Chapter 454: A Decision Against the Ancestors

When the Japanese female entertainers arrived in the Great Ming, they truly went to "gild" themselves. They learned a unique skill in the Great Ming called "sitting in a jar." They would live and go about their daily routines on the edge of a jar. If they did not clench tightly, they would fall in. Over a long period, the thigh and buttock muscles would press tightly together, forming a new portal.

This kind of specialized training, not many people could withstand.

The painting boat business was harmful to public morals, which was also the reason why the Sun family was always pointed at and scolded, but the Sun family continued to go their own way.

At Nagasaki Port, three three-masted clipper ships belonging to the Songjiang Ocean-Going Merchant Firm were slowly leaving the port under the tow of barges. Of these three clipper ships, only one would return to Songjiang Prefecture, and the rest would set sail from Nagasaki, passing through Ryukyu Shouli Mansion Naha Port, Keelung Island Tamsui Port, Keelung Island Xinglong Port, Luzon Miyang Port, Luzon Manila Port, Luzon Cebu Island, and Mindanao Port.

Tamsui Town was the first port opened on Keelung Island, located at the northernmost end of Keelung Island.

The first batch of 3,000 strong men arrived to develop it. In the third year of Wanli, Tamsui Town built a port, and then the most abundant beech wood on Keelung Island was continuously transported to the Great Ming, exchanging for various goods. In the sixth year of Wanli, Tamsui Town became the first city on Keelung Island to break through 100,000 people.

Xinglong Port (Kaohsiung Port) was the second port opened, located at the southernmost end of Keelung Island.

This was the second gathering place opened by the Great Ming on Keelung Island. In the fourth year of Wanli, Xinglong Port was officially completed, existing as a relay port for the Great Ming to go to Luzon. Ships from Songjiang and Yuegang had to pass through the Penghu Inspection Office and then stop for supplies at Xinglong Port. Xinglong Village had about 90,000 people, and it was expected to break through 100,000 people in the tenth year of Wanli.

The two three-masted clipper ships, except for supplies, did not stop too much along the way, but went directly to Mindanao, which was the distribution center for goods in the Yuanxu Islands.

Davao City was the seat of the Spanish colonial viceroyalty on Mindanao. Since the first year of Wanli, Yin Zhengmao had launched several crusades against the red-haired barbarians entrenched in Luzon. First, the entire Luzon main island was lost, and then the Cebu Islands. In the sixth year of Wanli, Yin Zhengmao led 3,000 guest soldiers and 5,000 guard troops, and after blocking the Goa Viceroyalty from landing on Mindanao, finally stepped onto the last piece of territory of this colonial viceroyalty.

Now, the Spanish colonists were completely huddled in the castle of Davao. This castle was the last bit of dignity the Great Ming left for Philip II. In the eyes of the Spanish mainland, the Luzon Viceroyalty still existed. Most Spanish nobles didn't even know the location of the Luzon Viceroyalty, let alone discuss the loss of territory of the colonial viceroyalty. As long as the trade of the great sailing ships was unobstructed, it didn't matter to the nobles.

The red-haired barbarians gathered in Davao Castle and rarely went out, but they were not without communication. They also needed to live. At the end of the 12th month of the 8th year of Wanli, after a heavy rain, the granary in Davao Castle was soaked by water. The new Viceroy of the Luzon Viceroyalty finally walked out of the castle and signed an agreement with the Great Ming to abandon military armament in exchange for supplies.

With this, the Spanish colonial rule in Luzon was officially declared completely ended, only retaining the establishment for the purpose of maintaining the shipping route.

Davao Castle essentially became the "World City" of the Great Ming on Mindanao.

Davao City was the third most prosperous city in Luzon, gathering more than 200,000 people, and was the trade center of the entire Yuanxu Islands.

The two three-masted clipper ships arrived in Davao City and began unloading. After unloading all the Japanese slaves, they exchanged for enough goods to prepare for the return voyage: rubber, palm oil, fish oil, raw sugar, spices, etc. This time, the two clipper ships carried a commodity not on the list: tobacco—"Danbagu," also known as "Golden Silk Smoke."

This was a divine herb from the Viceroyalty of Peru. Mayan priests wore gorgeous costumes, wore grass rings made of Danbagu, and held a long pipe in their hands. The top of the pipe had dried tobacco, which was lit during sacrifices, spraying clouds and fog to communicate with the gods.

In addition to using pipes, Danbagu had another way of use: rolling it up with grass paper. The indigenous people of Peru called it "zical," which is a cigar.

This was passed down from Peru and soon took root in the Yuanxu Islands. Part of the Yuanxu Islands' plantations grew it, mainly used by slaves to numb themselves. After busy and heavy work, they numbed the pain in their bodies and obtained spiritual pleasure. This was also part of the plantation owners' wage recovery plan.

After the two clipper ships were loaded with goods, they began the return voyage. After supplementing wood at Xinglong Port, they arrived in Songjiang Prefecture.

The goods of the two clipper ships successfully passed the extraction of the Military Provisions Office, but two large boxes of Danbagu were confiscated because, although this commodity was not prohibited, it was too similar to another category of contraband, so the Songjiang Shipping Bureau decided to confiscate it.

This type of contraband was "Fushou Paste," officially named "A-pian," which is the notorious opium.

In the second year of Longqing, the Yuegang opening taxed opium at two mace of silver per ten jin. In the first year of Wanli, it was regulated, and in the third year of Wanli, opium was strictly prohibited from flowing into the Great Ming.

The "Wuxiang" in the tribute items of Siam was opium. Two hundred jin were paid in tribute at a time to relieve pain. The great physicians of the Dissection Court had already studied its harm clearly. Li Shizhen submitted a memorial saying: "Every time the root of the disease is not removed, the addiction is already up, which is a lifelong burden, and it is too late to regret." It became a controlled drug.

The addiction to opium-like drugs is very terrible. Research by the Dissection Court shows: "When the opium addiction arrives, the person's tears and snot flow, and their hands and feet are weak and cannot be lifted. Even if a sharp blade is added to the front and a leopard or tiger is forced to the back, they can only bow their heads and accept death, unable to move even a little. Therefore, those who have eaten opium for a long time have hunched shoulders and shrunk necks, and their color is withered and weak, like a sick person just starting."

Zhu Yijun personally met the person who was addicted to drugs and said that calling them "ghosts and monsters" was an insult to ghosts and monsters.

Zhu Yijun soon received these two very special "tributes." After thinking for a long time, he decided to strictly prohibit it from flowing into the Great Ming hinterland.

"Prohibit it, forbid it from entering the Ming." Zhu Yijun made a vermilion approval.

The spread of tobacco in the Great Ming was very fast. By the Tianqi era, it had become rampant. The harvest of one mu could rival ten mu of fields, and there was no one who didn't plant it and no one who didn't use it. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Chongzhen Emperor issued an edict to ban tobacco, and offenders would be put to death. The following year, the Later Jin Khan Huang Taiji outside the pass also issued an edict to ban tobacco.

The main reason for the ban on tobacco was that the profit was too lucrative, leading to a large reduction in the planting of food crops.

However, these two bans had no effect at all, because this tobacco, sold outside the pass, could exchange one jin of tobacco for a horse, and one cow could exchange for three or four jin of tobacco.

If there is a 20% profit, capital will be eager to move; if there is a 50% profit, capital will take risks; if there is a 100% profit, capital will dare to risk the gallows; if there is a 300% profit, capital will dare to trample on all the laws of the world.

Clearly, the profits of the tobacco and opium business had completely exceeded 300%. According to objective laws, Danbagu would inevitably spread everywhere. In the 39th year of Jiajing, Jean Nicot de Villemain, who returned to France from Portugal, brought Danbagu back, planted it, and made huge profits.

All Zhu Yijun could do was strictly prohibit it from flowing into the Great Ming hinterland, dragging it out for a while.

Contradictions are everywhere. The Great Ming obtained crops like sweet potatoes, rubber, Brazil red wood, sugarcane, and cotton in the opening of the sea, and correspondingly, there would also be crops like poppies, dead-water vines, and Danbagu that had far-reaching and negative impacts.

The Nagasaki Viceroyalty reported the progress of the promotion of Treasure Notes and determined the profit-sharing between the Great Ming and the Nagasaki Viceroyalty: 50-50 split. That is to say, for one string of Treasure Notes, the court and the Nagasaki Viceroyalty gained 3.5 mace of silver, and the Japanese daimyo shared 30% of the profit, letting the Japanese daimyo promote the Treasure Note Law.

Treasure Notes were indeed the lowest quality currency in the Great Ming, but in Japan, they were a currency with credit endorsement, exquisite production, and difficulty to counterfeit. This was the basis for the promotion of Treasure Notes.

The Ministry of Revenue did not oppose this. Even if it was a 50-50 split with the Nagasaki Viceroyalty, it was a big step for the Ministry of Revenue. The long-term absence of the Great Ming's monetary policy had caused the Ministry of Revenue to lose its ability to control money. Overseas Treasure Notes were a kind of restoration.

For the Nagasaki Viceroyalty, the wise officials of the Great Ming were more worried that Nagasaki, Ryukyu, Luzon, Old Port, and the Yuanxu Islands would become sea pirates. A 50-50 split was already an acceptable range. This was all calculated. How many Treasure Notes the Great Ming sent over would be converted into silver and sent back to the Great Ming. Such a violent seigniorage allowed the fiscal situation, which was somewhat stretched in the background of the great development, to breathe a sigh of relief.

This was robbery, but who in the Great Ming would care?

"Your Majesty, the Second Grand Secretary Wang held a grand banquet at the All-Jin Guild Hall today, saying he would hold a seven-day flowing banquet to celebrate the completion of the Chonggu Imperial Highway." Feng Bao reported a piece of news from the outside court.

The local gentry had privileges in taxation and justice. The Great Ming court hoped that these gentry could establish societies to teach, change customs, repair bridges and roads, provide disaster relief, and maintain basic order. These gentry did it, but they turned it into a business, deviating from the original intention.

As the top of the official-selected class and the top meat-eater among the powerful and wealthy, Wang Chonggu also fulfilled his function of repairing bridges and roads, building an imperial highway for the Great Ming from the capital to Shanhai Pass. Wang Chonggu didn't ask for anything, and Zhu Yijun personally named this road "Chonggu Imperial Highway."

Now, it was completed, and Wang Chonggu was happy, so it was reasonable to hold a grand banquet to celebrate.

"Is the inscription I personally wrote ready? If it's ready, send it to the Second Grand Secretary Wang and let him set it up at the entrance of the Tongzhou Imperial Highway." Zhu Yijun also cared about this matter, personally writing four characters and letting the Secretariat write a memorial to highlight Wang Chonggu's merits.

Reward for merit, punish for fault. Wang Chonggu had no pursuit of material things, so reward him with some reputation.

Feng Bao placed a memorial in front of the imperial desk and said with a smile, "Minister of Works Wang Daokun submitted a memorial saying: before the end of the year, the Beijing-Liaoning Imperial Highway from Shanhai Pass to Liaoyang, the Beijing-Ningbo Imperial Highway from Jizhou, Zunhua, Xifengkou, and Daning Guard, the Beijing-Tianjin Imperial Highway from Tongzhou to Tianjin Wei, and the Beijing-Yun Imperial Highway from the capital to Datong will all be completed."

The Chonggu, Beijing-Liaoning, Beijing-Ningbo, Beijing-Tianjin, and Beijing-Yun imperial highways had been surveyed, designed, recruited craftsmen, and built since the sixth year of Wanli. Now the project was gradually ending and was in the acceptance stage. The most difficult section to build was the Beijing-Yun Imperial Highway.

Datong Prefecture was called Yunzhong County in ancient times, which was the "Yun" in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. The biggest obstacle to the construction of the Beijing-Yun Imperial Highway was not elsewhere, but at Juyong Pass. The southern section of Juyong Pass had a vertical drop of more than thirty zhang. For every zhang it rose, one hundred zhang of winding mountain roads had to be built. The southern section of Juyong Pass had thirty li of mountain roads built.

The second difficulty was the tunnel, with a total of four tunnels, totaling four li. Four li of tunnels were not a small problem for the Great Ming. The vertical shaft method of digging from both ends and blooming in the center shortened the construction period to two years before it was completely chiseled through. To solve the possible collapse problem, the craftsmen thought of many ways.

The third difficulty was the bridge in Huailai, which was seventy zhang long. This bridge spanned the Huailai River and had seven holes, each ten zhang long. The Great Ming couldn't make the ten-zhang skeleton dragon-bone steel, and couldn't transport it, so they had to settle for the next best thing and use steel beams, transporting them to the Huailai River by mule carts, and then riveting them into a bridge one by one.

The whole bridge could also not be built, and bypassing it from upstream of the Huailai River would be three hundred li. The Ministry of Revenue calculated that the silver needed for the detour was much more than building the bridge, so they chose to build the bridge. This one bridge cost the court one million taels of silver.

The five imperial highways invested a total of more than ten million taels of silver, divided into three years of investment. Except for the Chonggu Imperial Highway, they were all built with the full funds of the Great Ming's inner treasury and national treasury. The cost of one li of imperial highway was 9,500 taels of silver.

The imperial highway was five zhang wide, of which three zhang were for carriages and horses, and both sides had street trees and ditches, while the remaining two zhang were wood-wrapped iron rails, which was why the cost was so expensive. The Great Ming's "iron horses," with a horsepower of just under three, could barely be used to transport goods.

"I'm afraid I'll be scolded again for competing with the people for profit." Zhu Yijun looked at the Ministry of Works' memorial, holding the vermilion brush in his hand. After this memorial was approved, the label of "competing with the people for profit" would probably follow him forever.

The imperial highway was not free, and using it required payment, and the price was not cheap. It was calculated by weight, and there were post stations along the way, requiring permits to prevent fee evasion.

Feng Bao said helplessly, "This is the only way. With such an investment, we have to get something back, and there is also daily maintenance and renovation, which all cost money."

The imperial highway was expensive to build, and it cost over ten million taels of silver without building many miles. It was also expensive to use, and daily maintenance, repairs, and permits for post stations along the way all required large amounts of silver to maintain.

Zhu Yijun approved the Ministry of Works' memorial. Being scolded was better than being poor to death.

According to the Ministry of Works, it would take fifty years for this imperial highway to recover its costs, because in addition to maintenance, the hardening of the carriage road was also an astronomical figure. With the increase in goods, the speed of recovering costs would increase, but it would still take thirty years.

On the road from Xuanfu to the capital, there were eight "note passes" (customs): Xuanfu, Xiahuayuan, Shacheng, Kangzhuang, Juyong Pass, Nankou, Shahe Town, and Xizhimen. Passing the imperial highway meant passing the extraction. The extraction was six out of one hundred. The five imperial highways had a total of twenty-four note pass extraction bureaus.

According to the Ministry of Works' plan, the Great Ming's commercial tax system would be established on the imperial highway. Wherever the imperial highway reached, commercial taxes would follow.

The Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue requested that they be replaced every three years. The Ministers of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue would be the "Patrolling Road Governors," sending a third-rank Vice Minister to take charge, and also sending one censor, one Ministry of War official, and one Imperial Household Department eunuch to clear the original dispatch. Each bureau would have one bureau chief, and every month they would create six books: old management, new collection, removal, actual existence, preparation, and settlement, and one account for income and expenditure, which would be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue and the inner treasury for audit every year.

If there was a promotion or the term of office ended, all the money, grain, and case files handled would be cleared by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice before being allowed to leave office. If there were violations, even if they were promoted or left office, they would still be investigated and held accountable to the end.

The Ministry of Revenue hoped to perfect the Great Ming's commercial taxes, and the Ministry of Works hoped to establish an imperial highway that connected the world. The two ministries hit it off, using the imperial highway as a realistic foundation, six books and one account as basic tax accounts, and inner treasury and national treasury audits as review means, striving to perfect the Great Ming's commercial taxes to the level of the two Song dynasties, which was the long-term goal of the Ministry of Revenue.

This was a decision that violated the ancestral laws of the Great Ming. According to the ancestral instructions of the Hongwu era, "To facilitate the business of commerce and industry, and to facilitate the benefits of fish and salt, do not tax the passage, and the people will return to righteousness."

"Passage tax" refers to domestic customs duties levied on boat owners and car owners during the transportation of goods. In the seventh year of Hongwu, note passes (Treasure Note extraction), industrial passes (bamboo and wood extraction), gate taxes (city gate money), and dam taxes (dam money) were abolished. Since the seventh year of Hongwu, the Great Ming only had "residence taxes."

Residence tax is business tax, which is the tax levied on goods entering the market for trading, and business taxes such as market stalls.

These eight note pass extraction bureaus from Xuanfu to the capital were collecting passage taxes, which would inevitably cause a lot of opposition.

Zhu Yijun, as the Emperor, heard the opposition to the profit tax, which showed how surging the opposition in the private sector was. At this critical time, the Emperor still wanted to go his own way. On the newly built imperial highway, not only did he want to collect road tolls, but he also wanted to collect passage taxes. The backlash could be imagined.

Even if there is opposition, it must be collected.

Taxes must be collected.

Zhu Yijun looked at the pile of memorials on the table. Wang Guoguang, Zhang Xueyan, and Wang Daokun had changed from pillars of the country who managed the country to treacherous ministers who gathered wealth and harmed the people to achieve their goals. This was only when the profit tax was announced, and it had not been actually collected. The commissioners of the five Shipping Bureaus were also submitting memorials, excited and asking the Emperor to be cautious and think three times.

After carefully reading every memorial, he drew an "x" on each one. Zhang Juzheng always attached blank floating slips to such memorials.

Zhang Juzheng actually didn't quite approve of such radical reforms. A reformist who led the Great Ming's new policies had lived to become a conservative. Although he didn't approve, he never opposed it.

Fire at the city gate always affects the fish in the moat. The loud opposition of the wealthy families caused some ripples in the Great Ming, but these ripples had not yet evolved into monstrous waves.

"Tell the Sir, tomorrow is the 10th day of the 10th month. Use fast ships to pass the word to the hinterland Shipping Bureaus. The profit tax will be implemented immediately. The court will issue the decree and implement it in the evening. Do not delay." Zhu Yijun decided not to wait anymore and directly implemented the profit tax.

Is the profit tax really so unacceptable? It just restricts the departure of precious metals from the Great Ming hinterland. Zhu Yijun wanted to see how far these powerful and wealthy families could make trouble.

When necessary, the "non-punishment of justice" and the major crimes of rebellion and treason would also have to be used.

It was early winter in the 10th month, and the cold wind from the northwest had already blown to the capital, incidentally blowing the black ash of the Xishan Coal Bureau to every corner of the capital. On the streets of the capital, there were many cotton masks. This was something sold by the Huimin Pharmacy. The Great Ming wise officials wore cotton masks when they went to court, which immediately caused a trend that swept through the entire capital hall.

The Ministry of Works used many methods, but the "haze disaster" arrived as scheduled.

Haze disaster: In the third month of the second year of Tianli of the Yuan Dynasty, because it didn't snow the previous year and there was little rain in spring, the sand and dust covered the sky and the sun, the sky was dark and it was difficult to see the sun, passers-by covered their faces, the fog locked the capital, and the sun was not seen for many days. The capital was hidden in the wind and haze. Since then, the haze disaster appeared in history.

With more and more people in the Northern Capital, human activities cut down trees, and the ecology was gradually destroyed. In the records, the frequency of haze disasters became higher and higher. By the 10th month of the 9th year of Wanli, in addition to the wind, sand, and dust, there was more coal smoke, and the entire air was filled with a burnt smell, which was extremely pungent.

Cotton masks were completely a treatment of symptoms but not the root cause.

The great Confucian of the Songjiang School, Lin Fucheng, had his poetry society in the West City. "Xiaoyao Yiwen" (Leisurely Anecdotes) sold very poorly, and the Xiaoyao Society was in debt, which made Lin Fucheng extremely sad. The wealthy families in the north were more like Zhang Juzheng's followers. They liked the theory of contradictions, public and private arguments, production diagrams, and class theory. As for the theory of freedom, the northern scholars generally thought it was somewhat desirable, but always felt it lacked a foundation.

Currently, there were three hot topics in the Great Ming capital: coal smoke, profit tax, and the expansion of Yanxing Tower. As long as Lin Fucheng started from these hot topics, "Xiaoyao Yiwen" would be a success.

The things he talked about—freedom and leisure—were too ethereal, and some people even thought he was a Daoist priest who had returned to secular life.

Lin Fucheng thought about it and submitted an article to Geng Dingxiang's "People's Daily." He used the three events of coal smoke, profit tax, and the expansion of Yanxing Tower as entry points to discuss the word "freedom."

Lin Fucheng supported the Ministry of Works' ambiguity, supported the implementation of the profit tax, and supported the expansion of Yanxing Tower. Suddenly, Lin Fucheng was pushed to the forefront.

The support of the liberal faction for the Great Ming Emperor and the court's arrogance and interference made the Great Ming scholars feel a bit inexplicable.

What Lin Fucheng advocated was almost equivalent to a rebel. It would be fine to preach it in the Jiangnan area, but preaching it in the capital—the Emperor didn't directly drag him to the vegetable market to be beheaded as a rebel, which could only be said to be the Emperor's magnanimity.

The Great Ming literary world actually didn't dare to attack wise officials like Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, Wang Guoguang, and Wang Daokun. But if the nonsense of the writers reached the ears of the wise officials, they didn't need the wise officials to speak; there were plenty of people who would make the writers' lives worse than death.

If you can't provoke the wise officials in the court, can't you provoke you, Lin Fucheng?!

Soon, Lin Fucheng was invited to the Taibai Tower. This invitation was initiated by the capital's largest poetry society, the Guangren Poetry Society. They invited many writers to gather at the Taibai Tower. It was called a poetry gathering, but it was just an opportunity to humiliate Lin Fucheng, which was considered a phased victory.

After hearing the news, the Great Ming Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe, carefully studied Lin Fucheng's article and decided to go to help.

"What is great freedom and great leisure?" Lin Fucheng was not afraid. Knowing that this was a Hongmen Banquet, he still attended as usual. As soon as he entered, he heard the criticism of everyone, but he still walked to the platform and asked loudly.

As soon as he looked up, he saw Wang Qian, the son of Wang Chonggu's family, and Young Master Huang from the Grand General's mansion. Young Master Wang and Young Master Huang revealed a smile at Lin Fucheng.

Lin Fucheng said loudly: "Guanzi: 'When the granaries are full, people know ritual and righteousness; when clothing and food are sufficient, people know honor and disgrace.' If you want to get freedom, you need extreme material abundance! People change nature and get harvests; this is production. Production will have surpluses. In order to exploit others, classes are produced!"

"Only when clothing, food, housing, and transportation are extremely abundant, and everyone has no worries about clothing and food, will exploitation be meaningless, and then there will be great freedom and great leisure!"

Lin Fucheng stated his main meaning from the beginning. How to let everyone get freedom? Naturally, it is for everyone to have no worries about clothing and food.

Lin Fucheng looked around and said loudly: "I came from Songjiang Prefecture!"

"Songjiang Prefecture connects the world's goods. Rare treasures are dazzling, everything is available, inexhaustible and inexhaustible."

"However, I traveled north to the capital, passing the Yangtze River to Yangzhou. The prosperity faded, but it was still rich and peaceful. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment. Although it was slightly poor, it was enough to enjoy the way."

"Continuing north to Xuzhou, the road was less than five steps wide. The people were all sallow, with no new shoes on their feet, running around for a living. Traveling north to Taishan, the Taishan porters carried 120 jin of goods up the mountain, making six round trips a day, but only getting 70 wen of flying money, and there were countless of them."

"Continuing north to the capital, prosperity reappeared."

"Everyone, Songjiang, Southern Yamen, and Yangzhou are the Great Ming; Xuzhou, Taishan, Jinan, Tongzhou, and both sides of the Grand Canal are also the Great Ming! The wealthy families are Great Ming people, and the poor people are also Great Ming people!"

"Freedom belongs to every place in the Great Ming, and freedom also belongs to everyone in the Great Ming."

Zhu Yijun tilted his head and said to Wang Qian, "Who showed him the public and private arguments? I remember before, he was just an ordinary person who was neither grand nor firm."

Zhu Yijun was extremely surprised by Lin Fucheng's change. In this passage, he traveled thousands of miles and saw many, many things, but these scenes didn't change his understanding of freedom.

The whole set of theories led by Zhang Juzheng was all meme pollution. When encountering things that couldn't be explained, one could always find a foothold in this whole set of theories. Stones from other hills can be used to polish jade. Clearly, Lin Fucheng's understanding of freedom had changed.

"I gave it to him." Wang Qian didn't equivocate either. He said very firmly: "Last time we met, he scolded my father. I was not convinced. If he said my father was a treacherous minister or a sycophant, I wouldn't refute it and would admit it. But last time he said my father was an incompetent person, which I absolutely cannot accept."

"Even if he consulted the military colonies and guard systems of Liu Bowen in the early dynasty, and consulted the resident craftsman system of Emperor Chengzu Wen, official group manufacturing is not just following the book."

"So I made things difficult for him, didn't let the capital's bookstores supply him, and incidentally threw all of the Grand Secretary's works to him."

"Is this the reason why Lin Fucheng submitted to the People's Daily?" Zhu Yijun only then knew the story. It turned out that Lin Fucheng's difficulties were all because he offended the young master Wang in front of him.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 455 =====