Chapter 169: The King

Why were Zhang Juzheng's grain tribute boxes used? Because the Ming's grain tribute currently goes through a "land transport + sea transport + land transport" method. This reduces the trouble of weighing. In the past, grain tribute transport often caused many disputes due to weighing—new grain vs. old grain, steaming and drying, vehicles and horses, and a series of other problems were all improved with the standardization of the "du shu pang tong" (standardized measurement).

This problem also involved the issue of supervision and accountability.

These grain tribute boxes would be sealed every time they changed hands. Whoever passed through which office would be responsible. Once a problem occurred with the grain tribute, it could be traced back to who was responsible. This is also the basic supervisory principle of "sealing the box but not the goods," which is an important part of Zhang Juzheng's Examination Law. If it can be promoted, it can even form an effective accountability mechanism in commerce. Currently, the Ming's wool official factories have already used this method.

Sticking a seal and tearing off a corner where the stamp is placed is an ancestral law formed after the "Blank Seal Case" of the Hongwu period.

The Ming's "Qi Feng Shu Ya" (sealing the seam with a signature), seals, and tearing off a corner of valuable items as a matching voucher have been the Ming's management method for two hundred years.

To ensure that these twenty thousand grains could successfully arrive at the seaport, the Ming's most advanced ships would be used: five masts, 21 sail surfaces, twenty zhang long, four zhang wide, with a length-to-width ratio of 5:1, and a main mast height of three zhang and two chi—the five-masted ocean-crossing ship.

This was also the first time the five-masted ocean-crossing ship had entered the capital by sea. One ship could carry 12,000 shi of grain tribute. The rest would be the responsibility of the three-masted clinker-built ships led by sixty-six Songjiang Guard soldiers, along with twenty maritime defense inspectors driving hydrofoil sailing ships to transmit messages and escort them in the middle.

A mighty fleet was gathering in Songjiang Prefecture. They were not preparing to go to sea for trade, but to send southern grain to the northern yamen.

This was the Ming silver-grain convection system initially designed by Wang Guoguang. The Ming would bring silver to the north, and then let merchants transport grain from the south to the north. This was also the specific role of the Grand Canal in the past. The northern land was barren and there were many wars, so grain supply was always short. At the slightest sign of trouble, the price of grain would soar.

The salt-grain convection system of that year was also based on this principle, but with the passage of time, the gradual loss of salt laborers in the Ming officialdom and the systematic and structural destruction of the Ming's "Opening Law" eventually caused the salt-grain convection to be completely unbalanced. To this day, salt permits still possess exchange value and use value because they are legal.

This salt permit is a legal salt policy. Ming merchants are not always bold enough to defy the law. The recent tax investigation and debt collection by the Ming's Tax Investigation Room have caused the exchange value and use value of legal salt permits to increase rapidly. In the past, a small salt permit was worth 1.5 silver, and a large salt permit was worth 5 taels of silver. Recently, it has soared by about 15%; the price of a small salt permit has increased to 1.725 silver, and a large salt permit has soared to 5.75 silver.

Salt permits do not need to be exchanged at official factories; salt permits only represent the legality of the salt business. From the first year of Wanli to the third year of Wanli, the court issued a total of... permits, about 1.32 million permits per year, and this demand was still growing. Based on the number of salt permits, Wang Guoguang estimated the Ming's approximate population to be around one hundred million.

This estimate is very rough and is not used as the basis for the four-difference silver levy. The only data basis for the Ming's regular taxes and labor services is the Yellow Register and the Fish-Scale Register.

Ling Yunyi, the Governor who was transferred from Jiangxi to Liangguang, was finally impeached by the powerful gentry. The gentry of Liangguang thought that a Governor who was neither greedy nor corrupt had come, so a "Venerable Qingtian" (honest official) had come. They didn't expect that he really was a "Venerable Qingtian," and Ling Yunyi was even worse than being greedy!

The court officials were all a bit unable to hold on, but Ling Yunyi truly had no room for negotiation. Any gentry or powerful household that refused the court's orders was classified as rebellious and punished with physical elimination!

Ling Yunyi meant what he said. For example, in the fourth month of the third year of Wanli, Ling Yunyi submitted a memorial to the court announcing that no one was allowed to trade with the Yao people in Mount Luopang, and no one was allowed to sell salt into the mountains. Those who violated this would be severely punished. Those who associated with rebel people, clamored, or participated in civil unrest would all be treated as rebellious.

After receiving approval from the court in the sixth month of the third year of Wanli, he posted a notice, which was implemented starting from the first month of the fourth year of Wanli. In the first month of the fourth year of Wanli, Ling Yunyi blew open the doors of two powerful households, sentenced the two heads of the households and more than ten family members who participated in the rebellion to be beheaded, and sent the memorial to the Ministry of Justice.

It was truly blown open. They pushed the Great General Cannon and blew open the doors of other people's houses, then swarmed in and arrested the whole family.

Now the final decision-making power had come to the Wenhua Hall.

On one hand, it was Ling Yunyi's pacification of civil unrest; on the other hand, it was the powerful households requesting the court to show mercy. The standard for measurement was whether the Lin family of Dianbai and the Wu family of Guangzhou should be beheaded.

Ling Yunyi's evidence was conclusive. From the first month of the third year of Wanli, he began to collect evidence of the other party's crimes, waiting until the first month of the fourth year of Wanli. Even with the court's clear decree, they still defied the decree to send salt to the Yao people in Mount Luopang. The key was that these two families also participated in clamoring for the people to join the civil unrest. Ling Yunyi sent these criminals to the capital, and the evidence was as solid as a mountain.

The powerful gentry were crying out in pain, competing to plead for mercy. The reasons were also quite sufficient, saying that when the Liangguang Governor, Minister Yin, was there, everyone also did business with bandits, and Minister Yin didn't care. Minister Yin also pacified the Japanese pirates, and in just four years, he wiped out the Japanese pirates. Minister Yin did demand more money and food, and everyone was unhappy, but Minister Yin was never so demanding. If the court was so harsh, would it not be a loss of the Emperor's benevolence?

The Minister of Justice, Wang Chonggu, finally remembered his official duties and said, "After this case arrived in the capital, our Ministry checked the files. The human evidence, material evidence, and written evidence are all traceable. The Ministry of Justice believes they should be killed, sentenced to beheading. Defying the court's clear decree is a great rebellion. If they are not punished, where will the court's majesty be?"

The ministers began to discuss whether they should be killed.

Because Yin Zhengmao lacked grain and pay in Liangguang, he spread the burden widely, listing the powerful gentry on the list, directly calculating, and if they didn't give, he would dismantle doors, and if they still didn't give, he would move beds. Although the methods were not gentle, the powerful gentry of Liangguang did indeed provide grain and pay to help the army pacify the Japanese pirates.

During the discussion, Wan Shihe leaned forward and said, "The Ministry of Rites has checked. Neither of the two families has officials above the third rank, so they are not among the 'Eight Deliberations'."

This wind vane of the court, Wan Shihe, represented that the direction of the discussion had completely turned toward killing.

"Minister of Justice and Grand Minister of Rites, are you being too radical?" Zhu Yijun's inclination was very strange. He felt Wang Chonggu was a bit radical.

Wang Chonggu was slightly stunned and said, "Your Majesty, the *Collected Statutes of the Great Ming* have not been completed, and this criminal law is chaotic. I have only been the Minister of Justice for a short time and am not familiar with criminal law. I ask Your Majesty to make the final decision with the vermilion brush."

When the Great Ming Law and the Ming Emperor's opinions conflict, the Ming Emperor's opinion prevails.

Wang Chonggu never believed that the Ming had anything like law. This was also one of the sources of his disagreement with Zhang Juzheng's reuse of "honest officials" who did not recognize the law.

From the perspective of status: the gentleman governs people; the petty person is governed.

The common people of the Ming didn't understand the law at all, nor did they know where the law was. When they encountered trouble, the first thing they did was to seek shelter with the powerful and ask the powerful to lobby for them, and it was often very effective. This is the concrete manifestation of the Ming's "indulgence."

And the Ming law for the "meat-eaters" (officials) was simply a blank sheet of paper, unable to effectively restrain the meat-eaters, because the meat-eaters and the governors were highly overlapping and closely linked.

So the Ming law cannot restrain the meat-eaters above, and cannot restrain the common people below. Isn't this law just a blank sheet of paper? Speaking of the Great Ming Law, the Minister of Justice only felt it was ridiculous. The Ming only has one law, and that is the King's Law—His Majesty's golden words.

For "honest officials," Wang Chonggu's understanding is that those who can do things and can get things done are the fundamental face of honest officials, not officials who abide by the law and follow reason.

This understanding of Wang Chonggu is based on his own reality of practice. The Shizong Emperor had a book called *Records of the Great Cases of Qinming*, compiled by the Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Cong, which contained several cases, all of which were ironclad evidence of the Emperor's personal intervention in the judiciary. The Li Fuda case, the case of the Changsha powerful commoner Li Jian robbing and killing, the case of Chen Guang of Guangyuan not abiding by the law in his hometown, the case of Zhang Fu killing his mother in the capital, etc.

Especially the Li Fuda case, which was involved in the party struggle of the Great Rites, and involved a wide range of people. This monster Li Fuda was the same as Zeng Guang. This monster used the alias Zhang Yin and became the Commander of the Taiyuan Guard because he donated grain. Originally, Li Fuda had been sentenced to beheading, but because it involved the Marquis of Wu Ding, Guo Xun, Guo Xun only said one sentence, and the case was overturned.

The Marquis of Wu Ding, Guo Xun, said: "Your Majesty, I have offended everyone because I agreed to bestow the title of 'parent' on the Emperor's biological parents, so they want to peel my skin and see my bones to put me to death."

The Jiajing Emperor immediately issued a decree to re-examine the case, and finally Li Fuda was acquitted and restored to his original post as Commander of Taiyuan.

It was not until the forty-fifth year of Jiajing that the Sichuan bandit Cai Boguan was arrested, and the truth came to light. Li Fuda was Zhang Yin, and Zhang Yin was Li Fuda. A miscarriage of justice that had lasted for several years was finally cleared.

Does the truth of the case really matter? It doesn't matter.

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, because of their political stance on reform, highly agreed with the judgment made by Zhang Cong and Gui E back then, and in the *Veritable Records of the Ming Muzong*, the Li Fuda case was still recognized as a false accusation, a false accusation that confused Li Fuda and Zhang Yin, not a monster case.

So, whether the Li Fuda case was a miscarriage of justice or not, it was not in the Jiajing period, it was a miscarriage of justice in the early Longqing period, and it was not a miscarriage of justice from the fourth year of Longqing to the Wanli period.

Whether Li Fuda was Zhang Yin, and whether this case was a false accusation, had long had nothing to do with the facts. At the beginning of the case, the case had been completely influenced by political stances.

So Wang Chonggu did not believe that the Ming had anything like the Great Ming Law; there was only the Emperor's will, which was the greatest sky in the Ming.

The King's Law? His Majesty's will is the Ming's greatest King's Law!

So when the young Emperor said it was too radical, Wang Chonggu immediately turned his gun and changed his tune, using the excuse that he had just become the Minister of Revenue and was not familiar with criminal law, and that the *Collected Statutes of the Great Ming* had not been completed, asking the Emperor to issue a decree directly. "A-Zhi Ding An" (deciding the case according to the Emperor's will) is the traditional skill of the Ming, and the standard passive skill of the Minister of Justice.

"Minister of Justice, my meaning is not to say kill, nor to say not to kill. Let this case be investigated and supplemented like this, and let it be muddled for now. Keep the people detained. There is no shortage of food in the Heavenly Prison." Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu and expressed his thoughts.

Zhu Yijun looked at the ministers and said, "Let me talk about my thoughts."

"The powerful households in Liangguang generally support the court's pacification of the Japanese pirates and bandits. Minister Yin and Minister Ling presided over the pacification of the Japanese pirates and bandits in Liangguang. No matter what methods they used, the powerful households all agreed to donate, including the official salt transport in Guangxi. The powerful households can be considered cooperative. If we start killing now that the Japanese pirates are pacified, wouldn't it be suspected of 'slaughtering the donkey after the mill'?"

"If the court kills, the powerful households will be fearful, and they may further communicate with the Yao people, further causing the war in Liangguang to rot."

Zhu Yijun actually didn't want the powerful households to stand completely on the opposite side of the court, giving Ling Yunyi more room for operation. Once the powerful households collude with the civil unrest again, the court will kill them, making it easier for Ling Yunyi to do things.

This is a typical political means. He also wanted Ling Yunyi to really be able to get things done.

The Minister of War, Tan Lun, heard this, thought about it earnestly, and asked, "Your Majesty, if the powerful households still collude with the Yao people, wouldn't it be fine to exterminate the powerful households together?"

"The Minister of War's words make sense." Zhu Yijun was stunned, was silent for a moment, and agreed with Tan Lun's statement. His statement was very much in line with the reality of practice. Since the powerful households still want to defy the imperial decree, they should be sentenced to beheading, and exterminating the powerful households together would settle it, wouldn't it?

Wan Shihe thought about it again and again and said, "Your Majesty has a benevolent heart and virtue. Your subject thinks this is the good fortune of the Ming, but publicly defying the court's clear decree, your subject thinks it should not be indulged."

The Senior Grand Secretary, Lü Tiaoyang, asked, "What does the Senior Grand Secretary think?"

"Your subject thinks His Majesty's words make sense." Zhang Juzheng's statement was rarely ambiguous.

The Emperor advocated not killing, but also agreed with Tan Lun's violent theory of exterminating the powerful households together, so Zhang Juzheng said His Majesty's words made sense. But was it to kill or not to kill? Or was it that whatever the Emperor said was right?

Respecting the master's power is the core of Zhang Juzheng's reform, so what he meant was that whatever the Emperor said was right.

"Then kill them. I am far away in the Northern Yamen, and Liangguang is in the extreme south. The difficulties faced by the ministers in charge cannot be explained in a few words. Since the evidence is conclusive and correct, then kill." Zhu Yijun finally made a decision. The Ming officials all said they should be killed, even the gentlest Wan Shihe clearly said he did not advocate leniency, so kill them.

It must be noted that the gentry of Liangguang impeached Ling Yunyi for being murderous and requested the court to show mercy, not saying that Ling Yunyi was "pointing at a deer and calling it a horse" or confusing right and wrong. Ling Yunyi was definitely not handling a miscarriage of justice.

The gentry of Liangguang also knew that the Lin family of Dianbai and the Wu family of Guangzhou deserved to die; they were just asking the court to show mercy.

Zhu Yijun made the final decision, so the Minister of Justice and the Grand Minister of Rites didn't have to be embarrassed, and the case proceeded smoothly to the next step.

In fact, the situation Ling Yunyi faced was far more difficult than the court imagined. If the contradictions hadn't intensified to a certain point, Ling Yunyi, a Confucian student, wouldn't have been a bloodthirsty person. If he could get things done without killing, would he be willing to be a "good old man" where everyone is happy? It was precisely because the contradictions had intensified to a certain point that Ling Yunyi had to ask the court for help.

Zhang Juzheng thought it didn't matter whether they were killed or not. Killing could deter the powerful households and give Ling Yunyi more support. Not killing could provide more political room and give Ling Yunyi more space to advance or retreat locally.

Zhang Juzheng advocated killing because he didn't want to see Liangguang become like the Northwest, where "rituals and music and expeditions are issued by the feudal lords." Ling Yunyi killing the powerful gentry was a concrete manifestation of not being in the same boat as the local area. When he is in government, he must ensure that the Ming will no longer have any feudal towns.

The court discussion finally ended, and Zhang Juzheng began the lectures again. The Emperor could already read many books very smoothly, so the speed of teaching was extremely fast, and the Emperor learned really well.

And after the lectures, Zhu Yijun began to ask about several problems of the grain tribute boxes, and then began to ask about the currency law, especially copper coins. If the Ming loses money by casting coins, it is like water without a source and a tree without roots. Finally, the water will dry up and the tree will wither. This must be asked clearly.

After listening to the Emperor's inquiry, Zhang Juzheng flicked his sleeves, found a yellowed memorial, and said, "Your subject has a memorial to present."

"In the fourth month of the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing, Yin Zhengmao, then the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, submitted a memorial to open copper mines and cast copper coins to alleviate the court's financial deficit. The profit from casting was high. At that time, the court was pacifying the Japanese pirates in the southeast and resisting the barbarians in the northwest, and the country was stretched thin."

"It was approved at the time, but the Ministry of Revenue thought the investment was huge, so it was better to cast coins in Yunnan. As a result, the matter was messed up. In the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Yunnan copper casting was stopped."

What is "casting profit"? Casting profit is seigniorage tax. One tael of silver is exchanged for 1,000 copper coins, and the total cost of 1,000 copper coins is about 0.625 taels. This is seigniorage tax.

Yin Zhengmao advocated vigorously mining Dian copper.

"Is this another memorial from Minister Yin?" Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Hong to present it. He read Yin Zhengmao's memorial earnestly and said very firmly, "Minister Yin truly has the talent to save the world."

Yin Zhengmao's idea was to transport Dian copper out of Yunnan and cast coins in Chenglingji, Yanziji, and Caishiji. The three famous "ji" (rocky shores) of the Yangtze River—Chenglingji is in Yueyang, Yanziji is in Nanjing, and Caishiji is in Ma'anshan—are all good ports on the Yangtze River.

Casting coins along the Yangtze River and spreading them to the inside and outside of the Ming—but this investment is huge. First, the shipping routes must be dredged; second, the good ports on the Yangtze River must be built; and third, the private checkpoints along the way must be rectified.

The Ministry of Revenue wanted to save trouble and said: "Chenglingji is a place where people from all directions gather, so opening a foundry here is prone to trickery; Yunnan is remote and affairs are simple, so casting coins in the mountains is convenient." So they cast coins locally in Yunnan.

Yin Zhengmao submitted a memorial in the seventh month, strongly disagreeing with the Ministry of Revenue's approach, believing that the Ministry of Revenue was "being penny-wise and pound-foolish." If the Dian copper was not transported out, the money would be silted up in Yunnan, and there would be no way to continue.

Sure enough, it was fulfilled. Casting coins locally led to the inability of Dian copper to leave Yunnan, causing copper coins to pile up in Yunnan, and money formed a barrier in Yunnan, while silver performed the currency function. Bai Yin was expensive and copper was cheap. Finally, in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Yunnan coin casting was stopped.

Yin Zhengmao said that it only needed an investment of 390,000 taels of cost silver per year to get 650 million wen of coins, and the court could profit 530,000 taels. The Ministry of Revenue invested 20,000 cost silver in Yunnan, cast 33 million wen, and the court profited 20,000 taels of silver.

"Your Majesty, your subject is terrified. At that time, the Ministry of Revenue was truly a helpless move. The court's deficit was empty, and wars and military disasters were continuous. Where could they get 400,000 taels of silver to cast coins? At that time, Yan Song was in government. Although he was a traitor who formed cliques and framed Xia Yan, just speaking of the matter itself, it was still a disaster caused by the court's poverty." Zhang Juzheng's words had the suspicion of exonerating Yan Song, but Zhang Juzheng still believed that the Ministry of Revenue's coin casting at the beginning was actually a problem of poverty.

According to Yin Zhengmao's thinking, the 530,000 taels of silver earned had to be continuously invested in the pacification of bandit troubles on the Yangtze River, the dredging of the Yangtze River, and the construction of seaports. Only after five years of this could the court truly begin to profit.

The Ministry of Revenue of course knew the danger Yin Zhengmao spoke of. The money would be blocked—it would definitely happen, but the court had no silver to supervise the casting.

The logic is this: the court has no silver, so it must cast coins. Casting coins is for profit, but it requires a large investment. However, the court has no silver, thus falling into a vicious cycle.

Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "The Ministry of Revenue now has 7.03 million taels of silver."

"So the strategy drawn by Minister Yin back then can be implemented." Zhang Juzheng bowed and said.

"Doesn't Teacher dislike Minister Yin?" Zhu Yijun closed the memorial, looked at the curled corner on it, and saw Zhang Juzheng holding this memorial, clearly having read it many times, and there were even Zhang Juzheng's notes on it. Clearly, Zhang Juzheng had studied it carefully.

Zhang Juzheng said righteously, "Your subject just doesn't like Minister Yin being in Liangguang. Bribery will inevitably breed indulgence, and indulgence will inevitably lead to the fear of feudal towns. As the Ming's Senior Grand Secretary, governing the country, he is now in Luzon, so he is the Earl of Sishui who is loyal to the monarch and loves the country."

Zhu Yijun smiled, asked Zhang Hong to put Yin Zhengmao's *Memorial on Casting Coins to Fill the National Treasury* into the display cabinet of political studies, and put the *Grain Tribute Box Method* into the display cabinet of industrial studies.

The grain tribute box method was not entirely Zhang Juzheng's wisdom alone, but the wisdom of all the shipbuilders in the Southern Yamen shipyard.

Zhang Juzheng took out another memorial from his sleeve and said, "Your Majesty personally engages in agriculture, saving the famine with sweet potatoes. The Baoqi Office has promoted sweet potatoes and has achieved some results. Your subject asks Your Majesty to take a look."

The Baoqi Office's promotion of sweet potatoes was to promote famine-relief grain. Zhang Juzheng presided over it personally. It was widely planted north of the Qin Ling Mountains and Huai River. This thing could not be used for tax payment, so the planting promotion was very smooth. It was mainly for wasteland reclamation. Sweet potato seedlings only needed a ladle of water and a spoonful of manure to survive.

Two parts planting, three parts management, five parts fertilizer. The Ming's sweet potato yield was about 60% to 80% of the Baoqi Office's, depending entirely on the fertility. The Baoqi Office was not farming; it was treating potato seedlings like ancestors.

It was mainly the difference in fertilizer. Even so, sweet potatoes gave birth to countless people.

Shaanxi and Shanxi opened a total of 300,000 mu of planting fields. These planting fields were not continuous, but involved various prefectures and counties. There were several cellars. They mainly planted potatoes, not sweet potatoes. The planting area had reached more than 30,000 qing, and the number of starving people was significantly reduced compared to previous years.

And the planting fields in Henan and Huguang were only 200,000 mu, and the planting area was only about 20,000 qing, mainly concentrated in some hilly areas.

In the capital region and Liaodong, the capital region had 400,000 mu of planting fields, while Liaodong only had 50,000 mu. The planting area exceeded 45,000 qing. The Ministry of Revenue already had voices intending to levy taxes on sweet potatoes, but Zhang Juzheng still refused and believed that sweet potatoes were for famine relief and should not be taxed. However, the Ministry of Revenue still believed that taxes should be levied starting from the tenth year of Wanli; otherwise, using sweet potatoes as an excuse not to pay regular taxes would become a trend.

And in this, Wang Chonggu's sweet potato promotion work in the Northwest Xuan-Da and other places was once again the leader, with 300,000 mu of planting fields in the two prefectures of Xuanfu and Datong, a planting area of 30,000 qing, and a yield of 80%, far ahead.

It was mainly the resettlement of 190,000 labor services. More human manure made the sweet potato yield in the Northwest more, while other places were only 60%.

"I don't know if letting the Minister of Justice return to the capital was right or wrong. After the Minister of Justice left Xuan-Da, the planting fields in Xuan-Da not only did not increase, but also decreased." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in his hand and noticed a phenomenon: Wu Dui and Wang Chonggu were drifting further and further apart.

More clearly, Wu Dui was courting death.

Wang Chonggu said that he could still manage it within two or three years. After that, he really couldn't guarantee what kind of mess would happen in the Northwest.

The facts were indeed so. Only one year after Wang Chonggu left Xuan-Da, his political achievements not only failed to be promoted, but also appeared to be declining.

"It is the fear of clan factions and feudal towns." Zhang Juzheng said very calmly. He had already anticipated this situation. He would not leave a riddled Ming to His Majesty when he returned power.

And at this time, in Wang Chonggu's house, Zhang Siwei, who had moved into Wang Chonggu's house, heard that the court was going to behead the powerful gentry of Liangguang, and hurried to find Wang Chonggu.

Wang Chonggu had never changed his position; he just wanted to make money.

Zhang Siwei's complexion was no longer golden, but now his complexion was even more terrifying—it was waxy yellow. He said with a trembling voice, "Life and death are in their hands, life and death are in their hands! Uncle! What did I say? The court controls the power of life and death, and the money we earn is all for the court's savings. The court is unjustly killing powerful gentry for the sake of silver!"

Wang Chonggu looked at Zhang Siwei and said in disbelief, "Why do you like to invert right and wrong so much? Ling Yunyi posted a notice in the first month of last year, not allowing gentry and powerful households to collude with the Yao people in Mount Luopang. It has been more than a year. In the sixth month of the third year of Wanli, His Majesty's decree reached Liangguang, and it began to be implemented from the first month of the fourth year of Wanli."

"Even so, His Majesty still intended to show mercy, considering their help to the army. I, your uncle, agreed to kill. His Majesty didn't want to kill. The court officials agreed to kill. Finally, the court discussion decided to kill."

"Can you sort out the order of the development of this matter and think about the problem?"

"The court does indeed control the power of life and death, but if these two powerful households had obeyed the law, would the court have nothing to do and go to punish them? Their family property is nothing. Now there are seven million taels of silver lying in the Ministry of Revenue!"

"The court is the greatest powerful household in the world! His Majesty is the greatest powerful household in the world. Do you understand?"

Zhang Siwei still refused to accept it and said, "Isn't it all from greedy officials, extorting and eating the gentry?"

Wang Chonggu let out a long, turbid breath and said earnestly, "Nephew, your position is yourself. That's no problem, but have you ever thought that people are gregarious? No one can live without others. Can you cook? Can you do carpentry? Can you farm? Can you? You can't do any of them."

Mencius refuted the agricultural school's "the Son of Heaven personally engages in agriculture," mainly discussing the division of labor.

Wang Chonggu spread his hands and said, "Opposites and unity—do you understand?"

"You can't just take and not give, right? Seeking and giving are opposites, but also a unity. Seeking is giving, and giving is also seeking. Yang Zhu's school of 'valuing oneself' is already a heretical path, but even Yang Zhu's school advocates 'plucking one hair for the world, I will not do it; taking one hair to damage the world, I will not do it'."

"Not plucking a single hair, not taking a single hair—you are just not plucking a single hair, but you are unwilling not to take a single hair. Your thinking is not even as good as Yang Zhu's school."

Wang Chonggu strongly supported Zhang Juzheng's banning of the sixty-four academies. This work was done by Wang Chonggu himself. Looking at Zhang Siwei's way of thinking about problems, this is not "valuing oneself," it is clearly "I am the most honorable," meaning the whole world must revolve around him.

The new moon sets sail, please vote for monthly tickets, throw all your tickets to me!!! Awoo!!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 170 =====