Chapter 492: Endless Songjiang Cloth, Endless Weitang Yarn

Zhu Yijun once again adopted the conservative faction's proposal to wait until the Ten Kings City was built before proceeding. The vassal kings of the Great Ming were quite restless; ever since the Jingnan Campaign at the start of the dynasty, when the Prince of Yan successfully ascended the throne, there had always been vassal kings who felt they could do the same and attempted to replicate the Prince of Yan's feat.

If the factor of the vassal kings were to be added to the process of resolving the contradiction between people and land, it would lead to drastic changes. The progress of the New Policies would be delayed, and if the commotion were too great, the resistance to the New Policies would increase sharply.

"We need to race against time," Zhang Juzheng said, his brows tightly furrowed. "We must hurry to build the Ten Kings City, before anyone dares to stick their head out."

"Now that the great army has just returned in triumph, during this period of intimidating all the petty scoundrels in the world, we must build the Ten Kings City. Only by completing the withdrawal of the vassal kings before anyone dares to risk universal condemnation and stir up trouble can we prevent matters from becoming more complex and difficult to resolve."

Time—we must seize the time difference. Otherwise, when the time comes and a vassal king raises the banner of "clearing the emperor's side," it will be a massive disaster.

"Leave this matter to me," Wang Chonggu looked at everyone and said calmly. "When it comes to construction, I still have that much confidence."

The matter was to stop at the Zhao Wenhua Hall, meaning the court officials were not to go outside and speak nonsense. Whoever spoke blindly outside, Zhu Yijun would find trouble with them.

In an era where the ruler was young and the state was suspicious, ministers were not attached, the state lacked great trust, and people's hearts were filled with doubt, Zhu Yijun could even tolerate Wang Chonggu, who had made a mistake and risked his life to go to the West—what was in the past was in the past.

First, the vassal kings' stipends would no longer need to be paid by the local governments. Once included in the Examination of Achievements, the stipends for the imperial clan would also be a massive expense. Moreover, the presence of vassal kings created the issue of judicial privilege. Sometimes, local vicious cases had a great connection to the vassal king's manor; if not investigated, the masses would be incensed, but if investigated, they were imperial relatives. The New Policies' land clearing, population census, and so on could also be executed smoothly.

"The Spanish special envoy Solon said yesterday afternoon that he wants to buy one million bolts of cotton cloth. I wonder if the Great Ming can supply it," said the Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe, bringing up foreign affairs, which the Minister of the Court of Diplomatic Reception, Gao Qiyu, had reported.

Zhu Yijun's eyes rolled, and he looked at Wan Shihe, his eyes flashing with excitement as he said, "Minister of Rites, ask George if he wants to buy some cotton cloth? If he doesn't buy it, Philip II will dump cotton cloth on England. Can England withstand that?"

"What is the Teacher's opinion?" Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and asked.

Zhang Juzheng looked slightly embarrassed because, according to the Ministry of Rites' organization of old cases, during the Longqing era, there were still over 103,000 registered imperial clan members. After the Examination of Achievements Law, because the payment of stipends to the imperial clan was not included in the examination, the number of registered imperial clan members began to plummet. By the tenth year of Wanli, only 60,000 remained. If this continued, within ten years, it would likely be halved again.

"I pardon you, Teacher, and exempt you from the rites," Zhu Yijun said with great certainty. "At that time, the state treasury was in great deficit, and you used every strategy to cope. I saw it all. For the late emperor's mausoleum, 500,000 silver was needed, and 110,000 was still owed. We cannot, because the state treasury is now full, harshly criticize the hardship you endured running around for the country back then."

The Great Ming possessed the majority, but even so, there were still various smuggling ships.

Appropriate—it couldn't be more appropriate.

The court officials looked at one another and all decided to entrust the construction of the Ten Kings City to the Assistant Grand Secretary who managed the state, Wang Chonggu.

Wang Chonggu shook his head and said, "They are just a pile of lime pillars. If it weren't for the rush for the interior decoration, half a year would have been more than enough. Your Majesty, things are different now."

"Of course, England can order a ban on the entry of cotton cloth, but Spain has the Invincible Armada. Even if Philip II doesn't use the fleet to knock on the door, smuggling ships will still bring this cotton cloth into England. Besides, there are merchants from Scotland and Ireland helping."

As for the Cardinal, the Great Ming Emperor had already issued an edict not to have contact, so there was naturally no need to speak of it. Regarding the matter of proselytizing, the Great Ming Emperor had only two words: strictly prohibited. This was not because Zhu Yijun was not open or inclusive, but because these missionaries were all spies. Not only did they collect intelligence on the Great Ming, but they were also prone to stirring up evil cults and inciting civil unrest.

This Minister of Rites position was impossible to hold!

It was one thing for the Court of Diplomatic Reception to do business—after all, it was for the transformation of the small-scale peasant economy and the inflow of silver—but could these barbarian envoys have some self-awareness?! A small barbarian state actually talking about marriage with the Celestial Empire?

Wan Shihe just wanted to smash his inkstone onto the Falanxi special envoy's forehead and roar, "Marriage your mother!"

The Censors had no reaction because they were also extremely shocked. Participating in court discussions every day, they had long since become accustomed to all sorts of things, but today's matter was truly something they had never seen before...

The Great Ming's sacredness was: all the Emperor's edicts inherited the Mandate of Heaven and responded to the people below; he was the only spokesperson for Heaven on earth. Sometimes, things Heaven did not allow had to be achieved by human effort. According to the definition of Great Ming's sacredness, the Holy Roman Emperor had even less sacredness. The sacredness of the West was to be crowned by the Holy See, but after Frederick III, no Holy Roman Emperor ever went there again.

Wan Shihe looked at the court officials and said, "Your Majesty, I believe it is better to relocate them all together."

Wan Shihe bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have looked at Assistant Grand Secretary Wang's construction blueprints. Are there none below the rank of Commandery Prince?"

"When the Zhao Zhao Dingjian Emperor built the vassal system, it was because the centrifugal force was too great at the time. The Northern and Southern Song dynasties had perished one after another, and the Hu Yuan had ruled the Central Plains for a hundred years, causing the cultural lineage of the world to be severed. He had no choice but to build vassal states to guard various places. Now, two hundred years into the dynasty, that worry no longer exists. Instead, it is the overseas Governor-General's offices that need to build fences to guard." This was the first time Zhu Yijun had publicly expressed the intention to establish vassal states overseas, though this was just testing the waters; it was still a long way from actual execution.

England simply could not prohibit the entry of cotton cloth; it lacked the administrative power to do so. To ban a certain commodity, one needed a massive navy, maritime inspection offices covering the entire coastline, tens of thousands of "white-striped" scouts, a perfect tax and supply supervision system, clean governance, and precious centripetal force. In short, it required a great nation.

The Court of Diplomatic Reception, the foreign affairs department and the face of the empire, was almost becoming a place for business, filled with the stench of copper. "Abandoning Confucianism for commerce" was supposed to be an insult...

"Besides not being sacred, it is also not Roman. The Minister of the Court of Diplomatic Reception has communicated with Ferdinand. Through translating Western documents and so on, it can be clearly stated that the Holy Roman Empire and the Eastern and Western Roman Empires have no clear legal succession relationship. At the very least, the current Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, is a German."

"Haha!" Zhu Yijun finally laughed out loud. The court officials had been holding it in with great difficulty; seeing the Emperor laugh, they didn't hold back either and all laughed.

For the local areas, relocating the vassal kings was a massive blessing.

The Emperor doing business was too damn black-hearted. Quoting two taels per bolt was more overbearing than a highway robber. The annual production of just Songjiang Great Cloth (40-foot standard cloth) was around 7 million bolts, plus 7 million bolts of Songjiang Small Cloth (32-foot narrow cloth) and over 1 million bolts of patterned cloth.

"Endless Songjiang cloth, endless Weitang yarn."

"Your Majesty, if delivered with the construction quality of the Huangji Gate, the Three Great Halls, the Qianqing Palace, and the Kunning Palace, it will definitely be completed before the end of this year. For vassal kings who are far away, you can issue an edict for them to relocate to the capital. By the time they arrive in the capital, they will be able to live in their new homes," Wang Chonggu said, bowing to the Emperor on the moon terrace.

Wang Chonggu thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the ocean-crossing ships mainly have limited production capacity. The orders are already queued until the twelfth year of Wanli."

In the eyes of the Great Ming, England's ecological niche in the West was exactly the same as the Japanese pirates. England was even worse than Japan; at least Oda Nobunaga did not order that robbery was legal and robbery was reasonable. Oda Nobunaga's implementation of "one warrior, two commoners" in Japan was in the hope of establishing a new order and stabilizing the commoners, which could be considered an indirect reduction in the ravages of the Japanese pirates, whereas England was encouraging sea pirates to plunder.

"Harshly criticize? Where is the harsh criticism? Isn't this knowing that the imperial clan is exhausted and building the Ten Kings City for them to recuperate?"

"I will certainly not fail your trust, Your Majesty," Wang Chonggu bowed and said.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Assistant Grand Secretary Wang said 2.7 million silver is needed. Let the Inner Treasury temporarily allocate 3 million silver for backup."

The reason Gao Qiyu was so embarrassed—having the reality but not the name—was that Zhang Juzheng refused to promote him, even though he had risked his life to serve as an envoy to the West. However, Zhang Juzheng still had not forgiven Gao Qiyu. The examination topic "Shun also ordered Yu" in the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination had an influence that was truly too vile. This position of Junior Minister was something Zhu Yijun had forcibly inserted.

In the eyes of the Great Ming Ministry of Rites, this was simply a barbarian reversing the natural order! And they had the nerve to call themselves the Roman Empire?

When Wang Chonggu was building the central axis of the imperial palace, he had nothing but silver. Yet, he still completed the great construction project within the three months before the Emperor's wedding. Even though the Emperor only lived in it for one day during the wedding before moving back to the Western Garden, the palace construction was completed on schedule, saving the lives of his entire family.

The preliminary preparations had been done before the great army returned in triumph. Now, it was time to break ground.

One must know that when Wang Chonggu was building the central axis of the imperial palace, it was a race against life and death!

At that time, when the Emperor was receiving foreign envoys on the foundation of the Huangji Hall, Wang Chonggu was truly racing against time. Even though the Emperor repeatedly suggested that he could lower the construction standards to increase speed, Wang Chonggu still completed the construction of the palace central axis with guaranteed quality and quantity.

Zhu Yijun was extremely, extremely cautious about religion. He clearly remembered the matter of the "Unity Sect" created by Wang Xijue's daughter, who performed C-sections on pregnant women to extract blood to use umbilical cord blood for beauty and longevity. Every time he heard of it, he felt that the chasm of human evil could never be bridged by the Yanxinglou Trading House. These evil cultists were simply not human.

The local areas finally didn't have to be caught in the middle between the imperial court and the vassal king manors.

"Minister of Rites, calm down, calm down," Feng Bao hurriedly persuaded Wan Shihe to suppress his anger.

The site for the Ten Kings City was next to the Northern Earth City, a small city with a circumference of twenty li. It only relocated those of Commandery Prince rank and above. As for those below Commandery Prince, in the first year of Wanli, they had already been told to find their own way to survive. At that time, the Great Ming court and local finances were truly unable to bear the burden.

The process for relocating the vassal kings was quickly decided: starting from the furthest Guilin Prefecture, they would take the waterway to Guangzhou Prefecture and then to the capital.

Wan Shihe said in despair, "If the Empress Dowager finds out about this, I might as well stop being the Minister of Rites."

If built slowly, their lives would be gone.

"Then don't sell it. After all, they are not friendly states," Zhu Yijun synthesized the opinions of the court officials. The court officials were all opposed to it. The five-masted ocean-crossing ships were not lacking in sales orders, so why make Philip II and Antonio harbor resentment toward the Great Ming?

The Great Ming's foreign policy had clear diplomatic levels: enfeoffed vassal states, tributary states, envoys establishing diplomatic relations, no contact, and hostile. The Great Ming wouldn't even specifically send envoys to England; it was between "establishing diplomatic relations" and "no contact," and there were even conflicts of interest in some areas.

"Harshly criticize the imperial clan? In the first year of Wanli, the palace's 'Gold Flower Bai Yin' of 1 million taels reached the treasury in full for the first time. In the third year of Wanli, it rose to 1.2 million taels. If the Ministry of Rites is like this, let alone the imperial clan." After Zhang Juzheng stood up, Zhu Yijun looked at the court officials and said, "This court discussion must not have any influence. If it spreads outside, the world will surely rise to criticize. Either they will say I am covering up for the Teacher, or they will say the Teacher is playing both sides and watching for disaster. This matter stops at the Zhao Wenhua Hall."

"If it's by the end of the year, isn't it too rushed? Ten Kings City—although it's called Ten Kings City, the scale of relocating the Princes and Commandery Princes just from Henan is extremely massive." Zhu Yijun frowned and decided to grant a few more days.

The Secretariat Drafter had been called back by a minor eunuch. The Secretariat Drafter continued to record with peace of mind; clearly, the secrets that shouldn't be heard had already passed.

A bolt of fine Great Ming Songjiang cotton cloth was 1.5 mace of silver. Zhu Yijun quoted 2 taels per bolt. This kind of profit was outright robbery, but Solon had to buy it. The Great Ming held the absolute advantage in terms of commodity superiority.

"No, is it this little?" The Junior Minister of Revenue took the memorial from Wan Shihe's hand and looked at it for a long time before starting to pass it around. Everyone was whispering, and after the discussion, their gazes looked intentionally or unintentionally at Zhang Juzheng.

"In the third year of Jingtai (1452), Frederick III was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Roman Holy See. After that, there were no more Holy Roman Emperors who went to the Roman Holy See to be crowned."

The Emperor was selling Great Cloth. 1.5 mace per bolt, sold for 2 taels. Was there anyone in this world doing business as black-heartedly as this?

The Great Ming's demand for five-masted ocean-crossing ships was extremely vigorous. Even now, they could only obtain dividend rights through the Yanxinglou Trading House. England was not worthy of obtaining five-masted ocean-crossing ships.

It's easy to talk when you're standing!

Wan Shihe smiled and said, "Look, you're anxious again. Wait until I finish speaking."

Zhang Juzheng pondered for a moment and said, "I believe it is better not to sell. Although silver is just silver and has no distinction between justice and evil, the silver of the golden-haired barbarians is somewhat dirty."

Zhu Yijun looked at Wan Shihe and asked, "What does the Ministry of Rites think?"

Deep in his heart, Wan Shihe felt a question arise. He had watched the Emperor grow up. The Emperor had lived frugally since childhood but never lacked money to spend. How could he have such a great interest in silver? Wan Shihe could see that the Emperor truly loved silver—it was simply unbelievable. As the dignified Great Ming Emperor, the supreme ruler of ten thousand directions, could he not restrain himself just a little bit?

Zhang Juzheng was not some immortal who could create something out of nothing.

"As long as we can supply it, that's fine." Zhu Yijun was extremely knowledgeable about the Great Ming's productivity. He was very clear about the production volume of Songjiang Prefecture's Great Cloth. It was sold this expensively—take it or leave it!

For a supply of 1 million bolts of cloth at once, even if Solon colluded with the powerful and influential families engaged in illicit trade, there wouldn't be that much spot stock. He could only buy it from the Emperor.

The Great Ming and the Ottomans knew of each other but had no contact. Only enfeoffed vassal states and tributary states were considered friendly states.

"Please rise quickly, please rise quickly."

When it came to construction, Wang Chonggu dared to pat his chest and say that Zhang Juzheng was no match for him.

After the probing failed, they started to follow the process. Looking at it this way, it was the Falanxi Queen Mother who gave the special envoy Gillian a death order, telling her to use every means possible. It could be seen how chaotic the situation in Falanxi was. In order to save the nation, Queen Mother Catherine had truly tried her best, but this kind of matter could not be solved just by trying one's best.

"No value in contact," Wan Shihe summarized. He didn't believe that the Emperor and this Ferdinand could reach any effective consensus.

Wan Shihe looked left and right, then reluctantly took out a memorial and looked at everyone, saying, "The Falanxi special envoy is the Queen Mother's daughter. She requests... marriage."

Funds came from the Inner Treasury, the account arrival was fast, and even if there were some quality flaws, the Emperor wouldn't pursue it, and the vassal kings wouldn't be able to stir up trouble.

"Holy Roman Empire special envoy Ferdinand requests an audience with Your Majesty to present the Roman Emperor's state letter," Wan Shihe said, his brows tightly locked. "This name sounds quite intimidating at first glance, but looking closely, it is neither holy, nor Roman, and certainly not an empire."

Some commoners in the Great Ming had only one pair of trousers per household, yet the Great Ming Emperor was actually selling millions of bolts of cotton cloth to barbarian states. The ever-changing Great Ming was actually unwilling to wait for its own people! This was not "giving to friendly states rather than domestic slaves," but for the sake of a massive inflow of silver and the rapid development and expansion of industry. Only scale could promote technological progress, ultimately leading to a rapid rise in productivity that would benefit everyone in the Great Ming.

"What about the special envoy from Falanxi?" Zhu Yijun asked. Wan Shihe had gone in a circle without mentioning the Falanxi special envoy's request.

Solon could slowly collect the goods, but the monsoon wouldn't wait for him to slowly collect them all.

But this knot in Zhang Juzheng's heart was something Zhu Yijun couldn't untie.

"1 million bolts is great!" Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this, and he said, "Solon looks very wise. I knew he would make a wise choice. Very good."

"Celts, Slavs, and Germans were clearly barbarians when Rome was still there..."

"The jade genealogy of the Prince of Qin's manor in Xi'an has 1,007 people, the Prince of Su's manor in Ganzhou has 21 people, the Prince of Qing's manor in Weizhou, Ningxia has 187 people, the Prince of Han's manor in Pingliang has 1,679 people. In Shaanxi, the four vassal manors have 2,894 people."

The Secretariat Drafter had "escaped to the toilet" since the discussion of the imperial clan. Just kidding—knowing too much was sometimes not a good thing. For example, a treacherous official like Wang Chonggu, who owed all his merits to his experience as a rebel—how was the Secretariat Drafter supposed to write that? If he wrote a few sentences and Wang Chonggu got ruthless, the Secretariat Drafter wouldn't be able to stop him.

"For the construction costs, let the funds come from the Inner Treasury," Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and announced.

The development of the Suiyuan post road and Suiyuan mining made the wealthy state treasury not so wealthy. After much maneuvering, they finally didn't use the 7.7 million silver in the old treasury. The construction of the Ten Kings City was borne entirely by the Inner Treasury. As a result, the Ministry of Rites, which didn't have to pay, actually wanted to relocate them all together.

The biggest stakeholder was the Emperor. If the Emperor didn't pursue it, others pursuing it—Zhang Juzheng didn't really care much. The deed was done; he could only let others talk.

Even though the unit price and profit of wool looked higher, the Great Ming needed more wool to keep warm in the development of Suiyuan and Liaodong. Moreover, the scale of wool was more limited by the supply of raw materials, and the scale had already reached a bottleneck. As the scale of grassland farming expanded, the effect of exports on driving the scale was not obvious.

Zhu Yijun finally suppressed his laughter and said, "The Ministry of Rites' work is not easy to do. If Mother or Mother asks, I will explain it myself. Minister of Rites, do not worry."

But now, the production of Great Ming cement and steel had increased significantly. For large-scale construction of the same specifications, Wang Chonggu had already made engineering projections: half a year was more than enough. In total, it was less than three stories of architecture; there was really no technical content.

"Minister of Rites?" Zhu Yijun asked in confusion.

"We obey the edict," the ministers said in unison.

"There are a total of 24 Princes, 16 Commandery Princes with land, 88 Commandery Princes without land, and registered imperial clan members." 【Ming Veritable Records, Xu Guangqi, "Proposal on Handling Imperial Clan Stipends and Checking Border Provisions"】

In later historical judgments, Zhang Juzheng would inevitably be scolded for the sharp decline in the number of imperial clan members. The charge of "harshly criticizing the imperial clan" could not be avoided.

For the vassal king manors, it was also a great thing. After all, the days of not receiving stipends were truly hard to endure.

In Shandong, a population census was conducted. The population within the county city of Jimo County, Shandong, was as high as 150,000. Even if all registered imperial clan members were relocated to the capital, the new Ten Kings City would only be on a scale of about 150,000.

The Zhao Wenhua Hall was quiet to the extreme, with only the sound of the silk curtains rolling. Time seemed to have stopped. The court officials' faces were filled with surprise, staring blankly at Wan Shihe.

The Great Ming court had to race against the local powerful and influential families. The speed of building the Ten Kings City had to be greater than the speed of the growth of the powerful families' ambition. Before the powerful families could react, the relocation of the vassal kings to the capital had to be executed. The first batch was Princes, the second was Commandery Princes, and the third was the imperial clan members receiving stipends. As for the registered imperial clan members, it would depend on the situation.

In this regard, even the Minister of Works, Wang Daokun, had no experience. After all, the experience of being a rebel was truly too precious. Ordinary rebels either succeeded or died. Wang Chonggu, who could still be so active in the political arena and become an Assistant Grand Secretary and a pillar of the country under the premise of failure—let alone the Great Ming dynasty, there were few such people in history.

"I am guilty," Zhang Juzheng said after reading the memorial. He had no choice but to stand up, flick his sleeves, perform five bows and three kowtows, and say submissively.

"Do not sell," Wan Shihe said with great certainty. "It is better not to sell to England. The golden-haired barbarians' privateering licenses destroy maritime trade. If sold to the golden-haired barbarians, the future troubles will be endless."

"Are you paying the money? It sounds nice, but can the imperial court afford to support so many people?" Junior Minister of Revenue Zhang Xueyan became anxious upon hearing this.

"Alright, alright. Ask the Falanxi special envoy if he wants to buy cotton cloth. Let's stop here for today. Teacher, stay behind," Zhu Yijun saw that the court officials had no other business and issued an edict to dismiss the court, keeping Zhang Juzheng behind alone.

Wang Chonggu's words revealed a feeling of "who else but me." It was a kind of disdainful feeling that "I have finished speaking, and when it comes to construction, everyone here is trash."

When the Western great sailing ships arrived at the port to trade, they entered the Ten Thousand Nations City. Large transactions needed to pass through the Emperor's hands. When the Emperor squeezed the Western barbarians, the knife was too sharp, making even the court officials feel a bit of pity for the Western barbarians.

Thinking of the Empress Dowager Li going crazy, Wan Shihe felt his scalp go numb. Her youngest son had created a "Ten Thousand Nations Beauty" and played a ridiculous game of fifteen people serving in bed. The Empress Dowager Li had almost smashed the Buddha statues she worshipped. If the Emperor had "Ten Thousand Nations Beauties" in his harem, the Empress Dowager Li would likely rush out of the Tonghe Palace and kill him, Wan Shihe.

Wang Daokun bowed and said, "Just in the Songjiang Prefecture treasury and the Maritime Trade Office treasury, there are over 1.7 million bolts of cotton cloth. The Suzhou Prefecture treasury has 1.04 million bolts. Solon wants 1 million bolts—is that too little?" Wang Daokun looked left and right and said, "The annual production of cotton cloth in the entire Songjiang Prefecture is around 15 million bolts. Your Majesty, cotton cloth is everywhere, and six out of ten households have looms."

It was estimated that this Ferdinand belonged to the type who liked to join in the fun. Hearing that everyone was sending envoys to the Great Ming, he just followed along to join the fun.

"Besides not being sacred, it is also not Roman. The Minister of the Court of Diplomatic Reception has communicated with Ferdinand. Through translating Western documents and so on, it can be clearly stated that the Holy Roman Empire and the Eastern and Western Roman Empires have no clear legal succession relationship. At the very least, the current Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, is a German."

"Minister of Works, is there any problem with 1 million bolts of cotton cloth?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Daokun.

"I obey the edict," Wan Shihe bowed and accepted the order.

The Queen of England issued privateering licenses, turning maritime trade, which was already extremely risky, into chaotic evil. This made the Ministry of Rites, which advocated for order, very disgusted. Selling sharp weapons like five-masted great sailing ships to the English was better than letting them rot in the shipyard.

The sacredness of the West and the sacredness of the Great Ming were different.

During the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli eras, the Emperor frequently asked for silver from the state treasury. Behind this time and time again was the fact that the "Gold Flower Bai Yin" had actually never been paid in full. The Emperor's life had turned out like this, and the lives of the imperial clan were also not easy. Harsh? The Great Ming was almost gone. Building a mausoleum cost 500,000 silver, and 110,000 was still owed. The great deficit in state finances had already affected the normal operation of the Great Ming government.

The previous Minister of the Court of Diplomatic Reception, Chen Xuehui, had now been promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, while Gao Qiyu was now the Junior Minister in charge of the Court of Diplomatic Reception.

"The Prince of Qin's manor in Xi'an has 1,007 people, the Prince of Su's manor in Ganzhou has 21 people, the Prince of Qing's manor in Weizhou, Ningxia has 187 people, the Prince of Han's manor in Pingliang has 1,679 people. In Shaanxi, the four vassal manors have 2,894 people."

"The English special envoy George hopes to buy the Great Ming's five-masted ocean-crossing ships to counter Spain's invasion of England," Wan Shihe said, bringing up another envoy's request: buying ships, five-masted ocean-crossing ships.

"There may be maritime disaster," the Minister of War, Ceng Shengwu, said concisely. This was also the opinion of the Ministry of War.

Wan Shihe was so angry that his face turned red. He slammed the table and stood up, shouting loudly, "Why look at me? It wasn't my proposal! This woman brought out that Queen Mother Catherine's state letter, saying it was an order given to her by the Queen Mother. I'm not the one going crazy! Why look at me?!"

"No," Zhu Yijun shook his head and said.

Zhu Yijun was unwilling to sell wool. No matter how greedy for money he was, he wasn't someone who would earn any kind of money. He always remembered that he was the Emperor of the Great Ming.

This was a very subjective statement, carrying very strong personal emotions. Zhang Juzheng's reason for opposing selling ocean-crossing ships to England was that he didn't like England's way of doing things.

"A city with a circumference of twenty li, housing 60,000 people—even counting relatives, clerks, and servants, it is slightly sparse."

Zhang Juzheng was silent for a moment, then bowed solemnly and said loudly, "I kowtow to thank the grace of Heaven."

After the court officials had all left, Zhu Yijun said, "Regarding the imperial clan matter, Teacher, you don't need to take it to heart. At that time, the Great Ming truly had no other way."

Keeping Zhang Juzheng behind was specifically to appease him regarding the imperial clan matter; there was no need to pay excessive attention to it.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 493 =====