Chapter 357

The powerful and wealthy families of Great Ming were truly very wronged. They were indeed very, very bad, but when they lent "green rice money," they were not as ruthless as the Emperor. The fancy trick of "rollover" was something the powerful and wealthy families truly did not know. A twenty-year rollover loan, no matter how low the interest, was a massive figure.

The interest rates Zhu Yijun gave Antonio and Philip II were exactly the same because their risks were almost identical, but Antonio's interest was still slightly lower.

Regardless of the outcome of this war, the ultimate beneficiary would be the Great Ming Emperor. This was a long war, and regardless of the result, under the condition of compound interest, the final debt would make Great Ming even wealthier.

After Marcus left, Zhu Yijun headed back to the palace. On the way, Zhu Yijun looked out the window, slightly distracted. June weather is like a baby's face—it changes when it wants to. A moment ago, the sun was shining brightly; even at dusk, the scorching sun was still roasting the earth. The next moment, the wind rose suddenly, and a torrential rain arrived immediately.

Raindrops fell onto the ground with a pitter-patter, water slowly gathered on the ground, and people were running in the streets and alleys. The rain came as it pleased. Those without umbrellas could only have their lives disrupted by this sudden downpour, becoming hurried.

The national situation of Great Ming was no different from this June weather. The hope of restoration came fast, but went even faster.

The carriage drove steadily into the West Changan Gate and then stopped steadily in front of the Guanghan Hall in the Wang Wang Xiyuan. Zhu Yijun stepped on the stirrup and got off the carriage. Zhang Hong held up an umbrella for the Emperor. Zhu Yijun reached out and took the umbrella; this was a habit he had had for many years. If Zhang Hong held the umbrella for the Emperor, he himself would get wet.

This was a small detail. As long as the servants performed their duties faithfully, Zhu Yijun never reprimanded them.

Possessing supreme power easily creates the illusion that "this is how it should be" and "I am different from mortals." This illusion, accumulated over time, turns into a kind of arrogance—an arrogance that despises all living things, an arrogance that takes everything for granted. This arrogance brings extremely dire consequences: despising everything in the human world, eventually turning into an information cocoon of self-restraint, becoming a "dangling" Emperor who knows nothing of the people's suffering.

For a natural noble born in the deep palace and raised by women, this arrogance is innate. For example, Emperor Zhu Qizhen ignored the advice of civil and military officials, stationed himself at Tumu Fortress to fight the Oirat, and was eventually captured.

As for the shameless couple Deng Zilong and Luo Lian, even though they were far away in the capital, Zhu Yijun had heard of them. When the two discussed why Qi Jiguang was invincible, they mentioned that arrogance is a sin. Even Qi Jiguang, once he committed the sin of arrogance, would be defeated on the battlefield.

Arrogant soldiers are bound to be defeated.

Zhang Hong held up his own umbrella. An Emperor holding an umbrella for himself—let alone him, even the oldest eunuchs in the palace had never seen it.

Zhu Yijun raised his hand and head. Behind the curtain of rain formed by the rain falling on the large umbrella, an anxious figure appeared. Empress Wang Yaozhuo stood in front of the door of Guanghan Hall. It was not until she saw the Emperor appear that the anxiety on her body vanished completely.

"In such heavy rain, you waited here. If you catch a cold, Mother will blame the Grand Physician of the Imperial Hospital again." Zhu Yijun walked over and said with a smile.

Empress Dowager Li's logic was still unreasonable. Wang Yaozhuo, who was pregnant, was extremely favored by Empress Dowager Li. If she suddenly caught a cold, the Grand Physicians of the Imperial Hospital would inevitably be scolded. If they couldn't even cure a cold, what kind of Grand Physicians were they?

Wang Yaozhuo was seventeen years old, and her face still carried some girlish childishness. She was pregnant and had become exceptionally anxious. She shook her head and said, "I was just a little worried."

Worried about what? She was worried that the Emperor would go out and not be able to come back.

Wang Yaozhuo's worry was very reasonable because she knew the Emperor had done many things and was very hateful. Moreover, she knew very well that the active Emperor was always a good target for assassination. Just like the time the "Unity Sect" attacked and killed at the Yicheng Earl's mansion in the West Mountains, the distance from the North Camp back to the palace was a fixed imperial road. Therefore, the assassins, if they wanted to, had the opportunity to strike.

Horses stumble, and people make mistakes.

Added to the child in her belly, naturally, Wang Yaozhuo's worry became more and more intense. She hoped that the child in her belly was a daughter, not a son. In this way, the Great Ming officials could only continue to endure a tyrant acting recklessly on the platform.

The people who threatened supreme imperial power were first Empress Dowager Li, then Zhang Juzheng, and later Prince Lu, Zhu Yiliu. Empress Dowager Li returned power, Zhang Juzheng returned to the court after his mourning period, and Prince Lu simply moved into the Prince Lu's mansion in the Royal Academy of Natural Sciences, spending his days with beauties from all over the world. His reputation for absurdity had spread to every corner of Great Ming.

Then, if the child about to be born is a boy, will it threaten supreme imperial power?

Kill the tyrant, support the child in swaddling clothes to the throne, let the young Prince Lu act as regent, let the leader of the Jin Party, Wang Chonggu, run the country, and have another "young master and suspicious country." As long as the tyrant dies, the tyrant's right-hand men, Wen Zhang and Wu Qi, will either die with him or fight to the death. Regardless of the result, it is much better than the Emperor's current one-man show.

Wang Yaozhuo's worry was not redundant. How much blood and rain had the Emperor walked through along the way? Assassinating the King and killing the driver, burning the palace with fire, and the attack in the West Mountains.

"Husband, the small railway from the Royal Academy of Natural Sciences to the North Camp is almost finished. Why not wait until the small railway is repaired before going to inspect the troops? In any case, there is no war recently." As Empress, Wang Yaozhuo learned the rules by Empress Dowager Li's side since she was a child. The inner palace not interfering in politics was an iron rule in the palace. Wang Yaozhuo had no intention of interfering in state affairs, just hoping that her husband could return whole like today.

This is the greed of a small woman, not the advice an Empress who is the mother of the world should give.

The small railway from the Imperial Palace to the Royal Academy of Natural Sciences had been repaired, and the small railway from the Royal Academy of Natural Sciences to the North Camp was expected to be used in September.

According to the judgment of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Zhao Mengyou, after the small railway is repaired, the alert distance for the Emperor's daily travel will increase from twenty steps to sixty steps. And sixty steps is the effective killing distance of the "Pingyi" musket. That is to say, after the small railway is repaired, even the "Pingyi" musket will not be able to hurt the Emperor. The new Imperial Carriage has a full set of steel armor.

"People are all the same. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. As long as you rest, you want to rest forever. The teacher acted as an ancestor in the Yicheng Earl's mansion for a period of time and didn't want to return to the court. The reason is also laziness. Rest assured, the contradictions of Great Ming have not yet reached that point. No one will risk the danger of nine clans to assassinate me at this time." Zhu Yijun smiled and comforted Wang Yaozhuo. Being pregnant makes one prone to anxiety. Prenatal anxiety is common.

The risk of assassinating the Emperor is huge. Zhang Siwei had already proven this point with his body of tens of thousands of pieces cast with pine resin.

The Great Ming Emperor means what he says. If he says he will cut someone into a thousand pieces, he will really turn them into slices.

The result of assassinating the Emperor, even if successful, does not necessarily mean profit. If it fails, it will definitely lead to the extermination of nine clans. Under such high risk, the person instructed is very likely to betray the person behind the scenes in exchange for higher and more stable benefits.

Zhu Yijun's contradiction theory had long been perfected. Now it was the Great Ming Emperor leading the powerful and wealthy families to run wild in maritime affairs, leading everyone to get rich together. In the capital, even if Tuman Khan and Andahan Khan fought, it could not attract people's attention. Everyone focused on Yanxing Tower, hoping to subscribe to more shares of ship tickets next month.

It doesn't mean it won't happen in the future just because it won't happen now.

Wang Yaozhuo was pregnant and inconvenient to serve in bed. These days, the two concubines, Liu Mengshu and Li Jin, were serving the Emperor, but the rare opportunity to serve in bed also made the two concubines very satisfied.

It's just that the two concubines didn't know that dealing with Wang Yaozhuo alone, sometimes, Zhu Yijun also felt powerless.

On this matter, Zhu Yijun and Wang Yaozhuo could only be said to be evenly matched.

On June 13, in the seventh year of Wanli, the Great Ming Emperor met with the special envoys Li Yashi, Diego, and Marcus. Li Yashi finally gritted his teeth and agreed to the Emperor's high interest rate, borrowed a war loan with an annual interest rate of 28% totaling 1.5 million silver, and took away five five-masted ocean-crossing ships.

Marcus directly took away twelve five-masted ocean-crossing ships, with a loan amount of 3.5 million silver and an annual interest rate of 24%.

In order to make these seventeen five-masted ocean-crossing ships sail smoothly, the Western special envoys again hired a large number of Great Ming boatmen, sailors, and soldiers. Thanks to Antonio's identity as a "Western traitor," Antonio had trained dozens of boatmen for Great Ming who could navigate by the stars. And this large-scale hiring allowed Great Ming's boatmen to accumulate more ocean-going experience.

Practical experience in ocean-going requires an extremely expensive price.

This batch of boatmen, sailors, and soldiers would sign a five-year gambling contract with the Songjiang Prefecture Maritime Trade Office. If they could return to Great Ming safely, each of them would receive an ocean-going reward of over 1,000 silver. If they could not return to Great Ming safely, each would only have an ocean-going reward of 500 silver. And this reward would be given to their wives and children. And this payment, which would be cashed in five years, would be fully guaranteed by the Inner Treasury.

And the payment unit of this gambling contract was the Songjiang Ocean-Going Firm, and the required expenses were all paid by the Songjiang Sun family. It was that Songjiang Sun family that made a fortune in the pleasure boat business. They were trying every possible way to send silver to the imperial court again. They earned too much and were somewhat restless.

Returning is 1,000 silver, not returning is only 500 silver. This looks somewhat unreasonable, but in fact, it is the Great Ming Emperor hoping that they can all return safely.

The price Zhu Yijun gave was already exceptionally generous.

How much is a human life worth in Great Ming?

Parents in difficult circumstances would send their children to charity halls, even knowing that these charity halls were businesses. If their children had any illness, they would be thrown into the abandoned baby tower to fend for themselves;

During disasters, two taels of flour could be exchanged for a child, five white flour steamed buns could be exchanged for a wife, or even less;

When it is not a disaster, human life also has a price. Spending four taels of silver can buy a little maid. If it is a housekeeper who knows how to use an abacus, it is seven taels of silver. If it is a strong man who guards the house, it is ten taels of silver. If it is a beautiful woman who is proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, it is twenty taels of silver.

Even those Yangzhou "thin horses" who could become top courtesans were only worth a hundred taels.

For the kiln workers in the West Mountains, if they died at the bottom of the well, if the mine owner was kind-hearted, a life was seven taels of silver. If the mine owner was greedy and stingy, giving two taels of silver was already a great mercy.

This is the price of human life in Great Ming. In this day and age, human life is really worthless.

And the bottom-line price the Emperor gave to this batch of ocean-going boatmen, sailors, and soldiers was 500 silver. If they could return safely, it would be directly doubled. If they could return alive, they would change from poor people and hard laborers to a middle-class family, and they could also support a child to study without production.

The kindness of the Great Ming Emperor could never be repaid.

When Li Yashi left the Wenhua Hall, he was muttering to himself. He was complaining that the Great Ming Emperor was engaging in price discrimination.

Antonio borrowed more money, the interest was lower, and the price of a five-masted ocean-crossing ship was 200,000 silver.

And Philip II borrowed less money, but the interest was higher, and the unit price of a ship was 250,000 silver after the markup.

Is there any justice in this? Is there any law?

Li Yashi could only complain a few words. Antonio and Marcus were respectful, saying "your subject this" and "your subject that," fearing that they would lose etiquette. They brought all kinds of crops to Great Ming—sweet potatoes, potatoes, palm, rubber, sugarcane, long cotton, etc.; they gave up the plantations of the Ten Thousand Mile Sea Pond—fifty-four plantations were fifty-four ports, fifty-four pioneering bases, fifty-four colonial pioneering lands; and they requested the Emperor to confer titles.

The Emperor's differential treatment was very reasonable because no matter how you look at it, Antonio was the Emperor's own person. The rollover was indeed a knife that killed without blood, but from Antonio's perspective, wasn't this a kind of holy favor? Everyone in the West treated him as a pirate. Only here with the Emperor was Antonio a strong contender for the Portuguese throne.

Diego, that idiot, arrived in Great Ming and was even reluctant to kowtow.

Blame the Emperor for differential treatment? Diego, that idiot, dared to mutter about the Great Ming Emperor on Great Ming's territory!

Diego stayed in Great Ming. He was to study at the Great Ming Military Academy. This was the task Philip II gave Diego, saying it was to learn Eastern military theory. As for how long to study and when to go back, Philip II didn't say, and Diego's God of War Hou Jue father didn't ask.

In Zhu Yijun's view, this was the tacit understanding between Philip II and his God of War Hou Jue. Diego was that hostage, but it was not appropriate to arrange this hostage in the West.

The latest round of diplomatic activities of Great Ming finally came to an end after Marcus left alone. And the announcement that made the powerful and wealthy families in the capital stomp their feet appeared: for the remaining six months of the seventh year of Wanli, there would be no more subscription for five-masted ocean-crossing ships.

One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and two fingers played ten thousand sounds.

Soon, criticism of the Great Ming Emperor appeared. Although this kind of criticism was not as direct as Hai Rui carrying a coffin to remonstrate, it was inevitably sarcastic and full of innuendo. The content of the scolding in the miscellaneous newspapers boiled down to: the Great Ming Emperor sold ships to the West and to the Mughal Empire, but would not subscribe them to the Great Ming people. It was simply "better to give to foreign nations than to one's own slaves!"

"Did I change from a holy monarch who 'relies on law rather than wisdom, relies on numbers rather than rhetoric, relies on public rather than private, relies on the Great Dao rather than small objects, and the world is governed while the body is at ease' into a Shi Jingtang who just wants to attach to thieves and sell the world? Are the scholars of our Great Ming so abstract? The evaluation of me changed too fast!" After Zhu Yijun finished reading the miscellaneous newspapers in his hand, he threw them out fiercely, patted the table in anger, and said angrily.

Zhu Yijun walked back and forth. The more he looked at those official reports, the more displeased he became. He picked up the miscellaneous newspapers again, tore them to pieces, stepped on them twice, and then said angrily: "I'm so angry! It's fine to compare me to others, but comparing me to Shi Jingtang makes me so angry! It's better to say I am King Zhou of Shang!"

Shi Jingtang had truly been an emperor, but his evaluation as a "son emperor" was not as high as that of the eunuch Liu Jin. At least Liu Jin was only mixed in praise and blame, while Shi Jingtang was simply full of bad reviews.

It's not that the scholars' hearts and mouths are dirty, but Zhu Yijun couldn't dispose of them. Once disposed of, it would confirm the "better to give to foreign nations than to one's own slaves." It was already sarcastic, and the Emperor's outburst was an admission. But if he didn't dispose of them, Zhu Yijun would definitely feel uncomfortable.

"Your Majesty, Grand Preceptor Wan is waiting outside the hall." Feng Bao was fearful, afraid that the fire at the city gate would affect the fish in the moat. He reported to the Emperor cautiously.

"Proclaim!"

As soon as Wan Shihe entered the Imperial Study in the Wang Wang Xiyuan, he saw the broken paper on the ground. No one dared to clean it up. Obviously, the Emperor was still angry. This shocked Wan Shihe. The Emperor had never cared about his reputation, but this time he was called Shi Jingtang, and the Emperor obviously couldn't accept it.

"See Your Majesty. Is Your Majesty's holy body at peace?" Wan Shihe bowed to see him. In fact, he regretted it as soon as he entered the hall. It would be safer to let the Emperor calm down before he came to talk about things.

Zhu Yijun let out a long, turbid breath and said, "Beloved minister, sit down and talk. I am not well at all. I am so angry."

In the West, "the vassal of my vassal is not my vassal." This is very reasonable. In Great Ming, the enfeoffment system is only a supplement to the county system. The management method of strips and blocks is Great Ming's bureaucratic system, which is completely different from the West.

Menezes didn't know much about Great Ming. He thought the Luzon Viceroyalty didn't tell the Great Ming imperial court his conditions at all. He was troubled by Yin Zhengmao and had no choice but to take this next step.

Having a military conflict with Great Ming in the Ten Thousand Mile Sea Pond is an extremely unwise choice. Great Ming's home base is too close, and the support is too fast. He can't fight, and he has no way to talk. Great Ming's fifty horse ships, carrying 25,000 war horses and 500 stud horses, are obviously strategic materials. But if Menezes had a way, he wouldn't have done so.

In the past few months, Yin Zhengmao hadn't done anything else, just sent the natives to die under the castle of the Malacca Strait.

"The more he does this, the more I want to take back the Malacca Strait. The Giant Port Pacification Office must be in the hands of Great Ming!" Zhu Yijun frowned. Menezes's action just proved that if the Malacca Strait is not in the hands of Great Ming, these messy things will only happen more and more.

He can detain Great Ming's ship now, and he can also detain it in the future. Extortion, this kind of thing, once there is one time, there will be countless times.

"Your Majesty, good news! Good news!" A little eunuch rushed into the Wenhua Hall. He was in a hurry and didn't pay attention to his feet. A silky trip, roll, kneel, and raise the report in his hand. This set of silky small combos expressed the seriousness of the matter and highlighted his professionalism. Even if he "accidentally" fell, he could protect the good news.

Zhu Yijun had seen this silky small combo many times. He asked Feng Bao to take the report to the platform, checked the fire lacquer, opened it, unfolded it, read it, and handed it to Feng Bao, asking him to pass it down.

"No wonder Menezes wants to detain Great Ming's ship and send an envoy to talk in a hurry. It turns out that a dog jumps over a wall in a hurry. Our Great Ming has won another victory, hahaha!!" Zhu Yijun could still hold it back at first, but later he laughed out loud, laughing very brightly.

Won another victory. In these years, he almost didn't hear any defeat. The only time was in the second year of Wanli, when the Miyun Regional Commander Tang Kekuan went out of the pass to meet the enemy and died for the country.

Zhu Yijun still gave Tang Kekuan the treatment of a hero. Even if he didn't follow Qi Jiguang's command and took the initiative to go out of the pass to fight, even if it was to warn against this kind of behavior of not respecting the general, he stripped Tang Kekuan's son of his hereditary battalion commander, but Zhu Yijun still built a hero shrine for Tang Kekuan and recognized him as a hero who died for Great Ming.

Tang Kekuan's motivation for going out of the pass could no longer be verified. Perhaps he was for merit, perhaps he was to reduce the pressure on Qi Jiguang's side, perhaps he was killing red-eyed, but he died outside the Great Wall, died on the battlefield, this is a hero.

In these years, Zhu Yijun always received good news, and every time he laughed very happily. The skills of cultivation that Zhang Juzheng taught were thrown to the clouds at this moment.

Indeed, there is no cultivation, and the Great Ming court officials didn't have cultivation, and they were all laughing, but they didn't laugh so intensely.

After the Battle of Tuna Bay, Yin Zhengmao didn't stop the pace of pursuit, but immediately started the pursuit of victory. He had already gathered natives from various plantations and put them into the battlefield of the Malacca Strait. After fierce fighting, Zhang Yuanxun led people and rushed into the Giant Port.

It was the Giant Port Pacification Office established by Emperor Yongle, the Giant Port, located on the side of the Malacca Strait closer to the Ten Thousand Mile Sea Pond.

"Your Majesty is holy." Wan Shihe bowed again and said. The Emperor's reputation was exceptionally strong. Even when things reached this point, the Emperor still did not violate his original promise—no over-issuance, no deduction, and dividends on time.

"Your Majesty, I have a doubt. If Philip II and Antonio directly refuse to repay the loan, what should we do?" Wan Shihe was still a bit worried about this war loan of 4.5 million silver settled with five-masted ocean-crossing ships. This bad debt was 4.5 million silver, which was 200,000 silver more than the Taicang silver in the 32nd year of Jiajing.

"When the time comes, I will package the debt and sell it to Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth I holding these two debts can scold Philip II to cardiac arrest." Zhu Yijun said very indifferently.

Packaging and selling to the English was the way Zhu Yijun thought of to recover losses.

Philip II had been seeking marriage with Elizabeth I, intending to resolve the contradictions between Spain and England through marriage. Marriage and territorial expansion were common things in the West.

Elizabeth I was also very straightforward, directly making a vow to never marry and dedicate her life to the Lord, causing Philip II's plan to go bankrupt.

It was one thing not to be able to marry, but to be scolded by the object of the proposal, the Queen of England, holding an IOU, for not repaying the debt—the scene was very interesting just thinking about it.

The cost of a five-masted ocean-crossing ship was actually only 50,000 silver, and the profit was as high as 150,000 silver. The seventeen five-masted ocean-crossing ships released this time only cost 850,000 silver. Whether packaged or bundled for sale, it would not lose money in the end.

Wan Shihe's eyes lit up. He stood up and bowed: "Your Majesty is holy. I have nothing else to do, so I will retire."

"Grand Preceptor Wan, wait a moment." Zhu Yijun asked suspiciously: "What about these miscellaneous newspapers?"

"I will handle it properly and give Your Majesty an explanation." Wan Shihe bowed again.

It was not easy for the Emperor to take action on this matter, but as a master of "cleaning the floor," Wan Shihe naturally could not let the Emperor's face fall to the ground. He would naturally clean it up. As for how to clean it up, because the means were relatively dirty, Wan Shihe was embarrassed to tell the Emperor.

But when he did it, the Emperor would naturally see it.

Wan Shihe went to clean the floor. His method of cleaning the floor was simple, rude, direct, and effective: divide and conquer, and break them one by one.

When the Yanxing Tower Trading House posted that there were only thirty three-masted galleons next month, the scribes under Wan Shihe immediately fired at full power, attributing the blame to those "cheap scholars" who wagged their tongues. They angered the Emperor with their sarcasm, and the Emperor refused to take everyone to get rich together.

Wan Shihe also brought out the old precedent of Emperor Chengzu Wen eating alone. Back then, Emperor Chengzu Wen's eating alone was truly infuriating. At that time, the imperial court built ships and organized production, and the profits of maritime trade all went to the Inner Treasury, and the imperial court could not get a share of the profit.

In the 22nd year of Yongle, when the treasury was checked, the Inner Treasury still had 1.2 million taels of gold and 12 million taels of silver. This was still the balance after six voyages to the Western Ocean, five expeditions to the grasslands, compiling the Yongle Encyclopedia, moving the capital, and other major events.

Wan Shihe warned those powerful and wealthy families that if they continued to anger the Emperor, with such a big ancestral law, if the Emperor was really angered, the Emperor would directly follow the laws of the former kings and raise the scale of official ships and official trade to the Yongle period. Then the powerful and wealthy families would probably not even have soup to drink.

"Criticizing the monarch is called respect, stating goodness and blocking evil is called reverence, and saying the monarch is incompetent is called a thief."

Emperor Chengzu's warning was very effective.

This is differentiation, using interests to divide these powerful and wealthy families into different groups, and then attacking them in groups, scolding those scribes who dared to be sarcastic to the Emperor until they were bruised and battered, and scolding them until they were prostrate.

Reaching this step was not the end.

This controversy ended with the Emperor posting a notice again saying that there would be fifty three-masted galleons next month. Wan Shihe reached a consensus with some powerful and wealthy families. These powerful and wealthy families clearly stated that they did not dare to scold the Emperor at all; it was all done by these scribes themselves!

Wan Shihe really checked the accounts carefully with these powerful and wealthy families. The matter of comparing the Emperor to Shi Jingtang was indeed done by the scribes themselves.

Great Ming had a set of unreasonable ways of playing. It was "non-judicial justice," which is the king's law outside the Great Ming Law. Like an Emperor who firmly held military power like the Emperor, if he saw a family he didn't like, he could directly use "non-judicial justice," let the Embroidered Uniform Guard put a charge of treason on them, and directly confiscate their homes.

The powerful and wealthy families at most complained in private. Who was full and had nothing to do, and went to touch the Emperor's bad luck? Didn't want to live? Didn't want to live yourself, and didn't want the lives of the nine clans? At that time, the ancestral hall would be full of stone tablets carved by the Emperor, and even the ancestors couldn't hold it.

The "cheap scholars" dared to. They only had value if they had fame. The Great Ming court beating could be turned into a tool for them to seek fame and profit. In order to seek fame for a while, what wouldn't the "cheap scholars" dare to do? Just scolding the Emperor, since the Hongwu period, the Great Ming scolding the Emperor had been one after another, and it had never ceased.

The scribes were not completely controlled by the powerful and wealthy families. After this incident, the powerful and wealthy families tacitly lowered their support for poetry societies.

Under this tacit understanding, this batch of "cheap scholars" was sent to the Xishan Coal Bureau. Wang Chonggu thoughtfully arranged for these "cheap scholars" who were full and had nothing to do a five-year job that was not so dangerous but very tiring—carrying coal.

Coal coming out of the kiln is not the end, but the beginning. It needs to be selected, washed, and some higher-quality coal needs to be coked. This requires carrying coal back and forth. This work is very hard. These scribes who have no strength to truss a chicken can enjoy five years of "blessing."

All this was done without showing any signs, and the matter was handled decently and steadily.

Wan Shihe once again demonstrated his professionalism in the matter of "cleaning the floor."

In the first year of Chenghua, the Inner Treasury eunuch Lin Xiu checked the accounts and calculated the accounts for the newly enthroned Emperor Xianzong, telling Emperor Xianzong about the 720,000 taels of gold and 12 million taels of silver left over from the 22nd year of Yongle. That "Classic of Annoying People" was also written by Lin Xiu. Unfortunately, there was only one name, and the content was lost, which is really a pity. Begging for monthly votes, Awoo!!!!!!!

(End of chapter)