Chapter 461: My Life

What was Wang Chonggu opposing? In truth, he was worried that the New Policies would be reduced to nothing under intense impact, much like the Wang Anshi Reforms. If Zhang Juzheng's New Policies collapsed, the Great Ming's New Policies would crumble like a wall.

Wang Chonggu was reminding His Majesty that any government decree requires people to implement it; the Great Ming's administrative power was not as formidable as imagined.

Power is not that mysterious. The more information one masters, the more 'substantive authority' one has over subordinates. If one's grasp of information is not clear, one only has 'formal authority' over subordinates. Due to the complexity of information and the uncertainty of society as a whole, the boundaries of various affairs are blurred, which is why a highly autocratic 'chief-in-charge' system emerges.

In the provinces, it is the Provincial Governor who is responsible for all major affairs—Japanese pirate raids, barbarian incursions, and civil unrest. In the imperial court, it is the Emperor who is solely responsible for the rise, fall, honor, and disgrace of the Great Ming.

When a chief-in-charge bears all responsibility, autocracy appears, and autocracy is power; power inevitably breeds corruption.

Substantive authority leading to a chief-in-charge, which spawns autocracy and breeds corruption—this is the inevitable malady of all bureaucratic systems, or rather, the basic logic of social operation. No one can escape it, from the imperial dynasty down to merchant firms, merchant guilds, workshops, and every single household; it is all the same.

At present, the Great Ming has few female workers, so the husband bears all responsibility within the family—all living expenses, the education and literacy of descendants, and the expansion of the family line. Wives and concubines stay within the inner chambers, their understanding of external information is blurred, so the husband possesses absolute authority in the family. That is why there is the saying, "Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog." This is also the reason why concubines and mistresses are treated like beasts of burden, named as partners but in reality serving as slaves.

A legal wife at least possesses recognition and protection under public order, good customs, and the law, so she can hold the power of life and death over concubines and mistresses.

Wang Chonggu had to persuade His Majesty—who actively sought information, had already formed substantive authority, shouldered the entire honor and disgrace of the Great Ming, had the ability and strength to take responsibility, and possessed complete imperial power—otherwise, if the Land Return Law were launched with such great fanfare, the Great Ming would inevitably be riddled with holes.

Wang Chonggu was loudly telling His Majesty that the Great Ming currently lacked grassroots organizations; the Land Return Memorial could not be implemented at all. Policies require people to implement them. Without grassroots organization construction, empty talk of government decrees is like a moon reflected in water or a flower in a mirror.

Maintaining the status quo is the best method.

"You are right." Zhu Yijun was very approving of Wang Chonggu's opinion. The Great Ming's imperial power did not reach below the county level. In the early days of the dynasty, this could be achieved, but as time passed, the grassroots organizational structure completely disintegrated.

The Great Ming's grassroots construction was the Li-Jia system. Based on the Li-Jia system, there were the Yellow Registers and Fish-Scale Registers. The Li-Chiefs, Grain-Chiefs, and Courier-Postmen were the Great Ming's grassroots organizational structure. This set had been completely destroyed; Li-Chiefs were replaced by wealthy households, and Grain-Chiefs became forced laborers.

Grain-Chiefs: Starting from the fourth year of Hongwu, areas paying about 10,000 piculs of grain were designated as one district, and wealthy households were appointed as Grain-Chiefs for generations to collect and transport land taxes. They also had to draft tax regulations, compile maps and registers, report disasters, denounce tax evasion, and urge the handling of grain corvée.

This was a good position at the beginning; after all, by holding power, one could line one's own pockets and harm the local community. However, with the reduction of official land, the increasing flight of the common people, and severe land annexation, Grain-Chiefs had to pay for taxes that could not be collected themselves. After becoming forced labor, Grain-Chiefs also began to flee.

The Great Ming's grassroots organization completely disintegrated.

The Great Ming currently urges the handling of grain corvée mostly through the county yamen's household department finding people to register as Grain-Chiefs, and then bringing along yamen runners filled with all sorts of riff-raff and unknown origins to collect taxes by force. The common people, in turn, pick up all the weapons they can to resist taxes by force. This kind of struggle has been playing out in the Great Ming all along.

Therefore, county yamens have to rely more on wealthy households to donate and pay taxes, so they don't have to go to the countryside to collect taxes excessively and cause civil unrest. Over time, the Great Ming has substantially formed a social and political order where landlords and wealthy commoners are the grassroots leadership in the countryside.

Therefore, local officials and rural gentry are in a cooperative and symbiotic relationship. Local yamens need the rural gentry to cooperate in paying taxes to fulfill the court's requirements.

The economic base determines the superstructure. Local yamens need the rural gentry to pay grain taxes, so they can only open the door of convenience for the rural gentry. Land surveying—everyone could still accept it. Determining land ownership—there was indeed too much tax evasion, and the Great Ming's treasury suffered huge losses. The court issued performance evaluations, wanting to clarify how much land there was and in whose hands it was; this was justifiable.

(Grassroots structure)

What Wang Chonggu said made sense. The Land Return Law would eventually have to fall upon the countryside. Logically, the Land Return Law is unworkable. It asks landlords, wealthy commoners, and rural gentry to cut their own flesh to feed the common people whom they could previously bully and plunder at will. The rural gentry are not the Buddha or Bodhisattva who would cut their flesh to feed an eagle.

Most of the rural gentry are, in fact, local bullies who harm the community. If a bricklayer repairs a house for them, they have to pay them back, and if others pass by, they have to peel off a layer of skin.

This is the same as the failure and limitations of the Public Land Law implemented by Jia Sidao back then. The grassroots are the rural gentry; asking the rural gentry to execute policies unfavorable to themselves is logically unworkable.

"Therefore, the Grand Minister of Works and the Vice Minister of Works are right; we must wait for the Great Ming Capital Battalion to return to the capital." Zhu Yijun had a very thorough understanding of the corruption of the Great Ming's grassroots organization, so he never said he wanted to achieve it in one move. Zhang Juzheng had already outlined three stages; these three stages would take ten or twenty years to realize.

The Great Ming land survey stumbled along for ten years before it could be considered to have initially completed the measurement of farmland.

Taking the "Land Return Memorial" as the guiding principle and constantly mending and perfecting the Land Return Memorial in practice is the reality of implementation.

Zhu Yijun said quite definitely: "I have never said that I want to complete it in a very short time. The Wang Cifu is overthinking it. Let us proceed slowly."

Wang Chonggu bowed his head again and said: "Your Majesty is well-versed in the theory of contradictions and has a very high attainment in it. In the fundamental contradiction of the human-land contradiction, once ignited, there is no such thing as proceeding slowly. The fundamental contradiction, at the moment it is ignited, reaches the moment of greatest intensification."

Many times, court officials avoid talking about certain matters because they can only avoid talking about them; otherwise, a major incident will occur.

Just like when Tan Lun coughed at the Altar of the Sun and was impeached, the censorate officials were merely using the banner of strict ritual teachings to force Tan Lun to either let Wang Chonggu's family dogs eat imperial grain in the Capital Battalion or resign. And in order to protect Tan Lun, the Zhang Party played an equal card—the Minister of Rites, Lu Shusheng, also coughed.

But that list of recommendations—no one mentioned it.

Everyone tacitly agreed not to touch that untouchable topic. In the end, Tan Lun broke it himself.

Throughout the entire struggle process, they avoided talking about the fundamental contradiction and instead haggled over some specious minor matters.

This is the basic rule of the imperial court, because everyone knows very well that once the fundamental contradiction is touched, it will be earth-shattering and bloody. Once the fig leaf is torn off, it is a bloody reality.

In the Land Return Memorial, as long as it is passed through court discussion and begins to be executed, even if the Land Return Memorial is not published, having that tendency will ignite the oil pan. How could the rural gentry let the court get ready and touch their core interests?

At worst, they will stage another Japanese pirate raid, or put on the skin of civil unrest, to let the old Emperor know who is the master of the world.

Nothing else is needed—just don't let the tenant farmers farm the land, don't lease farmland to tenant farmers, and with the surge of displaced people, the court will be unable to cope.

Therefore, the opposing opinions of Wang Chonggu and Zhang Juzheng are highly convergent. His Majesty wants to give the common people of the world a home and let them live and work in peace, but once the government decree begins to be pushed, it will cause the common people of the world to be displaced.

When the system design is extremely perfect and seems to have no harm, it is actually the most dangerous moment.

Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu are both assistant ministers who have rolled into the Grand Secretariat; they know too well the harm of such wishful thinking.

Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment, nodded, and said: "What the Wang Cifu said is reasonable."

All of Wang Chonggu's opposing opinions were based on reality, based on the reality of implementation, not like the base Confucian scholars who barked wildly, carrying the banner of ritual and law and chattering endlessly, yet unable to say a single practical thing. The success of the Land Return Law is certainly gratifying, but the pain of its process and the slim hope of success are things that must be considered.

Zhang Juzheng taught Zhu Yijun to think three times before acting. In dealing with matters, one certainly cannot fail to think, but one also cannot overthink. Those who are good at dealing with the affairs of the world must take reasoning as the main thing and supplement it with decisiveness.

This means that when people do things, they certainly have to think repeatedly, but at the same time, they cannot overthink. All the affairs of the world must be based on reasoning, and even more, they need decisiveness.

Wang Chonggu's remonstrance not only persuaded Zhang Juzheng but also persuaded the Emperor. This is not giving up eating for fear of choking, but preventing the Great Ming from falling into a quagmire. Since it is not feasible, it can be temporarily postponed and discussed later.

Zhu Yijun is in the prime of his life.

Wang Chonggu looked left and right, lowered his voice, and said: "Your Majesty, actually we can cross the sea by a trick, understand the government decree of the Land Return Memorial in reverse. From us going to them, to them coming to us actively. Sometimes people are like donkeys; if you tell them to stand, they won't; if you tell them to kneel, they won't. If you pull them, they won't walk; if you beat them, they retreat. This is called stubbornness. The more you want them to stand up, the more they want to kneel."

Wang Chonggu was a bit sneaky now. Obviously, he knew that the idea he proposed was completely crooked. In the final analysis, it was just one sentence: go against the grain.

Wang Chonggu further said: "Sometimes, the more you persuade them to give up, the more they refuse. For example, this farmland—whether the court reduces rent, sells publicly, or releases land quotas, it is all life-threatening and cannot even be mentioned. But what if we go against the grain? Persuade them to farm."

"The court is also persuading them to farm. The more importance is attached to agricultural affairs, the more the wealthy households will feel that this is asking them to be beasts of burden, and instead, they will be less willing to annex land, and even willing to give up land."

The more the court persuades them to farm at this time, the more these wealthy households will feel that the masters are stuffing great benefits into their own pockets. Official factories are booming, and maritime trade is in full swing, yet they are asked to face the yellow earth and back to the sky, rolling in the dirt. The wealthy households themselves will try every possible way to enter handicraft workshops, or even mechanical factories.

These asset investments require silver, and continuous investment is needed, and farmland can be exchanged for silver.

Wang Chonggu's farmland recovery plan and Zhang Juzheng's goal are exactly the same, but the methods are diametrically opposed.

"How did the Wang Cifu think of such a trick?" Zhu Yijun was full of disbelief after hearing it. He had intended to give up for the time being and talk about it after productivity further improved. As a result, Wang Chonggu came up with a method of crossing the sea by a trick.

Wang Chonggu understood His Majesty very well. His Majesty was not someone who would give up so easily. For example, back then, everyone thought that after Yang Bo and Zhang Juzheng finished their exchange, the case of assassinating the King and the carriage had completely come to an end, but no one expected that Zhang Siwei would be exterminated by the clan, and Zhang Siwei himself would be made into a specimen. For example, back then, everyone thought that the Longqing peace talks had settled the grievances and grudges with the Northern Barbarians, but His Majesty still sent the Capital Battalion to capture Altan Khan and behead him in the capital.

This is the vengeful Emperor. His Majesty has never been someone who gives up lightly. At this time, persuading His Majesty to take back his thoughts—His Majesty just temporarily pressed that restless heart, and he will definitely continue to push it in the future.

This is also the reason why Zhang Juzheng brought Wang Chonggu over. Wang Chonggu provided another solution.

How did he think of such a weird method? He was full of melancholy and said with a sense of helplessness: "There is a rebellious son at home who is not worry-free. The more you don't let him do something, the more he wants to do it. Now that I have let go and let him do it, he doesn't dare to do anything."

Wang Qian is indeed the Great Ming's number one rebellious son. Relying on the fact that he inherited the family business alone, he really acted without any taboos. The more he wasn't allowed to do something, the more he insisted on doing it. He wasn't allowed to make money, so he insisted on tossing the pearl case. Wang Chonggu found a way to break the situation from Wang Qian.

The more the court manages, the more these gentry will feel that the court is managing too broadly and wants to move their family's ancestral property. However, changing the way of thinking, stimulating the subjective initiative of the gentry, letting them give up farmland, and differentiating them bit by bit to reduce their resistance will instead allow the Land Return Memorial to be implemented.

This is Wang Chonggu's complete remonstrance.

"Rebellious son, a rebellious son is good." Zhu Yijun was silent for a long time and agreed with Wang Chonggu's bizarre route.

This set of rhetoric does not conform to common sense, but there are too many things in the Great Ming that do not conform to common sense. The powerful and wealthy are just like disobedient rebellious sons. The more you restrain them, the more they resist. It is better to let them hand it over obediently. This line of thinking is feasible. As for whether it can be walked through, it depends on the operation.

Persuading them to farm is originally the court's priority. This point is vividly reflected in Zhu Yijun's personal engagement in farming. The more the court encourages it, the less the powerful and wealthy will invest in it, and their eyes will be focused more on industry and commerce, rather than farming.

Steam engines eat people. Wang Chonggu stated the second purpose of his coming.

The Imperial Academy of Sciences believes that after the improvement of production tools, the Great Ming's steam engines will usher in a terrifying growth in both horsepower and production capacity. If a person has no long-term worries, there will be near troubles. The court's vision must be more long-term. Steam engines will not only eat people overseas but also eat people in the Great Ming.

Last year, the Woolen Official Factory eliminated 3,000 weavers due to the application of three-horsepower steam engines. And this year, the advent of 7.5-horsepower, smaller, and more efficient steam engines, which are also to be applied to the Weaving Bureau and the cotton textile industry, will eliminate how many more weavers?

The Xishan Coal Bureau has 1,500 firewood carriers. After the court applies steam engines, these firewood carriers who have carried coal for half their lives—these 1,500 firewood carriers must be resettled. Official factories are for resettling poor people and laborers, not for creating poor people and laborers.

These problems are all worthy of the Great Ming's attention, and the solution is scale—expanding the horizontal scale to accommodate the craftsmen who may be eliminated.

At this time, the problem mentioned by the Songjiang School was verified again. The Great Ming court's excessive interference requires investment, and because the return on assets will inevitably decrease, it will inevitably generate debt. The more debt, the more dangerous the court will be.

If the court wants to expand, it will face the major problem of continuously increasing debt. The Great Ming's Suiyuan Road and mining industry have already owed a lot of debt. Now it is completely robbing Peter to pay Paul, robbing the benefits of maritime trade to make up for the losses of land development.

Therefore, the Suiyuan Road and Suiyuan mining industry must succeed, and the convection of southern silver and northern coal must be completely completed before they can continue to move forward.

Fortunately, the person in charge of Suiyuan affairs is the very reliable General Qi Jiguang Jiguang.

Zhu Yijun's achievements in this life depend entirely on his own efforts. Wen Zhang, Wu Qi, go!

General Qi Jiguang Jiguang's reliability is beyond doubt. He even knows how to open mines. Back then, the Taotu Mountain, which supported the entire Great Ming's white clay supply, was found by General Qi Jiguang Jiguang and reported to the court. He organized prisoners to mine and transported it to the capital. Mining is not difficult for General Qi Jiguang Jiguang, especially open-pit mines. For General Qi Jiguang Jiguang, it is mainly a problem of organization.

On the 12th day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Wanli, while the Lantern Festival had not yet ended, the Great Ming began to persuade farming. The content of the decree was much the same as in the past, all ordering officials to persuade farming, suppress idleness, respect the elderly, ask about the people's hardships, collect public opinion and report it to the court, and punish officials who were corrupt or unable to perform their duties, etc.

But only two things were added: local officials were not allowed to arbitrarily engage in non-urgent corvée, and even more, they were not allowed to let the people drift, preventing the loss of farming time.

That is, some non-urgent corvée labor should not be arbitrarily engaged in major construction projects, and they should persuade the common people to reclaim land, farm well, and not delay farming time.

In terms of execution, the Songjiang Prefecture Maritime Trade Office no longer issued the decree of exchanging farmland for ship permits. After the Songjiang Prefecture Maritime Trade Office was established in the second year of Wanli, 10,000 mu of fertile land could be exchanged for one ship permit. This ship permit had to be verified annually at the Maritime Trade Office, with a maximum extension of six months.

The reason was very, very sufficient: the people do not attend to the fundamentals, and the land is barren. This is a top priority and must be dealt with, so this window for free exchange of ship permits was closed.

Bad! Bad! Bad!

At the moment the imperial decree was issued, the ship tickets of the Yanxing Building Trading House soared in response, and the price rose again and again, from the initial seven silver to ten silver. A three-masted ship can be used for ten years, or even longer. When the ship ticket was five silver, it could pay for itself in two and a half years. Even counting the 95% return rate, ten silver per ticket is also a business that doubles the profit. Ship tickets are also the strongest tickets in the trading house.

After the loophole of 10,000 mu of land for one ship permit was closed, there was no place in the entire Great Ming where ship permits could be obtained freely! To join the five major ocean-going merchant firms, one had to accept the arrangements of the merchant firms.

The Great Ming's management of ship permit verification was extremely strict. After closing this loophole, the Great Ming's ship permits could only be obtained from the five major ocean-going merchant firms. Without ship permit verification, it is equivalent to being a sea pirate. If caught, it means confiscation of goods, detention, exile, or even death.

Yao Zhangzhen of Xitucheng didn't believe it when he heard this rumor. He asked his son Yao Guangqi to inquire, and then confirmed the authenticity of the situation. He slapped the table and stood up, terrified, and said: "What is His Majesty trying to do? Is he trying to kick us off the ship? Hurry up and invite Lord Wang! Lin Dashi!"

Lord Wang is the former Minister of Justice Wang Zhigao. Wang Zhigao's Wang Menglin is a lawyer while preparing for the next imperial examination. He is a person who is in the Emperor's heart. And Wang Zhigao and Zhang Juzheng are in-laws, and the news is extremely well-informed. They all live in Xitucheng, so Yao Zhangzhen and Wang Zhigao's family maintain a relatively close relationship.

Lin Fucheng is the Lin Dashi in Yao Zhangzhen's mouth. Lin Dashi has been very popular recently. Poetry societies are making appointments for manuscripts and inviting him to preach, but Lin Dashi does not accept any work or go to any place, only writing "Xiaoyao Yiwen". Lin Fucheng's poetry society was rented to him by Yao Zhangzhen at a friendship price, so Yao Zhangzhen invited him, and he had to go.

Lin Fucheng and Wang Zhigao arrived soon. Yao Zhangzhen, Yao Zhangxing, Yao Guangqi, Wang Zhigao, Wang Menglin, and Lin Fucheng gathered together.

"As I see it, His Majesty is afraid that the money is coming too slowly and intends to learn from the old events of Yongle, completely official ships and official trade." Lin Fucheng said with a bad face after understanding the details of the matter. This is a very dangerous signal. The Great Ming's maritime trade is losing its freedom.

Official ships and official trade during the Yongle period, Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean, supported five northern expeditions, supported the construction of the northern capital, supported the official roads and courier routes of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, and supported the Yongle Dadian. Obviously, the Great Ming Emperor is going to exercise the freedom of the court's complete official ships and official trade.

At this moment, everyone present remembered the terror of the court's maritime ban. It has been less than ten years since the complete opening of the sea, and only the Yuegang Maritime Trade Office has opened the sea, less than fifteen years!

The Great Ming court intends to eat alone!

"What does Lord Wang think?" Everyone looked at Wang Zhigao. Wang Zhigao is from Jingzhou Prefecture, a fellow townsman of Zhang Juzheng, and also an in-law. What the court's move means, they have to rely on this insider to reveal it.

Wang Zhigao shook his head and said: "Don't you know the Grand Assistant yet? Would he tell me what he wants to do? I don't know much about it either. I haven't heard the Grand Assistant mention it, but I know one thing: the major event that made the court lose face last year, the national debt, Suiyuan Road, and mining tickets, are debts borrowed by the court and His Majesty from the common people."

"Since the beginning of the New Policies in the first year of Wanli, the court's treasury has been surplus until now. Even the soldiers on the border are eating their fill under the six-volume-one-account and physical payment system. This borrowing by the court from the common people can be said to have lost all face. His Majesty wears green clothes and is still frugal, but the court's treasury is still insufficient. Money not being enough is a problem that the court must face now."

"Gentlemen, Womagang has a gold mountain, a silver mountain, a copper mountain, and a coal mountain."

The court wants coal, gold, silver, copper, and iron, but lacks money to build roads and open mines. Having to borrow from the common people was the top priority at the end of last year.

It is a confirmed fact that the court does not have enough money.

"Broken! Broken! This time it is completely broken." Lin Fucheng stood up immediately, his expression extremely excited, and said loudly: "His Majesty is poor and anxious!"

The Emperor's frugality is known to everyone in the world. Zhang Juzheng is still here, and the court is short of money again. It is most reasonable to hit the idea on maritime trade!

The freedom of maritime trade is disappearing!

The wealthy households of Xitucheng were the first to exert force, and then the sea merchants of the Southern Yamen began to exert force. If they cannot directly exchange ship permits from the Maritime Trade Office, they must rely on the five major merchant firms affiliated with the Maritime Trade Office, and these merchant firms can only be considered semi-official. The cost of obtaining ship permits has risen sharply.

Soon, a large pile of memorials appeared before Zhu Yijun's imperial desk. The content was much the same: stop His Majesty from turning back the clock of history and returning to the era of maritime bans. This method of exchanging farmland for ship permits should not only be done, but also promoted in the five hinterland Maritime Trade Offices. Not only should Songjiang Prefecture have policies, but Mizhou, Ningbo, Yuegang, and Guangzhou Dianbai Maritime Trade Offices should all have the same policies!

Zhu Yijun looked at the memorials before him and was silent for a long time. Zhang Juzheng's style of doing things was extremely serious, while Wang Chonggu's style of doing things was mainly about cheating and tricking people, making people spin around. Zhu Yijun couldn't help but think of the old events when Wang Chonggu set a trap for the censorate officials and made them run to the Huangji Gate to kneel.

This is Wang Chonggu's style. He doesn't have the idol burden that Zhang Juzheng has. As a treacherous official, Wang Chonggu, if he doesn't act treacherously, how can he be worthy of the word treacherous official?

This time, by retreating to advance, the court promoted the Land Return Law, which began quietly, and it was a voluntary request, and even used all the relationships that could be used, trying every possible way to persuade the Emperor.

Zhu Yijun complied with public opinion and gave vermilion approval to these memorials, but he still had the appearance of "you have harmed me bitterly", repeatedly emphasizing that farming is the foundation of the country. Ancient sage kings all took persuading farming as the top priority. Gold, pearls, and jade cannot be eaten when hungry, and cannot be worn when cold. However, lawsuits are frequent and trade is prosperous, so farming is often abandoned. He ordered officials not to let the fields be barren.

These words are very reasonable. The Great Ming Emperor personally engages in farming, brings the Baoqi Division to breed seeds and seedlings, and understands the hardships of reclaiming wasteland and farming. This is not a secret. This is one of Zhang Juzheng's sins. His Majesty is a noble person by nature. How can he bully the Emperor for the sake of education?

This round of retreating to advance had excellent results.

This is a set of combination punches. Even if the wise people among the powerful and wealthy understand what the court's purpose is, they are powerless to change the situation. The differentiation has been completed. This is the most insidious part of Wang Chonggu's move of retreating to advance, differentiating the rural gentry and the powerful and wealthy.

Originally, the court's move on the land system was something that would cause the world to boil over, but now there are different voices, and it has also formed political correctness. Closing the window of exchanging farmland for ship permits is equivalent to the political correctness that maritime trade is not free.

The court's officials still hold the greatest caution towards the "Land Return Memorial", mostly holding the idea of trying it out and stopping it immediately once it causes bad effects, trying to push it slowly.

On the 15th day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Wanli, the Lantern Festival, the capital was extremely lively. On both sides of the street, lanterns were hung high, swaying gently with the wind. People were coming and going on the street, bustling. A carriage came from Tongzhou, entered the capital from Zhaoyang Gate, and stayed at the Huitong Guanyi.

The Great Ming's Yingtian Provincial Governor Pan Jixun, after returning to the capital to report on his duties, will go to Suiyuan to govern the Yellow River.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 462 =====