Chapter 467: That

Zhang Zhang Juzheng wrote the first volume of *On Class* for the purpose of explaining his policies, so that his decrees could gain recognition and consensus for execution throughout the Great Ming.

As for the second volume, he did not advocate for public printing and mass distribution, spreading it everywhere. For the current Great Ming, the first volume was completely sufficient; the first volume made people realize the existence of classes and their injustice.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng's opposition to the *Memorial on Returning Land* was also based on the first volume. But after writing the second volume, *On Distribution*, Zhang Zhang Juzheng actually also hoped that the *Memorial on Returning Land* could be implemented.

The gradual perfection of the Engineering Corps system made Zhang Zhang Juzheng gradually realize that perhaps the *Memorial on Returning Land* could really be implemented. Even if only a portion could be executed, it would still count as accumulating a foundation.

And Wang Wang Chonggu, who was responsible for this matter, showed his impatience. If it weren't for the Emperor and the Grand Tutor holding him back, Wang Wang Chonggu would now be implementing the Engineering Corps across the country to organize the Great Ming's garrison troops and settle the refugees.

"Wang the Assistant Grand Secretary, the Great Ming still needs some time, and we have sufficient time. Currently, over eighty percent of the Great Ming's population are farmers. Although the proportion of commercial taxes has exceeded fifty percent, eighty percent of those commercial taxes come from overseas plantations, the Shipping Commissioner's customs duties, and official factory group construction, not from the countryside." Zhu Zhu Yijun advised Wang Wang Chonggu to calm down—not to let him cool off himself, but to talk about the current situation of the Great Ming.

Zhu Zhu Yijun further said, "The Great Ming currently still relies primarily on a small-scale peasant economy—plowing with oxen and iron plows, and intensive cultivation. Farming and the handicrafts of each household account for ninety percent of the output, and the remaining ten percent is the output of handicraft workshops. The small-scale peasant economy is based on each household as a unit; it is scattered, and any slight disturbance could cause these small households to vanish into nothingness."

"What do you think, Wang the Assistant Grand Secretary?"

"I was inconsiderate." Wang Wang Chonggu gradually calmed down, realizing that things were not that simple.

The Engineering Corps is not omnipotent, just like the military colonies of the past. Therefore, experience needs to be summarized in practice.

Being superstitious about a certain proposition or policy being able to solve all problems once and for all is itself a fantasy and childish.

The Great Ming's Engineering Corps has a destructive nature; it is a unity of opposites. It can produce, but it can also destroy. Zhang Zhang Juzheng's worry about the world falling into chaos is one aspect. On the other hand, it will destroy the current stable production relations of the Great Ming in a barbaric posture. This will inevitably produce pain. Reducing this pain to a level that the Great Ming can bear is the problem that the wise ministers must think about.

"Indeed, the group construction law of the Engineering Corps is a more centralized, larger-scale production method with stronger circulation of output compared to small-scale peasants. This is fatal to small-scale peasants. I ignored the unity of opposites of factory group construction and only saw its good side, while also ignoring the fragility of small-scale peasants." Wang Wang Chonggu said sincerely, realizing the terrible harm of promoting it immediately.

Great Ming farmers account for eighty percent of the total population. The goods produced by the men plowing and women weaving in farming households are not worth mentioning in the face of large-scale collective construction.

Every political decree is like this; if the steps are too big, huge problems will arise.

The Great Ming's small-scale peasant economy is still the main body. How to change gradually while continuing is what conforms to the current economic situation of the Great Ming.

The concept of a unity of opposites is not complicated. Such production relations exist widely in the Great Ming.

For example, self-cultivating farmers, tenant farmers, and hired laborers—most of them possess few fields or no fields at all and must strongly rely on the local gentry to obtain fields to cultivate and maintain their survival. Excessive land rent leads to low labor rewards, making it impossible for the poor to survive. And the local gentry themselves do not have enough people to cultivate the land. For the local gentry, leaving land barren is also a waste.

Then, small-scale peasants and landlords are a unity of opposites that are contradictory, interdependent, and closely linked for the sake of grain rent.

For example, the short-term and long-term laborers hired by the masters in the city—wages are a contradiction, but mutual dependence is unity.

This kind of unity of opposites, like contradictions, exists widely.

The Engineering Corps set off. Only three battalions, totaling 36,000 men, departed from the Northern Camp. These three battalions built four post roads. The remaining three battalions built the Jing-Yun (Datong) post road, because the Jing-Yun post road had the highest construction difficulty, the most complex working conditions, and the greatest altitude difference, so it required three battalions to be divided into three sections for construction.

The Capital Camp has a total of 100,000 men, consisting of three cavalry battalions, twelve chariot battalions, and eighteen infantry battalions. Each cavalry battalion, four chariot battalions, and six infantry battalions constitute a group. The Capital Camp has three groups, which are the "Wu" groups: the Yaowu Group, the Fenwu Group, and the Zhenwu Group, controlled by Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang, Li Li Rusong, and Ma Gui respectively.

These three groups are establishment names, and the military branches they command are not always fixed. For example, in actual combat, when Li Li Rusong is the vanguard, he will command all the cavalry battalions, while Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang's main force is mostly infantry battalions responsible for the rear guard, and Ma Gui, who is responsible for the rear, has mostly chariot battalions. Only the Capital Camp can achieve this flexible adjustment.

And currently, the six Engineering Corps also have their own separate military designations, which are the "Yong" groups: Zhong, Lie, Yi, Xiang, Xiao, and Fen. And the first to third Engineering Corps are currently building the post road from Datong Prefecture to Guihua City.

Zhu Zhu Yijun watched them depart from the Wu Ying Tower.

Pan Pan Jixun was in Guihua City. Contrary to what he had imagined, Guihua City was not a pearl on the grassland; on the contrary, it was very simple and dilapidated. The city wall was not a brick and stone wall, but rammed earth, and the quality of the rammed earth was very poor, causing the city wall to be pitted and bumpy. The city wall did not enclose more than ten *li*, and inside the city, there were no orderly wards, but rather chaotic and mixed living quarters for border people, and there were not even decent streets.

If the Great Ming were a small-scale peasant economy, then the grasslands would be a natural economy that relies entirely on nature—a natural economy where death follows the moment the Eternal Heaven refuses to bestow its grace. It is extremely fragile. Currently, the faith on the grasslands is predominantly Buddhism, specifically the Tantric school of Great Joy, which may have greatly infuriated the Eternal Heaven; thus, the grasslands, deprived of grace, have become increasingly barren.

After Pan Pan Jixun beheaded the 1,300 members of the Liuhu bandit gang and displayed their heads, he gained universal recognition.

San San Niangzi, this Provincial Administration Commissioner, had always wanted to find Pan Pan Jixun to ask some questions, but she couldn't find him. For more than ten days, Pan Pan Jixun had not been in the city, but had gone to various tribes. These small tribes were actually extremely similar to the villages and stockades of the Great Ming. By comparison, the tribes were more fragile; a snow disaster, a great drought, or a plague would cause them to disappear without a trace.

In early March, Pan Pan Jixun returned to the Governor's Office in Guihua City. It was called a Governor's Office, but it was only a two-courtyard residence, but it was also one of the few brick and tile buildings in Guihua City, and it was also an Southern Yamen built after Guihua City surrendered.

"Governor Pan is truly practicing what he preaches. I admire you, I admire you." San San Niangzi only had the word "admire" for Pan Pan Jixun. Leaving the position of a court official in the Great Ming's Zhang Wenyuan Pavilion to come to the frontier to eat sand—this behavior looked as stupid as having a screw loose in one's brain, but Pan Pan Jixun's ability was second to none even in the Great Ming. Not avoiding the hardships of wind and dust, and personally investigating the situation of the people, truly made San San Niangzi feel ashamed.

"I asked Lady Lady Zhongshun, but Lady Lady Zhongshun didn't know anything, so I could only go and see for myself." Pan Pan Jixun actually wanted to arrange the work directly, but San San Niangzi didn't know anything when asked—how many people were in a certain tribe, how many livestock they had, where the pastures were, and where they went in winter—she knew nothing.

San San Niangzi said with slight helplessness, "I don't know, and Altan Khan didn't know either... The grassland has always been like this."

The grassland is feudal, completely different from the Great Ming's prefecture and county system. Altan Khan only managed the five ten-thousand-household groups that came to the Bansheng for meetings every year, and his understanding of the various tribes under the ten-thousand-household groups was not as detailed as the Great Ming's.

The stability of a purely natural economy is far weaker than that of a small-scale peasant economy. With insufficient output, the main contradiction of the entire grassland is still survival.

Pan Pan Jixun took off his mask and said with a strange expression, "What does Lady Lady Zhongshun think the grassland would have become if the Great Ming had not attacked the Bansheng?"

San San Niangzi shook her head in confusion and said, "I haven't thought about it. I don't know where the next meal is coming from after eating this one; how would I have the energy to think about those problems?"

The future is a very luxurious word. Only the Great Ming has the qualifications to consider long-term strategies. On the grassland, the main consideration is whether one can see the sun rise as usual tomorrow.

"Temples are devil's dens, at least that's the case on the grassland." Pan Pan Jixun said with great certainty, "If the Great Ming does not civilize the grassland, the result will be men becoming thieves and women becoming prostitutes. You might not be convinced, but it will definitely be like this, because the grassland is overgrazing."

Pan Pan Jixun explained his logic in great detail. The instability of a completely natural economy leads to the various tribes of the grassland attacking each other to compete for survival resources. And in order to win in the competition, overgrazing becomes inevitable. Whether it is warhorses, weapons, or exchanging for Great Ming goods, all require livestock.

Overgrazing further exacerbates the instability of the natural economy, because the pastures are slowly disappearing, the grassland is desertifying, and coupled with the grassland becoming increasingly cold, natural output is decreasing. The final result is complete men becoming thieves and women becoming prostitutes. Men live by plundering, and these women mostly have to become prostitutes, and the places where they make a living are the temples.

Venereal disease will inevitably spread on the grassland, especially in the Esoteric Buddhist temples where people gather. Venereal disease will spread to the entire grassland through these devil's dens one by one.

This is the fate of the grassland, the fate that Pan Pan Jixun saw through his practice.

It is not because the Eternal Heaven is angry that the grassland people betrayed and relied on the Buddha. The Master does not speak of strange phenomena, force, disorder, and spirits. The large-scale degradation of the grassland is related to human production activities.

Pan Pan Jixun took out a notebook. This notebook was his observation of "putting things into practice." It contained observations on the ratio of people to livestock, pasture ownership, tribe size, enclosure management, handicraft wool shearing and rough processing, markets, lending, taxes, etc. These were observations that the meat-eaters of the grassland would never have.

San San Niangzi looked at the contents of that notebook. Although it was a bit messy, she could still find the main thread.

"Are all Great Ming officials this amazing?" San San Niangzi said blankly. Pan Pan Jixun was far stronger than the likes of Wu Dui and Fang Fang Fengshi. Are all Great Ming officials this strong? If they are all this strong, why does the Great Ming only have two capitals and fourteen provinces?

Pan Pan Jixun shook his head and said, "Without being modest, actually, there aren't many."

San San Niangzi was a typical survivor bias. Pan Pan Jixun should have been the Vice Tan Sima. The Great Ming only had a dozen or so Vice Ministers of War and above. If San San Niangzi stayed in the capital government for a long time, she would know that the Great Ming's bureaucracy was mostly composed of "cheap scholars." Sometimes, the things they said made one's scalp tingle.

His Majesty was such a magnanimous person, but he was often made dizzy by stupid remarks.

Pan Pan Jixun took back the notebook and said, "The scale of livestock is expanding, the grassland is shrinking, and there are more and more deserts and Gobi. Among the border people of the grassland, three out of ten women have venereal disease, and seven out of ten men have been horse bandits. The situation on the grassland is not optimistic."

"The various places under the jurisdiction of Guihua Prefecture must complete enclosure as soon as possible. Do not graze randomly anymore. The main thing is to raise sheep. Land must be cultivated to plant forage grass. Plant perennial forage grass on the edge of the pastures for division. The manure from enclosure must be collected for composting."

San San Niangzi was a bit unconvinced. She actually wanted to say that it wasn't the grassland people's fault. The Great Ming had imposed an embargo for over two hundred years, and the grassland couldn't even find an iron pot, while iron pots in the Central Plains were extremely expensive—one cost 1.7 silver coins, while a large bag of 120 *jin* of wool was only 1.7 silver coins. The reconciliation faction became the main force on the grassland, wanting to submit to the Great Ming, which was not without reason.

In previous years, your Great Ming wasn't much better either!

But San San Niangzi didn't know how to refute it. Pan Pan Jixun was stating facts. The grassland was indeed rotting. She shook her head and said, "Then what should we burn?"

"Coal." Pan Pan Jixun took out a map and said, "Before this winter, coal from the Datong Prefecture coal field will be transported to Guihua City for distribution. You must be prepared. I will head to Shengzhou (Ordos) tomorrow to urge the Shengzhou coal field and the post road."

The grassland's cycle has been destroyed. Originally, livestock manure was fertilizer, and only after composting to cultivate forage grass could a cycle be formed. Because the grassland burns cow dung, composting is insufficient, and the cycle is destroyed, so there can be no enclosure. The grassland people are not stupid. The reason they want to build cities is also to move from a higher-risk natural economy toward a small-scale peasant economy. However, this kind of work of reclaiming land requires material support.

Coal is the key to this.

Without firewood, there is no way to settle down and live. Migration became the main theme for the grassland people.

"The conflict between the Great Ming and the Northern Barbarians makes it impossible to mine coal in Datong Prefecture, which is a harm to both the Great Ming and the grassland." Pan Pan Jixun looked at San San Niangzi and said, "I hope Lady Lady Zhongshun can continue to maintain her position. The Great Ming has the sincerity and ability to civilize the grassland. A stable border is also of great significance to the Great Ming, and a stable life is what the grassland people long for together."

As early as the *Commentary on the Water Classic* written by Li Daoyuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a detailed description of the mining and utilization of Datong coal, and it even recorded the magnificent spectacle of coal seam spontaneous combustion. During the Tang Dynasty, Datong coal was already being transported along official roads and post stations to Guanzhong and Luoyang, and was widely used for iron smelting, coin casting, sulfur refining, lime burning, brick burning, ceramic burning, wine brewing, medicine making, and black alum refining.

However, with the separatist regimes of the Tang Dynasty and the ensuing wars, the mining and transportation of Datong coal were interrupted by war. During the Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, there were no records of large-scale mining of Datong coal. And 480 years after the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were lost, Yunzhong Commandery and Datong finally returned to the hands of the Han people. However, the long-term war caused the mining and transportation of coal to never be able to develop sufficiently.

Because Datong Prefecture was a war zone.

This is bad news for both the Great Ming and the grassland.

"It should be so." San San Niangzi nodded and said. A stable life for the grassland people was her long-cherished wish, and she only had this long-cherished wish. Altan Khan was beheaded, and the child she had adopted was killed. Now she was relying on this long-cherished wish to hold on.

She planned to adopt two more children, which could be considered an explanation to herself.

"Does Altan Khan not know about the Shengzhou open-pit coal field? He couldn't mine the coal in Datong Prefecture, but why didn't he mine the coal in Shengzhou?" Pan Pan Jixun asked the question he wanted to ask.

San San Niangzi shook her head and said, "He didn't know, not that he didn't want to mine it. Prospecting for mines is still too difficult for us grassland people."

Was it that Altan Khan didn't want to? He didn't know at all. How could he mine it?

Many things that are taken for granted by the Great Ming are Arabian Nights for the grassland people. Finding dragons, dividing gold, and finding mineral veins from the terrain, topography, hydrology, and geography—it sounds easy, but that's only easy for the Great Ming.

The grassland didn't have professional talent in that area at all.

Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang's direct subordinates were miners, all old hands. In the process of conquest, they would feel that there were big goods in this mountain, but for the grassland people, they were all mountains, and there was no difference between one mountain and another.

The Songjiang School talks about scale, talking about vertical scale and horizontal scale. San San Niangzi had also heard of it and paid attention to it. After all, as a top meat-eater on the grassland, she could still afford the imperial gazettes and miscellaneous gazettes. For the grassland, there was no scale to speak of in prospecting.

Pan Pan Jixun understood.

"I see that the city gate of Guihua City doesn't have a name yet. Let's call the city gate facing east the 'Tonghemen'." Pan Pan Jixun organized his notebook and talked about the naming of the Guihua City gate.

"Tonghemen?" San San Niangzi asked in confusion.

"The 'Tonghe' of the Tonghe Palace." Pan Pan Jixun nodded and said.

San San Niangzi widened her eyes, was stunned for a moment, and squeezed two words out from between her teeth: "Holy shit!"

The "Tonghe" of the Tonghe Palace—in terms of the ability to flatter, even if the grassland chased for several thousand years, it wouldn't necessarily be the opponent of the Central Plains. This was simply a natural, effortless remark, and a single sentence was filled with loyalty!

If they were to discuss the vertical and horizontal scale of flattery, the grassland would also be hard-pressed to be an opponent. After all, the Central Plains had had many, many people throughout the dynasties, so there were many people who flattered, and the skill of flattery was very strong.

Pan Pan Jixun began to communicate with the officials of the Ministry of Works about the post road from Guihua to Datong. This section of the road was not difficult to build. Three Engineering Corps, totaling more than 30,000 people, could finish it by early June. After arranging the major matters, Pan Pan Jixun packed his things and prepared to head to Shengzhou in Shuofang Prefecture. He prepared to go and investigate personally.

Pan Pan Jixun went from the narrow to the broad. While he was personally visiting and investigating, he also dispatched command officers and junior officers to lead soldiers to explore and inquire everywhere, to understand in detail the population, education, religion, customs, transportation, farms and pastures, land rent, types of agricultural and pastoral products, composting, fruit products, household handicrafts, agricultural product trading, markets, etc., of Suiyuan. Only by understanding these contents could he formulate political decrees tailored to local conditions.

This was a very, very cumbersome job.

Pan Pan Jixun's work was already very troublesome, but Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang's work was actually even more troublesome. During this period, the elite Capital Camp soldiers spread out across Suiyuan and only did one thing: suppress bandits. Suppressing bandits was truly very difficult. This was not because the Great Ming's elite Capital Camp soldiers lacked strength, but because of the problem of marching.

For example, timing on a rainy day without the sun. Before the Great Ming began to imitate the small "Nuremberg egg" clocks of the West, marching timing used the bead-counting method—two strings of beads, counting 6,225, was one *Zhou Shichen* (two hours).

Every ten *li*, fire a signal cannon, and stand still at one's feet. Beat the gong, rest for one or two *ke* (15-30 minutes).

That is to say, the Great Ming army had to rest for two *ke* after walking every ten *li*. How to measure *li*? How to measure steps? How to count beads? This is applied mathematics.

Measuring *li* involves resting, timing involves living and cooking, and the most important thing on the march is setting up camp.

Later, after the invention of the measuring step-cart and the Great Ming cylinder watch by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, it became much simpler.

Even a simple timing was so troublesome, let alone other things. Military administration is no less cumbersome than civil affairs, and because it is the most intense conflict, it is even more difficult to solve.

But these things, in the hands of the Great Ming's historians, became a few words: "General Qi Jiguang Jiguang led the Capital Camp to pacify the various tribes, suppress bandits, and sweep away the invaders, shaking the grassland with his might."

Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang didn't care about these. Military administration was still better than having no battles to fight. There was no need to write these cumbersome tasks into history books; they were all things that should be done. Compared to the cumbersomeness of military administration, Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang detested the intrigue of human hearts even more; that was meaningless internal friction.

Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang, who was in Wuyuan Prefecture, turned the huge number of captives into slave battalions and sent them to Shengzhou and Womagang to mine. Li Li Rusong was in command of the front line at Womagang, and Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang chose to delegate power completely.

In the process of suppressing bandits, the elite Capital Camp soldiers were not smooth in the beginning and suffered huge losses. After the conquest of the Hetao region, the Great Ming Capital Camp sent out expeditions in units of a hundred teams, losing more than a hundred elite soldiers. This loss made Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang feel very pained, mainly because the environment outside the Great Wall was completely different from the hinterland.

The banditry in the Great Ming hinterland was mainly composed of poor people who couldn't survive, and many were part-time. When the landlord came to collect debts at the end of the year and they didn't want their children to be taken as payment, they had no choice but to cover their faces and become bandits. But the horse bandits in this place on the grassland were professional bandits. The entire Yinshan Mountain range could be said to have no mountain without a stockade, and no stockade without bandits, and they were soldier-bandits. Many of these bandits had lived by plundering for years.

The initial suppression of bandits was mainly based on pacification. Soon, the strategy was adjusted to be mainly based on suppression, which made the bandit suppression work proceed smoothly. The problem it brought was that there were more than 20,000 captives. Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang did not waste these captives either; they were all fresh troops for mining.

After nearly half a year of bandit suppression, the Hetao region finally restored some peace. For those who resisted to the end, they were all treated with muskets and cannons. In this process, Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang gradually discovered that the Tiger-Crouching Cannon was extremely easy to use and could be described as a cure for all diseases. The nine-jin cannon was very powerful, but it was installed on a side-carriage chariot, and the chariot battalion could not move on rugged small paths, nor was it easy to enter the mountains. However, the Tiger-Crouching Cannon, which one person could carry, became a sharp weapon for attacking strongholds in bandit suppression. A hundred-man team had ten Tiger-Crouching Cannons. When they encountered a mountain stockade, they lined up and bombarded it continuously for several rounds, then the musketeers lined up and moved forward, killing the enemy with extremely high efficiency. Usually, the battle could be ended within half an hour.

Ma Gui led the Zhenwu Group and once swept through seventeen stockades in one day, capturing more than 2,700 people.

"His Majesty sent another 100,000 *jin* of gunpowder..." Liang Liang Menglong walked into the main tent. The Emperor's Capital Camp gunpowder was not enough, so he transported another 150,000 *jin* of gunpowder from the capital along the post road, of which 50,000 *jin* was handed over to the Xuan-Da Governor Wu Wu Baipeng, and the remaining 100,000 *jin* had all arrived in Wuyuan Prefecture.

"That 200,000 *jin* of gunpowder from last winter hasn't been used up yet." Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang held his forehead. This 100,000 *jin* of gunpowder must have cost at least 50,000 silver. Transporting it to the front line would cost at least 55,000 silver. The gunpowder came with the supplies. His Majesty truly never treated the front line shabbily; the food, supplies, and explosives were all given very generously.

Liang Liang Menglong said with a full face of smiles, "Large-scale bandit suppression is coming to an end. This 100,000 *jin* of gunpowder can be used for mountain mining."

Opening mountains and building roads requires gunpowder, especially in some rugged places. Mining also requires gunpowder. The uses of gunpowder are extremely extensive. There is no possibility of not being able to use it up; it can only be said that His Majesty has never been stingy with the Capital Camp.

"Pan the Minister went to Shengzhou and didn't come to Wuyuan Prefecture." Liang Liang Menglong asked in a low voice, "Is Pan Butang deliberately avoiding meeting Qi the Commander?"

"Both of them received imperial edicts to act according to circumstances. If they meet, who listens to whom? It's better not to meet." Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang nodded. "As for this bandit suppression matter, he, a scholar, showed womanly benevolence, which is troublesome. It's better that he doesn't come."

"Pan Butang beheaded 1,300 captives in Guihua City a few days ago." Liang Liang Menglong smacked his lips. This Pan Pan Jixun is truly ruthless.

"Ah?"

Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang had also just received this news. Is a scholar this murderous? Just out of the frontier, and such a big commotion—who exactly is the martial artist?

Liang Liang Menglong explained in detail. Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang then nodded and said, "So that's how it is. Then they should be killed. If they are not killed, the masses cannot be convinced. Then the captives on our side can be safely handed over to Pan Butang. A merciful person cannot command an army. If he were a soft-hearted person, we would have to guard against the captives gathering to cause trouble."

The frontier is not the hinterland, let alone a nest of comfort. Soft-heartedness here becomes a harm instead.

"Bad news has come from the capital." Qi General Qi Jiguang Jiguang sighed and handed the Emperor's letter to Liang Liang Menglong.

"I knew it would be like this. Pan Butang is indeed one of the very few such people." Liang Liang Menglong finished reading the letter in his hand, his expression extremely ugly.

The Great Ming Emperor issued an edict ordering those with official titles to sign up to go to Suiyuan to serve as officials, offering generous treatment and a promise of promotion within three years, just like when they recruited those with official titles to go to Luzon. No one signed up.

No one was willing to come to such a bitter and cold place. The Capital Camp had already conquered it, and bandit suppression was coming to an end. Even the Three Border guards were beginning to move to the Hetao region, but there was a shortage of civil officials.

"Cowards! I am ashamed to be associated with them!" Liang Liang Menglong slapped the table, furious. The reputation of scholars was dragged down by this bunch of idiots.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 468 =====

"Cowardly rats! I am ashamed to be associated with them!" Liang Liang Menglong slapped the table and said indignantly. The reputation of scholars has been dragged down by this bunch of idiots.

(End of chapter)