannot cause harm. The state and the people, the ruler and the ten thousand people, are always protecting each other and living in harmony. How can this trap His Majesty in the infamy of not using righteousness to control profit?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiancheng clenched his fists, not knowing what else to say. What kind of gathering was this? Debating back and forth, Zhang Juzheng wasn't even a treacherous official anymore. How could they continue to resist?

Resisting taxes—Zhang Juzheng being unbenevolent and unrighteous was the major premise!

Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang, the tax-auditing battalion commander, sighed in amazement after hearing this: "Is this Jiao Hong so formidable?"

Song Yangshan shook his head: "He reads books well, so naturally he is formidable. If one doesn't read well, naturally one isn't. Literati are a very contradictory and complex group; one cannot generalize."

"Sun Jigao is a top scholar, yet he was chased and scolded by His Majesty until he was ashamed. There is a nursery rhyme: 'The top scholar is not as good as a ten-year-old child, shame, shame, shame, disgrace, disgrace, disgrace.'"

Gu Xiancheng immediately said angrily: "Headmaster Geng, you called us here just to listen to your disciple scold people?"

Geng Dingxiang said with some helplessness: "Tax-auditing battalion commanders are not entirely harmful. We risk our lives to obstruct public law, slander officials who are doing their jobs, and coerce and bribe capable officials, all for private gain. In the end, the servants of Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu took sixty percent directly. You say we carry the state's laws, and the stakes are enormous—if things go wrong, it's the worry of the Kunshan Gu clan being raided and exiled—and we only got forty percent. Shouldn't we let the tax-auditing battalion commanders check it out?"

"Isn't this why we called everyone to discuss it?"

Geng Dingxiang was a typical fence-sitter, standing wherever the wind was strongest. He told Lu Guangzu that he was inclined to pay taxes, mainly because he felt Zhang Juzheng was very formidable.

Lu Shusheng, the former Minister of Rites who had returned home from the imperial court, looked left and right, gritted his teeth and said: "I think we should just pay. You are not in the imperial court; you don't know the Grand Secretary's formidable nature. He is ruthless and does things without any flaws!"

"In any case, I don't dare to be his enemy. No matter what is discussed today, I am going to pay taxes. My family has no more than 53,000 mu of land, and the tax bill is no more than 6,000 taels. I also exchanged for a ship permit. Because I exchanged early, my family's ships have a three-year warranty."

"If there are ship permits next year, I will exchange my family's land. Isn't being a ship owner better than being a landlord?"

Sun Keyi stood up and sneered: "I thought you had some high-level arguments, so I came over to see. It's nothing more than this. It's not as good as listening to music in a brothel!"

"I'm leaving."

Lu Shusheng, a firm surrenderist, had watched with his own eyes how Zhang Juzheng taught Wang Chonggu a lesson. If it weren't for Wang Chonggu's deep roots in Xuan-Da and his occupation of the Altan Khan tribute issue, Zhang Juzheng could have beaten Wang Chonggu into the ranks of the "two-faced officials." Wang Chonggu was so obedient now because he had been beaten into fear.

The Songjiang Sun clan was the enemy of the Huating Xu clan. Sun Keyi had previously reported Xu Jie for secret annexation. The brothers Sun Kehong and Sun Keyi were firm surrenderists. If the imperial court had a decree, they would obey it. Songjiang Prefecture was a thoroughfare for nine provinces. Except for the imperial court raiding their homes and exterminating their families, who could affect their family's wealth?

Sun Keyi exchanged 350,000 mu out of his family's 700,000 mu of land for 35 ship permits. The Songjiang Governor, the Songjiang Maritime Trade Office, the Songjiang Shipyard, and the Songjiang Garrison Commander personally met with the brothers Sun Kehong and Sun Keyi, giving them a plaque that read "Model Gentry." This plaque had privileges: priority in buying ships at the Songjiang Shipyard, priority in passing customs, a ten-year warranty on ships, and priority in hiring captains and sailors from the Maritime Academy.

Sun Keyi and Sun Kehong stood tall and became ship owners.

If it weren't for the limited capacity of the Songjiang Shipyard, he would have wanted to exchange all 700,000 mu for ship permits. Exchanging half was only because the imperial court didn't have more.

Sun Keyi and Sun Kehong's father was Sun Cheng'en, the Minister of Rites during the Hongzhi era. The Sun clan was the Songjiang Sun clan, the powerful gentry of Jiangdong. When Gao Gong pursued Xu Jie, Xu Jie used Sun Kehong to take the blame. Because of this grudge, Sun Keyi wanted to oppose Xu Jie. Seeing the Xu family suffer was more satisfying than making money, not to mention that he could also make money.

The thickness of the maritime profit left even powerful gentry like the Sun clan stunned.

Xu Jie, Wang Yi, Gu Xiancheng, and others were all die-hard elements. Xu Jie was filled with emotion. Zhang Juzheng used the theory of contradictions to stir things up in the gaps of contradictions with consummate skill. He was always instigating, always dividing, splitting the gentry of the Southern Yamen into those who surrendered, those who surrendered early, and those who were indecisive. Now, he was using the tax-auditing issue to further divide them, step by step.

Just as Lu Shusheng said, Zhang Juzheng did things without a single drop leaking, seamless and perfect.

"You cowardly rats!" Lu Guangzu began. The tax-auditing office urgently needed a chicken to sacrifice to the heavens. How could it end so hastily?

Lu Guangzu said in a resonant voice: "Whoever wants to pay can pay; in any case, I won't! Just wanting to collect the regular taxes on my family's ancestral land with a piece of white paper—don't even think about it! Whoever breaks down my door and invades my home will meet a miserable death!"

With Lu Guangzu taking the lead, the atmosphere at the scene became lively again. Jiao Hong no longer said anything, retreating to the side and sighing. Good words are hard to persuade a ghost who is destined to die. They only rush into trouble, which will only harm themselves.

"Battalion Commander Lu, is this a bit of an overkill?" Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang whispered to Song Yangshan.

Song Yangshan shook his head: "The intensity is not enough. Don't look at how fiercely they are shouting; in a few days, most of them will pay. Those who don't pay after the second collection will be very few. After all, Battalion Commander Luo really raids homes."

"In the end, it is the criticism of weapons that is terrifying."

On the third day of the Chongzheng Academy gathering, an Embroidered Uniform Guard went to Suzhou Prefecture to supervise taxes and was surrounded and beaten by the Suzhou Ge clan under the guise of weavers. An accountant was beaten to death on the spot, the account books were seized on the spot, and two "heroes" were driven into a manure pit and almost drowned. The Embroidered Uniform Guard escaped by luck.

Those weavers, led by Ge Cheng, went to the Suzhou Prefecture Yamen to surrender, saying that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was supervising taxes in Zhejiang and Zhili, stationed in Suzhou, and arbitrarily increasing harsh taxes, causing a large number of loom owners to close factories and stop production, leaving workers unemployed and unable to survive. When this guard came to urge payment, Ge Cheng, in his indignation, led people to take action and accidentally killed someone.

The facts were not so.

Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang interrogated Ge Cheng and the others. Without a word, he took fifty Embroidered Uniform Guards and one thousand Southern soldiers and headed straight for the Suzhou Ge clan. That very day, he raided the Ge clan clean. They didn't want to pay taxes, didn't they? They wanted to arm themselves against tax collection, didn't they? Then let's see whose armed force is stronger.

This commotion caused a huge uproar.

Ge Cheng and the others were also escorted to the capital, and Lu Guangzu's decree for his reinstatement also arrived at Lu Guangzu's home. Lu Guangzu happily went to the capital to take office, leaving the powerful gentry of the Southern Yamen stunned!

Ge Cheng appeared to surrender voluntarily, head held high, but as soon as he saw the Embroidered Uniform Guards, he became a bit cowardly. Inspector Luo Bingliang Bingliang didn't use torture, and he confessed immediately.

The matter was actually quite simple. The head of the Ge clan was dissatisfied with the tax collection and instructed Ge Cheng to give these tax-supervising guards a taste of their own medicine, so that the tax-supervising guards would know who the master of the Southern Yamen was. As a result, there were too many hands, and it was a coincidence—the accountant was a weak scholar and was beaten to death with one punch.

Such an incident occurred in the Southern Yamen. The Governors of Yingtian and Songjiang, the Military Defense Eunuch, and the Tax-Supervising Battalion Commander all stood from their own perspectives and wrote memorials, sending them to the capital via the post station.

Zhang Juzheng had said before: anyone who dares to obstruct public law and injure officials doing their jobs—the state laws are there, and they will definitely not be forgiven.

Play is play, trouble is trouble, don't make a joke of state law.

These memorials were also copied, and Chen Lin took two Embroidered Uniform Guards and went north on a hydrofoil sailboat. This was the first voyage of the Great Ming's hydrofoil sailboat, and it was a race of speed.

Hydrofoil sailboats did not have only one model; they were a type, and different kinds had different characteristics. The hydrofoil sailboat Chen Lin took for this voyage was a trimaran structure. Besides the main body, there was a slightly shorter hull under the horizontal balance wings. In this way, the ship would be more stable. Its speed was not the highest, but it was the most stable and safe of all the trial models.

Chen Lin went north all the way, riding the wind and breaking the waves, with incredible speed. The fishermen along the coast saw a white line rising and floating on the water, heading north.

Chen Lin chose the near-shore, sailing in the sea where land could be seen, a distance from which one could swim to shore even if the ship capsized.

Truly riding the wind and breaking the waves, once the ship left the water surface, it was even faster!

It took only one day and six hours. On the evening of the last day of the fifth month of the third year of Wanli, Chen Lin rushed from Songjiang Prefecture to Tianjin Wei. Three thousand li of road, eighteen hours, thirty-six double-hours. Chen Lin got off the ship at the Tianjin Wei seaport and stepped on the ground.

"Vice Regional Commander!" Seeing Chen Lin's legs go soft and about to fall, the two Embroidered Uniform Guards reached out to help, but they themselves were swaying and stumbled to the ground.

This kind of high-speed sailing was truly dizzying.

Chen Lin didn't fall; he stomped his feet hard, stood firm, looked at the two guards, and laughed: "This round of high-speed sailing was truly refreshing! Good, good, very good! This ship still needs to be modified; it's still too bumpy."

"You two guards, I'll return to the capital first. You two send someone to pull the ship up. Let's show His Majesty, so as to save those glib-tongued officials in the imperial court from chattering endlessly, saying things like we are deceiving the master."

"This ship is truly fast."

Give the public officials a little bit of craftsman shock.

Chen Lin arrived at the Tongzhou Post Station that day. After bathing and changing clothes, he waited for the audience the next day.

When Zhu Yijun received the memorial, he was a bit stunned. As the Emperor, Zhu Yijun naturally knew that power was like this: you have a dream one day, and it can be realized the next, so everyone is flocking to power.

But in just three months, Zhu Yijun received feedback, which was truly shocking. The hands of the Great Ming's craftsmen were truly ingenious.

The next morning, Zhu Yijun specially summoned Chen Lin in the Wenhua Hall, and the guards also dragged the two-masted trimaran hydrofoil sailboat to the capital, cleaned it, and lifted it in front of the Wenhua Hall.

This thing was an auspicious sign. Although it was a man-made auspicious sign, weren't all auspicious signs throughout the dynasties man-made?

The mast shone brightly in the midsummer sun.

The state and the people always protect each other, and the ruler and the ten thousand people live in harmony—this was also Zhang Juzheng's original words. Requesting monthly tickets, Aowu!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 127 =====