Chapter 459

The Great Ming's attitude toward foreign barbarians was undergoing a fundamental change. If one wanted to explain the change clearly, it was not difficult. In summary, it had changed from the original addiction to being a "father" to the current extreme conservatism.

Ceng Shengwu was this type of extremely conservative person. When unyielding barbarians appeared on the empire's borders, killing them all was the most effective method. This attitude, which was not open or inclusive at all, was extreme conservatism. He thought this way, and he did this way. In the first year of Wanli, when he pacified Jiusi, only the hanging coffins remained to prove that the Duzhang Man had survived from the pre-Qin period to the first year of Wanli.

Being addicted to being a "father" was not a complimentary term. It was about being obsessed with saving face and suffering for it. When the war with the Northern Tatars clearly could not be won and peace talks were necessary, they dragged it out for four years just for the sake of the face issue of who was the father and who was the son. The Ming officials who rose through the Jiajing Tatar rebellion and the Japanese pirate troubles finally completely suppressed the soft-heartedness toward foreigners in the court.

Zhang Juzheng always discussed one problem, and that was that correcting a wrong must go to the extreme; this kind of thing was always happening.

When promoting literature and suppressing martial arts, they suddenly "put the horses to pasture on the southern mountains," and the civil officials governing the localities had the power of life and death over military generals, while the imperial court remained silent. When being soft toward foreigners didn't work, it suddenly changed to thorough elimination. When promoting martial arts, it was very easy to accidentally reach the point of separatist warlordism. When not valuing technological progress, they trampled craftsmen into the base status, cursing them for their "strange skills and ingenious crafts" that disturbed the heart and were opportunistic. When valuing technological progress, they held craftsmen higher than immortals.

Lin Fucheng's theory that "only productivity brings freedom" was to hold craftsmen and technological progress higher than immortals. The key was that the logic was self-consistent, completely forgetting how they had criticized craftsmen in the beginning, shouting incessantly and loudly: "Those who make strange skills and ingenious crafts shall be executed!" They also completely forgot that technological progress was something the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun had encouraged by personal example, day after day for years.

The Official Factory Group Manufacturing Law was the longitudinal scale of history. It was the Han Dynasty's *tuntian* system, the Tang Dynasty's *fubing* system, the Great Ming's military *weisuo* system, and Emperor Chengzu Wen's resident craftsmen. It was the twenty-seven government-run shipyards of the Great Voyages. The horizontal scale was the Xishan Shengzhou Womagang Coal Bureau, the Yongsheng Yongding Lanzhou Woolen Official Factory, the five major shipyards, the nine Maritime Trade Commissions, and the five ocean-going merchant firms.

The Official Factory Group Manufacturing Law was the dual result of longitudinal scale and horizontal scale. If they had really listened to Lin Fucheng and the imperial court had not interfered excessively, they would have achieved nothing.

When you are full after eating the fifth bun, you regretfully say, "If I had known that eating the fifth bun would make me full, why did I have to eat the other four?"

The sun rises because the rooster crows.

Ceng Shengwu believed that the best way to deal with the Toungoo Dynasty was thorough conquest. Regarding this, the court officials could not argue with Ceng Shengwu, because Ceng Shengwu came from the southwest direction and was more aware of the affairs there.

In Ceng Shengwu's view, Toungoo was sick, and Mang Yingli was very sick; they needed to be treated with muskets and cannons.

The people there only recognized this. If you were polite and discussed things, they wouldn't understand. Only the roaring sound of muskets and cannons could make Mang Yingli thoroughly wake up.

Moving troops against Toungoo had already become a foregone conclusion, but they still had to wait for Ma Liujia City to be thoroughly captured. This was a throat-like place. Even Zhu Yijun, whose military talent was zero, knew that under normal circumstances, bypassing passes and cities to fight was to completely expose one's supply lines to the enemy. The act of showing one's back to the enemy was suicide.

"Memorial on Returning Land." Zhang Juzheng saw that no one was willing to mention it, so he had to speak up himself.

This thing was truly of great importance; even when it came to talking about it, the attitude of the court officials was to avoid it if they could.

"Shouldn't this matter be discussed at length? Wouldn't it be better to discuss it slowly?" Wang Chonggu had naturally finished reading the Memorial on Returning Land. The long ten-thousand-word memorial made Wang Chonggu restless, leaving him stunned. The "Memorial on Equalizing Fields and Labor" he had pushed for only involved apportioning the four types of silver for the poll tax onto the land, and it was still to force people into the Official Factory Group Manufacturing system to work like cattle and horses. This had already confirmed his status as a treacherous official, and he had been scolded until he was dizzy.

As soon as Zhang Juzheng made a move, it was the "Memorial on Returning Land," and it was organized in extreme detail. It was clearly a case of planning before acting.

Wan Shihe also immediately spoke up, "That is to say, wouldn't it be better to wait another two years, until the finances are more abundant, before discussing it?"

Wan Shihe liked to smooth things over and liked compromise. He really disliked this kind of matter with too clear a stance. If this set of combination punches were thrown, the Great Ming imperial court would stand completely on the opposite side of the wealthy and powerful families. Whether the Great Ming imperial court would learn from the Southern Song imperial court was an answer no one knew. Of course, Wan Shihe did not know that this was the Emperor's insistence; after all, the exchanges in the Wenchang Pavilion of the Quanchu Hui Guan were only known to the parties involved.

Zhang Juzheng did not intend to say it either. After there were definite results, he would then say it was the Emperor's holy will and arbitrary decision.

Wang Guoguang pondered for a long time before saying, "Why not wait until General Qi returns in triumph before discussing it?"

With the Beijing Tianjin Tianjin Weisuo there, even if some trouble arose, Qi Jiguang could handle it. This was what Wang Guoguang meant. Without sufficient military deterrence, wanting to confiscate property for free required the Beijing Tianjin Tianjin Weisuo to hold the field.

The wealthy and powerful families also had something to say: "My ancestors worked hard for generations, taking advantage of natural and man-made disasters to accumulate these fields, only to live a good life today. You, the imperial court, just take a little silver and want to take it away for free! On what grounds!"

Wang Guoguang carefully studied the Memorial on Returning Land; it was truly bold, but also very dangerous. He tended to maintain the status quo.

"Wait until the post roads are built in all directions and the customs tax stations are set up on the post roads before discussing returning land." Zhang Xueyan's attitude was even more conservative. He believed that at this time, engaging in land returning was truly an unnecessary move. Only when commercial taxes completely crushed land taxes would it be the time to discuss returning land.

Minister of Works Wang Daokun immediately retorted, "If you don't carry out land returning, can you really build the post roads in all directions? Even the Suiyuan post road and Suiyuan mining industry need to raise funds from the common people."

Only after liberating productivity could there be sufficient agricultural products to promote the construction of post roads. Without silver, it would absolutely not work, but silver was not omnipotent. The construction of post roads also required a large amount of grain. Craftsmen had all left agricultural production. If the relations of production in agriculture were not changed, and they still wanted to supply a large number of craftsmen who did not engage in farming, that was putting the cart before the horse.

"Let's start from Songjiang Prefecture. Anyway, Songjiang Prefecture has done this before, and the wealthy families in Songjiang are more likely to accept land returning." Wang Daokun felt that Songjiang Prefecture was still too free.

The wealthy and powerful families in Songjiang Prefecture had experienced so many storms and waves; this land returning was just a little bit of wind and frost.

"It is very necessary." Hence Hai Rui, as a representative of the pure officials and the number one person in anti-corruption, very definitely expressed his support for land returning. This was related to anti-corruption and naturally also related to saving the common people. Hence Hai Rui had always been a person who cared about the common people of the world. The five words "those who till the land have land" were no less tempting to a moral gentleman like Hence Hai Rui than silver was to the Great Ming Emperor.

Some opposed, some supported; everyone had their reasons. The court deliberation was full of discussion, and attitudes toward this matter were different.

Zhu Yijun rubbed his eyebrows. For example, the reasons for the opposition from Zhang Xueyan of the Ministry of Revenue were very sufficient. The land price was to be repaid over ten years, and it was not to mention how many people would take advantage of the situation and profit from it. Just saying that during these ten years of the tenant farmer becoming a self-cultivating farmer, there would be no consumption power, because the land price would be a constraint, and silver would be even less able to circulate.

The Ministry of Revenue was very, very concerned about the circulation of silver, even to the point of overreacting.

Moreover, this was still setting aside the fact that someone would take advantage of the situation. Was the land price of the imperial court's public sale and release really the land price that reached the common people? Local officials didn't even need to be corrupt; they only needed to tear open some gaps, and the wealthy and powerful families would inevitably use these gaps to hollow out the publicly sold and released fields.

This was inevitable. Weren't the treasuries in all parts of the Great Ming hollowed out in this way?

The Ministry of Revenue was very conservative: do not increase debt unless necessary. The imperial court, the localities, and the common people were all like this. The government loans from the Green Sprout Law and the repeated failures of the Northern Song imperial court directly snapped the last string of the Southern Song common people.

The opposition attitude of the Ministry of Revenue was very clear. In the end, a strange and almost unsolvable situation would surely appear: although material goods were abundant, the common people simply had no demand. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but they couldn't afford it.

The poor and laborers, in order to purchase land, directly exhausted their potential for the next ten years. The Great Ming was promoting the development of industry and commerce, producing a large amount of goods that piled up and could not be sold. Selling them to overseas—all were desolate lands, where could there be such high demand? Without demand, there was more supply of goods, and silver was dammed up as currency. If goods were dammed up, that would be a catastrophe of houses collapsing and roofs falling.

Wouldn't this burgeoning commodity economy be directly strangled in the cradle?

The poor and laborers had no ability to bear risks, and the Ministry of Revenue also indicated that this was just a simple calculation. If the localities caused a bunch of messy troubles, it would be even more of a headache.

The discussion on the "Memorial on Returning Land" could no longer be described as ending unhappily; rather, most of the court officials did not agree. This was the result of the court deliberation.

Fortunately, the Emperor had grown up. If the Emperor were still young, no one would dare to contradict Zhang Juzheng like this.

Zhang Juzheng was not angry either. In fact, what the court officials said was also what Zhang Juzheng said. Although the "Memorial on Returning Land" was something he had come up with, he himself did not actually agree with it. He even felt that he was somewhat like Pandora in the Western myth who opened the magic box.

Zhang Juzheng had some interest in Western culture. As the Chief Grand Secretary of the empire, a Western civilization that could reach the Great Ming through global trade—this condition alone was enough to attract Zhang Juzheng's attention.

The first court deliberation of the Memorial on Returning Land did not pass. After the New Year, after the discussions of the various ministries, it would have to be discussed again.

Minister of War Ceng Shengwu opened the memorial and said, "General Qi sent back the degree of firing for the thirty-jin cannons. Each round fired three hundred jin of gunpowder. A total of one hundred rounds were fired, consuming a total of thirty thousand jin of gunpowder, equivalent to 240,000 firings of two-qian bird guns. It destroyed the city wall of Bansheng City. There was one misfire and one barrel explosion in total. The reliability has been verified. From the perspective of killing and wounding the enemy, it is completely not worth it. It probably killed fewer than twenty-four people directly, but the enemy's morale was completely broken."

From the perspective of killing, this cannon was basically useless, but from the perspective of the battle line, it became very meaningful.

It wasn't that Altan Khan didn't want to fight like a trapped beast, but the entire Bansheng City had been scared out of its wits.

"Your Majesty, this year, load these ten thirty-jin cannons onto ships and transport them to Ma." Ceng Shengwu finally revealed his true intention. Was the nail of Ma Liujia City hard to pull out? Taste the power of the thirty-jin cannons!

Any city wall under the power of this kind of cannon would become precarious.

Ceng Shengwu's meaning was already very clear. Compared to the "Memorial on Returning Land" messing with fields, it was better to focus on overseas. Expansion was often the best way to solve internal contradictions.

"The Institute of Physical Science has tinkered with fifty-jin cannons, three in total. Pull them over together and test their reliability." Zhu Yijun had no objection to expansion and approved Ceng Shengwu's proposal.

Making things difficult for one's own people was not as good as making things difficult for overseas barbarians.

The annual production of 7.5-horsepower steam engines was one thousand units. These one thousand units already had a destination, all for government factories. The Coal Bureau, woolen mills, shipyards, and weaving bureaus were all rushing to put them into use.

Wang Qian had once told the Emperor a crooked theory: "Free trade is all nonsense, because good things are never circulated."

Wang Qian believed that people who couldn't even grab government bonds really didn't need to participate in the trading house trade. Among the various bookkeeping currencies, government bonds were the most reliable bookkeeping currency that could earn interest. This was the product with the highest certainty in an uncertain certificate market. People who couldn't even grab government bonds, participating in the trading house trade, were destined to be harvested.

This crooked theory of Wang Qian's that "good things are never circulated" was applicable in quite a few fields. For example, marriage: quite a few courtesans hoped to find a good family among their patrons, but they didn't think about it—could someone who went to a brothel be a good family? "Coming ashore"? Wang Qian hadn't seen many courtesans come ashore in his life.

Zhu Yijun did know one, called Liu Rushi. When Liu Rushi first wanted to marry Chen Zilong and lived in the South Garden's South Tower, Chen Zilong's wife, mother, and grandmother directly came to the door and drove Liu Rushi away. Only then did Liu Rushi marry Qian Qianyi.

There was also the Great Ming's opening of maritime investment, which had the most dividends. The plantation business could be called a business with no capital and ten thousand profits. Besides the merchants recognized by the leaders of the Chu, Jin, and Zhe parties, who could participate in it?

It was the same for steam engines, because more reliable and more powerful steam engines were not enough even for the government factories themselves, let alone for private workshops. The Great Ming was so big; these few steam engines were useless!

Good things were indeed not circulated. Although Wang Qian was a playboy, he always had some crooked theories that made people's eyes light up.

The court deliberation did not discuss the maritime investment for the coming spring, because internal distribution had already been completed. Amidst the shouts of "Long live the Emperor" from the court officials, the last court deliberation of the ninth year of Wanli officially ended.

The court officials left in a line. Wang Chonggu very rarely came to the Wenyuange. The Grand Secretariat was now empty. After Lu Diaoyang and Ma Ziqiang retired due to health reasons, only Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, and Wang Guoguang remained in the Grand Secretariat. And Wang Chonggu, this secondary Grand Secretary, never sat in the office, causing the official business of the Wenyuange to be exceptionally busy and also exceptionally desolate. The secretaries did not dare to speak loudly in front of the Grand Secretaries.

"Chief Grand Secretary, this 'Memorial on Returning Land' of yours, let's just forget it." Wang Chonggu sat upright and said with a heavy expression, "The Memorial on Returning Land conflicts with the Official Factory Group Manufacturing Law. Official Factory Group Manufacturing needs craftsmen, and the Memorial on Returning Land needs farmers. If they all go to farm, who will be the craftsmen? The Official Factory Group Manufacturing Law sounds very new, but it's just the military *weisuo* system."

"You want to engage in the military *weisuo* system, and I also want to engage in the military *weisuo* system. Where are there so many people?"

Zhang Juzheng was very clear about this contradiction. He pondered repeatedly and said, "It still must be done. It won't work if it's not done. No matter how many reasons are given, the craftsmen of the Official Factory Group Manufacturing system also need to eat. Throughout the ages, there has been no government that did not encourage agriculture and focus on the fundamentals."

Valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce was the mature experience of the Central Plains. In Zhang Juzheng's view, first there was agriculture, then industry, and then commerce.

Zhang Juzheng didn't want to mess around either, but the Emperor had his own ideas. Zhang Juzheng intended to take the blame himself, so he didn't tell Wang Chonggu that this was the Emperor's intention. In the past few days, Zhang Juzheng had also somewhat figured out the Emperor's considerations.

The Land-Returning Law was indeed necessary; it wouldn't work if land wasn't returned.

"I have actually been avoiding confrontation with the Chief Grand Secretary. Even in this Wenyuange, I only come to sign in. You, Zhang Juzheng, are the Great Ming's savior prime minister, and I, Wang Chonggu, also want to strive for a good name in history. Chief Grand Secretary, stop it." Wang Chonggu's words sounded like a threat, but they were just bluffing.

Wang Chonggu was still very afraid of Zhang Juzheng. If he could avoid war, he would avoid it. These words were not a declaration of war, but a feeling of powerlessness.

Zhang Juzheng would push through what he wanted to do, regardless of the opposition. Yang Bo had blocked the Evaluation Law and was driven out of the court by Zhang Juzheng's series of moves.

No one in the Great Ming could stop him; only the Emperor could.

"Secondary Grand Secretary, don't be anxious. Listen to me explain in detail." Zhang Juzheng's attitude toward Wang Chonggu had also been changing. He could now patiently explain the necessity of many government decrees in detail to this usurping official.

"Does the Secondary Grand Secretary know that the Institute of Physical Science has presented an auspicious omen?" Zhang Juzheng asked with a smile on his face.

Wang Chonggu nodded. The 7.5-horsepower steam engine, even the distribution had been completed; of course, he was very clear about it.

"This time, before the steam engine, seven other tools were presented together. This is the key." Zhang Juzheng said with a heavy expression, "These seven tools have brought many changes to the development of the steam engine."

Wang Chonggu asked with a furrowed brow, "Changes?"

"Yes, changes." Zhang Juzheng said very confidently, "Previous steam engines were all polished by hand. They were exquisite, but uncontrollable, and mass production was extremely slow. But after having these handy tools, the future development of the steam engine can be expected."

"In the coming years, in the time of one and a half to two years, the horsepower of the steam engine will double, and the production capacity will also double."

Zhang Juzheng keenly sensed something different. After communicating with his son Zhang Siwen, he found that it was indeed so. After Zhang Siwen passed the imperial examination, he became a Doctor of the Five Classics and had always been an assistant to Prince De, Zhu Zaiyu.

This time, the Institute of Physical Science's presentation of auspicious omens was different from the past. A total of seven types of large-scale processing machinery were born. Machinery for processing various parts made the iteration speed of the steam engine exceed everyone's imagination.

In about one and a half to two years, the horsepower of the steam engine would double, and the production capacity would also increase by one time. This kind of terrifying technological progress could be expected. It was the collective opinion of the Doctors of Physical Science. As for how much could be implemented, it depended on the imperial court's organizational ability.

The Institute of Physical Science jumped out of the five elements; they were only responsible for advancing, not for implementation. That was the responsibility of the imperial court.

"This is a very conservative estimate. Some radical doctors at the Institute of Physical Science believe that once the scale of steam engine technology begins to expand, the horsepower might only need ten days to double. After reaching a threshold, it will enter a cycle." Zhang Juzheng was not alarmist.

"Wait a moment, wait a moment… let me slow down." Wang Chonggu's brows were knitted into a knot. He really couldn't imagine this order of magnitude of soaring.

Zhang Juzheng shook his sleeves and took out a memorial. On it was the internal discussion of the doctors of the Institute of Physical Science regarding the future outlook of the steam engine.

Wang Chonggu finished reading in a daze. Even according to the most conservative estimate, by the twentieth year of Wanli, the Great Ming's steam engine production capacity might soar to 7.68 million horsepower. One 3-horsepower steam engine was almost equal to the productivity of 6 horses, because the steam engine could work day and night without rest. An annual production of 7.68 million horsepower was equal to 15.36 million pack horses.

The Great Ming imported no more than twenty thousand warhorses from the Mughal Empire each year.

What kind of terrifying concept was this? Such terrifying production capacity would inevitably be used everywhere. Of course, in this model, the Great Ming's realization ability also had to be tested. In a pure mathematical model, it soared; it was not a soaring in practice. If one-fourth of it could be implemented in practice, the Great Ming's agricultural production would not be able to supply it.

"So many machines need many, many craftsmen to use them. Great Ming craftsmen also need to eat. Relying solely on overseas grain flowing into the Great Ming is absolutely not enough." Zhang Juzheng explained his thoughts to Wang Chonggu.

Steam engines would eat people.

"Sigh." Wang Chonggu took away the memorial Zhang Juzheng gave him. He couldn't believe whatever Zhang Juzheng said; he needed to go and understand it himself. If it was really as terrifying as Zhang Juzheng said, this runaway wild horse really needed to be restrained by returning land; otherwise, if agricultural production couldn't keep up, no matter how high the building was, it would have to collapse.

If people didn't eat, they would starve to death and rebel.

Wang Chonggu couldn't care about the New Year either. He was so busy that Wang Qian called his old man more "rolled" than young people. He didn't spend the New Year properly and, as a Secondary Grand Secretary, visited everywhere.

Wang Chonggu spent four days figuring out that Zhang Juzheng wasn't scaring him. The only things limiting the steam engine were steel, coal, and post roads. As long as there were these, the steam engine dared to double its horsepower and production capacity for you in two years.

That crooked-mouthed master Lin Fucheng, if nothing else, his vision was extremely accurate. The steam engine was indeed barbaric to the point of being unreasonable.

"Son, our family has found a great treasure." Wang Chonggu leaned against the back of the grand master's chair, unable to tell if it was a blessing or a curse.

The steam engine had a promising future, but it was also a runaway wild horse, especially after material goods began to become abundant. Where was the Emperor's position? This was a major issue Wang Chonggu had to consider.

"What's wrong?" Wang Qian asked suspiciously.

Wang Chonggu told Wang Qian what he had figured out recently.

"As the old saying goes, if a man has no long-term worries, he will have immediate troubles. Zhang Juzheng's vision is long-term; I have to admit that. But the development speed of this thing is astonishing. Once the scale is up, who can control such an iron horse? But setting limits artificially is too much of a pity." In the past few days, Wang Chonggu had been somewhat restless.

His Wang Secondary Grand Secretary's reliance now was the Official Factory Group Manufacturing system. If in a few years, the Official Factory Group Manufacturing Law became such a terrifying monster, how would their Wang family conduct themselves?

Artificial limits were as abominable as fertile land not growing crops and being left to waste.

Wang Qian finished reading the memorial and shook his head, saying, "It's not a big deal. At worst, we just go and grab. Grab all the places that can grow crops to grow grain. No matter how big the shipping losses are, it will be enough."

"Grab?"

"Grab!" Wang Qian said viciously, "In my view, it's not a big deal. Our Great Ming merchant ships go with high-quality goods; doing business with them is civilizing them! If they refuse to trade, then kick open their doors and force them to trade freely!"

"It's not grabbing; it's free trade."

According to Master Lin's definition of free trade, anything unfavorable to the Great Ming was not free trade. So when others closed their doors and refused to trade, they had to learn to use force. In summary, it was one sentence: "Open the door, free trade!"

This was inevitable. When the internal contradictions of the Great Ming could not be solved, resorting to overseas was forming a new path dependency.

"Makes sense!" Wang Chonggu thought about it and nodded seriously.

Perhaps Zhang Juzheng disdained this behavior, but Wang Chonggu had absolutely no such moral burden. When he was a young merchant, he would put on a mask and be a horse bandit.

This statement was actually particularly in line with Zhu Yijun's thoughts, because any primitive accumulation was full of the smell of blood. The process of industrialization was originally eating people. As the Emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Yijun had already given all his holy favor to the Great Ming people and could not give it to the barbarians.

On the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Tonghe Palace was filled with joy. As the sun was about to set, the Great Ming officials came to Tonghe Palace to offer New Year greetings. Zhu Yijun, as the Emperor, received the court officials, while the court ladies went to pay respects to the Empress.

Bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, early the next morning, Zhu Yijun went to the Taimiao to offer sacrifices to the ancestors. As usual, it was a work report, which was long-winded, and then he burned a copied "Memorial on Returning Land."

"Great Ancestor, Great Ancestor, whether you agree or not, give me a word. If you don't speak, I will take it as you agreeing." Zhu Yijun lit three sticks of incense and waited until they were burned out, but he didn't wait for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di to speak. That meant they agreed.

The Memorial on Returning Land was of great importance; convincing more people was not very easy.

The New Year was a very important day. Zhu Yijun received many New Year gifts. The Nagasaki Governor-General's office sent silver, Ryukyu made a piece of ambergris, Luzon got a pile of pearls, Jiugang sent the Emperor a tattered Red Cross flag—it was the ship flag of the red-haired barbarians, which Zhang Yuanxun had taken down after the Great Ming defeated and stranded their ship. Li Chengliang of Liaodong sent the Emperor a thousand-year-old mountain ginseng, plus twenty gyrfalcons.

On the third day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun received bad news: Tan Lun probably couldn't hold on.

Tan Lun had regained consciousness; it was a flash of clarity before death. Long-term pain and torture had made him, who was already somewhat thin, look like skin and bones. He had been waiting, waiting for Qi Jiguang to return in triumph to ask about the Hetao matter in person, but in the end, he couldn't wait.

Zhu Yijun rushed to the Grand Marshal's mansion at the fastest speed.

"Your Majesty has come." Tan Lun wanted to get up to salute, but he couldn't do it at all, so he could only pull out a faint, bitter smile.

(End of chapter)