Chapter 325: Grip the Hammer in Your Hand and Smash Their Skulls

In Zhao Laoqi's case, Zhu Yijun told Zhao Laoqi that the "Blue Sky" magistrate, who was already very fair in Zhao Laoqi's eyes, was actually in the same gang as Sun Zhicheng and these local gentry. Zhao Laoqi didn't understand, and Zhu Yijun didn't discuss this problem with Zhao Laoqi in too much detail.

In fact, Zhu Yijun noticed this problem very, very early, which was the universal tacit understanding that existed among the "meat-eaters."

The Miyun county magistrate was in the capital region. The control of the Great Ming Emperor and the ministers over the area around the capital was far greater than that in the localities. Those censors and supervising secretaries who had nothing to do but bark twice—if they found out from the case files that the Miyun county magistrate's ruling was improper, the magistrate would lose a layer of skin if he didn't die, so the magistrate could only choose a fair ruling, performing it with great fanfare but with no effect at all.

The Miyun county magistrate was exiled to Luzon by Zhu Yijun, leaving with Sun Zhicheng.

The situation in Nanjing was completely different. The Emperor was far away. Before the information channel of the Great Ming coastal defense inspection was established, the Great Ming Emperor's imperial decree took fifteen days to reach the Southern Yamen. Coupled with the fact that the annexation problem in the Southern Yamen was far greater than that in the Northern Yamen, under multiple worldly trends, the appearance of a true good man like Yang Keli was arranged clearly and thoroughly by others.

Zhu Yijun recalled slightly and said to Zhang Juzheng, "I remember that before the Baoqi Division's director Xu Zhenming's teacher, Ma Yilong, reclaimed fields with the villagers in Liyang, Suzhou Prefecture, the local gentry in Liyang couldn't afford to provoke Ma Yilong. After all, Ma Yilong was a *jinshi* and had colleagues and teachers in the court. But after Ma Yilong passed away, the fields he reclaimed were all annexed."

"Zhang, I remember, Ma-Mr. reclaimed a total of 127,340 *mu* of land? The commoners couldn't guard it, and it was all invaded, with weeds growing for several months."

Zhang Hong took out a thick memo from his sleeve, opened it and looked for a long time, then bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, it is indeed *mu* of land. Later, Gao Qiyu arrived in Liyang, Suzhou Prefecture, as county magistrate, and then he took these fields back."

His Majesty was very sensitive to financial matters such as money, grain, and farmland, remembering even the fractions clearly and without error. Zhang Hong still had to look at the memo to confirm this number.

Zhu Yijun called Ma Yilong "Ma-Mr." because he was indeed Ma Yilong's second-generation disciple in agriculture. Xu Zhenming was Zhu Yijun's agricultural teacher. The Guanghan Hall and the Baoqi Division were both in the Western Garden and were adjacent.

"Very similar." Zhu Yijun was very certain that these two cases were similar. They were both the universal tacit understanding of the "meat-eaters," and as a carrier for regulating contradictions, the Great Ming local government did not play the role of regulating contradictions and suppressing annexation in the problem of land annexation, but instead had a negative effect, indulging and indulging.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and nodded, saying, "Great Ming land annexation is a complex problem, but it is indeed as Your Majesty said. There is indeed an indulgence problem. Therefore, the first thing I did at the beginning of the new policy was the administration of officials, not anything else. External officials, Great Ming's local officials, are the hands and feet of the court. If the meridians of the four limbs are not opened, no matter what kind of government decree it is, it is like flowers in the water and the moon in the mirror, nonsense."

Zhang Juzheng did not deny the existence of the problem. He knew clearly where these problems were and faced them squarely. This was also the reason why Zhu Yijun liked to discuss politics with Zhang Juzheng, because Zhang Juzheng never lied in front of the Emperor. He took Wang Shizhen's "Bamboo and Birds Painting" and

Zhu Yijun spread his hands and asked, "This Gaozi only has five thousand mu of fields, but how much land in our Great Ming is clearly suitable for farming yet can only lie fallow? Why is it that our Great Ming officials would rather drive Yang Keli to his death than let these lands be covered with crops?"

Zhang Juzheng pondered for a moment and said, "Some things, which seem to weigh only four ounces, weigh a thousand catties once placed on the scale; and some things, which seem to weigh a thousand catties, turn out to be only two ounces once weighed."

"Is it only I, your subject, who has noticed the massive deficit in the Great Ming state treasury? In the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing reign, when the northern barbarians invaded and the Japanese pirates plagued the southeast, the Great Ming was fighting on two fronts, and the finances were already in deep deficit. The imperial court's budget could only cover three months, after which it could only rely on debt. The Hanlin of the Hanlin Academy, the Censors of the Censorate, and the Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices repeatedly submitted memorials stating that this financial deficit was caused by a failure to practice benevolent governance, making the resolution of the state's financial crisis sound harder than Nüwa patching the heavens."

"In my view, it is not that difficult."

Starting from the third year of the Wanli reign, the Great Ming Emperor's personal allowance of 'Gold Flower Bai Yin' increased from one million to 1.2 million, while the Great Ming national treasury basically resolved its accumulated debts. By the fifth year of the Wanli reign, the Ministry of Revenue had already accumulated six years' worth of reserves, and even transferred one million taels of silver into the old treasury as an emergency reserve.

The financial deficit actually began during the reign of the Xiaozong Emperor and continued until the Wanli years. To everyone, this was a matter weighing ten thousand catties, yet once it reached Zhang Juzheng's hands, it could be solved. While Zhang Juzheng was fighting the Jin Party, he solved the problem as a side task.

Starting from the fifteenth year of the Wanli reign, this problem became severe again. By the end of the Wanli reign, the 1.2 million taels of Gold Flower Bai Yin existed in name only. By the Tianqi and Chongzhen years, the imperial palace had accumulated years of deficits, and there was simply no silver left to cover expenses.

The same logic applies: under this Great Ming rule, with land lying fallow and unable to be farmed, the local officials claim that restoring cultivation and production is as difficult as ascending to heaven. Yet, as soon as Yang Keli took even the slightest action, this matter weighing a thousand catties turned out to weigh only two ounces.

Where can the local officials who have been clamoring about the 'power of the wind' hide their faces? Where can the powerful gentry who have always blamed the fallow land on the Great Ming commoners being 'extravagant and impractical' hide their faces?

You are poor? You are starving to death? You are not working hard enough; you deserve to be poor.

Zhang Juzheng exhaled a breath of stale air and continued to analyze the problem, saying, "Your Majesty, Dong Chuance, the Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, accepted bribes from the Chen family. This matter actually involves mutual benefits. The local officials refuse to solve it not because they cannot, but because there is no money to be made if they do. As long as they do not solve it, a steady stream of silver falls into their pockets, and these local gentry are also happy to see the land lie fallow."

Zhu Yijun asked, full of doubt, "Why is this? If the land in their own hands lies fallow, doesn't that mean they are earning much less money?"

"Your Majesty..." Zhang Juzheng looked at the Great Ming Emperor with a very complex expression. His eyes were filled with many emotions; mostly relief, followed by helplessness, and a trace of worry. The way His Majesty thought about problems never aligned with the powerful gentry; instead, he stood on the side of the poor, the laborers, and the common people to consider issues.

Just like a farmer, it is truly a waste to leave the fields unplanted!

This stance is very reasonable, because His Majesty is indeed a farmer, and because His Majesty is indeed personally engaged in farming and sericulture at the Baoqi Office.

Sure enough, the 'base scholars' were right to oppose the Emperor personally engaging in farming and sericulture. Once His Majesty truly became a grounded farmer—not just going through the motions—he would view certain problems from the perspective of a farmer, thereby influencing political decisions.

"Leaving these fields fallow allows them to earn more," Zhang Juzheng said with great certainty. "If the commoners were not exhausted from running about, struggling endlessly for scraps of silver, how would they be willing to resign themselves to their fate and endure the exploitation of these gentry for the sake of their livelihood? When the granaries are full, people know propriety; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and shame. Only when they are starving and half-naked will they be busy struggling for food and clothing."

"Wang Chonggu previously said that these gentry are suppressing the growth of the Great Ming population. Although Hai Rui rebuked Wang Chonggu, those words were correct."

"Land annexation—a mere eighteen strokes of the brush, yet it exhausts all the suffering in the human world."

After listening to Zhang Juzheng, Zhu Yijun took out a pencil and scribbled a few lines. A good memory is not as good as a bad pen; Zhang Juzheng could not provide instructions at every moment, so Zhu Yijun had to write it down to prevent himself from forgetting.

"Thank you, Master, for your teachings," Zhu Yijun said sincerely after finishing writing. He had repeated these words for six years, and he would continue to repeat them. As long as Zhang Juzheng had reached the pinnacle of officialdom and had no desire to advance further, Zhu Yijun would truly respect him forever.

"Your subject is unworthy of such praise; this is merely my duty to repay the late Emperor and remain loyal to Your Majesty." Zhang Juzheng strictly observed the etiquette between ruler and subject and never overstepped by even a fraction. Every time the Emperor thanked him, Zhang Juzheng would bring up the late Emperor. This was not to use the late Emperor to pressure the Emperor, but to show that he was telling the Emperor these truths because he had been entrusted by the late Emperor.

"Have this Dong Chuance, Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, escorted to the capital to be questioned by Xu Xing," Zhu Yijun announced his decision. Rewards and punishments must both be clear; one cannot be without the other. If one does wrong, one must be responsible for one's mistakes. Since Dong Chuance dared to accept silver, he cannot blame Zhu Yijun for sending him to the 'Stele Forest of Joy' to be reviled for ten thousand years.

Hundreds of years later, people could still see Dong Chuance's deeds in the Stele Forest of Joy, and everyone spat on them and cast them aside.

"Master, do you know what those base scholars are saying about you?" Zhu Yijun brought up an interesting topic.

Zhang Juzheng smiled quite calmly, shook his head, and said, "Let them say what they will. No matter how fiercely they curse, your subject won't lose a few chunks of flesh, will he?"

Zhang Juzheng had long since come to terms with the evaluations of the Confucian scholars. In any case, these cynics could not produce anything good. Zhang Juzheng had long stopped reading the memorials from those scholar-officials impeaching him; he just affixed a blank slip and that was that.

Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Eh, Master, you are mistaken. Now, the Confucian scholars are all praising you."

"Praising?" Zhang Juzheng said blankly. He really hadn't paid attention; was he actually no longer being cursed?

"Hmm," Zhu Yijun explained the details with a smile. After Zhang Juzheng returned to the court, the Great Ming Emperor never again went to the Meridian Gate to supervise executions, often beheading hundreds of people at a time. After the Master returned to the court, the child holding the big sword finally had someone to restrain him a little!

Zhang Juzheng had sealed away an indescribable monster; this fact and its effect were recognized by most people.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Juzheng was somewhat amused. If there were another major case like the Kong family case, Zhang Juzheng would still agree with His Majesty killing people. Now that His Majesty was not killing people, it was simply because no major case requiring collective punishment had occurred.

Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng communicated about the arrangements for Zhao Laoqi. Yingchang seemed bitter, but Yingchang did not have the pervasive mosquitoes, nor did it have so much trouble with the climate. Zhu Yijun also marveled at Zhao Laoqi's terrifying strength. At fifteen, he hadn't taken a wife yet, he was still in the youth group, and just that bit of strength was already extremely formidable.

"Master, do you know what weapons the Taizu Gao Emperor and the Chengzu Wen Emperor used on the battlefield?" Zhu Yijun suddenly asked.

Zhang Juzheng thought about it seriously, shook his head, and said, "Ah? Your subject really does not know."

Zhu Yijun said with great certainty, "A twelve-foot-long, white-wax wood and cowhide-wrapped spear, with a foot-long spearhead, weighing six catties and eight taels."

In a sense, it was fitting for Zhu Di to become the Great Ming Emperor, because Zhu Di truly inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's martial arts. Zhu Di was like entering an empty land on the battlefield; on one hand, it was because the Crown Prince's official army cooperated well, and on the other, it was because Zhu Di was truly fierce.

A spear with a shaft weighing six catties and eight taels is truly heavy. Anyone who cooks often knows that flipping a wok for a while makes one very tired. When this six-catty-eight-tael spear is brandished on the battlefield, within a radius of twelve feet, not a blade of grass grows.

"I have also been practicing this Six-Harmony Spear for a while. I can perform the routines, but it is far from enough for the battlefield," Zhu Yijun said with some regret.

"Your subject is not versed in martial arts." Although Zhang Juzheng came from a military family, he really did not know martial arts. He became a Xiucai at twelve and had been working hard for the imperial examinations ever since, gradually drifting further and further away from martial arts. He did not actually understand what His Majesty was saying.

"Feng Banban, bring my spear." Zhu Yijun decided not to talk about it, but to perform a set directly.

Zhu Yijun began to warm up. Performing this thing required a huge space and was very exhausting. Without warming up, with Zhu Yijun's physical strength, he couldn't even finish one set.

Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng moved outside the Wenhua Hall. After Zhu Yijun finished warming up, he grabbed his Six-Harmony Spear. The spear was about two and a half times as tall as Zhu Yijun, and the spearhead shone brightly in the midday sun, with the red tassels fluttering freely in the autumn wind.

Zhu Yijun kicked his foot, held the spear in his hand, and began to practice. The spear technique he learned had twenty-four forms, all relying on the waist; the entire force came from the waist, and a long spear danced in the Emperor's hands.

Zhang Juzheng did not understand martial arts; he only knew that His Majesty was performing very seriously, with quite a bit of method, the momentum heavy as ten thousand catties, moving like thunder—it was exactly the famous stunt of Qi Jiguang, the Twenty-Four Forms of the Six-Harmony Golden Spear Technique.

One-cut, two-advance, three-block, four-entangle, five-seize, six-straight—this is the Six-Harmony.

Zhu Yijun half-squatted, his right toe touching the ground, his left foot planted firmly, his right hand flipped to grip the end of the spear, his left hand gripping tightly next to his right hand, holding the Six-Harmony Spear steadily. His eyes were fixed on the spearhead, and then he suddenly stood straight, thrusting the long spear in his hand forward with the momentum. The spear went out like a dragon, and the long spear, like a strip of silk, carried a whistling sound and fiercely pierced the wooden stake in front of him. The wooden stake shattered and scattered in response.

Zhang Juzheng stared blankly at the scene in front of him. Because he did not understand martial arts, he had never paid attention to the little Emperor's progress in martial arts. This spear actually shattered the wooden stake; if this were a person, he feared they would have been pierced straight through!

Had his disciple become this formidable?

Zhu Yijun withdrew the spear, stood in place panting to steady his breath, and then performed a few more movements to finish, letting his muscles relax completely before returning to the moon terrace and shaking his head, saying, "Still not quite there."

"This! And it's still not enough!" Zhang Juzheng leaned back slightly, very shocked, and said.

A spear pierced a wooden stake as thick as a thigh, and His Majesty actually said it was still not enough.

"Li Rusong uses a horse-lance," Zhu Yijun said with great certainty. "General Qi said that only after practicing this spear well can one use a lance. General Qi is over fifty and no longer uses a horse-lance, having switched to the spear."

Qi Jiguang was over fifty; forcing himself to draw a heavy bow or use a horse-lance to compete with young people in strength was not Qi Jiguang's style. Qi Jiguang actually felt that it was enough for the Emperor to practice the Six-Harmony Spear; there was no need to pursue the horse-lance. It wasn't that the horse-lance wasn't powerful, but the times had changed. Now firearms were king; on the battlefield, one volley of fire, and no matter how well one practiced the arrow-breaking style of this spear technique, one could not break the whistling lead bullets.

The emergence and continuous improvement of firearms were constantly changing the landscape of the battlefield.

Just as Qi Jiguang did not highly praise mounted archery, Qi Jiguang held reservations about the Emperor practicing the horse-lance.

The ambitious Great Ming Emperor had practiced it through sheer force of will. Now, the Great Ming Emperor's pursuit of personal martial prowess was directed toward the horse-lance. His Majesty was not a born general, and his talent for the martial path was actually very average.

But Qi Jiguang could not easily advise against this. After all, the helplessness His Majesty felt when facing the treacherous assassins arranged by Zhang Siwei to stab the King and kill the driver was the starting point for his martial arts practice.

Qi Jiguang analyzed that perhaps the Great Ming Emperor's diligent practice of martial arts was a form of competitiveness due to his relatively weak military talent. Since his talent was lacking but he liked to play, in order not to cause more serious harm, he had to vent his yearning for military affairs onto this personal martial prowess.

Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng chatted for a long time. At this time, Shah Mamet had also moved from the Four Barbarian Halls to the Huitong Hall. The Great Ming treated vassal states that were granted the five-chapter crown and robes with higher status, and they all lived in the Huitong Hall, while those that were not granted the five-chapter crown and robes lived in the Four Barbarian Halls, treating them as barbarians.

Shah Mamet's move from the Four Barbarian Halls to the Huitong Hall was a special case. Who told him to pay extra to upgrade the ship? This was an addition of fifty thousand taels of white silver!

"Drink tea, drink tea, Special Envoy Shah. After upgrading the ship, do you intend to return to the Mongol Empire or stay in the capital as an envoy?" Chen Xuehui asked with a face full of smiles. For a big client who sent silver, Chen Xuehui, the Minister of the Court of Ceremonial Entertainments, never skimped on smiles.

Shah looked around and said with deep emotion, "When I set out from the distant Yarkand Khanate, I knew what kind of difficulties I would face on the road: wind and sand, mud and swamps, horse bandits, greedy hearts, and deadly diseases. My journey here was not easy. When I was in Gansu, if it hadn't been for the doctors at the Huimin Medical Office saving my life, I fear I wouldn't have made it here. This place is so prosperous that it makes one unwilling to leave."

"But I must go back; my King needs me to go back."

From the moment he set out, he knew this trip was fraught with danger. After arriving, the prosperity of the Great Ming exceeded Shah's imagination, but he did not indulge in this prosperity like Li Yashi. He needed to return to the Mongol Empire, even knowing that the risks at sea remained very high.

His King needed him.

"Loyalty is a virtue worthy of praise anywhere," Chen Xuehui said, very much admiring Shah's determination to leave.

Shah Mamet took a sip of tea, looked at Chen Xuehui, sat upright, and said quite seriously, "The Great Ming selling ships is a good thing."

"I once saw in the miscellaneous reports that the Prince of Malacca came to the Great Ming to seek help. At that time, the Great Ming was unable to intervene and could only issue an imperial decree ordering the red-haired barbarians to return the territory. You and I both know that the red-haired barbarians did not return the territory."

"If the Great Ming wants to completely control the Ten Thousand Li Sea Pond, the Westerners will never easily spit out the fat meat they have eaten into their stomachs. The Great Ming needs to punch them in the abdomen to force them to spit it out."

"Now the Great Ming and the Mongols are not enemies. The Mongols resisting the harassment of the Western sea pirates is beneficial for the Great Ming to show its prowess in the Ten Thousand Li Sea Pond."

"I also hope that the Minister of the Court of Ceremonial Entertainments can inform your generous, benevolent, and supreme Majesty of this fact."

Chen Xuehui nodded as a matter of course and said, "His Majesty is very wise. The reason he is willing to sell ships to you and your King is also out of this consideration."

"I have one thing I am very curious about. My King calls the Great Ming 'Cathay,' which means the Land of Silk. But after I arrived in the Great Ming, I don't seem to see any silk. Why is this? The Land of Silk has no silk; this makes it difficult for me to understand," Shah Mamet asked with a puzzled face.

The Land of Silk has no silk—is this reasonable? Is it reasonable!

Shah Mamet prepared to buy a few bolts of silk to take back as a gift for his King, but he really tried every method and couldn't find a place that sold silk.

Chen Xuehui looked slightly embarrassed at the fine-spun woolen clothing on his body, thought for a moment, and said, "Ah, this... the silk has all been sold to the Westerners in exchange for silver. Our Great Ming has all kinds of treasures, but the country is large and we use many things, so naturally, there are things we lack. For the sake of silver, we have no choice but to do this."

Back then, for the sake of a little silk to make official uniforms, the fence-sitting Minister of Rites Wan Shihe even dared to contradict the Emperor!

Shah was very certain that the Great Ming official in front of him was telling the truth. The Minister of the Court of Ceremonial Entertainments, who prided himself on being the Celestial Empire, explained with an embarrassed face that the silk had been sold for silver—it was very real. He said quite sincerely, "Thank you for your sincerity, Minister."

"Can we Mongols buy silk? Of course, we can bid against the Westerners."

"Of course you can!" Chen Xuehui held back his laughter, nodded to confirm the Mongol Kingdom's eligibility to purchase, and said they could participate in the bidding. Opening a business, there was no reason to push silver away.

Just as His Majesty expected, this was indeed a big, big client, and very generous!

As the Minister of the Court of Ceremonial Entertainments, Chen Xuehui naturally understood some of the situation in the Mongol Kingdom. The Mongol Kingdom implemented a four-class system in the Indian region and had deeply integrated with Hinduism, exploiting downwards without any pressure. Therefore, the Mongol court was much wealthier than the Great Ming court; they even added a quarter to the price when buying ships.

Shah again solemnly placed his hand on his shoulder, bowed, and said, "Again, sincerely thank the Great Ming for its generosity. We also once hoped to buy some three-masted ships from the West for navigation, or buy some firearms and cannons. You know, we never succeeded."

"The Great Ming has never bought ships from the West either. That three-masted galleon was seized from the red-haired barbarians in Luzon by the Great Ming's Si Shui Bo, Guo Zhengmao," Chen Xuehui said, able to empathize with what Shah said.

When the Western galleons appeared in Great Ming ports, the Great Ming was also somewhat panicked. That kind of behemoth at sea was a symbol of maritime power, and the Great Ming clearly realized that it had lost its advantage in shipbuilding.

Now, the Great Ming had finally regained its advantage.

"Seized?" Shah blinked. The Great Ming's style of doing things always maintained the demeanor of a great nation, worthy of being called a Land of Propriety, while on the other hand, it was more inclined toward practical experience and actual conduct.

The etiquette that should be observed was not lacking, and the things that should be seized were not yielded by even a fraction. This contradictory yet unified status quo was the fundamental basis for the establishment of the theory of contradiction—the unity of opposites.

Shah tentatively asked, "After arriving in the Great Ming, I have deeply felt the charm of Great Ming culture. May I ask, can we send noble disciples to the Great Ming to study culture? The Mongols of our Mongol Kingdom have been away from the East for a long time, and the Code of Genghis Khan has been completely forgotten. In the words of the Great Ming, this is 'forgetting one's origins'."

"Of course, knowledge is priceless. We can pay for all this with white silver. We will definitely make the Great Ming satisfied, and make His Majesty satisfied."

Chen Xuehui shook his head and said, "During the Jiajing reign, after the Japanese envoys fought over tribute, the sea was completely banned, and the Great Ming's Imperial Academy no longer accepts students from vassal states. I am very sorry."

The Great Ming's Imperial Academy had students from vassal states in the early years of the dynasty—Joseon, Ryukyu, Annam, and Luzon all had them. Even during the Yongle reign, there were Joseon students who passed the provincial and metropolitan examinations. It wasn't until the Jiajing reign that students from vassal states were completely prohibited from entering the Imperial Academy.

This was the ancestral law, and there were currently no signs of it being modified. This was not something Chen Xuehui could influence.

"For one student to study in the Great Ming for three years, we can pay ten thousand taels of white silver or equivalent goods," Shah Mamet said without any nonsense, holding up a finger.

Chen Xuehui immediately said, "I will convey your words to His Majesty, not for anything else, but for the friendship between our two countries."

If he had said earlier that he would pay more, Chen Xuehui would have agreed long ago!

Ten thousand taels of silver for one student—if there could be eight or ten a year, the Great Ming would have a huge source of income. With the Mongol Kingdom as a precedent, Siam, Annam, Luzon, Joseon, Japan, and even the West could all potentially follow. This fee of one hundred thousand or eighty thousand could grow to a very considerable figure.

Maintaining the stable operation of the Quanchu Guild Hall for a year cost no more than 1,200 taels of white silver; ten thousand taels for three years was truly a lot, a lot.

Shah Mamet breathed a sigh of relief. He could buy books to take back without limit, but these books, which were like heavenly scripts, were not something one could learn just by reading.

One needed silver, and the other needed culture; both sides hit it off immediately.

As for the ancestral law, it was not impossible to discuss. The ancestral laws of Hongwu and Yongle and the ancestral laws of the Jiajing reign were all ancestral laws. This problem of debating the classics could be left to Wan Shihe. The whole world knew that Wan Shihe was the one who 'sprinkled water to wash the ground.'

Shah Mamet planned to leave. He had to go to Songjiang Prefecture. A five-masted ocean-crossing ship required at least three hundred people to operate. Shah Mamet had to hire enough hands and buy enough goods to return to the Mongol Kingdom during the process of preparing the five-masted ocean-crossing ship in the Great Ming, thereby completing this long diplomatic mission and bringing the five-masted ocean-crossing ship and the tally back to the Mongol Kingdom.

The tally was the Great Ming's official communication channel. With the tally, one could come to the Great Ming for normal trade.

It was hard to say clearly which was more important, the five-masted ocean-crossing ship or the tally. In Shah Mamet's view, this tally was even more precious, because it meant that their Mongol Kingdom was no longer isolated and helpless.

Shah Mamet knew that this return voyage would have certain risks, but he also clearly knew the terrifying passage capability of the five-masted ocean-crossing ship.

The Westerners all said it was good after using it; even Philip II wanted to run to the distant East to buy this kind of maritime behemoth.

The British Empire, known as the empire on which the sun never sets, derived its imperial title from the Mughal Empire. That's right, it was only after Britain colonized India and snatched the imperial throne back to Britain that it became an empire. Later, it dropped the imperial title itself and became a kingdom. Requesting monthly tickets, Awoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(End of this chapter)