Chapter 417: Buying Wu Boats to Carry Wu Women, Drunk on Wine Every Day at the Capital Gate

The first court session of the ninth year of Wanli in the Wenhua Hall determined the main thread of this year's new policies: simultaneous emphasis on sea and land.

Enriching the country and strengthening the military remained part of the new policies, but the development of sea and land became the focus. Among them, the two most important directions were the suzerain Khan of the Northern Barbarians and the development of the Yuanxu Islands.

New policies such as measuring land and returning it to the fields, the Examination Method, rectifying the academic administration, opening up investment in the sea, group manufacturing in official factories, self-trade by merchant ships, moving wealthy households to enrich the capital region, official selection, and supervisory officials were still ongoing.

It was just that the focus of the ninth year of Wanli was on development.

This kind of development received support, and it was not that Zhu Yijun, this Emperor, had already turned the imperial court into a one-man show, playing coloring games with this strong young man.

From outside to inside, the Great Ming was divided into tributary states, vassal states, Jimi pacification commissions, and actual land counties.

In a broad sense, the current Portugal and Spain were both tributary states of the Great Ming. Moreover, because Portugal was enfeoffed by the Great Ming due to Antonio, it was evolving towards a vassal state. Before this, the Great Ming's furthest vassal state should have been Ceylon, located in Sri Lanka in the Western Ocean, which received the five-chapter robes and was enfeoffed by the Great Ming.

Under the Great Ming's definition, tribute and vassalage were not "expanding territory" in the strict sense. Only actual land counties could be considered expanding territory.

Actual land counties had four standards: stationing troops, collecting taxes, registering households, and having the same tracks for vehicles and the same writing for books.

Measuring the current Spanish Empire on which the sun never sets according to the standards of actual land counties, Spain's scale would shrink on a large scale—not large territories in the New World, but scattered gathering places.

Looking at it according to the Great Ming's values, the West's colonies could at most be considered between tributary states and vassal states, not even Jimi pacification commissions. Jimi was a rope tied to various places, the most intuitive embodiment of violence.

The imperial court of the Spanish Empire on which the sun never sets had no military ropes and could effectively rule vast colonies.

The Great Ming's expansion of territory did not end during the Yongle period, but ended during the Wanli period. The expansion during the entire Wanli period totaled five regions, with a scale of about twenty counties.

In the first year of Wanli, Liu Xian attacked the Douzhang Barbarians and changed the native rule to flowing officials; in the third year of Wanli, Ling Yunyi broke the Yao people's rebellion and established three counties; Li Chengliang established the six forts of Kuandian in Liaodong in the tenth year of Wanli; from the eleventh year of Wanli to the winter of the thirteenth year of Wanli, Liu Ting suppressed the barbarians. After Mang Yinglong died, he completely crippled the Toungoo Dynasty and developed the Longchuan River Valley in Yunnan and the surrounding areas south of the Ailao Mountains; in the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, the rebellion of Yang Yinglong in Bozhou was quelled, and Bozhou was fully turned into actual land counties.

These were the Great Ming's five large-scale expansions. As for the Lijiang Prefect expanding territory to Chamdo, changing hereditary native officials to flowing officials, the new three borders of Gansu and Ningxia, and the fifth return of the Hami Six Guards outside Jiayu Pass—these small-scale expansions that were not actual land counties were not included. The Great Ming's expansion of actual land counties during the Wanli period was approximately equal to the area of two Guizhou provinces.

The Great Ming's internal contradictions were constantly intensifying. While turning the blade inward, resorting to external war to resolve contradictions was the inevitability of feudal imperial rule.

Under the premise that Zhu Yijun, this big moth, kept flapping his wings, the Great Ming completed the overseas expansion of the four major governorates of Jiugang, Luzon, Ryukyu, and Nagasaki, and also completed the land expansion of the six forts of Kuandian in Liaodong, Daning Guard, Quanning Guard, Yingchang, and Kaiping Guard, which was also based on this inevitability.

The ninth year of Wanli was a year to digest these places, and it was also a year to continue expansion, to "civilize" the suzerain Khan of the Northern Barbarians, and to develop the Yuanxu Islands. This was the main content determined by the first court session of the ninth year of Wanli.

"I approve the seven things about opening the sea. By then, the censors and officials will again say that I am a prodigal son." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial criticizing him and said to the officials with a smile: "Once the national trend turns to contraction, my investment in more than one hundred plantations in Nanyang will be like a tree without roots and water without a source, and it will wither in a few days."

"I'm afraid that before I breathe my last, they will be cursing me for being extravagant and wasteful, spending so much money and gaining nothing."

Zhu Yijun was not talking nonsense. The Great Ming had invested a lot of money in the expansion in Nanyang: marrying off a princess, enfeoffing a Koxinga, building a very strong navy, breaking the Portuguese castle, reclaiming nearly three hundred thousand qing of land, and establishing more than one hundred plantations. If the Great Ming's overall trend turned to contraction, these would all disappear.

The Great Ming's scholars would absolutely not discuss what had been gained during this period, just as few people talked about the benefits of the six voyages to the Western Ocean during the Yongle period. They would view it as the Emperor squandering the Great Ming's wealth for his own imperial hegemony, and how much trauma the aggressive military had brought to the Great Ming.

"This is inevitable." Zhang Juzheng suddenly spoke.

The court officials looked at Zhang Juzheng in a daze. His Majesty's words were originally just a complaint. Everyone just listened to it; there was no need to answer. The Great Ming's "cheap scholars" always hoped to gain without working, that is, to obtain splashing wealth without any payment.

But Zhang Juzheng answered.

Zhang Juzheng continued: "Your Majesty, contradictions follow one another. The Great Ming is always floating and sinking, rising and falling in the intense collision of contradictions. The expansion at this time is correct, and the contraction in the future may not be wrong. No matter what kind of hero one is, one cannot decide what happens after death. To prevent our huge investment from finally being wasted, I think it is better to use all our strength to expand now. When it comes time to contract, the stall is too big, so where can it contract to?"

Once the contradiction theory was put forward, the Great Ming's development thread became extremely clear: it was a spiral upward. Rising did not always happen, but when rising now, what could be done was to make the rising height high enough so that when sliding down, it would not fall to a worse state than in the past.

Fear not the ending, but seek no regrets. Ten thousand years is too long; seize the day.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and laughed. The teacher's goals were always so clear and distinct.

"Since Chen Zeming thinks it's not done right, send him to Songjiang Prefecture to be a partner with Governor Shen Shixing." Zhu Yijun promoted the supervisory censor and sent him to Songjiang Prefecture to be the patrolling censor, to be a partner with Shen Shixing.

Chen Zeming was not a "cheap scholar." He was an official who liked to visit and was down-to-earth. It was really a waste to keep him in the capital as a pure official who only engaged in empty talk.

Chen Zeming's visits were not to fool the Emperor, fool the imperial court, or fool himself, but to go deep into the civilian houses outside Zhaoyang Gate, to visit the traffic paths, land ownership, commercial scale, and even various sundries such as salt, oil, beans, and wine, and even included how many coal shops, how many firewood carriers, and how many prostitutes were outside Zhaoyang Gate. He displayed the lives of all social strata in his memorial, writing both the good and the bad in the memorial.

Chen Zeming was not a "cheap scholar."

The court session continued. The Ministry of Revenue gave a comprehensive introduction to the ocean-going firms in Mizhou, Ningbo, Fujian, and Guangzhou. From today on, the Great Ming's fifty three-masted ships and five five-masted ships per month would be allocated according to the trade volume of each firm. It would no longer be Songjiang Prefecture eating alone. Beyond the fixed quota was the growth quota. For example, last year, the Great Ming's three-masted ships per month had reached seventy, and five-masted ships had reached twelve. Which firm the excess part was distributed to and the number of ship permits were all set out in regulations. The regulations were not complicated: trade volume had the final say.

This was the Great Ming imperial court's examination of the ocean-going firms. Moreover, according to the imperial court's rules, every five years would be a period. One ocean-going firm would be eliminated and downgraded to a merchant group, and then a new place would be chosen to form a new firm.

"Li Yashi's travelogue was published in the Great Ming's Miscellaneous News and was quite popular. Before the New Year, he wrote a travelogue discussing the backwardness of the Great Ming's economic Jimi." Wan Shihe distributed several copies of the Miscellaneous News. After the Great Ming gentlemen finished reading them, their faces were not good.

The Western hegemon Felipe was learning from the Great Ming, and the Great Ming was also learning from the West. The results of the West's economic Jimi were very worthy of the Great Ming's reference. The wool official factory was a typical example of the Great Ming's reference.

Of course, that guy Li Yashi always said some truths in his travelogue, which made people unhappy.

"I can see it now. He will die because of this mouth sooner or later." Zhu Yijun shook his head after reading the Miscellaneous News: "But he is right, so I cannot kill him."

Li Yashi's Han language was already very good. Because of the lack of a usage environment for Latin, he now wrote travelogues in Han language and then translated them into Latin. Moreover, sometimes he would forget words when he picked up his pen and didn't know how to use Latin to accurately express what he wanted to express.

The reason why Li Yashi's travelogue became like this was largely because he knew that it would be difficult for Westerners to understand the travelogues he wrote in a short time, so his readers were in the Great Ming, which was why writing in Han language was more appropriate.

Li Yashi said:

【The Great Ming's current overseas expansion and economic Jimi methods are like a big girl getting on a bridal sedan chair—twisting and turning. They want to use merchants to grab real gold and silver from overseas, but they are afraid that the merchants will be out of control. The kite has broken its string; the person flying the kite has lost the kite, and the kite doesn't know where it will fall.

Afraid! Afraid! Afraid! Afraid that in the end, nothing will be accomplished.

The imperial court's hesitation can be understood, because the Japanese pirate trouble in the southeast lasted for more than twenty years, all because they couldn't satisfy the huge appetites of the merchants. The merchants colluded with desperate people, plus the Japanese pirates, which led to a great disaster.

Compared with the Great Ming's caution and care in opening the sea, the West's opening of the sea always seems very reckless. They have neither a powerful navy nor a commodity advantage. They plunge headlong into the vast ocean, seeds drifting with the waves, taking root and sprouting wherever they drift.】

Zhu Yijun was relatively in agreement with Li Yashi's travelogue. Li Yashi was a Westerner. The West's opening of the sea was mainly about adventure. He couldn't understand the Great Ming's hesitation in opening the sea. He found it very difficult to understand, because although he had lived in the Great Ming for many years, he was not a Great Ming person. He didn't understand that this kind of adventure and recklessness was a bit too radical for the Great Ming, which was more than two hundred years old.

Zhu Yijun also understood the worries of the gentlemen.

Once the Great Ming's strategy turned to comprehensive contraction and lost the thick profits of sea trade, the huge navy could not be maintained, and the governorates developed by the Great Ming would become pirate nests threatening the Great Ming's long southeast coastline. The Great Ming would probably have to pay a huge price to ensure the peace of the coastline.

The Great Ming's repetition was not a matter of one or two days, but had been repeated for more than two hundred years.

"After this issue of Miscellaneous News was published, it triggered many follow-ups in the Miscellaneous News. Many writers were also discussing this matter, feeling that the imperial court was a bit timid in opening the sea." The reason why Wan Shihe specially mentioned this Miscellaneous News was to remind the Great Ming Emperor to pay attention to the emergence of this kind of public opinion among the people. The Great Ming people were already dissatisfied with the Great Ming's conservative policy of opening the sea, complaining that the imperial court's steps were too small.

"If they want to open the sea, what do they plan to do?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously: "What are the writers saying?"

"Completely open the blueprints and technology for five-masted ocean-going ships, completely open up prohibited items, change the Shipping Commissioner's extraction from each ship to self-reported customs inspection, completely open up ship permits without the need for reporting to go to sea, revoke the ban on trade with Japan, etc." Wan Shihe's voice became smaller and smaller. He hadn't even said the more excessive ones. If he said them, he was afraid the Emperor would go and kill people himself.

What they wanted was: "Buying Wu boats to carry Wu women, drunk on wine every day at the capital gate."

The Great Ming's prohibition on buying and selling Han people was a strictly constrained regulation, and it was also the imperial decree that the Great Ming executed most thoroughly. Han people were not allowed to be bought and sold as slaves.

Wan Shihe didn't dare to say it. If he said it, His Majesty wouldn't even hold the court session, but would directly take the Qi family saber to kill people. It wasn't as if His Majesty hadn't done such things before. The matter of killing Chen Youren with his own hands was still talked about with relish by the commoners to this day.

Zhu Yijun immediately understood what Wan Shihe was saying. It was actually a completely free-trade faction!

The remarks were so outrageous that Zhu Yijun thought these people were simply playing the devil's advocate, using outrageous remarks to satirize certain propositions.

"Hehe, no need to pay attention to them. They are like madmen." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and sneered. The Great Ming did not have such soil. Just treat it as a joke.

Wang Chonggu's brows were twisted into a knot. He shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, this kind of trend of thought is very dangerous. Any garden in a villa, if not pruned, will not get clusters of flowers, but wild growth."

"In the fourth year of Wanli, the wool official factory had 17,000 weavers. Because of the improvement of spinning technology and the steam engine, this year, we only need 7,000 weavers. Compared with four years ago, this year's 7,000 weavers manage more cloth than in the fourth year of Wanli. What are the remaining 10,000 weavers going to do? Let them go to brothels to sell themselves?"

"This year, we reduced the investment in steam engines and new textile machines and eliminated 3,000 weavers. There were many reasons for these weavers to be eliminated, but they still had places to go, and that was the wool factories that were constantly appearing among the people."

"According to their statement, if the imperial court does not interfere, I am afraid that even this wool business will not exist. This so-called freedom is just for the sake of blatant exploitation. I think this trend must never be encouraged."

Wang Chonggu was engaged in real industry. He knew too well the harm of this kind of liberal faction. Technical upgrades without any planning would only cause harm and cause the displacement of commoners. It was not just the wool official factory; the Great Ming's shipyards, weaving bureaus, cotton spinning bureaus, Taotu Mountain white clay factories, Xishan coal bureaus, Datong coal bureaus, etc., were all the same.

Wang Chonggu believed that this kind of completely liberal trend of thought was extremely dangerous and must be guarded against. It was to completely transfer risks downward, letting the Great Ming commoners bear the risks of changes by the wealthy and powerful families.

After repeated thinking, Zhu Yijun prepared to observe this wind of public opinion again. Strict banning and killing sometimes had the opposite effect.

After the court session ended, Zhu Yijun specially kept Wan Shihe and asked about the many matters of Tuman Khan's tribute to the capital. The Great Ming side had already made preparations. Even if Tuman Khan broke his promise and refused to come, the Beijing Garrison would, under the leadership of Qi Jiguang, go to "invite" Tuman Khan to enter the capital. By then, it would not be the current treatment.

After Wan Shihe finished talking about the official business, he did not immediately resign, but thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, I do not think Sun Kehong's seven things about opening the sea are stupid. I am also not speaking well for Merchant Leader Sun because I received his silver. This has to start with the old affairs of Yongle and Xuande."

"During the Yongle period, Duke of England Zhang Fu twice cleansed the Annam country, but during the Xuande period, Annam was lost. This was not because Annam had a heart of disobedience, but because at that time, our Great Ming turned Annam into the Jiaozhi Thirteen Commissions and exploited it too much, which led to it."

Wan Shihe talked about the reasons why Zhang Fu twice quelled the Annam country and the Great Ming's Jiaozhi Thirteen Commissions were maintained for twenty-two years before finally failing to stabilize the rule. Wan Shihe was already very tactful, but the bad things done by the Great Ming officials and eunuchs in Jiaozhi after Zhang Fu's two pacifications were really too many. It could be said to be cruel exploitation, too numerous to record.

A large part of the reason for Annam's restoration was the commoners rebelling against official oppression due to fishing in a dried-up pond.

The Great Ming lost the Jiaozhi Thirteen Commissions during the Xuande period. This was a historical lesson. To this day, this historical legacy problem was not easy to solve. For the Great Ming, it was a legacy problem, and for Annam, it was also a legacy problem.

Annam had been completely ruled by China for more than a thousand years. Its culture, political system, military, and economy were highly similar to the Great Ming. But now that Annam had substantially become a vassal state, it also caused many endogenous problems in the Annam country, and it couldn't find a way out.

Therefore, when Sun Kehong proposed the seven things about opening the sea, Wan Shihe expressed his approval.

"The path of 'civilizing' is indeed not as direct as the West's complete plunder. Civilizing might even lose money, but the benefit of civilizing is that after civilizing, it becomes actual land counties." Wan Shihe had always disdained Li Yashi's theory of high moral disadvantage. He believed that high morality in colonial affairs would indeed be at a disadvantage in the short term, but in the long term, it was an advantage.

Because the Great Ming's civilizing would bring actual land counties, not tribute, vassalage, or Jimi pacification. Cruel exploitation was not actual land counties. After civilizing, Jiugang, Luzon, Ryukyu, and Nagasaki would all be the Great Ming's own territory, not colonies. This was the essential difference between the Great Ming's opening of the sea and the West's Age of Discovery.

"What you said is very true." Zhu Yijun thought about it again and again, recognized Wan Shihe's statement, and then changed the topic and asked: "What does the Grand Minister of Rites think of the current situation in the imperial court?"

"The Zhang Party controls the Cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel; the Jin Party controls the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice; the Zhe Party controls the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry; I control the Ministry of Rites. Hai Gangfeng, the Zhang Party, and the Jin Party jointly control the Censorate. It can be said to be just right in balance." Wan Shihe did not choose to say the nonsense of "the monarch is wise and the ministers are virtuous." The factions of the Great Ming court officials were very clear. Ma Ziqiang was the direct descendant of the Zhang Party. Before he left the court, the Great Ming's factional power was unbalanced. Zhang Juzheng controlled the Cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Rites, which could be said to be dominant.

Among them, Wan Shihe and Hai Rui were both pure Emperor's Party.

"Your Majesty, as the Grand Secretary and Emperor's teacher, the teacher has assisted Your Majesty to this day and has no overstepping. He is also regarded as the Emperor's Party. When the teacher is here, this balance is here. If the teacher is not here, I am afraid there will be a big change." Wan Shihe further expressed his views.

As another core of the Emperor's Party, Zhang Juzheng suppressed all ambitious people until they couldn't breathe. What if Zhang Juzheng was no longer there?

"The teacher's health is fine." Zhu Yijun was very concerned about Zhang Juzheng's health. The Grand Physicians would take his pulse on the first and fifteenth of every month. Zhang Juzheng's health, although not in his prime, was very healthy. Zhang Juzheng was still very young. He was only fifty-seven years old. For a Cabinet Grand Secretary, this age was really very young.

That old thing Xu Jie lived to be over eighty, and Yan Song lived to be eighty-seven.

"Your Majesty is already in his prime." Wan Shihe stopped at the right point. In the eyes of many people, Zhang Juzheng had already completed his historical mission—ensuring the stability of the Great Ming's mountains and rivers when the master was young and the country was suspicious. Since he had completed his historical mission, he should leave or die. Staying any longer would be annoying.

Wan Shihe's words were very dangerous. Even without over-interpretation, Empress Dowager Li was also within the scope of being annoyed by Zhang Juzheng. If over-interpreted, even Zhu Yijun should be annoyed by Zhang Juzheng.

This might be the sequelae of Zhang Juzheng not overstepping the power of the master's prestige. The Great Ming did not thank Zhang Juzheng, from top to bottom.

Wan Shihe looked at the Emperor. In fact, for now, it was the best time for His Majesty to take action, because Tuman Khan surrendered, Altan Khan was old, and there were no foreign enemies. This was the weakest time for Zhang Juzheng after he took power. The Ministry of Rites had just broken away from the Zhang Party's control. The "Dengtou Case" involved Luo Yao, a disciple of Zhang Juzheng. Using the Dengtou Case as a lead to carry out personnel adjustments for the Zhang Party was reasonable and compliant, weakening Zhang Juzheng. By borrowing the Jin Party of Wang Chonggu, he could completely defeat Zhang Juzheng.

But Wan Shihe thought about it and concluded that His Majesty would not take action, or rather, he hadn't even considered that aspect at all. His Majesty had never regarded Zhang Juzheng as an enemy of his personal rule. Similarly, His Majesty had already been ruling personally when he listened to the government from the imperial gate, the officials quarreled below, and His Majesty read and studied on the stage.

Zhu Yijun solemnly said: "Since the Grand Minister of Rites said so, the teacher is probably in danger. No, even if the teacher opposes it, the two hundred Iron Forest Army of the Yicheng Earl's Mansion should be equipped for the teacher. It is appropriate to protect him with guards when he goes out."

"This method does not violate ancestral laws. In the late Zhengde period, Yang Tinghe made a 'killing list,' specially engaging in factionalism to exclude dissidents. It was very majestic, with more than three hundred guards when he went out. Just like that, Yang Tinghe was still called loyal and brave, and handled affairs as usual." Wan Shihe immediately found ancestral laws for the Emperor.

Wan Shihe sometimes couldn't understand how Yang Tinghe was rated as a loyal and upright minister of the state. If Yang Tinghe was a minister of the state, couldn't he, Wan Shihe, be rated as one who manages the country and saves the world?! Killing lists, excluding dissidents, violating the system to engage in guards—was this something a loyal minister could do?

Yang Tinghe was not of the super-grade, yet he had more than three hundred guards. Zhang Juzheng was a super-grade earl enfeoffed by the Great Ming Emperor. The Iron Forest Army was an ancestral law. Two hundred people were responsible for protection, which was more than enough.

"The teacher hasn't even accepted 'ice respect' or 'charcoal respect' for several years. The inner treasury is responsible for this expenditure. Grand Minister of Rites, persuade the teacher. It is more appropriate to handle this matter before the Lantern Festival." Zhu Yijun gave clear instructions and set a deadline.

"I obey the edict." Wan Shihe did not hesitate and bowed to accept the order.

It was not easy to persuade Zhang Juzheng, especially as His Majesty increasingly showed his wise side. After Zhang Juzheng's biggest worry was gone, in recent years, Zhang Juzheng had increasingly observed the great righteousness of a minister. Last year, he even intended to resign due to "long-term appointment."

If it were someone else, this matter might be difficult to handle, but Wan Shihe, this smooth-talking "ten-thousand-gold oil," was the most suitable to handle this matter. Moreover, he knew Zhang Juzheng's soft spot: gentlemen were the easiest to bully.

In the afternoon, Wan Shihe went to the Quanchu Guild Hall. After exchanging pleasantries with Zhang Juzheng, he explained his purpose.

"Grand Minister of Rites, these words are absolutely inappropriate. I have no meritorious service, and to be enfeoffed as an earl based on deciding strategies is already a great act of rebellion. If this Iron Forest Army comes out, wouldn't it be a death not worth regretting?" Zhang Juzheng refused as expected. He understood the reason why His Majesty asked him to form his own two hundred Iron Forest Army, but he didn't want to do so.

Wan Shihe said calmly: "The contradiction theory was written by the Grand Secretary. Grand Secretary, when contradictions intensify, all kinds of moths will appear—assassinations, poisoning, slander, and means will emerge one after another. Back then, Zhang Siwei twice pinned the crimes on Gao Gong. The Grand Secretary shouldn't think that these things won't happen to him, right?"

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said: "A man stands between heaven and earth, and it is a word of 'uprightness.' My life, Zhang Juzheng, has a clear conscience."

Wan Shihe sipped his tea and said: "Then does the Grand Secretary trust His Majesty? If the Grand Secretary really dies at the hands of villains, what will His Majesty do? Let's open the skylight and speak brightly. What kind of face is hidden under His Majesty's sunny and cheerful smile? I think the Grand Secretary knows better than me. The Grand Secretary doesn't want His Majesty to really fall into despair, right?"

Wan Shihe knew Zhang Juzheng's soft spot too well. The Emperor was the only hope for Zhang Juzheng's new policies. Once His Majesty became a monster, no one knew to what extent His Majesty would go crazy.

"If this mouth of the Minister of Rites were placed in the Pre-Qin period, he would at least be a master of political strategy." Zhang Juzheng finally understood why the court officials impeached Wan Shihe every single day; this mouth was simply too venomous.

"The Grand Secretary praises me too much." Wan Shihe answered happily.

Zhang Juzheng sighed. He really wasn't praising him. Could Wan Shihe really not hear the scolding hidden in the words?

"I won't recruit them myself. I'll just transfer twenty people from the Embroidered Uniform Guards and select one hundred and eighty elite soldiers from the Beijing Garrison." Zhang Juzheng chose to compromise. The Iron Forest Army of the Yicheng Earl's Mansion could be formed, but he wouldn't recruit them himself. Asking for people directly from His Majesty was the most appropriate. If His Majesty really found him, this Emperor's teacher, annoying, it would be convenient for him to take action, right?

"Fine, I'll go back and report." Wan Shihe left the Quanchu Guild Hall, swaying as he walked. This appearance was quite annoying.

Zhu Yijun called Luo Sigong to his side and said very seriously to Luo Sigong: "Luo Sigong, I give you a task: protect the teacher's safety. No matter who wants to kill the teacher, you must stop them."

"No matter who?" Luo Sigong gripped the Embroidered Spring Saber in his hand and asked.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said: "Yes."

"I obey the edict." Luo Sigong bowed to accept the order.

He, the second-best expert in the youth group, had only one point: he was obedient. Zhu Yijun told him to beat the Emperor, and he would dare to take action.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 418 =====