Chapter 477: One Great Ming, All Are Subjects of the King

Hou Yuzhao did not have the fate of being an official in his life. After drinking heavily and writing a memorial for over two hours, he slept past the appointed time.

Should he not have drunk? Actually, it was fine. Even in the winter when bears burrow into caves and do not come out, Hou Yuzhao had drunk until he was dead drunk with Li Chengliang, yet he had never delayed the next day's affairs. He could hold his liquor well. This time, it was not about the drinking, but because the knot in his heart that he could never untie had finally been undone. That was why he felt relieved and so relaxed.

Hou Yuzhao also wanted to advance. Who in the Great Ming officialdom did not want to advance? If there were no opportunity, that would be one thing, but the Emperor himself had personally appointed him, yet he had made a mistake in a matter where he should not have, missing the time to see the Emperor.

Hou Yuzhao only felt his limbs go weak. A layer of cold sweat rose on his forehead and back. Trembling, he finished dressing, opened the door, and saw a eunuch in a bright red robe standing before it, accompanied by several secret agents.

This was an arrest! Hou Yuzhao wailed in his heart; it was over, everything was over.

The eunuch in the bright red robe was named Tian Fuju, a Drafting Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial and one of the Great Ming Emperor's martial arts sparring partners. Seeing that Hou Yuzhao had woken up, Tian Fuju said with a hint of teasing amusement, "Has the Provincial Governor Hou finally woken up?"

"Alas, I have woken up." Hou Yuzhao and Tian Fuju exchanged greetings, his face full of chagrin.

Hou Yuzhao nodded and said, "Indeed. At the very least, the Marquis of Ningyuan did not treat people like blades of grass. In my view, that is already extremely good."

Zeng Shengwu's conservative foundation had not changed. The ancestral laws and statutes of the Imperial Ming were, in truth, already dormant texts. The conservative faction's reverence for ancestral methods was indeed very reasonable.

As for the profit tax, it was indeed a tax increase on precious metals to prevent them from flowing out. Oppose it if you must. But opposing the three-level academies of the Official Factory Group Manufacturing and the Engineer Corps was simply being sick. Even a liberal like Lin Fucheng believed that receiving education should be a freedom belonging to everyone in the Great Ming.

After receiving his new official robes and seal at the Ministry of Personnel and collecting the Emperor's reward for Li Chengliang from the Inner Treasury, Hou Yuzhao returned to Liaodong in high spirits to continue reclaiming wasteland. What he had to do was no different from the past—it was all tilling the earth. He did not think that gaining imperial favor had brought more changes to his life.

This kind of heavy asset investment was not something that individual powerful and wealthy families could achieve. Furthermore, the thickness of its profits made it inconvenient for powerful and wealthy families to control, just like in the early Han Dynasty, when the Seven Kingdoms controlled the right to mint coins, leading to the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms.

The invisible hand, in theory, seemed perfect, but once projected into reality, one discovered that the saying "the meat-eaters are despicable and short-sighted" was the reality of practice.

This was an objective fact. The territory was too large; continuing to use simple military loose-rein management was no longer effective for administration and governance.

What problem had Hou Yuzhao actually solved to be worthy of such praise from Zhu Yijun?

Wan Shihe said that the barbarians were wolf-hearted and beast-natured, fearing might but not cherishing virtue. Translated, it meant that the barbarians were never honest; the more one treated them with kindness, the more they would climb onto one's nose. One had to beat them once to establish the rules.

Zhu Yijun stamped his seal, looked at the memorial, and said to Wang Chonggu, "The Official Factory Group Manufacturing Law, in the hands of the Second Grand Secretary Wang, has gone from nothing to something, from small to large, from wool to every aspect of the Great Ming. The Grand Secretary has rendered great service. Judging by the Spring and Autumn Annals, the benefits are in the present, and the merits are for ten thousand generations. No matter how anyone misinterprets it in the future, the Grand Secretary's achievements cannot be erased, nor can they be stolen by anyone."

"Let this sentence stand as it is; I will not change it." Although Zhu Yijun admitted his own impracticality, he did not want to change it. This term was not coined by Zhu Yijun; it was from the "Classic of Poetry, Greater Odes, Yi": "Be careful of your people, be careful of your duties, to guard against the unexpected." It meant that feudal lords should settle those who support them and strictly observe the laws without being willful, to prevent sudden disasters.

"Pure heart" was an insult calling someone stupid, but here, Zhang Juzheng used it as a term of praise. If half of the Great Ming officials were like Hou Yuzhao, the Great Ming could now reach the West with its military might, force Philip II to bow his head and submit, and surrender the title of the Empire on which the sun never sets.

Salt and iron monopolies had always been sharp tools for accumulation in every dynasty. The Great Ming had established the salt permit system around salt, but iron, after the abolition of eighteen official factories during the Hongwu years, only had iron levies—that is, taxing the people for national use—without an iron monopoly.

Horses and cattle needed fodder; when they kicked, they had to be soothed; when they were sick, they had to be treated; when they needed to breed, they had to be paired. Treating people like blades of grass was the despicability of the meat-eaters. Treating people like horses and cattle, in Hou Yuzhao's view, was already benevolent.

The Legal Affairs Office consisted of yamen runners in the official factories, but they were all composed of retired soldiers, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of War. They settled old, injured, and sick elite soldiers and maintained the legal regulations of the official factories. The regulations had been emphasized by Minister of Justice Wang Chonggu since the beginning of the Yongding Wool Factory. Coupled with the implementation of the "Three Meetings, Three Musts," the management of the official factories became more perfect.

Great Ming civilian coal cost six wen per catty and had not risen in price for a long time. Although honeycomb coal mixed with yellow earth was now added, it was also six wen per catty. It seemed like a price increase, but honeycomb coal burned more fully; it was technological progress, not a price increase.

"Before the court session today, His Majesty asked me to come over. I saw that Provincial Governor Hou was still fast asleep, so I did not let anyone disturb him." Tian Fuju explained why Hou Yuzhao had overslept.

Wang Chonggu was very envious of Hou Yuzhao's imperial favor. Of course, he also agreed with the Emperor giving such grace, because if given to Hou Yuzhao, a person like Hou Yuzhao would not do anything with it. Hou Yuzhao was actually a microcosm of many honest officials in the Great Ming; he did not have that much ambition, just doing things steadily, and was worthy of such grace.

The Great Ming was attacking and expanding everywhere. What to do with these border people in these newly opened lands was the top priority before them. Previously, they were just collectively referred to as border people.

Therefore, when the Emperor received a memorial with typos, it proved that this official had no submissive heart, not even checking for typos.

Hou Yuzhao left the palace, rejoicing that he had survived a great disaster. Not only did he not incur the Emperor's thunderous wrath for failing to appear on time, but he had also had a meal in the palace. This was enough for him to brag to Li Chengliang for several years. Moreover, his memorial had attracted the Emperor's attention; the Emperor had personally titled the memorial and provided annotations.

Lin Fucheng was not a god; he himself had not even figured out the word "equality." The effect, of course, existed; it merely condensed Hou Yuzhao's many years of practical experience together.

After Hou Yuzhao and the Emperor had extremely deep communication about this memorial that did not yet have a name, Zhu Yijun picked up the vermilion brush and wrote "Memorial on New Theories of the Northern Mountains" in the spring breeze. The concept that all under heaven was the King's land and all were the King's subjects was proposed in the "Northern Mountains" of the Classic of Poetry. Thus, the concept that all under the heavens were the King's people was proposed by Hou Yuzhao, so it was called "New Theories of the Northern Mountains."

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "No, it is still different. You mean that all within the universe are the King's people. I am not unread; I can still distinguish the concepts of the King's land, the King's subjects, and the King's people."

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "It is still the practical experience gained by you, my beloved official, in the Danning Guard and Liaodong for many years. His words merely poked through that layer of window paper. You are still impressive, my beloved official."

"The Engineer Corps has already begun building the Suiyuan Imperial Road." In the Wenhua Hall, Wang Chonggu reported the progress of the Engineer Corps. Building imperial roads along official roads and post roads was already in progress, not just in preparation. Seventy thousand skilled craftsmen had already begun building bridges, paving roads, and laying ballast. Furthermore, corresponding lime factories, steel factories, and many other official factories had also begun construction.

"Eat, my beloved official. Let me look at your memorial." Zhu Yijun signaled for Hou Yuzhao to eat. He opened the memorial and read it carefully. Upon the first reading, he noticed the sharpness within; only upon the second reading did he thoroughly understand Hou Yuzhao's thoughts.

However, Hou Yuzhao had made a mistake first; he had slept through the time to see the Emperor, so he felt somewhat lacking in confidence. Moreover, Hou Yuzhao did not know how to remonstrate with the Emperor. He thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, how should these 'people' be defined? I believe that 'King's subjects' is easier to execute."

Zhu Yijun: Fate? What is that? In human affairs, I, the Emperor, have the final say! If I say you are a Provincial Governor, you are a Provincial Governor!

Hou Yuzhao first discussed history, then discussed the present. By today, the methods of the past could no longer be used, because these people were no longer the wild people of the past. Some tribes already had the glory of their ancestors, and even had writing and possessed universal consensus. Simply registering them as people was deliberately creating conflict, which could easily lead to unrest in the border regions. These people with common understanding would become unstable factors.

Although a private secretary could often represent Hou Yuzhao, if you visited high-ranking officials in the court and let the private secretary visit, wouldn't that be slapping the faces of the gentlemen? It would be better not to visit. The private secretary scolding people was already very polite; not abandoning him could be considered as comrades walking together and enjoying the same path.

Upon returning to the court, he had solved a thorny major problem.

Hou Yuzhao entering the capital was not by himself. He had slept through it, but had his private secretary also slept through it? If the private secretary had slept through it, could it be that the clerks had also slept through it? So, someone had intercepted them, and this person was precisely Tian Fuju.

"The Ministry of Personnel discussed that the Liaodong Regional Military Commission should be separated from the jurisdiction of the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission and promoted from a Regional Military Commission to a province." Zhang Juzheng took out a proposal from the Ministry of Personnel discussion, separating the Liaodong Regional Military Commission from its subordination to Shandong and making it the Liaodong Provincial Administration Commission, officially becoming a province of the Great Ming, one of the first-level administrative regions.

Hou Yuzhao's loyalty to the monarch and patriotism was his passivity; that is, loyalty to the monarch and patriotism was not a matter that needed to be pondered, which was why he went against the current with others, and why his starting point for thinking about problems was always for the benefit of the state. But Hou Yuzhao seemed to have never thought about such things; everything was so taken for granted.

So, is it better for the common people to be blades of grass or horses and cattle? Zhu Yijun could not say, but at least horses and cattle could still eat fodder.

The entire memorial started from "The Xia ruler and the Yi people," saying that the Xia people were the rulers and the Yi people were the commoners. The "Yizhou Shu: Ming Tang" says: Outside the King's domain, every five hundred miles is a division, totaling nine, with the seventh being the Yi clothing. Thus, the Duke of Zhou assisted King Wu in attacking Zhou, and the Yi stabilized the world.

Hou Yuzhao said very humbly, "It is merely picking up the wisdom of others. I have rambled on so much, it is just that under the vast heavens, there is no land that is not the King's, and on the shores of the earth, there is no one who is not the King's subject."

Actually, it was at the Emperor's instigation.

And Hou Yuzhao's method was to shape consensus: one Great Ming, all are subjects of the King.

Hou Yuzhao's speed of eating could be described as sweeping away the clouds. He finished eating at the fastest speed, and after wiping his mouth and rinsing it, he hurried to the side of the Dragon Pool.

Hou Yuzhao believed that distinguishing border people by tribes such as the Northern Barbarians, Jianzhou Jurchens, Haixi Jurchens, Wild Jurchens, and Outer Khalkha would only lead to one result: the border regions would gradually lose control. Because as long as their consensus was not disintegrated, turmoil would inevitably arise around these consensuses.

Coal and steel joint operation and monopoly was Wang Chonggu's proposition based on the Official Factory Group Manufacturing. There was no other purpose, just one: to make money.

"Since Provincial Governor Hou has woken up, then receive the decree." Tian Fuju signaled for the young eunuch to open the imperial decree, and he read the decree with cadence.

This method had always been used. For example, in the Warring States period, the feudal lords registered the wild people as people, reclaiming wasteland and farming when they were people, and fighting as soldiers when they were at war. This practice continued until the Han Dynasty, and during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, wild people were still being registered as people in large numbers.

Hou Yuzhao's idea was a discussion higher than the distinction between Hua and Yi, a reflection based on the freedom and equality theories of the Songjiang School.

Zhang Juzheng coughed lightly and said, "Hou Yuzhao has a pure heart, different from ordinary people, and should not be viewed with ordinary logic. According to the report from the Assembly Hall, Hou Yuzhao's private secretary reminded him, but the spring plowing in Liaodong had reached its end, and Hou Yuzhao was truly worried, hence his hurried departure."

The salt permit system had already deteriorated to the point of being almost unusable during the Hongzhi years, and salt permits were more used as a supplement to currency.

"You are truly loyal to the monarch and patriotic, my beloved official." Zhu Yijun looked at the very uneasy Hou Yuzhao and signaled for him to sit down and speak.

This was also the charm of the Examination of Merit Law: if you could do things, you could be promoted, rather than having no cliques and being unable to move an inch without a mentor. This was also a kind of freedom. The promotion of nepotism by mentors, bowing under someone's gate, was being a dog under the gate.

When Liu Bei invited Zhuge Liang to come out of the mountains, that was three visits to the thatched cottage. The basic essential quality of a benevolent emperor who respects the virtuous, Zhu Yijun still possessed.

Apart from drinking, Hou Yuzhao was truly not good at human relations.

"When necessary, one can also activate the Great Ming Ancestral Instructions and Great Laws, chopping off the hands of those who set up gambling, to serve as a warning to others."

"In the two Song Dynasties, the coal monopoly was two hundred wen per catty. The imperial court must prevent such things from happening. This is the only thing I want to say; I agree." Hai Rui looked around and expressed his position on behalf of the Censorate. As an important component of the supervisory and error-correcting power, the Censorate would exercise its duties.

Using a higher consensus to weaken and then disintegrate their own consensus, finally completing the education.

Hou Yuzhao did not understand; did his private secretary not understand these human relations?

The private secretary advised Hou Yuzhao, but Hou Yuzhao pondered it and decided not to waste time.

Minister of War Zeng Shengwu said quite seriously, "The gambling dens inside and around the official factories must be completely banned. Earning a little blood and sweat money with difficulty, only to throw it all into the gambling dens and be exploited by the dogs of these powerful and wealthy families using dice, is something that is not allowed to happen. The Legal Affairs Office in the factories should increase its efforts; if found, they will never be tolerated."

Actually, Hou Yuzhao did not understand the Emperor at all. When he was in the capital, His Majesty was young. The most he did was look from afar. The last time he returned to the capital, he saw him once, and had not seen him much since.

The Great Ming had done it before. Qi Jiguang had truly led troops to beat them once, and he beat the grassland people into submission, to the point where even the Oirats tucked their tails and moved west.

"I agree." Minister of Works Wang Daokun naturally supported it with all his strength. This increased the Ministry of Works' right to speak. No matter who became the Minister of Works in the future, they would have to thank Guo Chaobin and Wang Daokun, the two Ministers of Works, for their efforts, making the Ministry of Works no longer a transparent person in the imperial court.

The gentlemen in the Wenhua Hall looked at each other and all laughed out loud.

"Before the imperial court intervened, there was no coal and steel monopoly, and I did not see any large-scale production of coal and steel. Let's have a monopoly." Wang Guoguang expressed his position on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue. The Great Ming was two hundred years old. Before the imperial court intervened, it had not formed any industrial scale. Digging coal in Mentougou, even dogs would despise it.

Hou Yuzhao's feeling was correct, because he had always been in imperial favor before, only he had not realized it.

The sound of the two discussing was not small; someone in the Assembly Hall heard it.

The glory of the Northern Barbarians, wasn't that the Yuan Dynasty entering the Central Plains? Letting them maintain such a consensus was harmful and not beneficial to the Great Ming. Did maintaining such a consensus have any meaning for the Tatars? Maintaining such a consensus was a historical burden for the Tatars, only allowing them to continue to confront the Central Plains and resist the King's transformation. For the Tatars who completely relied on the Central Plains to maintain their lives, this was also painful.

Hou Yuzhao's method had practical guiding significance and could be widely used. This was Hou Yuzhao's passivity.

Zhang Juzheng concurrently held the Ministry of Personnel. He wrote the floating ticket and sent it to the imperial front for vermilion approval.

"The Grand Secretary's words are reasonable. What do you gentlemen think?" Zhu Yijun looked at the other court officials in the Wenhua Hall. Once the coal and steel monopoly was confirmed, the general trend of the imperial court competing with the people for profit was set, and all court officials were sycophants of accumulation.

In the imperial decree, Zhu Yijun did not stint on words of praise, counting Hou Yuzhao's previous achievements one by one, and then announcing that Hou Yuzhao was appointed as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and Provincial Governor of Liaodong, still in charge of all matters in Liaodong.

"This Provincial Governor Hou, just like that, returned to Liaodong?" Wang Daokun did not know Hou Yuzhao very well. According to convention, after becoming a Provincial Governor, one should at least set up a banquet in the capital. Even if one did not bow under any mountain, recognizing the heads of the major mountains was also appropriate. Which Provincial Governor would leave just like that after receiving the imperial decree?

Expecting everyone in the Great Ming to be loyal to the monarch and patriotic was indeed very, very difficult, just like the Confucian Great Unity world; as long as everyone had virtue, the world would be the same impracticality. And "King's subjects" was more of a submission, recognized only because of force, general trend, law, and public order and good customs, which was more realistic.

After Hou Yuzhao bathed and changed his clothes, he was finally completely sober. After changing into his court robes and confirming that the etiquette was no problem, he sat in the carriage and hurried to the Tonghe Palace Imperial Study. On the way, Hou Yuzhao held the memorial he had written after drinking yesterday and looked at it for a long time.

To be more specific, coal and steel were a kind of violence.

Hou Yuzhao felt that the Emperor did not understand correctly and misinterpreted his meaning. His original meaning was: all the common people under heaven were the Emperor's subjects, and the Emperor was the only heaven. It should be "all within the universe are the King's subjects," not "people." This was just one word difference, but the fundamental consciousness was a world of difference.

None! Hou Yuzhao just left so decisively and directly.

It proved that Hou Yuzhao's ability was not a flash of inspiration, but truly very talented, constantly summarizing experience in practice.

"Then let it not be changed." Hou Yuzhao also felt that there was nothing that must be corrected. Anyway, in execution, it was still "King's subjects"—the King makes the subjects submit.

Hou Yuzhao told the Emperor about the interesting things in Liaodong. For Zhu Yijun, who lived deep in the palace and was bound to the throne, these were novel experiences. He needed to sit on the throne, sit on the golden toilet, and suppress the four evil gods of the different space.

If it were not for the Examination of Merit Law, it would have been impossible for Hou Yuzhao to sit in the position of Provincial Governor.

"Sowing a grain of millet in spring, harvesting ten thousand seeds in autumn." Because the imperial road was opened, it only took Hou Yuzhao eight days to enter the capital. But it was these few days that made Hou Yuzhao always worried about the spring plowing. Caught in a dilemma, he still left directly.

Changing to Han surnames, using Han language, using Han books, and using Great Ming etiquette—these were the specific measures for being Great Ming people.

"In practice, 'King's subjects' is easier to use." Zhu Yijun admitted that he was somewhat idealistic. In practice, "King's subjects" was the optimal solution, while the word "people" was more like the delusion of a fantasy land and an ideal country.

And this memorial of Hou Yuzhao was to solve the problem of what rules to establish, systematically proposing opinions on shaping a new consensus, and providing specific implementation measures and standards.

"I met Lin Fucheng at the bookstore on the way and chatted for a few sentences." Hou Yuzhao chose to tell the truth. Lin Fucheng's words gave him great inspiration.

Most memorials submitted to the Emperor could not be written in one go. After the first draft was conceived, the second transcription and annotation were made, typos were picked out, some vague sentences were changed, and then the third transcription was made.

Wang Qian met Hou Yuzhao by chance, and Hou Yuzhao returned to the Assembly Hall dead drunk. After Zhu Yijun found out, in order to avoid the problem of Hou Yuzhao losing his composure before the Emperor, Zhu Yijun let Tian Fuju come. Sleep if you want to sleep; it's not too late to work after waking up. You have been working outside the Great Wall for almost ten years; it's time to rest.

"From the map, it is obvious that Liaodong is no longer suitable for simple military loose-rein management like the Regional Military Commission. Since the first year of Wanli, land has been continuously opened in Liaodong, reaching Jilin, and it is still expanding northward. The yamen of the Regional Military Commission's military loose-rein management can no longer meet the needs of the Liaodong ground." Zhang Juzheng stated the reasons.

"I agree." Wan Shihe, as the Minister of Rites, did not quibble over words, but only expressed his agreement. He had been busy with the three-level academies recently. The expansion of the Official Factory Group Manufacturing was conducive to promoting literature and education. There were too many cheap scholars in the Great Ming world, which was the most headache-inducing place for the Ministry of Rites.

Coal-silver convection would be an extremely important cycle for the Great Ming. After the north obtained silver, it could better obtain the handicraft products and grain of the south. In the future, the scholar-officials of the Southern Yamen could no longer shout that the north was a money-losing business and should be calculated away, because coal, iron, copper, and silver were all rigid demands.

But Wan Shihe's discussion of problems based on the Hua-Yi distinction system, what kind of rules to establish after a beating, had not been solved.

From the handwriting, this was indeed his personal handwriting, but from the content, it was unbelievable no matter how one looked at it. It was not that there were any rebellious remarks, but the structure was complete, the logic was clear and dense, with a beginning and an end, and it could already be submitted directly to the imperial front.

"What is interesting is that Hou Yuzhao intends to leave his private secretary to visit everywhere, but the private secretary scolded him angrily and returned to Liaodong with Hou Yuzhao." Zhang Juzheng finished speaking while holding back his laughter.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great grace." Hou Yuzhao was not stupid. After thinking through the key, he hurried to thank him.

Zhu Yijun only then realized that this kind of metaphor had already existed in the Ming Dynasty, using horses and cattle to metaphorically describe people who were forced by life to work hard for others.

Zhu Yijun was still fishing, but Zhang Hong knew very well that the Emperor's mind had long been off the fish. The float had already sunk to the bottom, and the fishing rod was bent, but the Emperor had not noticed, instead falling into deep thought.

The Suiyuan Imperial Road, which had been in preparation for nearly a year, had started construction!

In the next three to five years, Suiyuan would be a large construction site, and this kind of construction was conducive to the Great Ming's Kingly transformation of Suiyuan, and also conducive to the mineral deposits of Suiyuan entering the hinterland. Coal, iron, copper, and silver were all mineral resources of the north, laying the foundation for realizing coal-silver convection.

Zhu Yijun explained: "People can be defined as: all individuals, classes, and collectives that approve, support, and practice the construction of the Great Ming belong to this category."

Zhu Yijun certainly knew that Hou Yuzhao was drunk. Taibai Tower was the property of the Imperial Manor, and the Assembly Hall was also a yamen of the Great Ming imperial court. Hou Yuzhao, who was about to become a Provincial Governor, was even more in the spotlight.

Even if there was no banquet, visiting the three major assembly halls to visit the mountains and contact feelings should always be appropriate, right?

"Your Majesty, I believe that there should be a coal and steel joint operation and monopoly." Wang Chonggu finally attacked coal.

Hou Yuzhao clearly realized that his imperial favor was flourishing, but that was all he realized; it had no influence on him. He actually did not know how to use this imperial favor. Forming cliques for private interests? Usurping the power of the throne? Doing evil? It seemed it was not as interesting as reclaiming wasteland and farming.

"I thank Your Majesty for your great grace." Wang Chonggu bowed his head and thanked him again.

Hou Yuzhao was in a hurry to see the Emperor and did not even eat. This was what Tian Fuju told the Emperor. He drank heavily and slept until the sun was high, and he came to see the Emperor in a hurry without eating. Hou Yuzhao never talked about loyalty, but he was full of loyalty.

"Li Chengliang calls people horses and cattle?" Zhu Yijun raised his eyebrows.

Hou Yuzhao's proposition of "one Great Ming, all are subjects of the King" won the unanimous approval of the court officials. This Hou Yuzhao, who had been working hard outside the Great Wall for more than nine years, had another memorial that made the court officials look at him with new eyes. Compared with the accidental gain of the fifth-class merit award, this "Memorial on New Theories of the Northern Mountains" was Hou Yuzhao's experience and his practical practice.

"Those who are loyal to the monarch and patriotic are the people." Hou Yuzhao suddenly realized and summarized.

Zhu Yijun was fishing in the Dragon Pool. After lunch, he should have gone to the Beijing Camp to drill troops, but Hou Yuzhao was coming, so Zhu Yijun planned to delay for a while. Tian Fuju whispered a few words to His Majesty, and Zhu Yijun signaled for Zhang Hong to prepare a table of dishes for the Imperial Kitchen.

"General Qi conquered the Bansheng to recover the Hetao, Li Chengliang opened up land in Liaodong, the Duke of Qian and Liu Ting wrestled with Ava in the southwest, the Duke of State Zhengmao is in Luzon, Xu Wei is in Nagasaki—these are all pioneering lands. This method proposed by you, my beloved official, is good." Zhu Yijun looked at Hou Yuzhao and asked curiously: "How did you think of it?"

"Lack of officials." Wan Shihe's face was as uncomfortable as if he had eaten a fly.

Activate the "Great Ming Ancestral Instructions and Great Laws"! Scholar-officials under the heavens who do not serve the monarch will be beheaded!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 478 =====