Chapter 401

The joys and sorrows of people are not connected; Zhu Yijun understands very well why a person like Yang Youren exists.

Yang Youren has become accustomed to this intergenerational path dependency, using it to seek profit. He is extremely terrified of any changes in the world, prefers to stay in his comfort zone, remains indifferent to external events, and even deliberately avoids them. Yang Youren is exactly like this; using the excuse of needing to study for imperial examinations, he covers his ears, shouts "I'm not listening, I'm not listening," rejects information, and understands the world entirely according to his own ideas.

If he weren't forced into a corner, he would be too lazy to understand a world outside of his own knowledge.

That is why Yang Youren appears so ignorant. As a representative of a prominent family walking in the world, Yang Youren is clearly unqualified, far inferior to figures like Yao Guangqi, Yao Guangming, Wang Qian, and Xu Fan.

This is not an outrageous matter; Zhu Yijun has seen even more outrageous things in later generations, such as certain singers participating in youth song competitions who didn't even recognize the national flag.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement lasted vigorously for more than a decade before finally being quelled. Luo Zenan, as one of the founders of the Xiang Army, was granted a posthumous title and rank due to his death in battle.

The aristocratic Hanlin scholars and national historians in the imperial court cursed incessantly, using rhetoric not much different from Yang Youren's, claiming that the world was at peace and that there was no such thing as hundreds of battles; it was clearly just a matter of bribery and reckless recommendations that allowed villains to run rampant.

Yet this Luo Zenan was the founder of the Xiang Army, died in battle at Wuchang, and was decreed by the Vanguard Commander Emperor to be treated with the preferential funeral rites of a Provincial Governor, granted the posthumous title "Loyal and Upright," awarded the honorary title of "Baturu," and had a special shrine built for his worship.

Zhu Yijun has no interest in Yang Youren's worldview. He came to Taibai Tower, firstly to see the dances of beauties from all nations, and secondly to take a look at this Yang Youren, in whom the Xindu Yang clan has placed such high hopes.

Since Yang Tinghe was dismissed and returned to his hometown to await reassignment, and Yang Shen was exiled to the Yongchang Guard in Yunnan, the Yang clan has not produced a single successful candidate for the Jinshi degree. There were three or four Juren, but none had passed the Jinshi examination, so this Yang Youren was pinned with high expectations.

But fame is not as good as meeting in person. Upon seeing him, Zhu Yijun discovered he was nothing more than a useless glutton. To call him a "Kong Yiji in a long gown" is to flatter him; at least Kong Yiji would find a way to pay back his debts. This Yang Youren is, at most, just a base Confucian.

Zhu Yijun has always been a very stingy person; even when he beats someone, he only beats them for two taels of silver, unwilling to spend five.

"If you want to seek revenge, come to the Grand General's Mansion to find us; if you want to file a complaint at the Shuntian Dai Fuya, feel free." After the Embroidered Uniform Guards finished beating him, Zhu Yijun took his people and left directly, highlighting an arrogant and domineering attitude, not taking Yang Youren seriously at all.

Yang Youren was beaten up, and the fellow townsmen he had invited looked at each other, frozen in place, not even offering a hand to help him up. Not knowing who took the first step, they secretly slipped away; Yang Youren's fellow townsmen chose to abandon him.

After Zhao Yanbin refuted Yang Youren, the attitude of these fellow townsmen became very subtle. They did not mock Zhao Yanbin, because judging by the content of the argument, regardless of whether Zhao Yanbin's words made sense, Yang Youren's words appeared extremely stupid.

In conducting oneself, one can be unintelligent, but one cannot be stupid.

Now, the fellow townsmen abandoned Yang Youren because everyone had been taught by their parents since childhood not to play with fools, as it would make one stupid.

When out and about, keep your eyes sharp; not everyone can be provoked. If you declare your family background and people ignore you, it is clear they have something to rely on.

With the Grand General's Mansion now having 100,000 troops of the Capital Battalion at its side, which official of the Great Ming can afford to provoke them? If a conflict arises with the Grand General's Mansion, let alone his Xindu Yang clan, even if all the wealthy households of the entire Sichuan province were added together, the Capital Battalion could physically trample them flat.

Yang Youren lay on the ground, gasping for breath. The pain was real, but he was now more filled with terror and unease. If his main family found out that he had offended such a person outside, let alone his allowance, he feared that even returning home would be a luxury. On the other hand, there was the fear of retaliation from the Grand General's Mansion. Is Qi Jiguang really as gentle as he appears on the surface? Putting himself in his shoes, Yang Youren did not think so; if someone offended him, he would retaliate to the death.

It's over; this was Yang Youren's only thought now.

The narrow-minded and vengeful Zhu Yijun returned to the detached palace and immediately began making arrangements. The land survey and return of farmland in Sichuan were fraught with difficulties, and this Xindu Yang clan was a breakthrough point. The Ming Emperor issued several consecutive orders, preparing to gradually unfold various measures targeting the Xindu Yang clan.

That's right, the common tactic of base Confucians: making a mountain out of a molehill!

The "Classic of Irritating People" states that to deal with base Confucians, one must use the methods of base Confucians.

At dusk, Feng Bao whispered a few words to a young eunuch and hurried to the imperial presence, bowing his head and saying, "Your Majesty, Yang Youren has hanged himself."

Zhu Yijun stopped his brush, thought for a moment, continued reviewing the memorials, and said with a smile, "Interesting, a brave man cutting off his wrist? As expected of a prominent family. Yang Youren is muddled, but the Yang family is not. With a person's death, the debt is cleared. For a mere verbal dispute, Yang Youren even paid with his life. Why would the Grand General's Mansion continue to act? If they continue to target them, it would make General Qi appear petty. Killing two birds with one stone."

Zhu Yijun finished reviewing the memorials in his hand. The Yang family's decision exceeded Zhu Yijun's imagination. When Yao Guangqi fought Wang Qian to the death, although Yao Guangqi eventually lost and was abandoned, the Yao family did not act so heartlessly as to let him die and be done with it. When Yao Guangqi left the capital, the Yao family even gave him two hundred taels of silver as a resettlement fee. Even the father-son relationship remained.

"Let's stop here." Zhu Yijun made his decision. He did not continue the pursuit because, in this conflict, Zhu Yijun was acting recklessly under the prestige of General Qi. Continuing the pursuit would not be conducive to Qi Jiguang's reputation, although Qi Jiguang never cared about such empty fame.

Sometimes, the development of events always exceeds everyone's expectations. Zhu Yijun stopped here, but Zhang Juzheng made his move.

Wang Tingzhuan, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Provincial Governor of Sichuan, submitted a memorial to the court, causing a huge discussion. Wang Tingzhuan impeached the former Sichuan Governor Luo Yao for conniving, shielding, and indulging officials, oppressing the people, and deceiving those above and below for years without change. The warning of the "ant-like greed" could collapse a thousand-mile dike.

From Zeng Shengwu to Luo Yao, and then to Wang Tingzhuan, the Sichuan Governors were all members of the Zhang faction. Zeng Shengwu came from Pengze Guard in Huguang, Luo Yao from Baling in Huguang, and Wang Tingzhuan from Huanggang in Huguang. All three were members of the Chu faction and were also disciples of Zhang Juzheng. This time, Wang Tingzhuan's impeachment of the former Sichuan Governor Luo Yao was an internal strife of the Chu faction.

And this internal strife was Zhang Juzheng cleaning up his own house.

Luo Yao arrived in Sichuan in the third year of Wanli and was transferred to Nanjing in the second month of the sixth year of Wanli to serve as the Right Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War. In those full three years, Luo Yao's land survey in Sichuan did not move an inch. Originally, Zhang Juzheng thought it was because local contradictions were complex and Luo Yao's ability was insufficient. It was only after Wang Tingzhuan arrived and investigated carefully that he discovered it was completely not the case.

After Luo Yao arrived in Sichuan in the third year of Wanli, he colluded with local prominent families, Tusi, and hereditary officials, embezzling millions. In three years, Luo Yao embezzled 340,000 taels of silver.

In his memorial, Wang Tingzhuan introduced a method of wealth accumulation: on the scales used for paying imperial grain taxes, a weight would be added, forcing the people to pay more grain, with each household having to pay an extra one mace and eight candareens of silver.

As the Governor, Luo Yao alone took one mace and eight candareens;

The local officials, not daring to say more, calculated on the low side, took one mace and five candareens; the Surveillance Commission, the Administration Commission, and the Regional Military Commission all had to take their share;

Since the three commissions had to take their share, the various prefectural yamen naturally had to take theirs, as did the various county yamen, the six offices, the guards and constables, and the grain chiefs. When calculated for each household, it was no longer one mace and eight candareens of silver, but one tael and eight mace of silver.

This was layer-upon-layer apportionment. In earlier years, Zhang Juzheng also often advocated for frugality. The political structure of the Great Ming, with its various departments and divisions, was entirely responsible to those above. Once those above opened this loophole, it was ultimately the people who bore the burden.

Prince Lu, Zhu Yijun, was extravagant and unrestrained, yet the court officials turned a blind eye because the ban on princes was just raising pigs. However, if the Emperor showed even the slightest indulgence, the court officials' memorials would drift into the Wenyuan Pavilion like snowflakes.

"What great audacity!" Zhu Yijun finished reading the memorial, stood up abruptly, walked three hurried circles, looked at Zhang Juzheng, and said, "This Luo Yao is so daring! To forcibly occupy the people's fat and ointment, scraping three feet of ground—how can I forgive him lightly! Sir, do not plead for him."

"Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, order two thousand-man commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guards to head south to the Southern Yamen immediately, and order Luo Bingliang, the Commander of the Southern Yamen's Pacification Commission, to assist in the investigation. Bring this Luo Yao here for questioning."

When Zhang Juzheng submitted the memorial, he had already anticipated that His Majesty would be this angry. He was not here to plead for him; if he wanted to shield Luo Yao, Wang Tingzhuan would not have gone to Sichuan.

After seeing Wang Tingzhuan's investigation results, he was also filled with such thunderous rage. The Zhang faction was large and had many people; some people, as they walked, just drifted apart.

There was no shortage of imperial edicts forbidding the encroachment on the people's surplus wealth. During the Hongwu and Yongle years, there were several such edicts. In the twelfth year of Yongle, when the Ming Chengzu Emperor launched his second northern expedition, there were military households in Yingtian Prefecture who opened shops and were extorted by officials for military supplies. Upon learning of this, the Ming Chengzu Emperor personally issued an edict: "For those households that opened shops, whether military or civilian, officials and wealthy households are forbidden from extorting or peeling them. Anyone who dares to violate this will be seized and not spared. Respect this."

The Great Ming Code and the Collected Statutes both had relevant articles, but law is something that has never constrained the "meat-eaters," because the meat-eaters themselves are among the makers of the law.

Wang Chonggu, the Minister of Justice of the Great Ming, never believed that the law could constrain His Majesty, although His Majesty followed the Great Ming Code in his actions the vast majority of the time.

"Your Majesty, such rebellious acts by Luo Yao must naturally be handled according to the law. In addition to the local officials, the Xindu Yang clan was also involved." Zhang Juzheng did not plead for Luo Yao, but clearly and plainly told His Majesty about the collusion involved.

Adding weights to the scales also meant collecting a batch of rotten grain. The people needed food, but from the Governor down to the various officials, they actually didn't need food. This grain was hard to take and hard to sell; it needed to be exchanged for a general equivalent, which was silver.

Exchanging it for silver required someone to cooperate. These rotten grains, which were useless to the officials, naturally had someone to handle them on their behalf.

The Yang clan was a large household in all of Sichuan. The local prominent families of Sichuan followed their every command. The prominent families led by the Yang clan had those brokers and buyers collect this grain into the granaries.

This grain turned into "green rice money." The people borrowed grain and repaid it with silver, and the interest was terrifyingly high. When the people didn't have money to repay the silver, they could only sell their children and land. This was annexation.

Many of the Great Ming's endogenous contradictions were strange and varied, but they could generally be summarized by the two words "annexation." With just eighteen strokes of the brush, all the suffering in the world was exhausted.

"Bah! What kind of 'family of poetry, books, rites, and music,' what 'scholarly family of official lineage'—they are nothing! To call them 'beasts in human clothing' is to flatter them; they are simply worse than pigs and dogs, staring at the little surplus grain of the people—how much money is that!" After hearing what Zhang Juzheng said, Zhu Yijun swore.

As a student of the great Confucian Zhang Juzheng, Zhu Yijun really rarely swore, and even more rarely scolded people. If there was a conflict of interest, they would just draw their blades and fight. Even though he had long known the true face of these things, he was still filled with indignation when he heard about these matters.

Originally, with Yang Youren dead, the continued pursuit was temporarily suspended, but the development of events was just like this—circling around and around, it circled back to their Yang clan again.

It wasn't that Zhu Yijun was targeting the Yang clan; it was just that on the road of reform, if it wasn't this matter, it was that matter, and he would always run into the Yang clan. They had committed too many evils, and disaster had invited itself.

The Wanli New Deal had already been implemented for the eighth year, and even the wealthy households of the Southern Yamen had cowered, acknowledging the imperial court's decree on land survey and return of farmland.

"Your subject requests His Majesty's imperial order to send an envoy to Sichuan to handle this case specifically." Zhang Juzheng did not correct His Majesty's lack of decorum; it was just swearing a couple of times. They didn't find it dirty when they were handling matters; why find His Majesty's swearing dirty?

"Does the Sir have a candidate?" Zhu Yijun asked.

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said, "Wang Qian, the Investigating Censor of the Censorate."

To deal with wealthy households, one must send someone very familiar with them. Wang Qian was the son of the leader of the Jin faction. As a political enemy, his going to Sichuan would avoid collusion, and in order to strike at the arrogant spirit of the Zhang faction, Wang Qian would also spare no effort.

"The person recommended by the Sir is extremely suitable. It's just that I worry Wang Qian has been in the capital for too long and might find it difficult to handle this matter well. If trouble arises, Wang the Wang Cifu has only this one son, and I fear it might harm the harmony between monarch and subject." Zhu Yijun agreed with this candidate, but Wang Chonggu had only this one son.

Three hundred and forty thousand taels of silver in three years wasn't even as much as Wang Qian's pocket money.

If Wang Qian died in Sichuan, how would Wang Chonggu conduct himself? Wang Chonggu's imperial favor was extremely high, and the official factory group construction method had achieved phased results. Personnel appointments naturally had to consider Wang Chonggu's opinions.

"Your subject has communicated with Wang the Wang Cifu. Running around for the sake of the imperial court is the great righteousness of a subject. Eating the monarch's salary naturally means being loyal to the monarch's affairs." Zhang Juzheng looked left and right and whispered, "Wang Qian already has three sons and two daughters."

If Wang Qian died, it would also be accumulating imperial favor for the old Wang family. Anyway, he already had successors.

"Wang Qian is an Investigating Censor. If something happens to him in Sichuan, the local Sichuan area cannot bear the price." Zhang Juzheng explained further. This errand had some danger, but it wasn't particularly dangerous, unless Sichuan wanted to rebel. This was based on the premise of the restoration of administrative power.

"Hmm, then let it be Wang Qian." Zhu Yijun finally affirmed Zhang Juzheng's recommendation. Wang Qian would take the thousand-man commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, the guards, and various officials of the Censorate to Sichuan, mainly targeting the local prominent families of Sichuan. As for the officials, that was a matter for the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel.

When Zhang Juzheng came to the detached palace to see the Emperor, it naturally wasn't just about the Sichuan weight case. He shook his sleeves, took out a scroll of books, and handed it to Feng Bao.

Watching the book being placed on the imperial desk, Zhang Juzheng was filled with mixed feelings and deep emotions.

"Class Theory"—in this scroll of books, Zhang Juzheng detailed his understanding and definition of class.

Class: a standard for measuring the ability to control and mobilize social resources.

Zhang Juzheng divided them into hereditary officials, official-selected officials, prominent families, local gentry, lackeys and yamen runners, self-cultivating farmers, tenant farmers and long-term laborers, poor people and short-term laborers, and slaves of base status.

For example, the foreign slaves commonly found in the Great Ming all belonged to base status. In the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, foreigners were not considered people; having a base status was already climbing high.

The fundamental reason for the emergence of class—at the beginning, Zhang Juzheng attributed it to the imperial system, which made Zhang Juzheng unable to put pen to paper for a long time.

If the cause of class emergence was entirely attributed to the imperial system, wouldn't that mean overthrowing the imperial system would eliminate class? Overthrowing the imperial system—as a die-hard royalist among the royalist faction, how could Zhang Juzheng be so rebellious?

This made Zhang Juzheng ponder for several years. A youthful genius, having experienced wind and rain, having been regent for five years and in power for nine years, Zhang Juzheng spent several years thinking about this problem.

After careful thought, Zhang Juzheng discovered that he was looking at a leopard through a tube, narrow-minded.

The emergence of class is not the imperial system and the bureaucratic system dependent on the imperial system. Class, imperial system, bureaucracy, and contradictions are all results, not causes.

There are many reasons for the emergence of class. In this scroll of books, Zhang Juzheng conducted a detailed discussion. In Zhang Juzheng's view, class appears with exploitation, and exploitation represents production surplus. The reason for the existence of class is that there is production surplus, but productivity—that is, the ability of humans to change nature—is not sufficient, and production surplus cannot satisfy everyone's needs, thus class was generated.

"The Sir's ideas are almost indistinguishable from the Confucian 'Great Unity'." Zhu Yijun finished reading a small section and intended to study it carefully, saying to Zhang Juzheng with a smile.

According to Zhang Juzheng's logic, the fundamental reason for class emergence is that there is production surplus but it is still insufficient. When productivity is surplus, material is surplus, and class can be eliminated.

But Zhu Yijun felt it wasn't like that; even if productivity is surplus and material is surplus, class still exists.

Zhang Juzheng is not naive. It's like Confucianism holding self-cultivation higher than the sky, as if as long as everyone cultivates themselves and improves their morality, it will be a sweet "Great Unity" world where you love me and I love him. But this self-cultivation and moral cultivation have been going on for two thousand years, and the "Great Unity" world remains a dream that is far out of reach.

Political propositions have always been like this. Every political proposition must construct an ideal country that everyone yearns for, and then strive towards the appearance of that ideal.

An ideal country is not meant to be realized; it is meant for dreaming, commonly known as "painting a big pie."

The bigger, more detailed, and more realistic the pie you paint, the more people will follow you and support you, making this pie more concrete, detailed, and realistic. With constant supplementation, perhaps, possibly, probably, there will be a day when this pie finally becomes real.

"Your subject's learning is shallow, and I can only do this much." Zhang Juzheng did not feel he was incompetent. In the field of political learning, he had already walked ahead of everyone with His Majesty. As long as this theoretical method of his is not lost, it is destined to be passed down through the ages.

As for when productivity really develops to that step and the ideal country has not appeared, he, Zhang Juzheng, would have long been bones in the grave by then, and could only trust in the wisdom of later generations.

Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng chatted for a long time. Wang Chonggu's proposal for "relief through work" was actually creating a class—a class above lackeys and yamen runners, and equal to local gentry: craftsmen.

Once this class is formed and stabilized, becoming a force that can contend with local gentry, this group, for the sake of its own survival, will continuously promote the development of productivity.

On the other hand, with the opening of the seas and the influx of large amounts of silver, a class will also be born below official-selected officials and above prominent families. The social resources they control—population, land, means of production, production surplus, etc. —will far exceed those of prominent families and gentry. And this class, in the process of constant expansion, will continuously expand its influence in society and deeply influence official-selected officials and hereditary officials.

This is something the imperial court must be vigilant about.

According to Zhang Juzheng's statement, once the claws of this group reach out to places they shouldn't, they must be chopped off.

Zhang Juzheng had specific references. There were two examples in total: one was Wang Chonggu, and the other was Sun Kehong's Sun family.

They were both representatives of special-privilege economics, two behemoths raised under the adjustment of the Great Ming imperial court's policies. The social resources they controlled far exceeded those of prominent families, and they were even the pillars among official-selected officials.

The next step is to usurp imperial power.

"Sir, great talent." Zhu Yijun had only read it through superficially, but he had gained many insights. He asked with some confusion, "Where did the Sir attain enlightenment?"

The theory of contradictions is what Zhang Juzheng summarized from observing the moon, the lake, the wind, and people, and from the sages of past dynasties. And this "Class Theory" is a further political discussion based on the theory of contradictions and the theory of public and private.

Zhu Yijun was quite curious about how Zhang Juzheng had figured it out.

"Your subject attained enlightenment by observing Monkey Mountain." Zhang Juzheng hesitated for a moment before satisfying the Emperor's curiosity.

Zhu Yijun asked with a frown, "Monkey Mountain?"

"Monkey Mountain." Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "Monkey Mountain also has a Monkey King, and this Monkey King seizes the food of the monkeys and grandchildren. These monkeys and grandchildren dare not resist, and there is much fighting, but they didn't starve to death. Therefore, this is production surplus. Your subject pondered that after supplying food sufficiently, the food was extremely abundant, and the internal strife on Monkey Mountain was indeed very rare; they no longer fought with each other."

Zhang Juzheng did not lie to the Emperor. He really figured this out in front of Monkey Mountain. If one observes monkeys carefully, one will find that their collective also has a Monkey King and also has classes, but when food is extremely abundant and there is no need to fight, the Monkey King still exists, and even some weak monkeys and grandchildren remain weak.

This does not conform to Zhang Juzheng's theory.

This is also the content of the second volume of Zhang Juzheng's "Class Theory"—distribution. He hasn't written it yet, and he doesn't know if he can write it before he dies.

Attaining enlightenment is a matter of opportunity.

"Monkey Mountain is good. Feng, the Monkey Mountain monkeys have merit. Grant them five generations of sufficient food and drink." Zhu Yijun rewarded this Monkey Mountain. He actually wanted to continue granting Zhang Juzheng promotions and titles, rewarding Zhang Juzheng with a Marquis title for his merit in presenting the book and setting the strategy. He was willing to give it, but Zhang Juzheng would definitely not want it.

"Your subject obeys the decree." Feng Bao bowed his head and said.

The greatest achievement of the first volume of "Class Theory" is the acknowledgment of the existence of class. This is acknowledging the problem and facing the problem. Refusing to even acknowledge class is cowardice. Acknowledging the existence of class and facing the many problems brought about by class, and then reconciling the contradictions between various classes, is an obligation that the imperial court must fulfill to enjoy its rights.

And the division of class, the fundamental reason for the emergence of class, and the constant self-supplementation of class in the changes of all things succeeding in contradiction are also the achievements of the first volume.

On the other hand, Zhang Juzheng, as someone influenced by the Confucian rites of "monarch is monarch, subject is subject" for thousands of years, still divided a separate class for the Emperor. In fact, the various attributes of the Emperor should be counted within the hereditary official class, but Zhang Juzheng still divided the Emperor into the "Human Sage to whom Heaven's Mandate belongs."

Master of all living things, Ancestor of prosperity.

It's not that Zhang Juzheng didn't figure it out; he was evading it. It was also because he still had to rely on the high imperial power to push his New Deal. This is reality. Moreover, the Emperor's brilliance also made Zhang Juzheng occasionally wonder: could it be that there really is a Heaven's Mandate?

This gave the first volume of "Class Theory" a bit of a strange flavor, but not much. As a subject, Zhang Juzheng did not discuss the Emperor's class too much. In the whole scroll of books, he just listed the Emperor separately.

Zhu Yijun made a big stroke and crossed out the class of "Emperor," letting the strange flavor of the whole scroll dissipate entirely. Anyway, under the imperial system, subjects cannot discuss it, so it's better not to set it up at all.

The next morning, the bloody debts of the weight case and "Class Theory" appeared on the front pages of all major civil newspapers. The imperial gazette was even more long-winded, adding personal annotations from the Emperor.

Without a doubt, this will be the guiding principle for the next few decades, or even hundreds of years.

The Emperor personally providing annotations means that in future imperial examinations, "Theory of Contradictions," "Theory of Public and Private," and "Class Theory" will definitely appear. This is inevitable. It is a link in Zhang Juzheng's rectification of academic administration and also one of the Great Ming's conventions.

This made the students miserable—they hadn't even figured out mathematics yet!

Yang Youren's death also made the wealthy households' scalps tingle. The Grand General's Mansion's sword was directed outward, not inward. As long as General Qi returned to the capital from outside the pass, he was no different from the punching bag he used to be. Only this Young Master Huang, whom the Grand General indulged so much, really gave people a lot of room for speculation.

Many court officials had long known or guessed that this Young Master Huang was probably not from the Penglai Huang clan.

The weight case caused a huge disturbance in the capital. If consumed with "Class Theory," it gave everyone a more essential understanding of the logic of the world's operation. Under mutual verification, the Xindu Yang clan was immediately blown to the forefront of the storm.

Yang Deren, son of Yang Dun, a Jinshi of the second year of Jiajing, came from the second branch of the Xindu Yang clan. Yang Youren offended Young Master Huang, and Yang Deren single-handedly manufactured Yang Youren's hanging. But it seemed the Grand General's Mansion was still not satisfied and still wanted to pursue them. Yang Deren brought two carts of gifts and a visiting card to the Grand General's Mansion, requesting to see Qi Jiguang and begging Qi Jiguang to let them go.

Qi Jiguang did not receive the visiting card because the Grand General was not at home. The Grand General was busy at the Capital Battalion, and one basically couldn't see him during the day.

But Yang Deren received the Grand General's reply from the gatekeeper: "Self-inflicted sins cannot be lived with."

This answer from Qi Jiguang very clearly told the Yang family his attitude: the one targeting the Yang clan was not him, Qi Jiguang, but the Great Ming imperial court, the general trend of the New Deal. Moreover, this answer had another clearer meaning: wherever the Emperor's sword points, the blade of the army will reach.

Even if you are in Sichuan, if you dare to rebel, your ashes will be scattered.