Chapter 168: The Gentry of Liangguang All Miss Minister Yin

"The enemy has broken through Qinglong Fortress, but Qinglong Fortress has not yet been completed. In a great war spanning several years, it is unwise to care about the gain or loss of a single city or territory. No need to inquire." Zhu Yijun gave the final disposition for Qi Jiguang's military defeat directly. This was not an opinion, but the Emperor's decision.

Did the Ming have any generals who were dismissed for a small bridgehead? Not to mention the distant past, just in the first year of Wanli, the Northern Barbarians broke through the Huyu Pass of the Xuan-Da Great Wall, plundering the Gao Shan and Tian Cheng Guards, which triggered the construction of the Great Wall and border patrols. Ma Fang was impeached for this, and Wang Chonggu returned from the capital to Xuan-Da to plug the hole.

Analyze specific matters specifically. This time, Qinglong Fortress didn't even have a foundation built, which was completely different from the situation in Xuan-Da back then. If one blindly disregarded the facts, cited precedents, and did not speak according to the reality of practice, it would be easy to blame Qi Jiguang for the loss of territory this time, or even say the Emperor was biased.

Zhu Yijun's meaning was not to inquire. Even if Qi Jiguang suffered a defeat and returned from Daning Guard, it was just a failure of strategic offense.

"What does the Minister of Justice think?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu.

When Wang Chonggu heard His Majesty ask for his opinion, he said with great worry, "Has the Taotu White Earth official factory been lost? Your Majesty, please allow me to report: White earth can be reused, but there will be wear and tear, so I am worried that the white earth supply will not keep up. The Altan Khan has only been honest for a few days and restored the original supply price. If Taotu Mountain is lost, it will be bad."

"That hasn't happened." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said.

"Then it doesn't count as a military defeat," Wang Chonggu said quite firmly. Taotu Mountain is the key to the entire outer defense zone of Daning Guard. If Taotu Mountain is not lost, Daning Guard is not considered defeated. If Taotu Mountain is lost, Wang Chonggu will naturally be anxious. Whoever blocks him from making money, he will be anxious with them.

The wool business is in full swing. The white earth of Taotu Mountain must not be lost!

Zhang Juzheng put the news report aside and continued the court discussion.

The Imperial Son-in-Law, Xu Congcheng, requested a shoulder carriage. A shoulder carriage is a sedan chair carried on the shoulders. The Ministry of War replied that there was an ancestral law from the Shizong Emperor: outside of officials such as Dukes, Marquises, Earls, and Commanders, including imperial relatives, imperial sons-in-law, civil officials below the fourth rank in the capital, and provincial officials below the three commissioners, none were allowed to enter or exit in sedan chairs.

Military Commanders, Dukes, Marquises, and Earls could ride in sedan chairs. Capital officials above the fourth rank, and provincial Governors, Censors, Administration Commissioners, Surveillance Commissioners, and Regional Military Commissioners could also do so. Others could not ride in sedan chairs when going out.

Wan Shihe supplemented this ancestral law, saying there were times when even capital officials above the fourth rank were forbidden from using sedan chairs. For example, on the day the Minister of War went to the camp, he could only ride a horse and could not go by carriage. Moreover, military officials were not allowed to carry horse stools when mounting. These were all regulations made by the Shizong Emperor at the time.

Wan Shihe had read the national history of the Shizong Emperor's Veritable Records and had a very deep understanding of this regulation.

In the sixth year of Jiajing, the Shizong Emperor was still a monarch who worked hard to govern and was not addicted to gods and immortals. During the autumn military review, the military generals were struggling even to mount their horses, and some military nobles didn't even know how to ride. Officials all traveled in sedan chairs. Since then, this ancestral law was established.

After the twenty-first year of Jiajing, this decree was no longer generally observed. By the Wanli period, this ancestral law was dug up and strictly enforced again. Therefore, the Imperial Son-in-Law, Xu Congcheng, begged to travel by sedan chair.

The final result of the court discussion was to follow the ancestral law.

The Examination Law of "anonymizing names on papers and filling in names in the register" had been effective, so the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel, Wang Xiyuan, was promoted to Assistant Surveillance Commissioner of Yunnan. Zhang Juzheng sent his confidant Wang Xiyuan to Yunnan for the purpose of supervising the mining of Dian copper. If it was done well, it would be a great merit; if not, it would be a great fault.

Zhang Juzheng did not hide his purpose, which was to let Wang Xiyuan supervise the mining of Dian copper.

Sichuan reported a meteor phenomenon, saying that at the Chen hour on the third day of the second month, there were two meteors, one crimson and one cypress green, each more than a zhang long, starting from the due east direction of the celestial sphere and flowing toward the southwest. The sky hissed as if drums were being beaten.

Some officials claimed this was a warning of Heaven's wrath, that there was a great traitor in the court, and the Emperor should reflect and reform!

Isn't that a coincidence?

The Sichuan Regional Commander, Liu Xian, happened to find these two meteorites and sent them to the capital. Zhu Yijun held a magnet and kept attracting the two meteorites, asking the court officials, "Is this a meteor?"

This "warning of Heaven's wrath" seemed to be broken. Does Heaven use iron blocks to smash people? An astronomical phenomenon is just an astronomical phenomenon.

The Vice Minister of Revenue in charge of the granaries, Bi Qiang, submitted a memorial saying: The silver in the Taicang Treasury.

The Ming's Taicang, or national treasury, is divided into the Old Treasury and the Outer Treasury. The Old Treasury is the strategic reserve fund, and the Outer Treasury is responsible for unified disbursement.

In the twenty-third year of Jiajing, the Old Treasury disbursed 889,000 taels into the Inner Treasury for serving gods and immortals. In that year, the Old Treasury had... taels of silver. By the third year of Longqing, it was checked and there were only 360,000 taels left. Both the Jiajing Emperor and the Longqing Emperor liked to disburse silver from the national treasury. In the first year of Longqing, they wanted 300,000. Zhang Juzheng repeatedly submitted memorials to bargain, and the Longqing Emperor only took 100,000.

Bi Qiang said: The country's financial revenue has income and expenditure, not a fixed quota. When encountering disasters and military troubles, it must be disbursed. Therefore, in the future, the Emperor must advocate frugality, store up the treasury, and then distribute it without depletion. If it is stored well, when there are bandit troubles or military affairs, there will be no lack of money to use.

This was Bi Qiang giving face to the Jiajing Emperor and the Longqing Emperor. In fact, most of the silver in the Old Treasury was taken by the Emperor into the Inner Treasury.

That was all in the past. The current Majesty scatters money from the Inner Treasury all day long—rewarding soldiers today, giving New Year silver to officials tomorrow. Don't say things that damage the unity of monarch and ministers.

Afterward, Bi Qiang changed the subject and said: In the third year of Wanli, old storage and new collection, Old Treasury and Outer Treasury, combined, totaled 7,034,287 taels and some odd silver. He requested the Emperor to number and seal one million taels of silver from the Outer Treasury into the Old Treasury, and it should be stored in silver coins, not silver ingots.

Zhu Yijun repeatedly confirmed that he hadn't counted wrong before asking, "Minister of Revenue, does our Ming now have seven million taels of silver?"

"Ah, yes, Your Majesty. Seven million and thirty thousand. That's how much was left last year." Wang Guoguang nodded.

In the sixth month of the sixth year of Longqing, when repairing the late Emperor's tomb, there were only 300,000 taels. In the fourth month of the fourth year of Wanli, the Ministry of Revenue told the Emperor that the Ming now had over 7 million taels of silver in storage.

"After several years like this, the Outer Treasury will gradually become surplus and the Old Treasury will become more solid. This is a benefit for ten thousand generations without boundaries." Zhu Yijun finished reading Bi Qiang's memorial and still felt it was a bit unreal. The Ming's treasury was gradually becoming full. One must know that this account made by the Ministry of Revenue was the "Six Registers and One Account," and the tax investigation and debt collection by the Tax Investigation Bureau hadn't been calculated yet. If they were transported to the capital, the national treasury's savings would have to add another 1.17 million taels of silver.

"Can our Ming now be considered rich?" Zhu Yijun asked again.

Wang Guoguang said in a low voice, "Only when the taxes that should be collected are collected can it be considered rich. Now it can't be considered rich."

"Minister of Revenue, in the second year of Wanli, we were still arguing about the Aoshan Lantern Festival. The Ministry of Rites came up with many ways to hold the Aoshan Lantern Festival, and even then, I couldn't watch it. If I watched it, I had to reward money. Sigh." Zhu Yijun started to "recollect bitterness and think of sweetness." It was truly bitter at the time, and it couldn't be considered rich now.

Zhu Yijun finally knew why Zhang Juzheng wanted to cast coins. If there is silver, one must use silver to generate silver. Rolling silver coins involves mixing in lead and tin. The seigniorage tax—the court must also collect this.

And the result of the court discussion was disagreement. For the time being, do not seal it. First, roll all the silver into silver coins, release them, and recover the Ming's accumulated savings—that is the fundamental task.

According to Wang Guoguang's preliminary estimate, the Ming had at least over 100 million taels of silver in storage. If this silver could circulate, it could effectively alleviate the Ming's two-hundred-year-old money shortage. How to make the silver move? Naturally, by rolling all the silver into exquisite silver coins.

Seigniorage tax—no matter how much, it is not too much.

"Your Majesty, can your subject borrow the side hall of the Wenhua Hall for use?" Zhang Juzheng stood up and bowed.

"Borrow the side hall?" Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "Why not."

Zhang Juzheng was soon ready with the props. All the court officials wanted to know what kind of "tricks" the Ming Senior Grand Secretary, Zhang Juzheng, was going to pull out.

You Qi brought a large pile of things and handed them to the Commander, Zhao Mengyou. Although Zhao Mengyou didn't know what these things were for, he still presented them to the imperial presence.

Zhang Juzheng stood firm and said, "Last year, the Vice Minister of War, Liang Menglong, discussed maritime transport again. In fact, grain tribute is not suitable for maritime transport."

"Ah?" The ministers were all confused. You were the one who proposed maritime transport, Zhang Juzheng, and now you are the one denying grain tribute maritime transport. What kind of trick are you playing by going back and forth like this?

Zhang Juzheng took out a model of a ship. This ship was very simple but had an extra transparent glass cover. Zhang Juzheng took out a handful of rice, filled the entire granary, and put it into the water, saying, "I have checked all the old cases of maritime transport from the Yuan, Yongle, Xuande, and Chenghua periods and found that grain tribute sea ships often capsized, and the frequency was extremely high—more than the shipwrecks in the canal."

Canal shipwrecks are man-made, but most of the grain tribute sea ships were natural disasters.

"The grain tribute ships parked in the harbor—other ships were fine, but the grain tribute ships would sink. I thought about it and understood why." Zhang Juzheng nudged the ship slightly, and the rice inside began to roll and crowd to one side. When Zhang Juzheng let go, the ship remained tilted and did not right itself!

Everyone looked in surprise at the tilted ship. The rolling and accumulation of the rice caused a change in the ship's center of gravity. If there were another gust of wind or wave, it would inevitably capsize.

"Canal grain transport is mostly done by manpower, trackers, and rowers. Canal grain transport uses flat-bottomed boats. Although there will also be rice rolling and accumulating on one side, it is still very stable. However, sea ships cannot be flat-bottomed, otherwise they cannot resist the wind." Zhang Juzheng explained why river transport was safer than sea transport. River transport uses flat-bottomed boats, while sea transport uses sharp-bottomed ones.

Zhang Juzheng continued, "I was thinking, would using bags to pack it up change this phenomenon?"

Zhang Juzheng took out another ship, loaded it with small bags of rice, and put the ship into the water. Zhang Juzheng nudged the mast with his hand. The ship tilted. This time it righted itself somewhat, but it was still tilted.

"Therefore, I say grain tribute is not suitable for maritime transport. This is the reason. The grain tribute packed in bags, after the ship tilts, is also difficult to right itself. If it encounters wind and waves again, it will inevitably capsize." Zhang Juzheng explained his discovery with his hands.

Zhu Yijun reached out and nudged it, finding that the rice bags would have obvious deformation, and the ship still couldn't right itself normally. He said with conviction, "Teacher has great talent. Does Teacher have a solution?"

Zhang Juzheng shook his head helplessly and said, "Your subject started thinking, would packing it tightly so the rice couldn't roll be enough?"

Zhang Juzheng took out a glass box, put the rice in, pressed it hard, covered it with a lid, shook it several times, put it on the ship, and started to nudge it. After only a dozen times, the ship began to tilt again.

There is no way to press rice tightly. As long as it is bumped or jolted, gaps will appear, and the rice will still roll and accumulate on one side, eventually causing the ship's center of gravity to shift and tilt.

Zhang Juzheng bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, your subject has no way, but our Ming has people who do."

"Your subject wrote to the Governor of Songjiang, Wang Daokun, the General Manager of the Songjiang Shipyard, Guo Rulin, and Zhao Shizhen to ask how to solve it. One person's opinion is limited, but the wisdom of the masses is infinite. Guo Rulin and Zhao Shizhen posted a reward of one hundred silver, and eventually someone took the reward and designed a wooden box."

"This is the wooden box supervised by the Jiangnan Shipyard. The inside and outside are brushed with tung oil. There are twenty partitions inside, each of which can hold five he of grain. One box is one shi. Your Majesty, please look."

The Commander, Zhao Mengyou, led the guards to carry up several sets of boxes. The boxes were no more than one chi wide, with a partition every two fen. The boxes were one chi and five cun long and three chi high.

Ge Shouli, who asked when he didn't understand, said with some confusion, "If you add partitions like this, the rice will still roll inside, and then when the ship tilts, it will accumulate. The ship still won't be able to right itself. Every small partition will roll and accumulate, and in the end, it will still accumulate."

Zhang Juzheng said with a smile, "That's right, but the rolling of the rice will be within the two fen. In this way, the rolling range of the rice in each small partition will be reduced, and the impact caused can also be reduced. If you can make each layer of partitions so small that it only holds one grain of rice, there will be no such trouble, but two fen is enough."

"Makes sense." Ge Shouli nodded; he understood the principle.

What Ge Shouli said was integration—constant accumulation and summation. What Zhang Juzheng said was differentiation—constantly reducing the gap between partitions. If you can just jam a grain of rice, it won't roll. If you can't, you reduce the rolling range of the rice, so that the change in the center of gravity is not so violent, and the ship's righting ability will be enhanced.

"This grain tribute box also has mysteries. Grand Minister of Rites, please look. This lid is not buckled on, but pushed in. Each groove has two three-cun inverted triangles." Zhang Juzheng demonstrated the grain tribute box lid. The two inverted triangles of the grain tribute lid can turn the rice into a triangular prism with a triangular cross-section. In this way, it will further reduce the center of gravity shift caused by rice grain rolling.

Zhang Juzheng actually did an experiment, using a four-hundred-liao sharp-bottomed grain tribute ship, three thousand grain tribute boxes, and more than five hundred trackers to do an experiment on the Tonghui River. The grain tribute boxes could effectively improve the problem of the ship being difficult to right itself when carrying rice.

Zhang Juzheng did this grain tribute box experiment together with the Minister of Revenue, Wang Guoguang.

Zhang Juzheng continued, "The bottom of the ship's hold must have ballast stones to further increase the ship's righting ability, and the grain tribute ship will not be so easy to capsize."

In order to make the grain tribute ship not so easy to capsize, the Ming craftsmen showed their strength. Just like the design of watertight compartments for ships, the Ming craftsmen seemed to only need an opportunity to show their ingenious craftsmanship.

Zhu Yijun looked at the boxes brushed with tung oil and said, "These boxes are good, but they are expensive! How much money does this layer of tung oil cost? And how much does this wood cost? Although they can be reused, transporting two hundred thousand shi of grain to the capital requires two hundred thousand boxes. The cost is high."

"What is the cost?"

Zhang Juzheng bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the wood is actually the offcuts from shipbuilding. Tung oil actually only has a shelf life of one year. Whether you use it up or not, the accumulated tung oil will deteriorate. One box costs about one qian of silver. Two hundred thousand boxes is only twenty thousand taels of silver."

Research on the preservation plan for tung oil is still continuing, such as sealed tung oil boxes, or putting ginger slices into tung oil to prevent freezing, etc.

Wang Chonggu, the only merchant in the Wenhua Hall, circled around this obviously spliced box and looked at it again and again. The most expensive thing about this gadget is the craftsman's wages. It's not good wood, and it doesn't need to be very smooth. As long as the size is correct, it's fine. It doesn't even need to be planed into a smooth surface. Apprentices can make it. Wang Chonggu believes that the cost can be controlled to one qian of silver.

Wang Chonggu thought about the box again and again and said, "Your Majesty, if the volume is large, the cost will be even cheaper. In the future, if a million boxes are broken and need to be replaced, it won't cost much money. But four million shi of grain is the life-saving grain for the capital."

"Northern grain is expensive, Southern grain is cheap. After a while, powerful households will buy grain tribute boxes and sell grain into the capital. After all, maritime transport is cheap, fast, and has a fast turnover. In the past, ships were easy to capsize and there were Japanese pirates, so maritime transport naturally couldn't be smooth."

"But in order to make money, there are still many people willing to invest. In the past, the risk of sea ships transporting rice was high, but weren't there still so many people transporting rice from Jiaozhi and Champa to the Suzhou-Songjiang region every year to sell?"

"By then, these grain boxes might also become a business."

When Wang Guoguang, who knows how to make money, heard this, he thought: If this continues, what will happen? This Minister of Revenue position should be given to Wang Chonggu!

But Wang Guoguang was not really good at doing business; he was good at finance and taxation.

Nearly eighty percent of Songjiang Prefecture was cotton fields. If you plant cotton, you can't plant grain. Transporting grain from Jiaozhi to Songjiang is cheaper than transporting grain from Suzhou. The risk of sea ships transporting rice is so high, yet there are still people who want to transport it. For the sake of profit, it's just some investment.

And this investment is not expensive. Specializing in making these kinds of boxes emphasizes large volume and large scale. The upper and lower industrial chains must be opened up; otherwise, buying tung oil and wood sporadically and making them yourself is not as cheap as the official factories selling them.

The advantage of the industrial chain is not so easy to open up. This gadget can be made by the official factories by the tens of thousands a day. This is the advantage of the official factories, but it is also a disadvantage. A big ship is difficult to turn around. When the craftsmanship is outdated and the goods lose their advantage, every piece produced is a loss. However, the official factories are limited by the trend in the court and cannot turn around so simply. The losses brought by this rigidity are a difficulty that the Ming official factories must face.

And exploring how to reduce the losses brought by the rigidity of official factories under the tyrannical power of the court is also an important topic for Wang Chonggu's research. Serious and lively—they seem to be opposites, but they can also be unified.

"Hmm, then build them and see. If it works, it wouldn't be a bad business." After listening to Wang Guoguang's argument, Zhu Yijun finally affirmed Zhang Juzheng's exploration. Twenty thousand summer grains are to be transported. As long as the court's grain transport can be successful, saving on shipping costs, powerful households will inevitably follow suit.

Hydrofoil sailing ships can shorten the information distance from the Ming capital to the Southern Yamen, and the research on the problem of sea ships transporting rice being easy to capsize can shorten the grain distance from the Ming capital to the Southern Yamen. Once successful, it will be a great blessing.

The significance is great.

When Zhu Yijun led the ministers back to the main hall of the Wenhua Hall, the Commander, Zhao Mengyou, took a news report from a guard who had run over in a hurry and handed it to Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong presented it to the imperial presence.

Everyone's eyes turned to the Ming Emperor. Most of the reports presented directly to the imperial presence were battle reports from the front line. It was obvious that it came from Daning Guard.

After Zhu Yijun opened it and looked at it, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and the smile quickly spread and became sunny and bright. He said with a smile, "It's a victory report."

A victory report! Then it's fine!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

It's no wonder the court officials were nervous. Since the Jiajing period, the battle reports from the north were either the Northern Barbarians gathering, or Regional Commanders, Deputy Regional Commanders, and Assistant Regional Commanders being killed in action, or camps being broken, or the Great Wall's beacon towers being lit, or the people being plundered. This sudden news report reaching the Wenhua Hall naturally made the court officials very nervous.

Zhu Yijun said happily, "Qi Shuai is worthy of being Qi Shuai."

"Tuman Khan's subordinates, the Wanhu Ba Su Ba Hai, Dong Huli, and others, passed Qinglong Fortress to attack Xinglin Fortress, but were ambushed by Qi Shuai, who beheaded more than two hundred. The enemy saw there was an ambush and retreated. Qi Shuai personally led the infantry battalion to outside Qinglong Fortress to block the enemy's retreat, beheading more than three hundred. Ba Su Ba Hai fled in a sorry state."

"The battle line has been pushed forward by more than five li. Qinglong Fortress will be completed in the seventh month, and Tuman Khan will have no possibility of going south to show off his ferocity again."

"Teacher, did Qi Shuai deliberately lure the enemy deep?"

This was a great victory in field combat. Zhu Yijun even suspected whether Qi Jiguang had deliberately lured the enemy deep. This situation looked familiar; the ambush of Dong Huli in the first year of Wanli seemed to be exactly the same.

This was clearly an ambush battle, and it was two ambushes. The purpose was to push forward the battle line and protect the construction of Qinglong Fortress.

Once Qinglong Fortress is completed, the Ming can truly advance and defend. Tuman Khan is probably afraid that every time he sleeps, he will have nightmares about Qi Jiguang attacking.

"Your subject does not know military affairs." Zhang Juzheng finished reading the news report, shook his head, and handed the news report to the Minister of War, Tan Lun. Zhang Juzheng really didn't know military affairs. In the letters he gave to the border generals, most were political considerations. As for military affairs, Zhang Juzheng chose to trust the wisdom of the generals.

Zhang Juzheng was responsible for planning, which was to ensure the wind and public opinion in the court, so that the generals on the front line would not be so restricted in their operations.

After Tan Lun read it, he handed it to Wang Chonggu. Wang Chonggu finished reading it before passing it on to others.

Tan Lun looked at Wang Chonggu and asked, "What does the Minister of Justice think?"

"My view is the same as the Minister of War's. This is a trap set by Qi Shuai. Tuman Khan has been fooled again. Perhaps this is Qi Shuai—always able to choose the time and place of battle in the war situation, using the right time, the right place, and the right people to completely defeat the opponent." Wang Chonggu deeply knew how terrifying Qi Jiguang was.

As long as Qi Jiguang was still in the court, Wang Chonggu would definitely not dare to do anything. He couldn't control what others did, but he himself was unwilling to be an enemy of Qi Jiguang.

He was afraid that even if he ran to England, he would be caught by Qi Shuai and sent to the imperial presence.

There is definitely no general in the world who wins every battle, because people will have pride, but the face of the Ming court officials made Qi Jiguang not dare to have any pride or slackness.

Qi Jiguang won again, and he won cleanly and neatly.

Tan Lun shook his head and said, "Why doesn't Tuman Khan hurry up and go west to fight Altan Khan, instead of coming to Qi Shuai to touch bad luck? In the first year of Wanli, Qi Shuai used this move of 'advancing by retreating' to capture Dong Huli's nephew, Bu Ha Chu. He really doesn't have any memory."

Zhu Yijun heard Tan Lun's assertion and was silent for a moment before saying, "Will Tuman Khan really not think he has won when he fights in the future, not dare to pursue, and not dare to further expand the results of the battle? One day, if Qi Shuai puts a zither on the city wall and the city gate is wide open, will Tuman Khan not dare to attack?"

"That won't happen. Qi Shuai doesn't play the zither." Tan Lun said with a smile.

Tan Lun's words made the atmosphere in the court much lighter. He continued, "But even if Tuman Khan really wins, he will doubt whether he has won and will stop moving forward. It is very likely that he will be beaten so badly that he will be like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, treating every tree and bush as an enemy. Even if the city gate is wide open, Tuman Khan will probably have to carefully consider whether there is a trick."

The ministers were all silent. In military affairs, Qi Jiguang had proven himself time and again. He could be relied upon. If given a chance, he could pacify the Japanese pirates in the south and exterminate the strong barbarians in the north, but in the past, he didn't even have that chance.

Qi Jiguang's wife, Wang, had once set up an "empty city strategy." In the Battle of Xinhe, there was no main force in Xinhe City, only a group of women and children. Wang made the women and children display flags and banners, scaring the Japanese pirates so they didn't dare to attack. At that time, Qi Jiguang led the main force to intercept the Japanese pirates in Ninghai, and Wang fought for a day for the main force to return to rescue Taizhou.

It was in this one day that Qi Jiguang won nine consecutive victories in one month.

"The gentry of Liangguang are impeaching Ling Yunyi for being too murderous, requesting that the Earl of Sishui, Minister Yin, return to Liangguang to govern all affairs." Zhang Juzheng took out a memorial, his tone rarely strange.

Ling Yunyi was not greedy, but Ling Yunyi loved to kill! Whenever the powerful households did not obey the court's orders, Ling Yunyi would bring people to their doors. Once they refused to submit, he wouldn't dismantle the doors or move the beds; he would aim the dark muzzles of the cannons at the powerful households' doors, fill them with gunpowder, and if they disagreed, he would kill them!

After Yin Zhengmao left Liangguang for Luzon, the Japanese pirates were completely pacified, but a tail was left behind, which was the Yao people in Mount Luopang. Ling Yunyi still presided over the pacification of the rebellion, so the traditional drama of asking the powerful households to donate money was still staged in Liangguang.

Ling Yunyi and Yin Zhengmao were completely different. Ling Yunyi didn't take a single cent of silver; he killed people.

Hence Hai Rui also said with a wry smile, "I actually received quite a few letters. I can only say that the gentry of Liangguang all miss Minister Yin."

"When Minister Yin was in Liangguang, they used congratulatory letters to say Minister Yin was corrupt. Minister Yin left, and a 'Heaven-Killing Star' Ling Yunyi came. He dismantled doors and moved beds, which instead made it seem like Minister Yin was gentle."

Hence Hai Rui would not speak for the powerful gentry; he was just watching the fun.

Yin Zhengmao could be negotiated with, but Ling Yunyi wouldn't negotiate at all.

Second update, please vote for monthly tickets, Awoo!!!! If you don't vote, it will really expire! This month, I have updated 423,727 words in total, an average of 14,000 words per day. The collection has reached..., and the average subscription has risen to 6171. There are over 12,000 monthly tickets, ranking tenth in the history category. Thank you all for your support, thank you all very much for your recognition. (づ￣3￣)づ

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 169 =====