Chapter 437: Sharpening Weapons to Punish the Unrighteous, Seeking to Pacify the Near and Soothe the Far with Virtue

When a mistake becomes so large that it becomes a joke, this mistake will not be admitted.

Either continue to be wrong, or distort the facts; there is no other way.

This is the basic logic of social operation, and it is also the reason why, in many cases, small mistakes in side issues gradually evolve into monstrous disasters.

The Ming Dynasty's reconciliation with the northern barbarians—the Longqing Peace Talks—was naturally because Altan Khan was truly capable of fighting, but there was also the Ming Dynasty's own reason, which was that the Shanxi faction, born from the northern barbarians' invasions, had deep roots. If the Ming Dynasty had truly attacked Altan Khan at the end of the Jiajing period and during the Longqing period, the Shanxi faction would not only have been unable to become an aid to the imperial court, but would instead have become a hindrance.

The Shanxi faction's "raising bandits to respect themselves" was indeed a fact. They repeatedly lied about military intelligence, causing tremors and anxiety in the capital, and repeatedly allowed the northern barbarians to knock on the gates in tacit understanding, preventing the imperial court from issuing decrees unfavorable to the Shanxi faction. One mistake pushed another, gradually making the Shanxi faction and the imperial court go in opposite directions.

As the faction leader, Wang Chonggu had only two choices: go wrong to the end and continue to use the barbarians to threaten the imperial court, or find a way to make this joke disappear completely.

The first choice was unrealistic. Qi Jiguang went north in the second year of Longqing. By the Wanli period, Qi Jiguang led one hundred thousand guest troops and guard troops in Jizhou, and the northern barbarians could no longer go south. The Shanxi faction and Altan Khan combined were no match for these one hundred thousand strong troops. After Qi Jiguang led the Capital Camp, even the "cheap Confucians" shut their mouths. Anything involving Qi Jiguang was avoided.

When others accuse you of wanting to rebel, you had better really have the strength to rebel; then no one will accuse you.

Therefore, there was only the second choice: let this joke disappear.

Now! Whoever attacks him, Wang Chonggu, for being willing to flatter the barbarians, deceiving the imperial court, taking titles and rewards, and when about to be exposed, relying on the "God of Money" to remain calm—he, Wang Chonggu, can say with full confidence: "I was enduring humiliation for the sake of the mission!"

It was indeed a fact that their Shanxi faction was raising bandits to respect themselves, but with Altan Khan captured and brought to the capital, the Shanxi faction had a way out. Even if they distorted the facts, it could be considered logically self-consistent, and even looked exceptionally reasonable.

Altan Khan was once strong and powerful, and the Ming Dynasty couldn't beat him—that was truly unable to beat him. To prevent the scourge of war from spreading in Shanxi, the capital region, and Shandong, the Shanxi faction could only endure the humiliation in their hearts and treat the barbarians with courtesy to prevent them from invading. Now the Ming Dynasty is strong and powerful, and the Ming Dynasty has won, so all their forbearance was worth it.

Altan Khan was captured, His Majesty was dignified, and he avenged the Daoist master; the imperial court was dignified, shaking off the name of being called cowards; the Shanxi faction was dignified, having a step to step down; the world was dignified—it turns out my Ming Dynasty is still that invincible Ming Dynasty.

When internal contradictions become so intense that they cannot be reconciled, they are often resolved through war externally. This is very dangerous; if you can win, everything is fine; if you can't win, it's a total loss.

The intensity of contradictions varies. If it reaches an irreconcilable point and there is no means of relief, then one side must be completely destroyed. At that time, it is necessary to pick up a knife and kill.

Very obviously, the navigators trained by the Maritime Academy opposing the imperial court's decree—the intensity of this contradiction had not yet reached the point where killing was necessary.

"Your Majesty sees it clearly. The main contradiction is still the powerful and wealthy being dissatisfied with the imperial court's direct interference in maritime trade matters." Wang Chonggu repeated the Emperor's words and said sincerely.

Zhang Juzheng had recovered this time. Even if Zhang Juzheng hadn't recovered, His Majesty could still bring out *On Contradictions*, *On Public and Private*, *Production Illustrations*, and *On Class* to analyze the problem and hit the nail on the head.

These few small books actually didn't have much power, but these few small books, coupled with supreme imperial power, the fierce Capital Camp, and the navy, exerted an immeasurable effect.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and said: "In this matter, I can actually understand the navigators' thoughts. By studying at the Maritime Academy, they mastered the art of calculating stars and crossing the ocean. According to *Production Illustrations*, this is their accumulated experience through study. Experience is a person's fixed assets, and now the imperial court's expansion of enrollment makes their fixed assets have the possibility of shrinking."

"In the relationship between supply and demand, supply is insufficient and demand is strong, so their value will naturally rise with the tide. For the sake of their own struggle, I can understand their difficulties, and I also hope they can understand the imperial court's difficulties. The opening of the seas is unfolding like a raging fire, and the Ming Dynasty needs more navigators."

There is no way in this world to solve a dilemma by itself; someone will inevitably suffer losses in interests.

"Your Majesty, people are followers by nature. Naturally, there are people leading the way inside. Half a percent of people are enough to coerce nine and a half percent of people. The reason why the navigators dare to openly defy the imperial court's decree is obviously because someone has prepared sufficient and bright retreats for them. The powerful and wealthy being dissatisfied with the imperial court's interference is actually easy to handle. In the future, these navigators will be assessed once every three years. If they pass, they get a letter of authority; if they don't pass, they don't need to calculate stars and cross the ocean." Zhang Juzheng gave his method: examinations. He was good at this.

Calling it an examination is actually management. Through administrative means, strengthen the imperial court's control over this emerging collective of navigators.

Wang Chonggu felt a bit helpless and said: "Those who eat meat are despicable. Obviously, expansion is beneficial to these wealthy families, but they are short-sighted and only see the immediate interests. They oppose the imperial court's interference. Since the Yongle period to the Wanli period, the Ming Dynasty's official ships no longer went to sea, and we didn't see these wealthy families running maritime trade prosperously."

Wang Chonggu was the top-tier architecture of official selection, and also a monopoly class above the famous families. Standing in his position to look at this problem, he actually felt that expansion was beneficial to the wealthy families.

"This is where the problem lies. Why do they want to incite these navigators to resist the imperial court's decree?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu.

The Maritime Academy's expansion promotes the development of maritime trade, making the cake bigger, which is extremely beneficial to every wealthy family profiting from maritime trade affairs. Yet they chose to test the boundaries of life and death crazily.

Wang Chonggu could actually understand the thoughts of these southern maritime merchants. He pondered for a while before speaking: "On a cow, the price of each part of the beef is different. There is a difference between the beef tenderloin and the beef offal. Navigators are not simple labor; they are also human connections, relationships, and a huge force that can aggregate and influence the imperial court's decisions. Only by controlling the navigators can one firmly control the beef tenderloin."

"Similarly, the current scale of maritime trade is already very large. The Ming Dynasty's five major shipping offices—Mizhou, Songjiang, Ningbo, Yuegang, and Guangzhou—and the overseas shipping offices—Nagasaki, Ryukyu, Luzon, and Jiugang—now have an annual tax extraction of 3.4 million silver. With such a large scale, there are already many ships near the coast. There are many wolves and little meat. The wealthy families already on the shore actually don't want others to continue to come ashore."

Wang Chonggu discussed this problem from two aspects. The wealthy families didn't care about how the Ming Dynasty was doing; they cared about their own homes and the benefits distributed to them. "A thousand birds in the forest are not as good as one bird in the hand." Whether the part distributed to them was tenderloin or offal was what they cared about.

There was also the fact that they didn't want more people to enter the game. There were already many, many people making money in maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty.

Fiercer competition means less profit. Fierce competition either means finding ways to reduce costs or finding ways to eliminate opponents. Obviously, increasing productivity to reduce costs and increase efficiency to expand profits requires huge investment, while eliminating opponents, while means are endless, is also cheaper.

This is a game of discourse power.

"More simply put, they want to become a monopoly class, or ensure their monopoly class, which is why they are testing like this." Wang Chonggu summarized, combining his own experience to answer the Emperor's question.

This was also why Zhang Juzheng asked if it was Sun Kehong and Sun Keiyi as soon as he heard about this matter, because Sun Kehong had sufficient motivation to ensure his monopoly status.

"Then, let's see the results of the negotiations between Provincial Governor Shen and the navigators." Zhu Yijun summarized preliminarily. Take one step and look at one step. If the navigators' demands were not too excessive, the Ming imperial court would also be willing to give up part of the interests. Cutting off someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents. The imperial court wants to move people's interests; is it not allowed for people to resist twice?

Zhu Yijun had lunch at the Quanchu Guild Hall and gave Zhang Juzheng a month's vacation—that is, not a day less. Zhang Juzheng's body had recovered, but he still needed recuperation. The best recuperation is rest. For a figure like Zhang Juzheng, rest is an extremely luxurious thing; he was truly too busy on weekdays.

Wang Chonggu finally arrived at the Wenyuan Pavilion to sit in the office. This was the first time he had handled administrative affairs five years after entering the cabinet. In just seven days, he had become completely tired of this work. Even the donkey in the mill wasn't this busy.

There were truly too many strange things. Some Provincial Administration Commissioners and Provincial Surveillance Commissioners united to hollow out the Provincial Governor. The Provincial Governor memorialized to cry out for grievances. Wang Chonggu hadn't been a Provincial Governor before; he knew exactly how big the power of a Provincial Governor was.

Having no choice, Wang Chonggu shared with these Provincial Governors the experience of how to manage subordinates: treating guests, drawing lines to see the interest demands of the people under them, seeing clearly who could be used and who could not be used, and dividing interests; beheading, killing the chicken to warn the monkey—it didn't necessarily have to be killing; dismissal would make them even more painful; accepting them as dogs—letting people who could be used become his own foundation.

The reality of the situation would be more complex, and methods needed to be used alternately and frequently.

Wang Chonggu picked up a memorial. It was that the Western great sailing ships had arrived at the port again. This time there were ten great sailing ships again. Inside, just the silver alone was 4 million silver. Besides silver, there were copper materials, fish oil, and other things. The total transaction volume exceeded 9 million silver. The imperial court's tax extraction this time was as much as 540,000 silver. This was just the pure tax extraction.

This was originally a good thing, but soon, the censors of the Southern Yamen Censorate began to memorialize in succession again, saying the problem was still the matter of opening up the purchase of five-masted ocean-crossing ships. The Westerners could buy them, the Mughal Empire could buy them, but the Ming Emperor, who would rather give to foreign states than to his own slaves—could this be justified?

Coupled with the navigators' joint opposition to the Maritime Academy's expansion, obviously, this was a complete set of combination punches.

"Money, it bewitches people's hearts." Wang Chonggu finished writing the floating ticket. He sincerely hoped that Zhang Juzheng would return to court early. All these annoying matters should be thrown to Zhang Juzheng to handle.

San Niangzi, who was staying at the Huitong Guild Hall, began to communicate with the Minister of Rites and the Grand Honglu after Altan Khan returned to the capital, hoping to have an audience with His Majesty and then resign and return.

Altan Khan had been captured, so her stay or departure became a problem that the imperial court now avoided talking about, mainly because they didn't know the Emperor's meaning.

San Niangzi still possessed charm, but she was old after all, and she was the wife of a barbarian king. According to the Ming Emperor's past style, the Emperor naturally wouldn't have any actions, but what if His Majesty just happened to like this type?

San Niangzi's status now was a captive. If Altan Khan died, she would be a widow. Altan Khan's body was not yet cold, and San Niangzi was on the dragon bed—such things were not impossible to happen.

During the Jingkang Incident, the Song Huizong and Qinzong Emperors were captured, and the empresses and princesses were all humiliated several times. The Ming Yingzong Emperor was captured, and the palace maids serving by his side all became playthings. Are the barbarians allowed to set fires, but the Ming Emperor is not allowed to light lamps?

After the Song-Mongol coalition destroyed the Jin Dynasty, the Southern Song general Meng Gong, in order to avenge the humiliation of the Jingkang Incident, led a dozen of his subordinates to take turns humiliating the Jin Dynasty's Empress Tudan, totaling nineteen people. Some lifted her feet, some bit her lips, some held her arms, and they painted *General Meng Gong Tasting the Empress*.

There is a poem: "The soul is buried in the Taimiao, the bones have withered; revenge is offered to the nine temples with military captives. Scattering fragrance and abandoning snow in the Qingfeng Town, who wrote the painting of the General Tasting the Empress."

Wang Chonggu naturally knew that this matter was fake. When the Jin Aizong Emperor fled after the capital Bianjing was broken, the Empress Dowager, Empress, various concubines, and princesses all hanged themselves.

But what the Emperor's holy will was, was the problem Wang Chonggu had to consider.

This matter mainly depended on the Emperor's meaning.

Wang Chonggu thought over and over, and pasted a blank floating ticket. Whatever the Emperor wanted to do, he should do it quickly while Zhang Juzheng was on vacation for this month. Originally, Hai Rui, Wan Shihe, and Zhang Juzheng opposed San Niangzi having an audience with His Majesty. Zhang Juzheng could stop it, but Wang Chonggu didn't dare, so he just followed His Majesty.

Wang Chonggu didn't know that Zhang Juzheng had never stopped the Emperor from being absurd in this matter. Zhang Juzheng even hoped that His Majesty would be more absurd. His Majesty was a nineteen-year-old youth, but his heart was like withered wood, unmoved by external things. This was the empire's wind and rain maturing His Majesty, but for His Majesty personally, how could it not be a kind of sorrow?

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng always hoped that His Majesty could be more mischievous and absurd. Now that he was rebellious, he was still there, and he could still clean up the mess for His Majesty. It was better than him not being there in the future, with no one to clean up the mess.

Soon, the Grand Secretariat received the approval from the Zhao Wenhua Hall Imperial Study, permitting Lady Zhongshun to visit the prison, and ordering Lady Zhongshun to have an audience at the Zhao Wenhua Hall tomorrow.

Zhao Wenhua Hall, not the Zhao Wenhua Hall Imperial Study. Under normal circumstances, if His Majesty wanted to do something, Lady Zhongshun would not visit the prison, and even less would she have an audience at the Zhao Wenhua Hall; she would be taken directly to the Zhao Wenhua Hall.

Obviously, His Majesty was not prepared to do anything.

San Niangzi was actually very uneasy. After the country was broken and the family was destroyed, the fate of a princess of an enemy country was usually extremely miserable. After the Battle of Buyur Lake, the Northern Yuan Emperor Tianyuan escaped alone and was soon killed by Yesüder, and the Northern Yuan court was destroyed. But the Emperor Tianyuan's second son, Dibaonu, concubines, and princesses—over a hundred people—were not so lucky; they were all captured by Lan Yu.

It was widely rumored on the grasslands that Lan Yu had affairs with these concubines, and many of these concubines became camp prostitutes, with some committing suicide out of shame and anger.

San Niangzi didn't know what her fate would become. She hid a dagger under her pillow. Once the Emperor intended to throw her into the Capital Camp as a camp prostitute, she would commit suicide immediately. Anyway, the political proposition of complete reconciliation had been realized, and the Ming Dynasty would not excessively blame the border people, and they would even live better. She actually didn't have much left to be dissatisfied with.

San Niangzi didn't know that the Capital Camp had no camp prostitutes at all...

San Niangzi received the reply. The Emperor permitted her to visit the prison and also permitted her to have an audience at the Zhao Wenhua Hall to resign and return. After receiving the Emperor's vermilion approval, San Niangzi breathed a sigh of relief, but was also a bit disappointed.

She was actually still thinking about climbing the dragon bed. If there was another child, it would be of great help to the complete reconciliation between the Ming Dynasty and the grasslands.

Unfortunately, His Majesty seemed to have no such intention. She looked at herself in the mirror. She had been in power on the grasslands, living in luxury, without the sallow complexion of wind and sun. Looking closely, there were some tiny wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, barely counting as a beautiful face. Beauty requires a material foundation, and San Niangzi was not lacking in that.

The flowing water has no intention, the falling flowers have no heart.

Zhu Yijun had always referred to San Niangzi as Lady Zhongshun, treating her as a subject.

San Niangzi arrived at the Northern Division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. After the Northern Division checked the approval document and San Niangzi's letter of authority, they led San Niangzi into the prison to visit Altan Khan.

Altan Khan was already too old to move. He leaned against the wall, looking at the light cast by the skylight, reaching out to touch the light, his eyes full of turbidity.

"You came?" Altan Khan was not yet confused. He knew who had come and said with a smile: "Count the old Emperor as having a bit of conscience. Since you can come, it proves that the old Emperor won't make things difficult for you. He can be considered a character."

San Niangzi was speechless for a moment. Across the bars of the prison cell, she looked at Altan Khan and shook her head, saying: "You are actually very broad-minded. Your wife has been played with by others, and you can still sit so steadily."

"You?" Altan Khan sneered and said: "You can't climb up. The Ming Emperor lacks nothing, especially beauties. The old Emperor's personality is extremely cautious. Would he let you walk within three zhang? Dreaming?"

"Sigh." San Niangzi couldn't hurt Altan Khan. She had resentment toward Altan Khan; she was snatched.

Altan Khan understood the old Emperor very well. Sitting in that position, one must be this cautious; otherwise, whatever hegemony, it is all flowers in the mirror and moon in the water.

"This old Emperor is unreasonable. His father agreed to the peace talks, and he tore them up as soon as he said so. After the peace talks, I became slack. Losing is not unjust. And that Qi Jiguang, he is also too powerful." Altan Khan was still stubborn. He felt it was not a crime of war, but that he had fallen into the Ming Dynasty's treacherous scheme.

The Ming Dynasty agreed to peace on the surface, but constantly reconciled internal contradictions, overcoming all difficulties to revitalize martial arts, just to avenge the shame of that year.

Everyone saw Li Rusong's bravery, but Altan Khan knew he lost to Qi Jiguang, lost to Qi Jiguang's step-by-step approach.

Even if Dong Huli had invited the Eternal Heaven to help and really beaten back Li Rusong, Altan Khan still couldn't win the decisive battle. Qi Jiguang didn't even give Altan Khan a chance for a decisive battle.

Since the war began, Qi Jiguang never gave Altan Khan any chance at all.

"What if you were young and strong?" San Niangzi asked curiously.

"Even if I were young and strong, I couldn't beat General Qi. General Qi is also over fifty. Is losing to Qi Jiguang a shameful thing? No. Such a person—the Central Plains is vast and rich, and there is only one such person. If I had met him when I was young, I would have run away directly!" Altan Khan shook his head. During the time he was escorted to the capital, he had thought about this problem.

Could the young him beat him? The answer is negative. He would have run away directly.

Losing to Qi Jiguang is not a disgrace, just like the Jin Dynasty losing to Yue Fei—isn't that as it should be?! Even the Jin people felt it should be so.

"The Eternal Heaven was extremely angry at my worship of Buddha. I was hoping for the rainy season to come, but this year the rainy season on the grasslands was ten days later than in previous years. Our grasslands were at their weakest after the severe winter, and the Ming Dynasty's firearms were given the greatest play. The timing was not with me." Altan Khan calmly accepted his failure.

The Eternal Heaven didn't let him win.

If the rainy season had come, Altan Khan would still have had the heart to fight. The Ming Dynasty's firearms would have been restricted by the heavy rain, and winning would not have been easy, but he could still fight. Unfortunately, the rainy season had not yet arrived on the day the city was broken.

Altan Khan felt that his loss was not a crime of war; the Ming Dynasty won unfairly, bullying an old man like him.

Winning unfairly is also winning. Mutual conquest is to do everything possible to win. Altan Khan being able to invade the capital region was also because he found an opportunity when the Ming Dynasty's military preparations were slack. One Ma Fang held him back, making him miserable.

"Actually, I am very surprised that you arrived in the Ming Dynasty alive. I thought you would hang yourself on the day the city was broken." San Niangzi asked with some doubt. She knew Altan Khan very well. Altan Khan was a very proud person who felt that no one could judge his sins, not even the Ming Emperor.

This was the arrogance of long-term conquest and repeated victories.

"Actually, I thought about suicide." Altan Khan sat up straight and said with some emotion: "But in the end, I surrendered. It's not that I cherish my life. I am about to die of illness. We descendants of the Yuan have been fighting with the old Zhu family for more than two hundred years; there must be a result. That idiot Tuman Khan even scolded me for being a traitor. I see that he, this suzerain Khan, is the number one traitor on the grasslands!"

"In the future, the grasslands will rely on you."

San Niangzi was silent for a long time, nodded and said: "Hmm, I'm leaving."

Altan Khan leaned against the wall again, reaching his hand into the light, feeling the warmth of the light. He was already a dying man, occasionally recalling those glorious years of his youth. He conquered north and south, making all the tribes on the grasslands bow their heads and submit.

The next day, San Niangzi had an audience with the Emperor at the Zhao Wenhua Hall, and then received the imperial decree of the Emperor's conferment. San Niangzi became the first Provincial Administration Commissioner of the Ming Dynasty's Suiyuan Province.

The Suiyuan Provincial Administration Commission, Surveillance Commission, and Regional Military Commission were the Ming Dynasty's administrative divisions for the Hetao, Guihua, and Jining areas. They were real-soil counties. The Ming Dynasty's two capitals and thirteen provinces from then on became two capitals, fourteen provinces, and four overseas viceroyalties.

The two characters "Suiyuan" were taken from *Discourses on Salt and Iron: Preparing for Barbarians*, which says: "Sharpen weapons to punish the unrighteous, seeking to pacify the near and soothe the far with virtue."

The Ming Ministry of War had been seeking to upgrade Ryukyu from an overseas viceroyalty to a real-soil county, but the reason it had been delayed was that the exploration and development of Jilong Island—that is, the large island in the southeast direction—were still insufficient.

The Songjiang Provincial Governor was the highest-ranking and smallest-jurisdiction Provincial Governor in the Ming Dynasty. Shen Shixing only managed one prefecture of Songjiang. There was no jurisdiction smaller than this, but no one would question the gold content of these four words: Songjiang Provincial Governor.

Shen Shixing had two major events to handle recently. The first was the arrival of the Western great sailing ships, which was a large-scale trade, and the second was the matter of the navigators. He chose to handle it personally, ordering the navigators to select seven people to go to the Songjiang Prefecture Yamen to discuss this matter.

"Student pays respects to the Governor." The group of seven people did not perform the kneeling ritual, but bowed. Not kneeling when seeing an official was the treatment given to navigators by the Ming imperial court, equivalent to that between a *xiucai* and a *juren*; when seeing an official, they did not need to pay respects in the status of a commoner.

"Rise and take your seats." Shen Shixing's tone was very calm. He looked at the group of seven people, his eyes a bit sharp.

"You have all received deep imperial grace. If I am not mistaken, you are Shi Peng, original name Shi Liu, from Kunshan. Originally a refugee, a poor laborer on a ship, a porter of goods, illiterate, but quick-witted. First-term enrollment in the Maritime Academy, studied for three years, proficient in mathematics, and then went to the capital's Imperial Observatory to be an astronomy student for one year, hired by the Songjiang Ocean-Going Merchant Firm. At the beginning of this year, you switched to the Kunshan Merchant Faction." Shen Shixing looked at the leader, Shi Peng.

Shi Peng was originally a refugee. After the opening of the seas, he went to the ships in Songjiang Prefecture to do hard labor. Because he was clever, when the Maritime Academy was recruiting, he studied and learned to read in three years, working extremely hard. When the Maritime Academy first started, it couldn't recruit any scholars at all. After several years of opening the seas, going to sea was still a choice of having no way out and leaving one's hometown.

Therefore, most navigators were like Shi Peng, initially not even knowing a few big characters.

When enrolling, Shi Peng was only fourteen. Today, seven years later, he had become a big leader among the navigators, leading the opposition to the imperial court's expansion.

Shen Shixing saying they had received deep imperial grace was not without cause. Only in the last two years could the Maritime Academy recruit students who were already scholars.

"Is the Governor intending to use grace to coerce us?" Shi Peng raised his head halfway and said: "That we can have today's achievements is entirely due to our own efforts!"

"The Maritime Academy only takes two hundred people a year. That we could be selected was because we squeezed our heads to get in! The academy was hard, working from dawn to dusk, even at night we had to memorize those number tables and star charts. If we didn't pass the examination, we couldn't graduate. Today's fruit is the cause of yesterday's effort. The imperial court needs navigators, and we relied on our own efforts to become navigators."

"Talk about grace!"

Shen Shixing looked at Shi Peng, then at the other navigators, revealing a mocking smile, and said: "Three years in the Maritime Academy, one year in the Imperial Observatory. I ask you, did you spend a single cent of your own money?"

"I..." Shi Peng's face immediately turned red!

"At the beginning, the Junior Grand Secretary said, is this Maritime Academy opening a charity hall? Even Confucius teaching students without discrimination required tuition. Why does the Maritime Academy take nothing? Students just have no money; if they have no money, they can borrow! His Majesty did not allow it, sternly criticizing the Junior Grand Secretary, saying 'profit-seeking is not allowed.'" Shen Shixing spoke of an old story.

The Maritime Academy not charging tuition was to recruit students quickly and incubate navigators at the beginning of its establishment, especially to train navigators for the Ming Dynasty navy. To train quickly, they chose not to charge money, and even provided three meals a day and medicine.

This big hole of the Maritime Academy was plugged by the Sun family of Songjiang, who donated over one million silver intermittently over the years.

Wang Chonggu proposed a method: if you have no money, you can borrow it, and wait until you have a skill and become a navigator before repaying this money.

After this proposal was made, it was sternly criticized by the Emperor. Shanxi merchants liked to lend at high interest, especially on the grasslands. Wang Chonggu was embarrassed, but as a result, now, His Majesty had raised a bunch of ungrateful wolves.

Seven years later, His Majesty was fiercely hit by his own boomerang.

"Why aren't you speaking?" Shen Shixing picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and continued: "Now, you have been pushed to the forefront by others, yet you don't know it, and you are still smugly proud, thinking 'I am so important, no one can do anything to me.' I know that the big bosses behind you promised you that if something happened, they would definitely save you with all their might and ensure your safety and wealth for a lifetime."

"Shi Peng, do you still remember how you became a refugee? Your parents borrowed money from a wealthy family. Because they couldn't repay it, the remaining four *mu* of land were annexed. Your father died of illness, your mother threw herself into the river, your two older brothers were sold to a workshop and their whereabouts are unknown, and your older sister was sold to a brothel and died six years ago. The tiled house in your home was eaten by people in the same village."

"Now the big boss gives you a promise, and you believe it. Don't you know yourself that their promises are dog shit?"

"You really have no memory at all. Reading has given you a skill, but it hasn't taught you the sinister nature of human hearts. The Maritime Academy still needs to teach *On Contradictions* and *On Class*."

Shi Peng and the other navigators were ashamed and angry. Shen Shixing's words made them stand there as if struck by lightning. Over the years, their status had become higher and higher, their income more and more, and they were surrounded by praise, gradually becoming lost and forgetting the pain of the past.

Shen Shixing's words awakened the memories rooted in their bones, or rather, punctured the dreamy bubbles around them.

"I..." Shi Peng didn't know what to say.

"I what? I am telling you today that what the imperial court gave you, it can also take back. Within three days, return to work and board the ships immediately. If there is any mistake, your navigator letter of authority will be revoked. Don't think that the imperial court cannot open the seas without you. Three days later, if you still haven't returned to work, I will mobilize the navy's military household navigators to maintain the operation of the ocean-going merchant firms." Shen Shixing's face became sharp.

"I gave you a chance. According to the Junior Grand Secretary's words, I should have immediately confiscated your navigator letters of authority and stripped you of your courtesy!"

Wang Chonggu's method was to mobilize the navy navigators to maintain the operation of the merchant ships, and at the same time immediately strip them of their letters of authority and courtesy, making them commoners.

If Shen Shixing found it difficult, he would directly post the content of Wang Chonggu's floating ticket everywhere on the city gates and streets, and he would be the villain.

Wang Chonggu had long since stopped caring about his reputation; he had long been confirmed as a treacherous official.

Shen Shixing's personality was much gentler, and he gave them three days, willing to talk. He was actually protecting these navigators. If he really followed Wang Chonggu's method, these navigators would immediately fall back to their original class, and the huge gap would inevitably make life worse than death.

When Ming merchant ships go to sea, they all check the navigator's letter of authority. One ship only needs one navigator.

Zhu Yijun agreed with Wang Chonggu's statement, but the one handling it specifically was Shen Shixing, and he also respected local opinions. In short, this matter could not continue to cause trouble and affect the circulation of the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 438 =====