Chapter 333: I Am a Fallen Monarch, Are You Ministers Not Fallen Ministers?

The expedition to Luchuan was a matter of more loss than gain for the Great Ming, because the soldiers of the Great Ming capital battalion were not familiar with rainforest warfare. When they arrived at the place, they suffered heavy losses, and a soldier of the capital battalion was very difficult to cultivate.

The Great Ming capital army is truly very precious. The Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the eunuchs of the inner treasury calculated an account of the logistical consumption of the Great Ming capital army.

In the absence of war, each soldier eats one jin, six liang, and eight qian of rice every day, which is converted to 6.5 li of silver according to the price of rice in the capital; they eat a total of eight liang of mustard greens, leeks, lettuce, celery, etc. every day, converted to 1.4 li of silver; three liang of soybeans, converted to 0.75 li of silver; one liang of meat, converted to 0.1 li of silver; one liang of oil, one spoonful of salt, etc. A soldier's daily food procurement alone costs 2.63 li of silver.

The Great Ming capital army has a total of 100,000 people. Eating alone costs 2,630 taels of silver a day, and nearly one million silver a year.

This treatment is very good. In World War II, the US military, known as the "young master army," ate about the same amount every day.

This is just in the capital, not in combat. Combat food has fewer varieties, but it is more expensive. Even if it is palm oil fried light cakes, the price of logistics transported to the front line is also extremely expensive.

The Great Ming capital army spends nearly two million silver a year. This huge expenditure does not count the one tael of New Year silver per person given by the Great Ming Emperor every year, and it does not count the Emperor's rewards for each expedition.

The Great Ming capital army is truly very expensive. To maintain such treatment for 100,000 people, the Great Ming court needs to see benefits. Otherwise, such a huge expenditure will make the court and the public doubt whether there is a need to maintain such an army.

But the Great Ming capital army is not in deficit, nor is it worthless. Reorganizing the capital army, just the Tao-Tu Mountain of the Daning Guard, has already earned back all the investment, and there is even a surplus.

Once the court's finances are in great deficit and military spending has to be cut, and the policy of promoting literature and suppressing martial arts is opened, horses are released to the southern mountains, and literature is practiced while martial arts are neglected, the speed at which the Great Ming slides downward is astonishing.

Zhu Yijun is very concerned about the Taungoo Dynasty rising in the Indochina Peninsula, but to attack, he can only send the capital battalion. During the Zhengtong era, Wang Ji's three expeditions to Luchuan involved taking the capital battalion and the guard armies of Sichuan, Huguang, and Yunnan, saying: "Raising 150,000 troops, transferring half of the world's provisions, laboring the army and wasting wealth, shaking the stability of the country for a corner, and opening the evil of abusing official titles."

Attacking Luchuan and attacking Taungoo is a very difficult matter. There are so many places to spend money. If there is no repeated provocation, occupying cities and land, or even threatening the Great Ming's rule in Yunnan, the Great Ming does not need to waste too much energy.

In fact, there is a voice in the court saying that the Taungoo Dynasty is the result of the Qian Wei Wei Guo Gong Mansion raising bandits to respect themselves. According to the relationship between the Jin party and the Northern Barbarians, this is not impossible. But when Wang Xiyuan and Zhang Chucheng returned to the capital to report on their duties, they clearly and definitely stated that this was not the case.

"Your Majesty, I went to Yunnan. The Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Qian, the three Xuan and six Wei are completely different from the Great Ming hinterland, and also different from Xuanfu and Datong. There are native officials everywhere, and the Qian Wei Wei Guo Gong Mansion is too busy suppressing bandits, so where would they need to raise them?" Wang Xiyuan repeated the viewpoint of his previous memorial.

Zhu Yijun smiled. He agreed with the viewpoints of Wang Xiyuan and Zhang Chucheng.

Raising? Do they still need to raise them? That place is full of bandits, and they can't be suppressed. If they raise bandits again, the first to bear the brunt will be the Qian Wei Wei Guo Gong Mansion. Without the support of the Great Ming court, the survival of the Qian Wei Wei Guo Gong Mansion would be a problem. During the Wanli era, the native officials of the Great Ming still had extremely strong combat effectiveness.

The court officials in the capital thousands of miles away knew very little about the local area and did not understand the complex contradictions there. It is inadvisable to rigidly and mechanically apply the experience of the Northern Barbarians and the Jin party to the practices of the Qian Wei Wei Guo Gong Mansion and the Taungoo Dynasty.

Wang Xiyuan and Zhang Chucheng left the Huangji Gate and looked at the long line of foreign officials, only able to sigh that His Majesty is truly diligent.

In previous years, when His Majesty received foreign officials, he simply met with the provincial governors. Counting the commoners who wanted to pay respects, at most there were no more than fifteen people, and it would end in half an hour at most. It was somewhat of a formality, specifically chosen for the ancestral rules.

This year, when receiving foreign officials, a long line formed in front of the Huangji Gate. All foreign officials returning to the capital to report on their duties had to pay respects. And at the end of the line, there were border soldiers, kiln workers, boat workers, woolen workers, and hundreds of other workers, all waiting for His Majesty's audience.

This busy work would take at least a whole day.

Zhu Yijun was very happy to receive foreign officials and commoners, and he specifically set aside two days.

Zhang Juzheng restored this ancestral rule, and Zhu Yijun directly doubled it. Zhu Yijun met with subjects from all walks of life, asked about their most urgent matters, solved them if possible, and if not, recorded them in the files and tried to find ways to alleviate them.

Provincial governors, circuit censors, administration commissioners, surveillance commissioners, regional military commissioners, prefects, county magistrates, assistant county magistrates, county lieutenants, elders, and commoners from all over the country, all in all, exceeded more than a hundred people.

Zhu Yijun meeting so many people was truly useful, because he was the supreme Emperor of the Great Ming and the possessor of the highest power. Even if these people concealed something, it could still allow the Emperor, who lived deep in the nine-fold palace, to understand some of the hardships of the people.

"Your Majesty, there are only two people left." Feng Bao reminded the Emperor. Finally, at sunset, the audience came to an end, and even the ceremonial officials had been changed three times.

The last two people were Liu Qiniang and the child she adopted. She was the flower of the Yanxing Tower who was extremely bold, wanting to "open the meat" for His Majesty, and was later sent to the Yongsheng Woolen Factory. This profession probably couldn't give birth to children, and Liu Qiniang didn't delay others, so she adopted one.

Zhu Yijun asked about the affairs of the woolen official factory. Although Liu Qiniang was very nervous, she answered fluently and did not lose her etiquette.

"Regarding what you said, I have also heard something. Has this encroachment become so serious?" Zhu Yijun suddenly reached out and said: "You don't have to say it anymore. I will send someone to investigate. If you speak up, it will bring disaster upon yourself."

After Zhu Yijun asked, he realized that Liu Qiniang herself was a flower who had left the profession, and any opening would be trouble. If it involved some big figure who couldn't be provoked, Liu Qiniang wouldn't even be able to find a complete corpse.

Liu Qiniang smiled, covered her mouth and said: "Your Majesty, what are you saying? I was personally settled in the Yongsheng Woolen Factory by the Great Eunuch Feng. If I really end up without a corpse, where will the face of the old ancestor in the palace and Your Majesty's face go? Don't look at the monk's face, look at the Buddha's face. To beat a dog, you have to look at the owner."

"In this capital, no matter how big a figure is, they are not bigger than Your Majesty."

Liu Qiniang was indeed a poor person, but after all, she had truly seen Feng Bao. Being a flower, she had seen too many lights, wine, and pushing cups, and she knew a bit about officialdom. Anyone who wanted to move her had to weigh it: what if the Emperor just liked this?

"This wind of encroachment, damaging the public to enrich the private, is very serious in the official factory, but anyone who holds a seal in their hand wants to turn it into cash. What I saw in the official factory is all in this memorial." Liu Qiniang shook her sleeves, took out a memorial and handed it to the little eunuch. The little eunuch walked quickly and handed it to Feng Bao. Feng Bao went up to the moon terrace and handed it to the Emperor.

Zhu Yijun opened the memorial. A memorial is a document used for reporting, a form of official document without a fixed format.

Liu Qiniang obviously couldn't write a formal memorial, nor did she know the format of a memorial, so she used the form of a memorial, which contained what she saw and heard.

Using one's position to damage the public and enrich the private, whether it is procurement, sales, or even circulation in the factory, there will be a large amount of wool disappearing for no reason. For example, Liu, who is responsible for purchasing in the factory, would buy from wandering merchants at a higher price for large orders and take a kickback; for example, Chen, who is in charge of the warehouse, in the 123 warehouses under his jurisdiction, in just one year, nearly 150 jin of wool and 57 bolts of coarse woolen cloth were moth-eaten, and 4 bolts of fine woolen cloth were moth-eaten;

In just a few years, the Yongsheng Woolen Factory already had a pile of parasites sucking blood on the official factory.

"Your Majesty, these parasites all have owners." Liu Qiniang reminded very vaguely that these parasites might be a distant cousin of someone, or they were originally someone's brokerage agent, arranged in the factory to make a fortune.

"Hand this matter over to the Grand Secretary Wang to handle. The affairs of the factory are still supervised by the Grand Secretary Wang." Zhu Yijun thought about it and decided to let the factory investigate itself. If Wang Chonggu couldn't handle it well and the court's supervision failed, then Zhu Yijun's supervision would enter. Finding clues for this kind of thing is extremely simple; you only need to fill the factory with wooden boxes.

Feng Bao had already used this trick, and the effect was excellent.

If it still couldn't be cured, then don't blame Zhu Yijun for being ruthless and raising the guillotine to kill the chicken to warn the monkey. But anyone who has a little power wants to turn it into cash, using their position to damage the public and enrich the private. Many times, it is because the cost of crime is too low, and the punishment for crime is sheltered by others. Those who break the law hold a mentality of luck and following the crowd: others took it and were fine, why can't I take it? Everyone else is taking it, why shouldn't I take it?

But when the guillotine was raised in the official factory and heads fell to the ground, no one would hold a lucky mentality anymore, because if you take it, you will really die.

Zhu Yijun couldn't help but think of Yang Keli of the Longtan Yang family. That great philanthropist fixed the barren land with just a little money, and the fields regained their vitality, but Yang Keli died in the Ministry of Justice yamen in Nanjing.

Many things need to be solved, and it is not as complicated as the cheap scholars keep shouting. If you are willing to point the knife inward, you can solve it. Catch the people, fine the money, recover the arrears, and if it really doesn't work, kill the people to achieve the effect of intimidation.

Liu Qiniang took the child and left. Zhu Yijun let out a turbid breath, feeling a little emotional. Zhang Juzheng did not accompany him during this audience with foreign officials, but chose to avoid suspicion.

In the past, when Zhang Juzheng was in the court and the Emperor received foreign officials, Zhang Juzheng was always by his side. This time, Zhang Juzheng directly said that he had other things to do and did not accompany His Majesty to receive foreign officials. This is returning power. Bit by bit, Zhang Juzheng strictly observed the etiquette of a minister.

Feng Bao looked at Liu Qiniang's swaying figure and shook his head slightly. The Director of the Ceremonial Seal is the old ancestor in the palace. He also holds the responsibility of the Flower and Bird Envoy. The Flower and Bird Envoy is specifically to stuff beauties into the Emperor's bed.

San Niangzi has a kind of uninhibited beauty. The Emperor doesn't have too many thoughts, and Liu Qiniang can be the flower of Yanxing Tower, so her figure and appearance are also top-notch, but the Emperor has no interest at all, only treating Liu Qiniang as a representative of the weavers of the Yongsheng Woolen Factory.

For women, the Emperor only pours his feelings into Empress Wang Yaozhuo.

This made Feng Bao a little helpless. This old ancestor is really hard to be. This job of Flower and Bird Envoy is really too difficult!

"Set off for the Quanchu Guild Hall!" Zhu Yijun stood up and said to Zhang Hong: "The teacher refuses to come, so can't I go? Call the girl and go to the teacher's mansion for a meal!"

"Your subject obeys the decree." Zhang Hong bowed his head to receive the order.

After Zhang Juzheng received the eunuch's report, he was slightly numb. In the past, when he went for a meal, there was only the Emperor. Now it's good, and there is an Empress!

This Quanchu Guild Hall welcoming the Emperor not only has to dismantle the threshold, but also has to prepare dinner for the Emperor and his entourage. The Emperor's meal, the Quanchu Guild Hall's annual budget of 1,200 silver, has to be consumed by 200 silver. Fortunately, the Quanchu Guild Hall is preparing for the New Year, and Zhang Juzheng has prepared a lot of things. Fortunately, every time the Emperor comes, he will reward them to make up for the deficit.

Otherwise, the Quanchu Guild Hall would really be eaten poor by the Emperor.

The Emperor's travel is not just the Emperor alone. The eunuchs, palace maids, secret agents, Red Helmets, and Great Han Generals around him total hundreds of people!

When Zhu Yijun arrived at the Quanchu Guild Hall, he wandered around. First, he looked for Persian beauties, and second, he looked for the thirty-two-man sedan chair. He didn't find either. Zhu Yijun found the new carriage he bestowed upon Zhang Juzheng. This carriage is equipped with the latest shock absorption system researched by the Great Ming Imperial Institute of Things, solid rubber tires.

"Very good. Bestowing it upon the teacher is for the teacher to use. The teacher's mother is old, and it is inconvenient to go out. With this carriage, it is much more convenient." Zhu Yijun saw the traces of the carriage being used and was quite satisfied.

"All the things bestowed by Your Majesty are very easy to use." Zhang Juzheng bowed his head to thank him. Zhang Juzheng had never used this carriage, after all, it was the same wheel as the Emperor's Grand Jade Carriage, but Zhang Juzheng's mother was old and couldn't stand the bumps, so it was very convenient to use now.

"I didn't come empty-handed. I brought the teacher a good thing." Zhu Yijun took a sandalwood box from his sleeve. After opening it, he took out a fountain pen. The hard pen used a fountain pen nib, which used a gold-copper-silver alloy. Gold: silver: copper was 2:1:1. Pure gold is too soft and not suitable for a nib, and five-tenths pure gold is the most suitable as an alloy, while the tip is a small copper bead.

This thing is more convenient to write than a pencil, and the ink marks are clearer and more durable.

Zhang Juzheng took the fountain pen and tried it slightly, immediately noticing that this thing was indeed easy to use, writing extremely smoothly, and the handwriting was clearer.

"This white copper bead is the best material I can find now, but it still needs to be replaced regularly." Zhu Yijun explained the precautions for using the fountain pen. The production of this thing is extremely rough now. If you use a little too much force, you will poke through the paper. If you use a little too little, the ink won't come out. And this ink needs to be shaken gently before use.

"Your subject thanks Your Majesty for your great grace." Zhang Juzheng bowed his head to thank him again. Every time His Majesty had something good, he would think of sending it to the Quanchu Guild Hall for him to use.

Human hearts are made of flesh. Zhang Juzheng even had an unrealistic fantasy that the Great Ming Emperor would not liquidate him after his death. According to general experience, a powerful minister like Zhang Juzheng would not be dug up and excavated after his death, which would be a very good ending.

Of course, His Majesty has never been a person who plays by the rules.

Zhu Yijun was very relaxed at Zhang Juzheng's mansion. After eating and drinking, he lay on the grand master's chair, pulled up his legs, and leaned lazily on it, looking sloppy. This is a loss of etiquette.

Zhang Juzheng originally wanted to advise him, but he looked left and right. This is not the court. In a private residence, at such a time, there is no need to pay attention to so many cumbersome etiquette. He sat upright and did not have any impoliteness.

"Teacher, I have a doubt." Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and said with a smile.

Zhang Juzheng's brain buzzed. He had heard this sentence from His Majesty less in the past two years. Hearing it suddenly made Zhang Juzheng extremely vigilant. He asked slightly suspiciously: "Your Majesty, are you slightly doubtful about receiving foreign officials today?"

"Yes, and no." Zhu Yijun nodded and shook his head, affirming and denying, mainly being ambiguous.

"Why has the teacher always refused to take the theory of contradictions, the theory of public and private, the theory of labor, and the theory of wealth a step further, or more clearly, why does the teacher insist that it is impossible to distinguish between the monarch as father, the monarch as country, and the monarch as teacher?" Zhu Yijun asked what he had always wanted to ask. Zhang Juzheng insisted on this bottom line to the point of obsession. Every time Zhu Yijun talked about one is one, two is two, and separating the monarch as father, monarch as country, and monarch as teacher, Zhang Juzheng avoided talking about it.

Now Zhang Juzheng has truly returned power, has returned all power to the Emperor, and no longer has the strength to usurp power again, so this issue can be discussed. Otherwise, Zhu Yijun would ask to the end, just like asking, teacher, why don't you rebel yet?

Zhang Juzheng's face was serious. He pondered for a long time before saying: "I know what Your Majesty is saying. I think it is better not to separate these things. If they are separated, it will be bad."

"Does the teacher mean that separating is wrong, and mixing them together is right?" Zhu Yijun spread his hands. He didn't quite agree with Zhang Juzheng's idea.

In Zhu Yijun's view, this gives the monarch too many missions. This is layer upon layer of shackles, putting the Emperor into a cage called ritual and law. The survival of the country is completely tied to the Emperor's personal morality. In this way, the Emperor becomes a person in a cage.

And the rise and fall of the country only have to do with the Emperor, and have nothing to do with anyone else. The powerful and the gentry can shape the monarch infinitely high, and then peace of mind to be a parasite, hollowing out the foundation of the country.

The reason why Zhu Yijun has always insisted on separating the monarch as father, monarch as country, and monarch as teacher is that he wants to deny the monarch's unlimited responsibility system.

In practice, the Great Ming monarch does not possess unlimited power, and even most of the time, he is tied hand and foot. But in terms of bearing responsibility, the responsibility for the fall of the country is attributed to the Emperor.

I am a fallen monarch, are you ministers not fallen ministers?

Zhang Juzheng naturally understood His Majesty's meaning. When the Emperor discussed this issue, he had expressed more than once the proposition that "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world." But as the Grand Secretary, Zhang Juzheng always opposed this proposition. The world is the world of the people of the world.

Zhang Juzheng insisted that the world is the world ruled by the Emperor alone.

"I am considering it from a practical perspective." Zhang Juzheng leaned on the back of the chair, pondered for a long, long time, and looked at the Great Ming Emperor. His proposition had always been very clear, and that was the enlightened monarch system.

When the Emperor is wise, the country can accumulate enough foundation. When the Emperor is no longer wise and becomes muddled, it begins to slide downward slowly. When the foundation accumulated is thick enough, the sliding time is longer, hoping for another wise monarch to lead the Great Ming to reform.

If the foundation accumulated is not thick enough, and there is no hope for a revival monarch, then it is a change of dynasty.

"Practical level?" Zhu Yijun asked suspiciously.

"The person who stamps the seal can only be one person. If there are more, it will be chaotic. If government comes from many doors, the country will not be a country." Zhang Juzheng summarized the first reason why he insisted on this so concisely. The person who stamps the seal can only be one person, not two, three, or more. The content of the Great Ming court's discussion needs to be decided by the Emperor himself, which is the concrete embodiment of imperial power. The person who stamps the seal can only be one person.

More than one person cannot stamp the seal. The result of government coming from many doors is that the country will not be a country.

Zhang Juzheng continued: "Your Majesty, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the middle of the Tang Dynasty, before the imperial examination system was perfected, it was the world of aristocratic families. The aristocratic families controlled the court's decision-making from many heads. The fifteen emperors of the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties, fourteen were held hostage. After each aristocratic family controlled power, they wished they could take everything in the world into their own homes. Why is this?"

"It's very simple. If you take it into your own home, it's your own. If you can't take it, it's someone else's."

"There is nothing in the world that is not private, and no one is not private. At the beginning of life, people are each private, and people are each selfish."

Zhang Juzheng was the regent, but he did not take everything into his own home, but chose to reform. He did this as a betrayal of his class.

There are individuals who betray their class, but there has never been a collective that betrays its class.

Choosing to reform, choosing to repay the late Emperor and be loyal to His Majesty's duties, is Zhang Juzheng's personal choice. In this process, there are also people who cannot understand and eventually part ways, such as Gao Qiyu.

"The teacher is reasonable." Zhu Yijun found that Zhang Juzheng's words were reasonable and well-founded. The Central Plains dynasty has gone through thousands of years, changing dynasties, changing clouds and rain, and various systems have been tried again and again. The fifteen emperors of the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties were held hostage for fourteen, and the evaluation of the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties is "absurd."

Although the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties were infinitely free, people could be put on the table and eaten, but the people suffered from the chaos of war and could not guarantee the stability of the majority of people. This system was spurned by people.

Zhu Yijun had received so many people at the Huangji Gate and had already keenly sensed a problem, that is, the Great Ming official factory, which had not been established for long, was already full of parasites.

Liu Qiniang, who had turned from a cheap status to a commoner, but because of her past experience, could not even marry, said: Anyone who holds a seal in their hand wants to turn it into cash; Zhang Juzheng, the Grand Secretary who worked hard for the country, said to Zhu Yijun: There is nothing in the world that is not private, and no one is not private. This has truly happened in history.

Zhang Juzheng drank tea, his face serious: "Your Majesty, the integration of monarch as father, monarch as country, and monarch as teacher is actually very simple. Because in this way, the Emperor is the father of the people of the world, the Emperor owns the territory of the world, the Emperor is the teacher of the people of the world, and the Emperor is the model for the people of the world. The world is all the Zhu family's, so the Emperor doesn't need to take it into his own home."

"Only the Emperor is public."

Only if the world is the Emperor's private property will the Emperor definitely consider the world when making decisions, rather than calculating for his own private door, so that all dispositions can be fairer, more just, and beneficial to the majority of people in the world.

Everyone in the world is private, only the Emperor is public.

Zhang Juzheng's logic is very rigorous, so rigorous that Zhu Yijun, the Great Ming's number one sprayer, doesn't know where to start to refute it, because as early as the beginning of the Han Dynasty, this point had already been clarified: the king is selfless, and as the master of the world, he has no private affairs.

"Your Majesty, the integration of monarch as father, monarch as country, and monarch as teacher, one private and one public, mixed together, is indeed wrong. But if this public and private are really separated, then how to find the person who stamps the seal? Who is in charge of the country?" Zhang Juzheng discussed how to find the person who stamps the seal after the integration of monarch as father is separated.

"Those with strong soldiers and horses occupy it." After listening to Zhang Juzheng's question, Zhu Yijun sighed and answered this question.

Zhang Juzheng took out the example of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms again, telling His Majesty that if this concept is really separated, it is the beginning of the world's military disaster.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the eunuchs held the Shence Army and constantly abolished the Emperor, stepping the Emperor from his supreme position into the mud. The final result was: "Is there a species for the Son of Heaven? Those with strong soldiers and horses occupy it."

Zhu Yijun's doubts had already been given a definitive answer by history, so there was no need to make the same mistake again along the wrong track.

"That's it." Zhang Juzheng changed the subject and said: "And there is the ancestral rule."

"Some ancestral rules are no longer suitable for the world situation and need to be reformed, while others fit the current world situation and need to follow the ancestors. From the perspective of the theory of contradictions, ancestral rules naturally have advantages and disadvantages. Innovation is to remove the dross and keep the essence. This is the repair of the legal system."

"Your Majesty, you sing and I take the stage. The government decree has not been pushed down yet, and it has already changed. One moment forward and one moment backward. A government decree, just issued, has not been executed, or has just been executed, and the court's government decree has changed. Does this really count as a government decree?"

Zhang Juzheng did not cite examples, because His Majesty is a reader of history books. During the two Song Dynasties, the party strife was extremely fierce. The reformists and conservatives went back and forth. There is no need for Zhang Juzheng to elaborate on the harm of changing government decrees day and night. His Majesty understands it very well.

Zhang Juzheng expressed his views from several aspects: making decisions can only be one person, that is, everyone in the world is private, only the Emperor is public, and summarized the consequences of not being the only one who can make decisions from the lessons of history, and then added to his point of view from the consistency of policy.

Many of His Majesty's ideas are imaginative, and the integration of monarch as father, monarch as country, and monarch as teacher is indeed worth discussing, but this is also the best and most suitable system that can be found at present, designing the system around the supreme Emperor.

"Thank you, teacher, for your guidance." Zhu Yijun finally fully understood Zhang Juzheng's idea.

Perhaps, Zhang Juzheng is right.

Asking for monthly tickets, Awoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 334 =====